Seventeen project-based lessons take you through every aspect of Photoshop. The book starts with the basics--the revamped interface, selection tools, and working with layers--and then moves on to more involved projects like retouching, using the new vector shape and clipping path features, advanced layer management, and special effects. Each lesson begins with a clear introduction and finishes with a brief review section, which is a good way of assessing how much you've learned and whether you need to go over anything again.
Anyone who is, or wants to be, a Photoshop pro must eventually tackle color management, and two lessons are devoted to this difficult subject. "Setting Up Your Monitor for Color Management" examines the principles of color management and shows you how to calibrate and create an ICC color profile for your monitor using the Adobe Gamma control panel. "Producing and Printing Consistent Color" deals with proofing images on a CMYK PostScript printer and creating color separations for commercial printing. There's also a chapter devoted to spot-color printing. The remainder of the book deals with producing Web graphics using ImageReady 3.0.
While it lacks the depth of some of the other Photoshop tomes, this is probably one of the most effective courses there is for beginners and intermediate users. --Ken McMahon, Amazon.co.uk