Photoshop CS2 Secrets: Digital Photographers
I find it surprising that most training material for graphics applications is still in the form of books. After all, digital cameras, rich-media authoring tools and the video capabilities of Flash make it easy to put together slick video-based training products, whether they're delivered on CD or streamed on the net. There are a few firms that dominate the market, such as Total Training and Lynda.com, but after that it's primarily up to the graphics gurus themselves to wear yet another hat by creating and selling their own training content.
Colin's most recent book is Complete Photoshop CS2 for Digital Photographers, so it should come as no surprise that he has also added a product for photographers to his line of Photoshop training CDs. I took a look at Photoshop Secrets: Special FX back in May and found it useful, so I decided to give Colin's latest release a spin.
The CD contains 43 short lessons, adding up to three and a half hours of training, as well as the related graphics files for working along with the clips. Providing those is essential, since just sitting and watching video tutorials doesn't have a lot of value—flipping back and forth between Photoshop and the tutes is what makes learning really take place. Flash is used to display the clips and I found the environment satisfactory but not luxurious. Thankfully, Photoshop's interface elements and dialog boxes are displayed large enough to be easily legible, although I would have prefered the overall display to fill more of my screen (see below) and compression artifacts are more noticeable than I would have liked. Audio quality is good, with Colin refraining from the attempts at humor that mar some other Photoshop videos (you know who you are!).
In terms of content, I'm not sure to what extent this package really deserves a "secrets" moniker. Rather than providing arcane tips and tricks, it delivers a meat-and-potatoes view of Photoshop CS2 from a photographic perspective. Reducing grain and color noise, sharpening techniques, color correcting with curves, and changing depth of field are all covered nicely in a straightforward, matter-of-fact manner based on actual photos. While not earth-shattering, it's all good stuff, especially for photographers just starting out with Photoshop.
Photoshop CS2 Secrets: Digital Photographers can be currently purchased for $62.99 (normally $69.99) on the DreamweaverCAFE.com site.
Chris Dickman
Editor, Graphics.com
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