Real World Adobe Photoshop CS2: Industrial-Strength Production Techniques

This really is the top pick for a book on Photoshop CS2. Keep in mind though that it is much more of a manual than a tutorial. It is probably a bit of a steep learning curve for an absolute beginner. It has far more depth than almost any other book on the subject. It also lives up to its title "Real World" in that the authors give very useful pragmatic advice as to what is actually useful and how best to apply the tools to situations you are likely to encounter. It IS NOT a step-by-step tutorial. If I had to have only one book on Photoshop it would be this one. If you are truely starting from scratch I'd recommend that you supplement this book with a few online tutorials just to get you up and playing with the software a little before diving into the details. It is worth noting there are plethora of really poor photoshop books out there. Besides this book, which is probably the pick of the litter, you might also consider: Scott Kelby's book: This one is extremely basic, holds your hand the whole way, has huge dialog box captures and really does nothing to educate you as to what is really going on. It is a very shallow book. I only list it here because if you are actually terrified of photoshop this might be a friendly introduction. That said, I don't understand why such a book exists. It makes perfect sense for Photoshop Elements, but if you are actually bothering to use CS2 it implies you want more tools and control that Kelby's book introduces you to. Martin Evening's book: Also a good in depth book. Not quite as deep as Real World, but also a bit more tutorial oriented. A very good supplement and probably a number of people's first choice. Photoshop LAB Color, Dan Margulis: Once you know your way around Photoshop you'll want some help actually deciding what exactly to do to your images. The LAB colorspace offers some of the fastest ways to improve images but is a bit counter-intuitive at first. If you tend to photograph natural scenes it is the one colorspace to work in. Get this book, you won't be dissappointed. In short, if you don't need to be led by the hand and want a very in depth resource that covers nearly everything but focuses most on what is useful then you want "Real World Photoshop CS2".

When I teach my classes, and I'm asked to recommend a book, I wave around only two books...and not just because I have only two hands. Martin Evening's beautiful book (labelled 'for photographers' but valuable to any Photoshop user) and this one. Bruce Fraser is the Photoshop geek's Photoshop Geek. He also happens to be disarmingly self-deprecating and extremely articulate. A fine one to explain the intricacies of not only HOW to do a thing, like one finds in other books (but not as well as here), but also WHY we do it. As a novice user put it, however, this book isn't necessarily a "how-to" for beginners. But it DOES grow with the user. Old timers like me still pull out gems from this book, and I know my way around the app. But those who have just a little mileage with Photoshop can still benefit mightily. As a teacher, I hate it when I'm requested to "just show me what button to press". As Fraser and his funny but scary-smart coauther David Blatner put it, those buttons have a disconcerting way of moving from version to version. Recipes are fine, but knowing how to cook is way better. Learn how to cook with Photoshop. Buy this book. And no, I don't get a kickback! But there are only two books of the dozens out there that I recommend without reservation. Now go make good images...

In my recent effort to educate myself in matters of Photoshop CS2 I read in detail three books - Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Photographers by Martin Evening, Photoshop CS2 by Fraser & Blatner, and The Photoshop CS2 book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby. Of the three, I would rank the Evening and the Fraser & Blatner books as comprehensive books that, if the reader would fully understand all that was discussed, they would be considered a Photoshop Pro. The Kelby book I considered to be quite basic in that it covered only some of the principal topics and did so in an elementary fashion (it would take Kelby four pages with all his illustrations and stepwise instructions to cover what the other books might cover in one). I would recommend the Kelby book for a hobbyist that doesn't want to devote a lot of learning time and who wishes only a basic knowledge of Photoshop CS2 in order to occasionally turn out a nice image. I would recommend either of the other two books if one wants a mastery of what CS2 can really do. But, be warned that the subject is complex and will take a lot of time to learn. Of the two, Evening's book has the advantage in that it is a little less expensive, he includes a disk containing the images used in many of his tutorials so the reader can follow along with the same exercises, and because he is a fashion photographer many of his images are fashion shots of pretty women. The Fraser & Blatner book has the advantage of being somewhat larger and more complete and goes into deeper detail on some aspects of CS2. Both of these books have a high orientation to producing images for commercial press publication. I would recommend that if one wants to really learn CS2 they read both books, even though the same topics are covered in both, the subject is sufficiently complex it pays to learn it twice from perhaps somewhat different angles.

This book was written by the author of Real World Camera Raw and Real World Color Management. I own the second of these books and found that it is the best book around for color management, so I gave this book a shot. There are Fourteen Chapters (Building a PS System, Tips & Tricks, Image Essentials, Color Essentials, Color Settings, Digital Darkroom, Making Selections, ... Multimedia and the Web) covering about 915 pages. A very thorough book - which is the reason for the high price tag. From Chapter one, you can tell that the author isn't going to `gloss over' anything. He goes into depth about how to setup paging files, configure RAM, etc. This is not beginner stuff and is not aimed at someone who just bought CS2 and wants to use it. The book moves directly into "Tips and Tricks." Again, not a beginner chapter, but aimed at getting users who are familiar with PS to use it more efficiently. This one chapter covers about 50% (or more) of the tips in Scott Kelby's Tips and Tricks book - very good! Chapter 3 (Image Essentials) begins with a very thorough explanation of pixels and paths. It explains bit depth, resolution, types of resampling, CMYK vs RGB, etc. Chapters 4 & 5 provide 125 pages of color - Color Essentials, Color Management, Color Settings. Remember, this guy wrote the book on Color Management, so the level of detail is intense, but the explanations are clear. Finally, on page 227, we break out of the theory and the last 700 or so pages are dedicated to hands-on PhotoShop. If you are looking for a "step by step" How-to book on PhotoShop, this isn't it. Instead its a comprehensive guide on getting the most out of the best photo software product on the market. Its definitely slanted toward photographers (as opposed to graphical artists). I believe that I've read through most of the CS2 books out there - and purchased a few of them. For me, this provided the most useful information and the clearest explanations.