Product Description

There's no better way to enhance your digital photos and to make great-looking videos than with Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements - two feature-packed programs that work great together. Learn how to: * How to correct color, erase blemishes and enhance your digital photos to make your good pictures look great! * How to do cool Photoshop tricks * How to use selections, layers, effects and filters to take full advantage of Photoshop Elements' powerful tool set * How to use Photomerge(r) to combine the best elements of several photos to build a panoramic shot * How to use themes, effects, transitions, titles and music to make your home videos look like Hollywood features! * How to use of multi-track timeline video editing * How to use keyframing, Premiere Elements' most versatile and powerful tool, to create motion paths and special effects * How to edit - and even create your own - custom DVD and BluRay disc menu templates

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #333604 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-26
• Binding: Paperback
• 420 pages

About the Author
Steve Grisetti holds a master's degree in Telecommunications from Ohio University and spent several years working in the motion picture and television industry in Los Angeles. A veteran user of several video editing programs and systems, Steve is the co-author (with Chuck Engels) of Premiere Elements in a Snap and the author of The Muvipix.com Guide to Adobe Premiere Elements 7 and The Muvipix.com Guide to DVD Architect Studio 4.5. Additionally, he is co-founder of Muvipix.com, a help and support site for amateur and semi-professional videomakers. A professional graphic designer and sometime video freelancer, he has taught classes in Photoshop and design. He lives in suburban Milwaukee.

Customer Reviews

Excellent guide and reference book for owners of this suite
I own and use the Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 and Adobe Premiere Elements 7 software suite, and I own copies of the books Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 Digital Classroom by the Aquent Creative Team, as well as Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 & Adobe Photoshop Premiere 7 Classroom in a Book Collection: The Official Training Workbook from Adobe Systems, published by Adobe Press.

And now I own a copy of Steve Grisetti's Guide to Photoshop Elements & Premiere Elements 7. I bought Steve's book (and I call him Steve because I've communicated with him online and speaking as a former brick and mortar bookstore operator who has met many authors, Steve is hands down one of the friendliest and most down to earth authors I've met) primarily because of difficulties I kept running into using Premiere 7 to edit video shot on high definition camcorders, problems that were not addressed in Adobe's "Official Training Workbook."

What I want and need when it comes to help with video editing, is a lot of hand holding and plain English. I'm not a computer geek. I'm a late middle aged man who could never figure out how to program a VCR or even set the clock on one back when VCR's were in vogue, and I sure as heck can't figure out without a lot of easy-to-comprehend help how to use any but the most elementary features of Premiere.

When I recently purchased a green screen (from an online source recommended by Steve at the Muvipix site), I figured it would take me several days of trial and error experimentation to figure out how to edit green screen video in Premiere. But with Steve's book in hand, it literally took me under 5 minutes. Because there is nothing intuitive (for me at least) about the process of using Premiere's green (and blue) screen editing capabilities, it was essential that I get simple, easy to follow instructions, and there they were in Steve's book.

The book enabled me to realize that I was beating my head against the wall by trying to edit AVCHD video in Premiere, or any HD video given the hardware I am running the software on. There are also some great suggestions (not to be found in either of the aforementioned books) on "Valuable free or low cost tools and utilities." There are also great suggestions on maintaining your computer (suggestions not found in the aforementioned books).

There is a wealth of material in Steve's book that I haven't even begun to tap, including, of course, clearly written information on using Photoshop Elements 7. And there is a lot of information in both sections of the book that isn't in the other two books on PE7 and Premiere 7 that I own.

This software suite has a learning curve, the steepness of which is partly determined by just how much the user wants to do with it, and the two basic books will take one to a certain level on that curve (the Aquent book is dedicated to Photoshop Elements 7 only). Both books are good and I've given each positive reviews, but I find them to be on the dry side to read, which makes using them more work than play (for me, that is; others may have a different experience). But Steve's book can take you higher on the learning curve than the other two books.

Steve's writing style reminds me of a quote I've long had taped above one of my computer monitors, from John Trimble's book, Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing: "Write with the assumption that your reader is a companionable friend with a warm sense of humor and an appreciation of simple straightforwardness. Write as if you were actually talking to that friend, but talking with enough leisure to frame your thoughts concisely and interestingly."

Because Steve's book is written in such a user-friendly style, I find using it not work but play. It makes using the software (and for me, Premiere 7 in particular) more of an adventure in the joy of discovery than an exercise in frustration at the limitations of my hardware (i.e., my computer hardware and the hardware in my skull!).

Steve's book includes all the material that is in his standalone Muvipix guide to Premiere Elements 7 as well as some updated material and illustrations (information I got directly from Steve), has about 200 pages on using Photoshop Elements 7 as well as information on interfacing Photoshop Elements 7 with Premiere 7 and only costs a few dollars more than the standalone guide to Premiere 7.

My copy has already paid for itself as far as I'm concerned. It would be the first book I'd refer anyone to who is working with this software suite.

At 20 Dollars/Pound This Book Is a Real Bargain
Steve's latest book, which weighs 1.5 pounds and sells for $30, is packed with useful information for those who are interested in getting the most "bang for their buck" from the PSE/PRE7 bundle.

In the Introduction to the book, Steve writes, "And one of the biggest challenges to writing a book like this is giving as many features as much coverage as possible without getting bogged down in them."

Over the past 2 weeks, when I've had to create six 5-minute slide shows and a 23-minute video plus a 4-DVD project that records a 5-hour dance contest (complete with HD Motion BGs, animated titles and gorgeous transitions), Steve's book has been invaluable.

Have you got a problem with your project that Adobe's Help files do not solve? You say you wish you had access to some royalty-free music for use in your productions? You wish you could download, for free if you are member, a variety of other media, including SD and HD Motion Backgrounds, many of them beautiful enough to take your breath away? You would like one-on-one advice not only from Steve, a recognized expert on Adobe products, but also from other highly-experienced and knowledgable individual who are more than willing to share their wisdom?

If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, then check out the muvipix web site, for which Steve is one of the Founders

The muvipix.com guide to photoshop elements and premiere elements 7.
Steve you have done it again. I find this book very clear and concise--easily understood. I have PSE7 & PRE7 and having all your references and how tos all in one book, makes it so much easier. This book along with [...], is winning combination. I would highly recommend this book for the beginner as well as someone with a higher level of experience.. Be sure to check out [...]. A source of valuable information..
D. Cox