Takes you step by step, just like a classroom. Covers items you can't figure out on your own!

Bought this ages ago, when I was considering Adobe Photoshop Qualification. Now, Photoshop integrates tutorial videos into its newer Photoshop models, but the Classroom in a Book was an excellent way to learn. It provides images on a disk to work with while you follow along in the guide book.

For the most part it covers the basics of photoshop, nothing to complicated. It explains the ground-level functions in a way that anyone can understand. If you want to become a image master then this is a great starting place for the Photoshop beginner.

I was expecting a guided class ,instead I found no instructions at all, no exercises to practice on the CD.
I was sitting in front of the photoshop screen with a picture and that's it.
I guess it would be better that the publishers explain somehow that you need a previous knowledge of the program.
It must be good for people who just need to upgrade previous knowledge, but I won reccomend it if you don't have it.

One thing I have learned after using Photoshop for over 15 years is, there is always something else to learn. The Photoshop 7.0 Classroom Book is a great tool for this purpose.

I'm great with computers, but know NOTHING about Photoshop. Couldn't just intuitively use it like with most things. Compared different books. This one takes you from ground zero on up to using the program. The Photoshop for Dummies seamed geared to an audience that already knew how to use it. This is perfect for a total novice and those needing to learn more. The provided exercises are extremely helpful.

Being a relative beginner with Photoshop 7, I was looking for something that would enhance the owners manual. Classroom in a book fills that niche admirably providing hands-on assignments to reinforce learning how to perform the functions that enable you to turn out professional looking results. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in honing their skills as a Photoshop artist.

I think this is well written, but it could use some more color illustrations. It walks you through the basics. If you use Photoshop a little bit, this book is very helpful - I learned tricks I never knew about!

I am through lesson 5 in this book right now and I love it. Photoshop 7.0 seemed like an overwhelming program, but this book breaks it down into simple lessons. It is also cross-referenced well and each lesson builds on the last.

It also has a lot of overlap with Imageready. Which is cool.

Definetly two thumbs up.

This is a great book and an awesome tool to help with learning the software. It gives a good basic stable groud to work with and leaves room for personal touches and advancement.

This is a great book for newcomers to photoshop. The lessons, coupled with the CD, outline the capabilities of almost every function of the program. The only downside is that it is like an overview and doesn't really go into the "whys" and "what if's" of the photoshop functions. I guess all of that will come with experience.

Although I am only halfway through this book I have loved it from the beginning. I tried to learn all the nuances (especially Layers) from Photoshop 7 for Dummies and that was such an aggravating book. The author spent too much time trying to be funny. I then took an 8 week online course on Layers and it was so difficult that I gave up at the 4 week mark. Every instruction in this book actually works - it is well written and assumes you don't know anything but that you have the ability to know everything. It comes with a CD which is used for each lesson. They stress that you can follow the book from start to finish if you wish or just choose the lessons that you need help with. They inform you how long each lesson will take to complete which is handy. Lots of diagrams in the book which help to see if you're clicking on the correct tab etc. I am absolutely thrilled with this book!!

Although I am only halfway through this book I have loved it from the beginning. I tried to learn all the nuances (especially Layers) from Photoshop 7 for Dummies and that was such an aggravating book. The author spent too much time trying to be funny. I then took an 8 week online course on Layers and it was so difficult that I gave up at the 4 week mark. Every instruction in this book actually works - it is well written and assumes you don't know anything but that you have the ability to know everything. It comes with a CD which is used for each lesson. They stress that you can follow the book from start to finish if you wish or just choose the lessons that you need help with. They inform you how long each lesson will take to complete which is handy. Lots of diagrams in the book which help to see if you're clicking on the correct tab etc. I am absolutely thrilled with this book!!

A complete and total course book. One that I will keep and use for years. The needeed knowledge is easy to find and follow. As all good how to books, this will be a companion.

This is this main learning tool I have used to learn phototshop, and while no expert, I think I can manage just fine. For someone who knows nothing about photoshop, this book is perfect. I highly recommend.

This book is amazing. You don't need to go from page to page to learn what you want and it's easy to use. I started making my own signatures for web forums in only 2 days. Must have.

Even though this is the only tutorial book I have been used for learning photoshop, I could gaurantee u guys that this one might be the best one. Do NOT miss it, guys.

It start from the most basic stuff, whichs how to open a file :) Apprantly the authors are treating us like idiots, but I really appreciate that attitude, kz considerate authors are the most important element when developing a tutorial book.

If u r attracted by differnt kinds of beautifully-covered, lastest-published tutorial book so that u missed this seemingly plain official tutorial book, u might wana jst pick it up and remove the dirt from it, and wht u r gona c is a piece of glowing gold.

Even though this is the only tutorial book I have been used for learning photoshop, I could gaurantee u guys that this one might be the best one. Do NOT miss it, guys.

It start from the most basic stuff, whichs how to open a file :) Apprantly the authors are treating us like idiots, but I really appreciate that attitude, kz considerate authors are the most important element when developing a tutorial book.

If u r attracted by differnt kinds of beautifully-covered, lastest-published tutorial book so that u missed this seemingly plain official tutorial book, u might wana jst pick it up and remove the dirt from it, and wht u r gona c is a piece of glowing gold.

After trying several self-help books on the Adobe Photshop 7.0, including Photoshop 7 for Dummies, a friend recommended this title, which is the official training workbook from Adobe Systems, Inc. The title was being used as a textbook in his college graphic class and he found it to be in logical sequence and with an easy to understand format. If you are a not-every-day user of the program and want to learn specific techniques to enhance or modify your photographs - this book is for you.

I have been doing photo editing for some time now, mostly for my mothers scrap booking. She decided that she wanted to fix photos herself so she signed up for a class. She barley knew how to use the mouse and press the button to turn the computer on. This book has taught her how to not only run the program but also how windows and Macintosh work. This book teaches step by step through multiple lessons, and has instructions for both Windows and Mac users. I recommend this book to students and those wanting to know how to do image editing. I taught myself how to restore and edit photos and have been doing it for 3 years, and I have learned things from this book.

Even if you don't use the Adobe Photoshop program the techniques it teaches work on any program.

I am really enjoying Photoshop 7 Classroom in a book. I have been a photoshop user for a few years, but learned it by the seat of my pants and had a few "holes." I've filled in the holes and learned new tricks along the way to make me more creative and productive. Amazon service is great, too -- fast and free shipping. You can't beat that!

The authors teach you in increments that actually allow you to remember what you did and why, without getting confused. I did about 5 chapters a day and walked away retaining 90% of what was taught. Buy this tutorial!

I find this book very well done easy to follow perfect for a beginner in photoshop like me

Great information. The training cd follows the book perfectly. I recommend this book for anyone who would like to further their knowledge of Photoshop.

If you are completely new to Photoshop, this is a good place to start. Doesn't go through everything (almost impossible to do since the program is so huge), but it provides a baseline knowledge of the program to build on.

If you are a beginner, avoid the Visual Quickstart Guide. I bought it first and took it back after I couldn't learn anything from it.

I am not new to photoshop, I know a couple of things but I felt that I required some assistance to explore the capabilities of the programmme. This book is well written, simple to understand and very interesting. I recently purchased it and will give my self six days to complete it...It is not often that that persons can traanslate their knowledge in a form that makes in easy to understand. From my previous experiences, I was expecting boring and difficult to understand even if I based my decison on the reviews ...This is a fanatstic book.

With Photoshop being such a huge program, you need a way to start learning it. This is an excellent book for that purpose. Once you have these basics down, you can then go onto other books that go into more detail on any particular subject. I call this book my 500-page introduction to Photoshop.

I recommend this book to anyone who is new or at an intermediate skill level with Photoshop 7.0. It is clearly written and if applied sequentially by each chapter will allow the user to become comfortable and proficient with all the basic tools of Photoshop 7.0.

I picked this book up at a local college bookstore. I wanted to learn photoshop so that I could create my own t-shirt designs.. I went to the college bookstore because I wanted what teachers recommended.. Well I was pleasantly surprised to find this and not some ultra-thick textbook. It comes with a CD-Rom with examples for you to work on.. The lessons are easy and concise. They remind me of the Dummies books out there because of how easy they are to use and with all the helpful tips they have in the margins.. I skipped around to the chapters I wanted to take aim at first and still did not walk away in the dark. I had absolutely no experience with photoshop before I got this book and now with this one and Photoshop 7.0 for Screenprinters I am making my own t-shirts. I just bought the book 7 months ago (2-05)!!! Check out my t-shirts that I created using some of the tips I have learned.(...)

The lessons in this book are clear, concise, and proceed in a logical manner. I worked through every chapter except for the last two and never ran into any problems. Unlike most technical guide books, there were no points where I had to skip sections because the directions were unclear. I especially like how for every chapter's project has a start and end graphic on the attached CD. From the start, you actually know what you are working towards. My favorite feature of the book was the suggested time listings at the beginning of each chapter. Although these were a bit buried in the introductions, I found it very helpful to know if I was about to embark on a short or never-ending lesson. If you are interested in learning Photoshop, I highly recommend this book.

While I had tinkered around with Photoshop a bit in the past, I had to buckle down and get serious about it for work a few years ago. Before picking up "Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Classroom in a Book," I could perform basic photo manipulations and touch-ups, but not much more.

I was able to work through "Photoshop 7.0 CIB" in about a week. The book's divided into 18 lessons, all roughly the same length, so it was easy to map out a plan and stick to it. The instructions are straightforward, clearly written, understandable, and informative. The beginning chapters (Getting to Know the Work Area and Using the File Browser) are perhaps a bit basic, but might be necessary for those completely unfamiliar with the program. The remaining 12 lessons cover the essentials, including basic photo corrections; working with selections; layer basics; masks and channels; retouching and repairing; painting and editing; basic pen tool techniques; vector masks, paths, and shapes; advanced layer techniques; creating special effects; preparing images for two-color printing; optimizing web images and image maps; adding interactive slices and rollovers; creating animated images; setting up your monitor for color management; and producing and printing consistent color. I did find two major mistakes that make completing the lessons impossible, but the good news is that they're only moderately difficult to spot.

After completing this guide, my understanding of Photoshop increased exponentially. It helped to familiarize me with tools which I had never used before (some of which I'll probably never use again!), and increased my confidence in regards to tools I already knew how to use. It's an excellent introductory guide to Photoshop 7.0 (indeed, it was the first Photoshop manual I purchased and actually completed!).

However, I've since upgraded to Photoshop 8.0 CS, and have read a number of 8.0 manuals. As I've graduated to more advanced graphics manipulation, I also find myself constantly referring to Photoshop books when I try a technique that I've learned but haven't yet mastered. I can honestly say that "Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Classroom in a Book" is always the last book I pick up - it's a last resort, and is almost never of any use. While it does help you learn the Photoshop basics, it isn't very helpful as a reference tool. Rather than teaching you the finer points of using a specific tool (including its many options, and when it's best to choose one tool over another), the "Classroom in a Book" just demonstrates the mechanics. Thus, it's virtually useless as a reference tool - it can introduce you to Photoshop's capabilities, but can't help you apply them beyond the basic lessons in the text.

Although newbies will find this book helpful, there are better ones out there which can both introduce you to the program AND act as long-term reference tools. I can guarantee that you'll read through "Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Classroom in a Book" once, maybe even twice, but after that it will just gather dust on your bookshelf. You're better off spending your cash on a book that you'll keep out on your desk, close at hand, until your next Photoshop upgrade. For an indispensable all-purpose guide to Photoshop, I highly recommend "Photoshop 7.0 for Windows and Macintosh" (or CS, if you have the newest version) by Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas. It may be light on fancy illustrations and glossy pictures - but that's why it's one of the more affordable manuals on the market!


- Kelly Garbato

Author, ePublisher, Web Mistress
Peedee Publishing / Hot Dog!, LLC

Still struggling with Photoshop even though you've purchased a half dozen or so "how to" books? Then you need to purchase "Photoshop 7.0 Classroom in a Book". Believe me - because I've bought them all - this is the best tutorial Photoshop book for the beginner. Work through each of the eighteen chapters and MOST IMPORTANTLY, go back and carefully review what you've done to cement your knowledge. So if you've already purchased other Photoshop books and you still don't get it, theres hope. After you diligently work through "Photoshop 7.0 Classroom in a Book", those other Photoshop books that you paid your hard earned money for will make a lot more sense. I've lived and learned.

This is a must have for beginners. There is nothing else like it. It's very easy to follow lessons and it comes with a CD that contains all lessons and in every lesson they give you the final result so you can compare and see did you do it right. MUST HAVE BOOK.

Adobe Photoshop 7.0: Classroom in a Book is a comprehensive guide to mastering the nuances of the latest version of Adobe Photoshop. Intended for digital photographers of all skill and experience levels, from rank novice to expert, Adobe Photoshop 7.0 has black-and-white sample menus and images on almost every page to illustrate various details of handling the software. An included CD-ROM with lesson files rounds out this superb resource covering everything from basics such as photo corrections and retouching to advanced issues such as layer techniques, adding interactive slices and rollovers, creating animated images for the web, printing consistent color and much more. A must-have all-purpose resource manual, Adobe Photoshop 7.0 is the book to get if you can only afford a single "how to" instructional guide to Adobe Photoshop.

This was the required text for my university class that taught photoshop. The lessons show you step by step how to use photoshop for basic photo correction/optimization as well as more advanced techniques for professionals (ie: web design/ special printing). The included CD contains all the image files (start and finish) for the lessons, so you can actually follow what the book tells you to do. This is one textbook I wouldn't sell back at the end of the term! It's a great starter book, if you have the time to do the first few lessons. Photoshop is extremely intimidating to new users, and somewhat difficult to pick up on your own, so I'd reccommend this book to anyone who wants to learn the basic operations.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to become more proficient with PhotoShop. Especially beneficial to students beginning in the field of design. Classes move quickly it is easy to fall behind or to feel at a disadvantage because you do not have a firm grasp of the program.
With Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book you are allowed to review and repeat lessons until you are comfortable with the lesson. I recommend after the lesson applying what you have learned to an outside project.
These self paced lessons give you the benefit of a hands on, learn as you go approach. Extremely beneficial for visual learners!!

Helpful for Photoshop 7 beginners, which I was. If you want to use Photoshop and can read(which for some, seems to require a class in it's own) try this book out and follow the easy tutorials. I could not find typo's or other errors in this book, which is all to common with others.

I am in the process of switching over from a PC and Paint Shop Pro to a Mac with Photoshop 7 - This book has been exactly what I was looking for! Very detailed and lots of notes for shortcuts, etc. I highly recommend it for first time Photoshop users, as well as long time Photoshop users.

If you're looking for a book that is aimed at photographers, or if you're looking for an understanding of the "whys" of working with digital images, this is not the book for you. It consists of a series of cookbook exercises that help you learn how to use photoshop, but once you're beyond the obvious you need to supply your own understanding of why you're doing something. The book doesn't help much with developing a foundation for your own ideas of how to work with Photoshop either. It might be a more useful book if you're an experienced graphic arts person and you're moving from physical to electronic work.

Instead I'd recommend Photoshop 7.0 for Photographers, by Martin Evening or Photoshop 7 Artistry, by Barry Haynes and Wendy Crumpler.

This book is really like being in a classroom only better because you can stop and start anytime you want. The purpose of the book is to teach you how to use Photoshop 7.0 for the graphics portion of your website design (both Mac and Windows) using a tutorial style approach. There are 18 lessons with all lesson files included in the CD that comes with the book. These lessons range from the very basic topics like the Photoshop Work Area and Basic Photo Corrections to the very advanced topics like Interactive Slices and Rollovers (advanced at least for the beginner). I am not an advanced user so I am mostly speaking from a beginner perspective.

Each lesson is very easy to follow and even though all the lessons are in black and white, it doesn't matter if you are following along on your computer as you read the instructions (since we all have color monitors). At the end of each lesson, there is a review question and answer section. This was a refreshing change for me to see a book actually give the answers to the review questions. Most other books I have seen just have the review questions or exercises and don't bother to explain the answers. There are about 15 pages at the end of Lesson 1 in full color and cover all 18 lessons. I don't quite follow the logic for doing it this way but it didn't interfere with my learning.

Each chapter will probably take a couple of hours to work through if you are a beginner but you will likely become an Intermediate level user if you work through all the lessons. A very unique book and definitely worth buying if you want to learn how to use Photoshop 7.0 for your graphics design. I was so impressed that I went and bought other books from this Classroom in a Book series. But I must say that this one is still the best book in the series. Enjoy this creative endeavor!

If you want to learn Photoshop, this is an excellent buy, especially if you are a beginner. This book will guide you step-by-step on how to use Photoshop. The tutorials are easy to follow and very detailed; the resources for the tutorials are provided by the CD that comes with the book. You will be able to learn how to use Photoshop in just weeks, depending on the time that you invest. After going through the tutorials in this book, I became a highly confident Photoshop user. Highly recommended for newbies.

This book is a fantastic start for anyone that wishes to explore the world of Photoshop. I took a course at Oklahoma City Community College last semester and this is the book that we used. We followed the book step-by-step. I could have just bought the book and and stayed at home and saved myself some money. Only buy this book if you are an absolute beginner at Photoshop, though. The book is not very in-depth. It just tells you how to do something, not why you are doing it. Also, I have noticed that the pages aren't binded very well...I had a page or two just fall out of my book.

This is an ok book for a beginning Photoshop 7 user. I was just that when I bought "Classroom in a Book" and I feel like it helped me start off on the right foot. The examples are generally well written and easy to follow as well as interesting, although a few of the examples were inacurate. The color section was allright, but I wish there was more of it. Most of the book is in black and white, and a full color text would be much more appreciated.

Again, it's a good beginners text, but you will definitely need to buy a more avanced one if you want to learn more than the basic concepts. Right now I am reading Photoshop Bible, which I would highly recommend as the next step.

I opened this book and the program for the first time at the same time. Having said that I can say that this is a very good book to start off with. If you really want to get in depth, you will have to go elsewhere. At least that is how I see it as a beginner. There were areas that I got stuck on and areas that could have been better but I would still recommend it to anyone just starting out. It teaches you the basics and from there you can go to more complicated books that go more in depth.

After days of reading and experimenting with each lesson, I have finally finished this thick tome of Adobe's "Classroom in a Book Series" for Photoshop 7.0. The book is divided into eighteen lessons and includes a CD (for both Windows and Macintosh), where the corresponding files - and even additional system fonts - can be found for each lesson. The book is designed to be read in the order presented or the lessons can also be skipped at the reader?s convenience. In my particular case, I wanted to re-learn the program due to the fact that when I first studied Photoshop, its current version was 3.0. Much (almost everything) has changed since then, so this sort of introduction was a good idea. It is, however, not more than an introduction, and if you should expect to become a pro by just going through every aspect of this book, you are much mistaken. Adobe Photoshop 7.0 is in itself a very complex and immensely rich program, which I believe to be almost limitless in possibilities of image manipulation. Sometimes I even think that not even its numerous creators know what one dedicated user can achieve with it; and this book will teach a superficial approach to the program. Will you wonder? Of course you will, but only at the possibilities of your imagination. That said, I also have to add that the book is in parts inaccurate. For example, on Lesson 12, the Distort Filter does not produce the rippled effect on the Dandelion that the book says it should and if applied in such a way, one will end up with a rippled border around all the image, taking it off its quadrant and making it look really bad. Pros will realize, however, that a simple selection around the area destined for the effect to appear will suffice; but alas, it is not in the book!

Inaccuracies like this aside, I'd recommend a more in depth source, such as the "Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Studio Techniques" book, or even the fantastic "Adobe Photoshop 7.0 WOW! Book", both excellent sources for the development of skills and stimulation of the imagination. Another plus of these last two books is that they come in full color, something that I appreciate, especially on highly priced volumes such as this one. After spending all that time and effort, one deserves color...

I really enjoyed using this book. They make the instrustions easy to follow. This is a good book for anyone who is new to Photoshop. This book has encouraged me to want to learn more!

....there are some errors. The most telling is in Chapter 12. I still haven't figured out how to get the pond ripple effect for the dandelion. You can't get it by following the instructions.

The book is a very good, but I hated the order of the chapters. I think that selections and layers should be in the begining of the book, not after Retouch.

I found this book to be a very good start in learning Photoshop 7. The apporach to the book, I thought, was a little bit cookbook, but really, for a start this is probably a good thing. It gives you alot of knowledge on the basic, yet powerful features of Photoshop. I think first time users would benefit the most from this book, I really don't see it as one for a more advanced user. The text is easy to read and the instructions easy to follow. I found no major errors in editing. I recommend this text for the beginning Photoshop user knowing that when you are done with it, you will need to move on to another for more in depth learning.

This has to be the best Photoshop tutorial I have ever read. I have tried online tutorials and I also invested in the "dummies" version 6 and they all don't compare to this book. The Classrom in the Book tutorials are clear cut and accurate. Easy to read and it looks like these guys paid a lot of thought to how their audience will utilize the book. They really know how to hit the right spot of the readers curiosity. I don't know how others do it, but when I read, I always ask my self some questions; something like what if I do it this way ? etc. For almost every question I ask, the book has an answer Its like someone is right there with you, holding you by the hand. If a book does that to a reader, that's when you know that the writers took time to assemble the book and they understand their audience; something a lot of computer and software books don't do. This is just a masterpiece and I hope they come up with an advanced version.