Photoshop CS2 Killer Tips (Paperback)

~ (Author), Felix Nelson (Author) "Want to quickly scroll through the different thumbnail views in Bridge?..." (more)
Key Phrases: way cool tips, camera raw, flyout menu, Options Bar, Free Transform, Color Picker (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Scott Kelby and Felix Nelson (the creative team behind Photoshop User magazine) take their best-selling Photoshop Killer Tips books to a whole new level with their update for Photoshop CS2.

Okay, why a book of nothing but tips? Because that's where all the really slick, really useful, and really fun stuff is. It's true! If we're looking through a book and we see the word "Tip" we're all immediately drawn to it, because we know we're about to learn something great. Maybe it's an undocumented keyboard shortcut, a hidden inside secret, or just a faster, better way to do something we do every day. The only problem with the tips in these books is that there are never enough of 'em. That is, until now.

That's because this book is packed cover-to-cover, wall-to-wall with nothing but those cool Photoshop CS2 sidebar tips. Every tip is designed to make you work faster, smarter, and have more fun using Photoshop CS2. There are no detailed descriptions of CMYK separation set-ups, or long boring discussions on color management theory. It's just tips--short, sweet, and to the point.

But we've done the "tip" idea one better, because every tip has a full-color graphic to make the tips even more accessible, even more fun, and even easier to use. Most importantly, to get in this book they've got to be "Killer Tips." The kind of tip that makes you smile, nod, and then call all your friends and "tune them up" with your new status as Photoshop guru.

If you've wondered how the pros get twice the work done in half the time, it's because they know all the tips, and all the tricks. Now with this book, so will you.

About the Author

Scott Kelby is President of NAPP and is Editor-in-Chief of both Photoshop User magazine and Layers magazine. Scott serves as training director for the Adobe Photoshop Seminar Tour and is the technical chair for the Photoshop World expos. Scott is the author of the best-selling Photoshop Down and Dirty Tricks books, The Photoshop Book for Digital for Digital Photographers, and other titles. Felix Nelson is the Creative Director of Photoshop User and Capture User magazines. He is a guest speaker on the Adobe Photoshop Seminar Tour and is a member of the Photoshop World instructor Dream Team.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Press (September 16, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321330633
• ISBN-13: 978-0321330635
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #355,042 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Tips, but missing a few things, November 15, 2005

By	Scott F. Lowry (Walnut Creek, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is for someone who is experienced at PhotoShop, but wants to work a little faster and get more familiar with navigation. It is also slanted toward new features in CS2, though it still contains many older tips. Scott devides the book into about 9 sections: The Bridge, Essential Tips, Production Tips, Way Cool Tips (?), Camera Raw Tips, Layer Tips, Text Tips, Image Correction Tips and Advanced Tips. Curiously missing is a section on Selection Tips, or any mention of Web tips. The book is very heavy on pointing out the shortcuts in PhotoShop. All but a few shortcuts are well documented in the software, so if you throw out these "tips" you are left with about 50% of the remaining book - which does still leave some cool stuff.

If you are interested in these types of things, you may want to get this book:
- Finding the Center of a Document or object quickly
- Creating a flattened copy of your layers
- Changing brush sizes and types quickly
- Using Photo Filter Adjustment Layers
- Drawing Lines with Arrowheads on them
- Putting Photos into Type
- Typing within (or on) a Perfect Circle

The biggest disappointment is the lack of tips around creating better selections - which tools to use and when, how to configure them when making different selections, etc.

Almost anyone who buys this book will find a couple of "I didn't know you could do that" items here. However, if you are relatively new to PS, you'll want a more complete book and if you are really experienced with PS, there may only be a few great tips here. Thus, the audience is a bit limited and if you fall into either of these groups, there may be better books out there for you.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good for Reference, August 17, 2006

By	Carter A. Thompson "Nefermedic" (On the Pacific Coast) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I loved this book but it took a lot of effort to read it. That may sound funny but the format of this book is nothing but tip after tip after tip and that can get old pretty quick. If you can stand it, read through the whole thing. Then you'll find yourself either using the tips you've learned, or like me stopping and saying to yourself, "Uh, wasn't there a tip about how to do this faster?" at which point you refer back to the book and find the quicker way to do what you were doing.

Did you know that you create a flattened layer from your whole layered document without flattening the image? Yep, Mac: command-option-shift-E, Win: cntrl-alt-shift-E. Something I learned from the book that has changed my life with Photoshop.

Cool.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What You Need to Move Up in Skill, November 1, 2005

By	John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After you are familiar with Photoshop you can get a lot done. But then you meet someone who is a true pro and you learn that what you did works, but what he does works better, faster and easier than your approach. He (or she) just happens to know a shortcut, a tip if you will, that is specifically oriented to just what he wants at that exact time.

Here the Editor-in-Chief of Photoshop User magazine (Scott Kelby) and the Creative Director of the magazine (Felix Nelson) have combined to bring several hundred of these tips to your attention. As such, these are not for beginners, many of them are simply short cuts for things that you could do using other more standardized techniques.

The authors suggest that you read this book in front of your computer ready to jump in and try new things. I'd suggest instead that you don't. I suggest that you read through the book rapidly, from front to back, covering the whole thing before you start experimenting. The reason is, I find that I learn best when I actually have a need to do something. So, read it quickly, then just remember the concepts. Then when you need to do something, go back to the book. There's even a convenient couple of pages in the back of the book to make some notes to make it easy for you to find what you need. Then, every few months go through the whole book again. You'll have forgotten all the tips, and the next time you'll be working on a different project, needing to use different tips.

These are the tips, the information that enable you to move from say intermediate level to advanced.