CS4 - Recommended Reading

[El...@adobeforums.com]

Can anyone recommend any good reading material for CS4? I'm not too keen on Scott Kelby (bit too cookbook like although he's a friendly type of guy :-)), nor Martin English (bit too much in depth for me personally).

[John Joslin]

If you know Photoshop and want to get familiar with the new features:

Adobe Photoshop CS4: Up to Speed by Ben Willmore

<http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Photoshop-CS4-Up-Speed/dp/0321580052/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234440396&sr=8-1>

[El...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks John but no, I'm more of at the starting grid stage :-)

[John Joslin]

Classroom in a book then.

<http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Photoshop-CS4-Classroom-Book/dp/032157379X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234441550&sr=8-2>

[dave_...@adobeforums.com]

the manual first! that way you'll at least know the terms (if not exactly what they mean yet) used when you encounter them in classroom in a book.

[El...@adobeforums.com]

Classroom In A Book it seems to be then - oh and reading the manual first of course. :-) Thanks.

[John Joslin]

What manual?

Actually, Classroom in a Book starts at the beginning, and working through the exercises on the accompanying disk fixes things in your mind better than just reading about it.

And of course there's a wealth of information on that web page that appears when you press F1!

[El...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks John - that F1 tip was useful.

[J_Ma...@adobeforums.com]

What manual?

<http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/> (PDF in the top left corner)

It's over 700 pages, and I would NOT recommend it for the faint-of-heart. I find I can only read about 20 pages a session, so it's slow going. Obviously (oh yes) I'm going over old material, looking for things I've missed (haven't found one yet), but I wouldn't envy someone trying to make sense of those 700 pages with no context. A superb reference, don't get me wrong--thorough, and with advice on every aspect of PS, but dense. Not exactly a gentle introduction.

[El...@adobeforums.com]

Gulp :-( it should be titled 'Photoshop CS4 for Insomniacs'. Oh well, should be good for those occasions when I'm forced to sleep in another room. :-)

[John Joslin]

Who's going to print that lot?

Yes, we knew about it; it's on the F1 page that I directed Elli to!

[Anthon...@adobeforums.com]

Although you noted that Martin Evening was a bit too in-depth, I think his latest book - and more importantly the DVD that comes with it, including several, very watchable tutorial videos, covers a lot of ground for photographers and if taken slowly, is actually quite readable...

<http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Photoshop-CS4-Photographers-Professional/dp/0240521250/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234462151&sr=8-1>

Anthony.

[El...@adobeforums.com]

Um, at that price certainly worthy of consideration. Thanks Anthony.

[Richard Lynch]

ElliR,

If you don't like Kelby's books (well, can't blame you) and Evening's are too broad (i.e., large? he's actually a good resource), you are probably not a beginner and have some confidence in what you are doing. You are probably looking for a more targeted book. Jeff Schewe is pretty innovative and he helped out with Bruce Fraser's books after Bruce passed away (huge loss to the community). Katrin Eismann has written a few acclaimed books. The Masking and Retouching books may have some value to you. I know there's a layers book out that is a little different...not the one by kelby's friend. Can't remember the author's name.

Richard Lynch

[El...@adobeforums.com]

Hi Richard,

Are you sitting in the next room to me? :-) You are spot on - I am not a TOTAL beginner starting of with CS and then CS2 although in all honesty I probably utilised less than 50% of what the application was capable of. To try and up that percentage somewhat I invested in Martins CS2 book but observing the Postman struggling up the driveway under it's weight put me off slightly. Katrin Eismann - yes I already own her Masking and Compositions - excellent read. Jeff Schewe - another good read and I actually managed to read his Camera Raw book without falling asleep at all. As for Scott - well we'll leave it there. :-)

As it stands I've gone ahead and ordered the - now what was it - oh yes, the Adobe CS4 Classroom in a Book and see how I get on with that. I've already accumulated well over 100 RAW images from the various other purchases that I mentioned above to play with so there's plenty to be getting on with for now. Should I need more then at the price Martins book seems to be priced quite reasonably although I shall first consult with the Postman prior to ordering. Thanks for your contribution.

[Ge...@adobeforums.com]

I'm working my way through Deke McClelland's "Adobe Photoshop CS4 one-on-one."

He does a fine job of explaining Bridge in the first chapter and offers excellent advice in fine-tuning it. I'm actually very comfortable with this app now and use it more often.

Second chapter deals with adjusting highlights and shadows,and he offers the best ways in Ps to deal with it. There is a dvdrom with this book that contains the practice files used in the book and movie clips from his course on lynda.com.

He also has explanations on how histograms work and what 16-bit color is compared to 8-bit. He does have a section on Adobe Camera Raw for color correction,but that's better covered in other books and he tells you that.

This might be basic to you,but he does this adding in the changes in CS4. If anything,just give it a browse and see if this fits the bill.

I can tell you this is one book I make time for.

[El...@adobeforums.com]

@ John Joslin and Anthony.Ralph

Just a quick update to advise that both Classroom in a Book and Martin Evenings book arrived a little earlier today. First impressions - very very good and appear to be just what I was after. Right then - Chapter 1 :-)

Oh by the way, I turned OFF F1 automatically connecting to the web but now consider it might be useful after all. Trouble is, I can't remember how I turned it off :-( (read in another thread somewhere?), any pointers please? :-)

[John_R_...@adobeforums.com]

I recently bought Evening's book, and it's striking, comparing it to the one I have from v6: about 250 more pages. That's a book in itself!

[Don_T...@adobeforums.com]

John,

Is F1 a joke? What are you refering to?

[John Joslin]

F1 is not a joke .

It has always opened the help pages, now they are on line rather than on the hard drive. Although they are there too if you did what Elli did.

[Don_T...@adobeforums.com]

Ok Thanks, John. I feel stupid, but one should feel that way occasionally.
BTW, I was watching a J. Kost flash turorial and she selected the option to change the size of layers and the options showed samples next to the size selection circles. When I went to change the size of my layer boxes all I saw were selection marks [circles]and no size sample pictures next to them. Is that a PC vs Mac thing or is something missing from my version of CS4?

Don

[El...@adobeforums.com]

Er excuse me cough cough, but with all this arguing as to whether F1 brings up Adobe's web help pages or the internal one's could I refer you to my question in post number 16 e.g. how do I turn the blessed online thing back on? I turned it off and now can't remember how - blo*dy computers. :-)

[John Joslin]

Elli I dug this up. Haven't had time to look into it but it might help.

Choosing Help > Photoshop Help or pressing F1 takes you to <http://www.adobe.com/support/photoshop/>,
the portal page for Photoshop Community Help. On that page, click the
Photoshop Help (web) link at the top of the right nav to go to Photoshop
web help, or type a search term in the search field to search all of community
help.

To go directly to Photoshop web help, which is kept up-to-date, bookmark
<http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/>. You can also search only
Adobe documentation from this page and all Help pages.

If you're offline, pressing F1 takes you to the in-product help that shipped
with the software, which is no longer up to date. To default to going
to in-product help, you need to go offline in Photoshop. Instructions
for doing so are in the Product Help topic at <http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/WS2BE9B3A7-44AF-4d86-AC08-912E2D9F1ECB.html>.

For more info on Community Help, including ways to use it effectively,
read the commenta at <http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/>, or
read the Help and Support topic at <http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/WS2BE9B3A7-44AF-4d86-AC08-912E2D9F1ECB.html>.

[El...@adobeforums.com]

Found it - Windows > Extensions > Connections.
Thanks for all the links John :-)

[John Joslin]

I knew it would come in handy one day! :)