Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 is a great program that provides much of the power of the full blown Photoshop product but at a fraction of the price. It does have one major drawback though. The box contains a lot of fresh air – not much in the way of a manual. The online help goes some way towards getting you started but often tells you what to do, not why and its level of detail is often somewhat lacking.

Product	Photoshop Elements 3 – The Missing Manual
From	www.missingmanual.com
	Superb full coverage of Elements 3's abilities
	Some illustrations too small

Weighing in at nearly 500 pages, ‘Photoshop Elements 3 The Missing Manual’ is the latest title in the ‘Missing Manual’ series from O’Reilly. Aimed at both Mac and Windows users, the book covers each and every function with a chatty informative style that reads well and can usually be dipped into without having to wade through earlier chapters.

The book is broken up into seventeen chapters spread over six parts. It begins with an introductory section that covers the basics of importing, organising and quick fixes before moving on to more advanced sections. These provide information on making selections and working with layers. Layers are one thing you really need to get to grips with to make the most of Photoshop Elements 3 and the explanations and examples help build a good understanding of how they work and what they can do for you.

Later sections introduce colour (or color if you’re geographically challenged), brushes, various effects and a good discussion on the new healing brush tools. Digital camera enthusiasts will also welcome the information on the new Adobe RAW converter which explains each adjustment, what it can do for you and why. By the end of the book, you’ll also have learned about photo galleries, text, printing and much more.

The author clearly knows Photoshop Elements 3 inside out. As well as pointing out the differences between the Windows and Mac versions, she also notes known bugs, workarounds and provides numerous step by step descriptions of how to achieve different results. The illustrations are generally good although many had quite marked JPG artefacts and some were a bit too small to properly show what they intended. The majority were fine though and helped explain the features well.

What we particularly liked was the attention to detail. Most functions provide a myriad of options and icons including many I hadn’t even noticed before. Now I know what they do and why I’d want to use them. Another big plus is the large number of internal references to other pages often leading you on to rewarding areas you might not have bothered reading about. The book finishes up with a quick overview of each and every menu.

There are a lot of Photoshop Elements 3 books out there and several you may well want to buy. However, this is the one you need to buy first. Recommended, especially at this price.