Great Combination of Book and Video Instruction

The first thing that you will like about this book and CD is what a good job the author, Deke McClelland, does at teaching you Adobe Photoshop CS. McClelland has produced the best combination of book and video instruction that I have found so far. This book is meant for the beginner to intermediate Photoshop user, but the beginner is the one who benefits the most from his type of instructional approach. I don't know how many books about Photoshop I have reviewed where the author spent the first third of the book introducing and describing the interface, tools and commands. Of course, any book worth buying must have this information, but that doesn't make reading and understanding it any easier; and staying awake while doing so is almost impossible. However, McClelland includes twelve in-depth, eight to twelve minute instructional "classroom" videos for you to watch before tackling the printed word. As any educator will tell you, this is the best way to learn something new.

After viewing the video lesson, you are ready for the accompanying chapter in the book and McClelland does a terrific job at step-by-step instruction with full-color images that show the steps in progression. McClelland not only tells you how to do something but, more importantly, he also gives you the why. He then has you apply your newly acquired knowledge to a real-world project (sample files are included on the CD) to help you "learn by doing". Finally, at the end of each chapter there is a quiz. Below are the highlights of what the book is all about.

*Open and Organize -- File management, File Browser, open an image, organize files, batch processing, how to print a contact sheet

*Highlights, Midtones, and Shadows -- Brightness/Contrast, levels, curves, Shadow/Highlight, how to solve common problems and in what order to make these adjustments

*Correcting Color Balance -- Variations, Hue/Saturation, how to work with Camera Raw

*Making Selections -- Lasso, magic wand, pen tool, how to make a rough or a precise selection

*Crop, Straighten and Size -- Transform image, crop, rotate, straighten, what is the difference between resize and resample

*Paint, Edit and Heal -- Painting and retouching, paint brush, healing brush, color replacement, all about the Photoshop brushes

*Creating and Applying Masks -- Masking functions, Color Range, Extract, quick mask, how to achieve a professional-quality mask

*Adjusting Focus -- Unsharp mask, Gaussian blur and other filters

*Building Layered Compositions -- Layers and layer comps, blending options, how to use the Layers palette

*Text and Shapes -- Text and shape layers, type and shape tools, how to use text wrap

*Layer Styles and Adjustments -- Special effects, working with more than one style on a layer

*Printing and Output -- Print functions, Print with preview, how to convert from RGB to CMYK format for professional printing

Deke McClelland is a popular author and a member of the PhotoshopWorld Instructor Dream Team. He is also a contributing editor to Macworld and Photoshop User.

An Excellent Tutorial on Photoshop CS

Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-one gives a solid introduction to using Photoshop. It's aimed at graphic artists, designers, photographers, students and teachers of Photoshop who want to edit and work with the imaging software.

McClelland employs a "read, watch, do" method of learning. First, you read an introduction to the lesson and what you are about to learn. You then watch a training video where McClelland shows you the techniques in Photoshop. Finally, you practice them yourself by following along the step-by-step exercises with the supplied practice files. The lessons end with a "what did you learn" summary in the form of a matching quiz. Throughout the book are "Pearls of Wisdom" that tell you the "whys" of what are you are doing, giving you greater insight on how a function works and providing a context for the lesson.

The lessons are well laid out with many clear photos demonstrating the techniques you are learning and the results you are trying to achieve. The video lessons are useful and informative and blend well with each lesson. Each lesson is filled with information, so whether you are a beginner or have been using Photoshop for a while, you will learn something new. From the very first lesson you learn information that can apply to your own work, will have you producing better looking images and improve your workflow. Overall, Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-one is a great tool for delving into the wonders of Photoshop and learning how to make your images look better using Photoshop and be more productive while doing it.

Great for several types of users

Reviewed by member, J. Rollins

This book is geared towards three audiences: the graphic artist, designer, and photographer. The professional or amateur Photoshop user will like this book also. It is a hands on, go at your own pace kind of book. I am looking at this book from a photographer's point of view. I have yet to find a single book on Photoshop that is all things to all people; but this book comes closer than most!

Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-One is organized into twelve sections, each made up of several step-by-step lessons. Each lesson has a corresponding video lesson which helps introduce key concepts needed to complete the exercises.

At first I was a little taken aback when I realized that one must use Deke McClelland's preference settings in order do the lessons. An experienced Photoshop user may be perfectly happy with his or her Photoshop settings. Well don't worry. You can automatically restore your original preferences, if desired, after completing the lessons. Deke's Preferences button automatically backs up your preferences before it installs new ones.

The book is a little overwhelming for the Photoshop beginner. But if you just take it one step at a time your efforts will be rewarded. The keyboard shortcuts are one of Deke's speciatilites and will help speed up your workflow. Even the old time Photoshop users have much to gain. The depth of information in this book is inspiring and will be of help to anyone regardless of your Photoshop skills.

I especially like the way this book explains how to organize the File Browser. The File Browser is a full-blown image manager and Deke offers several valuable suggestions that will help improve your experience using it. It should be noted that the File Browser is not a cataloging utility, so you can't use it to generate independent indexes of vast image libraries. It is possible however to print a catalog of thumbnails after you back up your images to a CD or other media and then put it in a binder or CD sleeve.

The Shadow/Highlight filter makes it worthwhile upgrading to Photoshop CS alone. This is a dream filter for photographers. Again, Deke does an excellent job of explaining how this valuable filter works.

Sharpening an image is probably one of the most confusing issues one faces as a photographer. Deke does a good job in explaining several ways to sharpen an image. Yet, some of his examples are so outside of what the average photographer would encounter that I can't help wonder if what he has accomplished is simply to overwhelm some readers.

The last section of the book is about printing to an inkjet printer. The problem I have is that if one follows Deke's printing steps, you will be telling Photoshop, and the Epson 1280 printer he is using in his example, to also colors manage the printing job. This is often referred to as `double color management'. I have never been able to get a good print using the `double color management' scenario. I am currently the owner of two Epson printers, the 1280 and 2200. Over the years, I have owned seven Epson printers; I know how to get a good print out of an Epson printer. In fact, Russell Brown, the Senior Creative Director at Adobe Systems Inc., specifically warns against the `double color management' scenario on his web site.

Nevertheless, Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-One is one heck of a book. There is so much more to this book than was discussed in this very brief review. This is worthwhile reading.