Rating: 
Summary: PH6 Down and Dirty Tricks: Big Props from PH Beginner!
Review: I got Photoshop 6 Down and Dirty Tricks at the COMDEX 2002 show in Chicago a little over two weeks ago. I don't think I've put it down since then! I use PH all the time with FrontPage 2002 to boost FP's capabilities, and let me tell you, I'm looking like a PHAT (read:kewl) Web Designer thanks to Scott Kelby! I intend on subscribing to PH Users Mag, not to mention preordering PH 7 Down and Dirty Tricks! I can't wait to see what he comes up with next. Scott has made it possible for People like me working for certification and learning products to make kewl Web sites! Thanks, Scott!
Rating: 
Summary: yes, it's good
Review: all the editorials written for this book lives up to the knowledge the book offers, but i STILL think photoshop 6 wow! book is better. yes, this is damn good book, but if you can't afford too many "COOKBOOKS", just get the WOW! book; it has more info, more comprehensive... and is the ORIGINAL COOKBOOK.
Rating:
Summary: Down and Dirty and Good
Review: For anyone who wants to learn how to create eye-popping, impressive graphics, this is the book to own. Free from long winded expositions on layer masking, spot channels, clipping paths, etc., this book cuts through all the technical jargon to present a concise, readable, step-by-step approach to maximize the creative tricks and design potential that Photoshop 6.0 has to offer. Broken down by chapters according to various artistic effects, one can skip to whatever section suits him best. Additionally, each page features a yellow sidebar filled with quick little 6.0 tips! As the title suggests, this book is NO substitute to learn the actual program. One should already come with a working knowledge of Photoshop before availing himself of this book. It's a powerful reference tool and will serve in good stead any graphic designer who would like to know more about the creative ways in which Photoshop can be exploited.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent how-to book
Review: Down and Dirty Tricks leads through a number of graphic effects and text treatment. It is limited in what all is covered, but by following the examples, you can learn much about Photoshop 6. If you are looking for a complete course on Photoshop, look elsewhere. If you want to polish up on graphic presentations, this may well be the answer.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Time Saver
Review: I can't believe the tricks Scott Kelby has packed into this book. No nonsense, no advanced mathematics, no extraneous explanations to prove he knows more about Photoshop that anyone else. He just shows you how to do one great effect after another. I have downloaded tutorials for alot of this stuff, then I find I can do the same effect or better in half the time by following Scott's tricks. This definitely belongs on your bookshelf. Or better yet, next to your computer desk. Just note that this isn't an instruction manual. If you're starting out in Photoshop, get The Photoshop Bible. But even for a beginner, the step by step instructions in Down and Dirty Tricks would be pretty hard to get confused over.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely down to the dirt!
Review: Great book for any designer to have around. This book gets right down to the dirt of how to create quick and popular effects. Definitely a great book to have around as a reference when you just need to get something done quick and don't want to waste a lot of time figuring out how to do it. The colorful examples are definitely a plus. Probably not the best book for beginners because the author uses alot of shortcut keys to perform most of the operations without explaining the functions of those shortcut keys.
Rating:
Summary: Great book I highly recommend it
Review: This book is not really geared towards the novice user which could be a drawback if you were hoping to learn all about Photoshop 6 from it. I've been using Photoshop for a few years now and consider myself to be good at it (in no way a master). This book showed me some shortcuts I had never thought of.
Scott Kelby describes quite well the untapped potentials of Photoshop.
I wouldn't recommend this book to a brand new Photoshop user. If you have some basic knowledge of Photoshop this book is for you, you'll learn more than the value of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice effects but little learning
Review: This was the first photoshop book I ever bought. At that I was quite happy with it. Quickly I was able to make a few "Wow! How did you do that?" effects, which gives you appetite for more. Do you know the Chinese proverb about giving a man a fish, and you feed him for a day, but give a man a fishing rod and you feed him for life?! Anyway, the way I see it, when you want to master a program like Photoshop or 3DS Max, you need 3 kinds of materials to take you to advanced level: Babysteps to show you around the program, teach you how things work and get you started on your first few projects; A detailed reference for later troubleshooting; And probably also some material on advanced effects or projects, that both can give you inspiration and get you through a few common advanced choke points. This book is a little bit of 1 and 3. A shame because all beginners should be able to follow the instructions in the detailed tutorials. But still you don't learn anything about WHY did I just do what I did, or HOW can I use this in completely different situations. Also the focus of the book is more on touching up photos and applying effects to them, than creating illustrations, if that has your interest. So without the focus, and the ability to teach you something valuable for the long run, I am hard pressed to give it more than 3 stars. A shame because there are nice effects in there, and everybody will be able to carry them out, thanks to the easy and detailed instructions. BUT they will not be able to understand them. For users that need any of the 3 kinds of learning materials, described above, on photoshop. I would suggest the photoshop wow! book. It comes strong especially in the second and third cathegory, and is still very friendly and informative for beginners. Feel free to mail me if you have questions.
Rating:
Summary: A graphic afterburner
Review: This is the best, & most useful Photoshop cookbook I know of. Along with the Wow series, any competent operator can pull off dazzling effects. Very clearly written. In fact, I didn't once need to stop & attempt to interpet their instructions. This book was written to instruct, NOT to show off the authors' knowledge & obsfucate their method, as so many books of this genre unfortunately do. I have profited handsomely from techniques within. An essential volume for the professional Photoshop artist.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Although you can find some interesting techniques in this book, there's nothing that will absolutely knock your socks off...contrary to what the title indicates. In addition, most of the exercises aren't fully explained, so even an intermediate user has to figure out the extra steps needed to move forward. For the money, this book doesn't even come close to a book like Photoshop 6 Web Magic in terms of the 'Wow' factor and in explicating the steps necessary to complete each project.
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