Inside Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) 5.5 - Softcover

This excellent book teaches you how to use Photoshop 5 for Windows and Macintosh to do just about anything you wish. It's a technical guide, a features guide, and an artistic guide, targeting everyone from hobbyists to professionals. There are project files on the included CD-ROM for working along with the exercises in the book, so you can get hands-on experience as you read. A full-color section shows images from the book's projects as well.

In part 1, "Strolling Before Running," you learn about such computer-graphics concepts as color depth, color reduction, anti-aliasing, and interpolation. This section then teaches you how to acquire images via scanner, Photo CD, and digital camera. You become familiar with how to set your Photoshop preferences, optimize the palettes, and perform a few simple tasks using selections and layers. Part 2, "Basic Magic Using Photoshop," provides an introduction to the new features in this version and shows you how to work with selections, layers, and paths, and use various photo-retouching techniques.

In part 3, "Intermediate Magic and Photoshop," you restore old photographs; create surrealistic images; work with mixed media, such as scans of drawings, Encapsulated Post-Script (EPS) files, and screen captures; and use different color modes. You also create photorealistic composite images. Part 4, "Extended Uses for Photoshop," moves into more sophisticated compositions; a woman winds up sitting in the palm of a man's hand, and you fine-tune the results to make them look believable. You also import files, such as Illustrator images, into Photoshop and apply filters for a variety of special effects. In "Publishing and Beyond," part 5, you learn how to output to different printers, service bureaus, and film recorders and to produce Web graphics and animations.

Throughout the book, you get both step-by-step instruction and discussions of features, and you learn how to use Photoshop creatively to create, restore, and enhance a wide variety of images. Besides the project files, the CD includes fonts, images, textures, and a glossary, as well as trial versions of Extensis PageTools, PhotoFrame, Intellihance, and Mask Pro 1; Three-D Graphics' Texture Creator; and The Valis Group's Flo'. There are full versions of animation compilers, text editors, and other utilities. --Kathleen Caster

In Inside Adobe Photoshop 5.5, Gary Bouton's learning methodology is set up to give you hands-on experience with Photoshop's features, using either the imagery created in the book or the user's own. Gary goes well beyond simply reviewing the features and grounds his readers in the most practical and useful aspects of Photoshop-the real-world uses of this powerful program-before delving into the more complex, arcane, or esoteric uses of the program. Each chapter includes a balance of textual discussion, hands-on excercises, and review material, all written in Gary's highly praised style.