Photoshop is a complex program and learning it can be difficult in the best of circumstances. The goal of Photoshop CS5: The Missing Manual is to not only ease those difficulties, but actually try and make it fun.
Through the use of a conversational style, Photoshop CS5: The Missing Manual you will move from the introduction to Photoshop and make your way deep into the inner workings of this complex program. It provides all of the information for you to learn various secrets and practical tips that make the learning fun. This book is 896 pages divided into 19 chapters and five parts.
Part One, "The Basics," starts off by giving you a guided tour of Adobe Photoshop CS5. You start off by looking at all of the things you need to get set up properly from a look at the interface, to tweaking your preferences. Then you examine opening, viewing, and saving files.
From there you will learn about working with Layers, how to non-destructively edit your files, make selections so as to choose what you want to edit, and how to control your color through the use of Channels. Topics include LAB, CMYK, Alpha channels, and basic channel tricks.
Part Two, "Editing Images," now gets you into the work of editing your images beginning with cropping, resizing, and rotating. Next you will use the techniques of working with Layers and selections you learned about in the first part to begin to combine images together.
By draining color, you will see how to create black and white images from color, learn how to change colors in an image, and correct color to make it more accurately represent what was shot. You will also learn about the beauty salon tricks to make people look their best through whitening teeth, slimming up body parts, softening skin, and creating better looking eyes. You will finish up with the topic of sharpening an image.
Part Three, "The Artistic Side of Photoshop," examines the tools that Photoshop has for creating more artistic expressions. This includes the ability to paint in Photoshop through the use of artistic brushes and palettes, as well as the ability to draw using the vector tools, shapes, and paths.
Then you will see how to use the text capabilities in a much more artistic way. This not only includes the traditional methods of creating, editing, and formatting text, but how to create special effects as well. Finally, you will look at the wide world of filters and how they can provide a variety of specialized looks to your images.
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