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This book is more than a how-to manual on using photoshop. It describes both the technical methods used and the thought process, as designers work their way through the creation process, under tight deadlines.

The writing style in particular is engaging, offbeat and witty. It's very readable, even for those that don't use graphics programs.

The images cover a range of styles, from vector to photographic images, and would be inspiring for those just starting out as well as seasoned artists.

This would be an excellent read for those interested in using Photoshop to make more creative statements than rotating images or fixing red-eye in photographs.

Photoshop Secrets of the Pros.
Mark Clarkson

This book is difficult to categorise. It is not really a manual, although it goes to great pains to explain how the images were manipulated.

It is not really a coffee table book either, although the images could be used for one.

Somehow it is really a coffee table book for digital image makers, Photoshop afficionados in particular to use as a reference and to inspire.

The concept is simple, a group of top image artists are paired off and given the brief to create an image in a set time. The artists only have a set time to create their image and then it is sent to their opponent, who has the same amount of time to re-arrange the image, or even to destroy it, and start again.

This goes on over 10 rounds, also within a set time frame, to achieve a final result. This is known as Photoshop Tennis.

All the artists are very adept at using layers and although their techniques are different, they combine and extend each others abilities to create some fantastic imagery.

Each move is annotated with what effects were used and the thinking behind the manipulation, and an accompanying CDRom contains all the images including the layers and effects so that anyone can follow what has been done.

This is what puts it into the realm of a manual, but I think it works best as a book to be left out and picked up frequently to inspire and teach how to make maximum use of Photoshop in particular, but any photo paint program in reality, and their layer technology combined with blending techniques.

Layers are an incredibly powerful tool and this book is about practically nothing else except masking and blending. These tools can be used to generate some amazing imagery, starting with a photo, or scan, or royalty free image, there is practically no end to what can be achieved.

It is not a book about getting better images from your photos, or retouching scans, or creating web pages, but those things are covered in many other books. This one is something of an indulgence, but not a pointless one, as it may serve to stretch your ideas and imagination, and will help to illustrate how and why to use a particular blending mode.

The use of filters to alter an image is kept to a minimum, and this is an interesting concept considering how many filters are availble to the user of any image manipulation program. This probably means that instead of relying on a happy coincidence to achieve a good result, you are going to use skill and imagination coupled with experience and knowledge.

If you are looking for a book to explain the inticacies of Photoshop then this may not be the book for you, but if you have embarked on using the program and are familiar with some of what can be achieved, then it may be.

I really like the book and I don't think I can say more than that.

The work of Shaun Inman, Manuel Clement, Christine Smart, Eric Jordan, and Dave Bedingfield is particularly nice. It's hard to imagine that some of the other participants are pro's, but overall the work and commentary is interesting. The process behind the work is decent, but the actual volleys are the real "meat" of this book, making it much more of a showcase than a "how-to" book.