Hands-On Photoshop 4: For Macintosh and Windows

Author Clay Andres presents straightforward coverage of the basics of Photoshop 4 including navigating the menus and palettes and using the selection, painting, and drawing tools. Along with each chapter Andres provides a lesson section that covers techniques learned in the chapter. All the full-color images from these exercises are contained on the accompanying CD-ROM, so you can practice as you go.

Later chapters cover using the fills and gradient tools, correcting color, working with layers and masks, and more. And for those of you who are interested in taking your Photoshop images to the Web, youll get plenty of handy advice here.

Learn to make the most of the latest release of Photoshop with Hands-On Photoshop 4 for Macintosh and Windows.

Get up to speed on Version 4 in a snap Learn how to take your images to the Web CD-ROM contains full-color images from the lessons, demo software, and more Learn how to master channels, layers, and masks Master color correction Lesson sections review all key concepts and techniques Covers painting, editing, drawing and filling, and selection tools Learn how to work with filters for added effect

And, now that I have finished the whole book, I really have no idea what the complaints are about. All the lessons on the CD are functional, so check your operating systems, people, or maybe, be a little more careful following through with the procedure in the lessons. There are some spelling errors. So what? The content is sound. I found no major errors like non-functional scripts or missing files. The chapter lesson for Actions DOES work. All the lessons work. I think the problem may be that anyone who uses this book still needs to utilize some critical thinking skills and some experimentation to get through the complexity of the software program itself -- the book cannot be blamed for the intrinsic complexity and redundant functions of Photoshop.

My final opinion is that this Andres book was actually "FUN" to use. It even made Photoshop fun to use -- and that is an achievement. I'm actually going to do the lessons on Layers and Masking over again for just pure enjoyment, because now I now feel comfortable using basic functions of Photoshop and I don't feel afraid of it anymore! **** for this one, Baby.


Fun to Use and Easy to Read, I Found   August 3, 1999
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I had this book sitting around on my shelf for a year but I hadn't used it (nor Photoshop). I was cautious about trying it because I've had problems getting through other Photoshop manuals before, on account of boredom, and I had read the reviews below. But I really needed to make a layered graphic for a website so I tried it -- and after getting through three chapters on masks, channels and layers in three hours, I disagree with the negative reviews -- this book didn't abuse me.

I didn't find any problems using the Layers lesson as one reviewer described below; the lesson was pretty straightforward, I thought -- perhaps it was a memory allocation problem or a platform problem (I used it on Win98 with 64 Megs driven by PII400) -- who knows. I haven't tried the chapter on Actions yet, but I will post a follow-up.

There ARE errors in the book and I think on the disc but they amount to minor typos. I haven't come across any mislabelled files, yet. Here and there the author confused me when he referred to layers being on top or below, and he meant the stratification on the palette and not in the image itself -- I figured it out (hooray for me). So, the book isn't Perfection, but what I find attractive and useful about it is the author's style of instruction, which in general is easy to understand, not overly technical. Also good are the pace, the ready-made CD examples. He presented the subject directly and matter-of-factly without much digression, which I like. I tend not to like the extremely regimented and hyperformal tone of most of the Adobe Classroom in a Book editions -- those books have no typos or file errors but because of their minutiae, they induce sleep; I fell out of my chair frequently and injured myself, which required that I stop using them. They sit perfectly on my shelf, though. This Andres book isn't as detailed as the Adobe books, but you also don't get bogged down in extreme detail. It got me through Photoshop's ridiculously complex interface so I could experiment on my own -- which I think is how you learn programs like Photoshop, right?

Anyway, Roger, I give this book a Thumbs Up for friendly style, speed, ease of use, and fun examples.


Too Many Errors   August 24, 1998
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

Knowing almost nothing about PhotoShop and being thrifty, I purchased this book mostly because of the price and CD Rom Lessons. However, it quickly became clear that the book is so frustratingly full of errors, it makes it difficult for a novice. The learning curve is greatly increased due to the errors. I never know if no result or a poor result was do to "operator error" or book error.

For someone with basic knowledge of PhotoShop, this might be a reasonable text, but I would not recommend it for the beginner!


Nice Format, but way too many errors   June 16, 1998
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I've used this book for my Photoshop class for a year. I like the information and tone of this book, but the errors are terrible. There are quite a few lessons you can do along while reading the book, but some of them tell you to open the wrong file on the included CD (the Intro lesson or the Pen Tool lesson), or the file on the CD has been altered so the lesson won't work (the Layers lesson) or don't work at all (the Actions lesson)! There are even simple errors like typos that indicate just plain, sloppy editing.

I only stick with it because all my lessons have been written to go with it, and, at this point I think I've found most of the errors (I have compiled a two-page errata). But I'll definitely find a new book when we upgrade to Photoshop 5!