The Photoshop Elements 4 Book For Digital Photographers

By Scott Kelby

A handbook for the digital photographer using Photoshop Elements 4. The step-by-step lessons should help you to edit like a pro, combining common-sense concepts with 'how-to-do-it' secrets for... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0321384830
• ISBN13: 9780321384836
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: New Riders Pub
• Length: 439 Pages
• Weight: 2.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 1.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

What a great book!

Don't be scared away from buying this book because some reviewers here say, "It's not for beginners." True, it doesn't take you through the product menu by menu and tell you what each little tool or piece of functionality does. But if you want to learn the basics of photo editing (anything more advanced than the auto fix options)in Photoshop Elements 4, this is definitely a good book for you. I was just a beginner to any kind of photo editing when I bought Elements and picked up this book at the same time. I've used it extensively over the last 6 months to dramatically improve my photos. The step-by-step guidance makes this very useful for the beginner. I strongly recommend picking this up.

Quick start guide for amateurs, yet advanced for growth

I've worn out the library copy of Kelby's previous Photoshop Elements 3 book, so when this version came out, I bought it immediately. Photoshop Elements is a photography buff's dream come true. However, because the software is feature-rich, it also has a steep learning curve. Kelby's previous book got me started in a jif, and had me working with the techniques pros use. This book is no exception. For those of you who have not seen the inside of Kelby's 400+ page book, each of the pages is done in full color graphics, with a glossy finish. Instructions are given in steps, with most techniques using only a few steps, and some techniques going into the high teens. Thus far, I've found that I've been able to follow each one I've tried. The techniques Kelby outlines are useful and not difficult once he's shown you how. In particular, I like his section on working with faces, as most of my photographs are of people. Other valuable sections include keystoning, color correction and selection (layer) techniques. For background, I'm a photographer wannabe, but realistically a full-time white-collar worker. I find time to work with images about two hours a week, so I like to do it as efficiently as I can. This book has been invaluable to that task.

THis really is for advanced users

This book does not waste any time or space on basic Elements tasks or explanations of all the menu items. All tasks are logically grouped into chapters like Cropping, Color Correction, Fixing Image Problems, Retouching Portraits, Removing Objects, Photo Restoration, and Sharpening. The slightly oversized format allows lots of room for the many photos and screen shots. A simple, removable grey scale reference card is included. One of the most impressive features of this book is the tips that show you how to accomplish a number of important tasks that you would expect to need the much more expensive PhotoShop CS to perform. For example there is a procedure for layering bracketed exposures to produce a photo with details in the shadows and highlights. This book has to be compared to Philip Andrews "Advanced Photoshop 4.0 Elements" book. Even though it includes the word "advanced" in the title it is less advanced than this book by Kelby in most every respect. For example Kelby has a chapter on editing RAW pictures and the Andrews book only has 2 pages.

Excellent knowledge transfer source from Scott Kelby

Scott's approach to transfering his solid knowledge of both digital photograpy as well as of Adobe's Photoshop Elements 4 is not only humorous, but pragmatically straight forward. His literary skills and mastery of transfering knowledge of two fairly complex subjects (digital photography and Adobe's Photoshop Elements v4) to humans who only want to learn and retain what they absolutely need "right now" to get something done is uncanny. If one already has some basic digital photography skills but just entry level knowledge of Adobe's Photo Elements v4, they should get this excellent "How Too" manual. I carry my copy where ever I go, because it is one of those well written instructional manuals that gets one to a needed solution within a few minutes of focused reading. Scott's comparison to the many functionallities of Adobe's higher end Photoshop application followed by a suggested work around to achieve the same functionality in Photoshop Elements v4 is just "more icing on an already great cake". I recommend The Photoshop Elements 4 Book by Scott Kelby without hesitation or condition.

Top Photo Editing Professional Shares Industry Insider Techniques

Photoshop Elements 4 Book For Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby is an extremely valuable "must have" for anyone serious about digital image editing, including professionals, as well as the occasional Photoshop user who wants to produce superior results. Scott Kelby, as a top industry insider, pulls from his resources, which include top industry professionals to share many, many techniques and tricks of the trade that produce amazing results. And the best part is, the material is useful in the real world and just about anyone can reproduce the effects with ease. The photographs in the book are great and the layout allows you to quickly reference a particular section for review while working on a project. For those that are newbies to Photoshop, I would recommend the Elements 4 "Classroom in a Book" by Adobe as an introductory prerequisite to compliment this rather advanced material.