Book excerpt: This easily accessible tutorial uses a friendly, conversational approach to teach readers the basics of Photoshop 6. It covers only those features of Photoshop beginning users will need. It's organized in a logical order that reflects the natural progression new users are likely to follow in developing a familiarity with the product.Learn how to...Use layers, channels, paths, masks, and selections,Create new art with the Painting tools and filters,Add geometric and custom shapes with the new set of Vector Shape tools,Use Layer effects to easily create glows, bevels, drop shadows, and more,Retouch and repair scanned photographs,Adjust color and work in different color modes,Add text with the improved Photoshop 6 type capabilities and controls,Resize, reshape, skew, distort, and combine images,Optimize Web images with the Save For Web feature,Discover the slick Web effects that are available with the bundled ImageReady companion application