Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop’s Most Powerful Feature by Matt Kloskowski

Who Should Buy It?

Anyone who needs to learn about layers. Beginners and more seasoned users of Photoshop will benefit from this book.

the Cost

$39.99

the Good

Basic instruction as well as advanced tips and tricks.

the Bad

Wish there would have been even more layout tips!

I’m an avid reader of Matt’s Adobe Lightroom Killer Tips blog so I was expecting a lot from his highly publicised book. It didn’t disappoint!

Like his good friend and best selling author Scott Kelby, Matt’s writing style is engaging and easy to follow. The book is full of screenshots and step-by-step instructions that users new to Photoshop can easily follow.

While I knew a good amount of the information in many of the chapters, even the repetitive sections provided enough tips and tricks to keep me reading every page. Matt was also able to include a nice number of more advanced techniques (and some basic stuff I never knew), showing how to create effects from beginning to end.

The book also does a nice job balancing information for photographers and graphic designers, providing chapters that would appeal to one, the other and in many cases, both. I really enjoyed the end of each chapter as well - a summary of shortcuts and tips from the chapter are summarized nicely on a single page, which is a great way to reinforce what was learned.

The book is what it claims to be - a comprehensive guide to what is truly a great feature. I would recommend this book to anyone learning or trying to master Photoshop.