Customer comments on this selection.
 Mixed Feelings
I really wanted to like this book. I enjoyed the author's approach, his web site, and, for the most part, his explanations. I may have learned the basics of layering, though some techniques that I use are done via a cookbook approach without any understanding of the actions I am taking.
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br /I was greatly disappointed in his treatment of Masking, the technique that takes layering to a new level. I knew nothing about it before I purchased the book and, if that is possible, know less now. Chapter 4, Masking, is a complete disaster. He abandoned his patient approach and plowed into the subject, leaving me bewildered and lost. I'm sure he feels differently, but his ability to sense the confusion of the neophyte abandoned him at that point. Masking comes up often enough after that to make the book increasingly frustrating, like hearing a conversation in which you miss every fourth word.
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br /Had I learned even a bit about masking, and more about why certain layering actions are taken, I would have given the book five stars. As it stands, I'm still looking for the layering book that puts it all together.
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 Better than average
This book is more complete than the average Photoshop book. (I currently have 6 books in my personal library on various Photoshop and Photoshop Lightroom topics.) The approach that is taken with this book provides more funadmentals than usual - the "why's" of what is presented rather than the usual cookbook, "follow along" style that is typically used in these type books. While the book does provide some of the underlying fundamentals, I took off one star from my rating because more improvements in describing the "whys" could be made to make it even more useful. But overall, this is better than most, and I would recommend it for both beginning and intermediate users of Photoshop programs (from Elements to CS3 versions).
Good but flawed
I added this volume to my rapidly growing photoshop library in order to learn more about layers, which is indeed a very powerful and most useful weapon in the photoshop arsenal.
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br /And there is a lot of very useful information in here, which I reckon is both the blessing and the curse of this book. After reading this book, you will definitely understand layers. However, there is a lot of text and, as a reviewer before me pointed out, not that many pictures, which to my mind, is not a very good combination. The text can be a bit hard to follow without any prior understanding of photoshop I should imagine. I was certainly glad, that I had already purchased and read other books before this one.
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br /I'm not a big fan of the Scott Kelby approach to photography or photo editing. I think he oversimplifies the learning process in a way that makes you learn some of the hows but none of the whys. This book takes the exact opposite of Kelby's approach and loads everything you could possibly want to know about photoshop layers in your lap. This does make the book a bit heavy. You need to concentrate while using this book and you probably need to go over some of the things a couple of times.
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br /So in conclusion I'll say, that this book is very good and very thorough, but does need an effort to go through. I wouldn't recommend it to a complete novice either, but once you get into photoshop I think it is defintely worth acquiring.
 Well, he does seem to know his stuff, but...
I purchased this book and another newer layers book at the same time, hoping to really dig in and get a good grasp on a great feature of Photoshop I want to know in and out to improve my workflow. If you're new enough to Adobe Photoshop that layers confuse you, this book might be too in-depth. I personally find it a bit boring. Also, not enough images. Designers and photographers looking to learn Photoshop are (presumably) visual people. Help us out with big gorgeous color images. I'm well educated, but I am BUSY! I don't need quite so much detail. Just SHOW me how to do it. Just my opinion, but that's what these reviews are for, right?! Maybe for the next edition. Cute cover design, though!
 The photoshop book to get!
I am please how easy this book is to follow. Layering is essentially the power behind non-destructive photo editing and this book covers the concept of layering in an easy to understand manner.
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br /I've had maybe 2 months of tinkering around with photoshop and by doing the excercises in this book, i was able to venture off on my own and create fantastic composites quickly.
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