Photoshop 7 Magic (with CD-ROM)

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 304 pages
• Published by: New Riders Press; Pap/Cdr edition May 9, 2002
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0735712646
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0735712645
• Book Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Weighs: 1.6 pounds

From Library Journal
It seems to be the year for launching new versions of old standards. Photoshop 7 introduces a number of new features that should drive demand for manuals. Everything addresses Photoshop beginners, with two chapters on resources and solving common problems that should be especially helpful; appropriate for public libraries. Teach Yourself, for beginning to intermediate users, is more thorough, covering the channels, masks, and other techniques that Everything omits, in addition to the basics. Chapter Q&As, quizzes, and exercises help users learn on their own; a valuable purchase for all public libraries. A full-color guide for intermediate users, Down & Dirty explains step by step "cool tricks," showing how to achieve easily impressive special effects, from wrapping type around a circle to creating backlit photo backgrounds. Sidebar tips offer additional information, and images in the book are available for free online. Magic also instructs intermediate to advanced users on creating cool, full-color effects but contains longer projects that each combine several techniques. The CD includes project files and demonstration software. greater public libraries should consider either title.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Lorrie Wehr, Illustrator/Graphic Designer
The Magic projects really encourage you to try new techniques, use a variety of tools, and broaden your practical skills.

Reader Reviews
A plethora of new books are arriving on bookshelves thanks to Adobe releasing version 7 of Photoshop, and Photoshop 7 Magic by Sherry London and Rhoda Grossman from New Riders is one of the latest. I have been using Photoshop 7 for a few months now (and had used a beta version, Liquid Sky, for a few months before that) so I am pretty comfortable with the new version. I was hoping Photoshop 7 Magic would teach me something new, something I did not know I could do with the new version of the program. Alas, that is not what this book is about. Starting off with some very simple ways to use text, layers, and transparencies, the book moves into many different categories of Photoshop, from Marbled Backgrounds to Satin Beveled Type. The book is broken out into three main segments, Artistic Techniques, Web Techniques, and Image Manipulation Techniques. The book features some really nice artwork and the accompanying CD-ROM has all the files you need to re-create the projects done in the book. The book is well written, if somewhat Spartan. There is no sense of who the people are writing the book. It is "I did this, then I did that, etc..." With all the white space in this book, I would have liked to see a little more of the personalities of the writers come through. As it is, it is a boring read. Photoshop 7 Magic is a textbook, not an entertaining read. With the great pictures and examples in this book, it could have been so much more. Perhaps Sherry and Rhoda should take a page from another New Rider writer, Scott Kelby, and liven their work up a bit. This book is geared to new Photoshop users, or graphic designers just now making the switch from brush and canvas to mouse, stylus pen, and monitor. Experienced graphic artists who have been using Photoshop for a few years will get little from this book they do not already know, or have learned from the countless book already available on the subjects covered in this book. Add to that and the very hefty price tag of the book, a whopping forty-five bucks, and I cannot recommend this book unless you are really lacking in Photoshop skills, unlike the demographic this book seems to be catering to. Average book at best. Nice paperstock and heft to the book, but price is way too much for the quality of the 275 pages of actual content. The only Magic here is watching [money] disappear from your wallet or purse. MacMice Rating: 3 out of 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Comment | | (Report this)