digital photography

I am a multimedia specialist for the government. I started with Aldus Photostyler so I am very familiar with Photoshop in all it's versions. 6.0 is a multimedia specialist's dream come true.
It is very different from all the earlier versions. It combines photo editing with internet applications for photos, graphics, and animation. A good book is necessary to learn all the new techniques available to the user.

This book has it all. I keep it by my desk to review those things I know and to learn those that I don't, such as the sections on Web Development and Animation with Image Ready.

One thing that is very helpful, the authors show you screen captures of what you "should" be doing with the examples to achieve the end result. I sometimes find the instructions to be a little confusing, and asking myself, "What is it you want me to do?!" It is at this point the pictures are a good guide. The instructions as a whole are very good, but once in awhile the authors kind of overwhelm you with so much information you don't know if they are presenting just information or if you are suppose to preform the keystrokes.

The book is written so an expert has a good reference or a beginner can learn. The language is not the dry stuff you usually find in a software manual. It's to the point, but the authors understand that learning can be frustrating at times so they keep it light and sometimes even a little humorous.

It's also packed with tips to make your work easier. The CD has all the examples organized into Chapter folders so it is easy to find the examples you need.

Overall the book is a key learning tool and invaluable for anyone who wants a good guide to Photoshop 6.0. or a good guide to preparing photos and graphics for the internet.

Although I am pretty proficient with computers, I am not a designer, yet I wanted to use Photoshop for simple Image manipulation, enhancement, etc. When I got Photoshop I was at first intimidated. Sure, I could figure out the VERY, VERY basic stuff, but not much more.

Well, this book changes everything. A huge amount of information is conveyed in an easy-to-learn format with clear examples and set-by-step instruction. Everything from the work environment, tools, and palettes , selections, layers, masks, painting, photo retouching etc. It's awesome!

If you own or are getting Photoshop 6, this is a REQUIRED purchase to go along with it! You'll be glad you did!

If you want the practice and need a step-by-step lesson, this is a good book. I did want the step-by-step practice, and I'm still glad I bought the book. However, it only tells you what to do. It's not very good at explaining why you're doing it or what exactly the overall effect will be. Also, any tool, filter, etc. that you don't learn about in the lessons, you don't really learn about at all. I think it's a great book for practice, but it's probably best used in conjunction with another book that doesn't have lessons but gives a better explanation of the tools, what they do, and when and why to use them. An example is probably Photoshop 6 For Dummies. I haven't bought it yet, but I've looked through it, and I think it will be helpful if used along with Classroom in a Book.