Reviewed By: Missy Grote
Date: October 10, 2004
Section: Book Reviews
Publisher: QUE
Authors: Daniel Giordan
Pages: 304
Retail Price: $29.99
Dot Journal Price: $20.99

Often thought of as the gold-standard in image-editing software, Adobe’s Photoshop is one of the most widely-used graphics programs. Most people think of Photoshop as having many different levels of complexity, and because of these complex layers many users use less than 10% of it’s capabilities. If you fit in this group, I wouldn’t doubt that you only use Photoshop to view your digital photographs. That actually is the good news; Adobe Photoshop is simple enough for beginner users, but is ready to grow with you along with your desire for more features. The other good news is that Daniel Giordan has written a book, How To Use Adobe Photoshop CS, which will guide you in your quest to learn how to use these features without losing out on your precious productivity time.

Written for the beginner or intermediate Photoshop user, you will be pleased with how accessible the information is presented. The book is divided into 13 chapters, each of which is broken down into various Photoshop tasks and how to accomplish them. The thirteen broad chapters are: Getting Started with Photoshop, Optimizing Photoshop Projects, Selection Techniques, Working with Tone, Working with Color, Image Editing Basics, Drawing and Painting with Color, Using Type, Using Paths, Working with Layers, Digital Photography Features, Building Web Files, and Special Effects. If that sounds complex, each individual task is broken down into numbered steps from One to End that when followed will give you the intended result. Most tasks are simply stated within one to two pages. One of the best parts of How To Use Adobe Photoshop CS, is that it is geared to help anyone that can read pictures. With full color illustrations and screen shots, the focus is getting you the information you need quickly. Handy How-To Hints are scattered throughout the book help to make sure you are on the right path.

With a MSRP of $29.99, I believe this is a very reasonable amount considering how much information is covered and how much time you will save just thumbing around the program by yourself. I used to be one of those Photoshop users that when looking at the interface felt a little intimidated with all of the options. How could I decide what tool to use if I didn’t even know what it did? Now with the book, How to Use Adobe Photoshop CS I have found my confidence. Confidence that if I don’t know how to proceed to get the desired effect that I’ll know exactly what page to find out!

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