Inside Adobe Photoshop 4.0

COMPUTER BOOK REVIEW  

358 words

Title: Inside Adobe Photoshop 4.0;  Gary David Bouton 
& Barbara Bouton; New Riders Publishing; 
ISBN: 1-56205-681-6; Paperback, 867 pages, US$44.99, 
CAN$63.95.

Reviewer: Christopher Stewart, "All things considered, 
Inside Adobe Photoshop 4.0 is an invaluable resource 
for an application as complex as Adobe Photoshop 4.0."

Photoshop Clarified in a Big Book

Adobe Photoshop 4.0 is a general-purpose graphics 
application used by a variety of professionals, from 
artists and animators to desktop publishers and 
photographers.

This reviewer has not spent any length of time with 
Photoshop 4.0's manuals and considered that a 
little bit of reading certainly couldn't hurt his 
skills. I'm happy to report that my time with 
"Inside Adobe Photoshop 4.0" has been well spent. 

The application has more depth than most people 
utilize and it can take a well written, and 
comprehensive resource manual to illustrate all 
the possibilities Adobe Photoshop 4.0 has to offer. 
The authors, Gary David Bouton & Barbara Bouton 
have provided just that.

Inside Adobe Photoshop 4.0  is directed  at the 
rank beginner and intermediate user, who desire 
to explore the real-world application of the software. 

For the most part it is organized into a series of 
short projects that cover a variety of tasks. 
Project subjects include; lighting effects, WWW 
design issues, layers, paths, photographic 
retouching, image correction, photo compositing 
and collage, printing (at home or service bureau)
and many, many more.

One subject of special interest was the proper 
set-up of the computer and environment to 
properly utilize Photoshop 4.0. Items such 
as monitor calibration and the myriad of options 
available for the various tools can greatly 
increase knowledge and productivity.

Other tricks can increase speed; for example, 
when making a button for the web, many artists 
boot up a 3D application such as Newtek's Lightwave 
3D. This is no longer necessary as there are many 
ways to create the same effects without leaving 
Photoshop.

The authors effectively cover the more mundane 
subjects such as tool definitions, uses of the 
various filters, plug-ins, color models and 
methods of output in an easy-to-understand manner 
and include a complete index for reference purposes. 

The accompanying CD-ROM provides utilities for 
use in the projects; an online glossary, over 
100 links to online resources (in a nifty Adobe 
Acrobat document) and a collection of useful 
imagery that the authors have collected for 
the readers use.

All things considered, Inside Adobe Photoshop 4.0 
is an invaluable resource for an application as 
complex as Adobe Photoshop 4.0.