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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » The Photoshop Elements 8 Book for Digital Photographers

The Photoshop Elements 8 Book for Digital Photographers

1 rating: 3.0

A book by Scott Kelby

This book (for Windows and Mac) breaks new ground by doing something for digital photographers that’s never been done before—it cuts through the bull and shows you exactly “how to do it.” It’s not a bunch of theory; it doesn’t … see full wiki

Tags: Books, Camera & Photo, Photography, Photoshop, Photoshop Elements

Author: Scott Kelby

Genre: Computers & Internet

Publisher: New Riders Press

1 review about The Photoshop Elements 8 Book for Digital...

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The best way to learn Elements

Dec 19, 2009

by MysticCowboy
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

Rating:

I have a bookshelf full of photo editing books, both for Photoshop CSx and Elements. IMO, Scott Kelby, along with "Photo Matt" Kloskowski, provides the best book to learn Elements. This isn't a collection of tricks or an encyclopedia that "explains" features, but a nuts and bolts how-to guide. It starts where it should with importing your photos and organizing them. Then it progresses to working with Adobe Camera Raw (even if you have jpeg photos), then he gets to editing in Elements. Establishing a proper workflow will ease photo editing and make sure you know here your older photos are.

Once you're past the first chapters, the book runs you through the full range of editing capabilities, again in a good workflow. Yeah, I keep harping on that. I've been teaching photo editing with different versions of Photoshop for 10 years and find that people who learn a consistent process achieve consistent results. Those who learn a few tricks don't. It's that simple. Workflow is as much a way of thinking about photo editing as it is knowing what all the tools and menus mean. And Kelby's workflow is a good one.

Anyway, back to the book. All the basics are covered, the menus, palettes and toolbars, but they are explained within context of actual editing, not as discrete things. That's good. Steps are clearly descirbed with lots of screen shots, showing you what setting to use. Kelby doesn't say, "experiment and see what you like." He gives good general purpose settings. Yes, someday you'll want to experiment or use your own, but doing so from a good foundation is much easier than doing so while you're working hard to learn a new program.

Since I like the book so much, why do I only give it 4 stars? As another reviewer said, there's little new in this version. The meat of the book covers the same ground as the last one. If you have either of that last two versions, it probably isn't worth the price. Look around for tutorials on the new features. Adobe's website is a good place to start.

If you are starting from scratch or have tried to learn from another book that isn't as systematic, then I highly recommend this one.

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