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.
Rating: 
Summary: Buy more for the software than the book
Review: When I got this book with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0, I found three surprises: -- The book refers to Photoshop Elements 1.0, while the current version being sold is 2.0; -- The explanatory text is for, and all the screenshots are from, the Apple Macintosh; -- The book is a very slender 58 pages ... and the text really ends on page 19! That said, there's a lot here to like. Adobe Photoshop Elements One Click Wow! (do I really have to write the whole title again?) is not a manual; Adobe Photoshop Elements comes with a very nice printed manual that's over 250 pages long. Instead, it's a collection of slick styles you can apply to your images and layers to create some very cool effects. These layer styles are on the enclosed CD-ROM, and *that* is what you're spending your money on. Dispensing with the tutorials in about 20 clear, information packed pages, the rest of the book is your 'catalog' of the styles and effects that One-Click Wow! includes. As a sample, here is the list from the table of contents, under "Graphic & Type Effects:" Chromes
Metals
Glass, Ice & Crystal
Gems & Smooth Stones
Plastics
Polished & Textured Woods
Rock, Brick & Other Textures
Weaves & Patterns
Strokes, Fills & Shadows
Glows, Neon & Halos In short, the software is a huge toolkit of great-looking textures, gradients, effects and styles to improve the look of your photographs or graphic art from within Adobe Photoshop Elements. A cynic might suggest that One-Click Wow! is really software being sold as a book, and as so, perhaps not worth the price-tag. However, the book is nicely printed on heavy-stock paper, the tutorial chapters are good, and 38 pages of 'catalog' really are more useful than the tiny thumbnails that show up in Photoshop Element menus. In summary, I recommend this book and it's disc to anyone wishing to learn more about, and get more out of, Adobe Photoshop Elements.
Rating:
Summary: Buy more for the software than the book
Review: When I got this book with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0, I found three surprises: -- The book refers to Photoshop Elements 1.0, while the current version being sold is 2.0; -- The explanatory text is for, and all the screenshots are from, the Apple Macintosh; -- The book is a very slender 58 pages ... and the text really ends on page 19! That said, there's a lot here to like. Adobe Photoshop Elements One Click Wow! (do I really have to write the whole title again?) is not a manual; Adobe Photoshop Elements comes with a very nice printed manual that's over 250 pages long. Instead, it's a collection of slick styles you can apply to your images and layers to create some very cool effects. These layer styles are on the enclosed CD-ROM, and *that* is what you're spending your money on. Dispensing with the tutorials in about 20 clear, information packed pages, the rest of the book is your 'catalog' of the styles and effects that One-Click Wow! includes. As a sample, here is the list from the table of contents, under "Graphic & Type Effects:" Chromes
Metals
Glass, Ice & Crystal
Gems & Smooth Stones
Plastics
Polished & Textured Woods
Rock, Brick & Other Textures
Weaves & Patterns
Strokes, Fills & Shadows
Glows, Neon & Halos In short, the software is a huge toolkit of great-looking textures, gradients, effects and styles to improve the look of your photographs or graphic art from within Adobe Photoshop Elements. A cynic might suggest that One-Click Wow! is really software being sold as a book, and as so, perhaps not worth the price-tag. However, the book is nicely printed on heavy-stock paper, the tutorial chapters are good, and 38 pages of 'catalog' really are more useful than the tiny thumbnails that show up in Photoshop Element menus. In summary, I recommend this book and it's disc to anyone wishing to learn more about, and get more out of, Adobe Photoshop Elements.
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