Adobe Photoshop Cs3 Classroom in a Book

This is for Adobe CS3, the older programming which still has a useful link function the more modern CS programs don't have. The value for me with this book is that it provides more detailed information about the specific CS3 function, and it is possibly of use with other CS programs that are updates of the CS3. It allows a user to work with their program and learn more with the book. The trouble with this book is it's only for one aspect of the CS3 which means other information is needed for learning and using the programs better, there are the other Adobe CS manuals also. The value for users is better with self teaching than just using the programs freehand. While that's still an option, often the details and alternatives which are shared in the manuals can assist in progressing uses faster.

This is a utilitarian tutorial. And it is good, as far as it goes.You learn the tools and more than enough to take you from beginner to intermediate, but that is probably as far as you can get with this.Will that be enough? Maybe.There are certainly amazing things that can be done with photoshop but this won't take you to a level where you can do those great things. You can certainly make better every photo you have ever taken after reading the book, but there is another level of teaching that this book is missing. How to really understand what sliding one way, or the other with the various levers the software has will do to a photo and why you would.Too often the book just tells you to experiment. Not what the experiment will pay off. Or further, there are many other filters in the software that the book does not discuss why you would use them. I gather experiment again.A chance to make you the best intermediate user of Photoshop and we are let down that the book does not even get us to the red zone on that. It does it's job narrowly defined, but no more. Buy and use knowing this going in.

This is a great educational book. Subjects are incrementically presented and reinforced throughout the book. Repetitive mention continue to reinforce the subject learning. I have fooled with Adobe PhotoShop for over 20 years never reached above a beginner's level. So far and as long as I stick with the book and practice the methods, I expect to become much more competent with PhotoShop.I bought the book as used. It was a great buy but it never came with the instructional DVD that also contains training files based on each chapter. I found and again purchased a used book, from a vendor who promised to deliver the DVD. This is not a slam at Amazon.com. I bought the original book and neglected to ensure the DVD was included. The DVD is really needed to reinforce the learning points.Long story short, this is a great book. If you want to learn Adobe PhotoShop, I suggest you buy this book. I am sure the latest version, PhotoShop ES6, is even better. Thank you.

I reference this book as a suggested learning tool in another review, but it is not the kind of a book I like to use. The "Classroom in a Book" volumes are exactly that - lessons done a step at a time. If you are one of those people who don't move at the pace of the slowest student, you may get frustrated with this technique.I find this book to be chatty and rather unhelpful as a reference. One's only choice as a user is to do the exercises one at a time in order. There are some benefits to that, but if you already know what you want to do, getting there is slow. That said, Photoshop is a huge piece of software and you have to start somewhere. At least this course gets the basics out of the way. As a first look at Photoshop, it is OK.If you really want to understand Photoshop(after getting an understanding of the basics) look at  Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers: A Professional Image Editor's Guide to the Creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC , which gives seven hundred pages of specific how-to advice for photographers who are already in possession of the basic concepts. Don't go there as a first step, though, because you will be lost unless you take a course like this one first.The real problem after all is that Photoshop is just hard to learn because there are so many concepts and individual, often similar, tools. Also, there are competing approaches that are slightly different, but one is clearly better than the other in some situations. It takes some time to figure all that out, and no book is really going to get you there. You just have to get some experience.

Before I bought this book, I didn't have a clue about Adobe Photoshop. This book comes with a VERY helpful DVD, BUT there are much later versions of this program out, now. Adobe Photoshop is up to CS6, now. If you can find this program in a used state and for a few buck, do it. CS6 is going for almost $400, and CS3 will teach you enough to be able to decide if you want to spend the $400 to upgrade.

This book is a great place to start if you are new to Photoshop or if you have just upgraded to CS3 from a couple versions back.This book will take you through learning all of the basic tools of Photoshop CS3 by working one chapter at a time. Each chapter takes about 45 minutes to an hour to complete.After completing the entire book you will have a very good set of skills which you will be able to use on projects on your own. However, don't be mistaken. You will not be a pro after finishing this book. Rather, you will have the prerequisite knowledge necessary to learn the advanced skills that are used by the pros.After you have finished this book you will be able to move on to more advanced books or even just "Google" techniques you want to learn and read about them on the web.I would suggest this book to anyone who wants to learn the fundamentals of Photoshop. You will be glad you read through it. You will save countless hours on workflow and project management because you learned the right way to do things before you established bad habits.Cheers!

I bought this Book to learn more about Photoshop. I already knew everything in the Book from Self-Teaching and using the "Help" in Photoshop.I'd strongly recommend that BEGINNERS ONLY buy this book. I can see it's Good for Beginners, but that is all.~andrew

I did not realise until it was too late (too far past the point of purchase) but what I was actually sold was a guide to Photoshop Design CS3, not Photoshop CS3 as the image here suggests.A completely different software package.As a result, completely useless to me.

The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Classroom in a Book is a must for serious users of Adobe CS3, it is packed with easy to follow lessons which you practice until you feel confident to carry out yourself and there is also movies to watch introducing you to the new features in CS3. All in all a good professional guide in using Adobe CS3.

A good book, have yet to get into this fully. I think there are more user friendly books - depends on what you want to use Photoshop for of course!

good product. good price. fun read!