Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac: The Missing Manual Review

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Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac: The Missing Manual ReviewAuthor Barbara Brundage is no stranger to anyone who has previously read a book on Photoshop Elements or has visited the Adobe Elements user forum. Thanks to her and the entire concept of the "missing" series for jobs well done. Picking up the book for the first time will have you eager to delve further into both the program and the book as you read different ways to accomplish things and see new features in the software. There are almost always several different approaches to editing methods and all will be explained, yielding perhaps different and more efficient methods for you.
If you are a beginner to Elements you will greatly appreciate this manual for clear explanations and profuse cross referencing. One will be tempted to skip ahead (and often need to go back and study something in more detail.) The thoughtful and frequent cross referencing makes it possible and increases the value and usefulness of the book.
Adobe Bridge CS4 is included in PSE v8 for the Mac and covered extensively enough so that a new user can employ Bridge in its most useful ways. Bridge, we are taught, gives more intricate control of opening RAW files than does Elements itself. In a similar way iPhoto is covered and one can learn the strengths of using Bridge or iPhoto to advantage.
The printed words are dark enough and easy to read--no skimping on ink in this book--but the illustrations are also dark and often rather obscure. While the paper used feels substantial and the book's binding strong, perhaps the paper is not the best for photographs and obliterates some details. More readers may see the need for the missing cd available and explained in the book. The index is useful and seems comprehensive, one of the hallmarks in my opinion of a well done book.Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac: The Missing Manual Overview

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Photoshop Elements 5: The Missing Manual Review

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Photoshop Elements 5: The Missing Manual ReviewDo you need to edit and organize your photos? If you do, then this book is for you. Author Barbara Brundage, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that is intended to make learning Elements easier by avoiding technical jargon as much as possible, and explaining why and when you'll want to use certain features in the program.
Brundage, begins by showing you how to navigate Elements' slightly confusing layout and mishmash of programs within programs. Then, the author covers how to get photos into Elements, the basics of organizing them, and how to open files and create new images from scratch; as well as, how to save and back up your images. Next, She explains how to rotate and crop your photos, and includes a primer on that most important digital imaging concept--resolution. The author then shows you how to use the Quick Fix window to dramatically improve your photos. She continues by covering two key concepts that you'll use throughout the book. Then, the author shows you how to make basic corrections, such as exposure, color adjustments, sharpening , and removing dust and scratches. Next, she covers topics unique to people who use digital cameras, like RAW conversion and batch processing your photos. The author then moves on to some more sophisticated fixes, like changing the light, using the clone stamp to make repairs, making your photos more lively with hue/saturation and changing the colors in an image. She continues by covering how to convert your photos to black and white, and tinting and recoloring black and white photos. Then, she shows you how to use the Elements' Photomerge feature to create multiphoto panoramas and to make perspective corrections to your images. Next, the author covers how to paint your photos and draw shapes, use filters and effects to create a more artistic look and add type to your images. Then she shows you how to get the most out of your printer, how to create images for the Web and email, how to make slideshows and Web Galleries with your photos, and all the fun projects you can create with Elements 5. Finally, she looks at information about using a .graphics tablet in Elements and some resources for after you've finished this book.
You'll also find tutorials throughout this most excellent book that refer to files you can download from the missing manual web site, so you can practice the techniques you're reading about. More importantly, this book assumes you know how to perform basic activities on your computer, like clicking and double-clicking your mouse and dragging objects onscreen.Photoshop Elements 5: The Missing Manual Overview

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Photoshop Elements 7: The Missing Manual (Missing Manuals) Review

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Photoshop Elements 7: The Missing Manual (Missing Manuals) ReviewThis is an essential and easy to use book for Photoshop Elements. If you can click, double click, and drag (prerequisites from the author); you can use this book and Photoshop Elements to imrpove your pictures.
My digital photography goes back to when 3MegaPixel cameras were $1000 and computer speeds were measured in MHz. I have over 30,000 digital pictures, and have used every version of Photoshop Elements. This is one of the best books I have ever seen to better use a piece of computer software. It truly is the manual they should have shipped with this software.
The author does start slowly and carefully. She makes sure that everyone knows the basics. She also makes it clear, you won't get to editing with layers in the first week. Read and digest only those topics important to you at that moment, and practice. It's very easy to skip around and work on the particular topic your photograph needs. Red eye correction, something we all do frequently. It's very clear, there's the very simple approach with some tweaks to size things correctly, how to do it automatically, and then a box with Power User suggestions (using the eyedropper tool) when things don't work exactly right.
The author's approach is to present the simple, should work most of the time procedure, then some simple options for improvement, and what to do if that procedure doesn't work. It's chock full of tips and hints all well organized.
This book should speak volumes to the new user, the upgrader from previous versions, and fairly skilled users. Even those basic topics I've taken for granted, (using grids to straighten a photograph), include things I wouldn't have known, (you can change the grid color - black can be very annoying when working with sports pictures). As another reviewer has mentioned, the upgrade from 6 to 7 was pretty minor for the things you need to do every day, edit and improve your pictures, so this book applies reasonably well.
The book is in color, but the printing is not exactly the most fabulous I've ever seen. The color photographs are kind of gray and not terribly high resolution, must have kept printing costs down. The good news, the pictures are available on line to try, so you can see the effects for yourself. The binding also feels like it will fall apart with heavy use, another cost cutting measure.
I did not realize when ording this book that David Pogue is behind this series. That's a fabulous thing. He is an amazing tech writer, and has been in the computer business for a very long time (I remember his Macintosh series when an SE/30 was cutting edge). He knows how to balance fun and technology without excluding people with tech language. This book follows that philosophy to the letter.
Strongly recommend this book for everyone that wants to know how to better use Elements, from the beginning amateur to the advanced photographer. If you are a fairly advanced user and have sought out this book, I think you will be impressed with the depth of coverage at a very reasonable price.Photoshop Elements 7: The Missing Manual (Missing Manuals) Overview

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Adobe Illustrator CS5 on Demand Review

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Adobe Illustrator CS5 on Demand ReviewI took this out from the local library in hopes it would help me get started with Adobe Illustrator CS5. It turns out, it's not that kind of guide. There are a few hands-on workshops at the very end of this book, but this is not really a tutorial and for the most part what you get is just a comprehensive guide to its many features, that identifies and explains its many options. Still, as a guide it is extremely clear, and comes with helpful illustrations and a clear, easy-to-follow layout. So it wouldn't really be useful for the absolute beginner, and was a bit overwhelming for me, but would be an excellent reference guide for someone who is just passing the beginner's stage and ready to learn the program in more detail. Think of it as a missing manual, that's clearer in its coverage than Adobe's online help section.
I know that the "Missing Manual" series already exists, but there's no "missing manual" to Illustrator CS5. This would fill the bill - and I'm half tempted to say I like the format of the "On Demand" guides better than that of the "Missing Manual" series. For each task they give complete coverage in two facing pages, with a step-by-step guide and illustrations. (I actually own a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS5 on Demand, and found that to be extremely helpful - especially given that I have a basic familiarity with Photoshop that I don't have yet with Illustrator.)
Summing up: I wrote this in hopes of being helpful for readers like me who just want to get started with Illustrator. I would suggest trying Adobe Illustrator CS5 Classroom in a Book first - I have that one and also have a couple of others in the series and have found them to be excellent for learning - and then picking this one up as a reference guide.Adobe Illustrator CS5 on Demand Overview

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Adobe Photoshop CS5 on Demand Review

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Adobe Photoshop CS5 on Demand ReviewThis book has some excellent features to recommend it:
* Excellent organizational structure: a clean and logical grouping of common and related task tutorials in increasing order of complexity.
* An excellent table of contents, tabbed and color-coded to the book's side for quick content location and an excellent and descriptive index that helps you find what you're looking for.
* Good and descriptive section headings and introductions to give you an overview of what will be covered in that section and some idea of key concepts.
* A methodology that is consistent throughout: sequentially number-coded instructions on the left and illustrated and number coded demonstrations on the right, with frequent highlighted text boxes with additional information.
* A good and logical selection of the tasks that most people will need to perform most often.
* Aimed at all of Photoshop's constituencies: the photographer, the print media designer, and the web designer, and all the sub-categories (such as the photographer who doesn't print, just saves for monitor viewing or web).
I would assume the target audience to be current Photoshop users who want to quickly perform certain tasks or make a certain type of adjustment. Since terms are used that would baffle a new user, a certain degree of familiarity is assumed. Another target audience might be people who, like me, are migrating to the CS5 version from a previous version and want to become familiar with newer features.
However, I think that the new, entry level Photoshop user is going to find himself very attracted to the concept of a collection of task-oriented tutorials (which is, basically, what this book is). For that audience, I would say that this book teaches you Photoshop as I learned it: quickly and on a need-to-know basis.
On retrospect, however, I've come to realize that learning while performing tasks by rote is not the best way to learn a complex and multi-track program such as Photoshop. Initially, I learned how to do certain things that I needed to do but I didn't understand what was happening under the hood, why it was happening, how to do it less destructively or what techniques work best with which type of image. I followed a sequence of steps that required minimal judgment on my part. With time, I came to understand and acquired better practices but I'm still amazed at the gaps in my knowledge after 11 years of constant use. I've come to be a pretty competent Photoshopper, but I think the process would have been far more efficient if I'd laid a good groundwork of basic concepts and best practices from the beginning.
If, like me, you need to learn quickly, do get this book and do follow its instructions. However, get other books as well and learn the why's, and the when's, and the consequences of choosing one way over another. Look up any terms used in this book that you don't understand before proceeding with the instructions. (The web is also an excellent source of information). Learn the concepts, not just the steps.
And, learn from my mistakes: save the master (RAW or unprocessed jpg) of every important photo you process now until you feel you are competent. Just burn them to CD's and set them aside for a few years. I very much regret not having done that. I have a lot of over-processed and over-sharpened photos that looked great to my untrained eye back then but I now wish I could start over to get right. (Additional processing now would just further degrade them).Adobe Photoshop CS5 on Demand Overview

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Photoshop CS5: Essential Skills Review

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Photoshop CS5: Essential Skills ReviewIf you are interested in mastering digital imaging, the best way to hone your skills is not by picking up a few hints here and there on the Internet, but rather by having a book in hand and a tutorial DVD that will help you with digital basics. Before you purchase this book you'll need the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to be able to read the PDF content and QuickTime 7 version or later in order to watch the movie tutorials. There are links to these resources on the DVD if you haven't already updated. Most people like to know what they are getting for their money so I'll try to be as detailed as I can in explaining what you'll get on the DVD as you cannot skim that if you pick up a copy in a bookstore. If you are confident PhotoshopCS5 is what you'll need, you simply can scan this review or bypass it completely.
What is on the DVD:
FOUNDATION MODULE
Digital Basics (DVD Chapter)
Channels palette
RGB* (Red, Green, Blue)
CMY* (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow)
HSB (Hue Saturation Brightness)
Perception
Titles of movie tutorials include Refine Edge, Mixer Brush, Content Aware Fill, Puppet Warp, Merge to HDR Pro, Repousse, ACR6, 3D Images, 3D, Foundation-l a.dng, Foundation-l b dng, Foundation-l c.dng, Project-l.mov, Foundation-2.dng*, Foundation-3.dng*, Vibrance.dng*, Foundation-4.dng*, Spot-l.dng*, and Spot-2.dng*. You can test print in JPEG or TIFF and your record sheets are available in JPEG OR PSD. Instructions are given for the PC or MAC.
* Note: Raw images cannot be displayed on some browser interfaces. Some of the movies take a while to load so you will need to be patient or press on the spacebar to load if they don't play automatically.
ADVANCE SKILLS MODULE
Layers and Channels
Titles of movie tutorials include Intro.mov, layers & channels.mov, layers masks.mov, Selections1 mov, Selections2.mov, and Selections3.mov.
You will then have an opportunity to work with several layer blends (opacity, darken, multiply, screen, lighten, overlay, difference, soft light, luminosity, and saturation).
Filters
You will be able to work with several pictures and will have one movie tutorial. Vanishing-Point.psd
RETOUCHING
There are seven movie tutorials and ten digital images to work with (TIFF or PSD format)
MONTAGE
There are seven movie tutorials and fifteen digital images to work with (a mix of TIFF, PSD, Raw)
ADVANCED RETOUCHING
There are eleven movie tutorials and nineteen digital images to work with ( a mix of TIFF, PSD, Raw, JPEG)
ALIGN AND BLEND
There are six movie tutorials and twenty-one digital images to work with (a mix of TIFF, PSD, Raw)
RESOURCES
In this section we can find Author Info, Free Skies (stock skies), QuickTime, Actions, Luminance Preset (Black and White), Essentials Skills, A Digital Basics Chapter, a Digital Darkroom Chapter, Focal Press, Adobe, a Shortcuts Printout, and RMIT University (Mark Galer is affiliated with this University).
USEFUL LINKS
* Essential Skills
* RMIT Photography
* Adobe Digital Imaging
* Deke
* Adobe TV
* Russell Brown
* PhotoshopSupport.com
* Image Science (Printing services)
* digital photography review
* PhotoshopNews.com
* John Nack
* Luminous Landscape
* Digital Dog (Andrew Rodney)
* Studio Exchange (Photoshop)
* Planet Photoshop
* Adobe Evangelist
* Retouch Pro
All of the links provided are current and provide many additional tips and techniques that the reader will find to be quite useful. The book and DVD are designed so you can take advantage of some of the best information out there at no additional cost. When they mention "Extensive Support" in the book, it is no exaggeration.
The book itself provides a step-by-step visual tutorial that provides a "structured learning approach" to learning Photoshop. You will learn about Photoshop revisions, the CS5 version of Bridge, workflow, raw processing, digital printing, digital basics (DVD, chapter 1), and digital darkroom (DVD, chapter 2). For the more advanced reader there are chapters on layers and channels, selections, filters, and layer blends. There is an imaging projects module that includes retouching projects, montage projects, advanced retouching, and a section on how to align and blend projects.
Each section provides general guidelines, thorough instructions, and is extremely generous with photographic illustrations. In the back of the book is a thorough index, a glossary, a list of keyboard shortcuts, and several recommended web links to explore (tutorials, illustrators, information and blogs).
If you want to acquire a thorough grounding in Photoshop skills, this is the book to buy. You can "hone your image editing skills" without having to pay big $ for a course or spend hours trying to glean bits of information from the Internet. You will obviously need to work hard learning these skills, but I think you'll be quite satisfied with yourself as you progress. I'd say that all things considered, the thorough tutorials provided in this book and on the DVD will be well worth the monies spent with this reference/tutorial.Photoshop CS5: Essential Skills Overview

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