3OPEn AnD ORgAnIzE
feaR IS a great motivator. And the good folks at Adobe
must agree. Otherwise, why would they have created Photoshop,
a program seemingly designed to frighten and intimidate?
Why did they make the program vast and complicated, with
redundant options, misleading commands, and downright
ritualistically obscure functions, all devoted to the seemingly
prosaic task of changing the color of a few pixels? And why is
Photoshop so intent upon revealing the complexities of color
corrections, image manipulations, and brushstrokes instead
of hiding them, the way other computer applications do?
The answers are as numerous as Photoshop’s features. As
much as I love Photo shop—call me sick, but as much as a
man can love a retail computer application, I this
one—I’m the first to admit that virtually every feature re-
quires a separate defense. Thankfully, the pain of learning
this vast and at times ungainly behemoth is its own reward.
Mastering a powerful tool such as Photoshop focuses the
mind. It toughens the spirit. And in time, it transforms you
into an image warrior.
This book takes you on that journey of pain and
reward. Sure, there may be occasional times when you’ll
wonder if Photoshop is Adobe’s idea of the Nine Circles of
Hell. But just as Dante emerged from the lowest circle by
climbing down the very Devil himself, we’ll conquer Pho-
toshop by descending directly into it and coming out the
other side. We will make peace with Photoshop through
understanding, the understanding borne by knowledge, the
knowledge wrought by experience. In time, you (like me)
will be sick with your for Photoshop. Perhaps
not as sick as Figure 1-1, but sick nonetheless. That is to say,
mastery will be yours. Figure 1-1. Scary artwork istockphoto.com/prill