Adobe Photoshop Cs4 One-On-One
by Deke McClelland
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Book Summary Information
Author: Deke McClellandEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-10-28
ISBN: 0596521898
Number of pages: 544
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Book Reviews of Adobe Photoshop Cs4 One-On-One
Book Review: Excellent addition to a PSCS4 library
Summary: 5 Stars
In typical DekeMcClelland style, the step-by-step descriptions are detailed, understandable, and precise. This is not your typical Photoshop manual: it really reads like a well thought-out tutorial on how to use Photoshop CS4 capabilities in the context of a logical image correcting workflow. The prose is almost conversational, as though the reader was sitting in a workshop and the book was doing the talking. I think the procedures described and their order (Deke's prescribed PSCS4 workflow) is excellent.
The book comes with an excellent disc containing several hours of video tutorials from Lydia.com. These are very well done and complement the book beautifully. These are real, detailed tutorials and not snippets: you'll learn from them. Between the tutorials and the lessons in the book, I really felt like I'd gotten a "one-on-one" course in Photoshop, and my ability to edit photos was definitely improved. The discussions on masks and the uses of layers were terrific.
One-on-One is more of a series of detailed lessons than a reference book. I appreciated the clear descriptions of how tools worked and why the author chose particular sequences and ways of doing things. A small nit: while all tools and capabilities seem to be represented in the index, some corresponding techniques are not. For example, "free transform" is there, but "transform" is not.
I found many of the "Sidebar" comments--which are often 1-2 pages long--distracting. The problem isn't the content, which is invariably very useful: the problem is where the sidebars fall. Too often a sidebar will be placed between two pages of a detailed procedure or other discussion. I found this placement distracting. At other times, sidebars are politely placed between logical discussions and their pages referenced in the text. After encountering a number of distractingly placed sidebars, I found myself wishing that they'd been appended to the chapters and referenced appropriately.
As a long-time, "somewhere between beginner and intermediate" Photoshop user, I'd readily recommend this book to people new to image editing and to new PSCS4 users, even if you've used earlier versions of Photoshop. The book is written with a friendly, informative, and accessible style and the content should appeal to many beginning and intermediate Photoshop users.
Summary of Adobe Photoshop Cs4 One-On-One
Master the fundamentals of Photoshop CS4 and then some with One-on-One, Deke McClelland's unique and effective learning system. Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-on-One includes step-by-step tutorials, more than five hours of DVD-video demonstrations, and hands-on projects to help you improve your knowledge and hone your skills. Once you read about a particular technique, you can see how it's done first-hand in the video. The combination is uniquely effective.
Whether you're new to Photoshop or a creative professional interested in the groundbreaking features of CS4, Deke's conversational style and carefully structured lessons guide you easily through the program's fundamental and advanced concepts and techniques. More than 850 full-color photos, diagrams, and screen shots illustrate every key step. With this book, you will:
- Learn at your own speed with 12 self-paced tutorials
- Master Photoshop's workflow and file handling features
- Try out techniques and best practices with engaging real-world projects
- Discover how Bridge and Camera Raw can help you optimize digital photos
- Create beautiful multilayered documents, including posters and flyers
- Test your knowledge with multiple-choice quizzes in each chapter
And more. Written and produced by a Photoshop expert with well over 20 years of experience, Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-on-One simulates a classroom environment that provides one-on-one attention as you proceed from lesson to lesson. You'll learn to use Photoshop faster, more creatively, and more efficiently than you thought possible.
How can you master the fundamentals of Photoshop CS4, with all of its incredible features? Deke McClelland's proven One-on-One learning system offers step-by-step tutorials, five hours of DVD-video demonstrations, and hands-on projects to improve your knowledge and hone your skills. Read about features such as Photoshop's new Adjustments panels in the book, and see how they're used first-hand in the video.
Author Deke McClelland's Photoshop CS4 One-on-One Top Ten New Features Roundup
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9) The Adjustments palette. Nondestructive adjustment layers (which are independent layers of editable color adjustment) are now handled in a palette. Some folks will love the convenience, others will lament the many changes that were required to accommodate this feature. Mostly, though, the palette aggregates stuff that?s been there for ages. One new item, Vibrance, enhances color intensity without exaggerating noise.
8) The Masks palette. CS4?s other new palette is largely another aggregator, providing convenient access to old features. Three new items: The wonderful Color Range command can now directly generate masks. Color Range can see base colors based on proximity. And you can blur edges parametrically (meaning non-permanently, by the numbers).
7) The enhanced Bridge 3.0. The Bridge is CS4?s asset manager, permitting you to preview and organize your images. Auto-updating workspaces, a review mode complete with image carousel, full-screen preview, folder-independent image collections, and search-based smart collections are just a few improvements. Oh, and you can assemble multipage PDF contact sheets from the Output panel.
6) Improved toning tools. Paint with the dodge tool to lighten an image; paint with the burn tool to darken. Only thing, the tools used to suck. Now they?re so good, I actually use them on a regular basis. They?re still destructive (meaning they permanently change pixels), but in a good way!
5) Camera Raw 5. Essentially a logically organized and altogether independent color adjustment application, Camera Raw continues to be that top-secret tool that makes every version of Photoshop worth buying. This time, it offers the equivalent of nondestructive and highly customizable dodge and burn. Which you can apply as brushstrokes or gradients. Plus you can add vignettes inside crop boundaries. It?s like a free copy of Lightroom bundled inside every version of Photoshop. Which given that Lightroom costs more than a Photoshop upgrade, and this is just feature 5 of 10, is fairly significant.
4) Target adjustment tool. Associated with three color adjustments?Hue/Saturation, Black & White, and Curves?the target adjustment tool lets you selectively modify colors and luminance levels by dragging in an image. For example, drag on a model?s lips to boost their saturation. No need to isolate a hue range. Just drag. Honestly, if you aren?t loving this tool within a week, check to make sure you have a pulse.
3) The tabbed-window interface. This feature has already proved controversial, with a few noisy Macintosh users in particular voicing disapproval. But speaking as a cross-platform guy with a decidedly Mac bias, it?s a net-sum gain. You now have the option of docking every image in a tabbed window. Click a tab to switch documents. Drag a tab to reassign priority. Plus, you can drag-and-drop a layer onto a tab to move that layer from one image to another. The tabbed window interface is a masterpiece of design and a thing of beauty.
2) Content-aware scaling. Part of Adobe?s advance compositing suite, the Content Aware Scale command lets you stretch or squish low-contrast ?background? elements independently of high-contrast ?foreground? ones. Which means you can bring people together, turn horizontal images into vertical ones, and otherwise transform photographs intelligently. My guess: five years from now we?ll all be mocking this feature for what it got wrong. (The degree to which it can mess up certain images is fantastic!) But in the moment, you?re going to be singing its praises. This is Photoshop?s first truly magical feature since the magic wand. And that was 18 years ago, babies. (Okay, the healing brush was also magical. And that was, what, seven years ago? So we?re talking three magical features in two decades. Got to admit, magic is rare.)
1) OpenGL navigation. Forget all that other stuff. Seriously, content-aware scaling? As if. So far as I?m concerned, Photoshop CS4 offers one and only one new feature: OpenGL navigation. Assuming you have a video card that supports OpenGL (most do), then here?s what you get: Slow continuous zooms. Rotate the view. Get the hand tool, toss the image, and watch it sail across the screen. Hold down H and click and hold for bird?s eye. And by God if every zoom level isn?t a thing of bicubically rendered beauty. (No idea what I?m talking about? Trust me, huge.) OpenGL navigation is so good it makes me hate CS3. Some nights, OpenGL navigation and I open a bottle of wine and just talk about how lucky we are just to have met each other. It?s that good.
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