Rating: 
Summary: Amateur finally understands
Review: Once I got into the Photoshop 6.0 program, I began to drown. I've spent over 200 bucks collecting a variety of how-to-do-this-with-Photoshop books. All of them are sort-of readable and relevant to some degree.Scott Kelby's approach in Photo-Retouching Secrets is the most Earth-bound approach. He is the author of many of the books on the basics of digital retourching...here, he goes straight for what I needed...step by step to do this or that. How do I shine up someone's teeth or get rid of a pimple or bring out a grayed photo? He is very impressive how little he asks me to understand about the technical stuff and how much he can get me to act like a pro. Scott, you are super. Thanks. --marv
Rating:
Summary: Amateur finally understands
Review: Once I got into the Photoshop 6.0 program, I began to drown. I've spent over 200 bucks collecting a variety of how-to-do-this-with-Photoshop books. All of them are sort-of readable and relevant to some degree. Scott Kelby's approach in Photo-Retouching Secrets is the most Earth-bound approach. He is the author of many of the books on the basics of digital retourching...here, he goes straight for what I needed...step by step to do this or that. How do I shine up someone's teeth or get rid of a pimple or bring out a grayed photo? He is very impressive how little he asks me to understand about the technical stuff and how much he can get me to act like a pro. Scott, you are super. Thanks. --marv
Rating: 
Summary: Great easy techniques
Review: Really liked this book. It has lots of elements that users need: Red Eye reduction (long ways and shortcuts), creating better photographs, lightening, darkening, colorizing. I thought I was good at Photoshop, but he really showed me more focusing on digital photography. Very helpful indeed. And I will always have this book by my PC and digital camera (Canon A40)
Rating:
Summary: A valuable resource.
Review: The book Photoshop: Photo-Retouching Secrets came into my life at exactly the right time. Not another book on all the intricacies of Photoshop, it offered straightforward solutions my imaging problems. A case is point was where I had taken on a project where I had to scan a series of photographs and turn them into stained glass designs. Kelby's book offered several fast and easy solutions that saved me a lot of time. If it were not for this volume, I would have spent many more hours than I did. I recommend this book to even the most seasoned Photoshop user.
Rating:
Summary: Another Permanent Tool in my Photoshop Toolbox
Review: This book is a clean, concise and meaty work of art. How's that for an opener? By clean, I mean that the presentation is not cluttered with too many words or unnecessary asides. Graphics are only what's necessary, large and clear. The process flow is exact and each tutorial is full of the type information I look for. Needless to say, I like this book very much. As a proud owner of Scott Kelby's "Photoshop Down and Dirty & Tricks", I was anticipating another gem coming from Scott's laptop. I was not disappointed. "Photo Retouching Secrets" covers material that can also be used in non-photo related graphics. If you have a damaged photograph this is the place to come for assistance. As the back cover says, "...No boring chapters...just how to repair, enhance, and retouch photos like a pro!" I think if I read enough of Scott's books I'll become a Photoshop pro. From Cloning Tips to Digital Plastic Surgery, from Getting Your Color on Track to Photo-Collaging Techniques you will find what you need. Add to this dozens of good down and dirty tricks along the way and you'll have a Photoshop adventure. Folks, Photoshop is truly amazing and in the hands of a guru it becomes a magic show. Scott may not like the title of guru, but I thought that "The Grand Potentate of Photoshop" was a bit much. Scott is so good with Photoshop that I wonder sometimes are those real pictures of him on the book covers. Regardless of whose picture that it is, I recommend you buy his newest book and have some learning fun. Once again, thank you Scott Kelby for your time and efforts in producing another permanent tool in my Photoshop toolbox.
Rating:
Summary: Excellents Tutorials
Review: This book is a must for those who want to learn the tricks on how to retouch photographs.
The tutorials are well explained and easy to follow. By doing this tutorials you'll be surprise how much you can learn. I recommend that any person that is starting to use Photoshop that learn the very basics first and the book for this is Photoshop in a Classroom.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent writing, lousy binding
Review: This book is an excellent tutorial work and deals with real life conditions. It is spoiled by the fact that every page I look at falls out. Most books would be on their way back to the vendor but my daughter and I are arguing about who gets to study it now. Kelby is an excellent writer and is easy to follow. One of the few really good books on Photoshop. The book construction wouldn't rate a single star and if that kind of thing is really troubling to you, don't buy the book
Rating:
Summary: To The Point
Review: This book is full of useful techniques that are taught in usually less than 10 easy steps. I personally appreciated the photo correction tricks, which are important to me because of the photography errors I seem to make regularly. Scott's book has a companion Website from which many of the photos used in the exercises can be downloaded for later use in practicing the techniques in the book.
Rating: 
Summary: ...Garbage
Review: This book's production is embarrassing, especially for someone like Scott...the president of NAPP. The pictures in the book have all look pretty bad. The colors of the photo's are all reddish and look awful. This may not be all Scott's fault, it could have a lot to do with the printer they used to publish the book, but Scott should have proofed the himself. Either that or Scott does not know anything about color correction and color management. This book is also out of date. If you have Photoshop seven, this book is not for you. A much better book is Scott's new book "The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers." Instead of Scott relying on his own knowledge, he went and sought out the pro's advice and concentrated it into his new book. His new book is really good. Don't bother with this out dated mess. Go out and get his new book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Reference Source
Review: This is the kind of book that you will fill with those little post-it flags. It has easy-to-implement solutions to common problems. The illustrations are relevant, the explanations are clear and sequential. A beginner can easily follow along, and even the experts will find useful information. Well worth every penny.
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