Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: He has done it again
Comment: I have just finished the first eight lessons and find it most informative and have picked up many points that make CS3 the best yet. The lessons take you to areas that you have used only a little or maybe not at all and make you want to keep digging deeper into the program. As for the humer, that's Scott and for those who don't like it that's called Too Bad. This is a new way of teaching and I think it's great.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A digital darkroom compass.
Comment: I have read Mr Kelby's boks guiding folks like myself working with Adobe digital editing software beginning with my first purchase to help me with Elements 2 or 3. To put it simply, this is the book that surpasses his previous works (and the works of other fine writers with similar purpose guiding photographers through Adobe software) to a substantial level of effectiveness in purpose. Each title I have read and used has helped. This book works better for me by taking the software and pointing to some fundamental pieces of digital editing that helps transform an image into its greatest potential, as art. It is not replication of the 21 lessions that count toward this achievement, it is the use of the 7 points as needed with a photograph (continuously stated by Kelby in this and his other books...other authors in this medium I've read as well) that make this work so valuable. I just had not "gotten it" as clearly until now.
Mr. Kelby has always helped in his previous works. Adobe, for that matter, has always been working to make their software more helpful to the photographer and the graphic artist. Kelby has poured forth an excellent piece of help with his "7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3" book.
I recommend it highly.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: The "System" is not much of a system
Comment: The main problem with this book is that "The system" is not much of a system. The author doesn't follow a consistent approach for every photo. He shows you steps that work for his specific photos in the book but doesn't really explain why. With his 7 techniques he sometimes skips or changes the order of one of them but doesn't really tell you why. For example, for colors adjustments, sometimes he uses Lab Color Mode, sometimes he does it in Camera Raw and sometimes he fixes it with the Hue/Saturation command. Since not much explanation is given, I don't know what is the best method to use for my own photos. So in the end, without the explanation of why, you do learn 7 techniques you could use but don't which ones to use, the workflow order, or even the values to set each parameter. I did get some results but it was most trial and error and a lot of guessing...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Scott Kelby's Lucky 7 (Photoshop 7-Point System)
Comment: Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3: The seven key techniques for taking your images from flat to fantastic.
Ok, the alliteration aside, Scott Kelby has thrown down the gauntlet by challenging his readers to go through his new book, ... The 7-Point system, from cover to cover, and leave the experience able to transform any reasonable image into something they'd be proud to show their mother, friends and fellow photographers. And, yes, Scott says, right up front, that for this book to work--that to be able to develop the skills and confidence to rescue photos previously doomed to the digital trash bin--readers are going to have to go through all of the book's 21 lessons, download the corresponding photos from the book's Web site and actually do each recommended step in the lesson exercises.
Now remember, we're nominally talking about learning just seven Photoshop skills over the book's 263 pages; so the real question becomes not can Scott fulfill his promise to make the reader a much better (and faster) Photoshop user, but can he do it without boring the reader out of his or her skull? Having read the book, done the exercises and been very pleased at the results, I feel the answer is definitely "yes."
Fortunately, Scott's sense of humor, his tendency to add significant "extras" to the seven steps and his excellent book illustrations actually may make his readers wish there was a chapter 22 (or 23). I don't think it's giving away too much of the book's value to list the seven areas where Scott helps reader build up their knowledge and skills: Processing in Camera Raw*; Using Curves; Applying the Shadow/Highlight Tool; Painting With Light and Darkness; Using Channels to Make Adjustments; Using Blend Modes and Layer Masks; and Applying Sharpening. Along the way Scott will help the reader build Photoshop actions for repetitive tasks, turn the LAB mode from mysterious to user-friendly and bring the often overlooked (read that as studiously ignored) Apply command into the limelight.
Although Scott does his usual excellent job of explaining each concept and step along the way, I was glad I already had familiarity with Photoshop tools, layers, masks and channels. It made it much easier for me to jump right into working with the image of Lesson 1.
I do recommend Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3; but with this proviso: This is not a skim-it-and-put-it-on-the-shelf book; it's a hands-on set of detailed lessons that will generously reward anyone who makes the effort to do the work.
* For those readers who already own Adobe Lightroom, the Raw processing steps listed in the book can be done in that program rather than Adobe Camera Raw.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The best way to learn
Comment: The only thing I don't like about this book is also what makes it so great. It is straight forward and to the point, and there is not a lot of in depth explanation on why you are doing each step. Of all the books I have ever bought on Photoshop, I was able to get through this book the fastest because I didn't have to spend a lot of time absorbing theories and principles. But even though Scott doesn't do a lot of explaining, he makes you follow his steps over and over again so that you eventually learn the theories and principles and the "whys" through experience. And that's really the best way to learn. By the end of this book you will have followed his steps so many times it will become second nature. I have found myself using these techniques in my work without even thinking about them. Invaluable!
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