Smashing Photoshop CS5: 100 Professional Techniques

by Sue Jenkins

EXPAND YOUR IMAGINATION Smashing Photoshop CS5 is loaded with 100 creative and innovative techniques to help jump-start your creativity and inspire you to do more with your designs and photographs. This book is aimed at designers, artists and photographers who want to become proficient in Photoshop CS5, getting you quickly up to speed with many of the fantastic new tools and features. Author Sue Jenkins is a photographer and web and graphic designer, author, software instructor and Adobe Certified Expert. Using her knowledge and years of expertise in the field she provides 100 hints, special effects, and techniques that will enable you to extend your existing skills and to develop and execute new ideas and trends.
Smashing Photoshop CS5 is the ideal guide to help you to get the best out of Photoshop CS5. This book will teach you how to perform specific tasks using a variety of tools, filters, styles, adjustment layers, and more. With Smashing Photoshop CS5 you will learn how
• MAKE 3D TEXT WITH REPOUSSÉ
• CREATE ENGRAVED TYPE
• DESIGN A BLOG HEADER
• STIMULATE HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGES
• MAKE RETRO HALFTONES
• WORK WITH CUSTOM BRUSHES
• USE CONTENT-AWARE SCALING
• TRANSFORM WITH PUPPET WARP
• TRACE PHOTOS
• MAKE SCALE MODELS
• MIMIC CROSS-PROCESSING (XPRO)
• EDIT WITH LAYER MASKS
• CORRECT IMAGE DISTORTION
• RETOUCH AND RESTORE IMAGES
• EDIT WITH THE VANISHING POINT
• CREATE PANORAMAS Key Topics
Part Web Layout And Optimization
Part Photoshop CS4 And CS5 Techniques
Part Text Effects
Part Studio And Commercial Effects
Part Special Effects
Part Image Distressing
Part Image Retouching And Restoration Smashing Photoshop CS5 is the perfect springboard for sparking new ideas and gaining inspiration for all your projects. Smashing Magazine (smashingmagazine.com) is one of the world's most popular web design sites. True to the Smashing mission, the Smashing Magazine book series delivers useful and innovative information to Web designers and developers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography

432 pages, Paperback

First published September 21, 2010

Reviews

[W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I looked forward to receiving this book because I just recently started using CS5. This is a major upgrade leap for me since the last version I had of Photoshop was CS2, and I never actually learned the newer tools in that upgrade. I have been using Photoshop since it first came out in the 90s, before it even had a version number. I expected in depth discussions in the book about the new capabilities of CS5.

It should be noted that my main use of Photoshop is as an illustrator. While I do create personal web sites, that is not where the focus of my day-to-day creative endeavors lie. I do have an extensive background in Graphic Design, so most of the specifics to that profession are not alien to me.
The book subtitles itself 100 Professional Techniques. I think a better subtitle would be 100 Professional Graphic Design Techniques. Sadly, if you are not creating web or graphic design, this book is next to useless in smashing the new CS5 Photoshop tools.

However, if you do create web sites and need quick how-to instructions for special effects like grunge and retro halftones, this is the workbook for you. I tried several of the lessons myself. I learned new ways to do things with tools I had never explored, but the end products themselves are nothing “new.” I’ve done similar things years ago.

My only complaint with the book is that the instructions were vague in where to find the tools required to create the effects in question. In one instance the reader is told to use the pencil tool to erase an area in a mask. I hopped right over to the pencil too, prepared it to the suggested 1 pixel and couldn’t do anything after that. It took a bit of noodling around trying to figure out what I had done wrong before I realized I needed the eraser tool selected in pencil mode set to the one pixel. After that I quickly accomplished the desired outcome. I’d like to say this was an isolated instance, but it wasn’t. I encountered this roadblock in a number of lessons. A simple image call out showing the tool or location in question would have gone a long way to reduce my frustration level.

With all this in mind, I would not recommend this book for either a raw Photoshop beginner or a seasoned Graphic Design pro, but someone in an intermediate level would benefit greatly by many of the techniques showcased.

Sadly, for an illustrator like me, this book was sadly lacking in what I am looking for in Photoshop training. Maybe one will come along soon.

[Ann Addley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has lots of great tutorial however they are arranged somewhat arbitrarily, without indication of difficulty or logical building. There are some nice pictures and easy to follow instructions though.