Book Review - Photoshop CS3 Essential Skills

Book Review: Photoshop CS3 Essential Skills: - By Mark Galer and Philip Andrews, available from www.focalpress.com –

Reviewed by Igno van Niekerk (Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor on Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom, Co-ordinator of Bloemfontein Adobe User Group).

Short summary:

If you would like to learn Photoshop in a no-nonsense, structured and meaningful way, this book is one of those jewels that succeeds in finding the balance between theory and practice. The approach to writing is, essentially, to build a foundation with theoretical knowledge, and then making sure the knowledge becomes part of the reader’s/student’s practical skill-set. This book is written for “Student” readers, and the authors are following sound educational practices in terms of the layout and structure. The book’s use of graphics and the additional DVD makes it a great handbook for classes or individual learners, as one has the choice of reading the theory, (with graphical step by step illustrations of practice sessions), following the instructions, or even watching the straightforward and informative video’s on the DVD. This allows for a variety of teaching methods and interesting classes if one is an instructor. And if one is not in a classroom-situation, (reading the book at home) it still breaks through the boredom of mere theory or practice -

Approach to the content:

There are a huge number of Photoshop books out there, and each has a different approach, claiming to be unique. When reading this one, I put myself into the shoes of the student preparing for an ACE exam, as well as someone who wants to come to terms with the program. The great thing is that the authors are not going into all sorts of explanations, they touch on the basics and teaches one the right principles. But they still succeed in finding the balance with regards to sharing necessary information about aspects like printing, web output and photography without getting sidetracked from the main goal of the book which is to train the essentials of Photoshop. If I am asked what the basics of Photoshop are, the contents of this book would be my answer. There is enough information to create a firm foundation.

Look and Feel:

The book is beautifully laid out with some eye-candy (artworks) in between to ensure it does not feel like a “school text book”, again, it’s almost giving the feeling of having a great teacher who makes a subject seem interesting, rather than having the “Hard Times” approach of viewing the readers as “little receptacles of fact”. If ever we want to have less boring textbooks, this is the approach.

Unlike many other DVD’s and CD’s that are put into books, the DVD accompanying the book is well laid out, and clutter free. (There are a few stock images, actions etc, but not the myriad of advertising materials and demo-software which are often irritatingly added as so-called bonuses, the DVD actually supports the content of the book, rather than being a marketing tool for sideshows). The tutorials are relevant to the chapters and the explanations are thorough, simplistic and sensible (unlike those of my grade 9 maths teacher ;-) )

Comparison to other books:

This book was clearly written with the classroom in mind. One almost feels like a student when the authors promise you a break after having done the exercises with the pen tool. When I state classroom, it can also be for the sole student who wants to know the essentials of Photoshop. The explanations of crucial areas like layers, channels and colour profiles are done with excellent graphics.

Unlike the Classroom in a Book series, The Essentials of Photoshop CS3 does not have a practical “follow the steps, do the exercise” feel to it. It achieves a fine balance between teaching theory for different learning styles, as well as making the learning experience practical. The explanations of concepts like curves are well done, but not as clear as is done in the Photoshop Studio Techniques series. If one compares this book to Martin Evening’s Photoshop CS3 for Photographers, it’s clear that the authors have done well in covering the essentials of what needs to be covered with regards to Photoshop’s relationship to photography. And that’s no easy task!

Recommendations:

If you would like to learn the essentials of Photoshop, this book’s title does not tell lies – it cuts to the chase in a way that shows the authors have great educational as well as Photoshop skills. A great read for any prospective student of Photoshop; combined with the DVD it really deserves to be rated as not only a textbook but a training experience.