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Total Training Presents: Adobe Photoshop Tips & Tricks
Hosted by Steve Holmes
8 Chapters / CD / 182 minutes - released March, 2004 — $49.99
[find 4 Free Video Clips at end of review]
Reviewed by Eric Martin
This 3 hour training course is a collection of very useful tips and techniques that will save you hours of frustration and let you wow your friends, co-workers and clients with your Photoshop proficiency.
The lessons, in the form of chapters, are presented by Steve Holmes, a frequent speaker at major digital media events whose expertise lies in web design, 3D animation and motion graphics design. The Photoshop Tips & Tricks CD contains a total of 8 chapters that cover a wide spectrum of Photoshop techniques.
The lessons are easy to follow and the accompanying graphic files make it a true interactive experience. With the graphic files opened in Photoshop, you can start applying some of the techniques immediately and compare your results with those of the instructor's.
Photoshop can be overwhelming at times with its almost infinite amount of options, dialogue boxes and filter settings. Learning in small steps and repeating a tip several times is a great way to make sure that the lessons and the new skills you are learning are really sinking in. And if you hit a stumbling block, you can just pause the video and concentrate on that part of the lesson before continuing.
One of my favorite chapters was Chapter 2 - Apply Selectively: Amazing techniques for accurate greyscale conversion and brilliant hand-coloring of images. Many Photoshop users have difficulty with turning color files into black and white images. One reason is that there are so many different conversion procedures available that it is a real challenge sometimes to figure out which one will provide the best results for a given file. The technique Steve Holmes presents here has truly spectacular results. And once you have that down, you are then shown how to selectively colorize the converted image. All in all, a great bunch of tips and tricks in this chapter.
There is a large amount of material covered in the course, and it is presented in a way that will appeal to almost all levels of experience - from the total beginner to the more advanced user.
For a beginner, the opening chapter (Get Some Perspective) is an easy way to understand how to use motion blur effectively. This chapter also features some great techniques for creating realistic shadow effects.
Advanced users will enjoy Chapter 6 (All Over Displace), which covers displacement maps, and Chapter 7 (Organic Creation), which delves deep into channel operations. These lessons will give you a good grasp of some of the complexities of Photoshop's more advanced and rewarding areas.
Step-by-step lessons is a very effective way to learn how to tap into Photoshop's almost infinite creative powers, and after finishing all the lessons in this training course you'll be left with some great Photoshop techniques to call your own. One word of advice - before bragging of your newly acquired Photoshop talents, make sure to hide the CDs so no one discovers it only took you 3 hours!
For more information or to purchase visit Total Training. View a free clip (below).
Photoshop CS - Colorization Tip - Video Clip
With this clip you will learn the following:.
How to nondestructively take all the color out of an image.
Then add color back into the image in selected places.
In the full Total Training Presents: Adobe Photoshop Tips & Tricks training course, you will learn well sought-after techniques using depth of field, color blending, layer styles, displacement maps, custom effects, and more.
5.1 MB / 2:57 min
[Quicktime is required to view the video clip.]
To order this product ($49.99), visit Total Training.
Photoshop CS - Grayscale Conversion - Video Clip
With this clip you will learn the following:.
How to make beautiful, rich looking grayscale images
How to use adjustment layers to vibrant grayscale images
In the full Total Training Presents: Adobe Photoshop Tips & Tricks training course, you will learn well sought-after techniques using depth of field, color blending, layer styles, displacement maps, custom effects, and more.
8.1 MB / 4:45 min
[Quicktime is required to view the video clip.]
To order this product ($49.99), visit Total Training.
Photoshop CS - Grayscale Trick - Video Clip
With this clip you will learn the following:.
How to use the Paint Brush Tool to paint an image into a Black and White, grayscale image
Use the Paint Brush Tool to selectively paint back in color
In the full Total Training Presents: Adobe Photoshop Tips & Tricks training course, you will learn well sought-after techniques using depth of field, color blending, layer styles, displacement maps, custom effects, and more.
6.1 MB / 3:35 min
[Quicktime is required to view the video clip.]
To order this product ($49.99), visit Total Training.
Organic Paper - Video Clip
This clip shows you how to create an alpha channel that contains a texture, all in an effort to make realistic organic paper. You'll start by using the cloud filter, then see how to best use the Lighting Effects filter and the Texture Channel in Photoshop CS. By the end of this tutorial you'll have a nice looking texture file to use as a source for your organic paper.
6.5 MB / 4:29 min
[Quicktime is required to view the video clip.]
To order this product ($49.99), visit Total Training.
1. GET SOME PERSPECTIVE
Wonderful depth of field, motion blur, perspective and shadowing options for realistic photo-compositing.
2. APPLY SELECTIVELY
Amazing techniques for accurate greyscale conversion and brilliant hand-coloring of images.
3. OH SO DISTRESSED
Cool channel creation effects for roughened type, layer blending tricks, and fast masking techniques.
4. AQUA VIVA
The much-requested lesson on creating the aqua-style lettering and buttons, but with amazing added features for textures, water and ice.
5. THE NATURAL ELEMENTS
Fire and Smoke and intricate layer blending. All you need to know.
6. ALL OVER DISPLACE
Amazing use of displacement maps for logos on fabric, and realistic shadow generation on faces in composites.
7. ORGANIC CREATION
A detailed look at alpha channels, pixel creation filter, techniques and lighting effects for brilliant background creation.
8. FULL ON METAL
The coolest techniques for the most realistic chrome, and beautifully diffused soft-edged shadows.
To order this product ($49.99), visit Total Training.
