Customer Reviews:
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 High quality, unexpected possibilities with Elements, wealth of educational material February 19, 2008
36 out of 36 found this review helpful
If you're a beginner with Photoshop Elements, this is not a book for you. But if you know the essentials and want to deepen and extend your knowledge and use of the program, I don't think you can find a better guide than Mark Galer with his book Adobe Photoshop Elements 6, maximum performance. By the way except for one project the book is also very useful for version 5
The book itself uses large, clear pictures. It shows quality of itself.
It is not directed to describing the tools of Elements, but to really enhancing photographs for optimum quality using available tools. You get 25 so called projects, a kind of long exercises where the author explains what he wants to achieve and how it is done. The used pictures are all available to do it yourself.
In one instance (improving contrast) even 4 methods are completely explained. Never heard of using colour channels in Elements? Mark Galer shows us what for and how to. And I at least got very excited! At the end of a project a finished example is printed intended to be made by applying what was learnt in the project.
Selections are nice but have them `made by Elements' itself using masks is easier and better. And there are a lot of examples how to do that in the book.
If the text it not clear enough, then there is a DVD in the book, providing complete videos showing and explaining every step of each project. You get here more detailed explanation than in the book. I think the combination of text and videos is a real winner.
Of course you can mimic exactly what is described. You get all used pictures in high resolution, in JPG, TIF and PSD format. Many in RAW. The PSD format displays all layers the way they should at the end of the exercise. And besides that you get a lot of other pictures, e.g. a lot of skies and sand beaches, and so on. Totalling 3,4 GB!
I also like the fact Mark Galer being a photographer himself gives you a lot of useful photographic advices and many performance tips spread over the book.
Surely, it is not a novel, rather a study book. Depending on your previous knowledge you will have to use your proper brains more or less. And relook at the videos if you missed something in the text.
Mark Galer writes fluently, with a nice bit of humour.
When you are through the book, you will take it again from time to time to refresh things. Each project standing on its own, this is made easy.
Personally I'd like to find more about the "whys" and "why not another way". Though the videos provide part of this. Now about 300 pages. Therefore a bit more would not harm.
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