Photoshop CS3 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies product reviews

"Reading through this is going to be -real- interesting..." I thought to myself as I picked up the hefty tome, stumping in at an impressive 700 pages plus index. After all, I have been a fairly heavy user of Photoshop since version 2.5... now THAT'S going back a while... and though I would never claim to be a 'professional' level user, I know a trick or two and know my way around it fairly well...

After 2 hours of reading this, the truth of the old common-wisdom saying really hit home... "You learn something new every day, sure as your heart's beating."

Though any moderate to competant user will find 'new info' a bit thin on the ground, a beginner will find a wealth of knowledge, presented in easy to follow steps, with ample images to illustrate what you should be seeing on-screen as you work your way through. Printed in glorious colour, the images themselves are sharp and vibrant, really showing you what to expect... because let's face it... how can you really talk about processing colour images and them slap a greyscale photo on the page, as some cheaper 'training manuals' (aka Cheap money-spinners) are apt to do.

This book really does cover all the main aspects of Photoshop, from the "beginner's basics" right through how to use the various selection tools to best effect, dealing with text, layering your image for design flexibility and to maximise your 'tweaking' options, dealing with masks, filters and distortions, and the ultimate aspect for many Photoshop users, optimising your finished artwork for the best printing results. About the only thing it didn't cover, is how to cope with no sleep, because this book will keep you at the keyboard for HOURS playing with all the features and functions packed into PShop!

Also for beginners, and brain-fried advanced users who need sleep... the tear-out cardboard 'cheat sheet' inside the front cover... with a labelled image of the basic PShop workspace, a number of basic 'operating tips', plus a 1/4 page on keyboard shortcuts for dealing with selections (with both Mac and PC key-combos listed) on one side, and excellent expanded fly-out of the tool palette, and all the little sub-palettes that hide behind some icons, on the back... it's a real neuron-saver when you need it the most, I tell you...

Overall, there really is something for everyone in here, even those who think they know it all should find something new to tweak their noggin in a new direction... if you can honestly read this entire book and claim "I learned nothing new", then your new project is simple... you've got 7 days, we need a new planet... hop to it. Otherwise, if you use PShop, or want to get to grips with what is arguably the most advanced image editting application available to the market, then this book is a very wise investment. Considering what you have (or should have) paid for the programme, the price tag for this book is insignificant, but the benefits are very clearly invaluable. The only TINY let-down was that it does NOT cover any of the Photoshop Extended-only features, so don't expect to find anything about 3d layers, or video layers...

Purchase Price of Photoshop CS3: $2,000 give or take...
Cost of a decent machine to run it: About the same again...
Cost of this book: $60 plus loose change...
The feeling you get when someone actually PAYS you for the work you did: Abso-wooting-lutely Priceless!