Colin Smith is a best-selling author, trainer, and award-winning new-media designer who has caused a stir in the design community with his stunning photorealistic illustrations composed entirely in Photoshop. He is founder of the world’s most popular Photoshop resource site, PhotoshopCAFE.com, which boasts more than two million visitors.

With over ten years of experience in the design industry, Colin was formerly Senior Editor and Art Director for VOICE magazine. He is a regular columnist for Photoshop User magazine, PlanetPhotoshop.com, and the official site of the National Association for Photoshop Professionals. He also contributes to a number of other graphic art publications, such as Mac Design magazine, Web Designer magazine and Computer Arts magazine.

Colin’s graphic design work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Guru awards at Photoshop World 2001 and 2002, for his work in both illustration and web design. He’s authored or co-authored more than ten books on Photoshop, including the best-selling How to Do Everything with Photoshop CS (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2003) and award-winning Photoshop Most Wanted: Effects and Design Tips (A Press/Friends of Ed, 2002). Colin is also creator of the Photoshop Secrets Video training series (PhotoshopCD.com). He is in high demand across the United States as a lecturer, presenting his Photoshop techniques to Web designers and other graphics professionals across the nation.

Colin Smith is a best-selling author, trainer, and award-winning new-media designer who has caused a stir in the design community with his stunning photorealistic illustrations composed entirely in Photoshop. He is founder of the world?s most popular Photoshop resource site, PhotoshopCAFE.com, which boasts more than two million visitors.

With over ten years of experience in the design industry, Colin was formerly Senior Editor and Art Director for VOICE magazine. He is a regular columnist for Photoshop User magazine, PlanetPhotoshop.com, and the official site of the National Association for Photoshop Professionals. He also contributes to a number of other graphic art publications, such as Mac Design magazine, Web Designer magazine and Computer Arts magazine.

Colin?s graphic design work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Guru awards at Photoshop World 2001 and 2002, for his work in both illustration and web design. He?s authored or co-authored more than ten books on Photoshop, including the best-selling How to Do Everything with Photoshop CS (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2003) and award-winning Photoshop Most Wanted: Effects and Design Tips (A Press/Friends of Ed, 2002). Colin is also creator of the Photoshop Secrets Video training series (PhotoshopCD.com). He is in high demand across the United States as a lecturer, presenting his Photoshop techniques to Web designers and other graphics professionals across the nation.

Maximize all the features Photoshop has to offer with help from this full-color guide. Award-winning designer Colin Smith shows you how to create, edit, and enhance sophisticated images and feature-rich web pages using this powerful graphics tool. You’ll learn to use all of Photoshop’s painting and drawing tools, fix and retouch photos, add special effects, print high-quality images, and much more. A bonus “Behind the Scenes” gallery demonstrates the Photoshop techniques used by professional artists.

• Manage the interface, toolbar, palettes, options, and preferences
• Import, place, organize, and size images and adjust resolution
• Edit, repair, retouch, and organize digital photos
• Draw and paint with the built-in tools
• Create and manipulate text
• Use and manage multiple layers
• Create a variety of colors using channels
• Automate tasks using tool presets, actions, droplets, and other methods
• Create bevels, sheens, shadows, and other special effects
• Use ImageReady to create Web graphics
• Set up your Photoshop file for high quality printing

About the author: Colin Smith is an award-winning graphic designer and author or co-author of 11 graphic design books including Photoshop and Dreamweaver Integration. He is also founder and publisher of the #1 resource site for Photoshop users, photoshopcafe.com.

In this full-color, easy-to-use book, award-winning designer and best-selling author Colin Smith teaches the fundamentals of Photoshop then covers the more advanced features the software has to offer. Learn to use traditional drawing and painting tools ranging from pencils to airbrushes, then discover how to add and manipulate text, retouch photos, create special effects, and more. The techniques professional artists apply to their work are revealed in a special "Behind the Scenes" section.

A Great Way To Learn Photoshop
One summer, I audited a graphic design course with absolutely no graphic design background. Completely unfamiliar with Adobe Photoshop, I purchased this book, hoping that I would be able to learn something about the program.

I learned so much more than I ever expected to from this book. The colorful pages and the engaging tone of the author makes this book a great tool. I consider myself 100% competent with Photoshop after reading this book cover to cover. But there is nothing in this book that makes that necessary - other than the fact that it is that interesting. It starts out with the most basic concepts, and slowly details all the ropes of the program.

Three years later, I always refer back to this book (as it is well organized and descriptive). I have also gone on to purchase numerous other books in the series as a result of my positive experience with this one. I highly recommend this book.

Save your money and use your user manual.
This book is good for beginners I guess, and teaches you noting else but the basics. I think the manual that comes with your software gives you as much. A big let down. It should be named "how to start with photoshop and nothing else." It shows you couple of tricks at the end of the book but no explanations, tools used nor process but vage descriptions. Like that is a secret you’ll find in a book named "How to do Everything with photoshop CS2." Save your money and just play with photoshop without this book. You’ll speed you learning.

Great Book
I know a little more about Photoshop than they average Joe. But after reading this book, I feel like a begginer. There are so many things in here that are new to me that I wish I had this book sooner. I found Colin because he donates his time to several websites, not his own, and gives tips. He really does not need to do this. All he has to do is sell his book. The only reason I did not give him 5 stars is because he really needed to include a disk that had the examples and pictures he uses as examples. But even without those, this is a very good book to learn Photoshop with.

Using the images the book uses
I think this book has excellent details and instructions for learning Photoshop, but the one thing it doesn’t have is a disc or website listed to download the images used in the examples. It is harder to learn the steps when you don’t have the images the book uses, so I only give it three stars.

Everything?? Why yes, everything!!
I usually get skeptical when I see titles promising everything, but this book delivers!
Colin has hit on each detail of Photoshop CS2.
I’ve been using Photoshop since v2.0 and it wasn’t until now, I realized that I’ve been doing things the hard way. Colin’s explanations of tools like History Brush and Art History Brush will make my day to day work much easier and make me more efficient. Chapter 5 Advanced Layer Techniques and Chapter 6 Demystifying Channels are two must reads. I found myself really exploring the possibilities after reading these chapters. It was like having the same energy as when a child gets a new toy for Christmas.
The book is layed out in a logical format and it’s an easy read for any experience level designer, with step by step descriptions and nice graphics and screenshots.
The bonus section with a behind the scenes look into techniques from other pros is a great inspiration to all designers.
I recommend this book as a great addition to any Photoshop users library. There’s something for everyone in this book.

Everything?? Why yes, everything!!
I usually get skeptical when I see titles promising everything, but this book delivers!

Colin has hit on each detail of Photoshop CS2.

I’ve been using Photoshop since v2.0 and it wasn’t until now, I realized that I’ve been doing things the hard way. Colin’s explanations of tools like History Brush and Art History Brush will make my day to day work much easier and make me more efficient. Chapter 5 Advanced Layer Techniques and Chapter 6 Demystifying Channels are two must reads. I found myself really exploring the possibilities after reading these chapters. It was like having the same energy as when a child gets a new toy for Christmas.

The book is layed out in a logical format and it’s an easy read for any experience level designer, with step by step descriptions and nice graphics and screenshots.

The bonus section with a behind the scenes look into techniques from other pros is a great inspiration to all designers.

I recommend this book as a great addition to any Photoshop users library. There’s something for everyone in this book.

How to do Everything with Photoshop CS2
This book has 14 chapters packed with fun and knowledgeable facts about Photoshop CS2, ranging from basic to advanced techniques.
It all starts with getting to know Photoshop CS2 Workspace and Organizing Palettes.
Some nice and clean diagrams of the tool box and a good brief rundown of each tool, (ideal if you are an absolute beginner). Intermediate/Advanced users will probably know this. Also a nice section for the beginner is the common color modes and common file types.
Through out the book there are Notes, Shortcuts, Tips and cautions which are pretty easy to see, they are in blue type.
If you are an Intermediate or/Advanced user and just want to brush up on the new features/tools in Photoshop CS2, this book is for you, they are all in here, Spot Healing brush, Smart Objects, Vanishing Point etc.... There is far too much good information in the book to put it all in this review.
The book also involves Image Ready when you take it to the web.
At the back of the book there is a section called, "Behind the Scenes" which is a gallery with techniques from some of the pros, it shows what you can do in Photoshop.

This book is well put together and very easy to follow.
Basic beginners will have no trouble understanding PhotoshopCS2, plenty of clear visual figures.
All in all, there is something for everyone in this book. Very handy for the beginner and intermediate, advance users will pick up some good tips and tricks.
It may lose a point/star for not having a CD-Rom with the book, but that would be from a beginner’s point of view. As an advanced user, I don’t feel you need a CD-Rom; the easy to follow style of the book makes it a good choice for everyone.

I give it 5 (five) out of 5 (five)
Suggested retail $29.99

How to Do Everything with Photoshop CS2
How to Do Everything with Photoshop CS2 is an excellent resource book for users of all levels ranging from the beginner to the advanced. It covers not only the new features of Photoshop but everything before CS2. If you’re new to Photoshop this will be the perfect bible for your learning and if you’re an advanced user I guarantee that you will find things that you did not know or have forgotten. The hands on, project oriented approach is engaging and allows the reader to turn out pro level projects of their own. The content is visually appealing, well organized and easy to read.

As a web designer/developer and educator, I highly recommend this book.

Awesome book!
Colin did an awesome job writing this book, I really encourage people to purchase it as a first choice if you want to learn Photoshop CS2, even if you are somewhat advanced in Photoshop it can really help round your skills. I read through a few Photoshop books before I read Colin’s and can honestly say his was by far the easiest one to read and explained things very clear and step by step. It easily gets a five star rating from me.

The information was well written and to the point
This book is my first introduction to Colin Smith. Prior to reading the book I decided to visit his site to see what kind of designer he is, and how he uses Photoshop. His site listed some of his awards and displayed some of his techniques, of which I might add are pretty impressive. After visiting his site I decided to read/skim through the book to see what kind of information he would present. Being that I’ve been using Photoshop for some time, I wasn’t expecting to learn much from the book. I was expecting a bunch of very basic information for users new to Photoshop. To my surprise the book covered everything from the fundamental to the more advanced techniques and tools used in Photoshop.

The information was well written and to the point. The wording wasn’t cumbersome which made the reading interesting as opposed to the boring monotony of user manuals. The writing felt more like a conversation as opposed to a read, of the which I enjoyed.

Not only was the information thorough, so was the colorful layout. The colors were used in tandem with the layout making it easy to follow the topical layout. The colors in the layout as well as the colorful images used in the tutorials were eye catching and interest keeping. The colors were useful in conveying the information provided. This also helped as a reference guide, because each topic was emboldened in a purple font making it easy to flip through and find the topics that may catch your interest.

Also included was a behind the scenes gallery with techniques from Photoshop professionals. This section introduces the reader to real world techniques used by professionals in the design industry. I particularly liked this section, because I’m always interested in how others get to the end result. The step-by-steps were easy to follow along and even recreate.

I would recommend this book to the novice and any ongoing Photoshop user. The book was well put together and entertaining. I would have liked it better if the book came with a bonus CD of images or plug-ins. Even still, the easy to use style makes it a welcome addition to any Photoshop library.

Lafe Taylor
Member, D-MAG.org

A ’behind the scenes’ gallery of images demonstrating the techniques in applications
Colin Smith’s How To Do Everything With Photoshop CS2 packs in the color and also the wisdom of award-winning designer Colin Smith, who teaches how to create, edit and enhance images with the program. Plenty of Photoshop ’how-to’ tutorials are on the market: what makes this different is a ’behind the scenes’ gallery of images demonstrating the techniques in applications, to show how professional artists use them. From adjusting image size and using built-in tools to handling multiple layers and creating bevels and sheens, basic beginners will find all the applications covered with plenty of visual reinforcement.

Layers are the key idea
This book is best suited for someone already using Photoshop, and who knows the basics of it. Smith focuses on more powerful and also more complicated methods available within CS2. [Though as an aside, the moniker CS2 seems so clumsy. Like an HP product label.]

Of these, perhaps one of the most powerful ideas is layers. That you can compose an image out of several layers. Where each layer can essentially be manipulated independently of the others. And the objects in a layer can thence be moved around, relative to another layer, until you get a satisfactory juxtaposition.

It is worth your time to thoroughly study what Smith has to say about layers. Because without layers, an image is often no more than a collection of coloured pixels. Layers are like object oriented programming, to use a rough analogy.