A senior engineer from NASA once said that this man gave the best technical seminar he ever attended. That same year a computer-phobic who had been struggling with Photoshop for years proclaimed that “He takes the Boogie Man out of Photoshop!” This seems to be Ben Willmore's special gift; he has an uncanny ability to connect with users of every level and mindset; whether it’s first-timers taking their first sniff of Photoshop, or razor-sharp nerds and nerdettes who are on the fast track to technical illumination. The common echo that Ben leaves in his wake seems to be “Aha! I finally GET Photoshop!”

To date, Ben has personally taught over 45,000 Photoshop users on three continents. His descriptions of Curves and Channels are thought to be the best in the industry and his breakthrough teaching style of “not-just-how-but-why,” has made him the in-house instructor of choice for companies such as Mercedes Benz, Adobe Systems, America Online, the U.S. Airforce, Lexis Nexis and Fisher-Price Toys. His award-winning, best-selling book, Adobe Photoshop Studio Techniques is said to be “Arguably, one of the best Photoshop books ever written.” by Photoshop User’s publisher, Jim Workman. His latest book 'Photoshop CS2: Up to Speed' is a new concept in books and is the only book focused exclusively on the new features in Photoshop CS2. He is also co-author (with Jack Davis) of “How to Wow: Photoshop for Photographers”, and creator of the best-selling Master Series videos.

He continues to be a featured speaker at publishing conferences and events worldwide, including Photoshop World, American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and the Royal Photographic Society of England. He's a member of the Dream Team for NAPP and writes for numerous digital imaging and photography publications, including a monthly column for Photoshop User magazine. In 2004 he was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame. His reputation as the “expert's expert” prompted NAPP's president, Scott Kelby, to say, “When we get stuck, we call Ben!”

Ben sold his house in the mountains of Colorado in early 2006 and started to live a mobile lifestyle. His home is a 1997 40' Prevost bus (often referred to as a Rock Star Bus) that was converted by Liberty coach into a motorhome. The bus is pretty much a one bedroom apartment on wheels. Ben spends his time driving to speaking events and photographing National Parks and small town America.

Customer Reviews & Comments
What the critics are saying(see inside cover flap)about Ben's new book is really good;well written in his understandable style to explain complicated things. The great advantage of this book is that it focuses only on the new features from CS2 so that you can start immediately with the upgrade.There are three Sections in this book:1)Foundations with two chapters,page 4 till 21 introducing the new Bridge application(one of the best newcomers)and page 22-35 reviewing general tweaks: warping,editing menus,color management,new preferences and other tiny tweaks. Section II is all about Design (page 44-85) ,4 more chapters about the new layers palette,smart objects,variables and small Gems for Design;Section III is all about photography ,chapters 7 to 10,from page 92-164 and explains Camera raw3,High Dynamic Range Imaging(HDR),retouching & filter enhancements and finally small gems for photography. Chapter 2 for example cover such an abondance of refinements and new features that the author considers them essential reading for anyone upgrading to CS2. Like allways with Ben's books this one is very good structured giving on the beginning of each chapter an overview of what's covered helping you to find directly what you need. Every new feature is covered in depth in Ben's clear style. In the introduction the author tells clearly that two Photoshop related applications are not covered in his book:Image ready(because there are no essential changes in CS2)and Version Cue(creative suite)because it is beyond the objectve of his book to get you up to speed with Photoshop's newest features. The book is edited in a handy format and beatifully illustrated,and lets you learn quickly what's been moved,renamed or eliminated from the previous version. This book is NOT for beginners!!!and supposes you have a good knowledge of Photoshop CS; Since two days I can't put it away and read chapters on the fly just because Ben's style is nearly one of the best to explain you complicated stuff. Again a winner Ben!!!Thanks Comment | Permalink | (Report this)