How to Read This Book

At the beginning of every tutorial in this book, you'll find a little story. My favorite teachers and instructors throughout the years taught me in a way I wasn't aware of thenthey told stories. It didn't matter if the stories were true or fake because they got the point across and did it well. So, that's the direction in which I've taken this book. Each tutorial comes from an actual story that happened to me or someone I know. That's how I know this stuff works in the real world because each and every part of this book came from people who actually use Photoshop and wanted to get something done faster.

Step One

This part is where I'll explain step-by-step what to do. Keep in mind, though, I'm assuming that if you bought a book on doing things faster in Photoshop that you already know the basics of using Photoshop. I'll do my best to make things as clear as possible but I won't be explaining things you already know, such as how to open and close images, what a layer is, or how to use many of the tools in the Toolbox. Don't mind the photo here on the right. I just take any opportunity I can to work my two sons into my books.

©MATT KLOSKOWSKI

There are small places in between steps that'll look just like this one does. You'll be able to recognize them because of the small icon next to them. These are areas that may trip you up or slow you down. I'll try to warn you about any little nuances or things that could keep you from working faster.

Turbo Boost

This is one of those speed tips I talk about in Step Two. Trust me, you'll want to read these on every page. Sometimes they relate to the tutorial on that page but sometimes they're just fast ways to do something.

Step Two

Make sure you read the small gems at the bottom corner of each page called "Turbo Boost." They're not just there because I had to fill up the space. Trust me, the editors and designers that worked on this book would have loved it if I tossed this idea, but I think it's an essential part of the book. Plus, it's the only way I could fit in all of the little speed-related tips I wanted you to know. These are 100% speed-related tips, workarounds, shortcuts, or tricks that will help you be more productive.

Step Three

Oh yeah, most of the time you'll see an image next to each step to help illustrate what we're covering (or to just make things look pretty). You can try to skip reading the text and just look at the image but you're probably better off looking at both. Again, disregard this image, as I'm just building brownie points with my beautiful wife Diana.

©MATT KLOSKOWSKI

Step Four

Where appropriate, I've provided the photos and the images I'm using in this book on a website for you to download. If it's a Bridge tutorial, well, you can figure out that you don't need to have the same images in Bridge that I do. However, if it's a tutorial that uses a photo or image with specific layers, then I went ahead and included it at www.scottkelbybooks.com/speedclinic for download.

©MATT KLOSKOWSKI

Turbo Boost

Here's another one of those speed tips. The tip here is to not read the rest of this one. This is the only one that you'll find that just fills space because I needed to fill space in this introduction. Read the rest of them, though!