Scott Kelby, the best-selling Photoshop author in the world today, once again takes this book to a whole new level as he uncovers the latest, most important and most exciting new Adobe Photoshop CS2 techniques for digital photographers.

This major update to this award-winning, record-breaking book does something for digital photographers that's never been done before–it  cuts through the bull and shows you exactly "how to do it." It's not a bunch of theory; it doesn't challenge you to come up with your own  settings or figure it out on your own. Instead, Scott shows you step-by-step the exact techniques used by today's cutting-edge digital  photographers and, best of all, he shows you, flat-out, exactly which settings to use, when to use them, and why. That's why the previous  version of this book took the digital photography world by storm.

But now, his new CS2, version is even bigger, even better, and exposes even more of the pros most closely guarded secrets, including a special chapter which shows, for the first time ever, step-by-step how to how to set-up Photoshop's color management. He does it by throwing out all the theory, all the techno-babble, and all the confusing charts and graphs and instead just shows you exactly what you need to do (and 

nothing more).

LEARN HOW THE PROS DO IT

Each year Scott trains thousands of professional photographers how to use Photoshop, and almost without exception they have the same 

questions, the same problems, and the same challenges–and that's exactly what he covers in this book. You'll learn:

• The sharpening techniques the pros really use (there's an entire chapter on, just this!)

• The pros tricks for fixing the most common digital photo problems fast!

• The step-by-step set-up for getting what comes out of your printer to match exactly what you saw on screen

• The retouching secrets of how the pros retouch portraits

• How to process raw digital camera images (plus how to take advantage of all the new Camera Raw features of CS2!)

• How to color correct any photo without breaking a sweat (you'll be amazed at how easy it is–once you know the secret)

• A whole chapter on the latest, most requested Photoshop special effects • How to reduce noise, deal with lens problems, avoid halos, and more

• How to show your work like a pro!

• Plus a host of shortcuts, workarounds, and slick "insider" tricks to send your productivity through the roof!

If you're a digital photographer and you're ready to learn the "tricks of the trade"–the same ones that today's leading pros use to correct,  edit, sharpen, retouch, and present their wor; then this is the book for you.

If you've wondered how the InDesign pros get twice the work done in half the time, here's the answer: They know every inside tip, every hidden keyboard shortcut, and every little trick that gives them the edge. They know the fastest, smartest, and most efficient way to do just about everything. In short, they know all the "tricks of the trade." And now, you can too.

This book is packed cover-to-cover, wall-to-wall with nothing but those cool little inside tips that can make you faster, better, and have more fun using Adobe InDesign CS2. There are no detailed descriptions on working with hyphenation dictionaries, or long boring discussions on color workflow, it's just tips--short, sweet, and to the point.

So why just tips? When we (you, me, etc.) look at books, if we see the word "Tip" we're all immediately drawn to it. That's because we know we're about to learn something really cool. Maybe it's an undocumented keyboard shortcut, a hidden inside secret, or just a faster, better way to do something we do every day. The only problem with the tips in these books is there's never enough of 'em. That is, until now.

We wanted to create a book that is nothing but these tips, hundreds of tips, but with the added bonus that each tip would have a full color graphic along with it, showing you exactly how it's done. Most importantly, to get in this book they've got to be "Killer Tips." The kind of tip that makes you smile, nod, and then call all your friends and "tune them up" with your new status as InDesign guru.

This book is your ticket to working faster and smarter in Adobe InDesign CS2 than you ever thought you could, and best of all, you'll have a blast doing it.

Over 300 productivity-enhancing secrets you need to know about Illustrator CS. Fully illustrated, stand-alone tips reveal the hidden features and productivity-enhancing tricks that allow you to accomplish more in less time with Illustrator CS2. Easy-to-browse format lets you find and apply information instantly and includes many tips and techniques that focus on Illustrator CS2’s new features: Converting bitmaps into vectors with Live Trace, Painting with the new Live Paint tool, creating Custom Workspaces, and more.

The second edition features a 220-term brand glossary and a premium softcover binding.

THE BRAND GAP is the first book to present a unified theory of brand. Whereas most books on branding are weighted toward either a strategic or creative approach, this book shows how both ways of thinking can unite to produce a “charismatic brand”—a brand that customers feel is essential to their lives. In an entertaining two-hour read you’ll learn:

• a new definition of brand
• the five essential disciplines of brand-building
• how branding is changing the dynamics of competition
• the three most powerful questions to ask about any brand
• why collaboration is the key to brand-building
• how design determines a customer’s experience
• how to test brand concepts quickly and cheaply
• the importance of managing brands from the inside

FROM THE BACK COVER

Not since McLuhan’s THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE has a book compressed so many ideas into so few pages. Using the visual language of the boardroom, Neumeier presents the first unified theory of branding—a set of five disciplines to help companies bridge the gap between brand strategy and customer experience. Those with a grasp of branding will be inspired by the new perspectives they find here, and those who would like to understand it better will suddenly “get it.” This deceptively simple book offers everyone in the company access to “the most powerful business tool since the spreadsheet.”

“The surprise book of the year!” —John Moore, Fast Company

“The first book on brand that seems fresh and relevant.” —Ric Grefe, executive director of AIGA, the professional association for design

“A pleasure to read.”—David A. Aaker, author of BRAND PORTFOLIO STRATEGY and BUILDING STRONG BRANDS

“Cuts to the heart of what brand is all about.” —Susan Rockrise, worldwide brand director, Intel

“Read this book before your competitors do!” —Tom Kelley, general manager, IDEO

FROM THE INSIDE FLAPS

“A pleasure to read. THE BRAND GAP consistently provides deep, practical insights in a light, visual way. Discover the power of imagery and the role of research in building a heavy-duty brand—without the heavy-duty reading.” —David Aaker, author of BRAND LEADERSHIP and BUILDING STRONG BRANDS

“Finally, a book that cuts to the heart of what brand is all about—connecting the rational and the emotional, the theoretical and the practical, the logical and the magical to create a sustainable competitive advantage.” —Susan Rockrise, Worldwide Brand Director, Intel

In THE BRAND GAP, Neumeier reminds us that the ultimate moment of truth for all brands is the customer experience. Customer perceptions trump our own perceptions.” —Kurt Kuehn, senior VP of worldwide marketing and sales, UPS

“This is not just another book on brand. This is the ONLY book you’ll need to read in business, engineering, and design school.” —Clement Mok, design entrepreneur

“A well-managed brand is the lifeblood of any successful company—and Neumeier shows us exactly how to do it. Read this book before your competitors do!” —Tom Kelley, general manager of IDEO, co-author of THE ART OF INNOVATION

 “THE BRAND GAP couldn’t be more timely. Just when we’re at our most skeptical about corporate motives, along comes a book that shows how to evaluate and develop a brand in a straightforward and honest manner.” —David Stuart, co-founder of The Partners, co-author of A SMILE IN THE MIND

“Must-reading for anyone who wants to understand how their business strategy will succeed or fail when put to the ultimate test: ‘Do customers perceive a difference that’s desirable?’” —Steve Harrington, director of strategy and operations, Hewlett-Packard

“The book slices like a hot knife through all the turgid, pseudo-academic nonsense that surrounds branding. It’s now on the course list for my graduate students, and new members of my team at Ogilvy get a copy with their training materials.” —Brian Collins, executive creative director, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide

No matter how visually appealing or packed with content your Web site is, it isn’t succeeding if it’s not reaching the widest possible audience. If you get this guide, you can be assured it will! By deconstructing a series of real-world Web sites, author and Web designer extraordinaire Dan Cederholm outlines 10 strategies for creating standards-based designs that provide flexibility, readability, and user control—key components of every successful Web site. Each chapter starts out with an example of what Dan refers to as an “unbulletproof” concept—an existing site that employs a traditional approach and its associated pitfalls. Dan then deconstructs that approach, noting its downsides and then making the site over using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). By the end of each chapter, you’ll have replaced traditional, bloated, inaccessible page components with lean markup and CSS. The guide culminates with a chapter that pieces together all of the page components discussed in prior chapters into a single page template.

Yesterday's Web looked far different from today's Web, and tomorrow's Web will look more different still. Amidst all of this change, however, one aspect of Web use remains the same: The sites that offer the best, easiest, most intuitive experience are the ones people visit again and again. To ensure that your sites provide that experience, you need this essential guide from usability guru Steve Krug that distills his years of on-the-job experience into a practical primer on the do's and don'ts of good Web design.

In this second edition, Steve adds three new chapters--in the same wry and entertaining style as the original--that explain why people really leave Web sites (Usability as Common Courtesy), how to make sites usable and accessible (Web Accessibility, CSS, and You), and the art of surviving executive design whims (Help! My Boss Wants Me to ____), plus a new preface and updated recommended reading.

In just over a decade, the Web has evolved from an experimental tool for a limited community of technically inclined people into a day-to-day necessity for millions upon millions of users. Today’s  Web designers must consider not only the content needs of the sites they create, but also the wide range of additional needs their users may have: for example, those with physical or cognitive disabilities, those with slow modems or small screens, and those with limited education or familiarity with the Web. Bestselling author Sarah Horton argues that simply meeting the official standards and guidelines for Web accessibility is not enough. Her goal is universal usability, and in Access by Design: A Guide to Universal Usability for Web Designers, Sarah describes a design methodology  that addresses accessibility requirements but then goes beyond. As a result, designers learn how to optimize page designs to work more effectively for more users, disabled or not. Working through each of the main functional features of Web sites, she provides clear principles for using HTML and CSS to deal with elements such as text, forms, images, and tables, illustrating each with an example drawn from the real world. Through these guidelines, Sarah makes a convincing case that good design principles benefit all users of the Web.

 In this book you will find:
 • Clear principles for using HTML and CSS to design functional and accessible Web sites
 • Best practices for each of the main elements of Web pages—text, forms, images, tables, frames, , links, interactivity, and page layout
 • Seasoned advice for using style sheets that provide flexibility to both designer and user without compromising usability
 • illustrations of actual Web sites, from which designers can model their own pages
 • Instructions for providing keyboard accessibility, flexible layouts, and user-controlled environments
 • Practical tips on markup, and resources

Have you noticed the renaissance of documentary filmmaking going on around you? Some are inspired by the work of legendary directors and cinematographers such as the Maysles brothers, D.A. Pennabaker & Chris Hegedus, Errol Morris, or Ken Burns. Others follow their own idols or simply set their own course. Inexpensive video camera equipment and video editing software have helped fuel this new wave of truth-tellers, bringing the tools of the craft within reach of amateurs and students, as well as independent journalists and filmmakers on a budget.

In The Art of the Documentary, the directors, editors, cinematographers, and producers behind today's most thought-provoking nonfiction films reveal the thought processes, methods, and collaborations that have guided their efforts- from project conception to developing, producing, shooting, editing, and releasing some of the finest documentary films of recent decades.

This richly illustrated volume, which will appeal to professional and aspiring filmmakers, as well as documentary enthusiasts, features conversations with director Ken Burns (The Civil War, Jazz, Baseball), director/cinematographer D A Pennebaker (Dont Look Back, The War Room), director/cinematographer Albert Maysles (Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens), director Errol Morris (The Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line), director Chris Hegedus (Startup.com, Down from the Mountain), editor Larry Silk (Pumping Iron, Wild Man Blues), cinematographer Buddy Squires (The Civil War, Ram Dass, Fierce Grace), director/producer Lauren Lazin (Tupac: Resurrection, Journey of Dr. Dre), editor/director Paula Heredia (The Vagina Monologues, In Memoriam: New York City, 9/11/01), director/cinematographer Kirsten Johnson (Fahrenheit 9/11, Innocent Until Proven Guilty), and editor Geof Bartz (Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth, He's Having a Baby). And with contributions by: Sheila Nevins, President of HBO Documentaries and HBO Family, Carol Dysinger, film editor and professor, NYU Film School, and Haskell Wexler, cinematographer.

This fascinating, full-color volume brings together Meyer's photographs and his essays from ZoneZero, the international photography Web site he founded, along with other experts' commentary on his work. In one section, Meyer deconstructs some of his vivid, magical realist-style works, taking the reader inside his creative process. Students and admirers of Meyer's work, those interested in documentary photography or contemporary Mexico, and anyone interested in the timely intellectual questions he raises will be drawn to this engaging and beautiful book. Internationally regarded photographer Pedro Meyer began his career as a journalist and documentary photographer, and in many ways that is still his primary form of expression, although his work often crosses what others perceive as boundaries between truth and fiction. Meyer contends that photographers have always manipulated the truth to elicit certain responses. Sometimes, of course, the intent is to deceive, whether digitally through software programs like Photoshop, or by simply positioning the camera in a certain way to include or exclude parts of the picture, or in the darkroom, adjusting the lighting or cropping people in or out of a shot. At other times, Meyer argues, a transformed image can present a more profound truth than could be captured in a single exposure, just as fiction sometimes conveys more truth than simple reportage. The task for viewers says Meyer, is to question why and how images are made, and in the process uncover the real truth in those images.

Legendary Web designer and author Hillman Curtis has always been fascinated by motion and movement. In 2001, inspired in part by the affordability and accessibility of digital video, he began to experiment with short digital films in an effort to reinvigorate his creative spirit and express himself both personally and professionally.

The nine projects Hillman describes in this book, each between 60 seconds and 10 minutes long, draw from a wide variety of creative sources and take various forms—documentaries, music videos, a fictional short film, and a series of video portraits. Each one is unique, yet the goal is always the same: to capture in video the essence of his subject.

Equal parts inspiration, instruction, and personal essay, Hillman Curtis on Creating Short Films for the Web offers an intimate look into the author’s personal filmmaking process: from the ideas and influences that drive the concept and theme of the piece, through the setup, shoot, and assembly of a rough cut, to the final edit. Hillman explains how his flexible, often spontaneous filmmaking style is guided by certain principles—the value of leaving room for serendipity, the freedom found within self-imposed limitations, the importance of collaborating with others, and the possibilities for discovery and revision when reacting to unforeseen accidents.

Throughout the book, Hillman offers advice on filmmaking’s numerous elements, such as direction, sound, editing, and interviewing. Also included is a primer to help you get up and running with your own digital video projects—explaining the equipment you’ll need and providing an overview of the filmmaking process—and an appendix that guides you through building your own Flash video player.


Hillman Curtis is the founder of hillmancurtis.com, a design studio specializing in Web site design, motion graphics, and digital video. Hillman’s clients include Yahoo!, Adobe, RollingStone.com, British Airways, MTV, and Intel. His expert and innovative design solutions have garnered him and his company numerous awards, including the Communication Arts Award of Excellence and the South by Southwest Conference “Best Use of Design” and “Best of Show.” Author of the bestselling Flash Web Design: The Art of Motion Graphics and MTIV: Process, Inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designer, Hillman lives in New York City with his family.