Photoshop CS4 Channels and Masks One-on-One

Photoshop CS4 Channels & Masks One-on-One: Read the lesson. Watch the video. Do the exercises.

Coming to terms with alpha channels (or masks) is the most sure-fire way to boost the quality of your work in Photoshop. But masking isn't easy--in fact, the elusive alpha channel has been described as the least understood feature in Photoshop's enormous arsenal.

Now, you can master masking with Deke McClelland's unique and effective learning system--Photoshop CS4 Channels & Masks One-on-One (O'Reilly Media, $49.99 USD). Joined by Tim Grey, regarded as one of the top educators in digital photography and imaging, Deke leads you through step-by-step text lessons, DVD-video demonstrations, and real-world projects. You'll learn how to select and composite highlights, shadows, clouds, fabric, feathers, glass, flame, lightning, eyes, all varieties of hair, and then some. Deke's expert advice and guidance is like working with a personal coach. With this book, you will:

• Learn at your own speed with 12 self-paced tutorials
• Try out techniques and best practices with engaging real-world projects
• Get more than 850 full-color photos, diagrams, and screen shots that illustrate every key step
• See exactly how it's done in real time with five hours of all-new video instruction
• Test your knowledge with multiple-choice quizzes in each chapter

Photoshop CS4 Channels & Masks One-on-One simulates a classroom environment that provides one-on-one attention as you proceed from lesson to lesson. You'll learn to use Photoshop faster, more creatively, and more efficiently than you thought possible.

Tim Grey is the author of a dozen books and hundreds of magazine articles on digital imaging for photographers. He also publishes the Digital Darkroom Quarterly print newsletter and Digital Darkroom Questions email newsletter. He speaks at a variety of events, including Photoshop World as a member of the Photoshop World Dream Team of instructors. Tim takes advantage of every opportunity to photograph near his home in Bellevue, Washington.

Deke McClelland is an electronic publishing pioneer and a popular lecturer on Adobe Photoshop and the larger realm of computer graphics and design. He has hosted Adobe's official "Video Workshop" DVDs that shipped with many versions of Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as hundreds of hours of tutorial-style video training for industry leader lynda.com, with whom his work has won a record-setting eight international awards in the last 12 months. In addition to his video work, Deke has written over 80 books translated into 24 languages, with more than 4 million copies in print. In 2004, Deke created the bestselling One-on-One book series. Published with O'Reilly Media, One-on-One uses video, step-by-step exercises, and hundreds of full-color illustrations to provide readers with the closest thing possible to private instruction from a recognized expert.

For more information about the book, including table of contents, index, author bios and samples, see: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596516154

Photoshop CS4 Channels & Masks One-on-One

Deke McClelland and Tim Grey

January 2009, $49.99 USD

O'Reilly Media: http://www.oreilly.com/

Photoshop CS4 The Missing Manual

New from O'Reilly: Tips, Tricks, & Practical Advice on how to Use Photoshop CS4

Photoshop is the world's most widely used photo-editing and graphics program. But with all its fantastic new features and options, the CS4 version can bewilder even the most seasoned professional. That's where Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly Media, $49.99 USD) comes in: packed with tips, tricks, and lots of practical advice, this visually rich four-color guidebook teaches you everything you need to know to edit photos and create beautiful documents in Photoshop.

Whether you're an absolute beginner or a power user ready to try some advanced techniques, author and graphics pro Lesa Snider King offers crystal-clear, jargon-free instructions to help you take advantage of these powerful tools -- not only how they work, but when you should use them.

You'll quickly get up to speed on new CS4 features such as:

• Photoshop's completely revamped workspace
• Smoother image display and quick zoom, including the new pixel grid view
• New Masks and Adjustments panels
• The Vibrance adjustment layer
• Hand-painting adjustments and using graduated filters in Camera Raw
• Enhanced Adobe Bridge

You'll also find out which features work well, and which aren't worth your time. Written with the clarity, humor, and objective scrutiny that are hallmarks of the Missing Manual series, Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual is the friendly, thorough resource you need. Why settle for anything less?

Lesa Snider King is chief evangelist for iStockphoto, is on a mission to teach the world to create better graphics. She’s an author for KelbyTraining.com (From Photo to Graphic Art, Practical Photoshop Elements) and Lynda.com (Graphic Secrets for Business Professionals), plus writes regularly for Photoshop User, Elements Techniques, and Macworld magazines. You can catch her graphics tip of the week live each Wednesday on YourMacLifeShow.com, which she also co-hosts.

For more information about the book, including table of contents, index, author bios, and samples, see: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596522964

Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual

Lesa Snider King - Foreward by David Pogue

ISBN: 9780596522964, $49.99 USD

http://www.oreilly.com

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Adobe Photoshop CS4: Up to Speed

BEN WILLMORE, Adobe Photoshop CS4: Up to Speed

Peachpit Press, November 2008, 144 p. $25 (Paperback)

Long established as a must-have guide for Photoshop users upgrading to the newest version, Up to Speed goes right to the heart of Photoshop CS4 what has changed, what is new, and how you can get the most out of the features as quickly as possible. Rather than sift through hundreds of pages detailing every last Photoshop feature and function (both old and new), you can go directly to the new features that interest you the most and get the explanations you desire. By focusing on a single topic -what's new in this version- the award-winning author provides precisely what experienced Photoshop users have been clamoring for, in exactly the depth they demand. After reading this book even if you've been using CS4 for awhile don't be surprised to hear yourself say, "I didn't know CS4 did that!" In addition to learning the new features in no time flat, a welcome side effect of learning from Ben Willmore is that you can expect to become a better, faster and more efficient Photoshop user.

Ben Willmore is the author of Adobe Photoshop Studio Techniques, and a columnist for Photoshop User magazine. His hit seminar, Photoshop for Photographers, combined with his standing-room only sessions at PhotoshopWorld, and appearances at major publishing and photography conferences in the U.S. and abroad have established Ben Willmore as one of the world's most respected and sought after Photoshop instructors.

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Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers The Ultimate Workshop

Article from Martin Evening

Focal Press announce two brand new books covering Adobe Photoshop CS4 from best-selling author Martin Evening.

In the article below, Martin Evening discusses several of the new and exciting features offered in Photoshop CS4.

“This latest release of Photoshop has a lot of interesting new features. The new Camera Raw has all the new tools that were featured in Lightroom 2, allowing you to work more smoothly between the two programs. The interface refinements incorporate a task-based workflow approach in which image adjustments like curves can be edited via an Adjustments panel. The new Masking panel means that you can edit masks, such as increase the feathering, as well as the usual Refine Edge command that you could use in CS3 to edit a layer mask. Color Range employs a more sophisticated color selection algorithm and now allows you to generate color-based masks more easily. There is also a new Content-Aware scaling feature that allows you to resize images without distorting the shape of important components within a picture.

Bridge has been given a makeover too. Among the most significant changes is the task-based workspace menu that makes it easier for you to switch between different Bridge workspace settings. You can now click with the Spacebar to toggle displaying a full-screen preview of a selected photo. The output panel for Web or PDF is in some ways a small improvement on the Web Photo Gallery and Contact Sheet features. Although some will find these to be something of a backward step, if you have Lightroom 2, it is unlikely that you would ever need to use these anyway.

The problem with Photoshop is that Adobe keeps adding stuff into the program without taking much out. This, in turn, has made it harder to keep updating the Adobe Photoshop for Photographers book series without the book becoming too bloated. The release of Photoshop CS4 has provided a good opportunity to update Adobe Photoshop for Photographers. The new book will be the same size as previous editions and concentrate on the essentials of image editing in Photoshop as well as all that's new in Photoshop and Bridge CS4. Meanwhile, I have been collaborating with Jeff Schewe to work on a joint book that will be called Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop. This new book means that the Photoshop for Photographers series has now expanded to offer a spin-off book in which readers can gain more in-depth expertise about how to use Photoshop, written by two of the world's leading experts in digital imaging and Photoshop.”

Martin Evening

Jeff Schewe and Martin Evening, Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers. The Ultimate Workshop, Focal Press, 416 p. + DVD featuring tutorial movies coming March, 2009.

Martin Evening, Adobe Photoshop for Photographers. A Professional Image Editor's Guide to the Creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC, Focal Press, 2009, 704 pages + DVD with 120 minutes movies is now in stock.

Credit: http://www.focalpress.com/

Last update : 18.12.2008

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques

CHRIS ORWIG

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques

Adobe Press, August 2008, 248 p. $25 (Paperback)

Build your Lightroom expertise, one technique at a time. Why sort through piles of unrelated documentation when you can focus on the essential techniques? In Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 How-Tos, author Chris Orwig brings you the best techniques to quickly organize and correct your digital images using this powerful program created specifically for photographers. Complete with illustrations and practical tips, these bite-sized lessons from author’s experience as a photographer and instructor provide just the information you need. Here you can explore the program at your own pace, spending less time at your computer and more time behind the lens taking great pictures. Coverage includes:

• Customizing the Interface
• Understanding File Formats
• Finding Images with Text, Refine, and Metadata Filters
• Using Presets in Quick Develop
• Correcting White Balance
• Applying Settings to Other Images
• Changing Hue, Saturation, and Luminance
• Dodging and Burning with the Adjustment Brush
• Customizing Web Galleries

Chris Orwig is a professional photographer, teacher, and author. He is a member of the faculty at the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California, and is a popular conference speaker. A regular contributor to Photoshop User and Layers magazines, he also creates training videos. Chris Orwig brings his unique perspective, creativity, and passion to all that he does. As a photographer, he subscribes to Marc Riboud’s observation that “Photography is about savoring life at 1/100th of a second.” Find inspiration and see his work at http://www.chrisorwig.com/.

PictoColor Releases CorrectPhoto 3.1

PictoColor announces the release of CorrectPhoto 3.1, its popular easy to use digital photo editor

CorrectPhoto 3.1 features PictoColor's OneClick Color technology that instantly gives every digital photo the color of life or creates a stunning black and white or sepia tone picture. With just one click, anyone can remove an unwanted color cast, improve the exposure and increase the vibrancy of all of their digital pictures. And, with a single click a color photo can be instantly turned into black and white or sepia tone picture.

Plus, with its collection of other essential photo tools such as rotation, cropping, cropping to standard print sizes, resizing, removing red-eye, and sharpening, CorrectPhoto helps users turn average snapshots into great photos in seconds.

CorrectPhoto takes the guess work out of color correction with PictoColor's OneClick Color technology, the point-and-click color technology that really works. OneClick Color automatically corrects the white balance, exposure, and saturation. In addition to its automatic color correction capabilities, CorrectPhoto provides separate controls for manually adjusting brightness and contrast, independently adjusting shadows and highlights, and quickly adjusting the saturation. New to version 3.1 is the ability to create stunning black and white and sepia tone photos with a single mouse click. Designed for Windows XP and Vista users, CorrectPhoto’s built in Windows Explorer provides direct access to Windows file management system for easy photo management and archiving

“CorrectPhoto is an extremely easy-to-use program that really simplifies working with digital photos. It is especially useful for beginners and those who do not want to spend a lot of time editing photos or learning a complicated photo editing program,” said Craig Huelskoetter, president.

“Our OneClick Color technology is by far our fastest, easiest, and most automatic color correction tool. Now, photo enthusiasts and home users can get the same professional results with an easy-to-use stand-alone program. Plus, with its integrated Windows Explorer, it’s like having our advanced color technology built right into the operating system. Whether users plan to share their web galleries with family and friends, order prints from an online photo service, create stunning scrapbooks or DVDs, or just save them in their personal archives, CorrectPhoto will save them hours and help them take their digital photos further.”

CorrectPhoto can be easily customized for private label use by photo retailers, online photo services, web galleries and other interactive digital photo applications including direct web links for express uploads and other brand building services.

More information and free trial version: http://www.correctphoto.com/

PictoColor Releases ImageTitler 3.0 for Adding Titles and Text to Digital Photos

Add titles and text to digital photos for slideshows or posting on social networking and photo sharing sites like Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, and SmugMug

PictoColor announces the release of ImageTitler™ 3.0, a simple and effective way to add descriptive titles and text to any image. It features a straightforward, easy-to-use interface for adding text in various sizes, colors, and fonts with excellent sharpness and clarity.

“ImageTitler is an extremely easy-to-use Windows XP and Vista program that really simplifies adding a title or text to a digital photo. It does not require any other digital photo editor. Now you don’t need a complicated image editing program to simply add a title to a digital photo,” said Craig Huelskoetter, president. “You will be amazed at the quality and crispness of the text. ImageTitler offers five fonts in standard, bold or italics with twelve colors options.”

ImageTitler is ideal for adding a title or caption to any photo before posting to social networking or photo sharing sites like, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, or SmugMug. It is also is a fast and easy way to add text to product photos for eBay auctions and online stores.

ImageTitler™ is bundled free with PictoColor’s CorrectPhoto Digital Photo Editor, or it may be purchased separately for $19.95.

CorrectPhoto and ImageTitler can be easily customized for private label use by photo retailers, online photo services, web galleries and other interactive digital photo applications including direct web links for express uploads and other brand building services.

www.correctphoto.com