Last updated 5/18/2005

Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-on-One

Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-on-One
Author: Deke McClelland
Publisher: deke Press/O'Reilly
490 Pages plus CD .... $39.95
ISBN 0-596-10096-5

Featuring more than 2 hours of video hosted by Deke McClelland

When I first reviewed Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-One for the Northern Vermont Macintosh User Group library, I did not own Photoshop, and used Photoshop Elements for the review. When I was able to upgrade to Photoshop CS, I bought Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-One. It is one of my most prized books. It is a great way to learn and a good reference.

Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-on-One is an update of my Photoshop CS book. It retains all the great stuff including a DVD-ROM you watch at the start of each lesson to see then do. The DVD-ROM also contains the material for all the lessons. Some steps and some complete exercises are completely new to teach the new features in Photoshop CS2. These steps and exercises will not work with older Photoshop versions.

The DVD also includes 20 minutes of bonus videos about new features in Photoshop CS2. New features like The Bridge for managing images, and the Vanishing Point filter are covered in the lessons.

Like Photoshop CS2, this book works equally well with both Windows and Macintosh.

As I wrote in the review of Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-One, Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-on-One is designed to suit the needs of beginners and intermediate users, but each lesson contains a few techniques that even experienced users may not know.

The book is divided into 12 lessons, each with from three to six step-by-step exercises. You read the introduction to a chapter. You watch the video. You do the exercises. You may do an extra credit exercise. Then you may take a quiz to see how much you have learned before going on to the next chapter.

In addition to the Total Training video, the CD includes Deke McClelland's shortcut keys that you can import into your Photoshop CS2, and well chosen material used for the exercises in the book.

The step-by-step instructions are easy to follow and there are clear explanations oI important concepts. Following the step-by-step instructions in the earlier edition to set and test my color balance for printing produced amazingly good results.

The author, Deke McClelland, covered the new features in Photoshop CS like Shadows/Highlights and illustrated their use to make the subtle improvements that make a professional quality image. He writes, "Shadows/Highlights is the best one-stop method in all of Photoshop for correcting extremely high-contrast images. In this edition he has added the new features in Photoshop CS 2 such as the Vanishing Point Filter and The Bridge.

This is an excellent, practical book for learning Photoshop CS, and nicely complements Digital Photography, Expert Techniques by Ken Milburn. The two books are an impressive start to O'Reilly's new Digital Studio series.

For more information or to purchase a copy, go to
http://www/oreilly.com