Photoshop 7 Down and Dirty Tricks
Publisher: New Riders | 2002 | ISBN: 0735712379 | English | PDF | 279 pages | 61.63 Mb

"Updated for the latest version of Photoshop, Photoshop 7 Down & Dirty Tricks is packed cover to cover with step-by-step tutorials on the coolest Photoshop 7 effects. The book is not another rehash of masking, pixels, and file formats or resolution--it's nothing but the cool stuff that will make your client's (or boss's) jaw drop.

Scott Kelby is both funny and generous. His wry sense of humor doesn't get in the way of the hundreds of nifty techniques in this new collection of Down & Dirty Tricks. In fact, when you first flip quickly through the book, gobbling up all the creative ideas and timesaving tips, his sly jokes only add to the I've-just-hit-the-lottery feeling.

Whatever you're looking for--type that looks distressed, made of gel, or carved in stone; shadows in perspective or in motion; text that wraps around a globe; a glinting starburst on the edge of an object; a logo artificially placed at the bottom of a pool; or a starry sky created in an instant--just about every trick is here. And most are done in 10 steps or less. Also, each page has a Quick Tip sidebar (there're over 200 of them) that are worth the price of the book alone, with everything from getting better results from your eyedropper tool (click on Options and change the Point Sample to "3 by 3 average") to the quickest way to change units of measurement (the secret is in the Info palette).

The book has been updated since the previous edition with mostly new illustrations, many new and better ways to perform the same tricks, and a few completely new ones. Project files and images can be downloaded from the book's companion Web site at downanddirtytricks.com. Although aimed at experienced Photoshop users, the text is detailed enough for readers of all levels. For example, steps like "make a copy of that layer by dragging it to the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette" or "press the letter m to switch to the Rectangular Marquee tool" are repeated in full whenever a trick calls for them. This not only helps beginners, it allows all readers to hop around the book and be able to carry out any trick in any order. Yet another reason this book could've been titled Speedy Down & Dirty Tricks.

About Author
Scott Kelby is Editor-in-Chief of Photoshop User magazine and President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), the trade association for Adobe Photoshop users worldwide. Scott is also President of KW Media Group, Inc., a Florida-based software training and publishing company. He is author of Photoshop Photo-Retouching Secrets, Photoshop 6 Down & Dirty Tricks, and Macintosh... The Naked Truth, all from New Riders Publishing. He is also co-author of Photoshop 6 Killer Tips, also from New Riders Publishing. In addition, Scott is a contributing author to the following books: Photoshop 6 Effects Magic from New Riders; Maclopedia (the Ultimate Reference on Everything Macintosh) from Hayden Books; and Adobe Web Design and Publishing Unleashed from Sams Publishing.

Scott is Training Director for the Adobe Photoshop Seminar Tour, Technical Chair for PhotoshopWorld (the annual convention for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals), and is a frequent speaker at graphics trade shows and events. He's also featured in a series of Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Web design training videos and has been training Photoshop users around the world since 1993.