With his in-depth knowledge of the little-known secrets used by the pros to produce awardwinning illustrations, Steve is THE go-to guru for professional designers, graphic artists, illustrators, retouchers and students of design media and illustration who want to create photorealistic effects using Photoshop. Updated for Photoshop CS3, this must-have resource unlocks your creativity and helps you save time in the software so you can spend more time creatively. The book is also relevant to any version of Photoshop. * Create convincing smoke effects and make effective explosions the simple way * Take years off someone’s appearance * Turn a photograph of someone looking straight into the camera into a different perspective with the entire head (not just the eyes) * Modify a statue so it looks like a living person or paint hair directly on any surface * Produce the perfect cutout in the shortest time with Photoshop CS3’s new Quick Selection tool... and more

* New! Zip through the learning curve in a snap with the free DVD! * Hundreds of new Photo Objects, companion project files, QuickTime movie tutorials, sample plugins, and more.

* Dont miss the website www.howtocheatinphotoshop.com where the author answers your reader questions directly!

When youre short on time with crunching deadlines, but theres no way you can sacrifice quality, this book/DVD comes to the rescue. Nobody knows more about how to work fast under pressure and still produce top-notch photographic images than hands-on graphic artist and journalist, Steve Caplin.

Steve cuts through the grind with on-the-job, do-it-now skills, techniques, and shortcuts guaranteed to show you how to work faster, smarter, and better to produce the best work of your life. With a lifetime of practical experience in photo-montage Steve is the go-to person for professional designers, graphic artists, illustrators, photographic retouchers, and students of design media and illustration who want to create photorealistic effects using Photoshop.

Updated for Photoshop CS3, this must-have resource is also backwards compatible - relevant to any version of Photoshop.

’How to Cheat in Photoshop CS3’ helps you "cheat in" (or take advantage of) Photoshop in two important ways. You learn how to make images look like photographs, when theyre not so that you can create photographic work without a studio. And you find useful shortcuts to work more efficiently, economically, and with quick solutions to achieve the same superb results that come from long, complex operations that take forever.

Whether youre working for print or the web, dip into this book and extract the info you need fast. Icons mark where Photoshop files or movie tutorials are available for you to open immediately to try for yourself. Stuck? Visit the Reader Forum on the web and question the author directly (and expect other readers to weigh in, too!) at www.howtocheatinphotoshop.com.

Crammed with gems that other books simply dont cover, this book/DVD excels in practical tips to turn the ordinary into the awe-inspiring, quickly. Dont miss how to create new artwork from scratch from starting points that arent always obvious.

This fully updated new edition shows you how to get the most out of Photoshop CS3, including the Quick Selection and Cloning tools, and more. Yet its backwards compatible with previous releases of Photoshop. The book’s step-by-step tutorials alongside the DVD packed with hundreds of images, project files, and live tutorials show you how to:

* Create convincing smoke effects and make effective explosions the simple way
* Take years off someones appearance
* Turn a photograph of someone looking straight into the camera into a different perspective with the entire head (not just the eyes)
* Modify a statue so it looks like a living person or paint hair directly on any surface
* Produce the perfect cutout in the shortest time with Photoshop CS3s new Quick Selection tool... and more

A host of timesaving techniques and insider secrets teach you to work faster and more adeptly moving from the problem to the solution to get fantastic results!

Steve Caplin is a graphic artist, author and journalist.

* Extensive new material to show you how to take your Photoshop skills even further
* DVD includes all the brand new images from the book, 100 high resolution AbleStock images plus over 1 hour of QuickTime movies of the projects
* Benefit from a professional illustrator’s timesaving tips and tricks!

Most Ironic Cover
I hope that the cover image on this is not an example of one of the ’Photorealistic Montages’ boasted within...

- The lamp has some of the worst cutting out and lighting I’ve ever seen in a published work
- He seems to have webbed fingers
- Is there a tutorial on how to achieve invisible elbows? (look at the enlarged cover shot)
- Perspective is *not* optional...

I’m no Photoshop expert, but I’m certainly not inspired to learn from this piece of shoddy work!

Cheating at Photoshop CS3
This book reminds me of having cliff notes during high school. It takes you to the point without confusion. It covers a vast number of things that interest me in my photography business.

The Best Yet
I bought this book after 8 months of trying to figure out photoshop for myself and several books later I stumbled on this one. Recommend it to anyone beginner into pro. Its packed to the brim with fascinating projects to get your brain buds going.

Serendipitous
I knew from the title that this book had a lot of cool special effects, and it does. What I wasn’t expecting was the very pragmatic tutorial on artistic communication: how to tell a story by the relative placement of objects/people in a picture, or the slant of the eyes, etc. And, yes, you can actually turn a people’s eyes (or their entire heads!) with some neat, easy, amazing tricks. I just didn’t know some of this stuff was even possible. Definitely not a book full of stuff you’ve seen already.

How to cheat in photoshop CS3
We checked MANY photoshop books out of the library and only bought two and this is one. Love it. It comes with a cd with all the pictures that they walk you through so you can practice the steps yourself. Awesome

excellent but i nealy returned it.
first of all lets put it in perspective. this book is excellent but all the images arent photorealsitic. but what this book gives you is all the tips and tricks to make any of your photos look excellent. the practice DVD is packed full of videos and files which u can use / practice on.

i nearly returned it at the start but when i picked it up and read it its excellent. will improve your workflow.
All colour images as well and a very good price.

The Best Photoshop Book EVER
This Photoshop Book is BRILLIANT if you want to learn the professional techniques. It’s so much better than all those WOW books which give you naff cliched effects or just stuff you can find on the net anyway. I have bought so many PShop books but this is the one which gave me confidence to go to college and study art & design. I’m indebted to the author! If I could give it 100 stars I would. This IS the Pshop book you are looking for

Good but not what I was specting
They explanations are sometimes not easy to follow. Or it’s me? You can try it yourself.

Absolutely brilliant!!!
If you have a working knowledge of photoshop buy this book now! Steve’s no nonsense approach to each tutorial is spot on......

so glad this book isn’t like all other photoshop books on the market...

a must have desktop reference for any photoshop user!!!

Great concepts but very hard to replicate
There are a lot of good ideas and concepts provided in this book for some very cool effects. However, please know that many of the effects/settings are very specific to the images they use in the examples. For example, the section on "chroming" any image they use an image of a computer monitor and use the levels adjustments to make it look chrome. If/when you apply the same sort of settings to any of your own photos you will not get any results even remotely close to what they got. Your results will vary greatly with your own photos so it will take quite a bit of tweaking and trial/error to replicate.

great book
I recommend this book is really useful, but you must know the basic tools used in photoshop, otherwise you’ll feel lost.

Superior knowledge is not cheating
Like most Photoshop users I always have the feeling of being a pauper in the midst of wealth. There is just too much to know, learn and do. I feel as if I will never get caught up. This book is one of the best collections of (useful) how to’s I’ve come across. I would suggest it for a strong intermediate user. The steps and directions are just sparse enough to keep you really on your toes.

Beginner’s Beware!
If you are a beginner at photoshop then save your money. Doing each step as told in the book gets you no where except to the island of aggravation and frustration.

It doesn’t cheat the customer
I have a total of five Photoshop instruction manuals; all are good in their different ways but without doubt How to Cheat in Photoshop is the one book I always return to and the first one I go to to look something up. The style is easy going and informative and there is no padding. It is filled with real world examples of how to use the numerous tools and techniques that Photoshop presents you with. The accompanying DVD also adds great value to a must-have book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their photoshop skills and have fun in the process.

A must book for the Digital Artist
If you use Photoshop in your daily schedule this is the book for you. I bought the first edition a few years ago which was fantastic. The fourth edition has even more techniques that are essential if you want to pull off realistic looking Digital Composites. I regularly refer to this book should I need a quick solution for a design challenge. 5 stars from me...

Fully and wholly recommended for beginners and experienced Photoshoppers alike!
I had the first edition of this book and learnt an incredible amount from it. This newer version (fourth edition) includes many more examples and is substantially more beefy, with almost twice the amount of pages, over 400! The other benefit of getting the new edition is the inclusion of two hours of video tutorials (it seems Steve has responded to feedback on his forums, as people mentioned how helpful the videos were in previous editions).

If you’ve ever studied illustration and photomontage you’ll know that the Author is a pioneer in this field. You’ve probably been turning through the pages of The Guardian or The Times or any number of popular magazines and seen his work without even realising it. Anyway, my point is that the Author is busy working in the industry and if you want to learn from someone then he is the best man for the job! A particularly nice touch is the inclusion of various "interlude" sections of the book which divide up the tutorials. They give the reader an idea of what people in the industry might expect of you as a graphic artist, self-promotion, and tips on sourcing images etc.

I think it’s important to say that this book does something that the other CS3 books don’t - that is explain how you would use Photoshop quickly and painlessly everyday to complete the tasks a publishing company/magazine/newspaper would ask of you. The layout of the book is superb with everything is broken down into small chapters that explain each step to completing the dramatic transformations to images that you will undertake. He does say in the introduction its not the kind of book you’ll be reading cover to cover (as you might know some of the techniques mentioned already) but it is the kind of book you’ll be able to pick out tutorials you find interesting, or perhaps need to learn for a particular project or brief. This approach works very well and it feels a little less daunting when holding the weighty book in your hands! The fifteen chapters are broken down into several tutorials that explain pretty much everything you’ll ever need to achieve in CS3 ranging from simple techniques to change the colour of a woman’s jacket or a building, to time saving techniques and ways to save your files (very important if you’re working to a short deadline) all the way through to subtle lighting/shading/shadow techniques and layer masks.

The other thing that I would say distinguishes this volume from others is the practical explanations for the tools, including the Pen tool which, to me made little sense prior to reading the tutorial! It also explains the new tools in CS3 which also made little sense before I got the latest edition!

This book however isn’t just aimed at the professional illustrator/graphic artist or those studying to work in the industry, it is also aimed at people who like to have a bit of fun with Photoshop for personal pleasure. There’s a weekly contest on the website forums where readers can come together to assess each others work, and Steve Caplin offers tips and advice on those images you’re working on. Its a fantastic resource, and very interesting to see how other people have taken his techniques and adapted them for their own work.

It is well worth buying if you found the first or second editions useful as I did. Even if you have quite a bit of experience with Photoshop there will be many tutorials which will show you how to improve your skills.

Excellent stuff here
I enjoyed reading a book that was clearly written and had a LOT of real world examples and advice. This man obviously has a great deal of practical experience and his whole approach is to create excellent results using Photoshop CS3 and do it in the most efficient way.

Fantastic Book
I work in a design firm that recently upgraded to CS3. This book has fantastic tutorials! It not only covers some really great new features, it also provides a very clear methodology for quickly performing a number of tasks that can sometimes be very time consuming.
This book is great for experienced users as well as those who are just starting to build thier "real world" experiences.

The Best for the Brightest
Mr. Caplin has done it again with this edition of his wonderful book. Rather than bog readers down with endless minutia to add pages and make the book look impressive on the shelf, Mr. Caplin keeps each lesson to a two page spread that gives the readers all they need and nothing they don’t, making it easy to find what you need explained in a few deceptively simple steps. The explanations can be succinct because Mr. Caplin understands the subject very well.

He explains what to worry about (perspective, light/shadow/color, proportion) and doesn’t waste a lot of paper on things most Photoshop users know how to do (installing, using menus, zooming). If you know how to install and launch Photoshop but need help making your images look right, this is the book for you. If you don’t know to click on a menu item to open it up, an extra 600 pages aren’t going to help you master something as powerful as Photoshop. It may not look as impressive on the bookshelf, but then this book is so useful, it is rarely shelved anyway.

Mr. Caplin’s dedication to his readers doesn’t stop with your book purchase, or even with the DVD bulging with content. For years now he has been working tirelessly with readers through his website, providing weekly challenges, constructive feedback, encouragement and advice (Ok, you don’t even need to own his book to participate, but why would anyone take such advantage?).

Fantastic, Easy-to-use Resource. A must-have for Photoshop enthusiasts!
Whether you are a skilled Photoshop user, or a newbie like me - you’re going to love this book! I recently decided to purchase it after having compared it to the other Photoshop-related titles.

The book is packed full of creative and useful techniques, as well as fundamentals and operations of the Photoshop tool set. Tutorials are presented with walk-throughs and included with the book are the Photoshop files you need to complete the tutorials. It even includes movies to show you how techniques were performed.

For someone new to Photoshop (and frankly, I’ve been a little afraid of making the switch to Photoshop because of its complexity), I’ve found that Steve Caplin has really laid out the material in a user-friendly, understandable way. I’ve been able to follow the examples and complete the tutorials I’ve tried thus far.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to beef up their Photoshop skills or learn the program from Scratch, like I am doing. If you’ve used a graphics editing program before, you should feel right at home with "How to Cheat in Photoshop CS3".

Ridiculously bad
If you buy this book expecting tutorials on realistic compositing and montages, expect to be disappointed.

Although there are a couple of exceptions, the majority of this book is laughably poor. The book’s tagline "The art of creating photorealistic montages" is completely misleading - almost all of the examples are obviously slapped together from different sources with no realism at all. Most of them look like the weaker entries in the worth1000 competitions.

If you have any experience beyond the very basics of photoshop, this book has virtually nothing to offer.

There are a couple of clangers that are so bad they were met with laughter when I showed this book to the compositors I work with - The two ’beards and stubble’ tutorials had them in hysterics.

There are plenty of photoshop books out there, don’t waste your time or money on this one.

Running the Gamut
Steve Caplin has jumped up another notch with this latest book, How to Cheat at Photoshop CS3. There is more information with exercises and concepts to acheive experience and knowledge of the workings of Photoshop than you can shake a stick at. If that is a jam-packed sentence, the book outdoes that easily. It comes with a CD so you can follow along with the tutorials. Also, it’s easy to understand and fun to read as well.

This is the single worst Photoshop "how to" book I’ve ever come across
The subtitle is "The art of creating photorealistic montages". I suppose that’s true if your idea of photorealistic are the covers that the old "Weekly World News" tabloid used to run. You know the photos where you had a "space alien" shaking hands with someone who was rich or powerful.

All of the tools and tricks are covered in more depth in better books.

Book of choice!
An array of unintimidating practical tasks that are easy to understand, follow and comprehend. Plenty of screen shots to follow along with allows the reader to see the progress of each example. Steve Caplin’s teaching style is simple and playful. A "must have" for every Photoshop user’s arsenal of tools!

best photoshop book out
The best photoshop book I have purchased, clear and easy to read, its always the first book I reach for when trying something new in photoshop. There’s also a web forum connected to the book were you can get answers and advice from the author and other photoshop users, a very helpful and friendly bunch,

MUST HAVE!
This book is full of great Photoshop ideas, techniques and resources .
The fourth edition has many valuable additions.

I love it!
I have many Photoshop books, but this is the one I return to over and over again. Full of ideas and tips. So useful both for fun and serious work. Great tutorials for testing my skills, which with the help of the book keeps improving.
I also have the previous version, and have been looking forward to this one. so far I have not been disappointed.
Vibeke Friis

I love it
I have many Photoshop books, but this is the one I return to over and over again. Full of ideas and tips. So useful both for fun and serious work. Great tutorials for testing my skills, which with the help of the book keeps improving.
I also have the previous version, and have been looking forward to this one. so far I have not been disappointed.
Vibeke Friis

wish I had got this one first
Having spent a small fortune on photoshop books from all different authors I wish I had bought this one first,I could have saved a small fortune this book explains how to do all the things you would do on a regular basis,but it shows you the easy way of doing it leaving you thinking why didnt I do that earlier,simple and to the point.I cant recommend this book highly enough,its the only book I have ever reviewed on Amazon out of all the books I have purchased(around 8 photoshop book)

He’s done it again!
Although it has CS3 as part of the title, this is a very useful book for any Photoshop version that you may own. The basic requirements are that you know yur way around Photoshop. This is not a "learn by going through menus" type of book. I found that going through the frist few chapters (covering Selections) was a minimum requirements. After that you can go and jump from one 2 page tutorial to the other. It is simply written, not pretencious at all, by (obviously) a pro that has been playing with this software for ages. This book (and previous editions) and the "Friday Challenges" of the forum of the book’s website have increased my Photoshop skills hundred fold! Steve Caplin has done it again!

Rehash
If there wasn’t a How to Cheat in Photoshop CS2 ,this would be great.
As there is ,it becomes a great waste of money.
Same just about everything is in first book with very sparce updating on CS3.

Great Photoshop reference
Whether you are a beginner wanting to learn Photoshop from scratch, or a advanced user wanting to pick up some technique on how to create realistic photo montages, this is the book that you will want. Steve’s step by step descriptions on how to perform each task makes learning Photoshop a joy. I would recommend this to any photoshopper at any level of experience.

One of the best gets better. This is a must-have Photoshop book
I had ranked an earlier edition as one of the four best Photoshop books available. With the CS3 edition, Caplin establishes himself in my eyes as one of the best Photoshop authors out there, Katrin Eismann being the other.

"How to Cheat in Photoshop CS3" has grown once again from earlier editions, weighing in with 397 pages of instructional text and two hours of video tutorials. Caplin’s facility as a teacher has been apparent since the first edition of this book. His confidence has apparently (and justifiably) grown with his edition. The CS3 volume retains many of the examples from former editions (which are necessary) and adds many new ones, making the book an all-in-one Photoshop training manual.

Caplin has never had to resort to the silly attempts at humor employed by Deke McClelland, Scott Kelby and others. He is more than well equipped with a natural sense of whimsy. Caplin’s tutorial on "Combining body parts" at pages 180 - 181 is an absolutely hilarious spoof on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s "girly men" comment of some months back. If you can stop laughing long enough, it is also an excellent tutorial.

In all, there are about 170 tutorials in the book and some excursions into related subjects, such as the wisdom of carrying a small digital camera with you at all times to build our own image library. Every subject of importance to using Photoshop (i.e., learning Curves, Layer masks, etc.) and creating effective montages (i.e., creating effective shadows, combining body parts, perspective, etc.) is covered. I think it fair to say that a total Photoshop neophyte could find everything they need to know in "How to Cheat in Photoshop CS3," even if they never intend to create a photorealistic montage, but I would also recommend Katrin Eismann’s books on montage and retouching be purchased as well. These three volumes would form a literal encyclopedia of Photoshop.

Finally, you don’t need Photoshop CS3 for this book to be useful. Perhaps 97% or more is applicable to any recent version of Photoshop.

As I said, I consider Steve Caplin to be, along with Katrin Eismann, one of the best authors on Photoshop. "How to Cheat in Photoshop CS3" is the biggest and best of the series so far and I am pleased to say that Caplin has maintained his verve, imparting a sense of freshness even to the examples he has picked up from earlier editions.

This book is simply a must-have in any Photoshop library.

Jerry

Possibly the best Photoshop book around
As a relatively newcomer to the world of Photoshop I can say with confidence this book is very simple to follow and helps produce stunning effects for your photos.

Not only does it give you tips on how to enhance your photographs but it also teaches you how to achieve seemingly impossible effects with ease.

With the help of this book and participating in the Reader’s Forum (which the author personally answers your questions and reviews your work)my photoshop skills have improved immensely.

The book is complimented with a DVD jammed packed with free stock images and video tutorials.

I strongly recommend How to Cheat in Photoshop CS3 to anyone who wants to learn and master the art of photorealistic montages.

Videos on the DVD bring a 4-star book to a 5 star rating
This fine book will help you accomplish two goals: 1) save time while editing your photos, and 2) create convincing composites that will amaze your friends. The Quicktime videos on the DVD are an excellent supplement to the expository text. Note, however, that the instruction is aimed at Photoshop users who have some experience (at least weak intermediate-level ability, perhaps).

In all honesty, I did not realize what a Photoshop genius Steve Caplin is until I watched some of his tutorial videos included on the book’s DVD. In my opinion, the author’s skills are roughly(!) in the same league as those of Bert Monroy. The book’s video showing the creation of a grave is absolutely amazing. I therefore highly recommend this 4th edition to anyone looking to improve his/her photo editing wizardry.

How to Cheat in Photoshop
If you are an inexperienced Photoshop user BUY THIS BOOK. If you are an experienced Photoshop user BUY THIS BOOK.

I can honestly say that I learned more about day to day use of Photoshop from this one book than all the others combined.

Steve Caplin takes you through real world examples in very easy to understand steps and shows you techniques that you might never even have thought about.

Having read the book navigate your way to the "How to Cheat in Photoshop" website also run by Steve to find out more and join in the "Friday Challenge".

Come on in. The Photoshopped water is lovely!

Best edition yet
I’ve been following this book through each of its 3 revisions and this is the strongest offering yet. In addition to being updated for CS3, the content has been expanded and the new material looks good.

This book is great for Photoshop users who are interested in collage and digital illustration [worth1000 style]; not so good for those just learning the program, retouchers or digital photo types. But set against the millions of Photoshop titles out there, this one is unique and recommended.