Don't forget your glasses. While the book itself is reasonably large, the information within contains many details that you must pay attention to if you want to follow along. Several times while trying the processes, I missed a small checkbox or button push (not specifically mentioned in the text) that altered my results dramatically from the book's. In some cases I'm still trying to find out why I cannot get the implied results (Especially a VCD slide show burn).

Besides exploiting all the new features of PSE3 (a Major one called "The Organizer" aka. "Photoshop Album" is missing from the Mac version), there are lots of workarounds that approach Photoshop CS level results. I'll not get into the workings of PSE3 since this review is about the Book, not the application. Suffice it to say that the book does an excellent job of covering all the details, but one must pay attention and read ahead while working or risk getting lost.

It amazes me that this much detail can be gathered about a new software program and published this quickly, yet still be accurate and maintain quality. Scott and a team of many, including the top Photoshop experts from Adobe and independents, an expert publishing and layout crew, and one much higher power, have done a wonderful job of covering the entire subject and including helpful tips. PSE3 is NOT a minor upgrade to PSE2. It has far more advancements and additional "media" tools that venture beyond Photos. This book will probably be required reading to grasp all that PSE3 can do.

Books written for Windows users are much more "follow the directions" than typical Mac books that encourage "try this and that". I do not have the Mac version of PSE3 (released about 10 days ago) to verify the book's directional relevance on a Mac, but trust that Scott, who is well versed in Mac also, has probably come very close once again.

The book is laid out with thirteen chapters and each has sub headings that serve well for quickly locating a specific action or technique you may need to use in the future. It covers importing from your camera to output to slide shows, calendars, WMV's and others (VCD is still questionable with my system). The middle is all about photo enhancement, correction, retouching, and effects. I've been using Adobe products for a while now, and many version upgrades come out with expected or desired changes. PSE3 is altogether a different concept in "complete" software, and without a book like this as a guide, climbing this mountain would be much more difficult.

Reviewer: Dale Fletcher I've been to the depths and seen some of heaven; Now I'm just waitin' on OS Eleven. I've been using computers for several months now and am getting better. I can manage OS 1 to OS 9.1, but after that it gets tricky. Mostly I use the Video and Audio software and keep it all running to avoid seeing the operating system stuff. I remember going to school for a while but can't remember what for. I'm pretty sure I graduated though, since I have this paper that says so. I spent some time in the Army, Signal Corps I think. Learned about these computer things and what they call programming in one of those cryptic languages. We sent computer signals over radio back then, kind of like the original AirPort, but much slower. We did have a longer range though, couple thousand miles or so. I'm about half retired now, still need to work to get bigger hard drives and pay for ink for the printer. Hope to sell some of the older gear and start saving up for a G9-3D.

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© 2005 by Dale Fletcher & MLMUG
Posted 1/18/05
Updated 02/08/05