How to Cheat in Photoshop CS5 is an great book and I would recommend it to any experienced Photoshop user. The title “to cheat” refers to working smarter, faster and with more believable results. This is not a beginners how-to book, it is definitely for the intermediate to advanced Photoshop user and there is the assumption that the reader already has basic knowledge of Photoshop.

The book is an in-depth exploration of Photoshop’s tools for selecting, modifying, transforming and masking images for the purpose of photo-manipulation and photo-illustration. Although a keen eye could detect some of the effects, the results Caplin demonstrates are extremely convincing. One of the things I really liked about the book was how thorough he explains the tools and techniques. There can be several ways to accomplish the same task in Photoshop and it seems as though he covered every tool and option available for the task at hand.

Another nice feature of the book is that it is backwards compatible. Even though the title refers to CS5, the book instructs you on how to do the same tasks in earlier versions of Photoshop. So the book is still of use to those who may be only a version or two behind.

The book also includes a DVD which contains all the images used in the tutorials as well as 3 hours of video instruction. I found the video instruction to be a good compliment to the tutorials in the book. There is also a forum on the website for users to post questions and interact with each other.

One of the features Caplin covers is Image Warp in CS5. I was asked to create a flyer promoting my employers 3D Virtual Magazine and I decided to make use of the Image Warp feature which is shown below.

The first screenshot is my starter image- a generic computer monitor. I have removed the background and the monitor screen using selection techniques from the book.

The second screenshot shows the addition of a second image- the front page of the 3D Virtual Magazine. I want to place this image into the computer monitor and make it appear as if it is lifting off of the screen.

In the third screenshot I use the free transform tool, as exampled in the book, and place the image into the monitor and compensate for the perspective.

The fourth screenshot is where the fun starts. I duplicate the front page and begin to manipulate it with the image warp feature of the free transform tool. I am attempting to make it look as though it is lifting off of the monitor screen.

In the fifth screenshot you can see where I used a soft brush with low opacity to add a drop shadow behind the page to give it a little more depth and realism.

Screenshot six jumps ahead a bit. I set the image on an abstract background and adjusted the opacity and blends of some of the layers. I tweaked the image warp and drop shadows for a more desired effect. I will place this image into my flyer in InDesign and add the text and remaining graphics.

In the final screenshot you can see the image placed into the flyer. The small screenshot is hard to read but hopefully you get the idea of what can be accomplished with the Image Warp tool.

Overall, I thought How to Cheat in Photoshop CS5 was a great book. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has experience with Photoshop and wants to learn more about photo illustration and manipulation.