Rating: 
Summary: Not a good book for Beginners at ALL or Maybe Anyone
Review: I took this book out at the library and was surprised after reading other quickstart guides - what a disorganized mess it is! The headings don't even stand out (they are barely larger than the type) and there is so much information packed into the book with very little white space, quite frankly, it's overwhelming. The authors clearly know a lot but the way the information is presented really needs work! Each chapter begins with a paragraph telling you what you will learn in this chapter, similar to a training guide. Whereas other visual quickstart guides followed more of a reference style where you could decide the task you wanted to do and look up the procedure in the book, this book isn't sure whether it's a training guide or a reference guide, as it tries to be both and fails miserably. Although it pretends to be a training guide by its introduction "In this chapter, you will learn..." everything that follows is not training guide material - it kind of drops you in the middle of all this text from the next page onward and leaves you sitting there wondering what happened and where the guide went! So basically, it is a reference, guide, albeit a poor one. The biggest problem is, each section is not clearly delineated within the text so if you don't want to read every page(how many people do want to read every page of a reference book? but you want to learn how to place an image into photoshop for example (one of the things you will learn in chapter 3) - you really have to DIG around the chapter to find it. In this book, all the information is buried within other information. Very poor organization and too confusing for me. I am a tech writer and I am so glad I didn't buy this book!!
Rating:
Summary: Not a good book for Beginners at ALL or Maybe Anyone
Review: I took this book out at the library and was surprised after reading other quickstart guides - what a disorganized mess it is! The headings don't even stand out (they are barely larger than the type) and there is so much information packed into the book with very little white space, quite frankly, it's overwhelming. The authors clearly know a lot but the way the information is presented really needs work! Each chapter begins with a paragraph telling you what you will learn in this chapter, similar to a training guide. Whereas other visual quickstart guides followed more of a reference style where you could decide the task you wanted to do and look up the procedure in the book, this book isn't sure whether it's a training guide or a reference guide, as it tries to be both and fails miserably. Although it pretends to be a training guide by its introduction "In this chapter, you will learn..." everything that follows is not training guide material - it kind of drops you in the middle of all this text from the next page onward and leaves you sitting there wondering what happened and where the guide went! So basically, it is a reference, guide, albeit a poor one. The biggest problem is, each section is not clearly delineated within the text so if you don't want to read every page(how many people do want to read every page of a reference book? but you want to learn how to place an image into photoshop for example (one of the things you will learn in chapter 3) - you really have to DIG around the chapter to find it. In this book, all the information is buried within other information. Very poor organization and too confusing for me. I am a tech writer and I am so glad I didn't buy this book!!
Rating: 
Summary: Its pretty good stuff
Review: I've never used Photoshop 5.5 before, but with this book, I managed to learn a lot. Now, I know previous reviews gave it lower stars, but I suppose each reader is different. The book goes thru gracefully the Photoshop IDE and tools to start off. Then it talks abt RGB, ICC, and some colour related stuff, then goes on to layers and diff. effects. Throughout the book, pictures make explainations easier to understand, so that you're not lost. I'm halfway thru the book, and its been a pretty good read for me. I do agree with some of the points made in earlier reviews, but having to fulfill those needs, require a very much thicker book, and frankly speaking, there aren't many thick books which really help. This book is good in a sense that it builds fundamental Photoshop knowledge for you to use so that you can further explore beyond the book when you're finished. I'll be getting the Photoshop 5/5.5 Wow! book next when I'm done. So, all in all, in my opinion, I would recommend this book to all non-Photoshop users. It's very affordable, illustrative, not exactly comprehensive (but its good enough) and won't leave you half-done.
Rating:
Summary: Barely adequate
Review: If you don't have the Photoshop manual (hmmm, why would that be???), you'll find this book quite useful. However, if you have the manual, you're better off passing on this and picking up something with more depth, like Realworld Photoshop.
Rating: 
Summary: Clear, complete, easy to use.
Review: If you don't have the Photoshop user manual, this book is the next best thing. Each of Photoshop's many features is clearly explained in thorough, illustrated, step-by-step instructions. The large index and well-organized table of contents makes it easy to find the information you need quickly, and the price makes it the best bargain in town. Other books on Photoshop may focus on special effects or professional-strength production techniques, but this one is a serious nuts and bolts guide that any Photoshop user (novice through pro) will find useful.
Rating:
Summary: Not a "how-to"
Review: It's true what other reviewers have said. this book will NOT teach you how to use Photoshop or how to do cool stuff with it or how to get the most out of it. But what it will do is put the complicated menus, commands, keyboard shortcuts, etc of this fabulous but MASSIVE program at your fingertips in a way that is easy to search and find what you need. I think Adobe's user guide that comes with the program is poorly written and organized. If you're opening PS for the first time, just clicking on the menus is a daunting task and Adobe's guide doesn't really help. This VQS guide from Peachpit will help you make sense of basic commands, where things are and how to get to them. It makes the groundwork of the program easier to understand. Keep it by your side as you need to find a command or a shortcut as you work through one of the mnany great tutorial books out there which this is not. I guess in a nutshell, get this book if Adobe's documentation is clear as mud to you as it was to me. It's the user's manual you probably need. But don't get it if you're looking for a tutorial book that will help you make an actual picture with PhotoShop. The nuts and bolts of the program are here in a very clear, easy to find your way around format but it will not sub for a tutorial book.
Rating:
Summary: Long on detail, short on pedagogy
Review: The words "teach yourself Photoshop" on the cover of Weinmann and Lourekas are apt, however I would disagree with the words which follow -- "the quick and easy way." The problem is that while the text is comprehensive in its cataloguing of the details of this complex program, there is almost no attempt to rely on guidance or even logical organization of material to help the novice navigate through the learning process. The first sentence of the book is telling: "To choose a tool whose icon is currently visible, click once on its icon. Press and drag to choose a hidden tool from a pop-out menu. Or choose a tool using its shortcut (study the next two pages)." No attempt is made to explain when and why you would use a tool, what function tools play in the process of manipulating an image, how the toolbox fits in with the program as a whole, what photoshop is used for. The rest of the book follows a similar pattern in providing disparate lists of functions and how they work without setting a context for when and why they would be employed. It is as though the authors are phobic of excess verbiage and in love with sparceness. So I would not recommend this book to someone just starting out with photoshop, but more as a reference book for looking up details of the program and learning how they work. I don't doubt that you can "teach yourself photoshop 5.5" from this book, but I would have liked a little more assistance from the authors.
Rating:
Summary: Long on detail, short on pedagogy
Review: The words "teach yourself Photoshop" on the cover of Weinmann and Lourekas are apt, however I would disagree with the words which follow -- "the quick and easy way." The problem is that while the text is comprehensive in its cataloguing of the details of this complex program, there is almost no attempt to rely on guidance or even logical organization of material to help the novice navigate through the learning process. The first sentence of the book is telling: "To choose a tool whose icon is currently visible, click once on its icon. Press and drag to choose a hidden tool from a pop-out menu. Or choose a tool using its shortcut (study the next two pages)." No attempt is made to explain when and why you would use a tool, what function tools play in the process of manipulating an image, how the toolbox fits in with the program as a whole, what photoshop is used for. The rest of the book follows a similar pattern in providing disparate lists of functions and how they work without setting a context for when and why they would be employed. It is as though the authors are phobic of excess verbiage and in love with sparceness. So I would not recommend this book to someone just starting out with photoshop, but more as a reference book for looking up details of the program and learning how they work. I don't doubt that you can "teach yourself photoshop 5.5" from this book, but I would have liked a little more assistance from the authors.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This a great book for people to learn the ins and outs of PhotoShop 5.5.
Rating:
Summary: The best PhotoShop resource for the new or upgrading user.
Review: This book presents essential information in many forms: by function, by location, etc. The good index makes information easy to find. The easy to read style allows quick perusal for powerful user tips.
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