The title of one of Scott Kelby’s most recent books can be misleading. “Photoshop CS4: Down & Dirty Tricks” suggests to me, well, “down and dirty tricks,” which aren’t something that I am particularly interested in learning. However, with this title, Kelby, the well-known “#1 best-selling Photoshop author,” has turned out another great one.
To help you better appraise Kelby’s “Down & Dirty Tricks,” let me suggest a new name for the book:
Regardless of political orientation, everyone seemed to be pretty perturbed last week when the White House shelled out $300,000-plus to fly Air Force One over New York City to take a publicity shot, not only spending money needlessly but also scaring the pants off the locals.
“We all look at photoshopdisasters.com,” New York-based still life photographer Nicholas Eveleigh told me during a recent interview. He was referring over reliance on postproduction to try to correct the uncorrectable. “One can make some REALLY nice images without Photoshop,” said Eveleigh, who tries to get it right in-camera.
I said, “Yes” when Eveleigh mentioned Photoshop Disasters, as if EVERYONE knows about it. And according to the site, 30,000 photographers head there each day, indicating that, um, just about everyone on the planet is in the know. But, um, I wasn’t. Continue reading “Photoshop Disasters is Fun and Educational”
Speaking of retouching, have you visited Retouched.net? It’s a great resource for learning about retouching — arguably the final frontier for most digital photographers — as well as many aspects of digital photography in general.
Retouched.net features article, columns, and video tutorials. The site also features lots of ads, links and clutter that can make it a bit overwhelming. But if you get past the overwhelm, you’ll find gobs of timely and helpful content about postproduction.
Particularly nice is that Retouched.net features artist profiles, whose insights help us think about retouching more as an art and less a set of Photoshop techniques.
We all know how much celebrity, fashion and beauty images are retouched. But then, do we really? Head to Digital Retouch for a number of “before” and “after” examples of brilliant, high-end retouching. You might be surprised at how far retouching can go – and still retain a acceptably natural look.
The site is meant as a sales platform and not for education. But you will likely find it educational to check out the four sections named “Beauty/Hair,” “Correction,” “Shaping,” and “Manipulation.” Each image includes a peel-back feature that reveals the “before” image, and comparing what has been done (what is possible) can be enlightening, if not inspiring. Continue reading “Before and After Retouching Insights”
If there’s one thing that’s better than quality online Photoshop video training, it’s FREE quality online Photoshop video training. And if there’s one thing better than that, it’s when it’s FUN!
If you don’t know about TUTCAST Video Training, check out “CS4: Virtual Weight Loss,” which is posted on YouTube—and which will like suck you into the world of TUTCAST-produced gems.
In six minutes you’ll see the magical power of the Liquify tool in action, and get some tips for using the Patch tool, all while appreciating Howard’s fun and powerfully enlightening tutorial.
What’s particularly nice about Kinghorn’s video (besides his clear, lucid teaching style) is that he covers correction techniques for both “straight” photography as well as more creative enhancements. He also shares critical workflow tips, showing how to use presets to make great skies in no time.
Digital imaging master and educator Jay Kinghorn has done Lightroom users a favor by gathering a concise list of excellent resources for mastering LR2. Most of the resources contain excellent videos—always a great, fast way to learn.
The new version Adobe Photoshop Lightroom—publically available for beta testing for some time—has finally hit the shelves. But how different is LR2 from LR1? Is it worth the upgrade? What do you get?
The title of one of Scott Kelby’s most recent books can be misleading. “Photoshop CS4: Down & Dirty Tricks” suggests to me, well, “down and dirty tricks,” which aren’t something that I am particularly interested in learning. However, with this title, Kelby, the well-known “#1 best-selling Photoshop author,” has turned out another great one.
Digital imaging master and educator 
The new version