<: Customer Reviews: Photoshop CS6: The Missing Manual
4.5 out of 5 starsbyFormat: Kindle Edition|Price:$29.49Your rating()Rate this item
This page works best with JavaScript. Disabling it will result in some disabled or missing features. You can still see all customer reviews for the product.
Top positive review&&#32;50 people found this helpful5.0 out of 5 starsThe only book you need to understand Photoshop (This is The Photoshop Bible)ByHaddenI have never reviewed a product on Amazon, and I buy stuff on here frequently, but I have to say, this is the BEST book on Photoshop that I have ever read. This is the only book you need for understanding the ins and outs of such an exciting program. Lesa does a masterful job at focusing on every detail of Photoshop CS6 and showing you exactly how every piece of it works. Don't want to read about every tiny detail of a program with tons of features? No problem, she's way ahead of you. She goes so far as to tell you what you should read if you are reading it for a certain reason (photography, design, etc).
This isn't some boring book as the word "manual" in the title might lead you to believe. No, Lesa is a pro at keeping the information she presents, insightful, detailed, interesting and she does it all in a very conversational and fun way. It's like having a super cool instructor right there telling you all about the best photo editing software ever made. I got the print version for my office and a digital copy so I can have it with me on the go. It's the only Photoshop reference book you need. Feel free to shop around like I did, you won't find a better book than this.
Top critical review&&#32;40 people found this helpful2.0 out of 5 starsMay Need It's Own Missing ManualByRon DiGiovanniFor every ten people knowledgeable on a subject, only one among them is fit to be a tutor.
For every ten tutors, only one is fit to be a classroom teacher.
And for every ten classroom teachers, only one is fit to write a treatise on the subject.
This author certainly falls short of the last pinnacle.Like most computer program books this text was obviously proofread by nodding Photoshop experts rather than tested on someone who actually had to learn the subject from the beginning.Just about every example offered on any topic involves marginally explained or totally omitted steps.
Anyone trying to learn Photoshop from square one will soon become annoyed by having to figure out these missing steps.
For example, on page 277 the author tries to explain how to merge the two images of a baseball and a player in seven steps.
To these, I wrote into the margin of the page three more crucial steps, without which the final results would be impossible to achieve.She seems to give a higher priority to unnecessary explanations of the deep Zen theory behind the program, so by page 250 the reader comes to realize that very little hands-on practical knowledge has been gained.
This becomes more obvious if you go to the YouTube tutorials as you read the book.
You will quickly discover that you are learning three times as much online, for the same amount of time spent with this book.Most frustrating is the fact that she will not repeat anything already stated.
So, if she mentions something on page 30 which you are required to know for the lesson on page 300, you'd better have it tattooed to your wrist because she's not saying it again, and with a typically poor index, you'll be searching hard to find it back on page 30.
Again, on the page 277 example, there was a small stumbling point involving critical information explained on page 166.
Initially unable to find this info 111 pages back, I spent half an hour figuring it out for myself.The writing also lacks structure and continuity, apparent for the fact that all too often the author will start out explaining something only to tell the reader that further relevant material will be explained in chapters ahead.Most people would think that an 850 page book would just about cover everything in terms of the techniques of manipulating a program of this type.
Most disappointing is the fact that all clues of how to control the program end at about page 285, at which point the author dedicates the next 550 pages to endlessly long-winded explanations of enhancing photographs of people, including tummy tucks, teeth whitening, butt reduction, plus an endless parade of the nonsense of making normal looking people look very weird and bizarre. In other words, she goes completely off the edge into the art and minutia of photo faking.ALL OF THE ABOVE BEING SAID, every critical review of this type demands a solution in terms of an alternative, and here it is.With Adobe Photoshop CS6 Digital Classroom by Jennifer Smith, I am now learning this program at twice the speed.
In the first 100 pages of this far superior text, I have learned about three times as much as in the first 300 pages of Missing Manual, with very well explained procedures and few stumbling points. And unlike Missing Manual, which makes a joke of the "missing CD," Digital Classroom comes with a CD that is full of extra tips and demos to supplement the text.
What a difference!Ron DiGiovanniEaston, PAUPDATE:
Want an even better book!
I just finished Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks by Lynette Kent.
This book literally holds you by the hand with step by step photos showing you where each little control icon is located on the workspace.
What's more, it actually gives 117 of the most important tasks, in two page presentations.
If you can't learn Photoshop from this book, definitely give up trying.
TopMost recentTopFilter by:
By|For every ten people knowledgeable on a subject, only one among them is fit to be a tutor.
For every ten tutors, only one is fit to be a classroom teacher.
And for every ten classroom teachers, only one is fit to write a treatise on the subject.
This author certainly falls short of the last pinnacle.Like most computer program books this text was obviously proofread by nodding Photoshop experts rather than tested on someone who actually had to learn the subject from the beginning.Just about every example offered on any topic involves marginally explained or totally omitted steps.
Anyone trying to learn Photoshop from square one will soon become annoyed by having to figure out these missing steps.
For example, on page 277 the author tries to explain how to merge the two images of a baseball and a player in seven steps.
To these, I wrote into the margin of the page three more crucial steps, without which the final results would be impossible to achieve.She seems to give a higher priority to unnecessary explanations of the deep Zen theory behind the program, so by page 250 the reader comes to realize that very little hands-on practical knowledge has been gained.
This becomes more obvious if you go to the YouTube tutorials as you read the book.
You will quickly discover that you are learning three times as much online, for the same amount of time spent with this book.Most frustrating is the fact that she will not repeat anything already stated.
So, if she mentions something on page 30 which you are required to know for the lesson on page 300, you'd better have it tattooed to your wrist because she's not saying it again, and with a typically poor index, you'll be searching hard to find it back on page 30.
Again, on the page 277 example, there was a small stumbling point involving critical information explained on page 166.
Initially unable to find this info 111 pages back, I spent half an hour figuring it out for myself.The writing also lacks structure and continuity, apparent for the fact that all too often the author will start out explaining something only to tell the reader that further relevant material will be explained in chapters ahead.Most people would think that an 850 page book would just about cover everything in terms of the techniques of manipulating a program of this type.
Most disappointing is the fact that all clues of how to control the program end at about page 285, at which point the author dedicates the next 550 pages to endlessly long-winded explanations of enhancing photographs of people, including tummy tucks, teeth whitening, butt reduction, plus an endless parade of the nonsense of making normal looking people look very weird and bizarre. In other words, she goes completely off the edge into the art and minutia of photo faking.ALL OF THE ABOVE BEING SAID, every critical review of this type demands a solution in terms of an alternative, and here it is.With Adobe Photoshop CS6 Digital Classroom by Jennifer Smith, I am now learning this program at twice the speed.
In the first 100 pages of this far superior text, I have learned about three times as much as in the first 300 pages of Missing Manual, with very well explained procedures and few stumbling points. And unlike Missing Manual, which makes a joke of the "missing CD," Digital Classroom comes with a CD that is full of extra tips and demos to supplement the text.
What a difference!Ron DiGiovanniEaston, PAUPDATE:
Want an even better book!
I just finished Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks by Lynette Kent.
This book literally holds you by the hand with step by step photos showing you where each little control icon is located on the workspace.
What's more, it actually gives 117 of the most important tasks, in two page presentations.
If you can't learn Photoshop from this book, definitely give up trying.Sort by:
By|I have never reviewed a product on Amazon, and I buy stuff on here frequently, but I have to say, this is the BEST book on Photoshop that I have ever read. This is the only book you need for understanding the ins and outs of such an exciting program. Lesa does a masterful job at focusing on every detail of Photoshop CS6 and showing you exactly how every piece of it works. Don't want to read about every tiny detail of a program with tons of features? No problem, she's way ahead of you. She goes so far as to tell you what you should read if you are reading it for a certain reason (photography, design, etc).
This isn't some boring book as the word "manual" in the title might lead you to believe. No, Lesa is a pro at keeping the information she presents, insightful, detailed, interesting and she does it all in a very conversational and fun way. It's like having a super cool instructor right there telling you all about the best photo editing software ever made. I got the print version for my office and a digital copy so I can have it with me on the go. It's the only Photoshop reference book you need. Feel free to shop around like I did, you won't find a better book than this.Sort by:
By|A previous reviewer questioned if figures appeared in the e-book version because the sample doesn't show them. In the comments to this reviewer, it was noted by the publisher that figures do appear in the full book, just not the sample.
I thought this was a bit odd, but being a Missing Manuals fan, I accepted this answer. I purchased the full book and there are have found some very bad issues with about half of the figures that I viewed. They are very small (often an inch high) and you can't enlarge them! I can't tell what in the world the figures are trying to show. I see red arrows going from here to there, but can't tell what is going on. This is extraordinarily sloppy and I wonder now if it is purposeful that figures aren't shown in the sample. I certainly would not have purchased this book if I would have seen this problem before purchase. Im on an iPad and about half the figures are tiny and unusable so I really feel for anyone trying to view these on a device with a smaller screen.This problem is pure laziness on O'Reilly's part.
They should have taken the time to make sure ALL of the figures were readable instead of enlarging only about half. I am so disappointed. With other Missing Manual books, The publisher has made certain all figures were easily viewable. It is so sloppy that they didnt do this here.
My next stop is to call Amazon and get a refund for this book.Word to the wise- forget the Kindle version of this book. From a Missing Manuals fan.Sort by:
By|For the life of me I can't understand negative reviews of this book. I've had my copy for just a few days, and after sitting down with it as though it were a personal instructor, I feel as though I'm attending an excellent class at a good school.I have been using Photoshop Elements for years. It is a wonderful program, but as I have become more and more serious about photography I have also become more and more serious about post-production. I can honestly say that I wouldn't like photography as much as I do if I couldn't manipulate my images in creative ways, so after investing in a serious camera and using it for a couple of years, I decided to learn the ins and outs of Photoshop Elements' big daddy, Photoshop CS6.Having used Elements, I am familiar with Adobe's approach to photo editing, but I've been astounded by the depth of Photoshop. Every Elements tool is the tip of Photoshop's iceberg. This book is something of a wonder: it navigates the deep waters of this monster program with grace, friendliness and the depth required by the iceberg. So far I've used it like a class, moving through each chapter with my hands on my computer. (If you like, you can download the images that Lesa uses in her illustrations by going to the website printed in the book.) I can see, though, that the book will be just as useful when I've forgotten how to do something or need to it is also an excellent Photoshop reference book. The author has organized and explained things in such a way that the information in the book can speak to people at nearly any point on the Phot her style is friendly and conversational and she explains when and how to use each tool and technique from the 101 level. She includes highly technical information, too, for those who need to understand the hidden nuts and bolts of the program, but she has formatted the more complex information in such a way that the reader/learner can skip over the techie stuff and get straight to the what-to-do-and-how-to-do-it instructions.In reality, the book has more information than I'll probably ever need, but I know that if and when I do need to look something up, I'll find it. As Scott Kelby says in his endorsement of the book, it is "the new Photoshop Bible." Thanks, Lesa, for this excellent book!Sort by:
ByAfter purchasing this book, this self-proclaimed new edition to demystifying Ps CS6, we found Lesa's relaxed conversational content rambling and long-winded. Oftentimes, the author takes the reader along a chatty little trail (using the parenthetic far too often (if I may add)) before landing on point. In reading this work, imagine the author jacked-up on a morning full of lattes and not writing content, but voice recording to including all the garbled language that comes along in ex: basically dude, way better, darn comforting… Taking Lesa's 2 1/2 page Delicious Duotones instructions, I rewrote this lesson into one-paragraph with 5 bullet lines. Frankly, I'd be embarrassed to list my name as editor of this publication (Dawn Mann). Of all the purchases made in developing my photography business, this by far rates as the biggest disappointment. Avoid this book altogether.Sort by:
By|I've been using Photoshop for a while, but like many, felt that I had never gotten into the meat of what it can really do. When I decided to upgrade to CS6 Extended, I felt that to justify spending that much money I needed to use the program at a much higher level than in the past. I, typically, dislike manuals that come with a high end product, mostly, because of the technical level in which they are written and the amount of research and time one has to put in in order to understand the language. I reviewed the available books and bought this one, primarily, because of the recommendations and comments of other customer reviews, and so far, have no disappointments at all. The book is written in a simple and understandable way, walking one through the different aspects of the programs capabilities, one step at a time, in a very logical fashion. From the first page it gives one the confidence and excitement to continue, that the author is thoroughly capable of writing in a language that most, beginners to advanced product users, will understand and that her intent is to do everything possible to give one the confidence needed to learn such a difficult and complex program as Photoshop. I am totally looking forward to working through the challenges presented in The Missing Manual.Sort by:
By|This intermediate level book is exceptional in my opinion.
It pretty thoroughly covers CS6, similar to last year's edition.
Scott Kelby refers to the book as the CS6 bible and, of course, he is the Photoshop Guy.Lesa writes in an easy to read and understand "down-home" persuasion.
Her examples are straightforward and detailed for simplicity and sometimes witty.
I bought the book the day it was released and I'm sure the publishers and she wanted to get the book on the market as soon as possible.
The drawback, mentioned previously by another reviewer, was that some of the additional information was not yet available on-line for download.
I usually refer to this book first for guidance.Sort by:
By|Excellent book for someone of my intermediate level of expertise.
The book is well layed out and easy to understand.
The illustrations are extremely helpful.
I am partial to the &#34;missing manual&#34; series.Sort by:
By|I am really enjoying the CS6 book....I had purchased the M.Evening book for CS5 and decided to try something different for CS6.
They are both good books, packed full of info.
I do like how this book has text at the top corner of the pages as you flip through you can quickly see topics.
The book also has more usability for me...I like the short topics explaining each idea.
I found the M.Evening book more encyclopedia like than this book.Good book, nice quality paper.Sort by:
By|The more I use this book, the more I like it. You don't need to read it front to back. It's great for looking up what you need to know, as you need to know it. At first it may seem overwhelming (just like Photoshop), but keep at it. There is a wealth of information here and it is presented in an accesible way. This book has helped me to learn a lot of new skills in a short amount of time. Sometimes I just want to read about a certain topic and in that case I will even take this book to bed with me!Side note: I like the that the cover of this book is NOT a photograph. It seems that many instructional photography books function as a showcase for someone else's photography, vision, or fantasies about shooting sexy female models. I actually like the generic quality of this cover.Sort by:
Customers also viewed these itemsbySandee Adobe Creative Team$24.60byElaine Weinmann$17.27byPeter Bauer$15.99byTom Bishop$2.99Send us feedbackHow can we make Amazon Customer Reviews better for you?
Sponsored Links&
After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.
After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.}