Buy. Download. Create. Get Photoshop CS3 now at the Adobe Store.
Photoshop for Students. Get super savings at the Adobe Academic Store.
Easier, Faster, Better With onOne Plug-Ins For Photoshop
Join Brian Kraft, VP of Sales for onOne Software on June 10, 11 and 12 at 11 AM PST, to see how onOne Plug-Ins maximize the power of Photoshop. All attendees will receive 20% off on onOne Software products.
Learn how to:
- Easily color correct
- Remove unwanted backgrounds
- Add stunning edge effects
- Create selective blur and vignettes
- Build custom photo effects
- Produce professional quality enlargements
If you are interested in joining the e-Seminar, please email webinar@ononesoftware.com for the login details. Please make sure to include "PhotoshopSupport.com and onOne Software e-Seminar" as your subject.
Obsidian Dawn Photoshop Brushes - Flower Vectors Brushes
Here's Stephanie with her latest Photoshop brushes, Flower Vectors Brushes.
This is a pretty simple set, but one that I think will be fairly popular. It is a bunch of flowery vector designs, all of which are high resolution - about 1500 pixels. Just sat down today and played around with various flower designs, and this is what came out!
Download the Flower Vectors Brushes.
Want More Free Photoshop Brushes?
We've collected the most recent of Stephanie's original brushes on a special Obsidian Dawn Photoshop Brushes Page, with big preview images to give you an idea of each set.
For her high resolution brushes, you can find a special collection on our high res brush page. Also see our Free Photoshop brushes Page for other places to find brushes.
Invite Friends To Participate In Photoshop Lightroom Beta 2
Here's an interesting bit of Lightroom news from John Nack's blog:
"If you own Lightroom 1.x, you can use the Lightroom 2.0 beta for the entire duration of the testing period. If you're not an LR 1.x owner, the LR 2 beta expires 30 days after first use. There's an interesting caveat, however: LR 1 owners each have the ability to invite five folks to participate in the LR 2 beta, extending their use beyond 30 days. We think it's a good way to strike a balance between rewarding current customers & getting feedback from new customers. If you're interested, check out the details & share some love."
Photoshop Favicon Tutorial Updated
Some readers have sent in some great tips for working with favicons, so I've done a major update to my favicon tutorial. Here's the start of the piece, and a link to the whole thing.
Mysteries Of The Favicon.ico — How To Create A Favicon In Photoshop
A Favicon is a little custom icon that appears next to a website's URL in the address bar of a web browser. They also show up in your bookmarked sites, on the tabs in tabbed browsers, and as the icon for Internet shortcuts on your desktop or other folders in Windows. And when I say little, I mean 16 pixels by 16 pixels. So if you like a good design challenge try your hand at this one.
All you need to add a Favicon to your site is a Windows Icon (.ico) file usually called favicon.ico that you upload to the main directory of your website. Nowadays, most browsers besides Internet Explorer can use a GIF (including animated ones) or PNG (including full transparency) instead. But since all browsers including IE understand the .ico format, and because it's got a lot of intriguing features that GIFs and PNGs don't, read on to find out how to make one.
Read the complete Photoshop tutorial.
Forensic Photoshop Tutorial - Tool Presets
Jim Hoerricks is the Senior Forensic Video Analyst for the LAPD's Scientific Investigation Division. His site, Forensic Photoshop, contains lots of interesting posts and tutorials that deal with using Photoshop for forensic work. Jim has also written a book, Forensic Photoshop. Here is a new forensic Photoshop CS3 tutorial from him.
Tool Presets
A question came in about tool presets, mainly what are they and what are they used for.
A Tool Preset can speed up your workflow because it can contain all of a tool's options. As an example, you can create a brush tool for working on your adjustment layer masks that includes brush size, blend mode, opacity, and flow. The next time you need this brush, simply select it from the Tool Presets palette. No need to input all the settings again.
To create a Tool Preset, configure the tool to suite your needs. Then, click on the downward facing arrow next to the tool icon on the Options bar, then click on the pop-up palette menu and select New Tool Preset. Give your new preset a descriptive name and click OK.
Once you get used to using them, you'll wonder how you managed without them.
Another Way to Merge Visible
Question: is there a way to merge the visible layers, saving the result as a new layer and preserving the source layers?
Answer: yes. It's called Stamping.
Stamping layers makes it possible to merge the content of several visible layers into one new target layer.
You can either press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E (easy for those without arthritis) or hold the Alt key down whilst choosing Merge Visible. Just remember that in doing this, you are adding file size.
(reprinted with permission from Forensic Photoshop Blog - see more forensic tutorials)
Manga Studio Special Deal
Our friends at e Frontier have an exclusive offer for PhotoshopSupport.com visitors. The full version of Manga Studio 3.0 EX is on special right now for $269.99.
Manga Studio EX, the #1 manga software worldwide, is the all-in-one solution for creating and publishing manga and comics. Specifically designed for professionals, Manga Studio EX delivers cutting-edge features that comic artists need.
- Choose from over 3,000 screen tones or create your own, making possibilities endless.
- Resize with no loss in quality by converting your bitmap drawings to resolution-independent vector images.
- Draw naturally with a pen tablet and recreate the sensation of drawing on paper.
- Simplify your layout and design process with easy to use features such as rulers, 80+ page templates, and word balloons.
- Create new artistic expressions with dozens of pen and brush tools, special effects, and 2D and 3D image transformation.
With Manga Studio’s powerful feature set and intuitive, standard interface, you will quickly create your comic projects faster than ever before.
Also the full version of Anime Studio Pro is on special right now for $169.99.
Anime Studio Pro is perfect for professionals looking for a more efficient alternative to tedious frame-by-frame detailing when creating quality animations.
With an intuitive interface and loaded with pre-rigged characters and additional content, Anime Studio Pro delivers advanced animation tools and effects to speed up your workflow.
Anime Studio combines cutting-edge features with powerful technology to deliver the most unique animation program for digital artists.
- Bone-Based Animation Technology - Using Anime Studio's bone rigging system, you can add a skeleton to any image by simple point and click, then bring it to life!
- Ready to Use Content - Choose from pre-made Anime style characters or create your own using Anime Studio's drawing and coloring tools.
- Import Your Own Artwork - Draw your own or import 2D imagery, 3D imagery or video files.
- Vector Graphics - Resize your images with no loss in quality using Anime Studio's vector-based layer system.
- Intuitive Timeline - Anime Studio interpolates through your Timeline so you avoid the tedium of frame-by-frame drawing and save time.
- Audio Support - Add audio soundtracks to your animations. Anime Studio supports WAV and AIFF formats.
- Adobe Photoshop Integration - Import layered PSD files using a Photoshop plug-in that converts files to Anime Studio format, included free with Anime Studio Pro.
- Pen Tablet Support - Draw naturally with a pen tablet and recreate the sensation of drawing on paper.
- Publish for Multiple Media - Output your animations to video, TV, and web formats.
Specifically designed for professionals, Anime Studio Pro provides additional content, tools and capabilities to give you more control and flexibility in creating your animations.
Free Photoshop Book - The Photoshop Anthology
Our friends at SitePoint have just told us they are giving away an entire 278 page Photoshop book for free. It's in PDF and is ready for immediate download. But it will only be up for grabs for 10 days. Here's the scoop from SitePoint:
The entire 278 page book, yours to keep, forever! The Photoshop Anthology: 101 Web Design Tips, Tricks & Techniques is the ultimate Photoshop compendium for web designers.
It’s brimming with tried and tested real-world Photoshop solutions that will add impact to your next web design project.
If you’ve ever been stuck for inspiration, have puzzled over just how to create a shiny aqua-style button, or wanted to create that seamlessly tiling background image you saw on a site recently, you need download this book.
Digital Cameras, Camera Lenses And Digital Memory Cards - Best Deals
As promised when we get an alert on a super deal for top digital cameras and digital camera equipment we'll let you know, so here are the latest best deals from B&H Photo:
Canon EOS Rebel XSi SLR Digital Camera Kit (Black) with 18-55mm IS Lens
The Canon EOS Rebel XSi Digital Camera incorporates a number of high-end functions and technology found in Canon's professional SLR models. These include an improved autofocus sensor, enhanced 14-bit A/D conversion, an advanced Live View function and the proprietary DIGIC III image processor (which ensures that the fine details and natural colors of the images are optimally recorded and manages the camera's efficient energy consumption and high-speed signal processing performance).
Its newly designed 12.2 megapixel APS-C size CMOS sensor employs large microlenses over each pixel to reduce noise and enhance sensitivity up to ISO 1600, while the 14-bit Analog-to-Digital (A/D) conversion process means that the Rebel XSi records up to 16,384 colors per channel and allows the camera to produce images with finer and more accurate gradations of tones and colors.
The camera also incorporates the Highlight Tone Priority and High-ISO Noise Reduction functions (previously found only on Canon's Professional Digital SLRs) and the camera is equipped with Canon's Auto Lighting Optimizer technology, which corrects image brightness and contrast automatically to prevent underexposure with backlit scenes.
The camera utilizes a precise nine-point Autofocus (AF) system featuring a newly developed AF sensor that improves the camera's subject detection capabilities compared to earlier models. The cross-type AF measurement is effective with all EF and EF-S lenses, while providing enhanced precision with lenses having maximum apertures of f/2.8 or faster and increases the camera's ability to autofocus quickly and accurately.
Sandisk 4GB Ultra II Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) Card with Card Reader
This SanDisk 4GB Ultra II Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) Memory Card has a minimum sustained write speed of 9 megabytes (MB) per second and a read speed of 10MB per second. The SanDisk Ultra II SD card is ideal for the most demanding photo shoots, including photojournalism and event, sports, nature and fashion photography. It has low battery consumption, and is backed by a manufacturer's Lifetime Warranty.
Canon Zoom Telephoto EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 III USM Autofocus Lens
The lightest 4x telephoto zoom lens in its class. Ideal for sports, portraiture, animals, etc. The telephoto effect can make the picture look compressed or have excellent background blur. At the 300mm focal length, you can fill the frame with a postcard from 4.9' away. The Micro-USM autofocus motor is quick, compact and quiet
PhotographyBB Online Magazine - May PDF Download
PhotographyBB announced today the release of the fourth edition of the PhotographyBB Online Magazine. By way of download in either PDF or ZIP formats, PhotographyBB continues its trend through the future of free downloadable magazine distribution. In a completely ad-free format, each issue contains informative and educational tutorials for amateur and intermediate level photographers.
In addition to articles which aide beginners in getting the most from their DSLR cameras, the PhotographyBB Online Magazine also features useful and applicable tutorials on how to use Adobe Photoshop to build digital photography post-processing skills.
Regarding this recent release, Dave Seeram - Editor and Publisher says, “Issue 4 is here and fully stocked on our digital shelves! Although we had to delay this month’s issue by one week, this month’s issue is by far our best issue to date! This month we’re taking it to the next level by including photographic shooting techniques, a trip to Vancouver, and even more tutorials than last month, including Photoshop, Elements, and even a Dreamweaver (for the photographer) tutorial!”
PhotographyBB Online Magazine is available for free download through the PhotographyBB Website.
Top 10 Free NASA Photos From The Space Station
I love free photos and some of the best come from NASA. You can get some great free shots. Recently NASA released its 10 favorite photos taken by astronauts on the International Space Station. Each of the 10 photos is available in high resolution. I've posted just one below, but go and have a look. These can be great images for website design elements such as big banners for the top of your pages.
Before you publish any NASA images make sure to read their complete Photo Guidelines, which includes this clearance for general use:
NASA images generally are not copyrighted. You may use NASA imagery, video and audio material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits and Internet Web pages. This general permission does not include the NASA insignia logo (the blue "meatball" insignia), the NASA logotype (the red "worm" logo) and the NASA seal. These images may not be used by persons who are not NASA employees or on products (including Web pages) that are not NASA sponsored.
Have fun!
onOne Announces FocalPoint 1.0 Photoshop Plugins
onOne Software, Inc., announces today that its new software plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements - FocalPoint 1.0 - is now available for immediate download. onOne Software's FocalPoint ($159.95 from onOne) is a selective focus and vignetting plug-in designed to help photographers easily blur and/or vignette areas of an image. (Enter discount coupon code PSSPPT06 during the checkout process for an instant 10% discount exclusively for PhotoshopSupport.com visitors.)
Popular among professional wedding, portrait and commercial photographers, the soft defocused look typically produced in camera by using special selective focus or tilt-shift lenses, filters or vignetting hoods can now be created quickly within Photoshop using onOne Software's new FocalPoint. This new plug-in provides both professional and advanced amateur photographers with additional creative options when editing their images in Photoshop.
"The new onOne Software FocalPoint plug-in, which is now available for download, gives photographers total control over how they apply creative focusing effects to their image after the image has been shot," said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. "It's just like having a lens inside of Photoshop. Users set the location of their 'sweet spot' of focus directly on their image and then control the amount, kind of blur used and even lighten or darken the edges quickly and easily."
FocalPoint provides photographers with a way to create realistic depth of field control, plane of focus control and selective focus to any image after it is photographed allowing for more control and precision. The plug-in's unique FocusBug control has a tangible, hardware feel much like adjusting a lens. This special on-screen control makes it fast for a photographer to choose the "sweet spot" of focus either in a round aperture shape or a planar aperture shape and then control how much and what kind of blur they would like to add.
Blur choices include a standard defocused look as well as a blur that simulates motion. This has a huge benefit over hardware tools like auxiliary lenses and filters because it allows the photographer to control the focus and blur after the image is taken, giving them more control and requiring fewer shots in camera.
FocalPoint uses the same FocusBug controls to allow the photographer to simultaneously selectively blur as well as lighten or darken the areas outside of the "sweet spot" of focus. FocalPoint can also be used just for vignetting without blurring the image at all.
In addition, the FocusBug allows users to tilt the chosen "sweet spot" aperture in 3D, simulating the tilt effect of a view camera or tilt-shift lens. This allows users to increase or decrease the amount of feathering or blur across a plane.
And once a photographer has created an effect they like, they can save it as a preset so they can easily recall it. FocalPoint remembers all of the settings applied including the relative size and position of the FocusBug so users can apply it to similar images without having to make any additional adjustments. By using Photoshop actions to access a FocalPoint preset photographers can even batch process an entire folder of images.
FocalPoint is designed for use with Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements and supports Adobe Photoshop CS2 and CS3 and Elements versions 4.0.1, 5, 6 and higher. It is compatible with Microsoft Windows XP and Vista and Mac OS X 10.4.10 and 10.5 and higher. onOne Software's FocalPoint plug-in is available now for $159.95 from onOne.
Exclusive 10% Discount On All onOne Software
Enter discount coupon code PSSPPT06 during the checkout process for an instant 10% discount exclusively for PhotoshopSupport.com visitors.
Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Fireworks and Adobe Soundbooth Betas On Adobe Labs
Adobe today gave a sneak peek at three applications from the next release of Adobe Creative Suite, its award-winning collection of graphic design, Web development and video editing applications. The company released public beta of new versions of Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Fireworks and Adobe Soundbooth as free downloads on Adobe labs. Once downloaded and launched, the betas will be active for 48 hours after which time only Creative Suite 3 customers will have an extended right to use the betas until the next release of Creative Suite becomes available.
The Dreamweaver public beta includes a new Related Files Toolbar and Code Navigator feature that allows users to dive deeply into complex pages that include HTML files, links to JavaScript documents and integrated XML data. Users can see related files in the Related Files Toolbar and with Code Navigator make changes to code that appears in various parts of a document just with one update. The update to Dreamweaver also features a new Live View Mode, which is based on the open source rendering engine Webkit. It enables users to see content in real-world, real-time environments without having to leave Dreamweaver to preview in a browser. This feature also gives users the ability to freeze JavaScript language to debug interactive pages as well as view and interact with Flash content.
New features in Fireworks beta include a new user interface that is now consistent with other applications within the Creative Suite making it easier for users to switch between applications that now have a universal look and feel. In addition, Fireworks beta now allows users to export design comps as high fidelity, interactive, and secure Adobe PDF documents for enhanced client communication. Fireworks beta is also now compatible with Adobe AIR, HTML, Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex Builder so users can create their design once and deploy to whichever application platform is required by clients.
The Soundbooth beta showcases a host of new features for creative professionals to complete their audio production tasks more efficiently, including the new multiple track support which allows users to edit multiple audio clips on a number of tracks, and the new ability for users to match volume levels across audio files. Also included is the capability to preview MP3 compression settings before saving them and a new speech recognition technology that lets users create transcripts of dialogue tracks quickly and search them for words and phrases within a timeline.
Availability and System Requirements
The Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Soundbooth betas, once downloaded and launched, will be active for 48 hours after which time only CS3 customers will have extended access. Using their CS3 product serial numbers, users will have the exclusive ability to unlock the betas and use them for free until the next version of Creative Suite becomes available. Beta access will give users an opportunity to deliver feedback, via Adobe Labs, for future product development.
Dreamweaver and Fireworks betas run on multiple operating systems, including Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2, Windows Vista and Mac OS X version 10.4.11 or later on PowerPC G5 or Intelbased Macintosh systems. The Soundbooth beta runs on all those systems except for PowerPC-based Macintosh systems. The betas can be immediately downloaded from Adobe Labs at www.labs.adobe.com.
SiteGrinder Photoshop Plugin - Create Websites Instantly
There often seems to be a strict division of labor within the world of web design and development. Creative professionals tend to stick to the Photoshop domain, while those well-versed in scripting are left to the task of implementing their work. Indeed, the two realms are quite different from each other, to which any of us even vaguely familiar with either can easily attest.
Essentially, Photoshop is a no-holds-barred design studio, offering the artist a seemingly endless array of creative options. On the other hand, HTML, CSS, Java and the like follow strict rules of engagement, requiring the developer to take any number of esoteric concerns into consideration in order to ensure that designs are properly displayed on the web.
Turn Photoshop Into A Complete Web Design Tool
SiteGrinder seeks to bridge this gap between design and development. Basically, this program turns Photoshop into an easy-to-use and fully functional web design tool. With SiteGrinder, designers will now have the freedom to totally let their creativity loose and then, without skipping a beat, transfer their designs to the web. Bringing esthetic concerns together with more practical considerations, this program is an amazingly powerful tool that would make a fantastic addition to any web designer's bag of tricks.
Generate Your Web Pages Directly From Photoshop
By generating web pages directly from Photoshop, you'll be able to spend much more time on the creative end of the spectrum, since you'll know right off the bat how well particular designs will translate to the web. No more going back to the Photoshop drawing board after getting a phone call from your development team, telling you that what you had envisioned doesn't have a chance of being displayed on the web. You can immediately visually and interactively test your designs, which permits you to then make changes to either esthetics or functions while it's still relatively early on in the design process.
Pricing and Availability
Mac OS X and Windows versions of the SiteGrinder unlockable demo are available now via download. SiteGrinder can be ordered from Media Lab's online store.
Photoshop CS3 Upgrade Options And Bundles From The Adobe Store
Photoshop CS3 Extended is ideal for film, video, and multimedia pros and for graphic and web designers using 3D and motion. Get the full version for US $999, or upgrade for US $349. The standard version of Photoshop CS3 is available for US $649, or as an upgrade for US $199. See all upgrade options at the Adobe Store. See our CS3 Resource Center for free Photoshop CS3 tutorials.
Photoshop Extended is also available as part of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium, which combines all-new CS3 versions of Photoshop, Flash Pro, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat 8 Pro. Upgrade options for customers in Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Asia can be found at the Adobe International Store.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Available At The Adobe Store
There are tons of new features in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. From Clone and Healing functionality to metadata browsing, you'll be able to free-up post-processing time like never before. Get it now at the Adobe Store. For more info see our Lightroom Resource Center. If you are a student or teacher you'll find super savings at the Adobe Education Store.
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, Janita, Wiley Publishing, Creativepro.com, CreativeBits, Heathrowe, Smashing Magazine, The Photoshop Roadmap, Power Retouche Plugins, Wacom, Vertus Fluid Mask, Template Monster, onOne Software, Brusheezy, AV Bros. Plugins, Obsidian Dawn, BittBox, Sue Chastain, Mark Galer, and AutoFX.
