How to Cheat in Photoshop: The Art of Creating Photorealistic Montages - Updated for CS2: Amazon.co.uk: Steve Caplin: Books

Review

"...this book is fascinating and Steve is unquestionably the master in his field." - Amateur Photographer "Brilliant illustrations, step-by-step instructions and packed full of tricks from one of the finest masters of them all." Tom Ang "An invaluable guide to creating impressive montages from your digital photographs. Composed primarily of step-by-steps, this tome is packed with useful shortcuts and time saving tips." - What Digital Camera "A must-have for all Photoshoppers" - www.total-image-nation.co.uk "Covering all the major techniques, author Steve Caplin takes you on an intriguing and insightful journey through the realms of the digital montage." - Advanced Photoshop "Its 376 pages, plus CD, are crammed with colourful instruction on making your dull, unexciting snaps look altogether different...It should be required reading for anyone using Adobe's image tweaking tool in a semi-pro environment." - MacUser "You'll find plenty of fun in the author's offbeat lessons and examples which explore the program's hidden powers. What makes CHEAT so unique are the gems that other volumes simply don't cover. The juiciest bits that real artis hunger for are here. So dig in, dig deep, and Shop yourself mad." www.dingbatmag.com "Not brand new, but the latest edition of a classic. Steve Caplin has the rare gift of being able to make complex techniques seem perfectly straightforward and logical. " Computer Arts Projects, December 2006 On the previous edition: '...written in a succinct and accessible style. Each chapter is self-contained with every spread taking the reader on a step-by-step guide to one particular technique. The real strength of the book lies in Caplin's use of the 'real world' examples. The Cheat of the title refers to shortcuts. Unlike some other writers, Caplin is aware of the concept of deadlines, as his workman-like approach to the subject shows.' British Journal of Photography 'a superb set of step-by-step how-to guides for achieving photorealistic montages from the master himself. By "cheating", Caplin means quick, easy-to-grasp shortcuts to impressive ends. The book shows you how to create many effects, using a gallery of Caplin's commissioned montages - the finished pictures alone are almost worth buying this book for. A must for all montagers.' Simon Jary, Editor MacWorld 'Shows you how to exploit features and be more creative in less time, covering just about everything you could want to do in Photoshop. The book's credentials are clear - many of the examples and case studies are taken from real-world commercial projects. There's a goldmine of practical and downright useful tips, tricks and step-by-step workthrough in this book.' Keith Martin, MacUser 'A great book - even if just using Photoshop Elements! This book is a MUST HAVE for anyone with Photoshop Elements or the full version. While it is not possible to do everything shown in the book, at least 80% can be done straightaway using Elements and much of the rest can be done with work arounds or a bit of lateral thought. There are some cracking ideas and projects to get busy with, with Caplin's work being recognisable from many Magazines and Newspapers.' Amazon.co.uk customer 'Well-written, insightful and beautifully illustrated throughout.' Digital Creative Arts 'The book is beautiful in color, very clear in structure and filled with real life examples...I highly recommend this book.' www.photocrack.com 'A great book to help you add realistic shadows, highlights and perspectives to your creations.' www.ephotozine.com "Subtitled 'The Art of Creating Photorealistic Montages,' Steve Caplin produces a worthwhile book and a CD that contains QuickTime video clips showing many of the projects illustrated. Cleverly designed and copiously illustrated, this is a wonderful book that includes a chapter called 'Heads and Bodies' which covers the digital 'guillotine effect' of mixing and matching bodies and heads." -Joe Farace, Shutterbug

photocrack.com

'The book is beautiful in color, very clear in structure and filled with real life examples...I highly recommend this book.'

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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

Get serious with Photoshop with a stunning set of tutorials! 11 Mar 2004

By P. Kilgour

Format:Paperback

Yet again Steve Caplin has produced a masterpiece. Following on the huge success of the first edition of How To Cheat In Photoshop, Steve has yet again put together a truly all inspiring collaboration of meaningful and useful tutorials using the world's most renowned graphics package, Photoshop.

This is the ONLY book to date that I have come across so far that gives you a clear understanding of the Pen Tool. After reading this section, you'll be making selections with this tool with greater ease. Then there's a tutorial on Curves and Unsharp Mask. It's a god send !

How To Cheat In Photoshop 2nd Edition is an invaluable tool in showing you the techniques used by the master of photo montage himself, Steve Caplin.

Steve has regularly been commissioned by the Sunday Telegraph and various other well established magazines for his work. He also writes a regular column for Mac magazine. He also does lectures on Photoshop around the world.

To top it all off, Steve even runs his very own forum where you can freely post your work, or ask Steve questions on how to improve your image. He'll tell you exactly as he sees it and advise you what technique/s to use to better you work if it needs improving.

I have bought various books on Photoshop including titles such as Most Wanted 1 + 2 and in my opinion this one even tops them .. Bye it, you'll never look back!

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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

Best Computer Graphics Book ever. 14 Oct 2002

By micpool

With this book I achieved the mastery of layer masks and linking and many other technical complexities, which had eluded me for two years, in one evening.

The examples tutorials are really fun to do and are immediately applicable to current projects.

Its so good it makes me want to remake nearly all the photomontages I have ever done using the techniques in the book.

The illustrations and print quality are superb. The enclosed CD has a lot of material for the tutorials but sadly some of the best examples do not have tutorial artwork on the CD (probably for copyright reasons?).

I can't imagine any photoshop user being disapointed with this book

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

Indispensable desktop companion! 23 Feb 2004

By David Asch

I bought the first edition a while back and have had it to hand ever since. I have just bought the second edition and, whilst it contains the same content as its previous incarnation, Steve has added a lot of new techniques, including some incredibly simple, yet effective effects.

This book isn't the definitive guide to Photoshop and doesn't claim to be. Its aim is to show people time saving techniques and illustrative design ideas and does just that in a clear, informative and at times, humourous way. There are plenty of tutorials to play around with, the source images are all on the accompanying CD, which also has a great selection of high quality stock photos. The case studies and chapter interludes are a great insight into the world of commercial montage illustration.

I have learned a great deal from this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know how to construct and manipulate photos, whether it be for personal or business use.