This is an inviting, entertaining, well written, well designed and easy to follow book. The authors say they have written this book for professional photographers, commercial illustrators and artists of all levels.  Having a working knowledge of Photoshop and Painter is definitely advisable for working with the exercises. The authors have written the book for Photoshop CS2 thru CS4 users and Painter 9-11 users. 

Tips on setting up hardware and software, and suggested equipment are provided in a studio setup section in the front of the book. It’s recommended that you have a Wacom tablet to duplicate some of the painterly effects in the exercises.

Some of the exercises use only the application tools and filters, but if you do have a tablet you will most likely gain the most from the book. There is a section on the Wacom tablet that includes information on setting up and using the tablet, including some rudimentary practice exercises.

I’ve worked with Photoshop for many years, and am a novice with Painter Essentials. I am a professional illustrator and graphic designer. I worked with a couple of the exercises in PhotoShop CS. I was able to easily adapt most of the instructions using the tools and palettes used in the book to achieve the same or similar results.  

Beyond Digital Photography offers online free images and brush resources to use with the book exercises. Their site (www.beyonddigitalbook.com) offers the same excellent ease of navigation as the book. The image and brush downloads to the desktop are lightening fast and the images automatically open in Photoshop.

The numbered exercise instructions are clear and concise. Steps for duplicating the exercises are easy to follow with both written instruction and images illustrating the exercise steps in application palettes. 

It is a comprehensive and focused book, starting with some basics and progressing to more challenging techniques. I didn’t have to wade through basics I already knew to get to the essence of working with the book. It encourages creative use of tools you may already use. 

I highly recommend this book to photographers and artists who are exploring ways to add that fine art touch to digital photos. It is a handy how-to resource when you want to push digital photos to another artistic level.