Layers

[wilfredo]

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Does anyone have a favorite book on Layers? How about his one?

 

Amazon.com: Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature: Matt Kloskowski: Books

 

Cheers,

Wilfredo

[Guest WPalank]

That's the one to get.

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[ammitsboel]

William, do you have all the books from kelbytraining.com?

Are they all good?

[Guest WPalank]

ammitsboel,

I don't own all the books and I don't own this one. However, I took Matt's online course on Layers (of which this book is based) and found it excellent along with his teaching style.

One day I was bored in a Borders book store and took Matt's book and compared it side by side with another (by a guy named Lynch I believe) and felt very subjectively mind you, that the Kosklowski book was better.

[ammitsboel]

Thanks Willian, does he teach in the "cooking recipe style" like Kelby does?

[Guest WPalank]

Yes he does. I think Kelby demands that sort of style from all his employees/instructors. In fact if you want to get an idea of his style, he writes the blog "Lightroom Killer Tips":

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips

 

Plenty of free videos to give you an idea of his style. Also, he's one of the Photoshop Guys (the better looking, skinnier guy).

 

I remember a couple of our UK brethren making a post a while back on how they disliked Kelby's style of goofing around. Myself, I don't mind it so much. Matt's style is more of making fun of himself when he makes a mistake rather than a plethora of running gags.

 

Ironically, I'm on Kelby training (videos) this morning taking Matt's course "Photoshop CS4 Power Session" as I just upgraded yesterday. (Some really great new stuff in CS4 I wasn't aware of and a great course). Anyway, I just noticed that in the last day or two they have a new course by Matt, "Mastering Layers in Photoshop CS4". The same course on CS3 is still available for people not planning to upgrade.

[farnz]

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I second what William says: Matt Koslowski's book is very effective. You learn at a good pace, the book has excellent use of graphics, the examples he uses are downloadable so that you get to see the effects first hand and his style is pleasant without being patronising.

 

I have a few books on PS (don't we all? ) but this one taught me about layers in a way that the others didn't and I wouldn't have found the techniques that Matt uses without the book (or presumably the online course).

 

Pete.

[wilfredo]

This is very helpful. I will look into Matt Koslowski's book. I haven't done much in the area of layers and would like to start exploring the possibilities.

 

Awesome photography William!

 

Thanks,

Wilfredo

Benitez-Rivera Photography

[wparsonsgisnet]

Wilfredo, thanks for starting this thread.

 

I'm also looking at Kos' book and wondering when I should get it. I'll do so now.

 

Tnx a lot and best regards,

[roguewave]

That's the one to get.

 

I second that emotion. The book remains close to my desk & I find each time I want to try something a bit different, I go back to his examples. The book is deceptively simple, but there's real depth, especially if you logically extend what he demonstrates so clearly. A great example is all the stuff about Smart Objects. That's a real treasure trove. I found that this is a great companion to Kelby's 7 Point System which William instructed me to master. They are synergistic.

[farnz]

Ben,

 

I couldn't agree more! They are a terrific pair.

 

Pete.

[wparsonsgisnet]

This is a dangerous place to lurk!

 

I just ordered both Koslowski's book and Kelby's 7-Point System.

 

They'll just have to be both my xmas present and a new year's present.

 

Hey, you guys, quit spending my $! It's clearly Wilfredo's fault.

[Philinflash]

...

 

I just ordered both Koslowski's book and Kelby's 7-Point System.

 

...

 

Both books have been rendered slightly obsolete by CS4, unfortunately. I spoke to Matt a few weeks ago about it and he said he did not plan to up-date his Layers book for CS4. So, if you are going to stick to CS3, you will be OK, except that CS4 is really better.

[Shootist]

Both books have been rendered slightly obsolete by CS4, unfortunately. I spoke to Matt a few weeks ago about it and he said he did not plan to up-date his Layers book for CS4. So, if you are going to stick to CS3, you will be OK, except that CS4 is really better.

Please explain why CS4 is better.

I have CS4 and to my knowledge, which is not the greatest of any PS version, Layers are Layers are Layers.

The reason Matt is not updating his book it because Layers are Layers are Layers. What else is there to right about. Ok there may be some minor changes in CS4 with respect to how you can do somethings with layers but not enough to fill a book that anyone would buy.

As time goes on most software writers/companies don't even include a decent help file anymore.

[Philinflash]

...there may be some minor changes in CS4 with respect to how you can do somethings with layers but not enough to fill a book that anyone would buy.

As time goes on most software writers/companies don't even include a decent help file anymore.

 

Shootist, I know you have CS4. If you don't agree it is better, fine, but I do not feel like an online argument with you at the moment. Further, I do not really care if Matt wants to cash in on the newer version; I was just reporting for the benefit of the forum what he said to me. I was not trying to irritate you, Shootist. Apologies.

 

I am not saying that a new book should be filled with a discussion of CS4 vs CS3 layers. However, a reader of the Layers or the Kelby book running CS4 might have trouble reconciling the book to the software. And as you yourself have written in other threads there are things you can do now in Bridge that were not there before that you might have dealt with in CS3 using layers, for instance.

 

I do agree with your disapproving observation about the absence of a decent help file. For other readers who do not understand this reference, I believe Shootist is referring to CS4 which does NOT (amazingly) come with a parallel software help file as prior versions always had. I find this reprehensible, but others may differ. The only access is to an online version which takes forever to load. I find that I forget the question before "Help" arrives.

 

One last observation on the Kelby 7-Point System. It is fine as far as it goes but it does not go into other things that a photographer might want to do in post such as compositional adjustments that PS can do.