Is there a definitive beginners book the is suitable for what I need to do?

[Arctic Jack]

I’m looking to give Photoshop a try but I have zeroexperience with it. I have an olderedition I’m not sure which but I’ll find out when I get home from work and postit if I need to.
Are there any definitive beginner Photoshop books that canget me started?
What I’d like to do is design the board and cards for someboard game prototypes. What I need to be able to do is accurately set thedimensions of the whole board, cards, columns, tracks, pictures etc. Also I needto be able make certain things symmetrical, use accurate equal spacing, add incolours, writing, shapes and pictures etc.
Is Photoshop capable of doing these things easily and efficientlyor is it mainly geared towards the manipulation of photographs? If this is thecase what software would you recommend me use?

Any advice would be great.

[Jenny]

The" Photoshop for dummies" Was [and still is] quite helpful to me.... after you get get over the for dummies thing.

[agentmoeller]

The" Photoshop for dummies" Was [and still is] quite helpful to me.... after you get get over the for dummies thing.

Good call. Photoshop for Dummies is great.


Agent

[Stric9]

I have gone through the classroom in a book for CS3. You learn a lot real fast. Unfortunately it takes awhile to learn how to apply what you've learned. Guess I'm still doing that. :-).

[Hoogle]

i started off with youtube and a magazine called photoshop creative you to could start of there it was only later on with experience and understanding of photoshoptools and termology that i could relate more to books. There are some very good1s out there but they can be very expensive. I would recomend saving your money to buy a newer version if you have below cs3, preferably now is cs4 and cs5 where most the learning material is based on.

[sprucemagoo1]

Can't believe nobody has mentioned Illustrator yet!

[Paul]

Illustrator there you go mate, i just started playing around with it. One fine tool it is to i can tell you - hard as hell to get my head around BUT i am a stubborn S.O.B lol.

[malyo]

Hello

I wanna suggest something that isn't exactly book, but i find it much better as a good reference and step by step guide, it covers very essentials+. It's Lynda com course of Photoshop CS5 by Deke McClelland, just google it, hope that helps!