Product Description

Do you want to let your creativity run wild in Photoshop, but don't know where to start? Are you having trouble getting your ideas out of your head and onto the screen? Do you need your photomontages to look convincing... and fast?

Nobody knows more about how to work quickly under pressure and still produce top-notch results than hands-on digital artist, author and journalist Steve Caplin. This guide is packed with real-world examples, timesaving hints and tips and detailed step-by-step instructions that make the impossible seem possible.

Fully updated for Photoshop CS4, this must-have-resource is also backwards compatible with any previous version of Photoshop.

* Extensive new material to show you how to take your Photoshop skills to a professional level
* DVD includes all the brand new images from the book, 300 high resolution AbleStock images plus over 2 hours of QuickTime movies of the projects
* Benefit from a professional illustrator's timesaving tips and tricks!

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18401 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review

'Learn how to duplicate amazing effects using Caplin's quick and easy shortcuts... brimming with easy-to-follow instructions on compositing creative effects that are fun, useful and sometimes just plain silly.'

Shutterbug

 

'A superb set of step-by-step how-to guides from the master himself... quick, easy-to-grasp shortcuts'

Macworld

 

'What makes Cheat so unique are the gems that other volumes don't cover. The juiciest bits that real artists hunger for are here. Dig in, dig deep, and Shop yourself mad'

Dingbatmag.com

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Customer Reviews

New tools, new cheats
How to Cheat, is a somewhat misleading title, as its not immediately obvious that this is a comprehensive look at the tricks used by Photoshop montage artists. But having said that this is a very useful series of books dealing fairly specifically with the building up of composite images in Photoshop.
Steve Caplin is an accomplished montage artist and many of his illustrations have graced the pages of the Guardian and the Independent, and he brings a lot of his experience into the techniques presented here.
How to Cheat seems to approach each new release of Photoshop as a challenge to present new tools, techniques and material, and this pays dividends to the reader as the accompanying dvd contains pdf files of many of the tutorials from previous editions.
The author seems to have spent some time getting to grip with the new tools of CS4 and finding some real world application for them, and so the book serves as a good catch-up to familiarize the reader with some new tools, but by no means is Cs4 a must have as techniques are backwardly compatible on the whole.
This book is balanced very well for its intended audience, those already comfortable using Photoshop, and as such the content here is of high value with little padding explaining the interface and so on, the tutorials all fit neatly over a two page spread, and on the whole the examples are very clear and to the point.
The first section deals with the fundamental skills required for the rest of the book, selection, masking, the pen tool, layers and image adjustment, well worth a read through no matter how keen your skills.
After the fundamentals catch-up the bulk of the book then tackles the various montage skills, setting the scene by looking at composition and perspective, the perspective chapter is excellent, easily tackled and incredibly useful.
A book packed with techniques, and Steve Caplin seems to put a lot of effort into making each version stand on its own, with fresh tutorial, techniques and the latest Photoshop features in context, the authors experience and enthusiasm make the tutorials very readable, and the book as a whole a recommended reference for the Photoshop montage artist, or even the intermediate or advanced user looking for some catch-up or fresh ideas.

An excellent book
I already had 'How to Cheat in Photoshop CS3', but there is enough new stuff in this CS4 book to warrant purchasing it.
The book is full of hints, tips and shortcuts, and Steve Caplin has the knack of making quite complicated methods seem easy.
Although aimed at photomontage, any Photoshop user at any level would find this book valuble.

Photoshop
I have already worked thru two great scott kelby books on photoshop. The seven point system and CS4 book for digital photographers.
Having a established a fair level of understanding this book takes you to teh next level. If you wnat to work on challenging and interesting photo montages Caplins is the book for you.
I also bought the Kelby Down and Dirty secrets, which is fine but a definite second place to Caplins book
Highly recommended