Photoshop CS2 For Dummies: Amazon.co.uk: Peter Bauer: Books

Product Description

If you’re a photography hobbyist, would you like to brighten up that gloomy island vacation photo? Slim down without going on a diet? See whether white or green shutters look best on the house? Expunge the ex–boyfriend from family photos?

If you’re a pro or semi–pro photographer, would you like to make it snow in that ski resort photo? Replace the old logo in the glamour shot of the corporate headquarters with the new one? Grow hair in the CEO’s glaring bald spot? Freshen up the lettuce in that food shot?

You’ve come to the right place. With Photoshop CS2, you have the tools. With Photoshop CS2 For Dummies, you’ll have the know–how. In full color, with all kinds of examples, screen shots, step–by–step explanations, tips, and techniques, this guide takes you from the fundamentals to special power–user tricks! Cross–platform Mac–PC coverage includes:

The basics of getting around in Photoshop, getting images into and out of Photoshop, choosing the right file formats, and setting your preferences
Working with Adobe Bridge to organize and manage your images
Working with tonality, including making easy Auto Repairs, making adjustments with Levels and Curves (and the eyedroppers), and using Shadow/Highlight and the toning tools, Burn and Dodge
Making color look natural using the color adjustment commands
Taking advantage of the RAW format for maximum flexibility, including using the Adjust, Detail, Lens, Curve, and Calibrate tabs and the Camera Raw buttons
Fine–tuning your fixes, including making your selections with tools (four marquee tools, three lasso tools, and the Magic Wand tool)
Masking for both layer visibility and for protecting parts of your images
The most common problems in digital photos—red–eye, wrinkles, unwanted objects and people, and noise—and what to do about them

With Photoshop CS2, you can go beyond enhancing your images to create “art.” You have a very powerful painting engine, an extremely complex Brushes palette, and all kinds of painting tools. Photoshop CS2 For Dummies walks you though:

Compositing (combining images into a piece of artwork) and working with layers, including choosing from the almost two dozen blending modes
Selecting with Extract which is great for making tough selections, such as flyaway hair and various types of fringe
Using Vanishing Point to “map” a pattern to angled surfaces
Creating panoramas with Photomerge
Creating precision edges with vector paths, including using shape layers and the Custom Shape tool, choosing from more than 300 ready–to–use shapes with the Custom Shape Picker, and using the Pen tool to create paths
Where to find dozens, or even hundreds, of custom shapes already on your computer – absolutely free
Dressing up images with layer styles, including using the Styles palette and creating custom layer styles
Adding text messages and tweaking your text
Using the extensive painting tools and the Brushes palette
Using filters, including sharpening to focus the eye using blur filters or the Unsharp Mask and the new Smart Sharpen filter that give incredible control
Getting fun effects with the Liquify filter

In a special Power Photoshop section, you’ll learn about streamlining your work, including creating a PDF for both onscreen presentation and for printing. You’ll discover how to spiff up your online images by working with Image Ready to slice, optimize, and otherwise juice up your images for the Web and how to create fancy rollover buttons and fun animations,

From basic cropping to complex techniques that can turn good photos into great ones, Photoshop CS2 For Dummies is your guide to exploring all the possibilities that await you in Photoshop CS2.

From the Back Cover

Tame the Photoshop toolkit and get dazzling results

Grasp the basics, correct color and tonality, work with Raw files, and more

Wait till you see what you can do with Photoshop CS2! You′ll start with the nitty–gritty stuff, like how to get images out of your digital camera and into Photoshop, and go all the way to creating works of art with twisted type and the Photoshop Brush tool. Feeling even more adventurous? Check out Part IV for power–user tricks!

Discover how to:

Download, scan, crop, and print photos
Adjust brightness, correct color, and fix flaws
Choose the right file format for your images
Understand the Raw file format
Turn photos into works of art

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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

It does what is says on the cover. 1 Oct 2008

By Ned Middleton HALL OF FAME TOP 10 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

Any book with a title stating the content is for "Dummies" is going to attract of the type of purchaser who feels they do not possess whatever technical expertise is required to master the subject. That is why I purchased this book.

Technology may be moving ahead at an incredibly fast pace, but it does not mean we ordinary mortals cannot keep up. I mention this because, when I purchased this book, I had already acquired Adobe Photoshop CS3 but this series of books had not yet produced an updated version for CS3. Nevertheless, I am glad I got this copy because it goes all the way back to basic training before bringing the reader forward - step by step, to an area of expertise.

The very concept of digital imaging is explained in a manner which gives those who are new to the subject a fundamental understanding which will then stand them in good stead for all time. The author then takes the reader through a series of progressively more difficult tasks always building on what has been learned so far. These include enhancing digital images, Creating "Art," Power Photoshop and much more besides.

Having, as I said, already purchased CS3 and attended three days of professionally run courses on the subject, I thought I might be coming to this book as a bit of a "know it all." Not so! There is much to learned from this product and it is always interesting to see another approach to the teaching of the subject. Learning from a book also allows you to go back over the same area again and again until you get it right. You can't do that in a classroom!

If you really are new to Photoshop and all the complexities that go with it, a copy of this book really should help you provided you are prepared to sit down and study the content - step by step, and put it all into practise.

NM

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75 of 81 people found the following review helpful

Unfortunately, falls between beginner and intermediate book 15 Sep 2005

By A Customer

The Dummies books are normally very good, short and sweet intros to a program that can be read in a few hours before one goes on to deeper training in a bigger book. Unusually for the Dummies series, this one suffers from being ill-defined: it says it is a reference book, but there is, for example, no complete or even partial list of tools and no appendix for where to find specific adjustments or fixes. (The index can't fill in more detail than what is in the text.) It gives a good introduction to the Raw file format, but only cursory treatment to many, more basic features of Photoshop, such as cropping and resizing. If you don't know, for example, what the Curves dialog shows you about an image or exactly what the Color Sampler does, you won't find any explanation here. (By contrast, Bauer does much better in describing what histograms show.) As for so many features, these are mentioned, even described, in passing, but not explained.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

I didn't know I was such a dummy 28 Feb 2011

By Garwood Yardley

Brilliant overview of Photoshop CS2. Having used Photshop semi-professionally for years I believed I was on top of the game. Taught me things I thought I already new - but actually didn't. Very readable and full of tips and tricks even for pros. Remember, familiarity breeds bad habits, so read the book and refresh your memory!