Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual

About This Book

Adobe has pulled together an amazing amount of information in its online help system (see online Appendix B, available from this book’s Missing CD page at www.missingmanuals.com/cds), but despite all these efforts, it’s geared toward seasoned Photoshop jockeys and assumes a level of skill that you may not have. The explanations are very clipped and to the point, which makes it difficult to get a real feel for the tool or technique you need help with.

That’s where this book comes in. It’s intended to make learning Photoshop CC tolerable—and even enjoyable—by avoiding technical jargon as much as possible and explaining why and when you’ll want to use (or avoid) certain features of the program. It’s a conversational and friendly approach intended to speak to beginners and seasoned pixel pushers alike.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION: Meet the Creative Cloud

Dude, what the heck happened to Photoshop CS7? What on earth does “CC” mean?

Great question. For the first time ever, Adobe isn’t shipping perpetually licensed, boxed versions of their products; instead, your only option is to subscribe to—and then download—the software.

Using a service called the Adobe Creative Cloud, you can sub-scribe on an annual or monthly basis to one or all of Adobe’s products. For example, a Single App Creative Cloud subscription for Photoshop CC costs about $20 a month and gives you access to both Mac and PC versions of the program that you can install on up to two machines (say, a desktop and laptop). ...