Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 512 pages
- Published by: New Riders Press
- Edition: 1st Edition November 30, 2006
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0321476735
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0321476739
-
Book Dimensions:
9.8 x 8 x 1 inches
- Weighs: 2.6 pounds
Book Description
Best-selling author Scott Kelby is well known for his plain-English style, his humorous tone, and his unparalleled ability to cut through all the technical jargon that other authors use when writing about image-editing programs. Here, Scott delivers great techniques on Photoshop Elements 5 that his readers understand and use to make the best possible images. With this newest release of Photoshop Elements, Scott shows readers how to work with their images like a pro, from importing to organization to correction to output. Readers will learn all they need to know about the digital photography workflow, as well as the latest secrets of the pros to help them create the best special effects, apply the most useful sharpening techniques, and avoid many of the hassles and problems that are encountered in digital photography (such as digital noise and color halos).
About The Author
Scott Kelby is Editor-in-Chief of Photoshop User magazine, President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, Executive Editor of the Photoshop Elements Techniques newsletter, and is technical chair of Photoshop World, the largest Photoshop gathering in the industry.
Reader Reviews
Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 offers all the digital photo editing power most people will ever need (especially when used together with a third-party noise reduction program and RAW converter). The problem is how to make the most effective and efficient use of that power. Kelby's book does a fine job of addressing exactly this problem, which wins it my vote as the most useful PSE 5 reference book currently available. (Its main competitor, Barbara Brundage's "Photoshop Elements 5: The Missing Manual," is too loosely organized and gives too much attention to PSE 5 features that are tangential to actual digital image editing.) Kelby's book is organized around a basic digital image processing workflow, starting with organizing images and moving through RAW conversion, resizing and cropping, color correction, noise reduction, and so on. Each chapter presents several techniques, usually moving from basic to more advanced, all thoroughly illustrated. His explanations are clear, thorough, and direct -- not a lot of wasted motion here. Though the publisher rates the book for intermediate to advanced users of PSE 5, I think it's accessible to a wider audience. Anyone who knows her/his way around a digital camera (especially an advanced point and shoot or a "prosumer" digital SLR), understands the fundamentals of digital photography, and is comfortable with PSE 5's layout will be able to make good use of Kelby's book. The tutorials are self-contained, that is, you don't need to read the early chapters to understand techniques presented later in the book. If information presented elsewhere is relevant, it's referenced so the reader can take a look, then come back. Some skills are basic to using PSE 5, like making selections, so it's good to spend time learning them first. The general workflow model guiding the book's organization is another reason for taking the topics in the order Kelby presents them. But if you have some understanding to start with, you can jump around pretty much at will. There's no doubt that anyone who works her/his way through the book will develop a very full understanding of PSE 5. No one will ever use all the techniques Kelby presents, and everyone is likely to prefer some of them over others. In fact, the number of techniques discussed could be somewhat daunting if you're just looking for a quick fix with a particular image. That's one drawback to the book. Another drawback is that some topics don't get quite the attention they need. I found that particularly the case with image sharpening, a basic issue in digital photography. Kelby includes numerous recommended settings for the unsharp mask tool, but I would have liked to learn about a wider range of sharpening techniques. (A half star off for this.) A final drawback is Kelby's repetitive, almost compulsive attempts at humor. A little of it goes a long way, and though it's good to keep the tone light in a book like this, after a while the repeated one-liners at his editors' expense become stale. I found myself muttering, "Just get on it with it, will you?" after about two or three chapters. (Another half star off here.) Still, the book is well worth the time and money, these drawbacks aside. If you're serious about learning to edit digital images with PSE 5, and maybe also learning to be a better digital photographer along the way, this is the one book to have.
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