Photoshop Elements 2: 50 Ways to Create Cool Pictures (Voices (New Riders))

This full-color visual resource focuses on how to make the most of your digital camera and Photoshop Elements to produce better pictures than you thought possible. In this book you will learn how to correct the most common problems faced by digital camera owners. Also included are many tips and suggestions on how to take better pictures with your digital camera. The step-by-step procedures cover every aspect of digital photography and photo manipulation from how to scan in older photos to the best ways to print, email, or even set up your own personal web gallery.

• Follow full-color step-by-step instructions on how to enahnce or fix your digital photos
• Understand the best way to scan in and organize your existing photographs
• Get ideas for using your digital camera to take better pictures
• Learn how to use Elements to create professional looking photographs
• Discover photo retouching secrets such as hot to remove wrinkles and pounds to create glamour shots
• Figure out how to take photos and stitch them together to create stunning panoramas

"This is my kind of book-straight to the point, without all the fluff, and the approach lets anybody turn right to the technique they want to learn, and get right to it, all without having to be an expert first. This book isn't for people who want to learn about Photoshop Elements, it's for people who want to start using it today. Dave does a great job of focusing on the areas of Elements people really want to learn, but he takes is a step farther and he "let's the Genie out of the bottle" by not dumbing down the content-he lets the reader unlock the real power of Elements and that's what sets his book apart. His section on creating your own panaramas is the best I've seen anywhere!" Scott Kelby, author of Down and Dirty Photoshop 7 and Editor-in- Chief of Photoshop User Magazine

"With enviable mastery of traditional & digital photography, Huss is abundantly qualified to present the photo editing techniques comprising Photoshop Elements 2.0: 50 Ways to Create Cool Pictures. His experience shows through in the book, which provides not only easy to understand tips and techniques, but also presents them in a beautiful, visually arresting way. A great book for anyone curious about how to use digital editing techniques and Photoshop Elements to bring a richness to their own photos."Kakul Srivastava, Photoshop Elements Product Manager, Adobe Systems, Inc.

"I breezed through Photoshop Elements 2.0: 50 Ways to Create Cool Pictures, thanks to Dave Huss's delightfully comfortable text and often stunning imagery. Step by step, he draws the new Photoshop Elements user into his armchair classroom with crystal-clear narrative, on-target photo examples, and an easy, logical style. Huss is a rare professional-a spirited creative with the energy and generosity of heart to pass along the skills he has so brilliantly mastered. "Alice Miller, Editor, Studio Photography & Design

"As a photographer for more than 25 years, Dave mixes his intellectual curiosity with an amazing eye[md]an eye for detail, light, texture, and, often, even a feel for the weather conditions that prevail. Dave finds abstraction in almost any subject before his lens and transforms the commonplace into eye-pleasing compositions that defy identification. In this book, Dave Huss attempts to bring understanding of these features to the reader with his friendly, often humorous style."Jim Patterson, Contributing Editor, Mac Design and Photoshop User magazines

"I love Dave's work. He is a magician of digital imagery consistently making the ordinary extraordinary."Stephanie Robey, President and Co-Founder, PhotoSpin, Inc.

"Dave's unique teaching style takes you by the hand and doesn't let go till the last page. His mastery of photography and digital techniques are complemented by his ability to make learning fun."Cliff Weems, Founder and CEO, Auto FX Software

"For years Dave Huss has been reviewing and writing about computer graphics software and hardware. His insight into the digital photo-editing world is useful for both novices and professionals alike. Hell, he can probably tell you a hundred different ways to remove red-eye from a photo."Skip Elsheimer, Tech Guy, Alien Skin Software

"Dave Huss brings a real-world, shoot-from-the-hip perspective to his writing. As an avid digital photographer, Dave blends this passion with his teaching and journalistic endeavors. His experiences are both genuine and comprehensive."Jon Maroney, Director of Business Development, Extensis, Inc.

"Dave Huss is both a masterful technician and talented artist who brings both of these talents to this latest work. His intricate knowledge of Photoshop Elements comes alive in these pages, and his digital images showcase his keen sense of what makes a picture great. This book delivers and offers the most casual observer the skills necessary to create extraordinary results."Arlen Bartsch, Executive Vice President, Hemera Technologies

BUT, as I've learned the hard way, you've got to practice step-by-step the 'visual cookbook' (author's term) instructions with work-along images; if not, the slide lecture becomes a mere blur of words. Most regrettably, an inexpensive CD with original uncompressed digital images is NOT included -- a deficiency shared with other self-help books produced by this publisher (New Riders) such as Scott Kelby's more advanced "The Photoshop Elements Book". Although the publisher's website provides a downloadable archive of some of this book's illustrations, the images are low-resolution, highly compressed, and lamentably incomplete [two critical work-alongs in chapter 5 alone were missing]. To place the download burden on a beginning reader seems thoughtless and ill-conceived, and devalues the author's substantial contribution to learning to create cool pictures.

This would have been my 5-star recommendation for mature beginners because of instructive text with right-on color illustrations on each page. But, with the need to download a set of second-rate images that is incomplete to boot, with blanket statements such as "combine the best of both pictures in one image", and omission of dimples and wrinkles in the chapter on 'Retouching' - the net instructional merit drops down to 3.5 stars.

This 5-star author deserves better support than a less-than-stellar production: proper copy editing surely would have caught the repeated use of 'affect' for 'effect' (and lesser spelling sins); savvy project management would have caught the few sweeping statements lacking description (and figures), and ensured that the text describing 'Meg' being cropped, brushed, leveled and cloned would have been fleshed out by a companion practice image in the downloadable library. As it stands that 7+ page exercise (nicely illustrated, to be sure) leaves me, pardon the pun, with a dodgy spongy blur of words; much like learning to do an appendectomy from a textbook.

Production criticisms notwithstanding, this IS a very well laid out manual, written in a pleasantly conversational non-technical style that hits each point home in easy-to-follow steps and relevant illustrations; all it needs to rise to the top is a bit of nurturing by a user-friendly publishing team.


50 ways of going nowhere with PE2   June 26, 2003
 12 out of 16 found this review helpful

I really regret buying this book. It is supposed to be an easy tuorial well suitet to beginners like myself. Most of the examples are easy to understand, but I found the explanations of using the different tools somewhat variable. My main objection however is that only a fraction of the pictures used in the step by step tutorials are available ( and only as a download from the publishers website). Not being able to play around with the examples and follow the the author all the time made the learning process much harder. Why the author/ publisher has not bothered to make all the material used in the examples available I do not understand.


Its the Harry Potter of computer books   June 21, 2003
 4 out of 11 found this review helpful

This book was amazing it showed me how to make beautiful pictures in a way that even I could do it. The writing is easy to understand and a great sense of humor. This book is the Harry Potter of computer books, you just cant put it down.


50 Ways to get going on PE2   April 16, 2003
 18 out of 20 found this review helpful

Loved it! Huss didn't mess around, he just got straight to the meat of the program. I bought a digital camera and PE2 5 days ago and finshed the book 2 days ago...I'm now enhancing color, ballance, contrast, etc., I can drop in a new sky if I took a picture on an overcast day, I took a picture of a rose that looks like an oil painting after messing with it...I can do all of the things that I dreamed of doing when I bought my camera and PE2. I highly recommend this book to anyone who thought that PE2 might be a program that could help them produce better pics, but who has struggled figuring out what the hell all those tools and options do for you. This is the first book I have read and its great, now I hope that "Hidden Power..." is as good as this one!


Best of Both Worlds   April 13, 2003
 9 out of 11 found this review helpful

This book not only helps you to learn or get more advanced with Photoshop Elements, it helps you take better photos to start with. Each area suggests photographic techniques for improving the photographs taken, and then gets into how to make them even better using Photoshop Elements.
It is easy to read, conversational in style, and is well organized by projects, so the reader does not have to read every chapter to understand the part he is really trying to learn. The photography illustrates every technique, making it easy to find and get into a project.
Starting with the software installation, the book helps the beginner and novice get started. The more advanced reader can jump to the chapters describing the projects he wants to accomplish. The color photos make the explanations come to life.
This book is definitely worth owning for anyone using Elements.