The Art of Photoshop, CS2 Edition centers on a suite of 19 images created by Daniel Giordan. Visually complex, and rich in layered tonality, these images inspire the audience to push their understanding of Photoshop and its capabilities, while offering a glimpse over the designer’s shoulder into how the images were made. Readers will not only learn the techniques used by the author but will be able to apply these techniques to their own images. This is perhaps the central differentiator between Art of Photoshop and other Photoshop design books. The Art of Photoshopteaches a process for creative exploration; it teaches people how to make digital art that follows their own sensibility and aesthetic. Art of Photoshop, CS2 Edition has been updated to cover Photoshop CS2 and by reader request now includes a CD of the images used throughout the book.

Go where no other Photoshop book takes you. The Art of Photoshop, CS2 Edition allows you to look over the designer’s shoulder while learning advanced Photoshop CS2 techniques. 19 vivid, full-color images, available on the included CD-ROM, will inspire you to push your understanding of Photoshop CS2 and its capabilities. Learn the techniques that the designer used to create the images and then how to apply them to your own images using the same techniques and the new tools available with the Photoshop CS2 software. Work with author Dan Giordan on developing these 19 images by: *Making complex selections *Transforming layers *Mastering curves and color correction *Working with layer masks *Mastering the distort filters *And more The techniques you learn in the Art of Photoshop, CS2 Edition and the included images will inspire your design skills and show you how to develop your own image editing talent with Photoshop CS2.

Daniel Giordan is an Artist, Photographer, and Creative professional who divides his time between art and image making, Web development, and teaching on Adobe Photoshop. Dan has a master’s degree in fine arts, and began his career as a painter. Dan moved to digital art in 1995, and now is the Creative Director for AOL Web Properties. Dan writes a column for Photoshop User magazine, and lectures for corporate and academic venues, and at Photoshop World and Mac Design conferences. He has worked for numerous graphics periodicals, including Adobe Magazine. Dan is also the author of numerous books, including Art of Photoshop, and How to Use Photoshop.

Go where no other Photoshop book takes you. The Art of Photoshop, CS2 Edition allows you to look over the designer’s shoulder while learning advanced Photoshop CS2 techniques. 19 vivid, full-color images, available on the included CD-ROM, will inspire you to pursh your understanding of Photoshop CS2 and its capabilities. Learn the techniques that the designer used to create the images and then how to apply them to your own images using the same techniques and the new tools available with the Photoshop CS2 software. Work with author Dan Giordan on developing these 19 images by:

• Making complex selctions
• Transforming layers
• Mastering curves and color correction
• Working with layer masks
• Mastering the distort filters
• And more

The techniques you learn in the Art of Photoshop, CS2 Edition and the included images will inspire your design skills and show you how to develop your own image editing talent with Photoshop CS2.

Just horrible.

I had to get this book for my college course and normally I keep the photoshop books that I buy, but this one I want to sell ASAP! I really thought this book was a joke. Yes, it does tell you how to do things in photoshop, but the work you create is horrible.
I love art don’t get me wrong, but when you take a picture of trees with snow, put a black square in the middle, then draw out a sketchy circle over it and call it art... That’s where I have a problem.

Fun book

I got this book just for kicks to help me explore some artistic aspects/techniques of using photoshop. It proved an informative and interesting read. Though nothing in here is incredibly groundbreaking for those who are familiar with photoshop, I still enjoyed the book and found it useful.

Not the Best Photoshop Book

This book is boring and serves as a way for the author to showcase his artsy-fartsy photoshopped images. I don’t find them beautiful at all as other reviewers have mentioned. They are quite ugly to be frank. The how-to part is treacherously, butchered and sandwiched between his horrendous "ah-mmm", "spiritual" reflections/bs on his image and the how-to on creating this image. Huh? Why would I want to create something that he already done myself? This book is awful.

Excellent Resource

The Art of Photoshop is an awesome idea and reference book. Highly recommend!!

Excellent Resource

The Art of Photoshop is an awesome idea and reference book. Highly recommend!!

Great, "off the beaten path" Photoshop book

I have a library of Photoshop books and there are two main types- those that deal with how to use Photoshop with no identified purpose in mind (nothing wrong with that) and Photoshop books for the digital photographer which can teach you how to get rid of blemishes or a blown out sky, etc (nothing wrong here either). In many of the latter type of Photoshop books there are sections on manipulating your photos to create art, however, the end result very much maintains the basic identity of the original photo. With The Art of Photoshop we have a very rare book, a book whose goal is to inspire photoshophers to create art, as you would see in an art gallery, with the software. Even if you are not inspired with Mr. Giordan’s art, he suceeds in teaching you the tools to go create your own art. Differing from other books that touch upon Photoshop art (via manipulation of your digital photo), this book’s end products do not necessairily have a direct relationship with the starting photograph(s) and sources, thus the term "art". As in any art gallery, there is some "art" that Mr. Giordan has created that I don’t really care for and could be made fun of such as the burning baby example given in another review. By the way, Mr. Giordan makes it clear it is not actually meant to be a burning baby. Getting back to the book. even if I did not care for some of the art created, I still found it very valuable to learn how the art was created. Although Photoshop version CS2 was not covered much at all, still, this was an aspect of Photoshop use I had not seen much about at all- the creation of art, not just manipulating my photographs with filters to give it a Van Gogh look or whatever. If you would really like to create original art with Photoshop and not just merely manipulate your photographs with filters and such, this book is really worth a look. It has taught me techniques that I can use to create artwork that is appealing to me and I think that was the goal of the book in the first place- not as a showcase for Mr. Giordan’s art, but to show the capabilities Photoshop has for creating art and this book magnificently teaches how to tap into those capabilities. I agree that if you are not interested in creating art with Photoshop this is not the book for you, however, if you are, GET THIS BOOK! It is a rare type of Photoshop book.

Great, "off the beaten path" Photoshop book

I have a library of Photoshop books and there are two main types- those that deal with how to use Photoshop with no identified purpose in mind (nothing wrong with that) and Photoshop books for the digital photographer which can teach you how to get rid of blemishes or a blown out sky, etc (nothing wrong here either). In many of the latter type of Photoshop books there are sections on manipulating your photos to create art, however, the end result very much maintains the basic identity of the original photo. With The Art of Photoshop we have a very rare book, a book whose goal is to inspire photoshophers to create art, as you would see in an art gallery, with the software. Even if you are not inspired with Mr. Giordan’s art, he suceeds in teaching you the tools to go create your own art. Differing from other books that touch upon Photoshop art (via manipulation of your digital photo), this book’s end products do not necessairily have a direct relationship with the starting photograph(s) and sources, thus the term "art". As in any art gallery, there is some "art" that Mr. Giordan has created that I don’t really care for and could be made fun of such as the burning baby example given in another review. By the way, Mr. Giordan makes it clear it is not actually meant to be a burning baby. Getting back to the book. even if I did not care for some of the art created, I still found it very valuable to learn how the art was created. Although Photoshop version CS2 was not covered much at all, still, this was an aspect of Photoshop use I had not seen much about at all- the creation of art, not just manipulating my photographs with filters to give it a Van Gogh look or whatever. If you would really like to create original art with Photoshop and not just merely manipulate your photographs with filters and such, this book is really worth a look. It has taught me techniques that I can use to create artwork that is appealing to me and I think that was the goal of the book in the first place- not as a showcase for Mr. Giordan’s art, but to show the capabilities Photoshop has for creating art and this book magnificently teaches how to tap into those capabilities. I agree that if you are not interested in creating art with Photoshop this is not the book for you, however, if you are, GET THIS BOOK! It is a rare type of Photoshop book.

Do not buy this book if you are a Novice Photoshop User

Do not buy this book if you are a Novice Photoshop User

From my experiences with art I can discern 2 types of artists. The first is a practical artist. The practical artist works on projects giving artistic touches to mundane objects that compliment the pieces and make them attractive. I pride myself as being a practical artist. I try my best to wrap functionality and use into an interesting package that works and is appealing. The second type of artist is the Emotional Artistic artist. This artist has the profound need to explain their work with a violent wind of flourished language and garble that inevitably says nothing at all. This artist is so unbelievably egotistic that they end up offending everyone around them. It almost makes you want to hug the poor misunderstood souls. This book "The Art of Photoshop" caters to the Emotional Artistic Artist and their tortured minds.

This book is 300+ pages and touches on pretty much every aspect of Photoshop, however I think the CS2 part is misleading. I didn’t see one point in the book that was exclusive to Photoshop CS2. You could probably do everything in this book with an older version of Photoshop. This book is specifically geared toward the aesthetic portion of graphic design. After reading the sections over and over I’m not even sure if this book explains anything. I feel that it only explains how Daniel Giordan completed his work.

I like the layout of the book and it is quite visually appealing. There are 19 chapters with topics ranging from Distortion Filters to Working with Lighting Effects. The Lesson Plan of teaching Photoshop is simply by creating a piece of art in Photoshop, and then explaining the process of making the art. Now, that sounds like a great method to teach by, but unfortunately the practicality of such a method is completely useless in my opinion (no matter how great the lesson is). Why?Because Art is subjective and personal. You should inspire art, not teach someone how to replicate your own.

Some may argue my point since the book is named "The *Art* of Photoshop." But how often do artist say to themselves I wish I had Photoshop so I could replicate someone else’s butt kicking art!!"? I don’t know that answer but with this book you get to learn how to replicate Daniel Giordan’s butt kicking artwork - 19 pieces total.

Here’s an excerpt of the book and a preview of just what I’m talking about. -


*Chapter 15: Mastering the Distortion Filters*
While working on /Tree House/, I found myself compelled to do the unexpected and push against the anticipated next step. The image itself is a surreal juxtaposition of a house in a tree with what could easily be mistaken for a flaming baby. At first glance, this unexpected combination seems to fit in well with the melting clocks and flaming giraffes of the surrealists. The background is a jumble of tree branches that bend, twist, and almost melt as they wrap around the frame of a traditional white clapboard house. The sun breaks through the tree branches, and the entire image is steeped in a warm, soothing green. In the middle of everything is the glowing put to figure, slightly distorted and sitting uncomfortably on a branch. The lines of the figure play off the geometry created in the background, to the point that the vertical leg anchors the entire lower half of the image. /Tree House/ is a study of created and denied symmetry - which makes it slightly unsettling.


So, there is a look into this fine book about how to make a picture of a house in a tree that has a flaming baby in front of it. Awesome if you want to make a picture like that, but in most cases you won’t be paid to make such a picture. However if you do have a client that needs such a picture *BUY THIS BOOK*.

Finally. I will say that this book does have great tutorials on making art. The tutorials are clear and precise and really go in depth with Photoshop’s features. It does a good job of teaching about layers, effects, masking, brushes and photo adjustments like contrast, hues, curves and much more, which are very good things to learn about even if they teach you how to use them while making goofy pictures.

*In conclusion*, the $50 Dollar price tag is a little hefty to only learn how to make foofy art collages with Photoshop. There are plenty of other resources out there that are cheaper or free and give users a practical knowledge of the program and truly help artists learn about Photoshop. Art is such a individualistic action and trying to encapsulate art and photoshop together into a book is very silly and unattainable.

Buy this book only if you:
1. Want to use Photoshop to make Art
2. Are a fan of Daniel Giordan’s artwork
3. Have read every other book about Photoshop and are in desperate need of yet another
Photoshop Resource.

John Harbison
(...)

Do not buy this book if you are a Novice Photoshop User

Do not buy this book if you are a Novice Photoshop User

From my experiences with art I can discern 2 types of artists. The first is a practical artist. The practical artist works on projects giving artistic touches to mundane objects that compliment the pieces and make them attractive. I pride myself as being a practical artist. I try my best to wrap functionality and use into an interesting package that works and is appealing. The second type of artist is the Emotional Artistic artist. This artist has the profound need to explain their work with a violent wind of flourished language and garble that inevitably says nothing at all. This artist is so unbelievably egotistic that they end up offending everyone around them. It almost makes you want to hug the poor misunderstood souls. This book "The Art of Photoshop" caters to the Emotional Artistic Artist and their tortured minds.

This book is 300+ pages and touches on pretty much every aspect of Photoshop, however I think the CS2 part is misleading. I didn’t see one point in the book that was exclusive to Photoshop CS2. You could probably do everything in this book with an older version of Photoshop. This book is specifically geared toward the aesthetic portion of graphic design. After reading the sections over and over I’m not even sure if this book explains anything. I feel that it only explains how Daniel Giordan completed his work.

I like the layout of the book and it is quite visually appealing. There are 19 chapters with topics ranging from Distortion Filters to Working with Lighting Effects. The Lesson Plan of teaching Photoshop is simply by creating a piece of art in Photoshop, and then explaining the process of making the art. Now, that sounds like a great method to teach by, but unfortunately the practicality of such a method is completely useless in my opinion (no matter how great the lesson is). Why?Because Art is subjective and personal. You should inspire art, not teach someone how to replicate your own.

Some may argue my point since the book is named "The *Art* of Photoshop." But how often do artist say to themselves I wish I had Photoshop so I could replicate someone else’s butt kicking art!!"? I don’t know that answer but with this book you get to learn how to replicate Daniel Giordan’s butt kicking artwork - 19 pieces total.

Here’s an excerpt of the book and a preview of just what I’m talking about. -


*Chapter 15: Mastering the Distortion Filters*
While working on /Tree House/, I found myself compelled to do the unexpected and push against the anticipated next step. The image itself is a surreal juxtaposition of a house in a tree with what could easily be mistaken for a flaming baby. At first glance, this unexpected combination seems to fit in well with the melting clocks and flaming giraffes of the surrealists. The background is a jumble of tree branches that bend, twist, and almost melt as they wrap around the frame of a traditional white clapboard house. The sun breaks through the tree branches, and the entire image is steeped in a warm, soothing green. In the middle of everything is the glowing put to figure, slightly distorted and sitting uncomfortably on a branch. The lines of the figure play off the geometry created in the background, to the point that the vertical leg anchors the entire lower half of the image. /Tree House/ is a study of created and denied symmetry - which makes it slightly unsettling.


So, there is a look into this fine book about how to make a picture of a house in a tree that has a flaming baby in front of it. Awesome if you want to make a picture like that, but in most cases you won’t be paid to make such a picture. However if you do have a client that needs such a picture *BUY THIS BOOK*.

Finally. I will say that this book does have great tutorials on making art. The tutorials are clear and precise and really go in depth with Photoshop’s features. It does a good job of teaching about layers, effects, masking, brushes and photo adjustments like contrast, hues, curves and much more, which are very good things to learn about even if they teach you how to use them while making goofy pictures.

*In conclusion*, the $50 Dollar price tag is a little hefty to only learn how to make foofy art collages with Photoshop. There are plenty of other resources out there that are cheaper or free and give users a practical knowledge of the program and truly help artists learn about Photoshop. Art is such a individualistic action and trying to encapsulate art and photoshop together into a book is very silly and unattainable.

Buy this book only if you:
1. Want to use Photoshop to make Art
2. Are a fan of Daniel Giordan’s artwork
3. Have read every other book about Photoshop and are in desperate need of yet another
Photoshop Resource.

John Harbison
(...)

Do not buy this book if you are a Novice Photoshop User

Do not buy this book if you are a Novice Photoshop User

From my experiences with art I can discern 2 types of artists. The first is a practical artist. The practical artist works on projects giving artistic touches to mundane objects that compliment the pieces and make them attractive. I pride myself as being a practical artist. I try my best to wrap functionality and use into an interesting package that works and is appealing. The second type of artist is the Emotional Artistic artist. This artist has the profound need to explain their work with a violent wind of flourished language and garble that inevitably says nothing at all. This artist is so unbelievably egotistic that they end up offending everyone around them. It almost makes you want to hug the poor misunderstood souls. This book "The Art of Photoshop" caters to the Emotional Artistic Artist and their tortured minds.

This book is 300+ pages and touches on pretty much every aspect of Photoshop, however I think the CS2 part is misleading. I didn’t see one point in the book that was exclusive to Photoshop CS2. You could probably do everything in this book with an older version of Photoshop. This book is specifically geared toward the aesthetic portion of graphic design. After reading the sections over and over I’m not even sure if this book explains anything. I feel that it only explains how Daniel Giordan completed his work.

I like the layout of the book and it is quite visually appealing. There are 19 chapters with topics ranging from Distortion Filters to Working with Lighting Effects. The Lesson Plan of teaching Photoshop is simply by creating a piece of art in Photoshop, and then explaining the process of making the art. Now, that sounds like a great method to teach by, but unfortunately the practicality of such a method is completely useless in my opinion (no matter how great the lesson is). Why?Because Art is subjective and personal. You should inspire art, not teach someone how to replicate your own.

Some may argue my point since the book is named "The *Art* of Photoshop." But how often do artist say to themselves I wish I had Photoshop so I could replicate someone else’s butt kicking art!!"? I don’t know that answer but with this book you get to learn how to replicate Daniel Giordan’s butt kicking artwork - 19 pieces total.

Here’s an excerpt of the book and a preview of just what I’m talking about. -


*Chapter 15: Mastering the Distortion Filters*
While working on /Tree House/, I found myself compelled to do the unexpected and push against the anticipated next step. The image itself is a surreal juxtaposition of a house in a tree with what could easily be mistaken for a flaming baby. At first glance, this unexpected combination seems to fit in well with the melting clocks and flaming giraffes of the surrealists. The background is a jumble of tree branches that bend, twist, and almost melt as they wrap around the frame of a traditional white clapboard house. The sun breaks through the tree branches, and the entire image is steeped in a warm, soothing green. In the middle of everything is the glowing put to figure, slightly distorted and sitting uncomfortably on a branch. The lines of the figure play off the geometry created in the background, to the point that the vertical leg anchors the entire lower half of the image. /Tree House/ is a study of created and denied symmetry - which makes it slightly unsettling.


So, there is a look into this fine book about how to make a picture of a house in a tree that has a flaming baby in front of it. Awesome if you want to make a picture like that, but in most cases you won’t be paid to make such a picture. However if you do have a client that needs such a picture *BUY THIS BOOK*.

Finally. I will say that this book does have great tutorials on making art. The tutorials are clear and precise and really go in depth with Photoshop’s features. It does a good job of teaching about layers, effects, masking, brushes and photo adjustments like contrast, hues, curves and much more, which are very good things to learn about even if they teach you how to use them while making goofy pictures.

*In conclusion*, the $50 Dollar price tag is a little hefty to only learn how to make foofy art collages with Photoshop. There are plenty of other resources out there that are cheaper or free and give users a practical knowledge of the program and truly help artists learn about Photoshop. Art is such a individualistic action and trying to encapsulate art and photoshop together into a book is very silly and unattainable.

Buy this book only if you:
1. Want to use Photoshop to make Art
2. Are a fan of Daniel Giordan’s artwork
3. Have read every other book about Photoshop and are in desperate need of yet another
Photoshop Resource.

John Harbison
(...)

Beautiful Book

The Art of Photoshop CS2 Edition by Daniel Giordan (ISBN 0-672-32810-0) is a great edition to add to your collection of Photoshop books. The first part of the book is devoted to a gallery of images, that show the beauty of Photography and Computer manipulation as an art form. The book then enters the how to phase. Daniel Giordan goes through the process he undertook to get to the end result - the beautiful images that appear in the gallery section of the book.

This book is for the advanced Photoshop user, concentrating on more advanced tools, that enable the user to go beyond simple image correction and compositing to making "art." Mr. Giordan uses short paragraphs and numerous photos to make his explanation of his creative process very visual and easy to understand. Each step is accompanied by a photo of the tool or palette being used and the actual effect it has on the photograph, so that one can really follow along and see how the end product is created. Then, best of all in my opinion, there is a cd which accompanies the book which includes all of the source photos used. This allows the reader to not just follow along and hope to get similar results, but to actually try it out themselves - making sure that they can get the same results before going onto the next step. This is a great way to learn the advanced tools of Photoshop.

Beautiful Book

The Art of Photoshop CS2 Edition by Daniel Giordan (ISBN 0-672-32810-0) is a great edition to add to your collection of Photoshop books. The first part of the book is devoted to a gallery of images, that show the beauty of Photography and Computer manipulation as an art form. The book then enters the how to phase. Daniel Giordan goes through the process he undertook to get to the end result - the beautiful images that appear in the gallery section of the book.

This book is for the advanced Photoshop user, concentrating on more advanced tools, that enable the user to go beyond simple image correction and compositing to making "art." Mr. Giordan uses short paragraphs and numerous photos to make his explanation of his creative process very visual and easy to understand. Each step is accompanied by a photo of the tool or palette being used and the actual effect it has on the photograph, so that one can really follow along and see how the end product is created. Then, best of all in my opinion, there is a cd which accompanies the book which includes all of the source photos used. This allows the reader to not just follow along and hope to get similar results, but to actually try it out themselves - making sure that they can get the same results before going onto the next step. This is a great way to learn the advanced tools of Photoshop.