Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer instructions that show you how to do something - and skip the long-winded explanations? If so, then this book is for you. Open it up and you’ll find clear, step-by-step screen shots that show you how to tackle more than 150 Photoshop CS tasks. Each task-based spread includes these great features to get you up and running on Photoshop CS2 in no time:
* Helpful sidebars that offer practical tips and tricks
* Succinct explanations that walk you through step by step
* Full-color screen shots that demonstrate each task
* Two-page lessons that break big topics into bite-sized modules

Learn how to
* Browse and sort images in Bridge
* Change image size and resolution
* Paint and draw with color
* Create duotone images
* Apply layer and filter effects

Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer instructions that show you how to do something — and skip the long-winded explanations? If so, then this book is for you. Open it up and you’ll find clear, step-by-step screen shots that show you how to tackle more than 150 Photoshop CS tasks. Each task-based spread includes these great features to get you up and running on Photoshop CS2 in no time:

• Helpful sidebars that offer practical tips and tricks
• Succinct explanations that walk you through step by step
• Full-color screen shots that demonstrate each task
• Two-page lessons that break big topics into bite-sized modules

Learn how to

• Browse and sort images in Bridge
• Change image size and resolution
• Paint and draw with color
• Create duotone images
• Apply layer and filter effects

Teach Yourself VISUALLY Photoshop CS2
Instantly, I was able to use photoshop. Get this book. It will be a quick read. It explains on one or two pages, each task you wish to perform. Once you master the material in this book, you can progress to more elaborate procedures and more technical books. The perfect beginners book.

Decent quick reference, poor for teaching yourself
If you already know how to use another photo-editing program and you’re transitioning to PhotoShop, this might just be the book for you. It has a rather clever and innovative way to show exactly where on a cluttered screen the item under discussion is, and it also has some decent "quick tips". The examples are also pretty good. However, I don’t see how anyone can claim to write a book that will "teach" you a software program if it doesn’t give you exercises to work your way through; Photoshop is way too powerful and complex to learn without also practicing. It also doesn’t explain why you might want to use any of its myriad features/effects/filters. But as I said, if you’re transitioning from another program and you already know what any photo-editing program should do, this could be an excellent choice.

It’s intended for normal people
This book was great for me. I am a web application developer (database and code not graphics) and all I need to know is basics and I don’t want to spend hours, days, years to learn it. This book is quick and concise and gets you going without having to wade through exhaustive text. If you are a graphics artist that does photoshop all day, every day, then get a book that is intended for learning that depth of knowledge. If you are a typical person that just needs to create or edit stuff for occasional professional use or just at home, this is a great book.

Photoshop CS2 manual
Easy to read and follow, but skims the surface of the program. There is so much more to learn, so many tools and functions that it never even covers, especially some of the stuff that is new to the CS2 version like placing type on a path.