(New York City) – Micah Laaker announced today his second publishing deal. This title, completely unrelated to SVG (the topic of his first tome and several magazine articles), will focus exclusively on Adobe Photoshop. It will be published by John Wiley & Sons, purveyors of popular technology series such as the Dummies, Bible, and Secrets lines.

The book will be a technical reference guide helping beginner and intermediate Photoshop users find quick and concise instructions on accomplishing hundreds of common and obscure tasks, such as reducing "red eye" in photographs or applying a drop shadow to text.

The title will be coauthored with Christopher Schmitt, author of Designing CSS Web Pages. Laaker was invited to assist in authorship after the original author accidentally fractured both her arms in a fall. (Ed. note – Laaker’s contribution to the book will, of course, be contingent on his ability to retain full use of his fingers and forearms.)

Having worked with Photoshop since its original debut as Adobe Photoshop 1.0, Mr. Laaker has worked with digital imaging software since 1985. A daily user of Photoshop, Laaker has harnessed the application for a variety of uses and across different industries.

Set for release in the late fall of 2003, the book, divided into 17 topic-driven chapters, will guide readers through the application’s most frequently used practices. Designed more as a reference tool than a cover-to-cover read, the title will accompany a new line of Wiley books.