I spent the summer home schooling myself in Adobe CS and used the Classroom in a Book series for Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. I really liked using Classroom in a Book and found them really helpful. You get a CD with lessons and the information is presented in a very clear non-overwhelming way.

The authors of some how-to books like to spend part of a chapter talking about their credentials, complaining about the software, or sharing trivia - which I find annoying. The Adobe books are pretty straightforward.

I actually have a couple of these as full e-books. Send me an email and I'll get back to you with where you can download them. For free of course; I'm not spamming, just trying to be helpful!

Agreed, class room in a book are some of the best. Also do a Del.icio.us search for "photoshop". It looks like some good tutorials come up

CS2/ACR is sooooo awesome for working with RAW files. I love it.

Just start shooting in RAW with your camera and open up the files in CS2, ACR will automaticaly pop up with the picture, then just start fucking around. Just don't use the sharpening tool in ACR (it can cause too many halos and other artifacts that you don't want), use the USM (unsharpen mask) in CS2 after you convert the file.

Easy!

Stacy, are you still looking for a Photoshop book? I did some research on PS books a few months ago, and ended buying a couple. I don't remember the titles, but if you're still looking and want some recommendations, just reply to this. Your e-mail will serve as a "ping" so that I remember to check the titles when I get home.

you have the software!? :) sweeet. my wallet is a little too thin for me to go shopping for that, let alone books.. let me know what you do recommend though once you get crackin' on the books.