Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions: The Art of Digital Photography [With CDROM]

This is a wonderfully written and super informative book. Recently I bought Photoshop Elements 2 and just dived right into it with this book, without first checking the manual or other sources. It was an easy and fun way to learn the program. As a psychology professor, I often determine if instructional texts are written with the student in mind. Mikkel Aaland certainly did that every step of the way in this book, such as, repeating the same steps as they occurred in each subsection, so the reader doesn't have to look back in the book to find the steps. From what I can tell, this is not often done in instruction books on digital photography or computer programs. When I wasn't sure why Mikkel Aalnad did what he did in the book, even though I was able to do it, I checked the manual after completing the steps in the book. The explanation in the program manual typically made a lot of sense to me, after using a particular tool or technique from the book. I found it much easier to understand a tool or technique, once I had gone through the steps and had seen the result. One example of this is the use of a layer with a gradient mask and relating the gradient to black and white colors. I don't believe I would have been able to understand the sketchy way all of that is presented in the program manual without first having done it and seen the results using this book. This is a must have book for someone starting out with Photoshop Elements. More advanced users will also pick up some valuable techniques from the book.

Photoshop Elements can be a daunting program for a new user, but there's help out there in the form of "Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions", by Mikkel Aaland. The earlier version of this excellent book was my first purchase after acquiring Elements, and it turned out to be a very fortunate choice. The book takes you gently and carefully through all the key tools and processes of Elements, guiding you through a combination of clearly written text and easy-to-follow examples. The depth is just right for a new user, yet it's also a book that an intermediate user will return to again and again as new editing challenges arise. After getting up to speed with the first edition and Elements 1.0, I moved up to Elements 2.0 and, once again, Mikkel Aaland was there with a revised edition of his classic. The treatment of the differences between the versions is particularly good, highlighted by a comprehensive summary of the changes that provides a quick overview of what's new and improved.As a participant on Adobe's Photoshop Elements forum, I'm often asked to recommend a book to new users of the program; my answer is always the same: "Solutions" by Aaland.

The new scanner that I bought a few months ago, came bundled with Photoshop Elements. I was happy at first to see this scaled-down version of Adobe's Photoshop, but my delight soon turned into frustration when I tried to use it. Sure, I could do the simple things with moderate success, but the full power of this amazing software was beyond my reach.That is until I bought Mikkel Aaland's wonderful book, Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions, The Art of Digital Photography.Mr. Aaland must have had me in mind when he created this book, because his "solutions" were the answers to my very problems. He cleared away the barriers that prevented my making the sharp, bright images that I wanted. He provides step by step instructions that anyone can follow. It was as if I was priviledged to have a Photoshop expert looking over my shoulder has I worked on restoring my old images.The book comes with a CD that contains the images Mr. Aaland uses as examples in his book. But the book is so well written that you can use your own photos to follow his instruction.Without this book, I never would have discovered the time-saving utilities in Photoshop Elements. I'm running a photo contest in my community and was facing many hours of resampling images to post on the web. Mr. Aaland's Solutions showed me how to to it in minutes, not days.Other instruction books on how to use software are notoriously heavy, dull, and repetitive. They focus on the tools and not the tasks. Not this one. It's open, easy-to-read layout makes you want to read it straight through.My thanks to Mikkel Aaland for producing such a fine book.

As a recent convert to digital photography I came across Photoshop Elements software and began experimenting with it on my computer. It was fascinating but I only used a few of its features - although realizing there were many more available. My attempts to understand the more complex functions like the use of layers got bogged down in the detailed explanations within the program and in the users guide. While they were sufficiently detailed to explain how each feature worked individually, they never put them into a usable context. After seeing a recommendation for Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions, I bought Mikkel Aalands' book. It is a revelation. I feel I have gone from a rank amateur to a serious user after only a short time following the book's clear explanations and vivid examples. What this book does not do is explain every feature within the program. What it does do exceedingly well is provide practical examples of how to accomplish specific tasks that require you to group a number of features together and tells you step by step how to do so. It is helped immeasurably by an enclosed CD that enables you to follow the book's instructions and perform the steps yourself on your computer. Layers and a lot of other functions are now easy for me to understand and use. Disappointing pictures I have taken are now being transformed into really nice photographs. Equally important it gives you the fundamental basis and the motivation to further explore how to use the program. The book is written for both Photoshop Elements Versions 1 and 2. It helpfully explains where they differ.I highly recommend this for users of the Photoshop Elements program and believe it will benefit newcomers to digital editing as well as experienced users.

PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS2 SOLUTIONSThe Art of Digital PhotographyAUTHOR: Mikkel AalandPUBLISHER: SybexREVIEWED BY: Barbara RhoadesBOOK REVIEW: Photoshop is a powerful program and this book gives the reader many suggestions on how to enhance their photographs. The CD is almost as good as the book. There are 15 different software downloads to help Photoshop create pictures to almost perfect perfection."Photoshop Elements2 Solutions" has all the normal things a teaching book should have. How-to's on cropping, straightening, resizing, changing colors and fixing "bad" spots on pictures. It also tells how to improve backgrounds, add motion blur or depth, swapping images, moving items from the picture, and creating panoramics.The author hasn't forgotten a section on text and even has a chapter on the web. Optimizing images by compression, using printers and photo services, and a reference section on layers, effects, tools, etc.Here is a good book to have to help make your use of Photoshop that much easier. It is written in a step-by-step fashion with plenty of sidebar notes and visual aids. The ... price gives you a lot for your money.