Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature (2nd Edition) Review

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Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature (2nd Edition) ReviewI'll be honest, Photoshop has scared me to death for quite awhile. I love digital photography, but I always felt the whole post-processing end of it was way too complicated and would take me years to learn. A friend of mine would take photos that I had taken and work his PS magic on them, and I would thank him, not really knowing what he did to correct exposure, color, etc. I picked up Photoshop Elements 6, but I still never really understood the whole layers and masks thing, although I loved the editing aspects of it.
But then I saw an episode of PhotoshopUser TV on the web and was introduced to some of the tips, tricks and new features of Photoshop CS5. All of it explained in detail, with some good doses of humor thrown in, by Matt Kloskowski, Scott Kelby and Dave Cross. They made Photoshop less intimidating and much easier to comprehend.
So I got a copy of Photoshop CS5 for myself, determined to learn this program and start using it to its potential. I was all set to purchase the first edition of Matt's Layers book, but he mentioned that he was revising it with new emphasis on CS5, so I decided to wait and get the newest edition.
Matt has a great style of teaching the use of layers in Photoshop. Another reviewer mentioned that Matt wrote in a "juvenile" style, but I found it refreshing and helped make what can be a dry subject interesting. Watching Matt on the web, or attending one of his seminars, will show you that he writes as he speaks. He doesn't talk down to his audience and makes sure you know the subject matter before he moves on. Several times in the book, while demonstrating a process or procedure, he will instruct you to perform a basic step (whether it's a keyboard shortcut or navigating to a certain toolbar) that he talked about in an earlier chapter, that helps to complete the current project. This is just a simple repetition technique that makes those steps come naturally to you.
The book is logically set up to start off a new user with the basics of layers, and quickly moves into blending layers and the use of layer masks to enhance your images. The book is NOT a Photoshop tutorial showing you what every brush or menu option does. Matt assumes you have a good base of knowledge on how to navigate around the program toolbars and menus. He gives you a good foundation of knowledge in the early chapters that he builds upon as you go through the book.
New to this edition is the "Advanced Layer Blending and Compositing" chapter that Matt has added for this edition. Again, while this is about more advanced techniques, Matt makes it easy to understand, and most of all, fun to learn!
In addition to the information in the book, there is a web link given where there are more video tutorials and pictures that you can download, so you can work on them alongside the turorials in the book.
Overall, I would strongly recommend this book for the person just starting out in Photoshop and who wants to understand how layers are the building blocks of all images that are edited in it. As with any book, some of the more advanced users may not get a lot of new information out of it, but there may be a new tip or trick that they might have not have come across before.
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