Adobe’s Photoshop Elements’ growing popularity — tied to the rise in digital photography and the product’s cut-down price compared to other Adobe image editing products — has made it a target for numerous how-to books. This latest one is a streamlined entry without the buzzy gimmicks of some of the competitors. Instead, the approach here is to introduce and explain a topic and then have you complete a couple of exercises. Some of the topics covered include layers, selecting, painting, colours and type.

Thankfully, the descriptions are accompanied by quality colour photos. You’d be surprised at how many digital photography books we’ve seen in the past that tried to get away with black and white pics — one title that shall remain nameless even included a section on how to fix red eye in portraits, with no colour illustrations to show you what was going on. This book also comes with a CD with QuickTime video to run through some of the more complex concepts.

Another useful section of the book covers saving pics for the Web and sending them by e-mail. Given that many users of Photoshop Elements will predominantly want to take pics, fix ’em up a bit and send them to friends or post online, this is an essential section and it’s covered well.

The tables, in particular, are an easy way to quickly understand the different options. Plus, the section has more than the basics — including creating PDF slideshows and animated GIFs. Readers will find the straightforward — but fairly detailed — approach refreshing. It’s just a shame the price is relatively high at $67, although perhaps still cheaper than a course.