Others say...

"The Book Adobe should have Written!"
I have been working with Adobe Elements for about 6 months now. I started with Adobe's tutorial and then their "Classroom in a Book" series and have created numerous multi hour DVD's from old VHS video I have. As with most books from the makers of software, they leave a lot of how too stuff out, so I started to look elsewhere for more info on how to use all of the great things in Elements. I saw this book and it's rating so I figured I'd give it a try. For the $16 it cost, even if I learned just two new helpful things it would be worth the money. Never having read any other ".... For Dummies" book I had no Idea what to expect.

I am currently half way through the book and I have to say I have learned not just two but a lot of new things. There are a lot of the basics in the book for people just starting out with Elements but it also goes into detail on how to use all of the fancy transitions and effects very clearly. Before this book I had no idea on how to use some of the more complex effects properly. It's is clear that the author is very familiar with Premere Elements and video editing. The book is worth three times the $16 it cost.

The only thing I felt should have been done, but was not, was that the pictures should be in color. Even if this drove the price up $5 a book it would be better. I say this because often the author refers to the color of an item (The yellow line) in the pictures and unless you are sitting in front of your PC with Elements up or you are very familiar with the Elements windows, all you are going to see is a black and white photo.

Bottom line - A great book, buy it, you won't be disappointed.

I will definitely be looking for other books by Keith Underdahl. Hopefully he knows Photoshop Elements too!


"Great advice"
This book is just what I needed. I had just acquired the Premiere Elements Program and understood the very basics from the anemic book that comes with the program, and the DVD that introduces the program. Premiere Elements for Dummies took me to the details needed in putting together projects, editing the clips, adding the soundtrack and music, and getting it to disc. I read other books, and this was the best one - not too basic, not too detailed or advanced.

"Definitely worth buying"
This book has the practical advise that you really need to get results. I highly recommend reading Chapter 2, Equipping Yourself for Movie Making, even before buying the program itself. I had done some video editing with other consumer grade programs, but was new to Premiere. This really helped me get up to speed quickly. Skip the Adobe tutorials and manual and read this very reasonably priced, easy to read and concise book.

"Message from editor of Adobe Premiere Elements For Dummies"
Hi -- I'm one of the editors who worked on Adobe Premiere Elements For Dummies and just wanted to post a few words about the book.

As you probably know, Premiere Elements is a pretty cool tool for editing digital video. We designed our book to help you get a firm grip on all the features in Premiere Elements and make using the software a simple task.

Doing a more user-friendly manual on the software could have been enough for this book, but we wanted to offer more than what other books do. So we've added a lot of information on digital video basics like shooting good footage and getting the most out of your camera. We also added content on the best ways to share your videos after you've edited them. Finally, we tried to go beyond the "how-to" with the software and show how to use the tools in the most effective manner for the best results.

Our author, Keith Underdahl, was definitely the right man for the job. He's also author of our current edition of Digital Video For Dummies (a more basic book for folks just getting started with digital videography). Keith has done pro videos, but he also enjoys using his camera for family events and vacations. In short, he knows where all the natural stumbling blocks come with digital video and knows how to get around them.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy our book.

"Good indepth book with lots of useful feature info"
Keith's knowledge of Premiere really pays off in his "Adobe Premiere Elements" for Dummies book.

The book does a good job of going more indepth than the user manual that comes with the product. Capture, Edit, Effects, Titles, DVD and other export types like web, are all covered.

I really enjoyed the numerous examples & gotchas that folks just learning how to edit video would run into. The book has a good balance of tips on video editing, as well as going indepth on how to do specific special effects. Chapter 19 goes thru 10 specific examples: Making people disappear on video, seeing double (twins), freeze frames, old movie, star wars titles, Ken Burn pan & zooms, moving image mattes, lens flares, audio hums and zooming in on video.