For me, Photoshop would have to be the most used program on my computer. I use it for pretty much everything, from creating mock-up images of websites, cleaning up and optimising photos; to creating unique graphics and photo manipulations. So as soon as I had a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS3 I was eager to get stuck into it and start experimenting with the new features. Following on from our earlier review, I received a copy of Deke McCelland's latest one-on-one series book for Photoshop CS3 and was very impressed. McCelland's one-on-one series runs on the mantra "read the lesson, watch the video, do the exercise" and this method has helped in creating a learning solution that can be easily picked up and quickly learnt.

Like in previous editions of the one-on-one series, the book is arranged into twelve tutorials, with two to three lessons and a bonus lesson comprising each. The tutorials cover the most common aspects of Photoshop's features, such as "Highlights Midtones and Shadows", "Correcting Colour Balance", "Paint Edit and Heal" and "Creating and Applying Masks" amongst many others. These tutorials also touched on more basic sections of Photoshop, such as Making Selections as well as cropping and resizing. But the way the book has been put together, a complete novice could easily dive right into a tutorial and start understanding Photoshop elements in minutes. A big call? But thats how well I think this book has been put together.

For those out there who have been using Photoshop for a while, this will in no way lessen the appeal for you though. I thought that my knowledge of Photoshop was quite good, but the amount of additional features and tricks that I have learnt from this book is amazing. This could be something as simple as using certain tools in select ways, or even discovering elements that I never knew existed! Scott Kelby, the President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals is even quoted as saying: "As a Photoshop author, I hate picking up a book and learning things I didn't already know. If you want to learn Photoshop CS3 from the ground up, look no further." Whether just starting with Photoshop or a seasoned professional, this book really does explore many secrets of Photoshop.

The book contains what are know as "Pearls of Wisdom" usually in areas that provide additional tips on Photoshop elements, and the way to use these to their greatest effect. There is also an extra credit section at the end which features some tutorials, usually an additional exercise that demonstrates another advanced feature of whatever tutorial section you are working in. McClelland has also gone to a lot of trouble to present images in the book in a clear and obvious manner, showing the changes that he is making in the tutorial on the images step by step, clearly highlighting the areas that require special attention.

I've been through most of the tutorials in the book upon writing this, and I thought I would include one that really impressed me. I have always had a problem with scratched images, or at least a source file that was very average at best. Usually I require that specific photo for a website or printing purposes, so using something else is not an option. One feature of Photoshop that I have been eager to try out was the healing tool. The below example was a tutorial from the book, using the healing elements to correct a badly damaged image. I managed to do this in about ten minutes, and the results are incredible!

before		after

There are many more examples in the book that really demonstrate the abilities Photoshop is capable of, and McClelland is there every step of the way, with simple and easy to follow directions and guidelines to mastering the many elements available. All I can say is this is an incredible book - I have probably learned more in four hours going through this book than in the last year of using Photoshop on an almost daily basis. I thoroughly recommend it!