Okay, how do I get started?

In my previous Photoshop books, Photoshop CS Down & Dirty Tricks and The Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers, I used a technique that really worked well. I gratuitously mentioned my other books in the introduction, just in case I didn't get to plug them later. No, wait… that's not it. What I did tell the reader was that my books aren't set up like a novel. They're purposely not designed to make you start at Chapter One and read your way through to the back (where hopefully, I'll again have an opportunity to plug, I mean casually mention, my other books). Instead, this book is designed so you can jump in anywhere, in any chapter, and immediately try the tips that interest you the most, regardless of your level of experience in Photoshop. You don't need to load any special images from a CD-ROM or go to a website to download special photos these are just cool tips. No flaming type, no multilevel glows just timesaving shortcuts and efficiency tips that will make you faster and better at Photoshop than you'd ever thought you'd be.

TIP

You're doing it again! Stop looking at these sidebars. See, they're intoxicating you're drawn to them even after you know it's not really a tip. Okay, here's a real tip: If you like sidebar tips, buy this book.

Also, like my previous books, we spell out everything. So if you've been using Photoshop for years, don't let it frustrate you because instead of just writing, "Create a new layer," we usually write, "Create a new layer by clicking on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette." We do that because we want everyone, at any skill level, to be able to open the book to any page and start applying these cool tips to their work immediately.

This book is built on the premise that "Speed Kills." Because after all, if you get faster at Photoshop, you'll have more time to be creative, and the more time you spend being creative, the more fun you'll have.