Customer Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Photoshop guide.
Comment: Anyone attempting to use Photoshop, especially first timers like me, probably discovers two things: (1) Photoshop is vast in its' capabilities, and (2)You may need someone to guide you through this excellent but complex program. Mr. McClelland's book is very readable and easy to understand, often funny, highly detailed, and very helpful. I have not yet mastered Photoshop, and I don't know if I ever will, but this book has been more than helpful. Highly recommended!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Frustrating how-to on Photoshop
Comment: I have two books on Photoshop. One is Inside Photoshop 5.5. It is somewhat entertaining (which is a bonus) and educational in a good way. What do I mean? It gives hands on tasks so you learn by doing (kinda like those ads for Devry Technical Institute). His explanations are short and right to the point. And almost every step seems to have a picture.
Now let's take this book. I'd like to use an example from an area I find difficult to understand; creating masks.He's walking you through creating a mask of a dinosaur skull (yuck). Anyway, in Step 2 he tells you to do this and that to delete the background. Then he states, "4. I painted inside the selection mask." Then he says that "Before I begin I do" such and such. In Step 5 he's applying a paintbrush to the edge of the image. Here's the problem. HE NEVER TELLS YOU HOW TO CREATE THE MASK. All of a sudden he's working on the mask, but how did he get there?
This is a big problem. A user manual should include all of the steps. That's not a minor complaint. Buy the other book, that is if there is a you, and I'm not the last person on earth using Photoshop 6!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Looks good but it is trouble
Comment: All in all, this is a usable book if you take the time to discover essential details that are missing. As you get into more sophisticated topics you find that about 10% of the procedures described in the book do not work. Essential steps, that could have been spelled out in a line of text, are missing and I have to experiment for close to an hour to discover what they are. The book is too verbose and could be condensed to half its size, with no loss of content. The humor is weak and adds nothing to the book; I never got a chuckle (and I like to laugh). There are no examples of creative use of Photoshop, even though this is why we want to learn the darn thing. I have used computers everyday since 1969, so I don't think that my troubles are caused by my ignorance. Unfortunately, I can't recommend a better book, since I stuck with this one and I managed to learn what I need. It is not a bad book to get you started,but you should look at other books before buying this one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Looks good but it is trouble
Comment: All in all, this is a usable book if you take the time to discover essential details that are missing. As you get into more sophisticated topics you find that about 10% of the procedures described in the book do not work. Essential steps, thate could have been spelled out in a line of text, are missing and I have to experiment for close to an hour to discover what they are. The book is too verbose and could be condensed to half its size, with no loss of content. The humor is weak and adds nothing to the book; I never got a chuckle (and I like to laugh). There are no examples of creative use of Photoshop, even though this is why we want to learn the darn thing. I have used computers everyday since 1969, so I don't think that my troubles are caused by my ignorance. Unfortunately, I can't recommend a better book, since I stuck with this one and I managed to learn what I need. It is not a bad book to get you started,but you should look at other books before buying this one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Looks good but it is trouble
Comment: All in all, this is a usable book if you take the time to discover essential details that are missing. As you get into more sophisticated topics you find that about 10% of the procedures described in the book do not work. Essential steps, thate could have been spelled out in a line of text, are missing and I have to experiment for close to an hour to discover what they are. The book is too verbose and could be condensed to half its size, with no loss of content. The humor is weak and adds nothing to the book; I never got a chuckle (and I like to laugh). There are no examples of creative use of Photoshop, even though this is why we want to learn the darn thing. I have used computers everyday since 1969, so I don't think that my troubles are caused by my ignorance. Unfortunately, I can't recommend a better book, since I stuck with this one and I managed to learn what I need. It is not a bad book to get you started,but you should look at other books before buying this one.
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