Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I am a big fan of Scott Kelby's / Matt Kloskowski's books and their style of "here how to get there, step by step, with vivid illustrations and (often) funny narrative". If this is your first Elements for Digital Photographers book - go out and get it! $31 is a very fair price for tonnes and tonnes of useful tips and how-tos. Put it this way - if you had to pay someone to train you, how much he or she would charge you.. per hour?
However, if you already own one of their Elements for Digital Photographers (either 6 or 7), there is very few (if any at all!) new pieces of information here. In fact, this book is missing a chapter called "Create or Die - How to Make Presentations with your Photos" which is found in Elements for Digital Photographers 7 version. Was that a particularly useful chapter? Not really. Will you miss it? I doubt.
I am, however, disappointed not to find a new chapter that, for example, shows me cool new tips and tricks, or a chapter with "case studies" - "here is the original photo, here is where you can download it online so let's sit down and fix it together, step-by-step."
Bottom line: if you already own Elements for Digital Photographers books 6 or 7, no need to buy this one, even if you upgraded your APE to v.8. If you don't, go and get one now!
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Photoshop Elements 8 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)
This book (for Windows and Mac) breaks new ground by doing something for digital photographers that's never been done before—it cuts through the bull and shows you exactly "how to do it." It's not a bunch of theory; it doesn't challenge you to come up with your own settings or figure things out on your own. Instead, it does something that virtually no other Elements book has ever done—it tells you flat-out which settings to use, when to use them, and why. If you're looking for one of those "tell-me-everything-about-the-Unsharp-Maskfilter" books, this isn't it. You can grab any other Elements book on the shelf, because they all do that. Instead, this book gives you the inside tips and tricks of the trade for organizing, correcting, editing, sharpening, retouching, and presenting your photos like a pro. You'll be absolutely amazed at how easy and effective these techniques are—once you know the secrets. You'll learn:
The real secrets of how the pros retouch portraits
How to color correct any photo without breaking a sweat (you'll be amazed at how they do it!)
How to use Camera Raw for processing not only RAW photos, but JPEGs and TIFFs, too! (And you'll learn why so many pros like it best— because it's faster and easier)
The sharpening techniques the pros really use (there's an entire chapter just on this!)
How to deal with common digital camera image problems, including removing noise and avoiding halos
The most requested photographic special effects, and much more!
The Book's Secret WeaponAlthough Elements 8 offers some digital photography features that Photoshop CS4 doesn't offer, there are plenty of features that Photoshop CS4 has that Elements 8 still doesn't have (things like paths, Channel Mixer, etc.). But in this book, you'll learn some slick workarounds, cheats, and some fairly ingenious ways to replicate many of those Photoshop features from right within Elements. Plus, since this book is designed for photographers, it doesn't waste your time talking about how to frame a shot, setting your exposure, etc., and there's no talk about which camera or printer to buy. It's all Elements, step-by-step, cover-to-cover, in the only book of its kind!
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