Latest Photoshop a trove of treasures

The new Adobe Photoshop CS3 ($649, or $199 for owners of previous versions) offers an array of new and improved features and tools aimed to please current Photoshop users and bring new ones into the fold.

Although Photoshop is designed for professional photographers, it's also widely used by serious amateurs like me and, perhaps, you.

Improvements include more versatile black-and-white conversion, re-editable filters, better Curves adjustment, improved Cloning and Healing tools, and much more.

The new Quick Selection tool should enable me to select an object within an image, by painting over it while the tool expands outward to its edges, then modifying the selection by hand.

In addition, I can use the Refine Selection Edge tool to smooth, feather, contract or expand a selection's edge with sliders.

To create a composite image, I can combine, align and blend different images into one by placing them on separate layers and letting Photoshop calculate, move and rotate the layers so that they overlap correctly.

Then, I can use masking tools to show or hide specified areas from each layer.

Finally, automatic layer blending can blend color and shading into the final image. What's new here is the automatic layer alignment and blending features designed to make the process faster and easier.

To save space on the display screen, the tools palette is a single column with other palettes arranged in docks that can be widened, narrowed to only icons or hidden.

When I move the mouse to the edge of the screen, the palette dock appears. It hides again when I move back to the image.

I can also store my customized workspaces and retrieve them within Options.

In addition, CS3 provides new Camera Raw capabilities and tools and permits me to apply Camera Raw editing to JPEG and TIFF files as well as Raw files.

OK, enough preliminary description of what CS3 can do. It's time to get started.

Installing CS3 is easy, and when I open it up, the work space looks familiar.

My self-imposed first task is to process a batch of images without help, and I'm glad to discover this new version isn't so different that I can't edit and print as I have with previous versions.

I'm ready to learn how to use the new features and tools and decide to do it with help from the Total Training DVD series for Adobe's Creative Suite 3 (CS3) applications.

When the video-training program for Photoshop arrives — "Total Training for Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended Essentials" ($100, www.totaltraining.com) — I begin.

I've taken Total Training video courses before (when I was first learning Photoshop) and like them because the instruction is clear, easy to follow and progresses at a manageable pace.

I also like that I can skip a few lessons I don't need and work through others I do, without having to copy the course files and complete their assigned tasks. Instead, I often practice the new skills while working on my own files.

For those of us who already use Photoshop, it makes sense to dig deeply into what's new and skim over what we know.

The course is easy to install. Before starting the first lesson, I skim the list of lessons and topics covered.

They include: Doctoring Images (with the Crop, Clone, Healing, and other tools); Smart Objects (Placing External Files, Editing Smart Objects, and more); Filters (Sharpening and Blur, for instance); Automation (Dialog Presets, Applying Actions, etc.); Layers (Shadows, 3D Effects, and more); Output Options (Zoomify, Print File Formats, Web & Video File Formats); Adobe Bridge and Camera Raw.

Praise for teacher

As with previous Total Training tutorials, the teacher (Chad Perkins, in this case) is clear. For those new to Photoshop, carefully stepping through this tutorial would be a huge asset in the learning process.

For regular Photoshop users, a support book may be all that's needed to learn the latest Photoshop updates.

I've seen the table of contents for the upcoming "Learning Photoshop CS3" by Jennifer Smith and taken a closer look at the recently published "Photoshop CS3 for Dummies" by Peter Bauer.

Don't be fooled by a title that suggests any Photoshop users are dummies. This book assumes its readers are smart and capable enough to tackle Photoshop, and its goal is to make the program's sophisticated features and tools understandable to non-techies and amateur photographers.

Luckily, that goal is met, at least for this amateur photographer.

Like the Total Training course, this book covers Photoshop basics and highlights its features so that new users can learn the software and experienced users can focus on learning the updated and additional tools and features.

Basics for newbies

For example, it begins with "basic training" that takes newcomers through an introduction of Photoshop's essential tools and features, then progresses to more sophisticated ones, such as using camera raw, layer styles and filters.

Since this column focuses on introducing Photoshop CS3's new tools/features, and helping you decide how to approach learning this complex and highly capable photo-processing software, it doesn't provide a very thorough critique of CS3's qualities and possible shortcomings.

For a more detailed review, read the one in Macworld's July 2007 issue: www.macworld.com/2007/04/reviews/photoshopcs3/index.php?pf=1.

If you love creating great photographs but haven't learned to use Photoshop, perhaps this summer is a good time to take on the challenge. Just dig in, have fun and enjoy the results.

Write Linda Knapp at lknapp@seattletimes.com; to read other Getting Started columns, go to: www.seattletimes.com/gettingstarted