How do you learn the basics of Photoshop before going on to the books I recommend in the Mastering Photoshop Series? Look at the books below. Why did I lump Photoshop books together with digital photography books? Because some of the best basic and intermediate books cover both.
There are any number of good, basic and intermediate photoshop/photography books. Look for books by Tom Ang, Rick Sammon, Tim Grey, Martin Evening, Bruce Fraser, and Scott Kelby. Also worth reading are Deke McClelland, Barbara Obermeier, and Peter Bauer who authored the popular “Dummies” series of books for various versions of Photoshop.
Here are a few of my favorite books that deal with both digital photography and Photoshop all in one book:
Silver Pixels: An Introduction to the Digital Darkroom by Tom Ang.
Digital Photography Masterclass
Real World Digital Photography (3rd Edition) by Katrin Eismann, Sean Duggan, and Tim Grey. This is a comprehensive book about both photography nd Photoshop.
These books are just about Photoshop:
The Adobe Photoshop CS6 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices that Matter) by Scott Kelby. While not as comprehensive as the books that follow below, Kelby covers the basics in a way that is fun, witty and informative. There are versions of this book for CS5 and CS4.
Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book by Adobe is a straight forward and more detailed way to learn all about Photoshop than Kelby’s book. Here are the versions of the book for the last three versions of Photoshop:
Adobe Photoshop CS6 Classroom in a book
Adobe Photoshop CS5 Classroom in a Book
Adobe Photoshop CS4 Classroom in a Book
Once you’ve worked your way through one or two of the above books, I recommend getting Real World Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers by Conrad Chavez. The version for CS4 is by Chavez and David Blatner.
Another excellent choice instead of the book by Chavez/Blatner is Adobe Photoshop CS6 for Photographers by Martin Evening. Evening also has versions of this book for CS5 and CS4.
Once you’ve worked your way through a couple of these books, you will be more than ready for the books I recommended in the Mastering Photoshop Series.
Links
You can buy all of these books (and more) at my photography store. which is powered by Amazon.com’s great prices, fast delivery, and excellent service.