graphic design

I don't have a great deal of experience in digital photography, and my experience in editing photos was minimal before I bought this book. Now I'm amazed at what I've been able to do with Elements. The postcard projects in this book are very cool to say the least, and I've patterened a few of my treatments after these. Now my friends say "You did *that*?" This book was clear,easy to follow, and great for my photos (not to mention my ego!). Thanks, Jan.

The great thing about this book is that the author not only tells you how to do something but why. She provides far more background material than the other two books I looked at -- Kelby's and Aaland's. The tutorials are clearly written and well-illustrated. I noted one problem. On page 205, Step 4, she neglects to tell you that you must hold the alt (Macintosh: option) key to perform the workaround she describes. She does tell you this the next time she has a tutorial with that activity (on page 226) so this is clearly just an editing problem. Unfortunately I had to send this book back to Amazon because of a printing error -- the book did not have pages 267-282. However, I asked for a replacement rather than a refund because the book is so good. I hope just my copy was defective and not the entire run.

I have a library of about 10 books on PSE and have referred to them all on occasion. However, this book I will read from front to back, all 430 plus pages. There are also another 50 plus pages on the CD which accompanies the book. The CD contains all of the graphics needed for the creation of the course projects. She even lists her E mail address on the CD. Jan teaches PSE by creating 10 or so sports related post card size graphics. The projects require you to use many of the specialized tools and filters. She has some very impressive credentials (technical, literary and academic). However, her ability to convey her knowledge is what impresses me most. A five star rating implies perfection. Therefore, I might downgrade the rating to 4.9 because of the first tutorial in the book, "Confidence Builder". I believe this tutorial is too much too soon for a bare bones PSE beginner (page 7). If this tutorial seems too advanced, you can skip it and return after session 2. Amazon offers the book for about $32 with free shipping, a substantial saving and a very good investment. I wish Jan had written the book when PSE 2 was first released over a year ago. However, she has apparently been busy writing other books. P.S. I have no connection with the author or vested interest in this book. I only wish to share my discovery of a great PSE resource.