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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 006.686
EAN: 9780240520995
ISBN: 0240520998
Label: Focal Press
Manufacturer: Focal Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 424
Publication Date: 2007-12-10
Publisher: Focal Press
Studio: Focal Press
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:  
Summary: Great for the visual learner
Comment: In college I took a required course to learn what kind of learner I was. I thought it was stupid and didn't want to go. Everyone knows you learn by reading books. What I found out was that I had a much higher retention rate in the visual mode. Made college a lot easier. This book is a good example of a text for the visual learner. Very well laid out and paced.
My one complaint was that it was a bit skimpy on the Organizer. Many of us have a mess of photos that we need to organize. This organizer eliminates the need for sub-folder after sub-folder but the book does not highlight that strength nearly enough.
I highly recommend the book for the new-to-digital-photography set.
Customer Rating:
Summary: CD had a garbled/distorted audio during the tutorial.
Comment: ***THIS REVEW IS FOR THE CD ONLY***
I really like how the CD explains the PE 6. It shows the entire screen as it helps you through the tutorials. Very helpful to me, one who is new to the PE programs and requires an audio and moving visual way of learning.
The bad part is that the audio on the CD I received was garbled with a distorted sound throughout the disc. Some of the subheadings were worse than others as far as the audio distortion goes.
I contacted Focal Press, talked to a tech guy. He helped me try some things on my computer that did not end up helping with the audio trouble I had with this disc. Later he went over his copy, then emailed me to say that his copy was not effected. I returned my first copy, received a second and it did the same thing in the exact same places. So I returned the second copy as well.
Before returning the second copy, I even tried down loading the free quick time by Apple, which a website for another book had recommended for their audio trouble in hopes it would help this one. It did not help my CD trouble with this book. (I do not have any other trouble with audios with my computer from any other discs. Just the CD that came with this book.)
I then bought the book: How to Cheat in Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 for it's CD. I was disappointed with the only partial view of the screen. This was very limiting since it doesn't show where to click so you can try it for yourself.
If anyone has a tip on how I can get this CD to work on my PC (A Dell Inspiron 6400 please let me know so I can buy another book and try it again.) I learned several things on PE 6 software from the CD that came with this book but can't remember them all. The garble distortion was so annoying! Hopefully your disc will be fine.
(4 stars is for the CD only and it is missing a star due to the audio garble and distortion.)
Customer Rating:
Summary: A good introduction to the latest version of Elements
Comment: As the subtitle says, this is an introduction to Adobes' `junior' image editing application.
The book itself is well laid out, with sections ranging from introductions to digital photography and Elements itself to printing, file management and some simple projects.
It's a good book for dipping into - the sections are easy to navigate with a clear contents page and index to help you find your way around.
The graphics used throughout the book are clear and well laid out and illustrate the tools and techniques being described in the text. Screenshots are good and a reasonable size so you can see all the components of a tool or menu.
At the moment, it only covers the Windows version - there's no indication of what will happen when the Macintosh version is released later this month.
- All the keyboard shortcuts are for Windows, and the `Organizer' workspace is fairly extensively covered - the Mac version will use `Bridge' as featured in CS3, so a relatively major rewrite would be required.
However, for users of the previous Windows based Elements version, mention is made where appropriate to equivalent commands in v.5 along with indicators where a particular tool or technique is new to v.6. It should be just possible to apply some of the techniques to older versions of Elements, but I wouldn't recommend buying this book unless you already own or are intending to upgrade to Elements 6.
A CD is supplied with the book which has a number of video tutorials covering the new and updated features in v.6 and some of the projects featured in later sections in the book, along with resources for practising the more complex work-throughs - within the text, an indicator is used to show that content is available on the CD.
The author also has a web site including video podcasts, tutorials, and loads of additional resources, some for previous Elements versions.
I found this to be a very informative book with plenty of material for the new Elements user and a good all round introduction to digital imaging.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Useful, but somewhat disappointing
Comment: With reservations, I encourage you to get this book if you want to start learning how to use Photoshop Elements 6. The book provides a somewhat different perspective from the information available from the Help file and from Adobe's web site. Don't expect this book to provide the information you need to become a Photoshop Elements expert. Explore the Adobe web site to get that information.
The information in this book could, I think, have been more effectively presented if it had been subject to much better editing.
Unfortunately the book suffers from several problems. I find the author's writing style somewhat irritating. Sometimes he uses many words to say almost nothing. At other times, the author summarizes important matters that deserve detailed explanation in just a few words--I get the impression he couldn't be bothered to write adequate information.
The book omits information about some of Photoshop Element's useful capabilities.
The index is close to a disaster, probably because the index was created by a professional indexer on the publisher's staff who had little or no knowledge of photography.
The overall organization of the book could be much improved. There's a somewhat brief description of the Organizer in Chapter 3, with no reference (as far as I noticed) to much more information in Chapter 14.
The Jargon Buster section at the back of the book is totally inadequate; it minimally defines only a very few of the terms users need to understand.
Nevertheless, if you take the time to read through the book, you'll pick up a lot of useful tips about using Photoshop Elements.
Gordon Padwick
Customer Rating:
Summary: A great reference
Comment: Adobe PSE6 A Visual Reference to Digital Photography is a great reference book. Philip Andrews starts at the beginning - "what is digital photography and how does PSE6 help you manipulate digital images" and takes you all the way though the PSE tools to a final chapter usable project. And he does it it an easy to understand manner. Oh, did I mention the keyboard shortcuts appendix? This is a comprehensive book - highly recommended. No, I am not related to, nor have I ever met Mr. Andrews - I just really found this book useful.
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Editorial Reviews:
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If you are an amateur or professional photographer who works with digital images and wants great results fast, this essential, easy-to-follow guide from world-renowned Adobe Photoshop Elements expert Philip Andrews is for you!
There are countless ways to use Adobes powerful Elements 6 software, and Andrews helps you with the skills to conquer them all; from turning ordinary photos into extraordinary scrapbooks, calendars, and albums to making business cards, flyers, and other promotional materials for your organization quickly and economically. Real-life examples and precise, easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions will help you get up to speed with Elements 6 fast for the results you want in no time, whether your photographs are from your digital camera or scanned images from film and slides.
If its in Elements, its in this book. Andrews covers tried and true tools which have been revamped to better suit photographers needs, such as the Adjust Color Curves and Convert to Black and White features, the Brightness/Contrast feature, and a smoother workflow for the creation of photo projects such as Photo Books, Photo Collage, Online Galleries, CD/DVD Jackets, and CD/DVD Labels. He also dives into the exciting, all-new features of Elements 6 such as:
*The Quick Selection Tool
*Fantastic Photomerge technology for group shots and faces, which lets you combine the best pieces from multiple images
*Direct copy to CD/DVD to speed up your workflow when you need to copy several images to disc quickly
*The Guided Edit Workshop with interactive technique tutorials
*Smart Albums, to automatically add photos that match certain criteria to your Album
*The Refine Edge feature, which allows you to control how smooth or feathered the edges of your images appear
*A Task Pane with five different Task Modes (Organize, Fix, Create, Share and Edit) to help you manage the processing of your images
and much, much more.
Whatever your organizing, editing, creating, and sharing needs are, youll find clear-cut, no-nonsense answers in this introductory book/CD/website learning package. If you find yourself getting stuck, Philip is just a click away with over two hours of superb video tutorials on the included CD. Or, visit the books website, www.guide2elements.com, for updates and more images that you can use to practice your new skills.
Written by a photographer for photographers, this book is for those who want to know the techniques that get results and can be put into practice immediately.
*Best-selling author and world-renowned Elements expert Philip Andrews guides you through the latest and greatest features in this incredible software with easy-to-follow, precise step-by-step instructions
*Think again before you hit that delete button - beautiful, full color images show you how to rework ordinary shots into extraordinary pieces of art
*Begin practicing your new skills immediately with over TWO HOURS of superb video tutorials included on the CD
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