Inside Adobe Photoshop 6 - Pasta blanda

Gary Bouton's learning methodology is set up to give you hands-on experience with Photoshop's features, using either the imagery created in the book, or the your own. Gary grounds you in the most practical and useful aspects of Photoshop-the real-world uses of this powerful program-before delving into the more complex, arcane, or esoteric uses of the program. Each chapter includes a balance of textual discussion, hands-on exercises, and review material, all written in Gary's highly praised style: compelling to more advanced users while never patronizing to the less experienced. The CD-ROM includes all exercise files used in the book so that you can follow the author exactly, duplicating everything discussed and shown in the book. The CD will also include numerous texture maps and custom photo art for use at your discretion; as well as filters and utilities; along with a digital computer graphics glossary compiled by the author and laid out in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

Intended for all audiences, the book starts by introducing the application from the ground up, paying special attention to its many new features. Liberal use of screen shots makes the book easy to follow, and many of the pictures are annotated, drawing attention to the feature or trick being discussed. As with most books of this size, though, the color images are limited to a gallery section in the middle. Even chapter 14, "Color Correcting and Exposure," is printed in black and white.

There are many useful examples throughout the book. "Creating Special Effects with Type" (chapter 13), "Repairing Heirloom Photos" (chapter 15), retouching with the clone stamp tool (chapter 17), and using shapes (chapter 12) are a few gems. Even if you've been using Photoshop for years, there will be a number of times when you read a trick and raise an eyebrow, thinking "Wow, I didn't know that!"

There are four main sections, beginning with an introduction to the basics, understanding color management, and acquiring and outputting images. Part II, "Digging Deeper," explores the real power under the hood--creating and using selections, creating layers to build images, and creating and using shapes. "Exploring the Cool Stuff," part III, offers some real-world examples on how to use color correction, how to use many of the available tools, and how to work with type.

Photoshop isn't the only application you get when you buy Photoshop, though. Adobe has been bundling ImageReady with it for some time now, and Photoshop 6 and ImageReady 3 make a powerful set of tools for Web artists. Because of this already large and growing market, part IV of this book, nearly a quarter of the whole, is all about ImageReady and how it interacts with Photoshop. Preparing images, creating image maps, and building rollovers are well covered. Even if you've never coded HTML in your life, ImageReady, Photoshop, and Inside Adobe Photoshop 6 make it easier than you can imagine.

The conversational style in the book also takes the edge off, making the whole matter of learning to use Photoshop much more approachable. For new and mid-level users of Photoshop, or even experienced users new to version 6, Inside Adobe Photoshop 6 makes a handy reference guide. --Mike Caputo