Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 Maximum Performance: Unleash the hidden performance of Elements (Paperback)

~ Mark Galer M.Ed. (Author)
Key Phrases: new layer, fill light, red channel, Photoshop Elements, Adobe Camera Raw, Gaussian Blur (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Using crafty work-arounds to achieve remarkable results, Mark Galer pushes Elements' capabilities to new levels." Christy Brandt, Director of Engineering, Photoshop Elements, Adobe Systems, Inc.

"Elements 5.0 Maximum Performance has great techniques to get the most out of Elements. If you are a digital photographer using Elements for your image editing, this book is a great addition to your library." Richard Coencas, Photoshop Elements Quality Engineer, Adobe Systems, Inc.

"Well written, well illustrated, with a good knack for explaining complex issues in a non-threatening and comprehensible manner." Steve Caplin, digital artist and author of "How to Cheat in Photoshop".

"Truly Maximum Performance! This book has propelled my knowledge of Photoshop Elements to a very high competent professional level. I cannot express my absolute delight with my new skills."
Richard McWhorter, author, USA

"A great book to learn with...Stuffed with expert performance tips" Tim Daly, photographer, UK

A Great Book and DVD Combination!
"I have learned more from watching (and rewatching) the videos than I did at a $400 two-day Photoshop Workshop" V. Hutson, USA --Christy Brandt, Director of Engineering, Photoshop Elements, Adobe Systems, Inc. ;Richard Coencas, Photoshop Elements Quality Engineer, Adobe Systems, Inc;Steve Caplin, digital artist and author of "How to Cheat in Photoshop";

Review

"Using crafty work-arounds to achieve remarkable results, Mark Galer pushes Elements' capabilities to new levels." Christy Brandt, Director of Engineering, Photoshop Elements, Adobe Systems, Inc. (On Previous Edition)

"Elements 5.0 Maximum Performance has great techniques to get the most out of Elements. If you are a digital photographer using Elements for your image editing, this book is a great addition to your library." Richard Coencas, Photoshop Elements Quality Engineer, Adobe Systems, Inc. (On Previous Edition)

"Well written, well illustrated, with a good knack for explaining complex issues in a non-threatening and comprehensible manner." Steve Caplin, digital artist and author of "How to Cheat in Photoshop". (On Previous Edition)

"Truly Maximum Performance! This book has propelled my knowledge of Photoshop Elements to a very high competent professional level. I cannot express my absolute delight with my new skills."
Richard McWhorter, author, USA (On Previous Edition)

"A great book to learn with...Stuffed with expert performance tips" Tim Daly, photographer, UK (On Previous Edition)

"This book is for those who have the Elements basics down and want to make it fly; it allows a photographer to use Elements as a serious contender to full Photoshop."
Sara Froelich, Elements Instructor, USA (On Previous Edition)

A Great Book and DVD Combination!
"I have learned more from watching (and rewatching) the videos than I did at a $400 two-day Photoshop Workshop" V. Hutson, USA (On Previous Edition)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press; Pap/Dvdr edition (January 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240520920
• ISBN-13: 978-0240520926
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #469,233 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars High end techniques for Adobe's budget imaging app, March 15, 2008

By	Mr. N. K. Turley "enkaytee" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is slightly unusual in for a photography book as it's project based. Think of it as an extended set of the sort of tutorials you find in the digital photo magazines.

It's split into 3 sections with overall headings of "Optimize" "Enhance" and "Montage" with individual chapters each covering a particular technique in Elements 6.

A DVD is included with video and image resources covering all the projects (which is unusual) - 5 hours of video and high quality images (including RAW and PSD with all layers). There are also some potentially useful actions (I haven't got round to using these yet, as I'm running the Macintosh beta version, and haven't figured out how to install them!)

As with all the most recent Elements publications I've seen, this is based around the Windows version, but it doesn't seem to be so focussed - I found no problems following the projects on a MacBook, as there is less emphasis on keyboard shortcuts in the text, and the menus and interfaces are pretty much the same for each platform.

Mark Galer writes in a style that I find refreshing - it's witty without detracting from the technical content, and I found that the techniques 'stuck' very quickly without repeated re-reading.

Unusually these days (or so it seems) there's no accompanying website for the book, but I didn't find this detracted from the overall experience, perhaps because the DVD content is so comprehensive.

If you're a newcomer to Elements this isn't the book for you - it's not going to teach you how to navigate the interface - I don't think that there's any one image in the book that shows the whole screen - but if you want to learn some more high end techniques which you may not expect possible from Adobe's budget app then you may want to consider buying it.

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Little Originality, January 29, 2008

By	Lee Venden (Walla Walla, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an excellent product IF YOU DON'T ALREADY HAVE "ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 5 MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE" BY THE SAME AUTHOR. I was so impressed with the author's previous book, that I bought this one. How disappointing to find all the chapters are identical except three. They use the same text, the same photo images, the same tutorials in both books --except that if there is a difference in the way Elements 6 uses a particular tool, it is noted. Either book is an excellent resource, but don't buy both, unless you like identical twins.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars NOT for "Newbies", August 6, 2008

By	Roxy (Florida) - See all my reviews

If you are a beginner at Photoshop , this is not
for you . Not detailed enough for anyone who does not know
the controls well enough. Some Projects just end with out showing
or telling the user how to wrap up the rest of it. Most important,
it is written in a format only experienced Photoshop users
can understand. Expect to know terminology and where exactly to find certain controls and tools ON YOUR OWN before trying this.
Not useful to me.