Reviews (9)

This is THE book for learning PSP X
This book is great for the digital photographer (and who isn't these days?), who may or may not be new to Paint Shop Pro. It teaches all the great techniques for not only improving pictures, but also has many suggestions for using them in fun and interesting ways.
Badly Organized and Incomplete
This book is terrible.It does not cover many of the tools.For instance, at the beginning of the book it mentions that a new tool is "Object Remover", supposedly to remove objects you dont want in a picture.That is the last you hear of it, it's never mentioned again, and no hint as to how to use it.The major tools are covered (sometimes in several sections), but many other tools are listed at the beginning of the chapter, then never mentioned.I'm sorry I bought it and will try another book (Perhaps Paint Shop Pro X Digital darkroom by Clark).

Salvation from Damnation
Paint Shop Pro X, as released by Corel after buying the software from JASC, was supposedly a revision of the program in a new user friendly, learning friendly direction.Unfortunately, the program's on screen help is horrible, and the official manual is nearly worthless.PSP 9 had a much better manual, and if you upgraded from PSP 9 and already understood the program then you may not need this book.But if you're new to PSP, you desperately need some kind of substitute manual, and this book is the best I've seen.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    2. Computers - Desktop Publishing    3. Photo Techniques    4. Photography    5. Reference    6. Techniques - General    7. Computer graphics software    8. Photography / Techniques   

Reviews (6)

Availability og Paint Shop Pro 5.01
I have used and get a lot of mileage out of Paint Shop Pro 5.01 .Higher versions 8.0 and 9.0 have more bells and whistles but for day to day task 5.01 is more than adequate. I am having difficulty in getting the write up for Paint Shop Pro 5.01. Like most of Paint Shop Pro 'help'. They give the bare information. Why don't they run the user through a typical Paint Shop Pro task that one encounters in the real world. Consider it the best of all the graphic programs. Also XP OS versions of Paint is excellent and use that often.

This Dummy Found It Useful :)
Paint Shop Pro 8 For Dummies by David Kay helped this dummie a good bit :) . Being a "Newbie" to Paint Shop Pro 8 I was totally lost. This book starts with the basics such as downloading your pictures to the more complicated such as turning a photo into a painting. It has been a great help to me. The reason I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is that I have found it lacking in the one area I purchased it for and that is simple photo editing. Several tools and techniques are not explained in detail and/or not at all. But overall if you are a novice to Paint Shop Pro 8 as I was you will find it more than beneficial.

Decent but could use some work
Ok here is what I consider the skinny.If you have not used Paint Shop Pro before, then this book can help you get started.It is not a tutorial type of book.It tries to explain how the tools are used and what does some of the settings do.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Desktop Publish    2. Computer Graphics - Design    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    5. Computer graphics    6. Computers    7. Computers - Desktop Publishing    8. Desktop Publishing - General    9. Microcomputer Graphics    10. Paint shop pro    11. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    12. Photoshop   

Reviews (3)

Read this first
Being slightly famillar with a older versiion of Paint Shop I felt I still needed the basic instructions that Dummies gives.
Good general purpose aide.
This book is a great entry level aide to understanding the workings of Paint Shop.However, it is an all inclusive aide so anyone who is looking to use Paint Shop merely for the purposes of photo editing will not find much of use inside this help.But, it can open your eyes to what is possible with Paint Shop and get your foot in the door to anything new.

as good as Photoshop for many tasks
Well Paint Shop Pro 9 is not the latest Photoshop. But Kay reveals that Paint Shop can do many of the common tasks available in Photoshop. Common image editing, like resizing images, tweaking the colour maps and so on, are just as easy in Paint Shop. As you might expect, there is a layer model of images, that lets you have overlay planes and manipulate objects in each. [You may already be familiar with the idea from Photoshop.]
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Design    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computers    5. Computers - Desktop Publishing    6. Microcomputer Graphics    7. Paint shop pro    8. Paint shop pro (Computer software)    9. Computer graphics software    10. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design   

Subjects:  1. Computer Graphics - General    2. Computers - Other Applications    3. Techniques - General    4. Computers & Internet / Graphic Design    5. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    6. Photoshop   

Reviews (12)

A very good book on Paint Shop Pro 8
This book was everything I hoped it was. It explained a lot of things about PSP that I didn't know. I mean that it help in all of the different versions of PSP. I was very pleased and I am still learning from it.

Not Everything, Mostly Photo Manipulation How To
The title of my review says it all. Although the title of the book is "How To Do Everything ..." it mostly shows you how to manipulate your photo images. Has some basic info on the controls but very little about how to use Paint Shop Pro 8 in creating or modifying graphic images. Get Paint Shop Pro 8 For Dummies if you want more useful info for the same size book/price.

The best for PSP 8 and digital photography
Although this book needs another title (it certainly does not cover 'everything' in PSP 8 especially things like brushes, filters, it is still an excellent reference for using PSP 8 with your digital photography images and teaching some digital photography techniques.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Desktop Publishing    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - Design    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computer graphics    6. Computers    7. Computers - Desktop Publishing    8. Desktop Publishing - General    9. Microcomputer Graphics    10. Operating Systems - General    11. Paint shop pro    12. Computer graphics software    13. Computers / Computer Graphics / General   

Reviews (10)

Good start, but light on content
I'm a web developer by trade, but I've mostly coded back-end stuff.When I found myself needing to create some minimal imagery for a site, I turned to PaintShop.The price tag compared to PhotoShop was the difference maker and I had heard I could do 90% of what PhotoShop did with PaintShop. Luke warm book on PSP web graphics
I found a lot of the explanations to be too brief or dificult to follow. Many of the questions I have are not cover at all and when I needed help with roll-over techniques, the section is completely missing from my copy. I realize this is not the author's fault but it was the preverbial straw.

Read it first, then the manual
This is truly a great book if you want to get up to speed fast.It doesn't cover everything, but that's a GOOD thing --- no sense getting confused ahead of time!It will give you a sound base upon which you can build by reading the PSP manual or any of a number of Web resources.I think it deserves at least five stars. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: Desktop Publish    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer Networks    5. Computer graphics    6. Computers    7. Design    8. Desktop Publishing - General    9. Digital techniques    10. Image processing    11. Internet - General    12. Internet - Web Site Design    13. Microcomputer Graphics    14. Web sites    15. Desktop Publishing    16. Graphics    17. Internet languages   

Reviews (5)

It was OK
I was hoping for something that would show me more about dealing with photo enhancements rather than making graphic images.I did learn some things that helped me; but I will keep looking for a better PSPX book.The "how to" instructions were quite good for the examples; but I was hoping for more.

Corel paint shop pro x revealed
Great book, it gave me so much information, just what I was looking for!!

Corel Paint Shop Pro X Revealed
This is a great book for anyone who is new to Paint Shop Pro X. She did not wased our money by having color pictures to explain what to do. They are not needed. It is to the point and very helpful. I would recomend this book to anyone who is starting out in computer dark room. I love it and will look for other books by Sonja. A+++++++++++++++++ ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer graphics    5. Computers    6. Computers - Desktop Publishing    7. Electronic Publishing    8. Paint shop pro    9. Computers / Interactive Media   

Reviews (7)

Excellent documentation but . . .
This concise and thorough documentation of the software is what is says: "Not a tutorial".Some of us need a tutorial.

Almost Perfect Order
Paint Shop Pro 7 for Dummies is friendly, jovial, and takes the fright out of the jargon in this software. I liked the way David Kay starts the reader with the easy way of using each tool and then gently leads us into the wild and wonderful possihilities for each one. My only annoyance is that his mind does not move in the same order as mine does. That may be an advantage for him and for other readers. All in all, he did a great job of making beautiful but tangled software into something usable and powerful while still beautiful.

Wriiten by dummies not for dummies
I found this book exteremly hard to get into.I kept looking for a part of the book where I would find some good examples to follow to get me started.The person that wrote this book made a study of the menus and interface but I don't believe they ever made practical use of the product. They need to get someone that actually understands the software and the field of graphics to write the book.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Desktop Publish    2. Computer Graphics - Design    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer graphics    5. Computers    6. Computers - Desktop Publishing    7. Microcomputer Graphics    8. Computer graphics software    9. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design   

Reviews (3)

No Support from Publishers
I am really disappointed in the book and the publishers. Suppose to download sample photos to do projects which are nowhere to be found on their website. They do not even bother to attend to any correspondence send to them. Needless to say, I'll never buy a book from Sams Publishing again. I was your client.

Good concept, bad execution
I am a newbie at photoediting and was looking to learn how to use my new program.I liked the book's format, which is to learn by doing projects.However the author must assume the reader already knows the basics.He left out vital instructions and I was unable to complete most of the projects.

Not at all what I expected...
If you are looking to make "trick photos" and are new to PSP then this might be for you.If you are looking to use PSP to tweak and fine-tune, or even make drastic changes to improve pictures, this is not the book.It is more gimmicky than practical.There are much better books if you are serious about learning how to work with PSP.I was very disappointed with this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computers    4. Computers - Desktop Publishing    5. Desktop Publishing - General    6. Networking - General    7. Paint shop pro    8. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    9. Image processing: graphics (static images)   

Reviews (7)

Don't look any further, this is the one.
If you've tried using PSP 8 and have nearly tore your hair out because you couldn't figure out how to do even the simplest things - this is the book for you. Excellent step by step, with graphics and detailed explanations so that you're not the "monkey on the motorcycle." Covered more advanced features that I probably will not used - with the same detail, explanations and graphics.
Navigating the PSP 8 maze

PSP8 from the Foundation on up
What a fabulous foundation Sally and Ron have put together regarding PSP8.. worth the $'s spent. It is my opinion that this book is a must read for anyone that is interested in PSP8 and it's potential.What I enjoyed about this book, you get a good feel of each of the newest features and a little tutorial on how to accomplish a task. Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer graphics    4. Computers    5. Computers - Desktop Publishing    6. Desktop Publishing - General    7. Paint shop pro   

Reviews (8)

I learned a lot and I already thought I knew a lot.
I got this and Ken McMahon's (and Robin Nichols) book at the same time. I initially thought I was going to like the other book more, but this one became ever-so-slightly the preferred of the two.It's not perfect and I still struggle with layers/masks sometimes, but there are a lot of good tips and tools in this book.I certainly felt like I learned some things, and I considered myself well above average, not quite a power-user, but close before reading it.

A general overview
I really do not understand all the 5 star rating for this book.It is not bad, but it is much more of an overview then a detailed explanation of improving photos with PSP.I guess the title (and the reviews) had me expecting more from this book, but every topic is just generaly covered with not near enough real world improve your photos informaton.It is basically a glorified user-manual and the photograpger's guide in the title is very misleading, im my opinion.I would not recommend this book unless you do not already understand the basics of PSP and how to use the interface.Don't expect many tips if you are a real working photographer.

Great Book
Being slighty familar with an older version of Paint Shop I still order Dummies and Paint Shop Pro 9 Photographers Guide.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computers    4. Computers - Other Applications    5. Interactive & Multimedia    6. Miscellaneous Software    7. Computer graphics software    8. Computers / Interactive Media    9. Computing and Information Technology    10. Information technology industries   

Reviews (1)

Corel PSP X is outstanding!
I am a Middle School teacher in the Virginia Beach School system. I bought the training CDs in order to train myself so that I can teach other Business and Instructional Technology teachers how to use this powerful program. These vides clips have got to be the fastest and most efficient way to learn the PSP X tools and user interface. Thanks for taping them at just the right speed. I have found some other training tapes to be painfully slow. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Definitely intermediate! Where are downloads of examples?
I bought this book because it was touted for intermediate users and it is that. It assumes you understand some basic terms and functions and takes you a step further. I've worked my way through the first 5 chapters and have learned some things along the way.
A manuel for intermediate-advanced users
The strength of this book is in the customization, such as creating your own Picture Tubes. It's extremely hard to find Paint Shop Pro books that don't focus exclusively on enhancing and cleaning up digital photos. This is one of the very few. However, this is not at all a book for anyone new to Paint Shop Pro. It assumes a strong knowledge of concepts and basic functions, for that you may want to her "Paint Shop Pro Solutions" book. Neither book has much - if any - color in it, which is unfortunate, but the instructions are clear and concise.

A good extension of the Paint Shop Pro 8 manual
Don't expect miracles from this book in how to create the WOW type graphic or edited photo because that author just doesn't seem to possess the graphic design knowledge or creative ability to be able to do it herself let alone tell others how to create WOW. Don't expect to learn about digital photography or photo editing either, for that get Dave Huss' book (see below). What Lori's book is good at is giving the reader a technical, non-professionals explanation of points already made in the Paint Shop Pro 8 manual, but she expands by offering examples. Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Desktop Publishing    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computer graphics    6. Computers    7. Computers - Desktop Publishing    8. Imaging Systems    9. Paint shop pro    10. Computer graphics software    11. Computers / Interactive Media   

Editorial Review

Paint Shop Pro, a raster-based painting and image editing package, is popular with Web designers for several reasons. The package's batch conversion features are useful for converting multiple files to JPEG and GIF formats and, with support for over 30 file formats, the package has a lot of flexibility. Paint Shop Pro also has simple but easy-to-use editing and painting tools. But best of all, it's a shareware package that costs only $69 when you register. The new Paint Shop Pro 4.0 for Windows 95 and Windows NT, which is the version covered in this book, offers new special effects, improved masking and color enhancement options, and support for more image formats, such as Progressive JPEG, Macintosh PICT, and PNG with transparency.Read more

Reviews (5)

This book is a "must" for any web developers' library!
"Creating Your Own Web Graphics with Paint Shop Pro" is an excellent addition to any graphics library.Andy Shafran and Dick Oliver work well together as they tell you which graphics to use on your web page, how to create them from scratch, how to work with existing graphics and more.If you have ever wanted to create or rework existing graphics but didn't know where to start, this book is for you.If you are already comfortable with manipulating graphics, get this to learn stuff you may not even know.The CD-ROM that is included gives you all the software you need to get started.It's a great addition to your library!

For < $100, PSP and this book pack a big Web Graphics Punch!
For those of us who are most concerned with content and cost on Web Pages, and don't have any kind of graphics background, Paint Shop Pro offers an inexpensive image manipulation package that is hard to beat. This book gives you a running head start on learning its capabilities. Not much substance here
This book is only useful if you have PSP and no experience in graphics whatsoever, and need a "How-To" on PSP. There is really only 80-100 pages of real text, the rest being filler and cliches like "Colors make web sites more intereting", only for several paragraphs. This book will get you started with PSP, but not much else. For example, he does not explain how to correct "red-eye" in a photo or how to set the magic wand's sensitivity. Unless you are a complete neophyte to graphics and have PSP, best look elsewhere. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Internet    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer Networks    5. Computer graphics    6. Computers    7. Internet - General    8. Microcomputer Graphics    9. Paint shop pro    10. World Wide Web    11. Computer graphics software    12. Wide area networks (WANs)   

Reviews (3)

Covers more than other basic PSP8 books
In the first chapter, the book defines the audience as beginning-intermediate. If you've used Paint Shop Pro 8 before, it may be too basic for you. I'm an intermediate user, but I still found shortcuts, tips, and workarounds in this book I didn't know about, so it was worth having.

PSP8 Solutions
This book obviously written to be the first PSP book available after Jasc's latest version appeared and it shows.Extremely superficial coverage of subject matters.If you don't have a magnifying glass available be absolutely certain you do not buy.You will never be able to read the screen shot examples printed in the book.

Way cool
I finally broke down and bought Paint Shop Pro 8 and knew I best get me a book to help me out with it.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Desktop Publish    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer graphics    4. Computers    5. Computers - Desktop Publishing    6. Desktop Publishing - General    7. Paint shop pro    8. Computer graphics software    9. Computers / Interactive Media    10. Graphic design   

Reviews (13)

Sams Teach Yourself Paint Shop Pro 7 in 24 Hours
It is easy to read and to understand.It has a lot of practical applications

Great basic book!
I was desperate to get a handle on this program a few years ago and this was absolutely the best one for that purpose. I had purchased another humorous type (not a Dummies but something like that) but it just didn't get me the basic knowledge I needed. From the book, I started doing online tutorials, then joined PSP Yahoo groups and I am seriously addicted to the program.I think it is well worth buying if you want to learn the basics of PSP7.

Is this one of those "based-on-the-beta-release" books?
I found this book on the bargain rack for half it's cover price...It still wasn't worth it.During the step-by-step the author skips steps.When he says to click an option, it isn't there.He may be referring to the bar menu choices, the right-click choices or PSPs "exploding window" choices, but you are not going to know.Anybody want to buy a slightly-used PSP book?...You can't have mine - I threw it in the trash. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Desktop Publish    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer graphics    4. Computers    5. Computers - Desktop Publishing    6. Microcomputer Graphics    7. Paint shop pro    8. Computer graphics software    9. Computers / Computer Graphics / General   

Reviews (3)

Good tool for getting the most out of PSP
Not 100% comprehensive, and spent more time than I would have liked on basic procedures, and less time on layers and masking.But still, I learned a lot from the book and it was certainly a valuable tool in helping me get the most from Paint Shop Pro.

Some Good Material, but Several Annoyances
At first glance this is an attractive book, with a high standard of graphic design and a profusion of color illustrations. Working with it unfortunately reveals a number of annoyances. First, the organization is chaotic, with topics showing up in unexpected places. Among many examples, Chapter 1 purports to introduce PSP's features, but includes redundant and superficial sections on choosing a digital camera and computer. Chapter 3 deals with basic picture manipulation, but leaps into a discussion of scripting (which probably deserves a separate chapter). The various levels of chapter subheadings use very similar type, so it's hard to discern the structure of the book. Some topics are covered in the main body of the text, but others are only found in separate "step-by-step projects", which seem to be an attempt at exercises for the reader. Another complaint is the huge number of screen shots that are simply too small to read. And the before and after examples of image adjustments are so small that it is often impossible to see the differences. The book covers a lot of material that is obvious simply by looking at PSP's user interface, yet some important topics get short shrift. For example, the issue of color management. I couldn't find an answer to the common workflow question: "What is the best sequence to apply the many functions provided by PSP?" The authors are obviously qualified to provide some insights here. There is some good material in the book, but with some attention to organization and space priorities, it could have been much better.

Excellent Companion to Koers' Book
Previously, I had purchased Diane Koers' "Paint Shop Pro 9: Photographers' Guide" from Amazon.It is an excellent book, and I highly recommend it.Over time, however, I found some gaps in Koers' book and so I purchased McMahon's book.Now, I find I refer to McMahon's book more than Koers.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    2. Computers - Desktop Publishing    3. Photo Techniques    4. Photography    5. Techniques - General    6. Computer graphics software    7. Photography / Techniques   

Reviews (16)

Comprehensive
Very thorough, easy to understand instructions and explanations. Excellent Manual
PSP should hire Ms. Davis. This is the sort of manual that should come with any and all complicated software. Actually, their program manual was better than most, but it can't compare to Paint Shop Pro 6 Power.

PSP 6 Bible
Before I received Ms. Davis' book as a gift, I was under using my Paint Shop Pro program.After reading this excellent, informative and easy to understand book, it is easy to understand why I only use PSP 6 for all mygraphics and photo refinishing.Thanks to Ms. Davis' book, my graphicdesigning business has increased sales! This book is on my desk beside mycomputer, as I use it for reference quite often. I hope Ms. Davis will alsowrite a book on PSP 7, as I will be first in line to purchase it! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer graphics    4. Computers    5. Computers - Desktop Publishing    6. Microcomputer Graphics    7. Paint shop pro    8. Computer graphics software    9. Computers / Electronic Publishing   

Reviews (4)

Photo
Very good for photographic purposes and for me as an amateur photographer.In this respect it could hardly be any better since the book clearly demonstrates every step to be undertaken when working with a photo.Since the book hardly treats other aspects-which by the way don't interest me-I can't say anything about them

A Treasury of How To Information
As a lifelong amateur photographer and digital image user for 8 years, I thought I knew a great deal about enhancing photos. I was pleasantly surprised to learn much more from this reader-oriented, consistently-detailed "how to" book. Especially useful were tricks for sharpening images, eliminatng blemishes, and improving portraits. Tips giving suggested parameter values were also valuable.
Limited use, sloppy writing
I agree with a previous reviewer: this book is extremely limited in its scope, given that it's some 450 oages. It assumes that ALL you want to do is clean up or enhance your family photos. There's almost nothing on creating original graphics. For example, there's absolutely NOTHING on doing such basic things as resizing an image, using the Picture Tube function, or applying backgrounds. It's a shame because I've had SAMS books about previous versions of Paint Shop Pro that were far more useful. Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer graphics    4. Computers    5. Computers - Desktop Publishing    6. Desktop Publishing - General    7. Microcomputer Graphics    8. Paint shop pro    9. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    10. Photoshop