If You Skip This One Page, You’ll Regret It For . . .

(1) Okay, it’s possible that I exaggerated a bit in that headline . . . as a ruse to get you to read this quick intro, but only because it’s for your own good. Well, technically it’s for both our goods (goods?), because if you skip this, you might not totally grock (grock?) how this book was designed to be used, which is different than most other books for a number of reasons, the first being most other books don’t try to trick you into reading the intro. But, in this case, I had to do it (and I feel semi-bad about it, sort of, kinda, in a way), because (a) I want you to get the most out of this book (another selfish author only wanting for himself), and (b) you want you to get the most out of it (you paid for it, or at the very least, shoplifted it), so it’s for both our goods (thankfully, my editor doesn’t require me to use real words). Anyway, in short, here’s how to use this book:

Don’t read it in order. It’s not that kind of book. This is more like an “I’m stuck. I need help right now” book, so when you’re working in Photoshop and need to know how to do a particular thing right this very minute, you just pick it up, turn to the chapter where it would be (Layers, Problems, Special Effects, etc.), find the thing you need to do, and I tell you exactly how to do it, pretty succinctly ($5 word—bonus points!), and you’re off and running back in Photoshop. If I did my job right, you should only be in this book for like a minute at a time—just long enough to learn that one important thing you need now, and then you’re back to lounging on your yacht (at least, that’s how I imagine your life will roll after buying this book).