» Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions: The Art of Digital Photography

Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions: The Art of Digital Photography Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Book & CD
Comment: Couldn't go another day without thanking you for this great "Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions" Book. After completing half of the Books Photo Exercises which gives the simplest, precise way to acheive the best professional results, I've finally learned Photoshop. This has evaded me for years spent on other learning programs. I just couldn't understand how the layers related and applied to each other for the background or how to work on them to get a final finish quality photo. The exercises were easy and understandable and fun to learn. Plus all those Plug-Ins on the CD.
Thanks,
Satisfied Customer.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions
Comment: Excellent book. Gives you step by step instructions on how to do some neat things with your digital photos.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Avoid like the plague
Comment: I bought this book expecting the enclosed CD to be a full tutorial. It is not. If you read far enough into the fine print it does say it is a trial (read demo) copy. To my sorrow I didn't see this; all I read was "100 before images" and "follow along with the book". Sounds great, but what you get is software that shows you what the real thing WOULD do if you bought it. Legal but morally reprehensible.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: OK - but...
Comment: This is a wordy introduction to Elements 2. Mr. Aaland provides a good rationale for improvement with photographs and how they may be accomplished. This is important - as it is not immediately obvious what improvements need to be made to a photograph when starting out in digital photography.

However, his approach is wordy - and you have to plough through a lot of (unnecessary) text to go through the individual steps. Some people like wordy explanations, others a more visual guide to a visual medium.

Secondly, and this is a personal feeling, it is clear that Mr. Aaland makes his living by writing computer manuals and not in graphics or as a photographer. The photographs supplied on the CD and in the book are of the mundane snapshot variety. This may be fine if you are simply working on mundane snapshots - however, for me (and I am sure others), I am looking for approaches to improve more artistic photographs. (If you are looking for help with this and you are visiting the UK, I recommend you buy a copy of Digital Photo magazine [not Digital Photography or other similarly named magazines] - you will get a lot of clearly, explained advice there).

So a mixed bag. If you are looking for a reasonable comprehensive 'textbook' on PE2 then consider this. If you are through the basics and are looking for a deeper explanation of advanced features and artistic management, then I suggest you look elsewhere. For me, the book falls short of my needs and interests and the CD photographs are disappointing.

Hope this helps!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: SAVE YOUR MONEY
Comment: I've seen the author on TechTv explaining tips with Photoshop Elements...he's good. But, he wrote the book like you already know most things instead of a step by step approach. I've taught myself more just by using Photoshop 6.0 and Photoshop Elements through trial and error. Look for another author or go to a book store and look through one of these books to see if it will help you. This author can't even explain the red eye tool...I learned on my own. Bottom line...I threw the book in the recycling container.

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