Photoshop Elements X: Top 100 Simplified Tips & Tricks

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Summary: Review by Alaska Apple Users Group Member
Review: Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks Photoshop Elements 3 is a collection of tips and tricks to assist an intermediate user in fully utilizing the powers of Photoshop Elements 3. Although I am excited about enhanced powers of Photoshop Elements 3 I was disappointed that certain enhancements of the new program were not available to Mac users. When I first glanced at the reviews of Elements 3 and read about the organizer tool I was excited - in fact it was one of the reasons I decided to upgrade from Elements 2. I guess that is what I get for leaping without properly looking. That being said there are tremendous enhancements to Elements 3 that make it a worthwhile upgrade for Mac users and Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks Photoshop Elements 3 is a guide designed to take full advantage of the program's powerful tools.

Thus, when I was reviewing this publication my disappointment was not the fault of the author, Denis Graham, but of Adobe in creating enhancements for Photoshop Elements 3 that were not available for Mac users. One cannot fault a publication for covering all the enhancements a software package. However, Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks Photoshop Elements 3 has three chapters covering an area that is unavailable to Mac users. If there is a legitimate criticism of this book it is that the book fails to include information on how a Mac user could use the Elements 3 browser tool in combination with the IPhoto's album tool to combine the powers of Elements 3 with the photo organizing tools of IPhoto 4.

I would not recommend for a beginner. However, it is a great collection of tips to fully utilize the powers of Elements 3. If you are familiar with Elements 3 but do not use it everyday then this is the publication for you. Where it shines is in the manner it can assist you if you have taken some pictures and you need to edit them or enhance them or you need to be creative with your pictures. The tip for the job you want to complete is easy to find. The book has a brief description of what you can do and then it graphically walks you through the steps. You do need to be familiar with Photoshop Elements because book seems to put you into the middle of the process and does not explain how you got there. Although the text in the graphical page shots are very small and difficult to read it gives you a good enough idea of what to expect and lays it out in simple steps. It lives up to its reputation as a visual guide.

The book is organized into 10 chapters. The last three are of little use to Mac users because they deal with how to utilize Photoshop Elements 3 organizing tools. Each chapter has a brief discussion of what is contained in the chapter. Each tip has a brief discussion and a screen shot of the action being taken with numbered steps to accomplish the action. The end of the section includes, inside a box, a special tips section and suggestions on how to use particular tools in a more powerful manner. The layout is very pleasing to the eye and it will be a book that I will keep handy for quick references and tips on the use of Photoshop Elements 3.

Top 100 Simplified Tips & Tricks Photoshop Elements 3 is an excellent guide for the intermediate level user. The cost of the book is very reasonable and I would recommend it as an invaluable tool for those people who, although they do not use Photoshop Elements 3 on a regular basis, want to utilize its powerful tools.

Rating:
Summary: Tips of questionable usefulness
Review: Written by a guy who works in human resources, this book is not intended for Photoshop Elements 3 (PE3) beginners, but nor is it sophisticated enough to satisfy advanced users. Instead, it has 100 usage tips of highly dubious usefulness to the typcical PE3 user, presented in no particular order. The biggest problem of this book is how cluttered and busy visually each page is. Even when the tip deals with a non-graphical topic like increasing the amount of RAM PE3 uses, the page is littered with background graphics, and you can barely see the relevant dialog box screen shot. Flipping through the book you'll likely get a headache from the circus of numbers and circles that dance on the pages like little red monsters. This book is a total visual disaster. (Don't believe me? Check out pp. 88-89, "crop photos to remove clutter" and tell me you don't see clutter there.)

The truth is, books on PE3 *can* be clean-looking and useful. My two favorites are Julie King's "Everyday Photoshop Elements 3.0" and David Busch's "Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0: Photographer's Guide." These books are not only easy on the eyes and mind, but have useful tips and advice. And they don't have the kind of silly marketing hypes this book's cover features: "TOP 100"; "5-STAR System"; "Tips & Tricks."