I love fan mail. It really keeps me going, knowing that I’m actually making a connection with people through my books and DVDs.  Most of all, I love teaching and sharing what I know with people who want to know it. Therefore, I treat each of my books and DVDs as extensions of my classroom, speaking directly to you without any mumbo-jumbo.

Here’s an example of some recent fan mail from a designer in MA who enjoyed my award-winning “Dreamweaver For Designers” Adobe Training DVD from Class On Demand (which you can win a free copy of by entering the Dreamweaver For Designers DVD giveaway contest at UITrends.com by Feb 20th, 2010).

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Feb 4, 2010 -Ms Jenkins - Wanted to say THANK YOU for the excellent work you’ve done on ‘Dreamweaver for Designers.’I'm new to DW software. I’ve been doing graphic design since 1972 & while I have tons of experience with the typical suite of Adobe products & the Mac OS, I found DW left me mystified. The several books & tutorials I was using to get a handle on DW left me feeling even more overwhelmed & confused.

One day last week as I watched yet another opaque DW tutorial the thought occurred to me: “surely someone has written a book about Dreamweaver for designers.” I did a search for that phrase & was surprised to find a product of that exact name. After reading several reviews, I ordered the Class On Demand DVD & have been working my way through the lessons all week.

You’ve done a wonderful job of making it all very accessible. Your delivery is natural & follows a logical progression. You explain things in a way that a graphic artist can understand. Great job!

THANK YOU,
mark plummer
Vineyard Haven, MA
on The Vineyard

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Thank you, Mark, you made my day. And too, to everyone out there who have used my training products over the years. If you have any questions, comments, have an idea for a blog post, or just want to say “Hi” please send me an email or add your comment here.

The folks at UITrends.com are giving away a free copy of the Award Winning Adobe Training DVD,  “Dreameaver for Designers.”  Valued at $199.95, this Class on Demand self-paced 10-hour instructional DVD provides users with a step-by-step approach to building a professional web site. Instructor Sue Jenkins is a Dreamweaver expert, Adobe Certified Expert/Instructor, and industry renowned author.

To enter for your chance to win this free DVD, all you need to do is leave a comment on the UITrends.com website at http://uitrends.com/2010/01/21/uitrends-giveaway-free-dreamweaver-training-dvd/

Hurry, the contest ends February 20th, 2010.

If you make any resolutions this year, resolve to make your website the best it can be. The New Year is the perfect time to update your website, especially that copyright date in the footer of all your pages. While you’re at it, consider rewriting some of the copy on your site.

• Does the homepage have important key words embedded in the text that can help visitors find you through a search engine?
• Do your page titles need more pizzazz?
• Would you like to add any new content or take anything down? Use this type of site cleanup as an opportunity to reconnect with your customers. Offer a special New Year discount or create some other incentive to convert your site visitors into paying customers.
• Is it time to add a blog? Perhaps you need an efficient way to collect email addresses and send out newsletters.

Whatever you website and graphic design needs, Luckychair can help. Contact us at info -@- luckychair to get started talking about how to make your business better in 2010.

Just found out that UITrends.com is giving away a free copy of my Photoshop Training DVD, courtesy of Class On Demand. All you need to do to win this DVD is to leave a comment on their post at http://uitrends.com/2009/12/12/uitrends-giveaway-free-photoshop-training-dvd/ by January 15, 2010 about why you should win and how this training will help you.

To learn more about this DVD, valued at $79.95 retail, visit Class on Demand at http://www.classondemand.net/media/designers.aspx

UI Trends is:

1. a dynamic light-weight repository for interesting user interface designs and trends for website and web applications
2. a place to comment on and discuss user interface designs and trends
3. a source of inspiration for designers and developers

Good luck, and may the best comment win!

The other day, out of the blue, I got an email from Karon Thackston of www.CopywritingCourse.com, informing me that one of her books and one of mine were being illegally made available as a free download from a particular rogue blogspot website. I had actually known for several weeks that some of my books were being offered as free downloads, but I wasn’t sure if there was anything I could do about it.

Luckily, Karen had some helpful facts. She said that authors and publishers can (and should) use the online DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) complaint form for Blogger listed here: http://www.google.com/blogger_dmca.html when the author(s)/publisher(s) have not given permission to make that book available through the site in question. Once we make our complaints, Google contacts the offending site telling them to remove or disable access to material claimed to be the subject of infringing activity and/or terminating subscribers. Then, if the site does not comply, Google has the authority to shut that sucker down! Hooaaah!

Great info Karon!! For non-Blogger offenders, we recommend visiting the DMCA WikiPedia page to learn more about how we can all stamp out this kind of evil book pirating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act Once you identify an offender, you can contact the web host with a DMCA complaint and they must remove the information even if the site owner doesn’t.

To find out who the website host is, follow these instructions:

1. In Windows, press Start > Run > to open the Run dialog
2. Type in cmd and press Enter
3. Type in “ping domainname.com” (replacing the domainname with the name of the offending site) and the command  will return the IP number tied to the site.
4. Take that IP number and plug it into almost any Whois tool (I like using the Network Solutions WHOIS search at http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp) and the results should tell you who ultimately controls (hosts) that IP number. This is the Abuser.
5. Use the Abuser contact information to file a DMCA complaint asking the host to remove the pages/sites that are in copyright violation.

Needless to say, I contacted my books’ publishers immediately, and they gave the issue over to their lawyers who promptly got busy with the process of taking those ebook pirate websites down. Thankfully I have the luxury of having my publishers’ lawyers deal with this stuff, but not everyone does. I know a lot of authors who self-publish, and knowing how to tackle ebook piracy gives them the power over their copyrights they they deserve. Keep in mind that piracy isn’t just limited to the biggest and newest publications; all writing is in danger of being pirated…we’re talking EVERYTHING that’s EVER been PUBLISHED ONLINE, including old and outdated publications.

If you’re the author of a book or other publication that you hold the copyright to, you have the right to protect your work.  Thankfully, it’s now easier than ever to tackle the problem of electronic theft.  The government empowering web hosts to take down individual pages or entire sites instantly upon notification is also a powerful tool in our fight. With our ability to create search engine alerts (such as Google Alerts) and quickly file DMCA complaints in just seconds, we’ve come a long way.

Now get out there and help stop pirated ebooks!

The Luckychair Blog has moved!

As of today, our new blog location is http://www.luckychair.com/blog/

As a designer, illustrator, and fine art photographer, I have long admired that unique, soft, selective focus or “tilt shift” effect that certain commercial, landscape, architectural, portrait, and fine art photographers achieve in their images when using a large format camera. The large format camera, which I had the distinct pleasure of using for the first time last fall, has two image planes, each of which can be adjusted vertically and horizontally as well as tilted forward and backward. The front plane contains the lens and the back plane contains the focusing screen and cut film holder or image sensor, for cameras with a digital back. According to the Scheimpflug principle (named after the Austrian who devised it to take better aerial photographs), when the camera’s lens and image planes are parallel but the plane of focus (PoF) is not, the image will only be in focus where the image plane intersects with the PoF. In other words, when the planes are not parallel, you can create some pretty interesting images with unusual blurred areas. For instance, a tilt of the front plane combined with a large aperture on the lens can create a beautiful shallow depth of field image which can often make a normal real-life scene appear as if it were a toy miniature.

Thanks to advances in technology, many photographers in the 1960s and 1970s were able to achieve this same tilt-shift effect by using new tilt-shift lenses on their smaller format cameras. Then, a couple years ago, the folks at LensBaby, Inc introduced their selective focus SLR camera lenses, providing film and digital photographers with an even more affordable way ($100-300) to make unique images with that tilt-shift, vintage, large format feel. Even more recently, however, a new software tool was released by Alien Skin for the digital photographer who knows their way around Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or Fireworks. Using Alien Skin’s new ‘Bokeh’ Photoshop plug-in, the coveted tilt-shift effect can now be achieved digitally with a few simple clicks of your mouse.

The Bokeh Photoshop Plug-in
Bokeh (pronounced /bo?k?/ boke-uh) is a photographic term derived from the Japanese “boke,” which roughly translates to blur or haze. In the past few years, this term has often been used to describe the aesthetic quality created by a camera lens when using a shallow depth of field. Bad bokeh, for example, refers to a lens with distracting, visually unpleasing blurred areas, especially noticeable in images when reflected light in the out of focus areas appears as donut shapes with harsh double-lined edges. By contrast, good bokeh, refers to a quality lens (like the Cannon 85mm f/1.2L) that provides creamy and visually pleasing out-of-focus areas, as well as pleasing blur circles (or other shapes) in images containing multiple points of light. In most cases, an image with good bokeh will make the foreground pop against the background. This is especially noticeable in stop-action sports shots, wedding photos and portraits, and close-up images.

An example of an image with good bokeh (above) and bad bokeh (below). Notice the quality of the white areas and reflected surfaces in the background.

With Alien Skin’s Bokeh software, not only can you easily give your full focus images good pop by adjusting the bokeh of a selected area within your image, you can also change the character of spectral highlights, adjust depth of field, simulate popular lenses, apply vignettes, and mimic a tilt-shift lens to create toy model effects.

The Bokeh software interface is fairly easy and intuitive to use, and the software comes loaded with multiple presets to help you quickly apply the desired bokeh effect to your images. Thankfully, the Bokeh filter works both with and without selections. Without a selection, the filter is applied uniformly across the entire image as defined by the position, angle, direction, and size of the radial (elliptical) or planar (linear) controls. When a selection within your image is detected, the filter is applied to the areas outside of the selection. Furthermore, with each application of the filter, you may customize the amount of bokeh along with aperture controls such as diaphragm shape, smoothness (creaminess) of the blur, rotation, and blade curvature. You can even modify highlight controls to enhance or reduce highlights within the image.

The Bokeh interface is easy to use and customize.

To apply the Bokeh filter uniformly to the entire image, simply open the desired image in your Photoshop workspace and Select Filter>Alien Skin Bokeh>Bokeh to open the Bokeh dialog box. Alternatively, to apply the filter to only a specific area of your image, make a selection in your image of the area surrounding the focal point that you’d like to apply the bokeh to before applying the filter from the Filter menu. If needed, use the Refine Edge tool to apply a feather and smooth the edges of your selection, and if you plan on reusing the selection again later, be sure to save it as an alpha channel through the Channels palette.

Once the Bokeh filter dialog box opens, choose the desired lens type from the Lens tab. Next, in the Bokeh tab, select Planar or Radial to set the desired area of focus, which sets the fall-off area for the lens. When the radial option is selected, you can adjust the focus region and focus fall off by manipulating the shape and orientation of the radial tool. In the Vignette tab, you may choose presets or manually adjust the vignette shape, color, intensity, size, and feather. All of the Bokeh attributes in each of the three tabs can be customized and previewed before the settings are applied to your image. After configuring the all settings within the dialog box to your liking, the bokeh effect can either be applied directly to the image on the selected layer in your Layers panel or output into a new layer above current layer to preserve original. To immediately reapply the Bokeh filter with identical settings on another image or layer, click Cmd+Opt+F (Mac) or Ctrl+Alt+F (Win).

If you’re looking to simulate the shallow depth of field of a large format camera and make far away subjects look like toy miniatures, use Bokeh with a radial focus region. This effect works especially well with shots taken high and far away. To further enhance the miniature effect, be sure to also boost contrast and saturation using either the Alien Skin Exposure plug-in or the Adjustments tools available within Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

The miniature effect before (above) and after (below) applying Bokeh.

Here’s another example…

The tilt-shift effect before (above) and after (below) applying Bokeh.

Overall, I give Alien Skin’s Bokeh software two thumbs up for its ease of use, wide variety of lens and blur presets, and customizable elements. My only feature wish for this fantastic product would be to add a way to manually manipulate the shape of the radial blur edges so that users could create non-uniform out of focus areas for more unique and expressive bokeh effects. Perhaps this could be done by activating each line segment and anchor point, as one does with an elliptical shape in Illustrator. Another enhancement would be to allow users to add multiple linear focus widgets within the dialog box so that two or more linear blurs could be applied in different directions at the same time to achieve the desired results.

If you like the idea of applying sophisticated selective blurs and realistic lens effects to your digital images, take a test drive of the Bokeh software by downloading a fully functional 30 day demo before you buy. To learn more about this robust image editing software, be sure to also check out Alien Skin’s free tutorial videos, reviews, case studies, and examples. Alien Skin’s Bokeh software is available for both MAC and PC for just $199 at http://www.alienskin.com/

About the Author
Sue Jenkins is a web and graphic designer, illustrator, fine art photographer, software instructor, and writer, as well as owner and creative director of Luckychair (www.luckychair.com), a full-service web and graphic design studio serving businesses across the U.S. Sue has over twelve years experience as a professional designer and is an Adobe Certified Expert and Adobe Certified Instructor teaching courses in Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Illustrator at Noble Desktop in New York City. In addition, she is the author of several ‘For Dummies’ instructional books on Web Design, Dreamweaver, and Illustrator, and is the software instructor in four ClassOnDemand Adobe Training DVDs.

Books by Sue Jenkins:
How To Do Everything Illustrator CS4, McGraw-Hill
Web Design For Dummies All-in-One Desk Reference, Wiley
Dreamweaver CS4 For Dummies All-in-One Desk Reference, Wiley
Web Design: The L-Line, The Express Line to Learning, Wiley
Dreamweaver 8 For Dummies All-in-One Desk Reference, Wiley

DVDs featuring Sue Jenkins:
Designer’s Guide to Illustrator DVD, Class On Demand
Designer’s Guide to Photoshop DVD, Class On Demand
Dreamweaver For Designers DVD, Class On Demand
Fundamentals of Adobe Photoshop Elements DVD, Class On Demand

Note: This article by Sue Jenkins first appeared in the Graphic Artists Guild’s Guild News, Sept/Oct 2009 issue.

As a professional design software instructor and author, part of my job requirement is to keep my computer skills up-to-date with the latest versions of all the popular design software tools. Up until a few years ago, this was fairly easy to accomplish because most software companies like Adobe, Quark, and Corel waited an average of 1 to 3 years between major releases of upgrades to their programs, giving instructors, writers and regular users plenty of time to upgrade at their own pace. In fact, often times between upgrades, the software makers would release software patches—for free—to fix any bugs or performance issues that may have been identified by users since the last major release.

However, since about 2003, when Adobe released it’s first Creative Suite bundle, the pace of the ‘upgrade’ has quickened. Now, it seems, everyone is rushing to send out entire new versions of their software at the neck-breaking speed of once every 12-18 months. This means not only having to spend money to upgrade to each new version with every release, but also (and more annoyingly) having to spend more your valuable work time getting up to speed with all the new bells and whistles each version brings.

By far, one of the most popular illustration software tools used by designers, illustrators, craftspeople, and artists is Adobe Illustrator. When Adobe officially released Adobe Creative Suite 4 last October, Illustrator was among the several programs that included major interface changes, the addition of new tools, and a number of work-flow improvements.

If you haven’t upgraded to Illustrator CS4 yet, you may want to consider doing it sooner than later. By now, most of the new release bugs have been worked out, so there should be little fear from having the new release crash your computer. More importantly, the application has several new features that can help you work smarter and increase your productivity. “Yes,” you say, “but once I upgrade I’ll have to learn a bunch of new stuff and I don’t really have time for that.” I totally hear you, and have some information that should help.

Learning What’s New

With so much information available these days, figuring out where to go to start learning about the latest version of your software can be daunting. In the sections that follow, you’ll find useful information about a variety of resources, enabling you to choose the ones that best fit your needs and make your upgrade or transition to Illustrator CS4 as smooth as possible. Understanding that we all work and learn in different ways (some of us are more visual, more verbal, more tactile, etc), there are several options including: instructional books; e-books and books-on-demand; pay to view video-on-demand; free online video, instructional tutorials, and help files; training DVDs and workbooks; classroom instruction; private tutoring; and free seminars at accredited training resource centers. Read on for an overview of each of these learning resources and training options.

Books, Free Books, and E-Books

One of my favorite ways to learn is by reading an instructional book because I can usually go right to the issue at hand and find the answer I am looking for. For instance, if I want to learn how to use Illustrator CS4’s new Blob Brush, I can look up “blob brush” in an index and flip to the exact page that tells me how to use it. Thanks to advances in technology, today’s instructional books come in many different flavors. There’s the straight up old-school paper instructional book; the free public domain “read ‘em in your browser” books on Google’s Book Search; and the relatively new e-book, which, depending on the downloadable format, can be read on a variety of computers and hand held digital devices like Amazon.com’s Kindle ($359), Sony’s Portable Reader System PRS-505 or PRS-700 ($299 - $349), or on any Palm or Pocket PC.

The hottest titles for learning about Illustrator CS4 in paper and e-book format include:

* Adobe Illustrator CS4 Classroom in a Book, by Adobe Creative Team ($34.64)
* Real World Adobe Illustrator CS4, by Mordy Golding ($34.64)
* How To Do Everything Adobe Illustrator CS4, by Sue Jenkins ($26.39)
* Adobe Illustrator CS4 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques, by David Karlins ($16.49)
* Illustrator CS4 Bible, by Ted Alspach ($29.69)
* Illustrator CS4 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual Quickstart Guide, by Elaine Weinmann & Peter Lourekas  ($23.09)

As for free books, you can find excellent previews of many popular titles through Google’s Book Search at http://books.google.com. Android and iPhone users can access this same info on Google Book Search for Mobile at http://books.google.com/m

Books-On-Demand and Video-On-Demand

For those of you who like the immediacy of seeing your instructional materials on your computer screen, either using some kind of browser interface or via downloadable PDF, there are several well respected books-on-demand websites that offer premium access to the latest instructional books 24 hours a day. One of my favorite sources is Books24×7.com, which for a flat rate provides access to the latest books in a whole range of topics. For only $499 a year, for example, you can gain access to their “ITPro” book library which includes over 6,000 regularly updated books on software programs like Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, QuarkXPress, and Dreamweaver, as well as instructional manuals on a variety of IT topics such as networking, databases, gaming, ruby on rails, and other computer and web design related topics.

Alternatively, if you’re more of a “learn by watching” kind of person, you should definitely check out the Video-on-Demand/Online Training Library options offered by sites like Lynda.com and SafariBooks.com. At Lynda.com, services can be subscribed to by the month ($25) or year ($250) and provide access to hundreds of courses and training materials by respected authors and instructors. On SafariBooks.com, you’ll find hundreds of training videos and thousands of digital books from leading publishers like O’Reilly, Peachpit Press, and Lynda.com for just $9.99-$42.99 per month or $109.99-$472.89 per year.

Free Videos, Help Files, and Online Tutorials

Another great place to find free training materials is right on your computer. Three of the best resources are your software’s online Help files, the free training videos you can find on YouTube, and the free online tutorials you can discover after doing a good Google search on your desired topics.

For Adobe Illustrator CS4, you can find both web and community help with the program at http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Illustrator/14.0 This includes gaining access to over 60 free video tutorials (useful to both CS3 and CS4 users) on Adobe TV (tv.adobe.com) and in Adobe’s Video Workshop.

Another route to finding excellent training videos is to search for “illustrator” clips on  YouTube. These kinds of videos are especially helpful, as many professional software instructors offer free sample clips of their training products in the hopes of attracting buyers. That said, all the Illustrator tutorials on YouTube run the gamut from professional trainers like me from ClassOnDemand.net (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs7hT9nFVQU and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT6ot3jvPIc), and the folks at Lynda.com (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj4i49-QrtY) and TutVid.com (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvP8Z_0rb_k), to everyday users who want to help others in the design community by providing free tutorials, tips, and tricks.

For readable online tutorials that often provide screenshots and detailed step-by-step instruction, do a Google search for “Illustrator CS4 tutorial,” or check out the offerings at the following training websites and forums: http://www.layersmagazine.com
http://www.noupe.com
http://veerle.duoh.com
http://www.vectordiary.com
http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/
http://www.illustratorworld.com/
http://forums.adobe.com/index.jspa

Training DVDs and Workbooks

For a complete training guide, your best bet is to purchase a training DVD (like my new award-winning Adobe training DVD, Designer’s Guide to Illustrator, from ClassOnDemand.net) or a tutorial workbook. High quality Adobe Training DVDs can be purchased from reputable companies like ClassOnDemand.net, Lynda.com, TotalTraining.com, and KelbyTraining.com. Decent workbooks, however, can be fairly hard to come by. The best workbooks I’ve ever seen come from Noble Desktop (nobledesktop.com). For a fraction of the cost of taking an in-person, 3-day, 18-hour course, you can buy the same workbook and get the benefit of teaching yourself through their materials. Their workbooks also make excellent companions for trainers that don’t have the time or money to create their own materials. For a complete listing of available Workbooks and Training DVDs, visit http://www.nobledesktop.com/store

Classes, Private Training, and Free Seminars

If you prefer to learn in a classroom setting, take a course at an Adobe Certified Training Center in your area. If you’re in or near New York City, I highly recommend taking classes at Noble Desktop in Soho (nobledesktop.com), where I occasionally teach. In addition to their amazing 12- and 18-hour software classes, they offer all sorts of discounts, free seminars, and even customized 1-on-1 training. Outside of Manhattan, contact you local Apple Retail Store (apple.com/retail) for information about their personal training sessions, workshops, and special events, or search for an Authorized Training Center near you through Adobe’s Partner Finder website at http://partners.adobe.com/public/partnerfinder/tp/show_find.do

Get Ready to Learn

With it’s new user interface, enhanced tools, and super cool new features, Adobe Illustrator CS4 is a powerful program that—even for the seasoned artist or designer—will take some getting used to. While it is true that making the time to learn about all these new features can take you away from your work, the time you actually do spend learning about Illustrator CS4 doesn’t have to be sap your creativity or enthusiasm. Whether you use a book, purchase a DVD, watch videos on YouTube, or sit in on a class, by using any combination of the training resources listed here, you can quickly get your computer skills up-to-date and be on your way to working smarter and increasing your productivity.

About the Author

Sue Jenkins is a web and graphic designer, illustrator, fine art photographer, software instructor, and writer, as well as owner and creative director of Luckychair (www.luckychair.com), a full-service web and graphic design studio serving businesses across the U.S. Sue has over twelve years experience as a professional designer and is an Adobe Certified Expert and Adobe Certified Instructor teaching courses in Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Illustrator at Noble Desktop in New York City. In addition, she is the author of several ‘For Dummies’ instructional books on Web Design, Dreamweaver, and Illustrator, and is the software instructor in four ClassOnDemand Adobe Training DVDs.

Books by Sue Jenkins:
How To Do Everything Illustrator CS4, McGraw-Hill
Web Design For Dummies All-in-One Desk Reference, Wiley
Dreamweaver CS4 For Dummies All-in-One Desk Reference, Wiley
Web Design: The L-Line, The Express Line to Learning, Wiley
Dreamweaver 8 For Dummies All-in-One Desk Reference, Wiley

DVDs featuring Sue Jenkins:
Designer’s Guide to Illustrator DVD, Class On Demand
Designer’s Guide to Photoshop DVD, Class On Demand
Dreamweaver For Designers DVD, Class On Demand
Fundamentals of Adobe Photoshop Elements DVD, Class On Demand

Note: This article by Sue Jenkins first appeared in the Graphic Artists Guild’s Guild News, July/Aug 2009 issue.

About a week ago I entered my snowman photo in a contest at Lizzy’s Fresh Coffee in Ketchum, ID (http://www.lizzysfreshcoffee.com). They said I was a shoe in, but the competition is stiff!

Please go and vote for my snowman. If I win, I get free coffee for a year and a bunch of free 30% off coupons to share with family, friends, and you!

Vote for my photo at:
http://apps.facebook.com/promotionshq/contests/7672/voteable_entries/list?order=votes

A few days ago, DV Magazine (DV.com) did a review of my new Adobe Training DVD, “Fundamentals of Photoshop Elements.” The reviewer said the DVD is “the easiest way to jump into Photoshop Elements without having to crack a manual.”

Furthermore, he said, “as a host, Jenkins does a good job of conveying a lot of information quickly, in a steady and well thought-out method. You never feel lost or behind the learning curve, which is a testament to her decade of experience in design, which also extends to being the author of several design-themed books, DVD software instruction and certifications as an Adobe Expert and Instructor.”

Check out the full review at http://www.dv.com/article/88218

Since 1993, DV Magazine (Digital Video: Tools and Technology For Video Professionals) has served the information needs of professionals involved in the production, postproduction, and delivery of digital video. DV publishes more pages of product reviews than any other magazine in the digital video industry. DV content is written by experts who use the technolgy in the field and every day. DV’s reviews are unbiased, comprehensive, and an invaluable resource in making product buying decisions.

CLASS ON DEMAND FUNDAMENTALS OF ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

SCORE: 

PROS: Professional presentation, good instruction and a laid-back attitude, all at a bargain price.

CONS: Occasional playback hiccups even on fast systems, material might be too basic for advanced users.

BOTTOM LINE: The easiest way to jump into Photoshop Elements without having to crack a manual.

MSRP: $39.95

CONTACT: www.classondemand.net

ORDER ON AMAZON.com: Fundamentals of Photoshop Elements