Dynamic Learning: Photoshop CS3 (Paperback)

by Jennifer Smith (Author), AGI Creative Team (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Dynamic Learning: Photoshop CS3 is part of the O'Reilly Dynamic Learning series, a comprehensive, integrated learning environment that combines books with video tutorials and online resources. Written and produced by product experts and trainers who have produced many of Adobe's training titles, the book, along with the Digital Classroom video tutorials on the DVD, takes you step-by-step through the process of learning to use Photoshop CS3 like a pro on your Mac or PC.

This full-color book is organized into lessons, with easy-to-follow instructions, tips, examples, self-study exercises, and review questions at the end of every lesson. Each lesson is self-contained, so you can go through the entire book sequentially or just focus on individual lessons.

Topics covered include:

• What's new in Photoshop CS3
• Bridge
• Camera Raw
• Making Selections
• Painting and Retouching
• Layers, Smart Objects, and Smart Filters
• Creating graphics for video and the Web

The companion DVD included with the book includes video tutorials and all of the lesson files, with starting images, additional elements, and the final, completed image files. A free Instructor's Guide is available online in PDF format.

About the Author
The AGI Creative Team (Aquent Graphics Institute) is a highly experienced group of authors and instructors with a strong track record for developing and delivering best-of-breed books, video content, seminar series, and conferences.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; Pap/Dvdr edition (July 16, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596510616
• ISBN-13: 978-0596510619
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #301,708 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction to Photoshop, September 13, 2007

By	Richard M. Geiger (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Dynamic Learning Photoshop CS3 is a good Introduction to Photoshop CS3 for people that are starting to use Photoshop. If you are middle to an advanced level user you might find the book too basic. The book covers new features of Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended. It provides information for graphics professionals and photographers so it does have some what of spilt personality but I did not find that a problem because I do photography and web design.

I am making the transition from Abode Photoshop Elements to the Photoshop CS3 Extended so some of the features are new to me. I found the book to be at the right level for someone who is new to Photoshop.

The book gives you three different ways to learn with each chapter in the book. You can read the book, you can read the book and follow the projects that come on the DVD, or you can watch the Adobe Flash videos on the DVD. I found reading the book hard to follow without being in front of the computer and following the project steps. The video does give you enough detail to do the project but the chapter videos are fast paced compared to Training video from Lynda.com, Studio Works, or Total Training. The nice thing is you can look back at the instructions in the book without having to re-watch the video. A nice feature is you can copy the video to your hard drive so you do not have to carry are around the DVD or with Lynda.com online training you have to have an internet connection. I like in the video because there are certain items that are hard to describe on paper which make it so much easy to explain visually. One of the items that is a lot easier to understand by video is the vanishing point filter. The author shows how to put a picture on a white product box.

The book also gives some small demos on how the Photoshop works with other Adobe software such as Adobe Illustrator and shows you how Photoshop work together.

I find when I launch the Flash video for each chapter it does not seem to go anywhere. It takes time to load the video so be patient. When I picked up the book to review it did not realize how extensive the video tutorial was. The book seems expensive at $44.99 because of the size of the book for that price but if you realize how much effort the author has but into the video on the DVD the book is a good value. You get a book, project files, and videos for that price. I think O'Reailly the books publisher should emphasize the how extensive the videos are on the front cover of the book.

I found the book a good learning tool as long as you what a book that covers information for graphic professionals and photographers. As some one that is use to Adobe Photoshop Elements and moving to the full version of Photoshop I found the book helpful for me to understand Photoshop CS3.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dynamic Learning Photoshop CS3, August 10, 2007

By	Edward Laskowski - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Dynamic Learning-Photoshop CS3
This new book teaches the workings of Photoshop CS3. The book consists of 13 Lessons (chapters) and an index, in 349 pages. The first lesson describes the new features of Photoshop CS3, of which there are quite a few. Further lessons teach the use of Selections, Layers, Painting and Retouching, Filters, Smart Objects, and creating images for the Web, video, and print.

The book is printed on glossy paper with illustrations and screen captures in color throughout. There are useful tables, such as the one describing all the tools, another on understanding file formats. Lesson 8 has a good Color Primer section which describes the RGB and CMYK color spaces.

The DVD which comes with the book has all the images used the lessons, plus 13 tutorial videos(about five minutes each) corresponding to each of the lessons in the text. This book provides a good working knowledge of the Photoshop CS3 program, for the reader.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Includes training videos too, September 26, 2007

By	Missapple "Linda Cameron" (Tri-Cities, WA) - See all my reviews

I can't imagine another software program that has inspired more third party books than Adobe Photoshop. Which book should you buy? With all the competition, you want the best value for your money. This book is one of a few that I have recently seen which comes with a DVD. The book is in full color and divided into lessons. The DVD contains the files you need to follow the lessons step by step. There are also 13 video tutorials on the disc and a bunch of other resources you can use to learn more than what is in the book.

As you may know, you pay quite a lot to purchase training videos, so getting 13 tutorials with a book is a pretty good deal. You get the best of both worlds--training videos and printed lessons you can follow at your own pace. The videos that come on the DVD included can be viewed with Adobe's free Flash Player. Since most web browsers have the Flash plug-in installed, I was able to drag and drop each video into my open web page to view it. Flash videos are quite clear and easy to look at. They are also very small in size compared to QuickTime and other formats but you wouldn't know it to look at it.

In this book, the lessons try to teach you how Photoshop works by using particular projects. One project teaches you all about using Layers and another is all about making selections. With Photoshop, some of the lessons require many steps. I don't always remember all the steps later. I have come to the conclusion that when I see certain effects that I would use a lot, those are the ones I try to learn most intensely. Like many of us, I have a digital camera and take a lot of pictures. Pictures of people can usually be improved upon whether it is just blurring the background to focus more on the person or adjusting the color so the skin looks more natural. It is also fun to occasionally do something crazy--like adding a duck to a picture of hundreds of penguins (one of the lessons in this book).

The pages are nice glossy paper in full color, making it a pleasure to look at.