Books

How to Paint Flowers in Adobe Photoshop CS5 [Article] (The best of Karen Sperling’s Artistry Tips and Tricks)

How to Paint Flowers in Adobe Photoshop CS5 [Article] (The best of Karen Sperling’s Artistry Tips and Tricks)

This is a tutorial that originally appeared in Karen Sperling’s Artistry Tips and Tricks ezine. It covers art lessons and software steps for creating a painting of flowers from a photo in Adobe Photoshop CS5 and is suitable for everyone from hobbyists to professional photographers, from beginners to advance Photoshop users. Included are Karen Sperling’s highly regarded art lessons and techniques, including choosing a photo that makes a great candidate to be turned into a painting, setting up Photoshop CS5 for painting, blending with the Mixer Brush Tool, varying brushstrokes and painting with color.
The tutorial is written and illustrated by Corel Painter Master Karen Sperling, who wrote the first several Painter manuals in addition to several Painter books and who has taught Painter in major venues including the national WPPI and PPA conventions, local PPA affiliates and schools, Walt Disney Feature Animation, American Greeting Cards and the American Film Institute, and whose commissioned portraits are held in private collections worldwide.
(Article: 44 pages with illustrations, 3,354 words)This is a tutorial that originally appeared in Karen Sperling’s Artistry Tips and Tricks ezine. It covers art lessons and software steps for creating a painting of flowers from a photo in Adobe Photoshop CS5 and is suitable for everyone from hobbyists to professional photographers, from beginners to advance Photoshop users. Included are Karen Sperling’s highly regarded art lessons and techniques, including choosing a photo that makes a great candidate to be turned into a painting, setting up Photoshop CS5 for painting, blending with the Mixer Brush Tool, varying brushstrokes and painting with color.
The tutorial is written and illustrated by Corel Painter Master Karen Sperling, who wrote the first several Painter manuals in addition to several Painter books and who has taught Painter in major venues including the national WPPI and PPA conventions, local PPA affiliates and schools, Walt Disney Feature Animation, American Greeting Cards and the American Film Institute, and whose commissioned portraits are held in private collections worldwide.
(Article: 44 pages with illustrations, 3,354 words)
How to Paint Flowers in Adobe Photoshop CS5 [Article] (The best of Karen Sperling’s Artistry Tips and Tricks)

Enhancing Architectural Drawings and Models with Photoshop

Enhancing Architectural Drawings and Models with Photoshop

Transform your CAD drawings into powerful presentation

This one-of-a-kind book shows you how to use Photoshop to turn CAD drawings and BIM models into artistic presentations with captivating animations, videos, and dynamic 3D imagery. The techniques apply to all leading architectural design software including AutoCAD, Revit, and 3ds Max Design. Video tutorials on the DVD improve your learning curve and let you compare your work with the author’s.

• Turn CAD drawings and BIM models into powerful presentations featuring animation, videos, and 3D imagery for enhanced client appeal
• Craft interactive panoramas for your Web site, add people and objects to your models, and integrate 3D object models inside architectural interiors
• Build 3D models from photos and turn them into videos with AfterEffects, add depth of field and atmospheric effects to 3D models, create stereographic images, and much more
• See how it’s done with the video tutorials on the DVD

Take full advantage of Photoshop’s power to present your architectural drawings in a new and exciting way.
Enhancing Architectural Drawings and Models with Photoshop

Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies

Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies

The perennial bestseller is updated and revised throughout for the latest release of Photoshop Elements 8

Richly illustrated in full color, this friendly, easy-to-understand guide provides all the essentials on the latest version of the affordable and popular image-editing program, Photoshop Elements. Get the scoop on using the latest digital imaging tools and techniques to correct color, brightness, and contrast; create postcards, slideshows, and movie files; apply artistic effects to your photos; fix flaws and even remove unwanted elements from your images; and so much more.

• Use the Organizer on a Windows PC or Adobe Bridge on a Mac to sort, find, tag, and catalog your photos
• Straighten crooked lines, crop for effect, or fix color, sharpness, red-eye, and contrast
• Move people or objects in and out of your pictures, change the background, combine multiple images, or replace one color with another
• Add effects with filters, get creative with type, or play with the drawing and painting tools
• Tag your photos using People Recognition or by geographical location
• Turn your photos into postcards, calendars, greeting cards, and photo books with a few simple clicks
• Import images into Elements from a variety of sources
• Upload and save images to Photoshop.com

Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies  shows you how to make the most of Elements awesome image editing, organization, and photo sharing tools. Whether you’re concerned about color correction and clarity or just want a cool calendar of your kids for the wall, you’ll learn how to do it with this book!
Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies

Photoshop CS3/CS4 Wow! Book, The (8th Edition)

Photoshop CS3/CS4 Wow! Book, The (8th Edition)

Ever since Photoshop version 2.5, The Photoshop Wow! Book has enlightened and inspired graphic designers, illustrators, and photographers around the globe. This newest edition delivers the familiar award-winning mix of explanations and step-by-step tutorials for creating both commercial and fine-art images, with a DVD-ROM full of tutorial files and other goodies. Tips and beautiful galleries distinguish this book as the most inspiring Photoshop resource around. Designed for easy reference, The Photoshop CS3/CS4 Wow! Book includes short features in which professional photographers and designers let you in on their creative secrets for quick solutions. You’ll learn the most innovative techniques for creating and enhancing images, graphics, and type.

• Use these techniques with Photoshop CS3 and CS4; most fundamental techniques also work with Photoshop CS5

• Use the new and improved features in Photoshop CS3 and CS4, including Smart Filters, the Quick Selection tool, the new Black & White and Vibrance adjustments, the Refine Edge command, the Clone Source panel, the Adjustments and Masks panels, and video, animation, 3D, and Analysis features in Photoshop Extended, as well as improvements to Bridge and Camera Raw

• Build your skill with familiar Photoshop features such as blend modes, Adjustment layers, channels, filters, Actions, and Layer Styles

• Focus attention on the subject of a photo, retouch a portrait, tint an image, or convert a color image to black-and-white

• Bring out your inner artist with Photoshop’s sophisticated brushes and vector-drawing tools

• Create dazzling special effects for type and graphics

• Keep your creations organized with layers, groups, Smart Objects, and layer comps

Photoshop CS3/CS4 Wow! Book, The (8th Edition)

Photoshop Masking & Compositing

Photoshop Masking & Compositing

Designers, photographers, and artists are using Photoshop to create fantastic and realistic images for illustrations, fine art, and editorial content. Whether they’re landscape or portrait photographers, illustrators or fine artists, masking and compositing are essential skills to master for combining images to the extent that it is impossible to tell where one image stops and the other one begins.

Photoshop artist and educator Katrin Eismann takes readers through numerous step-by-step examples, highlighting the tools and techniques used for masking and combining images. Featuring work by leading artists and photographers, this book focuses on the techniques used to create compelling compositions, including making fast and accurate selections, mastering Photoshop’s masking tools, and implementing the concept and photography from start to finish. The book addresses working with Photoshop’s selection tools; selecting and maintaining fine details and edges; working with difficult image elements, such as cloth, hair, or translucent objects; and green-screen techniques. Katrin also addresses the creative aspects of image compositing, including how to start with a concept, plan and execute the photography, and seamlessly assemble the image. Combining technical direction and inspiration, this book will expand readers’ imaginations, so they can fluidly and professionally create images with Photoshop.

Photoshop Masking & Compositing

Adobe Photoshop Elements 10: Maximum Performance: Unleash the hidden performance of Elements

Adobe Photoshop Elements 10: Maximum Performance: Unleash the hidden performance of Elements

Master the most powerful photo editing tools and techniques that Elements has to offer! Using step-by-step projects, Mark Galer will have you creating stunning images in no time at all. Whether you want to create impressive, seamless montages, optimize your photos for perfect print quality, or simply enhance your images for maximum impact, Maximum Performance will give you the skills and know-how you need to create professional quality results.

Featured projects teach you how to work with multilayered 16 bit/channel files, as well as convert to black and white using Adobe Camera Raw, create High Key images, work with image borders and textures, and create tilt-shift and cross-process effects.

Three movie tutorials featuring specific techniques from the book are available for free online, and a supplemental package of images and movies can be purchased with an easy one-time download from the authors’ website, www.elements-maxperformance.com. Find everything you need to unleash the power of Elements with Max Performance, or for a more interactive learning experience, download the supplemental images and movies for comprehensive, hands-on learning.

• Get professional, Photoshop-quality results with affordable, Elements-priced software
• Create amazing images using advanced, little-known techniques to achieve results you never thought possible
• Learn and master advanced techniques using step-by-step, project-based tutorials that are intuitive and easy to follow.

A Conversation with Mark Galer, Author of Adobe Photoshop Elements 10: Unleash the Hidden Performance of Elements

Mark Galer

Inspiration
The famous photographer Ansel Adams was once quoted as saying that if the negative was the music score, then his work in the darkroom was his performance. My own post-production skills were also learned in the darkroom during my own undergraduate studies and I have always considered that post-production is an essential aspect of the holistic process of creating an image. I teach my students that the camera does NOT faithfully record a scene–the camera merely interprets it. Photoshop, however, is capable of rendering an image to appear how we first saw and experienced the scene. Photoshop is capable of restoring the emotional reality as well as altering reality.

My workflow
Most of the time I have previsualized the outcome before I start editing an image, so the end point for the editing procedure is dictated by how quickly I can achieve this goal. As I know how to drive the software (I am a self-confessed control freak) this usually happens in a matter of minutes rather than hours. Occasionally I may find myself working on an image where I do not have a final outcome in mind–I can see something I like in the original but something needs to happen to elevate it to a folio image. On these occasions I will edit the colour and tonality in Adobe Camera Raw (as this editing space is built for speed). I often see students nudging sliders slowly, waiting for some magic to happen, but I would advocate big and bold sweeps with the controls so you can find the visual breaking point that each slider can inflict upon an image before winding back to the most appropriate setting. As I work with a smart object workflow (where the Raw files are embedded in layers) there is no absolute ending to the edit process. As ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) gets better and better over the coming years I will find myself re-editing a file to access superior demosaicing, sharpening or noise reduction.

My favorite subject
My personal work is now dominated by landscapes. This has not always been the case but now I find shooting landscapes at dawn gives me the most reward. I enjoy planning the best vantage point, at the best time of day and I have taken to using mobile apps such as the Photographer’s Ephemeris to help me plan the perfect shoot. Prior to landscapes it was editorial stories that incorporated events or people as the main focus for the story. My final assignment at college was to document the last working coal mine in the Rhondda valley in South Wales and my most in-depth editorial story to date was to document my own 2-year “round-the-world” charity trip on a motorcycle in the late 1980s (about 20 years before Ewan McGregor’s “long-way-round”). The subjects that are intriguing me most, at the current moment in time, are time-lapse, compositing video and HDR photography (High Dynamic Range). The advent of video on DSLR cameras and portable tablet devices such the iPad has shaken the industry vigorously and I always like to be engaged in change rather than stand back and watch it happen. I am also obsessed with building the best automated actions and making them available on my website.

Most powerful editing feature in Photoshop
My favorite shortcut would have to be the “Stamp Visible” shortcut (probably because Adobe has never officially documented it). For a Mac it is Command + Option + Shift + E and for a PC it is Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E. Next to this shortcut it would have to be the shortcuts for changing the blend mode of a layer. As a “know-it-all” user I don’t have to cycle through the layer blend modes looking for the one that might work; I can just hit the shortcut for the blend mode that takes me straight through to the mathematical answer that resolves a visual problem or task in hand. I have found the Layer blend modes to be the most under-utilized editing feature for inexperienced users. I find them so useful I devoted a whole chapter to them in my Photoshop Essential Skills book and they are a dominant feature of the Maximum Performance projects for Photoshop Elements users. The essential blend modes are invaluable time savers.

The most powerful new features to arrive in Photoshop in recent years are Adobe Camera Raw 6 for its enhanced noise reduction, creating a post-crop vignette and sharpening controls, Merge to HDR pro (especially its de-ghosting feature) and the new Refine Edge feature in CS5 that makes hair extraction really fast. For Photoshop Elements users who do not have access to some of these features (elements) I explore alternative, and sometimes unique, workflows that allow sophisticated composites and image enhancements. I have to admit to enjoying the challenge of writing a Photoshop Elements book that aims to show users how to engage in professional quality editing with a piece of software that has a few features (elements) missing. The workflows I create circumnavigate the shortcomings of the Elements concept (budget software with a couple of editing features short of a six-pack!).

–Mark Galer

Adobe Photoshop Elements 10: Maximum Performance: Unleash the hidden performance of Elements

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Classroom in a Book Reviews

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Classroom in a Book

Serious digital photographers, amateur or pro, who seek the fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 choose Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Classroom in a Book from the Adobe Creative Team at Adobe Press. The 11 project-based lessons in this book show readers step-by-step the key techniques for working in Photoshop Lightroom 4.
 
Photoshop Lightroom 4 delivers a complete workflow solution for the digital photographer, from powerful one-click adjustments to a full range of cutting-edge advanced controls. Readers learn how to manage large volumes of digital photographs, work in a non-destructive environment to allow for fearless experimentation, and perform sophisticated image processing tasks to easily produce good-looking pictures and polished presentations for both web and print.
 
This completely revised Photoshop Lightroom 4 cross-platform edition explains new tools that bring out greater detail in highlights and shadows, and tools that help you make targeted adjustments to white balance, noise reduction, and more. You’ll learn how to craft elegant photo books, organize your images by location, and easily share your images and videos on social media and photo sharing sites.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Classroom in a Book

The Graphic Designer’s Digital Toolkit: A Project-Based Introduction to Adobe Photoshop CS5, Illustrator CS5 & InDesign CS5

The Graphic Designer’s Digital Toolkit: A Project-Based Introduction to Adobe Photoshop CS5, Illustrator CS5 & InDesign CS5

Being a successful graphic designer today requires more than knowing the essential features of industry-standard software applications. It also requires an understanding of how to integrate these programs into a seamless whole while producing work that conforms to design principles and client expectations. This fully revised fifth edition of THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER’S DIGITAL TOOLKIT provides comprehensive overview of Macintosh OS X Leopard and Windows 7 operating systems, design fundamentals, and the “Big 3″ digital design programs used in the graphics industry today: Adobe Illustrator CS5, Adobe Photoshop CS5, and Adobe InDesign CS5. The book examines the essential features of each, then reveals in practical detail the traditional skills and technology necessary for effective design for print and Web Media. This project-based book features a highly visual introduction to the essential tools and functions of each application from the perspective of the working designer. Readers are then given the hands on opportunity to put what they learn to work by tackling design projects from concept to completion with assignments drawn from the everyday world of professional graphic designers. All files needed for projects and tutorials are found on the accompanying text CD.
The Graphic Designer’s Digital Toolkit: A Project-Based Introduction to Adobe Photoshop CS5, Illustrator CS5 & InDesign CS5