Stephen Burns (Encinitas, CA) began as a photographer 25 years ago and then moved toward the digital medium. His influences include the great Abstractionists and Surrealists. He has been a corporate instructor and lecturer in digital art and design for 8 years. He won first place in the prestigious Seybold International Digital Arts contest. In addition, he works in 3D animation and digital video special effects editing, and is the current president of the San Diego Photoshop Users Group (www.saphotoshopusers.com). See more of his work at www.chromeallusion.com. He is also the author of Photoshop CS Trickery & FX.

Advanced Photoshop CS2 Trickery & FX takes digital artists to the next level of creativity by teaching you how to blend your artistic talent seamlessly with the powerful tools of Photoshop CS2. The book assumes a fundamental level of skill with Photoshop and builds upon those skills by helping you learn how and why Photoshop does what it does. With this knowledge, you’ll be ready to take on new challenges and work though the practical, fun tutorials throughout the book. All of the core tools of Photoshop CS2 used for effects are put to use in the projects, so buckle up and get ready to create!

Advanced Photoshop CS2 Trickery & FX takes the digital artist to the next level of creativity by teaching them how to blend their artistic talent seamlessly with the powerful tools of Photoshop CS2. The book assumes a fundamental level of skill with Photoshop and builds upon those skills by helping users learn how and why Photoshop does what it does. With this knowledge, users will be ready to take on new challenges and work through the practical and fun tutorials throughout the book. Many new features have been added to Photoshop CS2 and these are explored and put to work throughout the book. Some of these features include, working with High Definition file formats, the enhanced Camera Raw interface, the exposure merge program, an improved brush engine, new filter & special effects, and more. In addition, all of the core tools of Photoshop used for effects will be put to use in the projects covered throughout the book. So buckle up and put on your creativity cap – it’s time to create!

KEY FEATURES * Teaches artists how to harness the creative power of Photoshop CS2 to create masterpieces from their own digital photos * Explores the interface changes and highlights the new features of Photoshop CS2 through practical and fun tutorials * Explains how to use the exposure merge program to gain control over image shadow, midtones and highlights * Explores the changes and improvements to the brush engine * Covers the new effects in the special effects menu * Includes a companion CD-ROM w/ the files needed to do the tutorials, all the book images, demos of Photoshop CS (PC) and Nik Color Efex Pro (PC & Mac)

Just terrible!
Right out of the gate I found so many missing steps that, after double and triple checking to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, I still found myself scrambling to get the intended results of the lessons. I’m not a complete novice when it comes to Photoshop, but I’m not an expert either. My hope was that this book would help take me to the next level. Unfortunately, the author assumes that the reader has already attained expert status and fails to include some general instructions that are far from obvious. Three thumbs down. (You can do that with Photoshop!)

Big Disapointment
I was so hoping for this book to be good, cool or something, but I was immediately let down. I have been using photoshop since version 5.5 and am now using CS3 Extended. I agree with the other reviews about the "Trickery" being very basic, unless going through blending modes is a trick. My biggest issue with this book is when they show an example of a step as an image then the next step is an image that says now do some more stuff and you get this. What the heck did they do between the two steps to get the effect. The $399.00 plugin is a bit shaddy as well, The book is essentially saying that you can do some of the cool stuff in this book as long as you don’t mind the word "demo" all over your art work or are willing to spend hundreds of dollars more and have a PC. If you are looking for a book that teaches you things about photoshop that are cool and unusual try "Adobe Photoshop CS Image Effects".

This is the advanced photoshop book I’ve been looking for!
Finally, a book on photoshop that not only instructs on what the interface does, but also shows you what you can do with those tools!
It takes you past the basic ’cut’ and ’paste’ you’ve encountered in every other photoshop book, either basic or advanced.
It walked me through several advanced subjects utilizing creative ideas instead of just the usual technical jargon that puts you to sleep.
This is THE book for artists who want to further their skills in the digital art world.
Steven Burns talks to the artist in all of us and then shows us how to achieve our artistic vision with clear instruction on the latest and greatest that Photoshop CS2 has to offer.

Poorly written with unclear directions in tutorials
As a college student, I took a class that used this book as our manual. The content of the book covered several great features of Adobe Photoshop, but much of it was limited to very repetitive steps that are used consistently throughout the book.

Many of my classmates complained that it was difficult to follow the directions and that in some cases, steps were missing that were illustrated in the following step. I even saw where one tutorial didn’t even specify the dimensions when creating a new scene. In other cases, it requires the use of a nik Color Efex demo that was included on the CD-ROM, which I couldn’t get any of the nik effects to work. Why would you want to be trained on third party plugins anyway? The book is supposed to be about Photoshop, not expensive plugins that the author favors.

Thus I dock the book three stars for lack of instruction, it’s detour from the subject, and difficulty following steps.

Not for Mac Users
Although I’ve been using Photoshop for over a year now I thought this book would be the icing on the cake. I was disappointed to find out that most of the techniques are better covered in other Photoshop books and this book is written for those working with Photoshop on Windows platforms. There are no references or information anywhere in the book that would give a Mac user the same keystrokes as a Windows user. I also found that the contents on the CD (aside from the brushes) are specifically for Windows users as well. Very disappointing when the book includes a filter that can only be used on a Microsoft platform.

If you’re looking for a better book that provides great CD contents, good tutorials and great explanantions of Photoshop features, check out "Photoshop CS2 Essential Skills" by Mark Galer and Philip Andrews. I found their book to be far superior to this one and it’s written for users working on any platform, instead of specifically for Windows users. You’ll also get a lot more detail instead of step by step projects found in the Trickery book.

If anything this book is good at tricking the Mac user into buying it.

Not for Mac Users
Although I’ve been using Photoshop for over a year now I thought this book would be the icing on the cake. I was disappointed to find out that most of the techniques are better covered in other Photoshop books and this book is written for those working with Photoshop on Windows platforms. There are no references or information anywhere in the book that would give a Mac user the same keystrokes as a Windows user. I also found that the contents on the CD (aside from the brushes) are specifically for Windows users as well. Very disappointing when the book includes a filter that can only be used on a Microsoft platform.

If you’re looking for a better book that provides great CD contents, good tutorials and great explanantions of Photoshop features, check out "Photoshop CS2 Essential Skills" by Mark Galer and Philip Andrews. I found their book to be far superior to this one and it’s written for users working on any platform, instead of specifically for Windows users. You’ll also get a lot more detail instead of step by step projects found in the Trickery book.

If anything this book is good at tricking the Mac user into buying it.

Don’t judge a book by it’s Title
I’ve been using Photoshop for many years and bought this book looking for complex techniques and insight. I hate to disagree with the other reviews, but the book’s title is misleading. (Please note that this is just my opinion)! I think the "trickery" examples in this book are somewhat basic and anyone with a general understanding of Photoshop (and a bit of creativity) can produce better results.

Although the topics and ideas in this book may "wow" beginners, advanced users should look elsewhere. At most, "intermediate" would describe this title better!

Don’t judge a book by it’s Title
I’ve been using Photoshop for many years and bought this book looking for complex techniques and insight. I hate to disagree with the other reviews, but the book’s title is misleading. (Please note that this is just my opinion)! I think the "trickery" examples in this book are somewhat basic and anyone with a general understanding of Photoshop (and a bit of creativity) can produce better results.

Although the topics and ideas in this book may "wow" beginners, advanced users should look elsewhere. At most, "intermediate" would describe this title better!

Build up your basic Photoshop skills
More advanced Photoshop user will relish Stephen Burns’ ADVANCED PHOTOSHOP CS2 TRICKERY & FX which focuses on the artistic side of Photoshop in chapters which tell how to blend artistic objectives with its tools. A basic skill level is assumed and builds upon these basics with chapters which tell how to use such advanced, enhanced features as the Camera Raw interface, exposure merge program, and special effects. Chapters are packed with photos in full color showing before-and-after touchup examples and demos of Photoshop CS2’s amazing new features.

Build up your basic Photoshop skills
More advanced Photoshop user will relish Stephen Burns’ ADVANCED PHOTOSHOP CS2 TRICKERY & FX which focuses on the artistic side of Photoshop in chapters which tell how to blend artistic objectives with its tools. A basic skill level is assumed and builds upon these basics with chapters which tell how to use such advanced, enhanced features as the Camera Raw interface, exposure merge program, and special effects. Chapters are packed with photos in full color showing before-and-after touchup examples and demos of Photoshop CS2’s amazing new features.

Learn How To Create Sci-fi Digital Art
Have you ever wondered how to create great Sci-fi digital art? Did you ever want to create a human with animal features, flying spaceships with glowing exhaust or tornados with swirling debris? This book by Stephen Burns will show you how to create this type of digital art with Adobe Photoshop CS2.

The first two chapters cover the Photoshop CS2 interface and the techniques you will use in the tutorials that follow. You will learn how to create animated brushes, use layer blend modes to create composition images, advanced selection techniques and layer masks, and the new Photoshop HDR 32-bit High Dynamic Range merge techniques. You will also use third party filters such as nik Multimedia Color Efex Pro (on CD) for adding visual FX effects to your compositions.

Photo compositions and Sci-fi filter effects is the theme throughout this book and the step-by-step project tutorials in each chapter give you hands-on practice using techniques for manipulating your digital photos. The projects I enjoyed the most were the night scene of a futuristic architecture, Sci-fi droid in a nature setting, and non-human textures and features added to human subjects.

Stephen Burns has been a photographer for over 25 years and a digital artist for 10 years. He also works in 3D animation and digital video. He teaches beginner to advanced workshops on his Photoshop digital manipulating techniques and has written the previous version of this book. He has won the Seybold International Digital Arts contest and is the president of the San Diego Photoshop Users Group.

Learn How To Create Sci-fi Digital Art
Have you ever wondered how to create great Sci-fi digital art? Did you ever want to create a human with animal features, flying spaceships with glowing exhaust or tornados with swirling debris? This book by Stephen Burns will show you how to create this type of digital art with Adobe Photoshop CS2.

The first two chapters cover the Photoshop CS2 interface and the techniques you will use in the tutorials that follow. You will learn how to create animated brushes, use layer blend modes to create composition images, advanced selection techniques and layer masks, and the new Photoshop HDR 32-bit High Dynamic Range merge techniques. You will also use third party filters such as nik Multimedia Color Efex Pro (on CD) for adding visual FX effects to your compositions.

Photo compositions and Sci-fi filter effects is the theme throughout this book and the step-by-step project tutorials in each chapter give you hands-on practice using techniques for manipulating your digital photos. The projects I enjoyed the most were the night scene of a futuristic architecture, Sci-fi droid in a nature setting, and non-human textures and features added to human subjects.

Stephen Burns has been a photographer for over 25 years and a digital artist for 10 years. He also works in 3D animation and digital video. He teaches beginner to advanced workshops on his Photoshop digital manipulating techniques and has written the previous version of this book. He has won the Seybold International Digital Arts contest and is the president of the San Diego Photoshop Users Group.

Going beyond the Standard Uses
Note the word ’Advanced’ in the title of this book. This is the second book by the same author and it is on things that the experienced Photoshopper can do above and beyond the normal retouching efforts covered in the standard introductory books.

In this book the author is doing things to images to convert them from standard photographs of things that exist to something more artful. And he takes images of things that never existed, such as space ships and adds things to them to make them suitable for use as book covers or other uses. In doing this, the book shows what can be done to convert a photograph into something you or your customer wants.

The things he is doing with photoshop require the use of tools that come with Photoshop, but which may not be used on a regular basis, and may not be covered anywhere near this depth in other, more general purpose Photoshop books.

The CD supplied with the book contains all the files needed to do the projects described in this book along with a demo of Photoshop CS 2, nik Multimedia Color Efex Pro, and nik Sharpener Pro.

This book contains information that isn’t commonly seen, and covers it in a very well written manner.

Going beyond the Standard Uses
Note the word ’Advanced’ in the title of this book. This is the second book by the same author and it is on things that the experienced Photoshopper can do above and beyond the normal retouching efforts covered in the standard introductory books.

In this book the author is doing things to images to convert them from standard photographs of things that exist to something more artful. And he takes images of things that never existed, such as space ships and adds things to them to make them suitable for use as book covers or other uses. In doing this, the book shows what can be done to convert a photograph into something you or your customer wants.

The things he is doing with photoshop require the use of tools that come with Photoshop, but which may not be used on a regular basis, and may not be covered anywhere near this depth in other, more general purpose Photoshop books.

The CD supplied with the book contains all the files needed to do the projects described in this book along with a demo of Photoshop CS 2, nik Multimedia Color Efex Pro, and nik Sharpener Pro.

This book contains information that isn’t commonly seen, and covers it in a very well written manner.