Most useful reference book for Photoshop Elements 5: The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers
March 31, 2008
Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 offers all the digital photo editing power most people will ever need (especially when used together with a third-party noise reduction program and RAW converter). The problem is how to make the most effective and efficient use of that power. Kelby’s book does a fine job of addressing exactly this problem, which wins it my vote as the most useful PSE 5 reference book currently available. (Its main competitor, Barbara Brundage’s "Photoshop Elements 5: The Missing Manual," is too loosely organized and gives too much attention to PSE 5 features that are tangential to actual digital image editing.)
Kelby’s book is organized around a basic digital image processing workflow, starting with organizing images and moving through RAW conversion, resizing and cropping, color correction, noise reduction, and so on. Each chapter presents several techniques, usually moving from basic to more advanced, all thoroughly illustrated. His explanations are clear, thorough, and direct—not a lot of wasted motion here. Though the publisher rates the book for intermediate to advanced users of PSE 5, I think it’s accessible to a wider audience. Anyone who knows her/his way around a digital camera (especially an advanced point and shoot or a "prosumer" digital SLR), understands the fundamentals of digital photography, and is comfortable with PSE 5’s layout will be able to make good use of Kelby’s book.
The tutorials are self-contained, that is, you don’t need to read the early chapters to understand techniques presented later in the book. If information presented elsewhere is relevant, it’s referenced so the reader can take a look, then come back. Some skills are basic to using PSE 5, like making selections, so it’s good to spend time learning them first. The general workflow model guiding the book’s organization is another reason for taking the topics in the order Kelby presents them. But if you have some understanding to start with, you can jump around pretty much at will. There’s no doubt that anyone who works her/his way through the book will develop a very full understanding of PSE 5.
No one will ever use all the techniques Kelby presents, and everyone is likely to prefer some of them over others. In fact, the number of techniques discussed could be somewhat daunting if you’re just looking for a quick fix with a particular image. That’s one drawback to the book.
Another drawback is that some topics don’t get quite the attention they need. I found that particularly the case with image sharpening, a basic issue in digital photography. Kelby includes numerous recommended settings for the unsharp mask tool, but I would have liked to learn about a wider range of sharpening techniques. (A half star off for this.)
A final drawback is Kelby’s repetitive, almost compulsive attempts at humor. A little of it goes a long way, and though it’s good to keep the tone light in a book like this, after a while the repeated one-liners at his editors’ expense become stale. I found myself muttering, "Just get on it with it, will you?" after about two or three chapters. (Another half star off here.)
Still, the book is well worth the time and money, these drawbacks aside. If you’re serious about learning to edit digital images with PSE 5, and maybe also learning to be a better digital photographer along the way, this is the one book to have.
