Paul,
Hmmm, I just looked it up at Amazon, where I bought my copy. Their price is $28 with free shipping.
The book is a technical read for sure, not for the beginner. I’d call it a very worthwhile book for the user who has a lot of experience/practice with the program under his belt and who is intellectually curious. The author is very detail oriented and there is much to be learned from the book. The tools contained on the CD are very useful and expand the capability of PSE.
My 2 cents worth.
Nancy
Hey, you’re right. I’m glad I inquired. I guess I’ll be returning my copy to Borders. Thanks. Paul
Paul, I really like Hidden Power, but it wouldn’t be my one and only book for Elements; I consider it an advanced text on the subject and very difficult for me to grasp. On the other hand, the tools that it includes really stretch the power of Elements.
After buying more than a dozen Elements and Photoshop books in the last year, my favorite Elements book – still used even in the last 48 hours – is ‘Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions’, by Mikkel Aaland. Very readable and understandable; explains both the ‘how’s’ and ‘why’s’ without getting into the details too deeply.
Chuck
Hey, you’re right. I’m glad I inquired. I guess I’ll be returning my copy to Borders. Thanks. Paul
I think I will take the risk of buying a book that might be difficult to read when you are not a native speaker. Moreover, what is difficult to one, might be easy to another and I ‘m a rather optimistic person.
I think I need the extra tools on the CD as I get a little fed up with constantly switching between my Elements V1 with the Shipley tools and Elements V2 that doesnot accept these tools, just only because it ‘s in Dutch.
Richard, I know it is not done to react on this subject, but please could you tell me, and probably other "foreigners", wether it will work on non-english versions?
Leen
I have bought two books at the recommendation of this "group." Mikkel Aaland’s book is the best by far…IMHO. If I had to choose only one, that would be it. The other book I bought, 50 Fast Digital Photo Techniques by Gregory Georges is also very good and his style of writing is very humorous and interactive, which makes you want to try everything in the book. I love having the included CD’s with pictures to play with too.
I also purchased a smaller book, "Create! The No Nonsense Guide to Photoshop Elements 2." No fluff, just the basics. If you need a book that takes you step by step (w/ pictures), this it it. I would recommend it to any beginner. It wasn’t until I read this book that I discovered the stock photos on the Elements 2 CD. There is an exercise that uses all the selection tools on dandlelions that it worth the price of the entire book. I found my self saying many times…so that’s how you do it…or so that’s what that’s for!
I must admit though I have learned as much here in this forum as I have in any of the books. Sometimes there is so much information, it makes my head spin! It helps to have a great book (or books) to get me back on track.
Patti
After buying more than a dozen Elements and Photoshop books in the last year
Chuck, you need help! 😉
No, come to think of it, I need help. Does anyone have any comments about Scott Kelby’s new book? I just saw it on Amazon.com.
Lou.
Lou,
If you mean "PSE for Digital Photographers", I think it is a must-have. Screen shots more than words supply a fix for just about every situation one encounter. Well worth the money.
Nancy
Lou, re the Kelby book for PSE, I agree with Nancy….on whose advice I bought that book too!!
🙂
Chuck
Thanks, Nancy & Chuck. Looks like that’s next on the list.
So I will return the Lynch, Hidden Power book to Borders and order it from Amazon. Mikkel Aaland, _Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions_ was my second choice, but since it consist of a series of discrete topics with action steps, I figured I might be able to benefit from it without buying it, while the more sophisticated Lynch book you pretty much had to buy, both because it is more discursive and because it has software. To illustrate a difference between the two books, the section in Aaland on the special way to turn color pictures into black and white has about 6 steps. Lynch’s method has 42 steps. The whole section is 8 pages, mainly of text. I get the impression that he presents more theory. Hence the greater need to own the book. Also, I am not really intersted in how to make fat people look thin or special effects. I want to know how to get the most quality out of the photos I took–how to use levels, correct the colors, adjust tone, etc. For example, even in the quick fix you need to know what mid-tones, shadow, and highlights are. I want to be able to create pleasing but realistic (and basically truthful) photos–both for the Web and for printing.
–Paul
Paul, that’s an interesting analysis of the two books. There’s one more that’s cited often as a favorite by forum denizens: "50 Fast Digital Photo Techniques", by Gregory Georges. It’s a series of 50 pithy recipes for a variety of corrections and special effects, with very little theory. It’s great for a quick startup in the digital imaging world. In the spectrum you lay out, I would put it at one end, Hidden Power at the other, and Solutions somewhere in the middle. All have their roles, and all have contributed significantly to the competence and knowledge of Elements users.
Chuck
Thanks. I would like to buy several books (because many look excellent, although redundancy will increase with each purchase), but can’t afford it. Decision-making becomes more tense when you have to choose just one to own. Fortunately, we have a new Borders down the street, so I can at least browse through books I can’t buy.
Paul
Hope I am not violating anything with this short response:
Leen, The tools work with the English version 100%. Foreign language versions of Elements pose some trouble. I have had people tell me things work just fine, and others tell me that any time an action auto-names a layer, subsequent steps fail because of the language difference. I will definitely fix that next time (and perhaps before).
Paul, I believe you’ll find much of the technique unique, and the tools exclusively so…no other book that I am aware of has such add-ins.
For my 2cents (notwithstanding current exchange rates). Haven’t got as many books as Chuck, but may get there eventually
Elements 2 Solutions – as has been said, a must to start with, excellent learners book.
50 Fast Digital Techniques – OK, but mine must be gathering dust, not touched it for ages.
1 Click WOW – somewhere, forgotten ??
Advanced Elements – How many have got that one mmmm? Takes using and understanding the program up another notch. Excellent reference from one of ‘our own’.
Hidden Power – To use once you think you can do most things. Not a book you can skim through and think you’ve understood it. One of my most thumbed.
Elements2 Complete Reference – Doesn’t tell you what to do, more as what everything does. Weighs in at a hefty 750+ pages.
Elements Book for Digital Photographers – Longest title yet. Seemed that I knew most of the information, yet didn’t – the application of methods you know is really good.
Thats it for me, all we need is ‘Artist in a Box’ by Jodie Frye, 6 billion ideas from a blank sheet 🙂
(Any bungs gratefully accepted, bribery will get you everywhere)
Paul
I have a question that is related to Richard Lynch’s _The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements 2_, but I will start a new thread to ask it. The title will be Fireworks vs. Hidden Power + PE 2.
–Paul
