Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Buyer Beware.

Customer Rating:

I recently attended a two-day course on Adobe Photoshop CS3 as part of my conversion to digital photography and digital imaging. At the end of that course the students were all given a copy of this book which contains a training CD Rom. As I was already booked onto the "advanced course" in 14 days time, I eagerly put the CD into my computer to practise what I had learned. Only then did I discover the CD would not work without my having first purchased and installed the full Adobe Photoshop CS3 software. In my case, I had already ordered that software so it was only a matter of a few days delay before I could get started. Just be warned that you cannot use this product without having first installed the full software package - and that is a separate purchase altogether. Once that's done, it's actually great. Anyone who starts at page one - with no previous experience and no knowledge of the difference between a tool bar and a menu bar, will find it all fit slowly into place as the book teaches one step at a time and then builds on each step until you find yourself automatically going back to something already learned as though you have been doing it for years. My only criticism of the book is some pretty silly typing errors. In one example you are referred back to a previous page only to find they got the page number wrong. In another, a list of tools is incorrect. I did find such basic errors to be quite surprising (and very annoying at the time) from a team of people who are otherwise so technically competent. NM

Maybe the Definitive Book

Customer Rating:

This is the official book for the programme written by Adobe. It takes you through a series of structured lessons with the images from the enclosed CD. Shows quiet a few tips and shortcuts. In full colour now (about time! this is a manual about colour after all!). Visual Quickstart Guide is an alternative you might consider, also good, that comes with images but you have to download then from their website. Think the Adobe book has the edge. It's useful to remember that no book can cover everything and a different way of explaining things might suit you better, so buy two or three.

The very best book for beginners

Customer Rating:

Being new to Photoshop CS3, having just converted from many years use of Paint Shop Pro, I made the mistake of starting with Martin Evening's book (- although excellent, it is not for beginners). This Classroom in a Book certainly meets the needs of a beginner and is a real pleasure to work through. I would recommend it, without reservation, to anyone starting out on Photoshop CS3. Two brief comments on the earlier 3-star review. First, although I am not in a position to know what it is like moving up to CS3 from CS2, a better solution might be Ben Willmore's "CS3 Up to Speed", which I have also bought from Amazon UK, as it is "... focused exclusively on the new features in Photoshop CS3". Secondly, although I did have a terrible experience with Adobe's "GoLive Classroom in a Book" about 5 years ago, where there were several errors per page, this CS3 book has relatively few errors - at a rough count, only about one per 10 pages and none too serious to downrate the 5 stars I am giving for an otherwise top rate book.

Plenty of better books out there

Customer Rating:

I bought classroom in a book for CS2 and managed to look through this one at a library - many of the exercises were lifted in their entirety from the last edition including the exercises on basics, layers, filters etc - so if you bought classroom in a book CS2 you'll be very upset with this. Though I did not work through the whole book, I did with the last edition and there were plenty of mistakes, things that if done exactly as instructed would simply not work. The relatively small size of the book and high price are certainly not things that would encourage me to go for it. There's always a slew of books accompanying adobe's latest so its difficult to know what to go with. Though amazon at the moment is not offering a very good discount on it, Martin Evening's latest book 'CS3 for photographers' stands head and shoulders above the rest. If you can get hold of both books before you make your choice you'll find its no choice at all.

Great book for both beginners and experienced users

Customer Rating:

The last book from the 'Classroom in a Book' series I purchased was a German Edition of Classroom in A Book for Photoshop 6. Because I've found that one quite useful and understandable a few years ago, I decided to buy the current book of that series to get a little fresh information and update my knowledge. Furthermore I wanted a book in English because I'm working with the English version of Photoshop. Unfortunately this book was not yet available at Amazon Germany (I'm talking about the original language, not the translated version!), so I ordered it from UK and did not regret this decision. This book covers the following subjects: Getting to Know the Work Area Basic Photo Corrections Retouching and Repairing Working with Selections Layer Basics Masks and Channels Correcting and Enhancing Digital Photographs Typographic Design Vector Drawing Techniques Advanced Layering Advanced Compositing Preparing Files for the Web Working with Scientific Images Producing and Printing Consistent Color The book is completely printed in color, the example projects help very good in practising the topics described in the book. You get both basic information and tips for experienced users. If you want to learn about new CS3 features such as Smart Filters, the Zoomify tool or the Quick Selection Tool you also won't be disappointed. The attached CD includes the training files which you need for the lessons and also 16 interesting movie tutorials. In my opinion you get here an interesting Photoshop book for a fair price.