Ever since Photoshop version 2.5, The Photoshop Wow! Book has enlightened and inspired graphic designers, illustrators, and photographers around the globe.  This newest edition delivers the familiar award-winning mix of explanations and step-by-step tutorials for creating both commercial and fine-art images, with tips and beautiful galleries that distinguish this book as the most inspiring Photoshop resource around.  Redesigned for easy reference, Photoshop CS/CS2 Wow! also includes new short features in which professional photographers and designers let you in on their creative secrets for quick solutions.  The DVD-ROM includes hundreds of before-and-after tutorial files, Layer Styles and Patterns, as well as Actions, gradients, custom tools, and other goodies. You?ll learn the most innovative techniques for creating and enhancing images, graphics, and type, including:

?    How and when to use the new features in Photoshop CS and CS2, including the Spot Healing Brush, Lens Correction, Lens Blur, Vanishing Point, and Variables
?    How to build your skill with familiar Photoshop features such as blend modes, adjustment layers, channels, and filters
?    How to focus attention on the subject of a photo, retouch a portrait, tint an image, or convert a color image to black-and-white
?    How to bring out your inner artist with Photoshop?s sophisticated brushes and vector-drawing tools
?    How to create dazzling special effects for type and graphics?from custom textures and realistic materials to animation and rollover for the web
?    How to build a striking layout or a seamless composite, including the little details that make a big difference in the art of creating illusions
?    How to keep your creations organized with layers, layer set or groups, layer comps, and Smart Objects

Ever since Photoshop version 2.5, The Photoshop Wow! Book has enlightened and inspired graphic designers, illustrators, and photographers around the globe. This newest edition delivers the familiar award-winning mix of explanations and step-by-step tutorials for creating both commercial and fine-art images, with tips and beautiful galleries that distinguish this book as the most inspiring Photoshop resource around. Redesigned for easy reference, Photoshop CS/CS2 Wow! also includes new short features in which professional photographers and designers let you in on their creative secrets for quick solutions. The DVD-ROM includes hundreds of before-and-after tutorial files, Layer Styles and Patterns, as well as Actions, gradients, custom tools, and other goodies.You’ll learn the most innovative techniques for creating and enhancing images, graphics, and type, including: / How and when to use the new features in Photoshop CS and CS2, including the Spot Healing Brush, Lens Correction, Lens Blur, Vanishing Point, and Variables / How to build your skill with familiar Photoshop features such as blend modes, adjustment layers, channels, and filters / How to focus attention on the subject of a photo, retouch a portrait, tint an image, or convert a color image to black-and-white / How to bring out your inner artist with Photoshop’s sophisticated brushes and vector-drawing tools / How to create dazzling special effects for type and graphics--from custom textures and realistic materials to animation and rollover for the web / How to build a striking layout or a seamless composite, including the little details that make a big difference in the art of creating illusions / How to keep your creations organized with layers, layer set or groups, layer comps, and Smart Objects

Linnea Dayton is an award-winning author of more than 20 books and numerous articles on computer imagery and design, including eight editions of the best-selling Photoshop Wow! Book and two books in Peachpit Press?s popular One-Click Wow! series. She is principal of Dayton & Associates and series editor for the Wow! Book series. Cristen Gillespie begins her journey as a Photoshop Wow! author with this edition. She has contributed to other books in the Wow! series and with Dayton, Davis, and Ben Willmore, authors the "Wow! Factor" column for Photoshop User magazine.

Ever since Photoshop version 2.5, The Photoshop Wow! Book has enlightened and inspired graphic designers, illustrators, and photographers around the globe. This newest edition delivers the familiar award-winning mix of explanations and step-by-step tutorials for creating both commercial and fine-art images, with tips and beautiful galleries that distinguish this book as the most inspiring Photoshop resource around. Redesigned for easy reference, Photoshop CS/CS2 Wow! also includes new short features in which professional photographers and designers let you in on their creative secrets for quick solutions. The DVD-ROM includes hundreds of before-and-after tutorial files, Layer Styles and Patterns, as well as Actions, gradients, custom tools, and other goodies. You’ll learn the most innovative techniques for creating and enhancing images, graphics, and type, including:

• How and when to use the new features in Photoshop CS and CS2, including the Spot Healing Brush, Lens Correction, Lens Blur, Vanishing Point, and Variables
• How to build your skill with familiar Photoshop features such as blend modes, adjustment layers, channels, and filters
• How to focus attention on the subject of a photo, retouch a portrait, tint an image, or convert a color image to black-and-white
• How to bring out your inner artist with Photoshop’s sophisticated brushes and vector-drawing tools
• How to create dazzling special effects for type and graphics?from custom textures and realistic materials to animation and rollover for the web
• How to build a striking layout or a seamless composite, including the little details that make a big difference in the art of creating illusions
• How to keep your creations organized with layers, layer set or groups, layer comps, and Smart Objects

You know those exquisitely illustrated cookbooks that have your mouth watering before you even leave the bookstore? The Photoshop CS / CS2 Wow! Book produces a similar effect! Using ravishing, full-color photos of professionally designed Photoshop projects (and a CD crammed with project files and examples), the latest edition of this best-selling book carefully lays out the recipes you need to follow to reproduce the works shown in its pages. Seeing is doing as you follow along and explore all of Photoshop's most important features, including those new to both Photoshop CS and CS2: the integration of Camera Raw, the Lens Correction filter, nonsquare pixel support; Photomerge technology (which allows you to create seamless panoramas from multiple images); the Vanishing Point filter (which allows you to create visual perspective), the ability to place text on paths and in shapes, enhanced file management with the File Browser (CS) and Bridge (CS2); and more. As always with this popular series, the emphasis is on results--how to produce the best work in the least amount of time using the fewest steps possible. To that end, you may just find some tricks even Adobe doesn't know about!

You know those exquisitely illustrated cookbooks that have your mouth watering before you even leave the bookstore? The Photoshop CS/CS2 Wow! Book produces a similar effect! Using ravishing, full-color photos of professionally designed Photoshop projects (and a CD crammed with project files and examples), the latest edition of this best-selling book carefully lays out the recipes you need to follow to reproduce the works shown in its pages. Seeing is doing as you follow along with authors Jack Davis, Linnea Dayton, and Cristen Gillespie as they explore all of Photoshop's most important features, including those new to both Photoshop CS and CS2: the integration of Camera Raw, the Lens Correction filter, nonsquare pixel support; Photomerge technology (which allows you to create seamless panoramas from multiple images); the Vanishing Point filter (which allows you to create visual perspective), the ability to place text on paths and in shapes, enhanced file management with the File Browser (CS) and Bridge (CS2); and more. As always with this popular series, the emphasis is on results--how to produce the best work in the least amount of time using the fewest steps possible. To that end, you may just find some tricks even Adobe doesn't know about!

Photoshop A to Z

Great book that covers Photoshop CS/CS2 techniques thoroughly and provides the tools to create great projects. I would definitely recommend this book for users of Photoshop that are at an intermediate level. The books details everything from color to using filters and special effects.

Colorizing B&W photos help

If you need help, this is where you’ll find it.
The CD that comes with it is a lot of help too.
Worth the price.

Great photoshop tool

This is another in the WOW series and even though it’s for the last interation of photoshop (CS2) there is a wealth if info here. It’s all in color, clearly explained. It gives you an overview of how much you can do in this amazing program and helps you develop the chops to put it to use. Nicewly structured so you can pick and choose what you need at the time if you don’t want to read it cover to cover. You won’t need every technique here but it gives you the tool to apply in other ways for whatever you want to do. One of the easily accessible and useful books on the subject.

Thorough; fun

This book is to me the bible of Photoshop. It’s so thorough and thick, and it’s large number of illustrations, screen shots, and photos make it work whether I am carefully following a book example on my computer, or sitting and reading without the computer.

Excellent Book for intermediate to advanced users

As a long term user of Photoshop I have collected many books, but I was very impressed with this one. It’s one of the best. It contains lots of new ideas and the cd includes loads of psd files that you can load up and then take apart to see just how it’s done. The chapter on painting techniques was particularly useful. There are lots of things I had previously done in Painter which I thought could not be done in Paintshop, but I was wrong! This book tells it all. For the total beginner however I would suggest starting out with Adobe Classroom in a book as WOW assumes quite a lot of knowledge.

A Book for the Newbie and the Expert

Let me begin by saying that this book is BIG, slightly bigger than a hard backed dictionary or textbook. If you plan on carrying this around in a backpack or ferrying it between school/work and home, don’t.

This book has a humongous, colorful wealth of information. I guarantee that this book will show you how to do ANYTHING you could possibly want to do in Photoshop. Whether you plan on reading it straight through or using it as a reference book (I recommend the latter), you will appreciate the collection of tips and tricks this book has to offer.

Covering everything from picture touchups to full fledged graphic design, this book is artfully written and painstakingly thorough in its design. With pictures demonstrating everything, along with the helpful and easy to follow text, this book is great for those wanting to really get into Photoshop. If you’re a graphic artist or have a job that requires the use of Photoshop, this book will expand your knowledge and understanding of Photoshop. Whether you’re new to photoshop or a professional, this book is definitely a wise investment to help further your Photoshop skills.

Top Notch

This is your Photoshop Bible that you should keep with you at all times! I just hate that I paid $65 for it at Borders, when I could have gotten it here for MUCH less!

Easy to understand

This book has photos that are easy to see, explains things as to why (unlike most books) and goes into depth on how to create a website in Photoshop. If you are looking to get this book for scrapbooking, try looking at digital magazine subscriptions. While this is a great book, it doesn’t show how to make elements or how to even scrapbook. However, you won’t be disappointed if you purchased this book. You’ll learn a lot that can be applied once you open your scrapbooking files.

WOW!!!!!!!!!

I waited for ever for this book to come out. I loved the last one and wanted the new one when CS first came out. It is almost twice as big as the last one, because each section has been enhanced. enhancing photos section is almost twice the size, as photoshop gets better they keep up. if you already worked with photoshop it is really easy to skim through by just looking at the side images, which also help when u are a beginner and have no idea what they are talking about in the main section. all the wow books seem to feature that system.

WOW you can learn alot from this book!

Well written for the novice to the advanced user. (There’s always something you’ll learn).

Worth the money.

WOW you can learn alot from this book!

Well written for the novice to the advanced user. (There’s always something you’ll learn).

Worth the money.

This book is awesome!

This is the ultimate BIBLE and a MUST have for all PhotoShop users! It shows you all the tips & tricks to create very professional graphics.

Indispensable Photoshop reference

Indispensable reference bible for all graphic desginers! Lots of great tricks and inspirations. Just can’t wait to see the CS3 Wow book coming! Thanks for putting up such a great Photoshop book.

What a great book

This is really a great book for Photoshop learners. The way of writing is interesting and well organized chapters.
It contains lot of information and tricks about using Photoshop CS 2. When I saw the book, I felt like "huge" but its really worth it. I would recomend this book to anyone who want to learn Photoshop seriousely. great book.

Big book

best of all the WOW books I’ve seen. Not for beginners. The tutorials are terrific. There’s an awful lot to learn here. Only complaint. Size of the volume. Too big.

WOW! what a great book for Photoshop

I had to get this book for an independent graphic design class this past spring semester. When I first received the book, I noticed the book is very thick. But don’t let the thickness fool you, almost every page is filled with useful techniques and ideas. The lessons are clearly written with pictures of step by step processes of the work. It goes from the very basic aspects of learning Photoshop to some more of the advanced techniques. The author likes to reinforce the idea of using keyboard shortcuts while doing these lessons which I think is a great idea. This book has something in it for everyone who ever wanted to learn how to use Photoshop. From correcting/adjusting photographs, to color line art, to making logos, and using layer masks.

I hesitate to review a book in which my work is included, but...

This time I’ll make an exception based upon some previous comments.

I have never considered any Photoshop WOW Book edition a "must have" until this edition. Previous editions had many examples of great techniques to produce relatively fast and easy effects, but they often seemed to require more depth of knowledge than most users possessed. Exercises often left even intermediate users not equipped to do a lot more than what was written. This edition changed that for most exercises.

Combining CS and CS2 was not much of an issue in my opinion, because nearly everything in the edition is applicable not only to these two, but also to CS3. One of the most important things to consider about this book is the imagination of the reader is engaged to take the principles and exact steps to the next level, and apply them correctly to their own creative process. It makes PS more understandable whether the individual is using PS 7 or CS3, leaving one equipped to manipulate one’s work with more artistic freedom-the key ingredient to both hobbyists and hardcore professionals.

I had this book at the same time I was beta-testing CS3, and knew someone would pop up and say that because it is CS/CS2 it is not "up-to-date," or perhaps was weakened because of the combination. Coming out late in the CS2 life cycle, I was concerned about how it could relate to CS3. Amazingly, these worthwhile concerns ended up evaporating as the pages turned. While CS3 introduced some very cool new features not covered in this book, those features are easily reviewed on the disk that comes with CS3, and doesn’t negate anything written in the book. I was jazzed to see that if one read the book one could then go into CS3 and see how Adobe opened the artistic reach even further, and that by seeing both the book and the appication’s tools creates even more inspiration than one has just looking at the book. I personally love that feeling when what is delivered is even better than what is promised!

The argument that this book is more geared towards the "artist" is, in my opinion, silly. Artists use the same techniques and tools anyone else (photographer, graphic designer, web developer) uses, and the application has grown to the point where it is simply a great art tool. To ignore this would be a shame, because the whole point of this book is to spark creativity and take it to levels users haven’t reached before, and the authors accomplish this without compromising the goal of teaching EVERYONE who wishes to be taught. I work at a very advanced level both commercially and in fine art, and no tool goes unused in either.

I have read a lot of PS books, and lots of them sit on my shelf. This one has a place of honor, not because I did the cover or am included in the dedication (an incredible and humbling honor), but because it stands alone- there is no equal. It goes beyond education and becomes inspiration, but unlike so many other books that leave readers ill equipped to produce equally inspiring work it provides the tools to lift nearly any user as far as they wish to go, and to leverage their own skills to produce better quality work with a far more satisfying creative experience than they’ve had before.

One review left me particularly scratching my head when it was suggested it was not up to the "ole quality," and was overpriced. The first one I agree with. It is NOT up to the old quality. It so far surpasses the old quality that perhaps it should have been renamed something like "The Best Photoshop Book Ever Written." Overpriced? Not sure what price they paid, but with over 800 pages of full-color and the information to make a $900 program something one can support themselves with I’d say the cost of this book completely relevant to the work one puts in understanding the material. If you buy it for a paperweight it’s pricey; if you’re using it wisely there’s not another book out there with as much bang for the buck.

The Whole Enchilada

This book has it all and illustrates the "tricks" that Photoshop CS 2 has to offer is a clear precise wording with great illustrations. Worth every penny!!!

Good Book

This is one of the best books I have read so far covering photoshop CS2.
The information and lessons are written in short intervals and the color graphics are excellent. This book is an intermediate level of coverage and by the time you get done with it your investment in Photoshop will be paying off, and you will have a better understanding of layers, filters and how to use patterns and styles.

Photoshop CS / CS2 Wow! Book

Photoshop CS / CS2 Wow! Book is absolutely marvelous and will take Photoshop users to new heights. It begins with the new features in CS and CS2, then goes on to very clear and interesting demonstrations of the new facilities, plus many other useful things that can be done in Photoshop.

The new CS2 facilities that are explained and demonstrated include vanishing point geometry, image warp, smart objects, spot healing brush, one-click red-eye correction, enhanced noise reduction options, multiple layer control, multi-image Camera Raw file processing, 32-bit High Dynamic Range (HDR) support, customizable workspaces and menus, and Adobe Bridge for image file management.

A long-time Photoshop user might not happen upon these useful new facilities and that is what makes this book so valuable.

The DVD-ROM has tutorial files, layer styles, patterns, actions, gradients, custom tools, etc.

PLEASED CUSTOMER-Photoshop CS2 One-on-One

This is THE BOOK to have to assist in learning Photoshop CS2! It is comprehensive yet easy for the novice to comprehend. One pet peeve of mine has always been authors who write ABOVE people head to try and impress the reader. That kind of writing impresses but in the wrong way! From page one it is evident that the authors, Linnea Dayton and Cristen Gillespie, are pros at technical writing and their intent is obvious - to assist the reader not impress. This book is massive (one criteria that I use to evaluate a book’s usefullness before purchasing) and does not disappoint the reader with the knowledge contained within its 792 pages. This book is destined to become a favorite of mine and will become dog-eared because I will refer to it often. It is clearly written, full of wonderful colored photos that demonstrate each point, has hundreds of tips, and the companion DVD disk is worth its weight in gold. THANKS Dayton and Gillespie for your excellent book.

Amazon shipped it in a timely fashion - as they ALWAYS do! I am one happy customer!

The only Photoshop book you will ever need !!!

First off this book is Great, I honestly found everything i was looking for in this book. All the Photoshop books i brought before this book was a waste (you wold have to buy at least 10-20 to get all the elements that is covered in this one book).

I have to be honest if you know nothing about photoshop then maybe you should buy an introductory book and learn the toolbars and photoshop environment the purchase this book and read through it. this book is not really so much for novice or beginners(let me retract my last statement if you are easily self taught and or a fast learner. then this book might be all you will need.) this book is geared for get it done quick and it truly have that WOW! factor.

I love this book and will honestly suggest for any photoshop/imageready ’bum’ who is truly addicted to this program. If you find yourself using photoshop in the wee hours of the morning because you lost track of time, if you like to create flyer,poster, realistic artwork,different types of fonts, or if you just simply can not get enough of the program and still waiting to creat your masterpiece then this book is definitely for you!

I promise it will be one of the best investments you’ve ever made...

Great book to learn PS from A to Z

I have been reading many PS and other CS2 books to gain better understanding of the programs so that I can produce great graphic materials. I have not yet finished this book; but, after going through the first few chapters, I can tell I like what I am learning and brushing up what I have learned in the past. The book comes with the CD which containers the practice files so that I can work on them as I learn PS skills and techniques.
The materials are put together well and there are many side bars which provide additional techniques in a concise manner.

I am not sure if this book is ideal for someone who has never used PS before. In my opinion, anyone who has used PS and read one of other PS training books before should be able to follow each chapter without getting frustrated.

Excellent, thorough reference

This book is seriously functional, useful, and even though a little bulky I gladly sacrifice any slim tome to the fact that virtually anything you would need to learn about basic functionality as well as some nicely complex and creative tricks is here. CS2 is like a lot of the prior Photoshop versions: it can be bewildering to learn on your own, or even to try and learn with one of those ’teach yourself in a weekend’ guides. This book is not for total novices looking to be hand-held every step of the way. But it *does* teach you the basic interactive framework for how one tool can lead to another’s contribution in creating certain effects, and that was exactly what I was looking for.

Instructor’s point of view

I have always used the WOW books for my intermediate Photoshop class. I even used it to help me pass my Certification exam the first time. It’s hard to write a book that people find useful to begin with, and as much as some of us would like for there to be new materials each time, think about the logistics of doing this. This book was super long in coming, and when I found out it was available, I did a little Snoopy happy dance.

There is a new contributer this time, and while I don’t think it’s 100% up to the ole quality, I am happy for it to be here. Here are my thoughts:

- There seems to be a more "designer" oriented feel to the book. More about painting and using brushes properly for instance.
- Because it took so long to write, they had to put both CS and CS2 features in the book. They made it fairly easy for the reader to make the distinction. As a Beta tester for CS3, I am glad they are done with trying to combine versions. I’d suggest they don’t do that in the future. The book is overly large because of it.
- Because of the books changes in focus, I can no longer suggest this as the perfect Photoshop book. It’s still good, but not the best PS book.
- For basic users, there is still a lot to gain by buying this book. PLEASE read the information about the program in the beginning part of the book. I find it’s easy to look over and Linnea explains things better than any other source.

There are way too many Photoshop books to waste time buying a mediocre book. This, though over priced, is still worthy of buying, especially because of the extra’s on the CD. They do the best job of any of trying to cover all the things necessary to be a good Photoshop user. I still would recommend this to all levels of users.

Others have given more details about the chapters. I agree that there is a lot to be desired about the web graphics, and think they should consider leaving this to the pros of web graphics instead of a half hearted effort.

I give it 4 stars because of the combined CS and CS2 book. I also give it 4 stars for the change in a more "artist/Illustrator/Painter" focus. Concentrate on the basics of being a great PS user, there are other books that teach those skills. The beauty of this book has always been the ability of each level of user to glean some new skill. I for one, hope they keep it up.

Adobe(R) Certified Instructor
Photoshop | Illustrator | InDesign | Dreamweaver | Flash | Web Specialist

Excellent resource

This is the second WOW Photoshop book I’ve bought. They are invaluable. As a graphic designer and college teacher, I refer to it often for inspiration and directions. The directions are easy to understand. I enjoy a resource that stretches Photoshop to its almost limitless capacity. Definitely something that stays in my library and gets upgrades with the never ending upgrades in technology.

Wow!

This book is LOADED with how to info, and the CD is loaded with neat stuff.

Packed to the Brim with Information for Users at all Levels

I can remember a time not too long ago when the first reaction I would have had to a book as large as this one, which has 800 pages, would be that the book must have mostly black and white illustrations with just a small center section of color images. Today, this assumption would be wrong. Linnea Dayton and Cristen Gillespie have beautifully color-illustrated this book throughout and have packed it to the brim with great information for Photoshop users at all levels. Of course, if you have been using Photoshop for a while or have one or more of the many Photoshop related books, you will probably recognize some of the information in the book. But even so, this book will serve as a major resource to answer just about any question you have. And, those who are just discovering the popular Adobe Photoshop software are lucky to have a book such as this at their side from the start.

Most Photoshop related books have one purpose or goal. This purpose may be to present a collection of "tips", a series of tutorials or a gallery of projects created by today’s professional artists as a source of inspiration. This book has all that and more for both the CS and CS2 versions of Photoshop. However, when a technique or feature is specific to only the latest version, the authors clearly indicate this and you are not left confused. What I appreciated about this book is that, although it has a lot of information for the photographer and photo related projects, there were also whole chapters dedicated to digital painting, web and animation.

Not surprisingly, the book begins with a "What’s New in Photoshop CS/CS2?" section and then covers the Photoshop basics. The rest of the book contains chapters dedicated to using digital color in Photoshop, enhancing and correcting photographs, digital painting, type and vector graphics, styles and FX effects, project production, web, video and animation. Each chapter has several sidebar sections such as the "Find Out More" section which gives page numbers for other parts of the book that have information related to that chapter’s topic. I especially found the "Secrets of the Universe Revealed" section useful. For example, in the Painting chapter, the well known digital artist, Cher Threinen-Pendarvis, shares her technique for creating a color palette and image composition from a reference photograph. You will also find each chapter’s Gallery and accompanying overviews of the artist’s creative techniques very interesting and inspirational.

As I mentioned, my favorite chapter was dedicated to digital painting and covers several digital painting techniques including how to simulate painting with watercolors over scanned line art, a wet-on-wet technique with Photoshop’s Smudge brush, and painting with the Pattern Stamp and Art History brushes.

The DVD contains before and after example files for the tutorials in the book as well as a collection of preset tools, actions, styles, textures, patterns, gradients and effects. I found the preset WOW Actions fun to explore. These mini-programs can create more sophisticated styles and effects than cannot be obtained using the Photoshop palettes.

Linnea Dayton is an author and editor of many Photoshop related book projects and this is the ninth version of Photoshop WOW! that she has co-authored. Cristen Gillespie has co-authored and contributed to many Photoshop related books and magazine articles.

Graphic arts

I purchased this for my son who is a graphic artist. He said it is almost a required resource for students

WOW

I have been waiting on this book for 2 years. The series has been great and this book added even more wonderful tips, hints, new projects with great lessons to learn.
I would highly recommend this book, and have, to anyone BEYOND the basic lever, who wants to expand their skills in Photoshop CS or CS2.

Fantastic Book !!!

I own several books about Photoshop (in English and in French) and this one is really the best and the most useful I ever read..
Every tip is detailled and let you discover the infinite potential of this software.
The sample pictures are included in the Dvd Rom companion; then you can reproduce the exercices before playing with your own files.

a very clever book, not for the just beginner, but really understable indeed...

Je possède beaucoup de livres sur Photoshop, aussi bien en langue anglaise ou française mais celui ci est certainement le meilleur et le plus utile que je n’ai jamais lu.
Chaque astuce est très détaillée et nous laisse découvrir le potentiel illimité de ce logiciel.
Les fichiers examples sont inclus sur le dvd Rom et vous pouvez ainsi reproduire les examples du livres avant d’expérimenter avec vos propres fichiers.
Un livre très intélligent, pas forcément destiné aux vrais débutants mais il est cependant facile d’accès.

A Brilliant Photoshop book

Congratulations to Linnea Dayton for making this version of Photoshop WOW the best ever. I would definitely choose this as the one book I would take to a desert island with my MacBook Pro. While not for beginners, everyone who is reasonably comfortable with Photoshop will find this book invaluable. The organization is superb and almost every topic imaginable is easy to find and demonstrated with clarity and precision. This is truly "everything you ever wanted to know about Photoshop." Dazzling!

Something for everyone who uses Photoshop

I, too, have complained in this forum about the constant delays in the publication dates of this book. But when it finally came out, I decided to get it and I’m glad I did.

The book is not written expressly for one type of Photoshop user anymore than Photoshop is designed for just one type of user. It runs the gamut from photographers and retouchers of all levels of expertise; web designers (primarily of entry and intermediate level); designers working in different types of media and others who use text and text effects for their work; artists who use PS to create original work or modify photos to simulate artistic effects--to name just a few.

Obviously, there are some parts of the book that do not relate to me, but that is to be expected in an almost 800 page book. But the parts that do apply to me and that I have scanned through today are exceptionally clear, well-written and well-illustrated. Not just with the before and after photo, but with the sequence of steps in between.

Each tool, filter, palette, dialog, setting,and process is explained in a way that the new user will understand and the old user will still find informative and helpful. I’ve learned things I didn’t know, realized things I should have known (but didn’t), have been reminded of things I once knew and forgot, and have been shown to use alternate or easier methods than those I’ve been using.

Another common complaint of persons who, like me, keep up with tutorials, read books and magazines on the subject, and are otherwise submerged in the subject of PS, is the repetition and recycling of lessons and illustrations. I am happy to say that an unusually high percentage of this book is un-recycled material (there are a few familiar illustrations in it, but VERY few).

A quick glance at the cd reveals that it contains an assortment of actions, presets, and styles that many people will find useful in addition to chapter-by-chapter supplemental material for those who are using the book to study or practice techniques. From this assortment, I am likely to be interested in the brushes and one or two presets, but the point is that there is something there for everyone and it comes free with the book, so why not enjoy it.

At first glance, the index seems adequate. Every broad subject seems to be well covered. However, I’m a little weary because, in a book of this length and with such a broad scope, a 16-page index seems a bit short. I haven’t tried to find the solution to one of those strange PS issues that sometimes confound me. But, if its not in the index, this is a pretty big book to try to plod your way through looking for some obscure detail you know is there somewhere.

While, a large part of the book does not apply to me, I would have bought it simply for the colorizing black and white photos section. I have purchased several books on the subject of "hand-painted" photographs and all of them put together have not provided the photoshop-specific scope and detail that this book provides in just a few pages.

I have to give this book 5 stars because it has achieved its stated purpose perfectly: it will take any PS project from mediocre or average to WOW while, at the same time, helping you to understand what you are doing and why.

I hate to admit it, but it was worth the wait.

The Encyclopedia of Photoshop CS and CS/2

Friends, allow me to eat a little crow. Some of you may recognize me as one of the smart-alecks in the Amazon discussions forums below. Many of us were extremely annoyed that this book (which had been pre-purchased over a year ago), failed to materialize, even after several postponed publication dates by the publisher. Some of us grew so disgusted with the delays, we canceled our pre-orders. I was one of those people. But today, guess what the Book Fairy brought me? To make a long story short, I’d forgotten that months ago, in my zeal, I had pre-ordered this book from two different places to see which would ship it first, and I only remembered to cancel one of those orders. I’m actually very glad I did because in my opinion, this book was worth the wait. Should you buy it? Read on...

First of all, I’m coming at this from the perspective of a repeat customer. I’ve been a Photoshop user since version 4, and as such, I’m more than familiar with Adobe’s aggravating tactic of providing sub-standard user manuals for their products. This, combined with the fact that Photoshop is one of the most complex, unwieldy, and irritatingly wonderful programs on the market makes it necessary for Adobe customers to buy expensive after-market books to learn how to use the software they just paid an arm and a leg for. (Sorry about that preposition; I’ve got a lot to say and little time.) Over the years, Peachpit books in general have always been among my favorites and the Wow! Series in particular. The folks at Peachpit seem to put a lot of care into their products: the paper is always bright, slick, and of good quality -- which you will really come to appreciate if your eyes are already tired from a long day or you have poor vision and don’t need the added hassle of trying to wade through a 500 page tome written in blurry 6 pt Times New Roman like some other books. Peachpit’s text is always wonderfully legible and the images are always clean and colorful and well-balanced. The Wow books have the fantastic ability of combining a ton of very dry, but useful information into a colorful, well-organized interface. The Photoshop CS/CS2 Wow book is no exception.

The chapters of this book are organized in such a way that you can start right at the beginning and methodically work your way through, or you can flip through the pages until you find a photo that inspires you and dive right in. Skill level does not matter here: beginners can follow the well-written step by step tutorials and more experienced users can get the gist of the subject just by glancing at the screenshots.

The book starts right off with a bang: What’s new in CS/CS2 gives a nice rundown of the changes that were made in the various versions of Photoshop alongside colorful images which show you the features and tool palettes being discussed. The authors have also used a clever technique of separating the features of PSCS from PSCS2 by using a different colored font (typeface for you nit-pickers) throughout the book. You may think this would be distracting, but it actually works quite well - the flow of the text is still maintained and I imagine that it would be quite handy for people who are still on the fence about upgrading to CS2. Browsing through the book for specific examples of CS2 features is really easy because of the different colored text and may help one decide if the upgrade is worth it. Other useful features are the Troubleshooting Tips, which are scattered throughout the book, like the one of page 33 about the History Tool; these tips describe annoying dialogue errors that you may run across while using a particular tool in PS and ways to fix them.

Other excellent features are the "Exercising" and "Anatomy of ..." sections which are more in-depth tutorials that take you deep into the bowels of some of Photoshop’s more intimidating tools like Smart Objects and Masks. My personal favorites are the sections titled "Secrets of the Universe Revealed" in which inspirational images from guest artists are dissected layer by layer so that you can see the techniques used and try them on your own images. Chapter 5 is particularly exceptional - if you have only a limited time to learn Photoshop, I’d advise you to work through this chapter first: it is chock full of yummy tutorial goodness. Among my favorites in this chapter are:

p. 320 - Ron Deutschmann demonstrates an invaluable technique for eliminating lens flare that’s so simple, you’ll kick yourself for not having thought of it yourself. When I think of all the hours I’ve wasted doing it the hard way...

p. 321 - "Bringing Out Detail" tackles digital noise, chromatic aberration, and the Shadow/Highlight command in one fell swoop.

p. 338 - Shows you one of the better ways to hand tint a photo. (Alternately, you could buy a program like Recolored which does most of the work for you, but hand-tinting using the method described in this book gives superior results, in my opinion).

p. 344 - A wonderful tutorial by co-author Cristen Gillespie on how to change a daytime image into night, complete with dramatically glowing light from windows.

p. 348 - Katrin Eismann contributes two beautifully evocative images and shares her techniques on how they were crafted.

p. 349 - Alexis Deutschmann, a young girl, aptly demonstrates her skills as a photographer and Photoshop user by transforming a pretty, but boring image into a dramatic, gorgeous, and frame-worthy picture. If the sight of a young photographer like Alexis producing quality work like this using just her camera, imagination, and Photoshop doesn’t inspire you, then I don’t know what will.

p. 352 Loren Haury shows how to combine three separate images utilizing the HDR technique.

p. 354 Christine Zalewski contributes a lovely "botanical portrait" that brings to mind the gorgeous, moody orchid photos in the film ’Adaptation’.

p. 359 Begins a section on painting in Photoshop; nothing much new if you own previous PS Wow books, but very enlightening if you don’t, or thought you could only achieve these types of apinterly effects and brush strokes in Corel Painter. I’ve seen many of these images before in previous versions of the Wow series (which is a shame, since, in my opinion, painting and animation are two of Photoshop’s hidden treasures), but the images that are new are top-notch.

With few exceptions, Chapter 7 which covers type and vector graphics, is disappointing. Many of the "F/X" look particularly outdated and old to me. Maybe back in 1998 those neon, metallic, and jellybean-colored text effects looked cool for about five minutes, but nowadays there are so many fresh styles being used, it’s hard to keep up with them. If you were hoping for fresh text and logo ideas, look elsewhere. Instead, I recommend you keep a scrap book (or dvd collection) of your favorite, most awe-inspiring stuff. You can grab short clips from movie titling (you know the credits that run at the beginning of the film) or from tv, magazine ads, cd covers, snapshots of cool building signs, etc. Still, if you are new to Photoshop or never really explorer the text and vector features, then this chapter will give you plenty to chew on.

Similarly, Chapters 8, 9, and 10 don’t have much to offer advanced users or previous owners of a Photoshop Wow book. If you’re big into web design, prepare for disappointment. Website building and animation are given short shrift in this book, which is a shame since, like Photoshop’s painting tools, these areas are the unmined gems of Photoshop and not given anywhere near the attention they deserve in most books. Especially now that Adobe own’s Flash and Dreamweaver! You’d think at least one chapter would pay homage to the amazing, cutting edge websites that are being produced with these programs and Photoshop. Unfortunately, most of the example webpages look flat, old, and uninteresting - nothing like the dazzling array of sites you’ll run across in your average day of surfing - and, strangely enough, there’s not a single mention of the word "blog", nor any tutorials on how to compose items for one. This really is a giant oversight on the part of the authors, one that I hope will be amended in future editions. There’s a lot going on with the web right now and people are very interested in how to make their own photoblogs, or banners, sigs/avatars for forums or chat clients, podcasts and downloadable content for musicians, etc. What a wasted opportunity. In all fairness, this might be beyond the scope of this book; it is after all, nearly 800 pages of densely packed information. Nonetheless, a few mini-tutorials addressing these subjects would have made for a more complete book.

Pros:

Exceedingly well written: manages to explain complex subjects without resorting to tired attempts at humor nor condescending to the reader.

Well-organized with clear text and sharp images.

Chock-full of both bite-sized and full-sized tutorials.

Outstanding photographic contributions from a wide variety of sources that will both inspire you and teach you how to achieve these fascinating results on your own images.

Huge! Covers nearly every conceivable situation the beginner and intermediate Photoshop user will likely need to tackle at some point.

Companion dvd is loaded with excellent practice images from the lessons, brushes, styles, tools, patterns, gradients and actions.

Cons:

Chapters covering Type and the Web leave a lot to be desired.

Many advanced subjects like scripting, animation, masking, photo retouching and lighting are given short shrift.
Readers hoping for more in-depth information should look elsewhere.

Occasional annoying cross-marketing for other books or software. (Please ignore p.228 which advises you to buy Dan Margulis’ Photoshop LAB Color book unless you are a masochist of the highest order. Read the negative reviews on Amazon to see what I mean. Check it out from the library if you must, but don’t waste your money on it. You can also safely ignore the advice to buy Corel’s KnockOut; it hasn’t been updated in years. There are much better products on the market now that give both superior results and customer support. I recommend Vertus’ Fluid Mask. Google it; there may still be discount codes floating around.)

So, again: should you buy the book? If you are new to Photoshop, new to CS or CS2, or even an intermediate user, I can, without hesitation say "Yes!". This book is an outstanding value. If you are a person who needs one book - one great book to introduce you to Photoshop and pack almost every conceivable subject into a single, giant volume: buy this book. If you are an advanced user who appreciates having an excellent reference book on hand rather than scouring the web for techniques you may have forgotten or never bothered to learn, then buy this book. However, if you are a person who is interested in learning in-depth techniques covering any of the subjects I’ve listed in my "Cons" section, sorry, keep looking. This book is not for you. For everyone else, this book is money well spent.

4.5 out of 5 stars.