March 30, 2011

Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop’s Most Powerful Feature

These days the number of people shooting digital is mind-boggling and just how many people are really starting to enjoy the creative side of photography – editing. By far the most popular photo-editing program out there is Photoshop. It has been has been the favorite of magazine designers, photographers and digital artists from day one. But there is one main feature that sets Photoshop apart from the competition and makes it the amazing program that it is, and that feature is layers!


 
The original book, “Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature” came out in 2008 when CS3 was the current version of Photoshop. That book was an instant hit and flew off the bookshelves. But Photoshop has been updated twice since then and a lot of things have changed since that original 1st Edition, so the book has also been updated to the new and improved 2nd Edition designed for Photoshop CS5.

I’ve been using Photoshop for 10 years now and was amazed at how much I was able to learn from this book. The author, Matt Kloskokwski said in an interview that he wished a book like this was around when he was first learning Photoshop. I definitely second that. There is a ton of information on things that you’ll use everyday plus other things that most people shy away from (face it Photoshop can be a little intimidating huh?)

Matt goes into detail on things like blending layers and adjustment layers, smart layers and layer styles. How to get the most out of layer masks and use layers for your basic and advanced retouching and much, much more. Like all his previous books, this one is loaded with plenty of photographs and easy to understand tutorials. And, for those of us who like hands on training, he’s included a link to download the images used in the book so you can follow along step by step. This book was designed to teach everyone something, from beginners all the way to advanced Photoshop users. If your a Photoshop user, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy today.

Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop’s Most Powerful Feature

Remember, as always, keep shooting and have some fun!
 
© D. Gould Photography