Rating: 
Summary: Faster than a speeding...
Review: ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS ONE CLICK WOW! is worth the CD alone.
I use it with Photoshop 6 and it has saved me incredible amounts
of time with the instant styles and other goodies. You can either
use them as they are, or modify them to fine tune the results.
For the pro, it's one of the finest aids available at an amazingly
low price. For the beginner or for the user of Photoshop Elements,
the book is well presented and easy to grasp. You can achieve instant professional results in no time at all. This book is a gem!
Rating:
Summary: Why reinvent the wheel?
Review: Alright, all you Photoshop and Photoshop Elements geeks, here's a way to truly amaze your friends with your hidden artistic talents. No longer will you have to spend hours experimenting or following intricate step-by-step directions in other expensive and wordy books to create professional effects with photos, types and graphics. With One-Click Now!, all it takes is a click of the mouse to create stunning effects that will make you an instant PS artist! No kidding! And the price is right! With AAUG's 20% discount at Peachpit Press, this book and CD costs less than $25!
This is the third edition of the popular One-Click Wow! series by Jack Davis and it works with Photoshop Elements 2 and 3. Looks can be deceiving: the "book" is only 97 pages long, and only 21 pages are tutorial text, the rest are full color samples and explanations of the styles that are on the CD. The treasure lies in the CD that accompanies the book as it contains over 300 custom styles that can be applied with a click of the mouse to create remarkable effects.
The instructions are easy to follow. One-Clock Wow! is copied into the Presets folder in Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 or 3. To start using the layer styles, open PSElements, under "Widow" open the "Styles and Effects" palette and then a menu listing of the "WowPSE" effects will appear. There are 21 categories of effects: Edge Styles, Frame Styless, Tint FX Styles, Color FX Styles, Darkroom Styles, Grain Styles, Texture Styles, Chrome Styles, Metal Styles, Glass Styles,, Gem Styles, Plastic Styles, Wood Styles, Rock Styles, Organic Styles, Fabric Styles, Stroke Styles, Halo Styles, Glow Styles, Button Styles, Overlay Styles. Figuring out which style to apply to ehance your photo, text or graphic can be done through experimenting with the many layers of each style. Better yet, consult the book to see samples of each style. The book divides styles into three categories: Styles for Photos, Styles for Type and Graphics and Other WOW! Presets. In each category there are samples to save you the trial-and-error effort. Layer styles can be combined and also modified to create an almost endless array of effects to jazz up your photos, put zest into your text or create eye-popping effects. The book presents many examples of combined layers that show the versatility of PSElements. I spent hours recreating samples that were provided in the book and experimenting. I caution you to be judicious in the use of your color printer to see your handiwork as you can use up expensive cartridges quickly!
My one recommendation to improve the book is to simplify the text which explains the samples. The book designer uses a running column of text which makes it a bit challenging to follow. Here is an excerpt from the book:
26 Glow 10 turns the lines of
this logo into neon tubes in the
"off" state. 27 Glow 08 turns
the neon "on." 28 Stroke 18
Here's how I would have preferred it to appear:
26) Glow 10 turns the lines of this
logo into neon tubes in the "off" state.
27) Glow 08 turns the neon "on."
Adobe Photoshop Elements One-Click Wow! is an exceptional value and it will turn any amateur PSElements user into an instant semi-pro. Volunteer to produce a flyer or poster and use a couple of the layer styles included in One-Click Wow! and your friends and co-workers will be amazed by your talents. I know of one professional graphic artist who uses One-Click Wow!, afterall, why reinvent the wheel? For less than $30, you get the entire wheel and a whole lot more!
Rating:
Summary: Shhhhhhhh! Keep this book secret just for yourself!
Review: Don't tell a soul what Jack and Linnea have done! With only 58 pages, hopefully most Photoshop and Photoshop Elements users will skip this book and move on to one of the more expensive and extensively promoted Adobe books. But between you and me, what's on the CD totally eliminates the need for those books. This one doesn't swamp you with a lot of text and redundancy -- it can't. What it does do is give you pre-configured "Layer Styles" to instantly produce stunning results the others hope to teach you with a few hundred or thousand words. For instance: you can buy one of those "Killer Tips" books to try and figure out how to do the trendy plastic "Gel" effect, or agonize over the Mac Design tutorial page after page, feeling more like road kill than a killer tips -- or, unwrap "One Click WOW" the second it arrives -- forget about reading -- pop in the CD, instal, open a new file, load "Plastic" styles and select #16 and presto -- big, beautiful Gel type! And you did it faster than it took you to read this review! Or Chrome or mud, or rust, or neon, or brick or glass or diamonds or brass or ice or crystal or ... well, you get the picture. I knocked out a header for a user group web site -- nailed the new Clear button look -- and it took all of ten seconds flat. There are more than 300 excellent effects, each of which is fully modifiable and expandable to literally unlimited combinations. It sounds too good to be true -- but it really works. . Use these Layer Styles as they are, or modify to your desires. Elements users will LOVE the recipes... but don't stop there: vignettes, frames, borders, tints, textures, patterns, grains and darkroom effects are a click away eliminating the need to read a single word of someone else's idea of cool. For years Jack and Linnea have WOWed us with their classic WOW books... but this one? Well, this one just takes the cake. But, you really shouldn't tell any one. You're gonna want to keep this one all to yourself. April Editor's Choice in the Design & Publishing Center and Design-Bookshelf.com
Rating:
Summary: Shhhhhhhh! Keep this book secret just for yourself!
Review: Don't tell a soul what Jack and Linnea have done! With only 58 pages, hopefully most Photoshop and Photoshop Elements users will skip this book and move on to one of the more expensive and extensively promoted Adobe books. But between you and me, what's on the CD totally eliminates the need for those books. This one doesn't swamp you with a lot of text and redundancy -- it can't. What it does do is give you pre-configured "Layer Styles" to instantly produce stunning results the others hope to teach you with a few hundred or thousand words. For instance: you can buy one of those "Killer Tips" books to try and figure out how to do the trendy plastic "Gel" effect, or agonize over the Mac Design tutorial page after page, feeling more like road kill than a killer tips -- or, unwrap "One Click WOW" the second it arrives -- forget about reading -- pop in the CD, instal, open a new file, load "Plastic" styles and select #16 and presto -- big, beautiful Gel type! And you did it faster than it took you to read this review! Or Chrome or mud, or rust, or neon, or brick or glass or diamonds or brass or ice or crystal or ... well, you get the picture. I knocked out a header for a user group web site -- nailed the new Clear button look -- and it took all of ten seconds flat. There are more than 300 excellent effects, each of which is fully modifiable and expandable to literally unlimited combinations. It sounds too good to be true -- but it really works. . Use these Layer Styles as they are, or modify to your desires. Elements users will LOVE the recipes... but don't stop there: vignettes, frames, borders, tints, textures, patterns, grains and darkroom effects are a click away eliminating the need to read a single word of someone else's idea of cool. For years Jack and Linnea have WOWed us with their classic WOW books... but this one? Well, this one just takes the cake. But, you really shouldn't tell any one. You're gonna want to keep this one all to yourself. April Editor's Choice in the Design & Publishing Center and Design-Bookshelf.com
Rating: 
Summary: Adobe Elements Has The Power Of The Big Boys...
Review: I bought Elements with my wacom graffire 2. The OTHER painter program that came was no longer supported, (painter classic)and I had been shopping for an intracate paint program for my digital arts. I also have Paint shop pro7. I found Elements to be very close to fluff as PSP7. it can do anything I can do...and then some...It is certinly not a Jr. program by any measure.
Elements has tons of brushes, all the effects you could ever put to use, an animation studio, and many cool tricks that others don't. The only mere complaint I would render is with the blending tool...which is 'the' determining factor in so much of what I do..
The panoramic picture wizzard would have to be my favorite wizard in this program. I say this is a must have...and the price is an even better asset. I would have paid "more money" for it and felt I was getting a deal.
Rating:
Summary: Very Useful
Review: I have used the Photoshop Wow styles in making quite a few
of the things on my website.
Rating:
Summary: It's a MUST
Review: In just a matter of minutes, you will be doing the unbelieveable with your photos. It's quick, simple and easy to use! Book is very self explanitory and the CD that comes with the book is packed full of various layer styles that will turn your boring, everyday snapshots into works of art!. The CD alone is worth the price by itself. For those who haven't yet purchased Adobe Elements, there is a trial version on the CD also, so you can check out the potential of "Elements" before spending the money.!
The authors flat did their homework on this one!! I can't see anyone regretting the purchase of this software package, especially those who are new to Adobe. Although being designed for Adobe Elements, this software will also work with the full version of photoshop also. Just follow the instructions! But it is a MUST have for "Elements" users.
Rating:
Summary: WOWee
Review: This CD and reference are excellent. What can I add to Fred Showkers review, except to add my voice :-) This is a quick way to produce very professional looking effects. No tacky designs here and anyone can do it. The book does however break down how some of the effects were made so you can make your own if you so desire. It also teaches you how to edit the effects if you want to. The CD is usable for any level of user of Photoshop Elements or even in Photoshop. It's worth far more than the asking price.
Rating:
Summary: Some easy fun things...
Review: This was an impulse purchase and I really had NO idea what I was getting....very new to Elements it threw me right into a major learning curve...had not dealt with layers before...nor text in Elements...didn't know it could be done...took a few days to get my knowledge up to speed, but this was good. What they have done is combine several steps into a one click thing...add frames to pictures, and make your writing REALLY cool!!!! My major disappointment was that there wasn't more to choose from...particurly in the frame dept. I was working with a whole bunch of pictures and got bored adding the same frames over and over...but have barely touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to styles for text and graphics. There are also some background fill things that I have not yet played with...a fun book that was good for me, but maybe not everyone...
Rating:
Summary: "BEST BOOK" Award for 2002
Review: We at the Designer's Bookshelf have just awarded this book a "BEST BOOK" award for 2002. These awards are given by the editors and staff at the Design Bookshelf, DT&G Magazine, and the Graphic Design network as top choices for all those involved in the design, publishing and visual arts fields.
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