Welcome to the November 2006 Newsletter. In this issue we have some free brushes and textures, new free tutorials, the latest Photoshop news, and exclusive software discounts.
November's Free Brush Sets And Textures From Janita
Triple-certified Brush Angel Janita of Seishido has just shipped us her November preview package full of free brushes and textures for your exclusive downloading pleasure. As always Janita has given us some charming and inspiring images to use in our design work. She's a prolific little powerhouse and we're honored that she provides us with these amazing gems. And now to give you all the details, here's the brush angel herself...
Brushset Colorblind: 23 blurry brushes made of a vector illustration. I've named the set colorblind because the brushes look like, you know, the first thing you see when you open your eyes after a deep sleep. Everything's just a little blurry then and kinda black and white.
Brushset Shipper Shipper: 5 grungy brushes, pretty large by the way. Grungy art is not really what I am best at but I have been asked for more sets like this one so November will be full of messed-up brushsets.
Brushset Subarashii: 13 decorative brushes, Indian styled ornaments with some floral parts. Subarashii actually means wonderful in Japan. I think this brushset is wonderful because it's great for all and nothing.
Texture #96: Pastel colored and made of the Shipper Shipper brushset and some other brushes. This texture is what happens when you're listening to too many John Mayer Trio songs. You just can't stop it and every Photoshop step magically fits. Haha, and again some hidden music hints but music actually is what inspires me the most while making new brushes. TRY!
You can download all the new brush sets and the textures below, but also make sure to visit Janita's site Seishido — and then help us spread the word about her amazing Photoshop brush resources. And don't forget to join her newsletter!
Download Brushset Colorblind (zip - 440 KB)
Download Brushset Shipper Shipper (zip - 676 KB)
Download Brushset Subarashii (zip - 304 KB)
Download Texture #96 (zip - 624 KB)
For more brushes, see our Photoshop Brushes Page.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Maximum Performance By Mark Galer
There's an interesting Photoshop Elements 5 book from Mark Galer that has come to my attention — Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Maximum Performance. Part of the appeal is that the book ships with 5 hours of DVD tutorials and a whole bunch of free stock photos. That's a nice touch. And the book is getting a good amount of positive reviews, including this one: 'Using crafty work-arounds to achieve remarkable results, Mark Galer pushes Elements' capabilities to new levels.' — Christy Brandt, Director of Engineering, Photoshop Elements, Adobe Systems, Inc. Here's some press on Mark's book:
Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Maximum Performance
Get the most from your digital camera to produce high-end results that casual users only dreamed of. Your photos will look like a pro shot them as imaging guru Mark Galer shows you how to use critical but little-known techniques for professional quality editing.
- Create awesome effects with no commercial lighting or studio equipment
- Extend the dynamic range of your digital camera by merging multiple exposures
- Give your shots the WOW! factor with advanced options for more power
Everything is at your fingertips with the DVD:
- 5 hours of video tutorials, cataloged into digestible snippets
- Over 200 royalty-free, high-resolution images
- Raw and 16-bit/Channel files
- wMulti-layered project files, loadable presets and keyboard shortcut reference guide
Mark Galer is a senior lecturer in digital imaging at RMIT, Australia, is a Photoshop Elements Ambassador and is the author of 7 best-selling digital imaging books. 'Well written, well illustrated, with a good knack for explaining complex issues.' - Steve Caplin, digital illustrator and author of How to Cheat in Photoshop.
Buy Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Maximum Performance at Amazon.com (34% off).
visit Mark Galer's site.
Photoshop Elements 5.0 - Special Offer - only $65.99 at Amazon.com.
For more on Photoshop Elements see our Photoshop Elements Resource Center.
New Tutorial - Daguerreotypes - Louis Daguerre Effect
The world’s first photographic process was announced in Paris in 1839 by Louis Daguerre. It used a silver-plated copper sheet that was sensitized with iodine, exposed, and then developed in mercury vapor. Early images were of architectural subjects or landscapes, but soon the process was also used for portraiture, and it became particularly popular in France and America.
Daguerreotypes were positive images, one-offs, and the process was obsolete within a decade, as soon as new techniques allowed multiple photographs to be printed from negatives. But if you ever get the opportunity to compare early photographs in museums or exhibitions, it would be surprising if you didn’t find the Daguerreotypes to be some of the most magical objects on display.
Early Daguerreotype exposure times were long, so moving subjects such as water and people usually appeared blurred. Photoshop’s Motion Blur filter is ideal for simulating this, but requires a little care in its application because Daguerreotypes recorded other, static objects in fine detail.
Read Daguerreotypes - The Louis Daguerre Effect — a sample recipe from the Photoshop Digital Studio Cookbooks, courtesy of O'Reilly Media.
For more tutorials see our Photoshop Tutorials Page.
New Photoshop Brush Set 'Botanical Flowers' From Kirsty
Kirsty sends this in: "Hi all, it's high time for another brush set and this time the theme is Botanical Flowers. Hope you enjoy! The set can be found at the usual address 500ml Brushes."
The Botanical Flowers set contains 14 brushes of botanical drawings of different flowers.
For more brushes, see our Photoshop Brushes Page.
New Tutorial - Autochrome Color Process Effect
In 1907, the Lumière brothers introduced “autochrome,” the first commercially successful color process. Glass was coated in a fine mosaic of red, green, and blue dyed potato starches which acted as a filter over a light-sensitive emulsion.
During development, the emulsion layer became a black-and-white positive image, and the autochrome could then be projected or held up to the light, like an early version of a color slide or transparency. The process was enthusiastically received, and many photographers experimented with it, some of the best-known being Léon Gimpel in France and Frank Eugene and Alfred Stieglitz in the United States. Production of autochrome glass plates continued until the 1930s, when color film and printing first became available.
When you consider the characteristics of an autochrome, the most obvious is probably its Impressionistic or Pointillist appearance. Viewed close up, the colored particles can look rather like the color noise you sometimes find in digital photos. The particles also contribute to an overall softness, although this was sometimes the result of one-second exposure times and frosted-glass protective covers (you may want to simulate damage, too). In general, the colors are subdued and a little faded, in some cases unevenly.
Read Autochrome - Color Process Effect — a sample recipe from the Photoshop Digital Studio Cookbooks, courtesy of O'Reilly Media.
For more tutorials see our Photoshop Tutorials Page.
Bert Monroy Launches PixelPerfect Photoshop Podcast
Digital artist extraordinaire Bert Monroy has created a podcast titled PixelPerfect that is distributed through revision3.com, a new site associated with Kevin Rose from TechTV fame, on which Bert was a frequent guest.
I watched the "Using Photoshop in fantasy art" episode and it was wonderful.
The first thing about this podcast is the quality- which is super clear, HD perfect, and delivered in a nice widescreen format. But the best part is that Bert spends lots of time explaining all the various details in his creations, making sure you understand Photoshop concepts and tools as he goes along.
PixelPerfect is a totally professional, totally enjoyable podcast, and a great resource for any aspiring Photoshop artist — and at over 15 minutes a piece, this is a pretty amazing training freebie! There are 2 episodes so far:
Episode 1 - Using Photoshop in fantasy art
Create lightning, sparkles, and a mystical vortex the same way professional effects and movie matte artists do.
Episode 2 - Patterns and Animations
Watch as Bert teaches how Photoshop is also capable of animation.
So go and download and be amazed!
Vertus Launch Live Free Daily Training For Fluid Mask
Vertus today announced the launch of its live free daily training for its pioneering Photoshop plug-in Fluid Mask.
The decision to offer this as part of Vertus’ customer service mix was influenced by Vertus’ growing and vibrant online community. As James Carr-Jones, CEO of Vertus points out, “Cutting out is the number 1 issue in digital image manipulation. Fluid Mask has revolutionised this process in terms of speed and cutting quality. Whether people are a customer or evaluating the application, they are hungry to learn and what better way than to talk with an expert – it’s a great innovation”
The way it works is that people link their screens with the instructors screen. They see Fluid Mask as the instructor sees it, in real time, and they can speak and ask questions of him on the phone as part of a seminar group. To do this they call a toll free number (US only) and click on a URL to see the instructors screen.
Currently this is operational once a day but as numbers increase there will be more free live training sessions set up on the website.
What are the benefits? Here’s what Ed Kneler had to say after trying out a training session, “I have quite a bit of money invested in hardware and software... with your live tutorials, you have done quite a bit to educate the users of your product... I will tell my photographic club about your product which I believe is excellent.”
Exclusive Special Offer - Fluid Mask 2.0 - $189
Vertus Software is offering Fluid Mask at the special 'friends and partner' discounted rate of just $189 - PLUS free upgrades for the next 6 months. This is an exclusive offer to visitors of PhotoshopSupport.com. To qualify, visit the Fluid Mask Discount Price page. Find out more about Fluid Mask on our special Fluid Mask Page.
posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | send comments
Photoshop Plugin Reviews From Jay Nelson
Here are the latest Photoshop Plugin Reviews by Jay Nelson, the editor-in-chief of Design Tools Monthly.
PhotoTune - Intuitive Color Correction
PhotoTune's 20/20 Color MD 2.0 ($50) is a remarkably easy to use image-enhancing and color-correcting plug-in for Photoshop. To use 20/20 Color MD, you look at a series of side-by-side images, each time clicking on the one you think looks best. After you complete this 15-second process, it applies the minimum number of adjustments to make your image look like your final choice. You can work on your entire image, one layer, or a selection. In our tests, it increased both detail and color in shadow areas, balanced colors, and toned down glare.
Professionals can use the advanced controls to adjust exposure in half f-stops, and separately balance color in highlights and shadows. You can also save "snapshots" of your adjustments at any point in the process to compare with subsequent adjustments. You can also include 20/20 Color MD in a Photoshop Action for batch processing.
Version 2 adds support for 16-bit and Raw images, a simpler 6-step wizard with greater precision, return to previous step, window resizing, and a final numerical display. We recommend it highly.
Excellent Image Noise Reducer
There are several good plug-ins for reducing noise in low-light digital images. Imagenomic's Noiseware Professional 4 ($69) is particularly good at reducing noise while maintaining texture and details. They have a free trial version, and a 20% discount is available through Andrew Rodney's excellent review.
The Most Advanced Tile Creator
Luxology's imageSynth ($89 with our exclusive $10 discount) is a plug-in for Photoshop CS and CS2 that uses an advanced technology to intelligently create seamless textures from "chunks" of one or more images. A "chunk" can be a selection in any shape, and when multiple chunks are used for one tile, you can control how much each individual chunk contributes to the overall tile.
You can even arrange the chunks manually, with near-real-time feedback on its effect on the tile. Tiles can also be used for brushes or texture maps. (imageSynth was spun off of Luxology's Apple Design Award-winning modo, which is software that produces ultra-realistic scenes for movies.)
For more plugins, see our Photoshop Plugins Page.
Justin Seeley Has Some Photoshop Quicktips To Share
Photoshop Quicktips is a new video podcast hosted by Photoshop Expert Justin Seeley that is aimed at both amateurs and creative professionals alike. Each week Justin guides you step-by-step through a new Photoshop video tutorial.
On the Photoshop Quicktips website you can download all of the past episodes and pretty soon, Justin promises, you'll be able to purchase instructional DVDs. Until then you have 14 episodes to keep you busy. Here are a few titles I've picked out from the list:
Episode 9 - Extract Hair From a Multi-color Background
This tutorial comes straight off the request lines. In this episode I show you how to extract hair from a multi-color background, and how to have a little fun with it once you've done so.
Episode 14 - Better Sharpening with LAB
Tired of all those color halos you get when sharpening your images? In this episode I take you through how to eliminate this issue and better sharpen your images using the LAB color mode. There are countless methods of sharpening an image but I think you will find the LAB technique to be one of the easiest, and I promise you'll love the end result.
Episode 5 - Turn Your Photographs Into a Sketch
This remastered episode features the most popular tutorial ever on Photoshop Quicktips, on how to turn your photographs into a sketch. This tutorial was featured at Photoshop World, Las Vegas and recently on the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast w/ Terry White.
posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | send comments
PhotoshopCAFE Announces PhotoshopSecrets: Wacom Tablets and Photoshop
A lot of you have asked me about Wacom tablet training, and so I'm happy to announce that help is finally here! PhotoshopCAFE.com has released PhotoshopSecrets: Wacom Tablets and Photoshop, which is available as a DVD or as a direct download (I love instant deliveries). And of course we have a discount price as well. Forget the regular $49.99 price, because you'll pay only $39.99 by following our special discount links.
PhotoshopSecrets Wacom Tablets and Photoshop
$39.99 - (DVD version)
PhotoshopSecrets Wacom Tablets and Photoshop
$39.99 - (instant download)
Ok, here's the scoop on this Wacom pen tablet and Photoshop training DVD... The video, which is presented in 2 parts, begins with Weston Maggio of Wacom explaining in detail how to set up a tablet, how to fully personalize it, and how to make the most of all the hidden features.
In Part 2 Colin Smith shows you how to change the way you think about Photoshop. Many people with tablets still work like mouse users, completely unaware of the power of pressure sensitivity. Colin shows you how to use pressure sensitivity to your advantage and outlines an amazing workflow that would be impossible without a pen tablet. Users also learn all kinds of pro tips and tricks for working with the tablet.
If you own or are considering a pen tablet, this DVD training is one of the best ways to bring you up to a professional user level quickly. Lessons include:
• Tablet overview
• The Brushes palette in Photoshop
• Maximizing pressure sensitivity
• Customizing the pen
• Setting up the ExpressKeys™
• Programming Touch Strips
• Grayscale and color in same image
• Collaging Techniques
• Adding 3D shadows and highlights
• Customizing the depth of field
• Dodging and Burning (the new way)
• Making custom grunge brushes
The DVD contains over 2 hours of sharp 800 x 600 video, and with the advanced interface you can jump to any of the lessons with complete control over the playback. All the lesson files are included, so you can follow along at your own pace.
About Colin Smith
An award winning designer, best-selling author and trainer, Colin is founder of one of the world's most popular Photoshop resource sites, PhotoshopCAFE.com. Colin is also a regular columnist for Advanced Photoshop, Computer Arts, and Photoshop User Magazine.
About Weston Maggio
As an Adobe certified Expert in Photoshop and Wacom sales manager, Wes is an authority on Photoshop instruction, and has taught and held workshops at PhotoshopWorld, Seybold, Macworld, and PMA.
Wacom Tablets and Photoshop - Special Discount Price
PhotoshopSecrets Wacom Tablets and Photoshop - $39.99 - (DVD version)
PhotoshopSecrets Wacom Tablets and Photoshop - $39.99 - (instant download)
For more on pen tablets, see our Wacom Pen Tablets Page.
For more discounts on Photoshop software and gear, see our Special Offers Page.
Exclusive 20% Discount On Select Total Training Products & Bundles
To redeem our exclusive discount coupon, use promotion code save20pss in your shopping cart. You could save hundreds of dollars. Use this special link to see the full offer.
Total Training for Adobe Photoshop CS2
Learn Adobe Photoshop CS2 from Deke McClelland, with 21 hours of interactive Adobe Photoshop tutorials. Training for real-world situations and additional tips and techniques used by the pros.
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Total Training for Macromedia Flash Professional 8
Learn inside tips for the most useful tools and features of Macromedia Flash Professional 8. Watch Flash tutorials on how to create better designs and author interactive content rich with video, graphics, and animation.
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Total Training for Macromedia Dreamweaver 8
Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 training to learn how to efficiently layout, develop and maintain standards-based websites. Dreamweaver tutorials teach you with tips and tricks that can only be learned from an expert user of the software.
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Total Training for Website Design - Extreme Website Makeover
These video tutorials equip you with the skills necessary to turn an ordinary website into one that's content-rich using popular web design and development tools: Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Contribute, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
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Total Training Premium Bundle - Adobe Creative Suite 2
Creative Suite 2 Premium Edition Bundle from Total Training. Learn valuable tips and techniques to sharpen your skills in Photoshop CS2, InDesign CS2, Illustrator CS2, GoLive CS2, and Acrobat 7.
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Improve Underexposed And Overexposed Pictures With AKVIS Enhancer
AKVIS has announced the release of AKVIS Enhancer plug-in v.5.0 for Windows and Macintosh. This version introduces the long-awaited batch mode that allows you to improve a series of pictures in a row, and the installation procedure for Macs has been simplified.
AKVIS Enhancer is an image enhancement plugin for revealing details in a picture. Enhancer's main strength is in detecting details from underexposed, overexposed and mid-tone areas of photos, making this plugin very useful in cases when a photo lacks detail.
Examples for using Enhancer include when a picture's foreground is hardly discernible because the background was overexposed, or when a photo lacks dramatic effect due to vagueness of the scene.
If you try to reveal details in highlighted or overshadowed areas using exposure correction (let's say by using Levels) you run the risk of spoiling the parts of the image that you want to leave unchanged. The idea behind Enhancer is to eliminate this potential problem.
The plugin intensifies the difference between adjacent pixels that have different color gradations and it treats each part of a photo individually. Where other similar programs achieve acceptable results by manipulating two to four shots of the same scene, AKVIS Enhancer applies advanced algorithms to a single shot for a spectacular outcome.
Most images can be improved by simply running the default settings. For further adjustment you have four parameters at your disposal: Details in Shadows, Details in Highlights, Level of Detail and Lightness. This new version also introduces a batch mode that allows you to improve a series of photos automatically.
In addition to its appeal to the amateur photographer and home user, AKVIS Enhancer is a highly useful tool in the production of technical and industrial photographs, or for revealing subtle details within medical imaging and forensic photos. Demonstrations of AKVIS Enhancer's features are available at the AKVIS website.
AKVIS Enhancer plugin is compatible with Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, Corel Painter, Corel Photo-Paint, Paint Shop Pro, ACD FotoCanvas, and Ulead PhotoImpact. AKVIS Enhancer runs on Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/NT and on Macintosh Mac OS X 10.3, PowerPC G3 and above.
AKVIS Enhancer sells for $69 USD and is downloadable from www.akvis.com. It also comes bundled with AKVIS Noise Buster (noise reduction software) for $83 USD. Home users can enjoy the full line of AKVIS plugins in the AKVIS Alchemy bundle (Enhancer, Chameleon, Stamp, Retoucher, Coloriage, Noise Buster, Sketch) for USD $280 USD, a savings of $212 over purchasing each separately.
For more plugins, see our Photoshop Plugins Page.
Alien Skin Software — Photoshop Plugins — Special 10% & 20% Discounts On All Alien Skin Photoshop Plugins
Our friends at Alien Skin Software have set us up with an exclusive special offer discount link that will give you some sweet savings at their online store.
Just follow this link and you'll see 10% and 20% price drops on their products when you get to the Alien Skin Online Store area (excludes the Eye Candy Bundle, which is already discounted at $199). This special offer includes a discount on Eye Candy: Textures, Eye Candy: Nature, Eye Candy: Impact, Exposure, and their latest release — Blow Up.
Blow Up – $199 – our price $179
Exposure – $199 – our price $179
Eye Candy 5: Impact – $99 – our price $79
Eye Candy 5: Nature – $99 – our price $79
Eye Candy 5: Textures – $99 – our price $79
Using Photoshop Lightroom, Part 1 - By Ben Long
creativepro.com senior editor and digital photo go-to guy Ben Long has posted his first installment of tips and strategies for using Adobe's free beta 4 of Photoshop Lightroom to import and organize your photographs. From the intro:
If you're a digital photographer who normally works in Photoshop, you owe it to yourself to try Photoshop Lightroom, a workflow-management/image-processing tool that's now a free beta and should ship in a final version early next year. While Lightroom lacks many of Photoshop's editing functions -- there are no brushes, rubber stamps, layers, or text tools in Lightroom -- its digital photography workflow may be better for you than a combination of Photoshop and Bridge, or Photoshop and your operating system's file manager.
I'm going to look at a few simple concepts that will make your switch from Photoshop to Lightroom easier. Don't worry; this "switch" is not a one-way trip. If you decide you're not interested in continuing with Lightroom, you can easily go back to your current workflow.
In this first installment, I'll cover Lightroom's importing and organization features. In Part 2 (link below), I'll go into Lightroom's editing tools and how they compare to Photoshop's. Part 3 will cover output.
Read tips and strategies for Photoshop Lightroom by Ben Long.
Using Photoshop Lightroom, Part 2 - By Ben Long
The editing and developing tools in Lightroom beta 4 share some similarities with Photoshop and Camera Raw, but there are significant differences. Here's how to get the most out of the new tools. From the intro of Using Photoshop Lightroom, Part 2:
In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom beta 4 from the point of view of a Photoshop user. Lightroom's approach to photography workflow is different from Photoshop's and its companion file browser, Adobe Bridge. As you saw in part 1, Lightroom lets you store images in a library that's fully searchable and sortable. This makes it easy to sort through your images at the end of a shoot and find the selects that you want to edit and pass through to the rest of your workflow.
Searching, sorting, and selecting is only part of your post-production process, of course. If you're a Photoshop user, you're probably loathe to give up its vast array of image editing and correction tools. But Lightroom has image-editing tools of its own, and depending on the types of edits you typically make, Lightroom's tools may be all you need.
Before you start editing in Lightroom, it's helpful to understand the types of edits you can't make with the program. It doesn't provide selection or masking tools, so you can't make isolated, localized edits. It also doesn't include painting and brush-based tools, so you can't perform the types of retouchings you can execute with Photoshop's brushes, Dodge and Burn, or Rubber Stamp tools. Lightroom doesn't allow for any type of compositing operations, so if you're used to creating effects using stacked layers and blending modes, you'll need to stick with Photoshop. Furthermore, you can't use Photoshop filters in Lightroom.
Lightroom's purpose is to give you speedy, flexible tools that make it possible to perform the global edits most images need. For more refined edits, you can easily pass your images to Photoshop.
Read tips and strategies for Photoshop Lightroom — part 2 by Ben Long.
For more on Lightroom, see our Lightroom Resource Center.
Exclusive 10% Discount On All onOne Products
Enter discount coupon code PSSPPT06 during the checkout process at onOne Software for an instant 10% discount on any onOne Software product. This is a special offer exclusively for PhotoshopSupport.com visitors. Vist our onOne Software Page for summaries and reviews of PhotoFrame Pro, Genuine Fractals, Mask Pro, Nik Sharpener, and The Photoshop Plugin Suite.
From the PhotoFrame Pro Review by Jennifer Apple: "PhotoFrame Pro 3 offers an upgraded batch of new features, making this plug-in even more of a valuable asset for the professional graphic designer or amateur digital photographer alike! The folks at onOne software have compiled what is arguably the most comprehensive collection of border and edge effects available on the plugin market right now. You can treat your digital images to the thousands of new frames offered in PhotoFrame Pro 3, ranging from crisp black and white to brilliant RGB color — from abstract edging effects to realistic frame-and-matte simulations."
Read the full PhotoFrame Pro review.
A Thank You To Our Friends, Partners & Sponsors!
We'd like to thank our friends, partners and sponsors: Adobe, Google, Hostway, Apple, Total Training, Peachpit Press, O'Reilly Media, Alien Skin Software, Janita, Wiley Publishing, Macromedia, Creativepro.com, The PhotoshopHelp Blog, CreativeBits, Heathrowe, CreativeGuy, The Photoshop Roadmap, Power Retouche Plugins, Vertus Fluid Mask, Template Monster, onOne Software, AV Bros. Plugins, Sue Chastain, AutoFX, and The National Association of Photoshop Professionals.
