Rating: 
Summary: A must for any serious Photoshopper's library
Review: "Down and Dirty Tricks" by Scott Kelby is more than just a collection of tutorials on how to get dynamic effects with Adobe Photoshop's plethora of options, it is a way for PS users to familarize theirselves with all the program has to offer through these step-by-step recipes for creating eye-catching effects in digital art and graphics. While naysayers make the point that Kelby has simply rehashed many frequently seen tutorials from the Web, that is not true. Many tutorials to create similar effects to the ones found here can be seen on different sites, such as teamphotoshop.com, but Kelby's instructions and well-rounded use of the program through the book's tutorials should give even an inexperienced PS user a good time learning the program and a good variety of skills. This book is a valuable addition to the library of any graphic artist or desiger or just anyone who is interested in doing things with Photoshop. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Photoshop 7 Reference
Review: Only oldtimers (not necessarily as old as me but older nonetheless) remember that Adobe did not create Photoshop. It bought Photoshop's parent company (Aldus) and the market. Not all of us feel that was a good thing because Adobe is, at best, quirky in its terminology and interfaces. Which is why so many of Photoshop users spend more on plug-ins than on Photoshop itself.Enter Scott Kelly and his latest book Photoshop 7 Down and Dirty. If I'd known before what I know post-Kelly, I could have done vastly better work in a fraction of the time and for pennies instead of dollars. Kelly is a brilliant communicator. His words are perfectly chosen for effectiveness and humor. Every step in each of the numerous projects is illustrated by what is seen on the screen. Even better, his projects are all useful and inspiring. The next time you see a stunning graphic and wonder "how did they do that?" start with Kelly's book. I'm considering dumping the dozens of other Photoshop books in my collection and keeping just this one and Learning Photoshop Visually.
Rating: 
Summary: Tight Effects!
Review: .. An outstanding book for digi-art! I have used just about every effect you can think of in photoshop.
This book shows you how to do some very creative work in CS and you can use them in 7 as well. Photo's take on a brand new creative world with these tools, some of which I never knew possible! I have worked in the publishing arena some 20 years now and have won online photography contests with the techniques found in this book.
I would suggest Scott Kelby's new book for anyone with a photoshop skill set of 5 or better on a scale of 1 to 10. No matter what books you now have on hand, Down & Dirty Tricks will be the 1st book you reach for when the going gets tough and the competition is rough!
Rating:
Summary: A Good Place to Start
Review: Adobe is used to having a lot of books written on its products. They tend to be the most complex of any program on the market, but it is because they are so powerful. If you have got the Photoshop bug and can't make pretty changes to your pictures or projects, this is a good book to start with!!!
Yes it will not teach you a lot of the "Why???" of Photoshop, that can take some years to learn anyway. A lot of Photoshop books come it two groups, those that know Photoshop and those who don't. Most of those that are for the expert expect you to know your Gaussian Blur from your Unsharp Mask and what kind of effect it will have on your picture. Photoshop "cookbooks" as some have called them teach by example, this author's "recipe's" are easy to follow and will give hints in the margins to learn more indepth or customize. Again you might be mimicing the author, but sometimes that is all you need to feel good about your investment in Photoshop. The CS (PS 8) book was a complete rewrite from the Photoshop 7 book, I own both because both have a lot to offer that was different enough to almost consider them volumes 1 & 2. Also if you are just needing digital photographry help, I would check out Scott Kelby's books on just digital photographry.
Rating:
Summary: A must for any serious Photoshopper's library
Review: "Down and Dirty Tricks" by Scott Kelby is more than just a collection of tutorials on how to get dynamic effects with Adobe Photoshop's plethora of options, it is a way for PS users to familarize theirselves with all the program has to offer through these step-by-step recipes for creating eye-catching effects in digital art and graphics. While naysayers make the point that Kelby has simply rehashed many frequently seen tutorials from the Web, that is not true. Many tutorials to create similar effects to the ones found here can be seen on different sites, such as teamphotoshop.com, but Kelby's instructions and well-rounded use of the program through the book's tutorials should give even an inexperienced PS user a good time learning the program and a good variety of skills. This book is a valuable addition to the library of any graphic artist or desiger or just anyone who is interested in doing things with Photoshop. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: If you are a Design Teacher, buy it NOW!
Review: A must have for any Photoshop/Design teacher. The tutorials of this book is impressively simple yet with breath-taking results. My students simply love to try out all of the possibilites this book offers while practicing the tools and effects that Photoshop offer us. That book revealed some features of Photoshop that I never used before. Easy to use, easy to learn and very straight forward content.
Rating:
Summary: This book opened Photoshop up for me
Review: I love this book, bottom line, I've spent hours creating special effects. Its very important to carefully read each paragraph. You can miss a few steps, however, as you get more comfortable with the tool, the special effects are amazing and empowering. For the most part the book provides step by step examples and pictures to verify your at the correct stage. The visual aids were very helpful when I missed a step. Here are the following techniques I liked: Gel Characters, liquid Gold and Chrome Characters, Glass pills, Carved in Stone, Glass tabs, Full metal jacket, Studio Tarp, ultimate chrome, Going for the Gold, and saturday night effects. The book covers alot of the Photoshop functionality in under 300 pages.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty darn good.....
Review: Some tricks are a bit redundant, but there were many times that I found myself saying, "So THAT'S how they do that." The depth of field FX, the "Matrix" and "Band of Brothers" type FX and the Interface Design FX are all very good.
Rating:
Summary: Such a fun toolbox
Review: This book is such a cool group of tricks and makes doing them very easy. I love the metal finishes! You'll need at least a beginner's working knowledge of Photoshop to use "Down & Dirty", since Kelby doesn't guide exactly step-by-step. That's great for his audience, since if you're looking for these kinds of goodies, chances are you're getting into some more complicated designs anyway. Plus, he's actually got a sense of humor and didn't write a total bore of a techy manual. He made his book fun to read - I can't wait for the next addition!
Rating: 
Summary: WAYYY OVERPRICED!
Review: This book should be a free ebook on the web since I can find most of these "tricks" on the web somewhere.
Also, the so called companion images on his website aren't complete & don't help. He doesn't explain anything to you so you have NO IDEA what your doing or why your doing it, which means your learning NOTHING. His "support" won't answer questions questions right, they give answers that have nothing to do with what I asked which means they either Don't read it well or they are extremely stupid and should NOT be answering questions about the book. If all you want to do are the EXACT things Scott shows in his book with his EXACT text and images, well then go for it! But if you want to learn something about Photoshop and do things to ANY of YOUR OWN images then get something else. Seems the Photoshop worl just gave Scott some credibility cause he owns NAPP, but other than that, he isn't much and there are MANY BETTER such as everything Bert Monroy does!
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