The book
is structured as a series of lessons that teach progressively
more advanced Photoshop features by working on real projects.
The source images are provided on the companion CD. Even
if you choose not to do every exercise, it is easy to follow
along with the lavish color screen shots that illustrate
every step. “Pearls of wisdom” are scattered
throughout that provide tips from Deke’s vast reservoir
of knowledge and experience.
Lesson
1 covers opening, browsing and organizing Photoshop files,
including creating an online slide show. Lesson 2 introduces
powerful image correction tools such as brightness and
contrast, levels and curves, and explains channels and
histograms. Lesson 3 delves into color correction, including
hue, saturation and colorizing.
Once
you have the ability to adjust the entire photo to perfection,
the fun starts. Lesson 4 covers the various ways to make
selections, and then focuses on combining the selections
with other images. Lesson 5 is all about cropping, straightening
and sizing, with a very understandable explanation of how
these transformations affect the image’s pixels.
For photographers
who want to push Photoshop’s creative side, Lesson
7 covers creating and applying masks and what you can do
with them. Sharpness and blurring is the topic of Lesson
8. Lesson 9 explains how to build layered compositions
and manage them. In Lesson 10 you will learn how to add
type and vector-based shapes to your images. Lesson 11
introduces some cool special effects.
Finally,
Lesson 12 explains how to print your masterpieces. This
includes discussions on RGB versus CMYK, inkjet printing,
commercial reproduction and how to achieve the best quality
no matter how you choose to output.
The exercises
included with each lesson are interesting and fun to do.
The end result is almost always something you can be proud
to say you created.
Because
it is comprehensive, this book will take a lot of time
to get through. Just take it at your own pace or skip to
the parts that interest you most. Deke’s wit, literary
allusions and breezy writing style help turn a cumbersome,
complicated and sometimes mysterious computer application
into a tamable beast. If you do venture into the world
of Photoshop with Deke as your guide, you will emerge a
powerful image warrior. Recommended.
