have read four other books on the new Photoshop CS3 - all of which quickly became too complicated. After all, I want to produce excellent pictures with my Nikon 80D SLR, and am learning Photoshop CS3 from scratch, but other writers seem compelled to include, in books labelled as introductory, the most arcane or esoteric features of this magnificent software. They do so while neglecting basic issues like capturing and enhancing a RAW picture for transmitting across the web.

So I was relieved to find this 430-page book, which begins with "Digital Basics" and waits until P375 to deal with "Posterization" and suchlike. Check Amazon's "Search Inside" feature and look at the Contents. You'll see that this is a book for photographers, as well as professional web designers, for example. It is even more attractively designed than most, and is accompanied by a DVD with loads of useful information (readily accessible in spite of one odd review here). The DVD has more than eight hours of instruction by the authors in subjects ranging in complexity from the use of simple hand tools to montage and special-effects.

The step-by-step instructions are easy to follow, and (unlike other books on the subject) contain no glaring errors of fact or syntax. The authors have clearly taken care to avoid careless editing. Hence my gratitude extends to writing this complimentary review!