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Tips For Working In Photoshop - Photoshop CS3 Tutorial - Mark Galer
Tips For Working In Photoshop - Photoshop CS3 Tutorial - Mark Galer

Tips For Working In Photoshop - Photoshop CS3 Tutorial - Mark Galer
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Digital Basics 101 — The Seven Steps — Tips For Working In Photoshop
by Mark Galer

Photoshop CS3 Essential SkillsHere are some Frequently Asked Questions from photographers who are new to Photoshop. In response, Mark Galer — digital guru and author of Photoshop CS3 Essential Skills — offers professional tips and advice for Photoshop beginners.

The answers have been arranged in order to follow the typical editing workflow in Photoshop.

Working With Photoshop Preferences
OK, Mark, I figured out how to get the CD into my computer and load the program. But what about the preferences? Yikes, I’m already lost!
The great thing about Photoshop is that it comes ready to use. Don’t get hung up on trying to make decisions about all of those settings until you have been using the software for a couple of months. Nothing is going to get screwed up in the first instance just because you forgot to check the ‘beep when done’ preference.
Continue reading....

Working With Photoshop Color Spaces
My friends keep talking about the color space they are using. I just nod my head and pretend I know what they are talking about. What is it and what do you recommend?
Space is about size. Think of color space as a box of colored pencils. sRGB is the small box of colored pencils and Adobe RGB is the medium sized box of colored pencils (not many people have need for the ‘supersize-me’ box of colored pencils called ProPhoto). Small may not sound so great but the computer monitor you are now looking at probably can’t display the extra colors that can be found in the larger box (Adobe RGB). These colors come in to play if you use an inkjet printer or a better quality photographic lab (print service provider).
Continue reading....

Photo Optimization Tips
How do I quickly fix an image to look better?
Some people have turned editing images into a science and an art form all rolled into one, but it is possible to get some good results by just hitting a few buttons that have the word ‘Auto’ written on them. Most digital images will benefit from a couple of simple ‘quick fixes’ to optimise the color and contrast. The camera may have done a reasonable job but the chances are that Photoshop will be able to further improve the image (well that’s why you purchased the software right). If you are new to digital image-editing then Photoshop will complete these steps automatically with just a click of the mouse and do a pretty good job pretty much most of the time. Just duplicate the original image first (just in case you make a pig’s ear out of things and want to start again).
Continue reading....

How To Crop An Image In Photoshop
How do I crop an image?
Before I tell you how, I should really answer why. With most photographers capturing images in excess of 8-Megapixels you have way more pixels than you need for most ‘normal’ everyday uses. Uploading an 8-megapixel image to an online gallery or eBay is overkill (there are only 2-megapixels on a full HD widescreen TV!). The second reason you should crop an image is ensure that it is the correct shape (there is no use giving somebody an oblong image if their one and only photo frame is square). The third reason you should crop is to improve the composition (which is another way of saying that it is a good idea to get rid of all of the uninteresting or distracting parts of the image that you don’t want people to see). You can enhance or improve the image by just cutting, or cropping, the unwanted parts of the image off. This will make people think you are a much better photographer than you really are!
Continue reading....

Image Resolution Tips
What is resolution and which one is right?
The issue of resolution can sometimes get confusing because the same word is often applied to different aspects of photography. Imagine, for a moment, that the word ‘Device’ was the name for a camera, a computer screen and a printer. If you were having a conversation with a friend and were discussing a photographic workflow from capture to print, imagine the confusion that could occur (“which device called device are you now referring to?”). This is what currently happens when some people talk about resolution but don’t have a good understanding of when and how to use the word appropriately or clarify what they are referring to. When you talk about resolution you have to add a second word before or after the word resolution, e.g. optical resolution (of your lens), image resolution (the file), monitor resolution, printer resolution etc.
Continue reading....

Tips For Saving Images In Photoshop
Now that I have edited my image I want to save it but there are so many options – which do you recommend?
If you open your original file, change something and then hit the ‘Save’ command in the ‘File’ menu you run the risk of writing over your original file – which is not a good idea. In a year’s time you could be editing like a professional and regret the work you carried out on the image you are working on now. It’s always good to know that the original can be edited again at some point in the future.
Continue reading....

All About Monitor Calibration And Printing
My prints look different to the images on my screen – why?
Your monitor is only accurate if you have calibrated it using a monitor calibrator. These are relatively inexpensive devices now and are easy to use. Companies such as Gretag-Macbeth and datacolor make inexpensive units that will enable you to make sure that the colors captured by your camera are displayed accurately on your screen. When you adjust the image colors on a calibrated screen you will be confident that it actually needs adjusting. A good print service provider should now be able to provide you with prints that are very similar to the images that appear on your screen.
Continue reading....

See more Photoshop CS3 tutorials on our Photoshop CS3 Tutorials Page.
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Photoshop CS3 Book - CS3 Essential Skills - By Mark Galer And Philip Andrews

Photoshop CS3 Essential SkillsBrimming with beautiful pictures, Photoshop CS3 Essential Skills guides you through a project-based, progressive curriculum so that you can build all the essential skills to enhance photographs creatively and professionally with Photoshop CS3. If you are an aspiring professional, enthusiastic amateur photographer, or a student learning photography, digital imaging, art and design, or design graphics, you'll be amazed at the stunning results you can achieve. A DVD is included free.

The Essential Skills Photography Series from Focal Press uniquely offers a structured learning experience for photographers of all ages, with both the underlying theory and loads of invaluable 'how to' and real-life practice projects - all from the most talented photography practitioners/educators in the world.

Read 2 free sample chapters:
Adjusting Exposure in Adobe Camera Raw CS3
Photoshop CS3 Tutorial High Dynamic Range

Special book offer - save 24%
Photoshop CS3: Essential Skills (Amazon.com - $28.08 - save 24%)
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Photoshop CS5 & Photoshop CS5 Extended - Best Deals From Adobe
Photoshop CS5 & Photoshop CS5 Extended - Best Deals From Adobe Adobe Photoshop CS5 delivers breakthrough capabilities to help you create images with impact. Refine your images with reengineered photography tools for removing noise, adding grain, and creating high dynamic range (HDR) images. Get precise results when making complex selections. Remove any image element and see the space fill in almost magically. Paint with naturally textured brushstrokes and realistic color blends. Learn more about Photoshop CS5.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended software helps you create the ultimate images for print, the web, and video. Enjoy all the state-of-the-art editing, compositing, and painting capabilities in industry-standard Photoshop CS5, and experience fast performance thanks to cross-platform 64-bit support. Also create 3D extrusions for logos, artwork, and motion graphics; edit 3D objects with advanced tools; and create and enhance motion-based content. Learn more about Photoshop CS5 Extended.

Find CS5 upgrade options and Creative Suite 5 deals at the Adobe Store. See CS5 pricing in UK currency at the Adobe UK Store. Visit the Adobe Special Offers page to find the latest deals. Save 80% on Adobe Student Editions. Try before you buy — download a free Photoshop CS5 trial.

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design PremiumAdobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium
Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium software gives you fresh new creative tools, along with the ability to deliver ideas faster in print and create interactive content without writing code. Plus Design Premium integrates with Adobe CS Live online services to maximize your design time by streamlining critical nondesign tasks.

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium combines Adobe InDesign CS5, Photoshop CS5 Extended, Illustrator CS5, Flash CS5 Professional, Dreamweaver CS5, Fireworks CS5, and Acrobat Pro with additional tools and services. Download a free CS5 Design Premium 30 day trial.

Photoshop CS5 Tutorials & CS5 Resources
See our Photoshop CS5 Resource Center for Free Photoshop CS5 Tutorials, and the Free Photoshop CS5 Trial Download. See our Photoshop CS4 Resource Center for Free Photoshop CS4 Tutorials.
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Exclusive 15% Discount On All Topaz Plugins - Use Coupon Code PHOTOSHOPSUPPORT - Includes Bundles And Upgrades

Exclusive 15% Discount On All Topaz PluginsEnter our exclusive discount coupon code PHOTOSHOPSUPPORT during the checkout process at Topaz Labs for an instant 15% discount on any Topaz product, including bundles and upgrades.

Topaz Labs Photoshop plug-ins are specifically designed to expand a photographer's creative toolbox by harnessing powerful image technology developments. Photographers everywhere are now taking advantage of the creative exposure effects, artistic simplification, unique edge manipulation, and top-of-the-line noise reduction offered in Topaz products. The Topaz Photoshop Plugins Bundle is a super powerful Photoshop plugins package that includes the following Topaz products:

Topaz Adjust
Deliver stunning and dynamic images with this uniquely powerful plug-in that features HDR-like abilities and enhances exposure, color and detail.
Exclusive 15% Discount On All Topaz PluginsTopaz Detail
A three-level detail adjustment plug-in that specializes in micro-contrast enhancements and sharpening with no artifacts.
Topaz ReMask
The fastest and most effective masking and extraction program with one-click mask refining.
Topaz DeNoise
Highest-quality noise reduction plug-in that removes the most noise and color noise while preserving the most image detail.
Topaz Simplify
Provides creative simplification, art effects, and line accentuation for easy one-of-a-kind art.
Topaz Clean
Take control of the detail depth of your images with extensive smoothing, texture control and edge enhancement tools.
Topaz DeJPEG
Drastically improves the quality of web images and other compressed photos.

Learn more about the Topaz Photoshop Plugins Bundle. Download a free trial version.
Photoshop Blog
Exclusive onOne Software 15% Instant Discount Coupon

Exclusive onOne Software 20% Instant Discount CouponEnter our exclusive discount coupon code - PSSPPT06 - during the checkout process at onOne Software for an instant 15% discount on any onOne product. This includes Genuine Fractals and their amazing Photoshop Plug-In Suite.

OnOne’s new Plug-In Suite solves six of the most frequent problems photographers will encounter in Photoshop. This suite has been granted American Photos Magazine’s Editor’s Choice award for Top Image Editing Software. The Plugin Suite includes:

Genuine Fractals Pro is renowned by both photographers and printers for its finesse at increasing images to more than ten times their original size while maintaining the sharpness and detail you started with. Think of this as the industry standard for image resizing.

Mask Pro is used to remove the tough stuff — such as hair, smoke and glass — while retaining the fine detail. You choose what colors to keep, then paint away what you don’t need.

Genuine Fractals ProPhotoTools Pro packs hundreds of high-calibre photographic effects into one user-friendly plug-in. It’s fast and easy to use. Gives your photos that pro quality look.

PhotoFrame Pro lets you enhance your pictures with hundreds of such design effects, or simply drop your image into a pre-fab layout in Photoshop, Lightroom or Aperture.

FocalPoint helps to control focus and minimize visual noise. Draw the eye to specific points in your images by using selective focus, depth-of-field and vignette effects.

PhotoTune lets you can compare images side-by-side and easily color correct and enhance them. PhotoTune optimizes the dynamic range, color and sharpness of your image without the need to know all the complicated controls in Photoshop like levels and curves.

Simply enter our exclusive discount coupon code - PSSPPT06 - during the checkout process at onOne Software for an instant 15% discount on any onOne product.
Photoshop Blog
Nik Software 15% Instant Discount - Exclusive 15% Coupon

Enter our exclusive discount coupon code - NIKPSS - during the checkout process at Nik Software for an instant 15% discount on any Nik Software product. This exclusive discount coupon code can be applied to all the latest Nik Software Photoshop plugins, including Silver Efex Pro, Color Efex Pro, Viveza, Sharpener Pro, and Dfine.

Color Efex Pro
Nik Software Color Efex Pro 3.0 filters52 photographic filters with over 250 effects for professional quality images. Completely Original. Completely Indispensable.

Nik Software Color Efex Pro filters are the leading photographic filters for digital photography. The award-winning Color Efex Pro filters are widely used by many of today's professional photographers around the world to save time and get professional level results. Whether you choose the Complete Edition, Select Edition, or Standard Edition, you’ll get traditional and stylizing filters that offer virtually endless possibilities to enhance and transform images quickly and easily.

Patented U Point technology provides the ultimate control to selectively apply enhancements without the need for any complicated masks, layers or selections. Control color, light and tonality in your images and create unique enhancements with professional results. With 52 filters and over 250 effects found in Color Efex Pro, you can perform high quality retouching, color correction, and endless creative enhancements to your photographs. Download a free Trial version.

Viveza
Viveza - The most powerful tool to selectively control color and light in photographic images without the need for complicated selections or layer masksThe most powerful tool to selectively control color and light in photographic images without the need for complicated selections or layer masks.

Two of the most important factors in creating great photography are color and light. Mastering the art of selectively correcting or enhancing each of these is now possible for every photographer without the need for complicated masks or selections, or expert-level knowledge of Photoshop. Integrating award-winning U Point technology, Viveza is the most powerful and precise tool available to control light and color in photographic images.

U Point powered Color Control Points, placed directly on colors or objects in an image (such as sky, skin, grass, etc.), reveal easy-to-use controls that photographers can use to quickly adjust brightness, contrast or color in a fraction of the time needed by other tools. With Viveza you’ll spend more time shooting photographs and save hours of image editing. Download a free Trial version.

Silver Efex Pro
Silver Efex Pro from Nik SoftwareComplete power and control to create professional quality black and white images in one convenient tool.


Silver Efex Pro from Nik Software is the most powerful tool for creating professional quality black and white images from your photographs. For the first time, all the advanced power and control required for professional results have been brought together in one convenient tool.

Featuring Nik Software’s patented U Point technology to selectively control the tonality and contrast of the image, Silver Efex Pro includes advanced imaging algorithms to protect against unwanted artifacts, a comprehensive collection of emulated black and white film types, a variable toning selector for adding traditional toning techniques, over 20 one-click preset styles, and a state-of-the-art grain reproduction engine that help produce the highest quality black and white images possible from your color images while providing more freedom to experiment. Download a free Trial version to use Silver Efex Pro.

Enter our exclusive discount coupon code - NIKPSS - during the checkout process at Nik Software for an instant 15% discount. This exclusive discount coupon code can be applied to all the latest Nik Software Photoshop plugins, including Silver Efex Pro, Color Efex Pro, Viveza, Sharpener Pro, and Dfine.
Photoshop Blog
Photoshop Masking Plugin Fluid Mask - Exclusive Instant Discount

Photoshop Masking Plugin Fluid Mask 3 - Price Drop And Exclusive $20 Instant Discount - Now Only $129The 4 1/2 out of 5 star review of Fluid Mask 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 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 Photoshop Plugin, have set up a special exclusive discount for PhotoshopSupport.com. Go to our Fluid Mask page for a special, exclusive discount link.

Fluid Mask 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 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. Fluid Mask will also preserve all-important edge information for a professional quality cut out. Go to our Fluid Mask page for more info.
Photoshop Blog
lynda.com Online Training Library - View Free Video Clips

lynda.com Online Training Library Subscriptions Start At $25 A MonthSubscriptions to the lynda.com Online Training Library provide anytime access to tens of thousands of video tutorials covering Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, web design, digital imaging, 3D, digital video, animation, and many other topics. View free video clips.

For less than a dollar a day, members have the opportunity to stay current and keep skills sharp, learn innovative and productive techniques, and gain confidence and marketability - all at their own pace.
Premium subscriptions include instructors’ exercise files so that members can follow along with the exact examples onscreen. Customers learn at their own pace and may stop, rewind, and replay segments as often as necessary. View some free video clips (high resolution).
Photoshop Blog
Did You Know You Could Create An Entire Website In Photoshop?
SiteGrinder Photoshop Plugin - Create Websites Instantly


SiteGrinder Photoshop Plugin - Create Websites InstantlyThere 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, SiteGrinder 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, SiteGrinder is an amazingly powerful tool that would make a fantastic addition to any web designer's bag of tricks. Mac OS X and Windows versions of the SiteGrinder unlockable demo are available now via download.
Photoshop Blog
Photoshop CS4 Essential Skills - By Mark Galer And Philip Andrews


Photoshop CS4 Essential Skills - Adobe Photoshop CS4 BookBrimming with beautiful pictures, Photoshop CS4 Essential Skills guides you through a project-based, progressive curriculum so that you can build all the essential skills to enhance photographs creatively and professionally with Photoshop CS4. If you are an aspiring professional or a student learning photography, digital imaging, or design graphics, you'll be amazed at the stunning results you can achieve. A DVD is included free.

The Essential Skills Photography Series from Focal Press uniquely offers a structured learning experience for photographers of all ages, with both the underlying theory and loads of invaluable 'how to' and real-life practice projects - all from the most talented photography practitioners/educators in the world.

Read 2 free sample chapters:
Skin Retouching Tips In Photoshop CS4
Transforming Smart Objects In Photoshop CS4
Find more Photoshop CS4 tutorials on our Photoshop CS4 Tutorials Page.

Read 2 free sample chapters from the Adobe Photoshop CS3 version:

Adjusting Exposure in Adobe Camera Raw CS3
Photoshop CS3 Tutorial High Dynamic Range

Find More Adobe Photoshop Books at Amazon.com
Find all the latest bestselling Photoshop books at discount prices at Amazon.com.


PHOTO CREDIT: Full moon as seen from the International Space Station.


Tips For Working In Photoshop - Photoshop CS3 Tutorial - Mark Galer
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