How to Cheat in Photoshop CS3: The art of creating photorealistic montages
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* 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, 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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| 09-18-08 | 3 | 1\1 |
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This book starts out with excellent descriptions of how to accomplish the effects (assuming some knowledge of how PS works). I enjoyed using the techniques on my photos. And then about halfway through he seemed to get tired of pesky details of instruction and simply says "do this, then this" with not even a hint or menu illustration for clarification. Some end results include his notes that "I did this to add realism" with no instruction whatsoever. The first half of the book--great. The second half, more like his showing off his prowess with PS. However, simply the knowledge that some of the later stuff *can* be done is inspiring enough to induce me to spend hours figuring out just how.
(Review Data Last Updated: 2008-10-11 03:56:15 EST)
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| 05-05-08 | 5 | 1\1 |
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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.
(Review Data Last Updated: 2008-09-18 21:32:04 EST)
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| 04-24-08 | 5 | (NA) |
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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.
(Review Data Last Updated: 2008-05-21 07:32:14 EST)
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| 04-09-08 | 5 | (NA) |
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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
(Review Data Last Updated: 2008-04-25 07:24:19 EST)
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| 03-01-08 | 3 | (NA) |
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They explanations are sometimes not easy to follow. Or it's me? You can try it yourself.
(Review Data Last Updated: 2008-04-10 07:34:13 EST)
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| 01-04-08 | 3 | 1\1 |
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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.
(Review Data Last Updated: 2008-03-02 07:36:31 EST)
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| 12-22-07 | 5 | (NA) |
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I recommend this book is really useful, but you must know the basic tools used in photoshop, otherwise you'll feel lost.
(Review Data Last Updated: 2008-01-05 16:26:00 EST)
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| 12-05-07 | 5 | (NA) |
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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.
(Review Data Last Updated: 2007-12-22 07:51:05 EST)
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| 11-20-07 | 1 | (NA) |
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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.
(Review Data Last Updated: 2007-12-06 07:46:31 EST)
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| 09-11-07 | 4 | 2\2 |
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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.
(Review Data Last Updated: 2007-11-20 20:31:12 EST)
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| 09-05-07 | 5 | 2\2 |
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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. (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-09-12 09:49:51 EST)
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| 08-22-07 | 5 | 2\2 |
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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?). (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-09-05 16:44:41 EST)
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| 08-22-07 | 5 | 2\2 |
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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?). (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-09-05 10:16:21 EST)
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| 08-21-07 | 5 | 1\1 |
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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". (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-09-05 16:44:41 EST)
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| 08-21-07 | 5 | 1\1 |
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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". (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-09-05 10:16:21 EST)
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| 08-17-07 | 1 | 0\1 |
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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. (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-08-22 10:20:18 EST)
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| 08-13-07 | 5 | (NA) |
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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.
(Review Data Last Updated: 2007-08-17 19:12:07 EST)
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| 08-11-07 | 1 | (NA) |
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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. (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-08-14 08:15:35 EST)
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| 08-02-07 | 5 | (NA) |
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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!
(Review Data Last Updated: 2007-08-12 07:42:34 EST)
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| 07-15-07 | 5 | (NA) |
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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 (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-08-01 10:11:22 EST)
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| 07-15-07 | 5 | (NA) |
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This book is full of great Photoshop ideas, techniques and resources .
The fourth edition has many valuable additions. (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-08-01 10:11:22 EST)
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| 06-26-07 | 5 | 2\2 |
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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!
(Review Data Last Updated: 2007-07-15 13:41:40 EST)
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| 06-26-07 | 2 | 2\4 |
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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. (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-07-15 13:41:40 EST)
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| 06-24-07 | 5 | 4\4 |
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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 (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-07-10 17:18:25 EST)
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| 06-24-07 | 5 | 1\1 |
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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.
(Review Data Last Updated: 2007-07-10 17:18:25 EST)
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| 06-20-07 | 5 | 1\1 |
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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. (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-07-10 17:18:25 EST)
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| 06-19-07 | 5 | 2\2 |
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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. (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-07-10 17:18:25 EST)
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| 06-09-07 | 4 | 2\2 |
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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. 4 stars for some hard-to-follow instructions, and the utterly uninspired narratives in the Quicktime tutorials. (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-06-19 11:24:01 EST)
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| 06-09-07 | 4 | 1\1 |
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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. (Review Data Last Updated: 2007-06-13 11:03:23 EST)
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