Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) 6.0 Classroom in a Book (Paperback)

~ Adobe Creative Team (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you're the kind of person who'd rather read the telephone directory than a software manual, Adobe Photoshop 6.0 Classroom in a Book could be just what you need to get a grip on the latest version of the world's best image-editing software.

Seventeen project-based lessons take you through every aspect of Photoshop. The book starts with the basics--the revamped interface, selection tools, and working with layers--and then moves on to more involved projects like retouching, using the new vector shape and clipping path features, advanced layer management, and special effects. Each lesson begins with a clear introduction and finishes with a brief review section, which is a good way of assessing how much you've learned and whether you need to go over anything again.

Anyone who is, or wants to be, a Photoshop pro must eventually tackle color management, and two lessons are devoted to this difficult subject. "Setting Up Your Monitor for Color Management" examines the principles of color management and shows you how to calibrate and create an ICC color profile for your monitor using the Adobe Gamma control panel. "Producing and Printing Consistent Color" deals with proofing images on a CMYK PostScript printer and creating color separations for commercial printing. There's also a chapter devoted to spot-color printing. The remainder of the book deals with producing Web graphics using ImageReady 3.0.

While it lacks the depth of some of the other Photoshop tomes, this is probably one of the most effective courses there is for beginners and intermediate users. --Ken McMahon, Amazon.co.uk

Review

"This is arguably the authoritative guide to the latest version of Photoshop - among professionals, that is. The book is well written and easy to read with simple-to-follow examples. The quality of the printing is superb."Computer shopper, September 2001

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Product Details

• Paperback: 500 pages
• Publisher: Adobe Press (January 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201710161
• ISBN-13: 978-0201710168
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #269,413 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, useful lessons., November 23, 2001

By	Jonathan (NYC) - See all my reviews

I purchased this alongside the Illustrator Classroom in a Book course. What I found, as with any course, is that my experience was determined by my own effort. Adobe has done its part by developing a thoughtful series of lessons to make any user comfortable working in Photoshop.

I have heard two competing (and contrary) objections to these courses. People complain that there is a) either not enough or b) too much information in the Classroom in a Book series. It is true that Adobe has not developed a course that custom fits the requirements of every single possible user. This can hardly be held against them. They have created a series of straightforward courses for intermediate users. Neither this book (nor the application it is designed to teach) is for absolute beginners. It is for people who are comfortable in front of their computer. Nor should an expert user looking for some advanced tricks and tips purchase it. There are other books available to fit these needs.

Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book does a wonderful job orienting a typical computer user to a heavy hitting image manipulation application. If you take the time to complete this course, you will know your way around Photoshop. By properly learning the skills featured in this book, you will be prepared to absorb the sorts of tricks you have always wanted to learn.

57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beginners beware...Intermediate have fun!, March 29, 2001

By	S. Nare "snare" (Lebanon, OH United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Typical of the "Classroom in a Book" series, this book is set up as a series of lessons. They take you through the major functions of Photoshop providing both instructional overviews and hands-on exercises. Lessons-wise, I can't fault the authors. They did a bang up job of hitting all of the major functions of the program.

I would however like to warn users to realize that this book and the others in the series are really not for beginners. Photoshop packs A LOT of functionality. If you are a beginner and you start going through these lessons, you may feel VERY overwhelmed. I strongly suggest beginners start with another Photoshop book. Perhaps SAMS 24 hrs version. Good intro. Then buy this book and try the lessons. You really need the grounding in the application so you won't feel blown away.

I really did like this book, but it is truly for intermediate to advanced users only.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Lesson In Judging Books By Their Covers, June 18, 2002

By	Geoffrey Gaskins (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

The Classroom In A Book books have impressive-looking covers and the stock used for interior pages feels good in hand. For people, like myself, who just love books--who love the way they feel, the way they smell, the way they look on shelves--I would give this book high marks; it's well-designed. If you actually want to learn Photoshop, however, you would do well to look elsewhere.

I would expect that a tutorial like this one would be concise; however, many of the step-by-step instructions are so brief as to be meaningless, particularly if you don't know the program already. Photoshop is very complex and the interface is not at all intuitive. The writers introduce tools and refer to other application features without bothering to explain where to find them. Many step-by-step instructions are misleading, which is to say, the results you will get by following the intructions verbatim will not match the outcomes shown or described. (Many relatively complex procedures are not illustrated at all, or not illustrated adequately.) I have found a disturbing number of instances where the instructions are just, well, wrong. (You will figure it out, but it might require another book!)

Several people reviewing this book have mentioned that it would be better used as a companion to other reference documentation or as a companion to classroom instruction. I would agree; the book could be particularly effective as a classroom text. Presumably there would be an instructor to show you where to find this tool or that, or to explain why the book says "drag up from point E to the red dot" when the actual series of keystrokes require you to click and release the appropriate mouse button and then click and drag from point E to the red dot. I think the book would also be good for someone who knows Photoshop and just needs to brush up on features in a newer version. But it is not a book that I would recommend to learn this application. (I also question how much information any Photoshop newbie is actually going to retain. The book gives virtually no explanation about how the program operates or how various application elements relate to each other. You're mostly just pushing buttons. And if your results don't match the book's, tough nuggies. There is no attention given to alerting user to common errors and what to do about them.)

I don't know about you, but I am real tired of shelling out big bucks for impressive-looking computer books that do not fulfill their stated purposes. This book has real value; but, if you are looking to actually learn Photoshop on your own, you would probably do better to look at another resource...