Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Could be so much better June 26, 2008
I. Graham (UK)
As the other reviewers have said, there is so much information in this book and it does cover every aspect and provides clear instructions. It will do the job if you want to know about elements 5. But there are a number of irritating faults:
1) The author's humour is silly and childish. This is ok in small doses but when, in many areas, nearly every other line has this silliness, it becomes wearing. Also, when you want to understand how to do something and the meaningful text is perhaps 4 lines, it is annoying to have to read through more than ten lines of silliness to get to the useful text. eg "...an entire chapter devoted to Raw. So why a whole chapter? ........ (2) I needed the extra pages to get my page count up; (3) I really didn't need the page count, but you can't be sure of that...." Drivel and unnecessary.
2) There are too many photographs that claim to show a problem that needs putting right but which are not magnified enough to show the problem. The net result is that for things like sharpness and chromatic abboration, it is impossible to see the difference. The main concern is that, whereas I think I know what I am looking for, the beginner might not and so is left wondering what it is that they are curing.
3) Finally, there are a couple of screenshots that show a different detail in the screen from mine. If this is because the US version is different from the UK version, fine, but they should say "US Version". Otherwise, can I trust that this is truly elements 5 or just a rehash of elements 4 with poor editing? For example, for editing RAW, one page refers to a "Shadows" slider beneath "Exposure" whereas the elements I have has three sliders: "Recovery", "Fill light", "Blacks".
This book will certainly cover everything you need, but then I would expect every book to do that. Despite its failings, it will work for you, but just be prepared for the imperfections.
 Best book ever on a piece of software June 14, 2008
Oscar Clancy (London, England)
If you've been playing around with Photoshop, never really knowing how to use it, and want to learn more, then this book is the one. With short chapters, illustrations and examples, this has to be the most comprehensive and easy to understand method to use Photoshop Elements 5. All of a sudden you'll know how to get your teeth pearly white, remove that odd spot... or remove people from your photos. Hours of fun, but productive fun!
 Good but corny February 21, 2008
D. Clark (Bucks. UK)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
A good instructive book. It requires a great deal of concentration with the aid of a magnifying glass. It is regularly spoilt by corny Americanisms
Very useable and practical reference for non-experts December 1, 2007
Dean J. Marshall (Hants, UK)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
I don't usually review books but this is a real gem for keen photographers. The book is structured into specific tasks that you would want to perform, such as removing spots from an image or changing an object's colour or various sharpening techniques. In all the book covers approximately 300 such tasks and for each task there are a set of clearly written steps with Photoshop screen prints to show you how to go about it. The book covers tasks in all the following areas:
Using the Organiser
Resizing and cropping
Colour correction
Digital camera Image problems
Selecting objects
Retouching
Removing unwanted objects
Special effects
Restoration techniques
Sharpening techniques
Presenting your work
Colour Management
I find that I am delving into this book all of the time and use it as my reference for Photoshop Elements 5.
Like other Scott Kelby books it does have a slightly flippant and sometimes condescending writing style but the content is fantastic and Scott does tend to strip away the jargon and get to the point very directly.
Improving your understanding of Photoshop is all about practice and experimenting with the software and this book rapidly gives you the hooks into Photoshop's features so that you can start learning by doing.
Highly recommended to keen photographers who are not Photoshop experts but want to learn how to become very proficient with Elements 5.
What a shame! September 28, 2007
R. J. Dunning (London England)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Scott Kelby is clearly a natural with image enhancement software, and has gifts as a teacher as well. I have profitted greatly from reading this book, and some of his others. But he should have been ruthless with his red pencil, editing out all of his intrusively lame jokes. And where was his editor during the production process? Leaving out the jokes and tightening up the grammar needn't have made the book any less accessible. Sussex Reader can take it from me, an American currently living in London, that this is a case of personal error of judgement, not of American/English language differences.
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