Photoshop Elements 12: The Missing Manual

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3 responses to “Photoshop Elements 12: The Missing Manual”

1. 

   Daniel Weitz “Retired Historian”

   January 14, 2014

   42 of 43 people found the following review helpful

   
   A Must Have Manual, October 24, 2013

   By 

   Daniel Weitz “Retired Historian” (La Quinta California) –
   
     

   This review is from: Photoshop Elements 12: The Missing Manual (Paperback)

   Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program (What’s this?)

   This work fills an obvious and glaring need for a usable and comprehensive manual. Software publishers seem to have gone from including detailed usable manuals with their products, to printable manuals on disk, to a very sketchy start up guide (as in the case of Adobe Photoshop Elements 12), and at times to nil. The software product is incredibly powerful; but without this guide you’ll probably never unlock its potential.
   One of the best features of this book is that you can start with the most basic work, an approach that assumes you know nothing; or you drive ahead to advanced work that builds on your current product knowledge and skills. You may start as a beginner; but with some diligence you will become a proficient user of this powerful software.
   The book itself with more than 600 pages, seems very complete in its approach. In fact its introduction is longer than the startup guide included with the product. There are innumerable examples in both black and white and color. It has a comprehensive index, but lacks a disk. It does, however, refer you to its webpage where you can download some useful tools and tutorials.

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2. 

   Michelle Rayburn

   January 14, 2014

   21 of 21 people found the following review helpful

   
   Love the book and how it interacts with the publisher’s website too! A fantastic resource!, November 25, 2013

   By 

   Michelle Rayburn (Wisconsin) –
   
     
   
     

   This review is from: Photoshop Elements 12: The Missing Manual (Paperback)

   Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program (What’s this?)

   This really is, as the subtitle indicates, the missing manual that should have been included with Photoshop Elements! This book covers absolutely everything I can think of and then some. I am an avid Elements user, and I’ve learned most of what I do by trial and error. The video tutorials on the Adobe website are not all that helpful sometimes. They are often tailored to an older version of Elements, and the menu options aren’t the same.

   I love how this book goes through every menu option in Elements 12 and explains what it is for, and how to use it. The book is full of pictures to illustrate each concept. For the complete beginner the first chapters cover the basics, including sizing, cropping, sorting photos, even how to upload them if you haven’t done that before.

   Then, it starts to get into more technical stuff. The book is grouped by sections of chapters all relating to a particular aspect of editing. The tutorials in the Elemental Elements section include how to extract an object from a picture that you don’t want there, the basics of using layers, and how to use brushes for selection. The section on retouching is an in-depth look at fixing everything from color, lighting, composition problems and so, so much more!

   The artistic elements section gets into the, well, artsy stuff you can do. How else can I explain it? It includes filters, brushes, tools effects, and text, among the most memorable techniques. The section on sharing images helps you to format your pictures for the web and email, create books, greeting cards, and other printable projects. It also helps with making presentations and such.

   Throughout the book and in the resources at the back, you’ll find references for helpful websites to visit, and places to find additional tools.

   This is a very thick book, and I can’t say enough about how much content it includes. The BEST I have seen for the home photographer to learn about editing. It’s so easy to use and well organized. There is a handy index in the back for finding topics. And, instead of charging even more to add a CD, inside the back cover, you’ll find a link to the missing manual website where free updates to the tutorials are located.

   Don’t miss the biggest benefit of the book. Go to the website for Missing Manuals listed in the back cover on the “missing CD” page and register your book. You’ll find a list of every hyperlink mentioned in the book and organized by chapter. That way, as you read, you can click the hyperlinks without having to type anything in a browser. And, you will find links to practice files where you can try the techniques taught in the book. This is a fantastic idea!

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3. 

   l2

   January 14, 2014

   20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

   
   great tutorial and reference manual, October 21, 2013

   By 

   l2 (California) –
   
     

   This review is from: Photoshop Elements 12: The Missing Manual (Paperback)

   Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program (What’s this?)

   Photoshop Elements is a popular and relatively inexpensive tool for managing and editing your photos. It works really well if you know how to use, but only the most basic parts of the program are easy to figure out on your own (and I have a computer science degree). Unfortunately, there is no printed manual included and the online help is poorly organized.

   This book fills in the gaps for you. There are 600 pages of material, well illustrated with color photos showing both the program’s user interface and how the functions affect your photos. The book takes from the basics of organizing your photo collection and the automatic tweeking features (the first 3 chapters of the book) all the way to the most advanced parts of the program (19 chapters in all). You can use as much of the book as you want. Both Windows and Macintosh are discussed.

   If you only buy one book on Photoshop Elements 12 and you want to get to the deeper material eventually, this is the one I recommend. There are other simpler slower-paced books for people who only want the basics.

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