Inside Adobe Photoshop 4 [With CDROM]

I bought this book after searching through dozens of Adobe Photoshop 4.0 titles. This particular book is an incredible compendium that really turns the novice Photoshop user into a pro. Each chapter covers a different Photoshop task, making it easy for the reader to personalize the tutorial to his/her needs. And each little mini-tutorial is incredibly thorough, with dozens of examples and lots of step-by-step exercises that make each procedure second-nature. After only a few days, I moved from Photoshop ignoramus to website developer! ( )

Gary David Bouton writes in the most logical, effective manner I have ever seen in this type book. This is a COMPREHENSIVE guide to Photoshop 4. It is a large book, filled with hands on tutorials (not to mention two CDs packed with lessons and extras) that begin with the very basics, build on them...and take you well into advanced techniques. At no time are you left hanging... every step in each technique is not only covered, but the logic behind it is explained. This book is written so skillfully that both beginners and Photoshop veterans will find Mr. Bouton's explanations and comments fascinating and invaluable. You will pick up REAL SKILL and a lasting foundation in Photoshop from this book... not to mention hundreds of cool effects to show off with!

I have been using books written by Gary Bouton and his wife Barbara for awhile now. I'm looking back at this particular book as a milestone in my Photoshop education. I took this book, and for a month I slowly read, re-read, underlined and executed the lessons until I truely understood what I was doing. By re-reading and trying the lessons I was able to overcome the stubborn paradigms I created which normally keep me from understanding what is being said.This effort has paid off. I'm currently using Adobe Photoshop 5.5 and it's no problem. Thank you Gary and Barbara for taking on a task this immense. If any of you have ever written technical lessons you can appreciate the monumental effort it would take to create an 1134 page textbook with two associated CDs. Thank you, but no thank you.I have since purchsed their "Inside Adobe Photoshop 5" book and am enjoying it as well. I must admit that I haven't read it with a fine tooth comb as I did this Photoshop 4 book. Shame on me. I have been perusing it of late and notice that it has some good stuff to try. For those of you who don't know it, the Bouton's keep a website that is full of information and any corrections that their books need. That's a very nice feature; www.TheBoutons.com I've been using Photoshop for fine art, severely damaged photo restoration, logo creation, brochure creation and web graphics. It's still the greatest. Try it, you'll like it. :-)

This is an outstanding book which introduces the Photoshop user to most of the essential concepts through a series of tutorials based on images on the included CD-ROM. And although it is suitable for the novice, it provides much more than an introduction. One example of this is that it shows you multiple ways of accomplishing something at various points throughout the book. I was continually impressed by Photoshop's depth as I discovered layer after layer (pun intended!) of features. Another important point is that these tutorials illustrate real-world techniques and projects that end with a result that you might have been proud of if you had done it all on your own. I would also point out that the tutorials were accurate and correct, unlike some I have used for other products. In other words, the text agreed with what Photoshop's menus, etc. were doing and it agreed with the contents of their CD-ROM.

This book covers everything you need, not only to get started, but to keep going. The excercises are well-presented and refer to files available on the CD-ROM. The authors' style is witty without going overboard (like the "Dummies" series). The arrangement of the lessons provides an interesting departure from the predictable. Also the writers present working studio methods as well as basic techniques. The section which most characterizes the consideration the authors show for their readers is the depth coverage of the "preferences" menu items to personalize Photoshop. This occurs early but not before we have had a chance to play with the tools a bit. I have found this quite a useful book for learning Photoshop.