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

The book is all it is advertised to be. If read carefully, one can be doing usable work with Photoshop CS3 or 4 within half and hour. I consider this a good addition to my reference materials.

This instructional guide provides very basic lessons on how to use layers in CS2/CS3. As an intermediate-level CS2 user I found the book to be a useful review of some fundamental concepts. However, It is not comprehensive and thus doesn't contain enough information to justify retaining it in my library as a reference book or problem-solving tool.

Recommended for beginners.

This is a reasonably well written, clearly organized introduction to using layers in Adobe Photoshop (PS). Though targeted at a general audience, it will be most useful for photographers just starting out with PS or perhaps wanting a quick refresher on layers to spice up their work. These readers will find what they need here. More advanced PS users, or anyone looking for a comprehensive discussion of PS's full range of tools, should look elsewhere.

Kloskowski assumes basic familiarity with the PS workspace, with the basic uses of adjustment layers (e.g., what Curves or Hue/Saturation layers do), and with basic brush skills (e.g., how to size, set hardness, change shape). He stays focused on common layer-based tasks and techniques. Rather than discussing each layer blending mode, for example, he writes about the ones he thinks people are actually most likely to use: Screen, Multiply, and Soft Light (with a nod to Overlay). Layer masks receive due attention, along with techniques for photo enhancement and retouching. There is also good information on text layers and using layers to stylize photos and other images. But again, this is all aimed at those just starting out or looking for a refresher. No one will become a PS layers power user just from reading this book.

Kloskowski's writing is breezy and informal, the sort we've come to expect from the Kelby conglomerate. Readers can jump into the book wherever their immediate interests take them (Kloskowski does a pretty good job of referring readers to earlier discussions when necessary). There are plenty of screen shot illustrations, though they are too often on the small side.

Kloskowski does not mention Adobe's innovative Photoshop Lightroom (LR), but this will be necessary in any second edition of the book. Much of what Kloskowski describes here can now be accomplished more efficiently in LR (especially with the local adjustments brush introduced in LR 2). LR will not make PS obsolete, but it will change the way people (especially photographers) use PS. The latest versions of LR and PS play very nicely together; one major reason why is the ability to accomplish what can't be done in LR by using selections and layers in PS. In the future, authors of books like this one will need to acknowledge how LR and PS support each other if those books are to be genuinely useful for their readers.

i haven't finished this book, as i only use it as a reference when i need something in particular, but so far i haven't found any major breakthroughs in it. i guess is better suited for novice users; i do recommend it anyway.

This book covers many areas that even experienced Photoshoppers will find valuable. I have been a Pro Fine Art Photographer for many years and have been using Photoshop over 10 years, and I found more than enough new stuff in this book to make its purchase very worthwhile. The author is a genuine Photoshop guru and has a knack for explaining its workings so that anyone can understand it. Buy it, even if you only have Photoshop Elements - many of the techniques in it work with that program also. A very worthwhile addition to any digital photographer's library!