Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-On-One
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Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-On-One
by Authors:
Deke McClelland
Released: 25 July, 2005
ISBN: 0596100965
Paperback
Sales Rank: 3758
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List price:
$39.95
Our price:
$26.37
(You save: $13.58)
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| Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-On-One > Features: |
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| Book > Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-On-One > Customer Reviews: |
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Average Customer Rating: 
Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-On-One >
Customer Review #1:
 extremely clear and helpful
Im taking an online Photoshop class that uses this book and DVD as the main text. I am finding the videos and step-by-step instructions very clear and helpful. One ding is the index, which is terrible, but aside from that, this is an excellent PS reference.
Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-On-One >
Customer Review #2:
 Failed me miserably; all wrong for amateur photographers , maybe great for graphic design people
I wanted to love this book after all the glowing reviews. If I were a graphic designer or web designer who needed most of all to learn how to make flashy, unrealistic photo collages, then Id definitely love it.
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lt;br /gt;But I read it aa a conventional amateur photographer struggling to understand the *core processes* in Photoshop that parallel the physical darkrooms of yore. What I needed -- looking back now -- was a simple, straightforward explanation of how to harness the power of nondestructive editing and blended layers to create the perfectly adjusted photograph.
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lt;br /gt;For me, for that purpose, it failed miserably.
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lt;br /gt;For example, the crucial concept --for photographers -- of an _adjustment layer_ is not introduced until page 407 (!) where it appears only as an afterthought. Adjustment layers are a central concept for conventional photographers.
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lt;br /gt;When I read this book as a rank beginner, not knowing which Photoshop concepts and procedures were most important for photographers, I dutifully read the book from beginning to end, wasting a ton of time learning things no conventional photographer needs to know (like how to make a billboard, how to turn a picture of a kid into a comic book illustration, how to create a cover for a murder mystery novel, ad nauseum.)
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lt;br /gt;Sadly, when McClelland finally gets around to adjustment layers, he STILL doesnt deliver the goods. Rather than a straightforward example of how to use them to optimize a normal photograph, he wanders back off into yet another cutesy collage project.
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lt;br /gt;Through most of the book, layers of any kind are only mentioned offhandedly, and not clearly defined or exemplified until near the end.
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lt;br /gt;Id give this four stars for how clearly McClelland explains the topics he covers in the most detail, but unfortunately, those topics are not the material a conventional photographer needs to know.
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lt;br /gt;So for me, it amounted to a HUGE waste of effort and time.
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Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-On-One >
Customer Review #3:
 Dissapointed
As an amateur photographer and a novice Photoshop user I was looking for a book that would introduce me to this wonderfully obtuse and powerful program. After reading the mostly positive reviews on this site and others, I was confident that I had found the "one". However, my initial assumption was misguided. This book has a couple of serious and some minor flaws that make it impossible for me to recommend it to others making their first foray into PS.
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lt;br /gt;On the positive side, the author effectively demonstrates how to use the program and the follow along exercises allow the student become proficient at the mechanical aspects of the program. The introductory videos are adequate and preview the upcoming chapters successfully. The book is nicely illustrated and well laid out. A good variety of topics are covered and an accompanying exercise is included with each (some of these are quite complex, particularly for a beginner). The language used is straightforward and the overall tone of the book is positive and encouraging.
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lt;br /gt;So what you ask are the negatives. My learning style dictates that I attain some level of understanding of the material being presented to gain even a moderate amount of mastery. To do this, I often need to see the big picture. Demonstrating how all the minutiae fit together is a key. Another factor is my understanding of the underlying processes. The more comfortable I am with these processes the easier it is to apply the learned knowledge. In both areas, the author is not successful. Although the book and videos cover lots of information the author doesnt show how to concisely integrate this information nor does he explain how he achieves a lot of the results seen in the book (which look wonderful). Instead of explanations the reader is told to move this percentage here and that dial there etc. The masking and layers chapters are particularly frustrating as the author assumes the reader has grasped the fundamentals in both areas and presents projects that are aimed more at an intermediate user than a novice. Another gripe, albeit a minor one, is that the book tends to focus primarily on graphic design and minimally on photography .
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lt;br /gt;The author has a more comprehensive training series and I feel that this book is just a watered down version of that. For photographers interested in learning Photoshop CS2 there are much better choices out there that address the above issues. Photoshop CS2 Studio Techniques by Ben Wilmore is one of my favorites.
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Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-On-One >
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