I went thru the whole book, and walk away with one tip. I felt like eveything else was already mentioned by someone else or printed by someone else. Save your money and search the net for tips and ideas.

I am a new 3D animator who is coming to grasps with the unlimited power of Photoshop. I was really confused with alot of advanced layering techniques, and this book saved me. Really well written, and I would say a must for any beginner animators, and digital artists. The author knows this stuff inside and out and it shows. Very easy to follow along and alot better than some of the other layers books out there. ( I know since I work with books for a living ! ) Plus you can download all of the images used in the book, and it saves the money from going up due to a disk being inserted in the book ! Very well done.

This is an excellent book by Matt Kloskowski. I had the privilege of attending the Photoshop Conference in Orlando Florida, April of this year and it was awesome! I bought the Layers book there and I'm not sorry I did. It has truly opened my eyes even more to the creativity one can achieve working with layers. Thanks Matt for a greater understanding. I recommend this book. Peace all.

This book is well laid out and easy to read and learn from, making learning fun rather than a chore. Design of the book is well done, with a light sense of humour thrown in. Thanks Matt, looking forward to reading other material from you.
Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature

If you are new to Photoshop then this is the place to start. Lots of examples and projects. Experienced Photoshop users will get a few good tips they can use too. I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in digital photography.

This book is amazing and helpful for Photoshop users with varying degrees of experience. The in depth tutorials and shortcut tricks cut my artwork and photo rendering time in half. Thanks Matt!!

i'm new to photoshop and have been actively learning how to use this software for almost a year now. this book is a great resource guide for photoshop! matt is so knowledgeable. there is something soooo awesome to learn in every single lesson of this book. as you're learning about the various capabilities with layers you also get on the side neat pointers on how to better enhance your photos and do other cool stuff to make your work look professional. just going through this superb book has greatly improved the way i work around in photoshop now. i highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in getting a better handle on photoshop. matt knows what he's talking about. i'm glad there is a book like this that teaches us how to get around in photoshop.

Love Matt. Love this book.

Straigtfoward and easy to understand while encompassing everything that needs to be said on the topic. Whether you are a beginner or an old hand, there is something in this book for everyone.

He is a wonderful teacher.

Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature

No photographer can unleash the full power of Photoshop to make an image look like the photographer's vision without understanding the power of layers. (At the very least layers allow the Photoshop user to make selective adjustments to an image, without actually changing the underlying data.) Yet many Photoshop books treat layers in bits and pieces rather than as an integrated whole so that the photographer has a hard time grasping the overall concept. That's where a book aimed solely at layers comes in.

Matt Kloskowski's book deals with all the major applications of layers. The subjects include the nature of layers, blending layers, adjustment layers, layer masks, type and shape layers, enhancing and adjusting photos with layers, layer styles and smart layers. It's all here, but in a short simple quick form. (I'm sure there are more esoteric things to learn about layers; at least one pair of authors has a book on layers that is over 750 pages long!) Most photographers will find that this book has all they need to know about the subject.

The author's text takes the form of tutorials. One can either download files for these tutorials or work with one's own pictures. The tutorials are short, well illustrated and have plenty of white space. If you make a mistake at an early step you won't have to backtrack through twenty or thirty steps to find out where you went wrong. Even if you work out each tutorial, this book will not take more than ten or twenty hours to complete, and it will teach you almost everything you need to know about the subject. Along the way, Kloskowski teaches the reader about other Photoshop tools, as when he integrates a discussion of gradients into a lesson on blend modes, or deals with selections in a tutorial on layer masks.

The author has an easy-going, breezy, humorous style, but those put off by the style of his mentor, Scott Kelby, probably will not be offended here.

Normally, as I go through a book, I make notes in the margin when I discover an error. I'm happy to report that I made no notes in the margin of this book.

For experienced Photoshop users this book will contain nothing new. Perhaps they'll have to look at the 750 page tomes. However, for the photographer who doesn't have a firm grip on the use of layers in Photoshop, this book will help him or her to master the subject.

As a web designer and photographer, I've always been a big fan of the Layers Magazine and Photoshop User Magazine group. Their training philosophy is primarily about down and dirty tricks that get the job done and this book is a fine example of that approach. I've been using Photoshop since version 4.0, the last PS book I've owned was for version 6.0.

This book is definitely worth the investment. If you are not familiar with blend modes, how to use masks, adjustment layers, or the power of smart objects, you need to pick up this book. As the title says, layers really are Photoshops' most powerful feature.

Matt Kloskowski's book is set up in way that can be read from cover to cover or it can be read like a reference book in bits and pieces and in any order the reader chooses. It's a very easy going format with a smart, well done layout that makes you feel like you're using Photoshop while you read it. Kloskowski's writing style is casual and to the point, making this book easy to follow for the beginner while it is quick and painless for the novice.

As a web designer, I tended to prefer getting as much done on pen and paper to save time as have found myself playing around too much in Photoshop, wasting precious time. But now with Kloskowski's Layers, I can jump into a designing with Photoshop much sooner and have a lot more fun doing it!

Adobe's PhotoShop is one of those products that changes an industry. It is so powerful and useful that it has taken over much of the post production space between the camera's shutter and the observer's eye. But some of its features can be arcane and intimidating. This is where books like this come in useful.

Matt's focus on the Layers subset of features is appropriate inasmuch as a great deal of PhotoShop's power can be unleashed through judicious use of Layers. It is great to have Matt's guidance through this maze which is a lot friendly with the benefit of his instruction.

Using techniques promoted by this book can save serious photographers and graphic designers hours and hours and is well-worth its price.

It was great help to get all the killer tips from Matt put in a larger context.

There is no shortage of how to Photoshop books out there but this one definitely stands out. So easy to read, so easy to follow. I love how Matt Kloskowski writes. The information that he puts down on paper has personality making a hands on learner like myself be able to get into what he is writing making it easier for me to learn...makes me want to read his book. I am not going to give the book justice as I am no writer; but I would buy any book written by Matt Kloskowski as well as Scott Kelby in reference to photoshop and the like! I have been overwhelmed with other photoshop books with too many words, boring writing, not enough photos to go along with all those words, etc that is was refreshing to fall upon this book. I have incorporated many of his techniques into my own photography and it has really made them pop!

This book is very helpful, it goes into detail about some of Adobe Photoshop's features that my teachers never touch on, like the blending modes and when some are appropriate.

I'm a digital photographer and consider myself to be an intermediate to advanced Photoshop user. I use Photoshop (with Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw) primarily to process my digital photos, but I also use it to restore old or damaged photos. I'm very comfortable with layers, layer masks, and blend modes and use layers frequently in my mostly nondestructive workflow. As my knowledge and experience increase, I find each new Photoshop or photo editing book contains less and less material that is new and interesting to me, i.e., the law of diminishing returns.

I've enjoyed Matt Kloskowski and his style in his podcasts and Killer Tips videos, so I decided to give his Layers book a try. The book does contain some basic topics but it also covers some advanced topics, and I definitely learned enough to make this book worth the money and worth the time to work through the exercises in each chapter. The best way to use the book is to download the exercise files and work through them as you read each chapter. I personally got the most benefit from the chapters on Type and Shape Layers and on Layer Styles. You experience will certainly be different.

I do, however, have a couple of nits for Matt. In several of the examples throughout the book he specifies an RGB color by giving the numerical values for R, G, and B, but he does not specify the color space as sRGB, Adobe RGB, or ProPhoto RGB. The same numbers define different colors in these color spaces. My other nit is for the examples in Chapter 8 - Some More Layer Style Ideas. Matt presents several interesting effects and gives very specific size and distance pixel values in the dialog boxes, but he doesn't give the pixel dimensions of the object to which he's applying the layer style. This made trying to follow his examples in this chapter very difficult for me. If my guess at the object size was off from his, the effects did not work very well or were very overdone. It would be very helpful to have exercise files for these examples. These are minor nits and do not change my recommendation to buy this book.

There is little that is actually new in this book. Rather what Kloskowski has done is to create a little self-tutoring course in using Photoshop layers - and he has done a good job of it.

Photoshop layers is a confusing subject because there are so many different types of layers and so few really good basic introductions to them.

Kloskowski, in an act of brilliance, doesn't cover every kind of layer or layer technique. He concentrates on the basics - and that really makes Photoshop layers a lot easier to grasp and learn.

In nine chapters, Kloskowski covers Layer Basics, Blending Layers, Adjustment Layers, Layer Masks, Type And Shape Layers, Enhancing Photos With Layers, Retouching With Layers, Layer Styles and Smart Layers. There are lots of examples - though sometimes the accompanying descriptions are rather abbreviated - and you can download the required graphics from the companion website.

Overall, this is one of the better books to emerge lately from the Scott Kelby factory. Worth the money it costs and, more importantly, the time it takes to learn what it has to teach.

Jerry

Matt Kloskowski's new book is the most useful Photoshop guide I have ever used. Althought I am a relative newcomer to Ps CS3 I can follow and benefit from every chapter and lesson. I took advantage of Matt's offer to share almost 30 MB of the photos used as examples. This means I can repeat each tutorial until I have mastered the technique and, maybe, mixed and matched up the photos to develop a new slant. I enjoyed, for example, using the photo of a male model holding a pistol to create a new image -- a poster warning against holding a pistol with your finger on the trigger. Herein lies the rub: I can use this masterpiece only to guide myself -- the copyright would prevent resale to the multitudes.

First off, this book is amazing and easy to read/work through. It is easily, the best Photoshop book that I have ever read (better than Scott Kelby's tips for digital photographers and better than Camera RAW) I had a new understanding of the power of Photoshop and how to edit my images by the end of chapter 3 that I never new possible! It's like magic the things you can adjust.

Secondly, you really need a basic understanding of photoshop. Like what all the tools do, how to change brushes, opacity, etc. Also, you need to understand what curves, channels, hue, etc. do too.

My only minor quibble / gripe is that this book should have come with a CD of sample images. You need to go to his website and download the examples. For 20+ dollars, that's just lame. Matt, charge an extra $.25 and give us all a CD.

Other than that, absolutely amazing!

The first three chapters can be skipped if you are an experienced PhotoShop user - really basic stuff. After that, there are some great hints, tips, and techniques. Great companion to his PodCast series.

I debated buying this book as I have worked with Photoshop for several years and thought I had a pretty good grasp of the layers idea. I decided to get it anyway and found so many tips and shortcuts that I hadn't been aware of, that I was glad I had made the choice to purchase it. Matt teaches in an informal and easy manner which makes it easy to learn and understand what he is doing in each step.Having the downloaded images that he used to work with made it simple to follow his instructions.

Matt Kloskowski is one of my favorite presenters at Photoshop World and I assumed this book would be a great way to learn the features of Layers and Matt delivers.
Over the past two years I've attended Photoshop World and always enjoyed Matt's classes. The Complete Guide to Photoshop Most Power Features Layers is a great way to understand the power and features of Layers, and the format is similar to Matt's presentations that are standing room only at Photoshop World classes.
I started reading and following Matt's lessons in the morning and didn't stop until the last chapter in the afternoon. Matt's relaxed and simple way of teaching Photoshop comes through in every chapter. All of the sample images are included on a CD with the book which helps you follow along with every step.
Some of the files on the CD have different file names than listed in the book, that's the only reason why this didn't get 5 stars.

I'll bet you were excited to find a book that would be free of Scott Kelby's juvenile sense of humor. Confess! Well, think again. This Kelby wanna-be wastes almost as many trees with silly comments. However, I will admit, it's a good, all-around text that concentrates on one thing: layers. It's a very well-written book with easy to follow directions for the beginner...and the more advanced user (who won't admit to reading it).

Matt has done a wonderful job with this effort. This is a complete guide to a very powerful Photoshop feature indeed.
Highly recommended.

This is the best book, by far, that I have ever read on the use of Layers.

Not only has Matt laid down the ground work on how layers can be used in your artwork, but his examples and extended explanations on why he has you use these methods is the easiest tutorials I've ever read.

To me, this is the best book on understanding and learning Photoshop that I have ever read.

If you are to buy "ANY" Photoshop book, this is the one to get first.

If you haven't yet pushed yourself to use layers in Photoshop, this is the book to show you why you should and what you have been missing. The book is written in a way that is easy to follow and has examples that help it all make sense. even if you have had some experience with layers the book is a useful tool that shows you how to move to the next step. Well written text that keeps it simple with a bit of humor thrown in to keep it interesting. After you finish the book you will have a great knowledge of Layers that you can now use to bring new life to all of your digital images.

Great BOOK!! Great PRICE!! FAST WELL-PACKAGED SHIPPING!! It doesn't get any better than this...THANK YOU !! !!

Photoshops Layers is everything you need to know about layers. A beginner will find this book both informative deverse in its picture subjects. I liked how each section built on the previous all in the end to teach you the strength of layers in your projects. The directions are easy to understand even subjects as complicated as blending and masks. I recommend this book for the novice who has to understand the basics, although intermediate users will gain a better understanding of what is possible with layers. Great book! I gave it four out of five stars.

Quite simply, this book is a "must read" for photoshop users. I have been using photoshop since version 5 and I wish that I had read this book way back then. It is well written with easy, follow along examples of all of the many powerful uses of layers. Matt has a writing style that is both humerous and entertaining while being concise and educational. I have read a lot of instructional books about photoshop, and find this to be one of the most useful and practical ones.

Matt is very clear and fun to work with, follow his tuturals and now I use the book as a quick referance guide

This looks like a great book. I started to get into it and stopped. Have to go back to it.

Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature

I have found this to be a very informative book, I am not a beginner but felt Matt could shed some light on area that I was not familar with. I was correct I have learned new techiniques, plus have some new ideas.

I recommend for the beginner plus people like me that just want to increase their knowledge without taking classes.

I've been using Photoshop for over a decade... okay, two decades. But I was never a power user and did not understand all the features offered in layers. Type layers I understood. I could do all the cool effects on type. But adjustment layers and their masking features were beyond me. No longer. Matt Kloskowski has a way of making it all seem easy--and it makes sense! Suddenly I am turning into a power user! My photos look better than ever before! If you use Photoshop for work or home, you need this book!

Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature

I did 5 classes in PhotoShop starting in 2005 and I did not understand it. I am now in a class at City College SF. This class taught me more about it. Until I sat down with this book by Kloskowski Matt I was destined to Beginner status. The key here is not just reading it - you download the photos he uses chapter by chapter and follow his editing step by step. Its all about one Menu one of many capabilities of this extremely complex program. Yet without knowing Layers you cannot call yourself a Digital Darkroom Photographer. I read the same words before this that layers are like layers of acetate over an image. The checkerboard you see in the thumbnail of the Layers panel so confused me - why a checkerboard? Then I got it that its really a piece of glass transparent. Reading and working these chapters - I did 3 - the lights keep going on.
The proof is not just in following his editing - I am now taking a photo of mine and working with new layers new adjustment layers. Its just the beginning
I think its important to recognize that this is an extremely complex program. I had the background bottom layer of course then made Layer 1 to do something and I couldnt do it. Nothing happened. I learned what that means - that something is left hanging and Photoshop does not move to a new step until its free and clear to do that. So I had something selected in that layer and I had to deselect it to move to a new step
Lots of PhotoShop experts and yet they dont teach you to become another PhotoShop expert. Matt Kloskowski is a teacher who succeeds.
Im only on chapter 3 - when I finish I will be one of those Photoshop experts

This book is awesome. If you never worked with layers before or even if you already work with them on Photoshop then you should consider getting this book.
It gets a lot of newbie stuff and also some hidden features that you never think about having and use them. You will have some Layers Basic, Blending Layers, Adjustment Layers, Layers Masks, Type and Shape Layers, Enhancing Photos with Layers, Retouching with Layers, Layers Styles and Smart Layers on total there are 9 chapters full of Layers information for all.
Very happy to get this book as Matt Kloskowski is a guru on this kind of stuff along with Scott Kelby.

What are you waiting for... if you do not own a copy go get one!
This is a MUST HAVE in your Photoshop book collection.

This book is the best step-by-step lesson for a novice and an intermediate Photoshop user. You will learn so many good tricks with layers, that you will be manipulation this software like a pro.
You will also want to have this book next to your computer at all time.
The writer makes it really easy and fun to read and apply the illustrations showed in the several chapters.
I just Love this book, great Job Matt.

Amazing,clearly explained information about layers. This is the only layers book you will need and the only one you MUST own.

This is a great book. I have learned or at least relearned many things that I had not known or had forgotten. You do need to have some background in Photoshop to understand some of the things he talks about. He is rather entertaining in his presentation. I for sure recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand and learn more about layers.

This book is excellent if you are layers challenged! I've been working with photoshop for a few years and never had much luck making sense out of layers. Matt Kloskowski's straight forward presentation puts them into perspective by using a combination of tutorials and easy to understand prose. I highly recommend this book.

All I can say is that if you work with Photoshop CS3 you really need to get this book and work your way through it. When you have finished, you will have an understanding of layers that far exceeds most users. Having this understanding will greatly enhance you ability to use Photoshop.

GET IT!!

great book to really get you to understand layers... it's a great asset to have if you want to learn photoshop and to learn it in the simplest way possible.

I've been a fan of his Video podcast with his two other co host Scott Kelby and Dave Cross. They're not only did a fun show to watch but I also learn something from it every episode.
So when I heard Matt mention this book that he wrote. I went online and I ordered it without hesitant.
This book is so easy to follow. If you can read. you'll have no problem with it that's how easy it is.
You don't have to be a geek to understand this book.
I think it's worth every pennies of it.

If you are completely new to Photoshop... or are even somewhat experienced in the very basics of this software, then you need to work through this book. Here's the deal....many of these other books you are likely looking at ...Kelby's for instance...almost ALWAYS assume you understand the basics of layers when he is going through his examples (and therefore spends little to no time on explaining exactly why you might need an adjustment layer over a layer mask as opposed to just creating a new layer...or maybe merging previous layers so you can go on to some other adjustment). This is why you need Matt's book...it is worth it's weight in gold. Go through it several times..working through his tutorials/projects and other photoshop books will make SO much more sense!

Anybody who has listened to Matt Kloskowski teaching about Photoshop will know that he is a natural teacher. Everything he teaches is presented in a simple and very understandable manner, even if the subject is highly complicated.

Many of the subjects covered in this book are not huge secrets which the pros have kept carefully hidden from the general public. Rather many of the early lessons are simple and slowly build to the more complicated stuff. Matt Kloskowski has arranged the lessons in his Layers book to ensure that it is easy to follow and also in a way you will remember. If you are new to Photoshop and layers you will a thorough grasp of these subjects. The easy to follow tutorials are accompanied by colour images, which lead you through each step and you can even follow along yourself with the provided downloadable lesson files.

In short this is a really outstanding Photoshop book.

I just finished reading Layers last week, and have been playing with Matt's techniques. Wow! I've been using layers in Photoshop, but obviously have not been taking full advantage of them--had no clue how to use an adjustment layer, even though I knew they existed. This book will completely change how I handle photos--no more saving 6 versions of the same file. Who knew you could do retouching on an adjustment layer. The dodge and burn technique is fantastic. Now I will do all my level adjustments on an adjustment layer and not be saving 2 versions of the photo: the original and the "adjusted."

I am not a professional photographer, nor a graphic designer. Most of my work is in InDesign. However, I am constantly trying to improve the less than ideal photos (terrible photos, actually) given to me for my documents. My personal project of trying to salvage boxloads of old family photos also creates some challenges.

This book is going to save me tons of time, effort, and disk space! And, best of all, improve my results! Best money I've spent on a book in a long time. All the examples apply to the results I need to accomplish.

If you've only been dabbling in PhotoShop or if you've been spending hours pasting, trimming, de-fringing, and trying not to blur faces when dodging heavy shadows, or if you are filling your drive with unnecessary versions of files or huge multi-layered photoshop files, you need this book! My copy is already dog-earred from carrying it between home and work. Thank you Matt!

I found this book to be very helpful. It is the only book I have that explains layers in a practical and easy to understand way. Only one drawback, it does not let you know before buying it that it was written for CS2 and later versions. However most of it is applicable to Photoshop Elements 6.0

I'm new to the whole Photoshop Layers concept as a photographer and I'm amazed at the amount of things which can be done non-destructively to your image to enhance it. I have several of his instructional DVD's for Photoshop from NAPP and really enjoy his style of instruction.

I love the way that Matt is able to break down a sometimes complicated process, into easy to understand steps. He makes me feel confident that I can do the same things he does and get similar results - which I have! It's not just a cookbook for Photoshop, but he shows you how to think thru the process and get the results you are looking for. The full color photographs really help reinforce his explanations. His is a rare ability, to make you feel his excitement about all the possibilities with Layers without feeling totally overwhelmed by your lack of knowledge.

This book has greatly enhanced my understanding and appreciation for Photoshop Layers! I'm glad for colleagues like him who are willing to share their knowledge and experience in such a non-condescending way! Keep them coming Matt!

I'm about half way through my copy and I'm really happy with what I've learned so far. I read through a few of the other reviews and the reason they don't like the book is the exact reason why I do. It's ideal for some one like me. The chapters on blending modes and layer masks alone make it worth it. I've tinkered around in Photoshop for a while but I'm probably still an advanced beginner with no formal education in it. I need a book that shows me the basics of this stuff but pushes me to take it a little bit further, and so far this one has done it.

Layers can be a little tricky, but this book totally breaks them down to where I was able to understand why to use them and when. I especially liked Chapter 3 Adjustment Layers. Wow, the possibilities are endless here... and Chapter 9 Smart Layers... this chapter will definitely help speed up my work flow. It was also very nice to see the "How Do I.." questions and answers (short and sweet) at the end of each chapter. Nicely written and easy to follow. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to know about Layers and their endless possibilities !!

Everything about layers is explained in hands-on tutorials, and the exercises really go step by step through how to deal with the various aspects of layers. There is a summary at the end of each chapter outlining the key points from the chapter.

I would consider myself an intermediate user of photoshop and really found there wasn't much I didn't know already. Quite a few useful tips and shortcuts in the book which I was reminded of, but otherwise I flipped through this more like a magazine than a book. I would highly recommend for beginners (5-stars) and for anyone else (3-stars), you'll learn as much by searching the web or subscribing to the Photoshop Users TV and Photoshop Killer Tips podcasts

Layers is a excellent source book for learning Photoshop CS3. I have learned so much reading through the book and trying out different formulas to enhance my photography. Highly recommend it.

I also recommend:

Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3 (Voices)