Dynamic Learning: Photoshop CS3 is the first in a series of books from O'Reilly that is branded as Dynamic Learning. It is written by a group of product professionals and trainers from the Aquent Graphics Institute (AGI) and lead by Jennifer Smith. These are the people who have produced many of Adobe's own manuals.
Dynamic Learning: Photoshop CS3 is produced with Digital Classroom video tutorials that enhance the topics discussed in the book. Each lesson begins with a "Starting Up" section that makes sure that you are ready to roll. Then you are asked to view the video to get a better feel for what you are going to do. You then work through the lesson. This, tied with self study exercises and review questions, is meant to reinforce the content and skills learned.
Dynamic Learning: Photoshop CS3 is divided into 13 lessons covering 350 pages. The dynamic Learning DVD comes complete with all of the lesson files and video files needed to follow along with the book. The preface, "Starting Up," introduces you to dynamic learning, gets you set up and gives you other information needed to begin your lessons.
Lesson 1, "What's New in Adobe Photoshop CS3?" walks you through the features that are new to CS3. These include the new interface, Smart Filters, Camera Raw 4 and a comparison of Photoshop CS3 vs. Photoshop CS3 Extended. Lesson 2, "Exploring Adobe Photoshop CS3" gets you to work right away making a composition using selections, layer masks, placing artwork and adding text. All of these will be explained in more detail later, but this gets you into the thick of it.
Lesson 3, "Getting to Know the Workspace" shows you how to use the new Bridge, working with the tools and toolbar. You will also learn how to use the palette system to make your work easier in Photoshop. Lesson 4, "Using Adobe Bridge" gets you in to all the things that you can do with the new Bridge 2, including working with folders, metadata, keywords and automation tools.
Lesson 5, "The Basics of Photoshop CS3" will explain all of the basic functionality of Photoshop. You will learn to transform and edit combined images, remove a background, learn about stacking layers and how to understand the different file formats. Lesson 6, "Creating a Good Image" shows you why you should work in RGB, how to manage highlights and shadows, how to sharpen your images and how to save your file as a Digital Negative (DNG).
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