silverorange stuff

Steve Caplin uses his own real world work from various projects including the Sunday Telegraph, Radio Times Magazine, ES Magazine, .net Magazine and many others to demonstrate his approach and techniques he uses as a freelance graphic artist. Steve Caplin is also a contributing editor for MacUser, an Adobe beta tester and teacher of photoshop.

What is Cheating in Photoshop?

"I'm describing how to make images look as much as possible like photographs, when they're not. Cheating is also finding shortcuts to help you work more quickly and more economically."

This book was not designed to be read from cover to cover (although I did) and was grouped into 12 chapters (topics) and again grouped into specific tasks each on a double page spread, none of which directly related to the pages before it. View Sample Pages.

Chapter list with a brief overview.

1: Natural selection

Everything starts with a good selection. Select and replace using colour, layer masks, channels, marque and wand tools.

2: Hiding and showing

Blending objects and colours together using layer masks, grouping, layer modes and blending options but without ever using the eraser.

3: Image Adjustment

Shadows and highlights, curves, matching colours, colour changes, sharpening and bringing a photo back into focus and of course the ever popular cloning and healing tools.

4: Composing the scene

Location and interaction. Object location, size, eye contacts, what's in or not in focus have a major impact on what the image represents.

5: Light and shade

An entire chapter devoted to lights and shadows. The small extras that make or break your final image.

6: Heads and bodies

Placing somebody into a scene can require matching one head to another body. Making it fit, Matching skin tones and image grain, combining multiple bodies, haircuts, facial hair, ageing, clothing changes, eye movement and facial expressions.

7: Shiny surfaces

Have some fun and spill a bucket of paint or flood an entire street. This chapter covers water, snow, ice, glass, plastic and how these objects reflect and refract its surroundings.

8: Metal, wood and stone

Instant metal with layer styles, lighting effects, rust, grime and decay, wood floors and carving into stone

9: Paper and fabric

Folds, tears, crumpling, wrinkles, ageing, curling, tape and textures.

10: The third dimension

Rotating objects, opening doors and drawers, matching perspective, labeling bottles.

11: Hyper realism

Motion blur, breaking glass, smashing and explosions.

12: Carry on spending

An intro to some of the various Photoshop plugins. EyeCandy 4000, Xenofex 2, Flaming Pear and KPT Collection.

Book CD

Most of the original Photoshop files are provided included on the CD, along with sample plugins and 100 free high resolution AbleStock images.

Some solid Reviews from Amazon: "One of the best books written on Photoshop to date."