How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements 6: Create stunning photomontages on a budget (How to Cheat in) [Paperback]

David Asch (Author), Steve Caplin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240520831 | ISBN-13: 978-0240520834 | Publication Date: December 28, 2007

How to Cheat in Elements 6 is an invaluable resource for all users of Photoshop Elements and shows you how to 'cheat' by sharing insider secrets from clever and cunning Elements gurus, David Asch and series forerunner, Steve Caplin.

Compatible with previous releases of Elements, this is jam packed with dazzling tips and tricks, unearthed secrets, and creative techniques that challenge and inspire.

Work through each section to build up your Photoshop Elements skills, creating everything from basic layer and masking effects right up to advanced manipulation. Or just dip right into a project to learn a new technique:
* turn day into night
* add snow, shadows and water to your scenes
* make fire and smoke
* give your car a respray
...if you can imagine it, we can show you how to do it in Photoshop Elements!

A full glossary of terms, useful keyboard shortcuts, and a detailed index will help you locate that fantastic technique in a flash. Follow the QuickTime movie tutorials on the CD, and use the high resolution royalty free images in your own creations . you can also ask questions, solve problems and meet other Elements users in the book's dedicated website, http://www.howtocheatinphotoshopelements.com

Once you have mastered the techniques in this book - the only limit is your imagination!

David Asch is a freelance author and journalist specializing in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements image editing and manipulation.

Steve Caplin is a graphic artist, illustrator, and journalist who loves to create photomontages that blur the line between illusion and reality.

Note: Having trouble with the DVD? Visit http://www.howtocheatinphotoshopelements.com where you can find a link to download updated versions of the video files.

Work through each section to build up your Photoshop Elements skills, creating everything from basic layer and masking effects right up to advanced manipulation. Or just dip right into a project to learn a new technique:
* turn day into night
* add snow, shadows and water to your scenes
* make fire and smoke
* give your car a respray
.if you can imagine it, we can show you how to do it in Photoshop Elements!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Asch is a beta tester for Photoshop Elements. He contributes to Mac Format magazine, and is co-author of Digital Photo Doctor and contributing author to Drop Dead Photography Techniques.

Steve Caplin is a freelance artist and author working in London, England. His satirical photomontage work is commissioned by newspapers and magazines around the world, including The Guardian, The Independent, The Sunday Telegraph, The Sunday Times Magazine, Radio Times, Readers Digest and L'Internazionale. Steve has worked for advertising agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi, Bartle Bogle Hegarty and Lowe Howard Spink, and his work has won two Campaign Poster Awards and a D&AD Pencil award. He has lectured widely in England, Norway, France and Holland, and has taught digital design at the University of Westminster and the University of the Arts London. Steve is the author of ten books: How to Cheat in Photoshop (five editions), How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements (co-authored, three editions), Icon Design, Max Pixel's Adventures in Adobe Photoshop Elements, The Complete Guide to Digital Illustration (co-authored) and Art & Design in Photoshop. He has also co-authored three mainstream books: Dad Stuff, More Dad Stuff, Stuff the Turkey and Complete and Utter Zebu. When he's not at his computer Steve plays the piano well, the accordion moderately and the guitar badly. He spends his spare time making improbable constructions out of wood and other materials. His first commissioned sculpture was for the Bethlem hospital - the original 'bedlam' - in 2010.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press (December 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240520831
• ISBN-13: 978-0240520834
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,007,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, January 19, 2008

By 

Jennifer Mills (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements 6: Create stunning photomontages on a budget (How to Cheat in) (Paperback)

How to Cheat in Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 is a wonderful look at how to create some of the effects I've been wondering about. The manual is very easy to read with loads of beautiful images to compliment the intrustional text, making learning even easier. The step by step instructions are easy to understand and its just a matter of following the steps to create your own digital manipulations that make your photos look great.
I'd recommend this book to anyone with an interest in photography, digital art, or scrapbooking.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great way to learn some neat tricks in Photoshop Elements, March 1, 2008

By 

Mr. N. K. Turley "enkaytee" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements 6: Create stunning photomontages on a budget (How to Cheat in) (Paperback)

This book concentrates on techniques for creating photomontages, and it does it really well. Although it's a fairly specific use of Adobe's `baby' photo editing application, the subject is covered excellently by two authors who clearly know their stuff.

The book is based around Elements 6 for Windows (all the keyboard shortcuts refer to a Windows keyboard). I'm not sure whether there'll be an update when the upcoming Mac version is released but as a user of the current beta on a MacBook I didn't find it too much of a problem to use all the techniques, and they can equally be applied to CS3 if you're lucky (or rich) enough to be running that on either platform. However, the authors make it clear that the techniques work equally well with all versions of Elements from 3 onwards.

This is not necessarily a book for newcomers to Elements - it does assume some basic knowledge, although the first sections cover some more basic photomontage techniques such as selection operations, layer masks, and levels, but if you want to learn how to use the application you're better off looking elsewhere.

I like the layout a lot -- each work-through is presented on a double page spread which is great for working with the book alongside your monitor.

The book is split into 12 sections divided into individual work-throughs with the first 4 covering some basic techniques, leading through to the creation of some pretty complex images.

It's great for dipping in and out of and includes `interludes' at the end of each section covering various topics of interest to digital artists, photographers and general Elements users, and `hot tips' alongside each work-through highlighting related Photoshop techniques.

A CD is supplied which is nicely put together with high quality psd images as starting points for the work-throughs and QuickTime movies to illustrate many of the more complex techniques. Where these are provided for a work-through a symbol appears on the page. The CD is generally easy to navigate and includes some useful extras.

There's a dedicated web site with readers forum to discuss the content of the book with the authors and other Elements users - it's nice that the authors seem to dedicate their time to answering queries and providing assistance to their readers.

Although I've not really done a lot of photomontage work before, this book has fired my imagination and introduced me to some useful general techniques for use in both Elements and CS3.

Look out for some of my photomontages on Flickr soon!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I really like this book., February 18, 2008

By 

K. Williams "kImages" (Heartland, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements 6: Create stunning photomontages on a budget (How to Cheat in) (Paperback)

How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements is a book that can be picked up and immediately put to good use by the novice or experienced user. This book will have a place in in my "go to" stack. David and Steve take a light hearted approach that gives the basic steps to a project technique in a single two page spread. If you need more detail the project file tutorials are included on the CD. There are also some nice goodies on the CD. Almost all of the projects covered can be completed in other PSE versions - the authors note when a tool is only available in PSE6. The command use is geared to the PC user - a simple conversion. If you are looking for a photo montage project book, choose this one.