Rating: 
Summary: Just Right for Amateur Digital Photographers
Review: As a Mac user, I noticed that all the screen-shots in this Elements book are done in Microsoft Windows. That aside, this book seems just right for the amateur digital photographers who want to make big improvements in their photos. Scott starts at the beginning - with the File Browser - showing you how to organize and find your photos on your computer.From there, he shows you how to size, crop and straighten a photo. Then, it's on to correcting over and under exposures, adding a fill flash and correcting red eye. There's an excellent section on color correcting photos (he makes it amazingly easy!) Masking isn't just for Photoshop. Scott shows you step-by-step how to use masks to make selections. I was surprised to find sections on how to repair and restore damaged photos, along with professional photo retouching secrets. And there is a great section on digital plastic surgery and body sculpting. Chapter 8 covers the most-requested photographic special effects, including: adding motion, creating depth of field, using color for emphasis, sepia tone, creating montages, replacing the sky, and making a panorama pic. This book should expand your skills with Elements so you get more out of it than you thought possible.
Rating:
Summary: Educator Gives this Book the Thumbs Up!
Review: As an educator-- a technology teacher-- I see lots of books of how-tos for all kinds of technology products. Many of them are geared either for the beginner or for the professional. This book finds the perfect combination of help for beginners with enough "meat" for those of us who are a little beyond that. It's a very practical guide for dealing with common photography problems. The author also gives some very valuable help in keeping photos organized. I also appreciate the humor in his writing which makes the book even more enjoyable to read. I will be using this book as a guide for in-service training for teachers who want to learn to use Elements more effectively for themselves and for their students. I'll definitely be looking for more useful Scott Kelby books in the future!
Rating:
Summary: Buy this book.
Review: First let me just say that I don't mean to insult anyone, but I read the previous reviews and could not believe that they were talking about the same book that I bought. Either they are Photoshop know-it-alls or they, for whatever reason just don't want you to buy this book. If for no other reason, it is a book that will help the beginner receive a huge headstart on what elements can do. I can understand how some people might not like some of the secrets that are given away in this book. It's like a magician giving away the secrets to his magic tricks. Secrets like "How to increase the size of an image". I have been using Elements for two years and I have read many of the other "How to" books and I have gotten something from each one, but this book proves that you can be given the "skinny" on how to create many advanced effects without all the colorful theorizing and the geeky jargon that make you go"Huh". Come on guys, you may know all of this stuff, but there are a lot of people who don't and you have to admit that this book has some good stuff on just about every page. If you don't believe me go to a bookstore and look through it. I promise that you will find a seat somewhere because you will not be able to put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Seriously awesome and fun
Review: First off, this book is NOT good for those new to Photoshop Elements or digital photography. But if you're going get serious about making digital images and manipulating and fixing them, you'll want to get this one. Kelby is on top of his game. His techniques are pratical, fun to read, and packed with projects that can be applied to those who take digital photos on a regular basis. (For those who don't take a lot of pictures, he's web posted the "before" pictures in his book that can be downloaded and used to try out the techniques. But really, you should use your own pictures. It's a lot more fun.) You'll especially like the techniques about how to make poster size digital photos (even if you only have a 3 megapixel camera), how to create photo backdrops, and cropping for printing purposes. There are also techniques on flesh tone correction, masking, sharpening, getting rid of digital noise, converting color to black and white, retouching, water marking photos, and much much more. Finally, this book is for those in the business of photo image making. If you can't afford Photoshop or if you just don't need all that kind of power, Kelby's book will show you how to make the most of Elements. Kelby's work is sure to become a best seller among photo imaging books.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent for the Beginner User
Review: I have been using Digital Image Pro since my entree into digital photography and have been quite pleased with their point and click approach. However, the more I read the more I realize that there are many more options for image enhancement that could produce better quality pictures, especially with skin tones and removing that yellow glow on indoor theatre shots. Adobe Photoshop is repeatedly recommended and after deciding that the full blown program was way more than I need, I settled on PS Elements and have been completely baffled! After reading reviews on many help books, I settled on this one and I feel like have have gained a new vision. The book is organzied by the most common fixes and enhancements and provides a step by step approach that is easy to follow and voila! the fix is successful.
So why not 5 stars? My only complaint is that it could use a little more explanation of what is being done. You can produce the desired results by following his steps exactly but I'm not really sure what I've done. However, I figure that after using the program for a while, I'll better understand the "whys and whats." If not, I'll look into a book that better explains the terminology and basic features. The author starts out declaring that this book is not intended to provide these basics but I do think one brief chapter along these lines could have been included. Otherwise, this book is fantastic and finally, I can use my PS Elements program!
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book!
Review: I have bought a number of books to help me maximize Elements. This is the very best book by far.
Rating:
Summary: Practical and Helpful Book for photo editing
Review: I have just finished a few chapters of this book, and find it very useful and easy to follow. I have read many books on PSE2 and most of them tend to be rather tedious. Scott Kelby's book is easy to read and gives really practical and simple solutions. Thus far I have easily corrected some my own pictures which had overexposure and underexposure. The end-results are surprisingly good. I had edited the same photos before after reading other books and - may be I did not really understand the instructions - the edited photos did not really satisfy me. I can only conclude that Scott Kelby has a way of explaining editing techniques in a more comprehensible way, and it works for me. I am really glad I got this book. I think I am going to enjoy reading this book and learning from it. Oh yes, about the comments here about "hey, cut the comedy", etc. This same light tone in the book makes it more readable.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book!
Review: I've never rated anything before, but I have had such good results with this book that I had to contribute. I purchased the books PSE 2 for Dummies, and the Complete Idiot's guide to PSE 2 for obvious reasons. The titles fit me perfectly. After reading both of those books a couple of times, I understood what Photoshop Elements 2 could do, but I never understood how it was really done, and how I could apply it to my photos. I bought this book and within a 1/2 hour I was amazing myself. I was asked to take wedding photos for someone in my family. I did an ok job, but with the help of this book I was able to do some amazing things. I highly recommend this book. I keep the book next to my computer, and when I need some help I can quickly find the answer. I'm getting so good that I don't have to refer to the book as much. This book is just right for the beginner/amateur who wants to take their photos to the next level, but don't know how to get there.
Rating:
Summary: A must for any photographer
Review: If you like me, like to play with digital images and get those pretty good photos to be really great photos then I think this book cannot be beat. It is packed with step-by-step instructions on how to make the eyes whiter, remove facial blemishes etc. The examples are good and the images that Scott references are on his website, so happy downloading. I especially liked Scott's approach to black and white photos, after using the book you will never use Elements basic "Remove Color" command again! The book is well laid out and you can just go to the appropriate instruction section without having to refer back to prior chapters. So why not 5 stars? Well I think there could be more done for the advanced elements user. Discussing how to do multi-layer masks for one would be nice. But it is well worth the money! I would consider myself an intermediate elements user.
Rating: 
Summary: Scott - forget the comedy!
Review: If you looking for a quick starter, a 'click-by-click' approach, this book is for you. Otherwise, look elsewhere. No theory, not referenced well. The author's constant attempts at comedy are extremely annoying and waste a lot of the reader's time. All of that paper and ink would have been better spent on useful information. This was my first Photoshop Elements book and after a few chapters, I am already looking for something else.
| 
