The Photoshop CS2 Book For Digital Photographers

In my recent effort to educate myself in matters of Photoshop CS2 I read in detail three books - Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Photographers by Martin Evening, Photoshop CS2 by Fraser & Blatner, and The Photoshop CS2 book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby. Of the three, I would rank the Evening and the Fraser & Blatner books as comprehensive books that, if the reader would fully understand all that was discussed, they would be considered a Photoshop Pro. The Kelby book I considered to be quite basic in that it covered only some of the principal topics and did so in an elementary fashion (it would take Kelby four pages with all his illustrations and stepwise instructions to cover what the other books might cover in one). I would recommend the Kelby book for a hobbyist that doesn't want to devote a lot of learning time and who wishes only a basic knowledge of Photoshop CS2 in order to occasionally turn out a nice image. I would recommend either of the other two books if one wants a mastery of what CS2 can really do. But, be warned that the subject is complex and will take a lot of time to learn. Of the two, Evening's book has the advantage in that it is a little less expensive, he includes a disk containing the images used in many of his tutorials so the reader can follow along with the same exercises, and because he is a fashion photographer many of his images are fashion shots of pretty women. The Fraser & Blatner book has the advantage of being somewhat larger and more complete and goes into deeper detail on some aspects of CS2. Both of these books have a high orientation to producing images for commercial press publication. I would recommend that if one wants to really learn CS2 they read both books, even though the same topics are covered in both, the subject is sufficiently complex it pays to learn it twice from perhaps somewhat different angles.

I did traditional darkroom photography for years before stepping into the digital world several years ago. This is the first truly useful book I've found about Photoshop. Instead of trying to describe individual functions in Photoshop (about as useful as painstakingly describing a fork while leaving it to you to figure out how to actually eat with it), it tells you how to actually do all sorts of common things that experienced photographers want to do, and know that there must be some way of doing, but just can't figure out. It is laid out like a cookbook. If you want to remove dark circles under the eyes, there's an entry for that in the table of contents. If you want to colorize hair, there's another entry, and on and on. Once you get to the actual discussion, the book tells you step-by-step, with lots of illustrations, how to do it. The book assumes you already know your way around photography, but that you don't know anything about Photoshop. The writing is engaging and often funny. The best chapter title (and it sums up my feelings exactly) is "Anger Management: Color Management Step by Step." Although I've now had a fair amount of Photoshop training from actual people, I think this book is clear enough that a Photoshop novice could use it alone and achieve competence.

I love all of Kelby's books, so I was very excited to read the latest for CS2. It is another great book if you don't already own some of his previous PS books. However, I found myself going over a bunch of tips and tricks that have been around in his past work. There are a few great things in the book, but I don't feel it justifies the purchase.

I was very disappointed. The book fails to explain the concepts of key areas like layers, and just gives the sequence of keystrokes to get something done (it is very hard in Photoshop, to extrapolate from sequence of keystrokes to understanding "complex" functionality). For some simple things is fine, but to empower you to further explore Photoshop is not enough. If you really want to understand Photoshop go somewhere else (I've bought a couple of more book to give them a try). By the way, don't expect anything fomr the Adobe users manual, it is a disaster.

I bought this book b/c all of the raving reviews here. I am deeply disappointed. The author tries to be funny on each and every page of this book, and he fails miserably. When reading it you cannot decide between getting angry or feeling sorry for him. In any case, you don't pay attention to Photoshop which is what you bought this book for.

Besides that, the text does not provide really useful details. details. For example, the section about color management hardly scratches the surface of this topic and is next to useless.

Instead of this book I highly recommend the "Real World" series by Bruce Fraser et al. and the (admittedly advanced) books of Katrin Eismann.

But do yourself a favour and avoid this book.

This book isn't a great general overview of Photoshops capabilities or a theoretical explantion to understand the underpinings of the program. I've bought books like that and still not known what is the best way to convert a color photo to black and white. This book provides an extensive list of real-world issues that photographers have to deal with using Photoshop and step-by-step ways to deal with those problems. It is perfect for those of you who want practical, usable advice to change and improve digital images using this extremely powerful, complex program and don't need to understand Photoshop theory.

It is well written, clear but dont be deceived by the 460 pages - it's padded out with unnecessary pictures and wording. For example, to describe resizing of an image takes THREE pages (p103-105) simply to say don't use the 'resample' option. Then again another TWO pages (p108-109) later on to simply say use 'bicubic sharper" when enlarging.

Again well laid out, but so stretched out.

This is not the biggest book on Photoshop, nor is it the most comprehensive. The author makes no pretense that he will cover every feature contained in the massive program known as Photoshop CS2. What he does attempt to do is identify tasks useful to digital photographers (and this includes film shooters who scan) and give step-by-step explanations to get them done. Most of the information is presented in a very task-oriented approach. The emphasis is squarely placed on giving you the tools to get things done quickly and efficiently. I find myself referring to this book often as I edit photos.

On the negative side, I wish that the author did not try to be funny on virtually every page of the book. Humor has gone from being unknown in how-to books to being painfully overused and this book is a prime example. If the "humor" were actually funny it would be one thing but it goes from being mildly cute the first couple of pages to just getting in the way and slowing down the flow of information without providing any real comedic relief.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. Mr. Kelby has done an excellent job organizing and presenting a useful guide to Photoshop CS2 and I commend him for that. With CS3 just around the corner, you may want to wait until you upgrade before buying this book, however... no doubt the author will have a new edition ready for sale as soon as CS3 hits the shelves.

This is a good book for a photographer looking to get into photoshop. It contains all the info needed to get up and rolling with the program. The book is, however, very basic and individuals with already decent Photoshop skills and ones who want all the details will be dissapointed.

On the positive side, Kelby presents techniques that are effective, real world and easy to follow. Among them, cropping based on the rule of thirds and finding a neurtal gray in a picture were tips I found particularly useful.

Potential negatives are the author's humor which is dispersed liberally throughout the book and the fact that there is little explanation provided with the techniques.

One technique I'd recommend to a potential reader who finds Kelby's brand of humor offensive/annoying is to ignore the book's intro and the intro to each chapter and about 90% of his "humor" is eliminated. This made my reading experience more enjoyable and productive.

This is the book to have next to you if you are doing digital photography and feel your images could stand improving, or ... even rescuing. I'm not a Photoshop practitioner or a very good photographer but I do know how to follow directions for tweaking and occasionally salvaging an image. And with sufficient successful rescues, I'm now feeling pretty comfortable with Photoshop and finding my results are really pretty decent. Kelby has a comfortable style and the book is laid out in a logical manner making even your first attempts rewarding. I have two other books on this same subject: one I haven't seen in months, and the other is in a stack somewhere awaiting the time when I can't get satisfactory results with this now dog-eared and well used book. So far, Kelby hasn't let me down. A suggestion if you do buy it or already own it - Keep it close by and refer to it often as I'm constantly discovering more gems of usefulness. I just love the "Advanced" technique for adjusting exposures that starts on page 218 - that alone salvaged many pictures from last Christmas that were underexposed by at least two stops due to a slow cycling flash unit and an impatient photographer. See, told you I wasn't a very good photographer. But with the help of this book, no one will ever know.