With summer heating up and cameras clicking right and left, it’s the ideal time to get out that favorite Photoshop recipe and see how creative you can be. If you need more inspiration, O’Reilly’s 2006 Photoshop Cook-Off Contest can get you cooking. It’s an opportunity to win great prizes - like a Pentax K100D Digital SLR and DA 18-55 mm lens kit or an Epson Stylus Photo R2400 printer - and gives you a chance to get your work in front of top Photoshop experts such as Mikkel Aaland, Katrin Eismann, Tim Grey, Deke McClelland, Bert Monroy, Eddie Tapp, Vincent Versace, John Beardsworth, the glitterguru, and others.

It’s easy: take up to three of your own photos and manipulate them with Adobe Photoshop, using recipes from any of O’Reilly’s five Photoshop Cookbooks. Starting with an original photograph, choose an appropriate recipe (or two) and cook up a masterpiece, adapting the recipes as necessary for your creative vision. On the online entry form, list the recipes you used, and submit both your original digital image and the “cooked” image you’ve created. The submission process is a snap, there’s no entry fee, and anyone over the age of fourteen can enter. Deadline for entry is August 15, 2006. Prizes will be awarded on November 2, 2006 at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York.

Cook-Off Sponsors include: Adobe, Creative Pro, “Digital Photo Pro,” Epson, ExpoImaging, Flickr, Friesen’s: The Yearbook Company, Graphics.com, Gretag Macbeth, iView Multimedia, Imaginginfo.com, Imaging Resource, iStock Photo, Lensbabies, Lowepro, Lynda.com, Nik Software, “Outdoor Photographer,” Pantone, “PC Photo,” Pentax, Pexagon Technology, Photos.com, Photoshopsupport.com, “Photo Trade News,” “Professional Photographer,” “Rangefinder,” Shutterstock, Software Cinema, “Studio Photography,” Total Training, Wetzel & Company.

The Grand Prize winner will receive a prize package worth more than $9,600. Five category winners will receive packages worth more than $3,000 each. The total value of all prizes exceeds $27,000.

The O’Reilly 2006 Photoshop Cook-Off is a great way to cultivate your creative genius, showcase your talent, and take home fabulous prizes. Fire up Adobe Photoshop and get cooking now!

Other important details:

The list of judges is posted here.

For more information on contest details and rules, visit here.

For a complete list of prizes, see here.

No purchase necessary; sample recipes are available for download here.

Deadline for entries is August 15, 2006

All entries must be created using recipes from one or more of the five O’Reilly Photoshop Cookbooks: Photoshop Retouching Cookbook for Digital Photographers, Photoshop Blending Modes Cookbook for Digital Photographers, Photoshop Photo Effects Cookbook, Photoshop Filter Effects Encyclopedia, and/or Photoshop Fine Art Effects Cookbook.