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The Photoshop Blog offers the latest Photoshop news and software updates, Photoshop tips and tutorials, and random thoughts from graphic artist and Photoshop expert Jennifer Apple.



Deke McClelland Releases Video Podcast - 101 Photoshop Tips In 5 Minutes
June 24, 2008

They claimed no matter how fast you gabbed (or crooned) no creature (or robot) could deliver 100-plus, real-world Photoshop instructions in five minutes or less. Yet today, digital imaging master and modern day troubadour Deke McClelland proved the naysayers wrong. In his new music video — titled 101 Photoshop Tips in 5 Minutes and Deke's kickoff to his new video podcast series, dekePod — he breathtakingly sings, buzzes, leaps, dances, and kick-boxes his way through dozens upon dozens of useful Photoshop tricks.

Sponsored by O'Reilly Media and lynda.com, this all-new, irreverent, laugh-out-loud music video not only entertains, but also captures the zany, intense enthusiasm essential to most (if not all) creative endeavors. What inspired Deke? "This has long seemed like an obvious idea to me: Come up with 101 Photoshop Tips, rattle them off in precisely 5 minutes, and set them to music," says Deke, creator of O'Reilly's One-on-One book series, which uses video, step-by-step exercises, and hundreds of full-color illustrations. "I didn't see anyone else doing it, so I figured I better do it myself."



There's more. "When I was writing the piece, I kept coming back to Nada Surf's 'Popular,' which is essentially an enlightened football hero's advice against going steady in high school. I've listened to the thing like Orson Welles watched Stagecoach before making Citizen Kane. Obsessively. But I didn't want my 101 Tips piece to come off as some kind of parody or homage, so I hooked up with this amazing band called The Jellybricks and we rewrote the tune and made it our own. The result is an authentic music video with a make-or-break story line. If there's any humor in it, it's because I'm taking my ridiculous task so extremely seriously," explains Deke.

You can start enjoying and learning from "101 Photoshop Tips in 5 Minutes" now at digitalmedia.oreilly.com/dekePod. And it's available for immediate download, sharing, and also reposting on O'Reilly, iTunes, lynda.com, and YouTube.

Indeed, Deke's wacky Photoshop tips-fest portends more good times ahead for dekePod. The upcoming all-new instructive video podcasts promise to be uncensored, unregulated, and frankly unlike any other videos on the topics of computer graphics, digital imaging, and the unending realm of creative manipulations. New five-minute video podcasts in topics ranging from "Stretching a Photo in Illustrator" to "Metadata Forensics" and "Stealth 'Shop: Don't Fear the Lab Mode" are scheduled to be posted every other week and available for download starting Tuesday, July 8.

So what fuels Deke's compulsive impulse to entertain while teaching? "There's a massive amount of video training going on these days," says Deke. "It's expanding like wildfire. Much of it is educational, but very little of it could be mistaken for entertaining. And yet, my field, computer graphics, it's exciting stuff. Computer graphics are the backbone for every flashy magazine ad, every televised sporting event, and every blockbuster action movie. I mean, Pixar for crying out loud! And yet we just take for granted that computer graphics training should be so dull it puts you to sleep?"

For those excited by computer graphics, eager to learn, but weary of tediously dull training videos, dekePod delivers precisely the opposite. "Some folks will love it, some will hate it, but hopefully no one will yawn," says Deke. "If we get people watching this who don't know Photoshop from a hole in the ground, then I'll know we succeeded."

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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 Lightroom 1.0 that you won't find in the beta version. 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. Customers in Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Asia can find special pricing and offers at the Adobe International Store. For free Lightroom tutorials see our Lightroom tutorials page.

Photoshop Masking Plugin Fluid Mask 3 - $15 Discount Special

The 4 1/2 out of 5 star review of Fluid Mask 3 at MacWorld begins by saying that this "Photoshop plug-in takes the pain out of extracting backgrounds," and goes on to recommend the latest version, stating that "Fluid Mask 3.0.2 is a very effective tool for separating objects from their backgrounds. It offers a variety of useful features for tackling almost any difficult image, from wispy hair to complex foliage. Online video tutorials and live training sessions help ease the learning curve."

Our friends at Vertus, the makers of Fluid Mask 3 Photoshop Plugin, have set up a special exclusive discount for PhotoshopSupport.com. Just follow this discount link and instantly get $15 off your purchase of Fluid Mask 3.

Fluid Mask 3 is designed for photographers, image editors, graphic designers and all those who take digital image editing seriously. In a streamlined interface and workflow, Fluid Mask 3 instantly shows key edges in the image and provides comprehensive easy to use tools that work with difficult-to-see edges and tricky areas like trees & lattices. Features include: