At this level, I was happy to pause after each section of the lessons and practice the skills. With some of the more complicated topics, I played the lesson several times, and practiced after each playing. By the time I finished, I was confident that I had mastered a good number of the more advanced features Photoshop has to offer.
I found the number of typos on the Learning CDs to be minimal and unimportant. For example, in one exercise the narrator says to select cyan, but to my eye a deeper blue is selected. Certainly not something to stop me from completing the project.
The second part of Chapter One continued to demonstrate the Actions palette, its features and uses. I played with the preset actions, as directed, and of course I couldn't resist doing a little extra playing, now that I knew what Actions are about and how my play will affect them. I found some of the Actions didn't work the way I thought they should, and the Learning CD soon explained both what they were doing, and how I could change things to suit myself.
We went on to create our own Action. And we assigned a shortcut key to the action. I could see how great this would be, if I wanted to perform the same actions over and over again. I'd only have to press my shortcut key, and the entire task would be done.
Plug-ins. The lesson starts by explaining about third party filters and how to install them. It was interesting to see some of the Eye Candy filters customized and applied to an image.
Calibration. If you're like me, you don't feel exactly comfortable when you start changing the settings in your computer's insides. The lessons on calibration showed and described each step, and I felt that I could do it without messing anything up. I also saw, from watching this lesson, why it might be necessary to calibrate my monitor!
Color Modes. If you thought there color was a simple subject, you haven't really explored it. The project using color modes will open your eyes to entirely new color modes. Bitmaps and color channels, duotones and color curves - this lesson makes the topics so much clearer. You will need to do a lot of practicing between watching the lessons.
Printing. Finally we come to the so-important output - printing. Since we are still working with a duotone image, we are first shown how to adjust the print options using this image, but the information will apply to other images as well. You'll want to review this section again in weeks to come, as you work with your own printer.
Chapter Two – Plug-In Filters
About Plug-Ins
Installing Plug-Ins
Completing the Installation
Using the Swirl Effect
Using the Inverse Command
Quiz
Chapter Three – Color Settings
Importance of Calibration
Explaining ICC Profiles
Calibrating the Monitor
Setting the White Point
Calibrating the Printer
Specifying Color Space
CMYK Color Profile Setup
Using CMM Engines
Using the Profile Setup
Quiz
Chapter Four – Color Modes
Discussing Color Modes
Converting to a Bitmap
Adding Color
Using Indexed Color Mode
Using the Duotone Mode
Adjusting the Duotone Curve
Loading a Duotone
Quiz
Chapter Five – Printing
Printing Options
More Printing Options
Discussing the Border Button
Image Setting Options
Using the Bleed Option
Inserting a Caption
Discussing Checkbox Options
More Checkox Options
Quiz
I recommend Learning Photoshop 5, Advanced for people who:
1. Are comfortable with the basics of PhotoShop
2. Would benefit from seeing such features as Actions, Duotone, Print
Options demonstrated.
3. Have read about these features, but have not understood them entirely,
and are wary of experimenting with them.
4. Will be working with professional printer services.
Christine C. Frey
Software Instructor
Carroll Community College