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Photoshop Photo Effects Cookbook
"Watercolor"
(Pages 37 from the Artistic section of Photoshop Filter Effects Encyclopedia Cookbook - courtesy of O'Reilly Media.)

Watercolor has long been a defining Photoshop filter, though the crucial illusion of one color running into its neighbor is only partly achieved. Use the Smudge or Healing Brush tool to help the illusion. If you're looking to imitate gouache painting, however, search no further — the slight darkening around the edge of each patch of color perfectly reproduces the effect of this more opaque pigment.

How It Works
STEP 1
The dialog box offers three sliders. Though Brush Detail can be invoked across the whole scale, the remaining controls usually make a color image impossibly dark once pushed past the halfway mark.

STEP 2
Settings of 14, 14, and 1 will produce a reasonably painterly result.

STEP 3
On a monochrome image a "stippled" appearance results from setting Brush Detail at 14, and both Shadow Intensity and Texture at 3.

Using The Watercolor Filter
Although it's tempting to be gentle with this filter, often what's required is bravura painting.

STEP 1
The ocean scene and distant prospects provide scope for brushwork.

STEP 2
Apply the filter to test the waters. Here, we've used Brush Detail 14, Shadow Intensity 1, Texture 1. As you can see, the initial application is excessively dark.

STEP 3
It's a good moment to retreat and try another approach. Go back to the original, and this time use Blur > Motion Blur with a Distance of 6 pixels to break up the image details.

STEP 4
Continue with the Diffuse filter from the Stylize menu. Choose Lighten Only and apply the filter several times in succession by selecting Filter > Diffuse (or Ctrl/Cmd+F).

STEP 5
Finally, apply the Watercolor filter again but with Brush Detail 14, Shadow Intensity 0, and Texture 3. The result is not a bad approximation of a watercolor painting.

Copyright © 2005 The llex Press Limited - All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm, xerography, or any other means, or incorporated into any information retrieval system, either electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the copyright owner.

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Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended feature a newly refined, tab-based interface in a single, integrated window, with self-adjusting panels arranged in docked groups. Automatically keeping tools well organized and away from your work area means you get greater efficiency, less clutter, and better results, faster than before.

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Find upgrade options and package deals at the Adobe USA Store. Teachers and students get special pricing at the Adobe Education Store. You can also buy in your country currency and language at the following Adobe International Stores:
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Special Offer - Fluid Mask - Photoshop Masking Plugin

Fluid Mask is based on breakthrough segmentation technology inspired by the way the eye, optic nerve and brain perform visual processing. When an image is loaded, Fluid Mask's segmentation engine analyses the distribution of colors, finding the natural groups within the image. Together with information calculated about edges, gradients and textures, a model is constructed which divides the images into objects.

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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 Filter Effects Encyclopedia Cookbook
There are 100 built-in filters in Photoshop, designed to enable the user to easily make subtle or dramatic image adjustments, and there is very little online help available with the application, and no printed manual. Users can spend hours trying to use filters effectively-an inefficient and often frustrating way to work.

In Photoshop Filter Effects Encyclopedia Cookbook, author and educator Roger Pring explains and decodes the settings of every filter that Photoshop CS2 has to offer, from Artistic filters such as Colored Pencil, Cutout, and Watercolor to Stylize filters like Bevel, Emboss, and Extrude. And, unlike many reference books that give you a lot of information you'll never need, it is filled with easy-to-follow, step-by-step, practical recipes for creating truly amazing effects.

Packed with hundreds of full-color photographs, clearly written instructions, and practical tips, this book is the ultimate, no-nonsense Photoshop CS2 Filters reference for creative photographers, designers, and artists.
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Photoshop CS3 Book - CS3 Essential Skills - By Mark Galer And Philip Andrews

Brimming 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.