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Photoshop 7, Down & Dirty Tricks

by Scott Kelby

From New Riders Publishing
(c) 2002 New Riders Publishing
ISBN 0-7357-1237-9
278 pps
$39.99 (US), $62.99 (CAN) UK £30.99

Review by Gary Coyne

Intended user: Beginner and Intermediate.

It was April of last year I reviewed Photoshop 6 Down & Dirty Tricks. Now, with one of the first books on the shelves with the words Photoshop 7 in the title, Scott Kelby is presenting his newest "Dirty" book, "Photoshop 7 Down & Dirty Tricks." Here's the bad news: if you are looking for lots of specific information on Photoshop 7, this isn't the book (it's not intended to be). Fortunately there is still some great news: this book is full of lots of new Dirty Tricks.

Specifically, I was only able to count 24 instances of the words "Photoshop 7" in this book and not for the screen shots showing the larger sample windows now shown in the various Filter options. Curiously, there are no screen shots displaying OS X, only OS 9.

If you purchased "Photoshop 6, Down & Dirty Tricks," it's your call as to whether you purchase this one. A number of the tricks shown in the last book also show up here. However, many of them have variations on what you may end up with, some directly related to the new features in PS 7. I find this great as it shows how you can start from the same place and end up in two similar results. Additionally, there is the occasional process that is different because of changes in Photoshop.

This book, like the last, is a collection of tricks showing you how to create a specific result in Photoshop. Each trick can take 3,6,12 or even more steps (typically 3 steps per page). Each has a picture/screen shot near the binding of the book and to the outside of the picture, is text. In a step by step process, Scott Kelby leads you through the process explaining what was done and/or how to do each step.

Due to the structure of what Scott shows, there are no opportunities to provide an explanation for any of the processes performed. On the other hand, Scott is a keyboard-focused Photoshop user and the reader obtains the benefits of this. So, for example, when one needs to have the foreground and background colors in their default mode, Scott says "press the letter "d" to bring the foreground and background colors to their default mode. After the 14th time, you know how to do this without going to the mouse. I am a better Photoshop user because of Scott's persistence that I learn these tricks.

Now I need to apologize for a mistake I made in my last review. First the background: on every page there is a sidebar with quick tips. Sort of "Sidebars of Information" as it were. Therein are fantastic collections of nifty tricks on Photoshop use. These seldom if ever have anything to do with the Dirty Trick being explained, but they are there nonetheless. When I reviewed the last version of this book I stated that there is no index of these tricks, and as such they are impossible to find.

The truth is, I am embarrassed to say, they are included in the Index at the end of the book. And, in the new version, they are still listed in the Index. However, despite my error, these tricks are still somewhat lost to the reader unless you can figure out the proper keyword for finding them. For example, in Photoshop, if you click on the Slice Tool, your image will have a slice # appear in the upper left corner--even if you do not slice up the image in any way. That slice # will now remain on your image forever (it doesn't print or anything, it appears on the screen). I saw the trick on how to remove it from the screen, but even though I later learned (again) on how to remove it, I could not find the location of this trick in the Index. (It's Command-h (for hide) if you are curious). So, in my defense, the Index isn't perfect. Regardless, I was wrong and I do apologize.

Now that I know the Sidebars of Information are in fact listed in the Index, I am still going to complain and would like a separate Table of Contents for these items. I guess I find these so nifty that they deserve to have their own listing. Of course, if you really want nothing but the Killer Tips, Scott is there for you as well with a book just of these Killer Tips. My review of this book is here.

Regrettably, there are still a couple of things that bugged me about the last version of this program are still there for this version:

• The Table of Contents provides little help in what the Dirty Trick is going to teach the reader. While Chapter 2's "Drop Zone" does seem like a logical place for learning about drop shadows, could Scott please tell me what I'm supposed to infer from Chapter 8's title "Saturday Night Special?"
• The sample pictures shown in the Table of Contents region are not identified by name or page number. So if you see an effect you want to learn about, you need to hunt through the pages until you find that effect. A picture of each effect as part of the Table of Contents, as used in Photoshop Type Effects, would be a great addition.

However, in the grand scheme of things, these are quibbles.

If you use Photoshop, you probably would be wise to get this book. If you already purchased the earlier book, "Photoshop 6, Down & Dirty Tricks," you would be wise to see if there's enough new in this to warrant its purchase. There is new material, but there's a lot of old as well.

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