Steve Caplin dazzles audience at top London bookstore

Steve Caplin, established Photoshop author, presented a lively and informal talk last month at Foyles flagship bookstore in London. Steve demonstrated the various elements of Photoshop CS4 to a mixed audience of professionals and amateurs. As the professional Photoshopper said himself, “The crowd ranged from Photoshop professionals to one person who had never seen the program before”.

Steve took a member of the unsuspecting audience and subjected them to the wonders of Photoshop. First he took a standard photograph of them and enlarged it on the screen then took it apart in a number of manipulative ways. During the evening, he demonstrated a range of features, from altering facial expressions to putting the face on different bodies and in varying situations – “doing things that photographers would be horrified at!” (Note: see before and after shots below).

Some of the techniques shown included layer masks, shadowing effects and transparency. At the end, Steve took questions from the audience that ranged from those wanting general tips to those trying to master a specific technique.

Summarising the evening, Steve said, “Doing a Photoshop demo is not so much a matter of instruction as of enlightenment. My aim is to inspire and motivate Photoshop users, showing them what’s possible and encouraging them to use their own imagination to explore the program’s possibilities.”

Steve’s information packed books, How to Cheat in Photoshop CS4 and Art and Design in Photoshop are available to buy today on focalpress.com.

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After image: