[Pavel]

1) A good starter: Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3 http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=s...int+system It is a great intro for somebody not having a clue how to start with potoshop. It walks you through a workflow and through repetition working on provided images and following the book, you slowly learn some basics steps of a typical workflow. It is not best for situations where you wish to solve a specific problem or when you wish to understand concepts or to understand what individual commands and subcomands do. I agree Jules that this is a good book to start with.

2) Another good book to follow up with is another book by Scott Kelby that I have. I have an old version, this is the new one (The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers www.amazon.ca/Adobe-Photoshop-Book-Digital-Photographers/... ). The strength of this book is that it gives you recipes on how to solve specific problems, but it does not walk you through the workflow and it may be a hard book to start with, if you are a newbie to PS. It does not really explain commands all that well. It is a good book to learn which of the many possible options for solutions to try first when you have a specific problem. The flip side of this book, the weakness, if you like is that it is a recipe, but it does not really give you sufficient insight into what you are doing. Next time when you have similar problem but slightly different, you may not get enough out of it to know how to modify. Unlike the 7 point system, this is a book you may end up revisiting often. It is a good "how to" reference.

3) My current favourite is Photoshop CS3 Bible (Paperback) by Laurie Ulrich Fuller (Author), Robert C. Fuller (Author) www.amazon.ca/Photoshop-Bible-Laurie-Ulrich-Fuller/dp/047.... This is a book I am usingthe most currently. It explains in good level of detail and quite clearly what each command does, what are the options and subcommands and when is each of these commands most useful. It is probably not the best book to start it for those not used to thick instruction manuals, but for those that used to earlier user manuals for software this is a very rewarding book. Suddenly Scott Kelby books make sense - you just look up his strategies, rather than his specific strokes. You can also come up with your own strategies based on conceptual understanding. A similar source is available as a user manual on Adobe website for PS4 and I use that often too instead of the Bible. The Bible is a bit more wordy and seems to contain more advice. The Adobe is a striped down user manual. I think that at least one of these 2 sources are essential for somebody serious about learning photoshop. This is a true reference. As I learn new features of CS4, I read (or at least skim) the relevant chapter in the Bible.

4) Finally, if you wish to learn more on the general imaging theory, this is a good source. www.123di.com/

I hope that this is is useful to somebody out there, although most of you guys on thi site know more than I do.

Pavel

Pavel

[EnglishBob]

Scott Kelby writes great books, it was one of his that got me started on the path to a DSLR.

[shuttertalk]

Thanks Pavel - that's a great list - I've got some of Scott Kelby's books too.

He also does a video podcast (along with some other photographers / personalities):
http://www.photoshopusertv.com/

[Pavel]

Thanks Guys. Podcasts - sounds good, if the topic matches your current interest. I also like the short and free video tutorials available at Adobe site and other places. Pavel

[matthew]

I have an allergic reaction to Scott Kelby, so while I agree that his books are excellent, they're not for me. Instead, I've recently picked up a hybrid book on working with Lightroom and Photoshop as a single workflow, surprisingly it's called the "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop Workflow Bible". (Written by Mark Fitzgerald.) I haven't had time to really work through it, but it looks really promising for me as it very closely matches how I use both programs.

[Pavel]

Matthew, I am not all that fond of Kelby's style or his way of teaching. I would have liked a more ballanced book which would have boxes explaining how commands work and explain the process on a conceptual level. However, than he could not have separate books. The Bible fits me now, because it tells me exactly what each command does. It leaves it up to me to figure out how to string the commands together. It does fits my way of thinking. Kelby's recipes are a useful check on "professional approach" and I picked a lot from his approach.

I use camera raw (and thus effectively Lightroom) less and less. Softproofing and working in the LAB mode is increasingly important to me and most of my processing is done with these 2 features "on". In fact I softproof almost from the start and to the finish. I use LAB for everything from adjusting exposure (screen mode) and colours (a, b channels with different modes and masks) and chroma noise reduction and sharpening. I do only final small adjustments in the RGB mode. I could not do that in Lightroom. With smart filters you get much of the reversibility you get in Lightroom.

This is not to argue with your approach. I find you technically superb and a way ahaed of me. It just that I think that using the features that I use can eventualy get me further. I also find that the changes from version to version of CS are small and old books that I have are still useful. This suggests to me, that you need not upgrade each time Adobe says so, and thus you save money.

Pavel

[plugsnpixels]

I offer a free ezine dedicated to Photoshop plug-ins and related digital imaging apps (URL in sig).

Mike

[ADK_Jim]

If you have a broadband connection Lynda.com has numerous offerings on Lightroom & Photoshop. The tutorials there are very good. Photoshop ones are by Deke McClelland & Chris Orwig of Brooks Institute among others. A subscription is $25/month but if you have some time to devote to it you could subscribe for only a month or two and charge through several tutorials. I like seeing things done as opposed to reading about them with static pictures. Like any video you can stop it and if you have the software running in another window try each technique yourself before resuming the video. I find I get good retention of the concepts that way.

ADK Jim