Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-On-One
by Deke McClelland
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Book Reviews of Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-On-One
Book Review: Highly Detailed, Quality Training
Summary: 5 Stars
Deke McClelland accomplishes the very difficult task of teaching the core functionality and features of Photoshop. With every new version, Photoshop brings new abilities to the digital graphics and photo professional; and with those abilities come added complexity. For someone getting started today, the idea of learning this unparalleled program is daunting.
PS CS3 One-On-One itself is someone daunting if you simply pick up the book and flip the pages. The book is long at just over 500 pages, primarily because each task taught is presented in painstaking detail, step-by-step. With plenty of visuals, the book does an outstanding job of walking through advanced techniques with enough detail and description so as to not lose the reader.
There is absolutely no way a Photoshop user can learn a feature or technique simply by digesting a few pages of a book and calling it good. With that in mind, PS CS3 One-On-One is presented in a quality lesson format with all the necessary elements for students to succeed. Visual learners will be jazzed to view the well designed pages with plenty of screen shots and cropped examples. Visual and auditory types both will find the included DVD of complimentary training videos from the famed Lynda.com site invaluable.
At times the detail included with each lesson does drag on a bit, but in reality that is representative of what it takes to accomplish desired effects in Photoshop; not everything is a quick filter and done. In fact, most quality effects Deke teaches require multiple steps and a combination of tools to create an impressive final output.
PS CS3 One-On-One is an interesting combination of a medium to advanced users manual for Photoshop melded in with some great recipe-esque how to like guides for effects. Typically these two approaches are seen disparately in various books.
As you utilize this guide in your learn of Photoshop, you will feel like you have a personal tutorial and reference guide wrapped into one. Whether you are learning to improve images or create from scratch, you have it covered. If you are looking to master the essence of Photoshop as working professional, make this book part of your required reading.
Book Review: Disjointed, confusing, and
Summary: 1 Stars
I've been playing with Photoshop for a couple years now, but not really understanding what I was doing.
The book started out strong, and I even learned a few things about what makes an image work in the first place. I also like how he walks you through everything step by step.
But then it starts to fall apart.
The first place I had issue was with the chapter/section on coloring and painting. The basic exercise was to color a line drawing of a butterfly which is fine.
The problem starts when he wants to make the butterfly more interesting. He has the reader going through all sorts of other steps that make use of very powerful (and often complicated) Photoshop featuers (layers, masks, etc). This does absolutely nothing to enhance the lesson and just made the thing feel tedious. In his defense, the images you load do come reasonably pre-set for all this. But the introduction of a new feature only serves to muddy the waters and delay the reader from getting on with things.
It gets worse when we get to quick masks. At this point, the step by step exercises start to degrade in quality and clarity and take on a random feel to them.
At this point (around half-way through the book), I just got tired of the whole thing.
The fact is that many topics in Photoshop require actual explanations, not simply walk-throughs. While his videos do some of that, the further you get in the book, the less actual information is given.
I am now using the chapter organization to find online tutorials. There's a number of video tutorials out there that will serve you MUCH better than this text will.
It is possible, I suppose, that in the later chapters, where he introduces some of the more artistic aspects of Photoshop, he gets his act together. But I'm not going to waste my time on that hope.
I seriously suggest making use of the FREE online resources out there and not paying for this book.
Book Review: Superlative Content for the Serious Beginner
Summary: 5 Stars
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It has been a long while since I have been as enthusiastic about a book as this one. Deke McClelland has targeted my demographic with a practiced eye: people who use Photoshop and who want to use it more -- but who are completely intimidated and lost in the bowels of that "vast and ungainly behemoth." It helps that the author, who clearly loves this tool, maintains a refreshing irreverence toward it.
The book is organized in a "Read - Watch - Do" way. The "watch" part comes from the 3 hours of instructional video that is included with the book DVD. The DVD also contains example files and other material that McClelland shows how to use to set up your copy of Photoshop in the most useful manner.
The instructional videos blew me away with their information density. There is incredible content here. So far going through the book, I found it valuable to watch each more than once. The video material does not repeat the written instruction -- it complements it.
The book itself is beautiful and well-organized. It has a wide format that lies flat to make following along while at the mouse or keyboard easier. It is 500 pages long but is not overwhelming, like a reference. All the material is encompassed in 12 lessons. These 12 lessons teach the basic skills needed to use the tool effectively whether your focus is the Web or print.
A note of interest to those who have not upgraded to CS3 yet: I noticed in sharing this book that people with CS2 will be quite comfortable following along. The author clears away whatever obstacles may come up for you.
One last note: I know the editorial review above says there are only 2 hours of video with the book, not 3 as I stated. I have no idea why they rounded off 2 hours and 54 minutes that way. I guess they figured, as I do, that the features of this book could be understated and still be worthy of superlatives.
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Book Review: Absolutely The Best Intro to CS3
Summary: 5 Stars
I've used several photo-editors such as Elements, Photo Impact, and the like, and read instructional books on these programs because frankly I was intimidated by the prospects of dealing with a massive photo-editor such as PhotoShop... However, after purchasing this book, I not only learned a wealth of background information on subjects such as histograms, color wheels and the like that other books just glossed over, but I gained a comprehensive 'way' to process my photos thru Photoshop. His grasp of the subject is incredible, pointing out the original darkroom origins of many of the photoshop functions he addresses. His instruction is not reduced to click this, then that, but moving thru many well-designed lessons that give you the REASONS why you use this function or that one, and WHY it does what does, and why you should make this change or that one based on a base understanding of the RGB origins of your photograph..
The three hours of video are tightly integrated into each lesson, then he walks you thru each of those areas step-by-step in the associated lesson.
Cannot adequately explain how impressed I have been with his attention to detail, how well organized his approach, how comprehensive are his lessons, and the depth of instruction interwoven in so well-conceived a lesson plan. This book simply 'ROCKS'.... But let me point out that of the many books I've purchased thru Amazon this is the FIRST book for which I've been moved to write such a glowing recommendation.
No book can you teach you everything, but his knowledge of the subject focuses your attention on the areas within Photoshop where most amateur photographers will spend the majority of their post processing time.
Cannot recommend this book too highly. Deke McClelland clearly is an expert in his field.
Book Review: Best Feature: Introduction to Bridge
Summary: 2 Stars
I've been using photoshop for years, mostly self taught. It's a good thing I do have experience with the application or I would have been lost several times using the book. Deke McClelland is most clear and thorough when explaining the Bridge. The more complex topics and functions seem to be beyond his writing capabilities (though I'm sure he knows how to use the actual functions).
What's not to like:
1. Wasted rhetoric on trying to be hip/cool/funny. After a while it's just annoying.
2. Special tips or techniques that are confusing or just plain wrong.
3. The explanations of paths is pathetic, but at least the author tells you that he turns to these tools as last resort (which would explain why he cannot explain them). Too bad some of us would like to know how to use them!
4. Explanation of more complex functions is minimal. Instead it's a color- or dance-by-numbers approach. Don't think, just do as I do.
What's to like:
1. The video introductions are good if incomplete. (The author encourages readers to access more complete videos for a fee at [...])
2. The intro to the Bridge is very helpful and clear.
3. The working files are nice, but there are almost too many samples. It would have been nice to walk the same selections through many stages -- for instance, the dome building in ch. 4 through all the selection tools.
Buy Top 100 Simplified Tips & Tricks by Lynette Kent to learn more in 1/10th of the time, for 1/4 the price.