Design Bookshelf for designers, desktop publishing, graphics and digital photography

List: $44.99 Our Price: $35.99 Save and support the Design Center New Riders Publishing 742 pages plus CD-Rom (ISBN: 1562058843) . Don't miss the full review complete with samples and photos, in The Sept. DT&G (pdf download edition) . . . . __________ We unanimously recommend Inside Photoshop 5. If you have but one book to purchase for Photoshop 5, you'll be well served to buy this one.

Inside Adobe Photoshop 5 by Gary David Bouton, Barbara Bouton, Gary Kubicek Inside Photoshop 5 takes top honors in our line-up this month -- in fact it's the top book we've seen for all PS users. Seldom does a book of this scope come along that we can comfortably recommend to the beginner as well as pro. This one does it and does it well. __ Gary is a veteran illustrator with more than 20 years of experience in professional graphics and traditional art. This, his seventh book on Photoshop is a 'must buy' for anyone who wants to get the most out of PS and the computer. When teamed with Barbara, Gary's stern editor and contributing editor Gary Kubicek (master of digital imaging and photo restoration), you can bet this book is no less than a blockbuster. __ What we liked best about IsPS5 is Gary's approach to each phase of Photoshop in the creation of visual images. It's not enough to tell you about scanning an image like the other books do. Gary takes you much further. In his "Getting Images" chapter he presents a section called "Letting A Layout Dictate A Scan" which focuses on a real life scenario for capturing the image. In another section "Creating Surrealistic Images" the focus is not just on what you do, or how you do it... but why. This manner of approaching Photoshop is most effective. In the chapter on Working With Mixed Media we're taken through each step in the process of pencil drafts, scans, line conversions, and ultimately the colorization of a simple cartoon. We actually 'live' the process along with Gary. He never preaches, as many of the other authors do, and he always mentors us as friend and colleague. Very effective. __ You might expect to pay $45.00 for the CD alone -- which includes a nice collection of textures, stock images and nine decorative type faces. What you don't expect are fully functional (but limited) editions of the top Photoshop add-on programs, along with a 250 page color glossary in pdf format. Numerous other goodies are included for both Mac and Windows users. __ On the down side, although there is a good color section, we would have liked to see much more color in the book. Additionally, New Riders should use a less toothy text stock for the paper. We found the printing quality to be questionable, and many of the photo examples not up to snuff with Riders' usual standards. This book printed by Adobe Press would be a total knockout! __ Those quibbles aside, we unanimously recommend Inside Photoshop 5. If you have but one book to purchase for Photoshop 5, you'll be well served to buy this one. (See the full, 2-page review in the 9809 DT&G pdf, complete with pictures!)