Rating: 
Summary: great hands-on tutorial
Review: Adobe Photoshop "Classroom in a Book" belongs to the series of "hands-on software training workbooks", published by Adobe. This book is written by people who know Photoshop better than anyone else, and is apparently intended to be an exercise book additional to the Photoshop manual. Indeed, it even uses some of the images which appear in the Photoshop manual. However, it can as well be used as an independent tutorial. The book is amazingly well written. Each chapter briefly explains the function of the tools discussed below, and then offers a practical lesson using images from the enclosed CD. The language of the book is very concise and easy to understand, which makes it suitable for people with every background, from middle-school students to professionals. The balance between the complexity of the tasks and the amount of information to learn is very well maintained. Description of the steps to follow is very accurate. I found only few minor mistakes in the text, which did not cause any significant misunderstandings. Despite all these advantages, two issues should be emphasized to avoid disappointment. First, this book does not contain much more than can be found in the Photoshop Manual or online help. Therefore, this book can be recommended primarily for the beginners, maybe for some people on the intermediate level, who are learning the basic techniques of Photoshop. It does not go into details of how photoshop can be used to make those amazing tricks with photographs which can be done by photoshop experts. Secondly, this book IS a workbook, a practical tutorial, but not more than that. This means that you read it from the beginning to the end, do the tutorials, hopefully learn a lot, but most likely will never use this book again. This book is not a good reference, and it makes little sense to repeat the lessons more than once or twice. Therefore this book frequently appears on Amazon auctions, sold by people who used it and do not need it anymore. But it is still a great book!
Rating:
Summary: Great book for self teaching
Review: During my Master's work in Design and Digital media, we were required to train in photoshop and illustrator. This was the text for that training. From the perspective of a student in a teach yourself environment, I felt this book presented itself well. The layout and information was informative. The lessons are great if you learn best through hands on application. I really recommend this series if you have the time to dedicate yourself to it. You will learn a firm foundation in which to advance yourself on your own. These books now serve as a reference on my bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: Adobe's Classroom in a book series beat going to school
Review: I have Photoshop 4 classroom in a book as well as the PageMaker, PageMill and Acrobat additions. Adobe offers these after market books which provide some of the best schooling you will ever get w/o even leaving your house. Each chapter, corresponds with a lesson on the enclosed CD and going through the step by step lessons, you will be up and running in no time. True, these books are for beginners, but we can all learn something from each one. They provide a strong basic foundation on which to build your creative concepts for the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Lacks the depth of version 3 and 4 Classroom in a Book
Review: I use this book as a manual for a 3 day Photoshop class, and for the first time I'm dissapointed with Adobe Press. They saw fit to remove all discussion but a partial page on resolution, one of the most important and difficult topics for a novice to understand. In previous versions excellent examples had been used to discuss this. But this version sacrifices knowledge to further sales by adding chapters on ImageReady. Unfortunately, the rest of the book also misses the mark in many areas. Some examples are poor and would never be done that way in a real world setting. Some chapters completely miss the mark. Version 3 was in depth and had great examples, Version 4 perfected some of that while only sacrificing a solid example of the Pen Tools usage. Too bad Adobe went downhill from there with this version.
Rating:
Summary: Learn while you read
Review: If you've never used Photoshop before, this book is a great guide. Each chapter focuses on a few tools, so you don't get overwhelmed. And, each chapter is a lesson devoted to the use of those tools. The enclosed CD contains all the lessons used in each chapter.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: One of the best instructional books I've ever read! Perfect for beginners! The lessons are short and too the point. Explains with easy to follow directions. I spent two straight days reading this book cover to cover. Lessons range from simple editing, to more complex layering and bluescreen techniques. My only gripe is I wish it was longer! Don't get me wrong the book covers everything you could hope to get out of Premiere. I'm looking forward to a volume 2.
Rating: 
Summary: Worst Package I Ever Tried To Work With
Review: This book does what it claims to do. It'll get a beginner up to speed on the tools available in Photoshop. As a computer book it stands out for having a clear layout and concise explanations. It's very easy to follow along with the tutorials. I'd reccommend it for novices who don't posess the manual *wink*.
Rating:
Summary: Great learning tool
Review: This book is a great start on your journey into the world of using Photoshop 5. You will be amazed at how easy the software is to use when you use the examples in this book.
Rating:
Summary: I love this book!
Review: This book is amazing! I got it on a friday and by saturday night I had finished it. The book is not short, mind you, I just couldn't put it down. I no trouble with any of the tutorials. I breezed right through them! Not only does it give you training on how to use the software, it also offers tutorials on basic editing techniques. Despite what other reviewers might have said, this book's CD is easy to navigate, I had no trouble finding any of the files, and if you don't know what "fading titles" are you obviously made the wrong decision purchasing this book and the software it refers to. I had a blast with the book and tutorials, and rushed to purchase the AfterEffects Classroom in a Book shortly after reading it.
Rating:
Summary: a qualitative photoshop learning manual
Review: This book is an outstanding work for the beginning photoshop user. A novice can learn the basics and provide a basis for growth in this all encompassing graphics program. The beginner is not overwhelmed by the information but is gently introduced to new data in an informative manner which allows them to ingest this slowly and retain what they read by example not by instruction. It would have been nice to have had a little deeper instruction into the pen tool and utilizing actions, that is what i felt prevented the book from deserving a five star rating. thank you jim bowling
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