Photoshop CS3 Essential Skills (Photography Essential Skills) (Paperback)

by Mark Galer; Philip Andrews (Author)
Key Phrases: smart object, stamp tool, pen tool, Gaussian Blur, Refine Edge, Quick Mask (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A must for any photographer, whether an absolute beginner or one in advanced mode... memorise every other word and you will be the king of your camera club." - Amateur Photographer, praise for CS2 edition --Amateur Photographer, praise for CS2 edition

Review
Praise for previous edition:

"Breaks down a monster programme into its essential elements and communicates them in an easily understandable way." Geoff Franklin, photographer, UK

"A must for any photographer, whether an absolute beginner or one in advanced mode... memorise every other word and you will be the king of your camera club." - Amateur Photographer

"This book provides excellent coverage of Photoshop as a digital darkroom tool as well as covering a truly amazing amount of background information. It is very readable and is truly a gem". Mark Lewis, Director of Technology Training, Mount Saint Mary College, USA

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press; Pap/DVD edition (May 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240520645
• ISBN-13: 978-0240520643
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #154,716 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally . . . ! Just what I needed., September 16, 2007

By	Joseph C. Hoffman "Joseph" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have read four other books on the new Photoshop CS3 - all of which quickly became too complicated. After all, I want to produce excellent pictures with my Nikon 80D SLR, and am learning Photoshop CS3 from scratch, but other writers seem compelled to include, in books labelled as introductory, the most arcane or esoteric features of this magnificent software. They do so while neglecting basic issues like capturing and enhancing a RAW picture for transmitting across the web.

So I was relieved to find this 430-page book, which begins with "Digital Basics" and waits until P375 to deal with "Posterization" and suchlike. Check Amazon's "Search Inside" feature and look at the Contents. You'll see that this is a book for photographers, as well as professional web designers, for example. It is even more attractively designed than most, and is accompanied by a DVD with loads of useful information (readily accessible in spite of one odd review here). The DVD has more than eight hours of instruction by the authors in subjects ranging in complexity from the use of simple hand tools to montage and special-effects.

The step-by-step instructions are easy to follow, and (unlike other books on the subject) contain no glaring errors of fact or syntax. The authors have clearly taken care to avoid careless editing. Hence my gratitude extends to writing this complimentary review!

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive Teaching Tool, August 30, 2007

By	R. Weber - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Galer presents a really useful set of teaching tools: A fine set of DVD movie tutorials and exercise images accompany a well-written book. I cycle between the book, the movies, and doing the exercises--all of which are complementary. Be prepared, however, to go over the same material multiple times. Some of the concepts are not easy, but there is a real sense of accomplishment when you see how something works. I have several CS3 books, and I like this one best.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book for every Photoshop users !!!, July 23, 2007

By	S. Lam Hau Ching - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is very well featured and user friendly. It definitely provides great coverage of Adobe Photoshop CS3, mastering every techniques covered in a project by project basis which is very simple to learn.

A free DVD is also included with lots and lots of great short movies to support the practical projects, and also great royalty-free images for you to practice your photoshop skills. I'd certainly recommend it to everyone, and at that very cheap price, it's a steal !!!