Photoshop CS4 for Dummies (and CS3 for Dummies), by Peter Bauer

Photoshop is, in my opinion, the best program for picture editing in existence. It is extremely comprehensive and offers a huge variety of options. It is used by amateurs, photographers, designers, and web designers, to mention but a few of the groups of people using it. In some areas, it is the industry standard, to the extent that it has become a verb – what you mean will be understood by most people when you say that an image has been “photoshopped”.

But Photoshop is not an easy program to use. For sure, everybody can use it to crop images and maybe apply some filtering. But learning to use the more advanced features of Photoshop will either take an inordinate amount of time or require you to learn some of the tricks from somebody else who knows the program well or a book.

And Photoshop CS4 for Dummies is not a bad place to start! It is actually not a book for Dummies at all. While it is not the most comprehensive book to guide you through Photoshop CS4 that exists, it does give you a description of the menus and gently guides you through most of the common functions.

This book will help you to familiarize yourself with this huge program, and teach you to edit your photos or create great looking, professional graphics. It covers all the basic stuff through to some advanced editing techniques. And while it is not an encyclopedia of Photoshop, it is good enough to serve as an excellent reference book for most of us. And, perhaps most important of all, it is written in a nice, plain and understandable English.

The product label for Photoshop CS4 for Dummies says that:

You’ll get all of the basics of digital images and master the importing and exporting of images. You’ll find out how to create easy enhancements like adding shadows and highlights and making color natural, in addition to learning how to use the Adobe camera raw plug-in. Before you know it, you’ll be making beautiful “art” with Photoshop by combining images, precision edges, dressing up images, painting in Photoshop, and using filters. You can even streamline your work in Photoshop using advanced techniques. Find out how to:

• Import images and use all the tools and processes
• Reduce digital noise, make colors look natural, add highlights and shadows
• Optimize images for print or the Web
• Edit images
• Explore the Painting function and master the daunting Brushes panel
• Add layer styles
• Create on-screen presentations, contact prints, and more

And, basically this is all true. I like the book a lot, have found it useful in solving problems I have faced, and have found it very useful. I do not hesitate to recommend it!

Links to Photoshop for Dummies at  Amazon.com (USA) and Amazon UK.

Tagged as: book review, Peter Bauer, Photoshop, reference book