Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-On-One

If you work with Adobe Photoshop, you've already tasted how powerful a graphics tool it can be. Universally recognized as the standard for image editing and production, Photoshop is used by close to 20 million people worldwide. But how many can say they've fully tapped its vast functionality?

Whether you're a first-timer looking to learn Photoshop, or a seasoned Photoshopper interested in the cool new features of CS2, Deke McClelland's Adobe Photoshop CS2 One on One will have you completing rewarding projects in no time at all. A Photoshop expert, sought-after computer graphics and design lecturer and author of over 70 books, Deke brings his passion and easy, conversational style to the new edition of his bestselling Photoshop tutorial, updated for CS2.

A straightforward, step-by-step guide to the features and functions of Photoshop-with plenty of real-world projects and insider tips applied along the way-Adobe Photoshop CS2 One on One also covers the new features of CS2 in depth, including Adobe Bridge, the new file browser that makes it possible to process multiple images at once. Learn how to use new workflow and file handling features, how to batch process digital camera raw files, search metadata, quickly review images in Slideshow mode, and much more.

If that sounds like Greek to you, don't worry. Deke uses highly effective One-on-One teaching methods and creates a classroom environment that combines written instruction with more than two hours of video training (provided on DVD). As host of the "Best of Photoshop" disk that ships with every Photoshop order, he's uniquely qualified to present the material in this dynamic, interactive format. Whatever your skill level, Adobe Photoshop CS2 One on One will soon have you speaking fluent Photoshop CS2.

Customer Reviews:

A very good teacher and professional wrote this book.
Reading this book for a beginner is like taking Adobe Photoshop CS2 class with a very good teacher and professional. My wife is a second-generation teacher. So I have good understanding what is a difference between a teacher and just a professional. The book is written in such specific and brilliant pedagogical manner when the teacher is always behind your shoulder when needed but not limiting or restricting your study. Feeling of high-level professionalism and confidence in teacher's knowledge you will get from practical discussions. For example there is not only complete description of each tools but also a practical discussion when and how to use each tool, their limitation and advances. This book is like good teacher, who will advice you and provide guidance for a long time after you finish the class.
--2006-12-12

Great with a few minor glitches
The good news:

The book is set up along basic activities you need to do (move an object to a different background, fix color and contrast settings, paste a logo on a 3-D object, etc.) rather than a boring software manual ticking of the functions one by one.

The author has a great sense of humor

The book looks fantastic

It comes with lots of prepared practice files on a CD.

The glitches:

The free training DVD is very useful but crashes many times on my PC, even after installing all updates. A shame.

Another IT issues, getting the author's preferred settings installed on my PC took some effort

The author uses a lot of short-cuts for functions, I would have preferred to introduce functions with the proper menus. Readers can move on to short cuts themselves when they have mastered the basics.

All in all an excellent book, which got me from 0 to using Photoshop frequently for my client presentations.
--2006-11-18

Had trouble downloading the customized settings
Using this book and CD-ROM depends upon being able to download the customized settings, so that the reader's PhotoShop, for example, behaves the same way as the author's PhotoShop. However, my system repeatedly hung up on that section of the download from the CD-ROM. Furthermore, this author doesn't start at a "dummies" level by defining the terms that he uses throughout the lessons, so I had trouble following along. Overall, this wasn't much help for me in my quest to learn PhotoShop from a baseline of complete ignorance.
--2006-11-02

An excellent instructional text despite some annoyances
I bought this text to help me move from Photoshop Elements to Photoshop CS 2. It's an excellent tool for that purpose, or for someone who's moving up from another "consumer" image editing package. There are a few annoying problems at the beginning, which is the worst place for them to be, so it doesn't get 5 stars.

The included CD is supposed to install 3 sets of files. On my PC (with Windows XP SP2) the 2nd set failed to install. A troubleshooting guide on the CD refers you to a web site, where there's a patch and instructions. (so it's not an uncommon problem.) The instructions don't match what you need to do to install the patch, and the patch doesn't install one group of files for color settings. You can do that manually if you know how. One you get to use them, these tools and the included CD are very useful, and the videos are as good as the author claims. But this is a shoddy way to start an instructional text that begins by bragging how good its CD-based training tools are.

The intro comes across as condescending. The author starts by saying you don't have to be afraid of Photoshop. Well really - I'm not, so get on with it, please! Finally, on page 10, the author does get to work and - surprise! - the instructions are clear and explained logically, the text is augmented with numerous useful illustrations, the color reproductions are accurate and very useful, and you can learn a lot by following the lessons closely. The CD has videos that go along with the lessons in the text and it includes photos for you to modify, so you learn by doing. (You get the most from the book by following the lessons and by using the photos on the included CD. If you just read the book you won't absorb nearly as much practical know-how.)

When each tool is explained, there's a good explanation of the tool's options. So even though you may get only a single lesson with a tool like "Lens Blur", there's enough information for you to figure out how you could adjust the options in your own work. If you take the time to play abit with the options yourself, you'll see how they work on the images used in each lesson. Thus it's an effective package for the basics and a bit beyond, which is about as much as you can expect in a single book.

One concern about content: even allowing for the fact that the book is aimed at someone who's not highly experienced, the explanations of color theory -- channels and the color wheel -- should be earlier in the text, ideally right at the beginning, and perhaps in a bit more depth.

Despite the complaints, it's worth repeating that this is a very solid instructional text. It takes time to go through the lessons, but if you use the included CD you'll get good practice using the most important of CS2's amazingly rich toolset.

--2006-10-30

outstandingphotoshop text
This is the best [photoshop book I've read It is a good read; and a handy resourceany one could better wotrk phtshp with Deke's approach! a worthy investment of time &$
--2006-10-29

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