Nigel French lives in Brighton, England, where he works as a graphic designer and trainer. He is the author of InDesign Type: Professional Typography with InDesign CS2 and the former director of the Graphic and Interactive Design program at UC Berkeley Extension in San Francisco.

As the feature list of Adobe Photoshop continues to grow, even users with years of experience can feel overwhelmed by the many tools and methods for selecting or isolating parts of an image. Layers, channels, paths, clipping masks, layer masks, vector masks, the Pen tool, Magic Wand, and so on — all let users work on specific regions of an image, but in fundamentally different ways. Making clean, efficient selections are essential skills for any Photoshop user, whether a graphic designer, professional photographer,
or hobbyist.

Graphic designer, teacher, and Photoshop expert Nigel French saves you hours of frustration by illuminating the best selection tools and techniques for specific tasks, and the most flexible approaches to correcting and editing images in Photoshop. Using step-by-step examples, this book clarifies often-misunderstood selection methods, shows which masks best select a range of tone or color, and demonstrates how the right tools and techniques can help transform even the most mediocre picture into a polished image, saving you hours of time.

• Learn the fundamentals of making selections, and when to choose which method
• Blend images and replace backgrounds using layer, vector, and channel masks
• Correct color and exposure using adjustment layers
• Make next-to-impossible hair selections with channel masks
• Create a non-destructive workflow, giving you total creative freedom

As the feature list of Adobe Photoshop continues to grow, even users
with years of experience can feel overwhelmed by the many tools and
methods for selecting or isolating parts of an image. Layers, channels,
paths, clipping masks, layer masks, vector masks, the Pen tool, Magic
Wand, and so on — all let users work on specific regions of an image,
but in fundamentally different ways. Making clean, efficient selections
are essential skills for any Photoshop user, whether a graphic designer,
professional photographer,
or hobbyist.

Graphic designer, teacher, and Photoshop expert Nigel French saves
you hours of frustration by illuminating the best selection tools and
techniques for specific tasks, and the most flexible approaches to
correcting and editing images in Photoshop. Using step-by-step examples,
this book clarifies often-misunderstood selection methods, shows which
masks best select a range of tone or color, and demonstrates how the
right tools and techniques can help transform even the most mediocre
picture into a polished image, saving you hours of time.

• Learn the fundamentals of making selections, and when to choose
which method
• Blend images and replace backgrounds using layer, vector, and
channel masks
• Correct color and exposure using adjustment layers
• Make next-to-impossible hair selections with channel masks
• Create a non-destructive workflow, giving you total creative freedom

This focused Photoshop guide explores the art of making precise selections using Photoshop’s large array of tools.

Fantastic Photoshop technique book
This book is one of the most information-dense Photoshop books I’ve seen. It specifically addresses selecting, layers, masks and channels, and is loaded with examples that are very pertinent to the material.

Made Layers and Paths Click!
I consider myself an advanced amature with Photoshop CS2. I knew I needed to learn about Paths/Layers/Masks but was intimidated and confused (especially paths, masks, and channels).

This book is so well written that just into page 51, so many things just started clicking into place. Understanding what these things actually do, how and why made it seem much less confusing. I can hardly wait to sit down at my computer and start experimenting!

The only "negative" thing I can think of to say is the print in the book is just a tad on the small side ;).

I agree with the other reviewer in that this book tells you the how and the why not just a here is how you do it step by step with no explainations. I have several photoshop books; if I had to get rid of all but two, this is one of the two I would keep.

Great bargain for photoshop book
Though I havent finished yet it is i can say of a good value.
Easy to understand so i can recommend it for people who want to complete their existing knowledge with something else.

Superb
I’ve used both online and printed tutorials for Photoshop in the past, but French’s Photoshop Unmasked is easily the easiest to understand and, most important, most helpful. Practical advice on real-world solutions, offered in clear, hands-on lessons with files stored on his personal website. After years of hobbyist use for amateur photography and web design, I finally feel like I’m unlocking the full power of Photoshop. The bibles are good for reference and some of the more arcane uses of Photoshop, but if you want a solid explanation of how to perform the actions you’ll need to know regardless of how you use Photoshop personally, this is the only book you should need.

This one should be on everyone’s shelf
Selections options often trip up the novice Photoshop user. Nigel make this look easy. His style is easy to follow for novices and masters alike. Knowing what to do when is the key to an efficient working environment. For imaging forensics, having the what to do when discussion of selection and masking techniques here in book form helps you prepare for an intense cross.

This one should be on everyone’s shelf.

Jim Hoerricks
http://forensicphotoshop.blogspot.com
Author of Forensic Photoshop - a comprehensive imaging workflow for forensic professionals

Well written book on challenging areas of Photoshop
If you want to know more about selections, masks, channels and layers but without repeating all the more rudimentary stuff found in most Photoshop books, then this could be for you. The book is well written and there are plenty of examples and illustrations. Nigel French has the gift of clarity underpinned by a very readable style.

The book is not for the Photoshop beginner but will appeal most to photographers who are comfortable with the basics and want to move on to more elegant image adjustment methods whilst opening the door to greater creativity.