Sep 2008
New Photoshop Book Now On Sale
Tuesday, September 30 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe | Training Products
Understanding Adobe Photoshop CS4:
The Essential Techniques for Imaging Professionals
By Richard Harrington
List Price: $49.99 – Sale Price $32.49
DISCOUNT CODE – UAP TWO - 35% OFF
Readers will learn the basics in correcting, editing, sharpening, retouching, and presenting photos as well as work on specific projects/exercises, including: digital painting; preparing images for newsprint; designing a CD/DVD label, magazine cover, and advertisements; and building an electronic portfolio.
The full-color book includes a CD-ROM with hand-on exercises and practice images, access to a reader’s only Web site for bonus downloads and files, and access to the popular video tutorial Podcasts (150 at time of publication).
CLICK TO ORDER – DISCOUNT CODE – UAP TWO - 35% OFF (Enter Code at Step 3 of checkout)
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Importing iPhoto Images into Aperture
Monday, September 29 ,2008 Filed in: Apple
As an iPhoto user chooses to migrate to Aperture, they’ll likely have a large library of images to bring with them. Aperture offers twoasy ways to migrate iPhoto images into your Aperture library. Which method you select will vary depending upon your needs.
Because Aperture and iPhoto are both manufactured by Apple, the two programs are designed to share information seamlessly. For example, any organization you did to create albums in iPhoto will translate into projects in Aperture. The EXIF, keywords, ratings, and applied adjustments are also maintained.
Importing an iPhoto library is very easy. To import your iPhoto library, do the following:
1. Choose File > Import > iPhoto Library. Aperture navigates automatically to your current iPhoto library.
2. Select the iPhoto Library folder using the file browser.
3. Choose the location where you’d like Aperture to store your images.
4. Specify a naming convention from the Version Name pop-up menu. You can choose Master Filename from the Version Name pop-up menu to store your images using the current master filenames assigned by the camera. There are also several options for assigning custom names.
5. Click Import to add the images to your Aperture library.
Migrating an Entire iPhoto Library
When you launch Aperture for the first time, a dialog offers to let you import your entire iPhoto library. You can choose to copy the images into your Aperture library or to simply reference the images in their current location. Even if you choose not to import your Aperture library the first time you launch, you can do so at any time.Because Aperture and iPhoto are both manufactured by Apple, the two programs are designed to share information seamlessly. For example, any organization you did to create albums in iPhoto will translate into projects in Aperture. The EXIF, keywords, ratings, and applied adjustments are also maintained.
Importing an iPhoto library is very easy. To import your iPhoto library, do the following:
1. Choose File > Import > iPhoto Library. Aperture navigates automatically to your current iPhoto library.
2. Select the iPhoto Library folder using the file browser.
3. Choose the location where you’d like Aperture to store your images.
- Choose "In the Aperture Library" from the Store Files pop-up menu to store imported masters in the Aperture library. This will allow Aperture to manage the images in its library architecture.
- Choose "In their current location" from the Store Files pop-up menu to import the files as referenced images. This means the files are stored in their current locations on your hard drive.
- Choose "Pictures" from the Store Files pop-up menu to store imported masters in the Pictures folder for the current user. The images are treated as referenced images.
- Choose "Choose" from the Store Files pop-up menu and pick a folder where you want to store the imported masters as referenced images. You can also specify an organization method for the images by clicking the Subfolders pop-up menu.
4. Specify a naming convention from the Version Name pop-up menu. You can choose Master Filename from the Version Name pop-up menu to store your images using the current master filenames assigned by the camera. There are also several options for assigning custom names.
5. Click Import to add the images to your Aperture library.
Photoshop CS4 – Camera Raw 5.0
Monday, September 29 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe
Richard Harrington shows you how to develop your camera raw files with Camera Raw 5.0 and CS4.
Want the videos in HD? Then check out our iTunes version.
More Free Photoshop Tutorials I've Done
Looking for some more, free Photoshop training? Here are a few more tutorials I’ve done... these are from Peachpit.com. Enjoy!
| Aligning Images in Photoshop CS |
Two Great Tools for Blogs
Lijit adds a great search engine to your site. You can create your own search network including multiple blogs, facebook, youtube, linkedin, flickr, and more. This is really useful.
Widgetbox lets you turn your RSS feed into a blog widget that can be posted to numerous social sites. Very clean and will help extend your reach.
Be sure to try both out....
Photoshop CS4 – Auto-Blend
Saturday, September 27 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe
Richard Harrington shows you how to use auto-blend to combine multiple exposures or layers in Photoshop CS4.
Want the videos in HD? Then check out our iTunes version.
Photoshop CS4 – Masks Panel
Friday, September 26 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe
Richard Harrington shows you what’s new with masks in Photoshop CS4 and how to use them to non-destructivly add transparency to an image.
Want the videos in HD? Then check out our iTunes version.
Short List of New Features for Photoshop CS4
Thursday, September 25 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe
Here’s an overview list of new features in Photoshop CS4. We’ll be offering tutorials on these topics in the coming weeks.
Increased Productivity
Unrivaled Editing
Breakthrough 3D, Motion Graphics, and Image Analysis (Extended only)
Increased Productivity
- Fluid canvas rotation
- Enhanced Pan, Zoom, and large image navigation
- More refined, natural results with Dodge, Burn, and Sponge
- Next generation Adobe Bridge
- Tighter integration with Photoshop Lightroom
- Kuler for color harmony creation and sharing
- N-up and multiple document view
- More powerful printing options
- Superior performance on very large images*
- Extensibility with SWF panels
- Unified tabbed interface with self-adjusting panels
Unrivaled Editing
- Live, nondestructive corrections with the Adjustments panel
- Re-editable, feathered, density-controlled masks
- Enhanced Auto-Blend with seamless tones and colors
- 360° panoramas
- Extended depth of field
- Camera Raw with localized adjustments
- Enhanced Smart Objects
- On-image controls for Curves, Hue/Saturation adjustments
- Clone Stamp and Healing Brush preview cursor
Breakthrough 3D, Motion Graphics, and Image Analysis (Extended only)
- Direct painting on 3D objects
- Easy conversion from 2D to 3D
- Editable 3D properties (scene, materials, meshes, lights)
- New high quality interactive ray tracer
- Create 3D composites with 2D images or other 3D objects
- New, high-performance, non-modal 3D engine
- Volume Rendering
- Keyboard shortcuts enabled for the Animation panel
- Enhanced preview of non-square-pixel images
- Preview and export audio content and frame comments
- Animate 3D objects and their textures
- Enhanced Count tool
Photoshop CS4 – Adjustments Panel
Thursday, September 25 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe
Richard Harrington shows you how to use the new adjustments panel in Photoshop CS4 to speed up your workflow.
Want the videos in HD? Then check out our iTunes version.
Photoshop CS4 – Adobe Output Module
Tuesday, September 23 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe
Richard Harrington shows you how to use the Adobe output module in Bridge CS4 to make websites, PDF slideshows and web galleries of your images. This technology is slick and easy to use.
Want the videos in HD? Then check out our iTunes version.
Like Your Photoshop Videos in HD?
Tuesday, September 23 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe
Would you like to watch our new Photoshop CS4 Sneak Peek videos in HD? You’ve got two options to choose from.
#1 iTunes Store
You can subscribe to or download all our videos absolutely free by visiting the iTunes store. By clicking subscribe, you’ll pay nothing, but get over two hours of free Photoshop CS4 Training. New episodes are released daily.
#2 Apple TV
Our show is also available on Apple TV in HD. A quick search for CS4 and you’ll find us.
I hope you enjoy... comments are very welcome (and encouraging).
#1 iTunes Store
You can subscribe to or download all our videos absolutely free by visiting the iTunes store. By clicking subscribe, you’ll pay nothing, but get over two hours of free Photoshop CS4 Training. New episodes are released daily.
#2 Apple TV
Our show is also available on Apple TV in HD. A quick search for CS4 and you’ll find us.
I hope you enjoy... comments are very welcome (and encouraging).
Photoshop CS4 Online Learning Center from NAPP
Tuesday, September 23 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe
The fine folks over at the National Association of Photoshop Professionals have an online learning center with some great resources.
Here are my favorites to check out.
- If you’re a keyboard shortcut junkie...
- Interview with Adobe's John Nack
- Flash Panels
- Content Aware Scaling
121 UAP - The Healing & Patch Tools - Understanding Adobe Photoshop
Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to use Photoshop's healing and patch tools to fix blemishes in an image.
121 UAP - The Healing & Patch Tools - More bloopers are a click away
Like the podcast? Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our Books.
121 UAP - The Healing & Patch Tools - More bloopers are a click away
Like the podcast? Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our Books.
Using the Color Range Command
Tuesday, September 23 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe
Sometimes, a color (or range of colors) will be very present in your image. These colors can be used to quickly create an accurate Layer Mask. Even if the color cannot be used to select the object entirely, you can always harness the Brush tool to clean up stray areas.
1. Open an image with an area of continuous color you’d like to select.
2. Turn the Background layer into a floating layer by double-clicking its name in the Layers panel.
3. Choose Select > Color Range to make a selection based on a range of colors. Check the Localized Color Clusters option to reduce the selection area to just the chosen colors.
4. With the Eyedropper, click within the yellow area of the flower to make an initial selection. Hold down the Shift key and drag through other areas of the flower to add to the selection.
5. Leave the Fuzziness set to a low value (30-40). When most of the flower is selected, click OK to create an active selection.
6. Click the Add layer mask button for the layer. The petals will show well, but parts of the flower will be missing.
7. Add a solid color layer to make it easier to see your edges. Choose Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color. A purple layer will help things stand out nicely. Click OK and drag the solid layer below the masked flower.
8. Examine the masked layer closely. You will need to paint in part of the center of the flower. Additionally, some of the petals contain unwanted transparency. You may also have some leaves or stems that bled through. We can fix all of these problems quickly using the Brush tool.
9. Press D to load the default colors of black and white.
10. Select the Layer Mask attached to the layer.
11. Press B to activate the Brush tool. Adjust the size of the brush and its hardness settings so you have a smaller brush with a gentle edge (an 80-pixel brush with a hardness of 75% is a good place to start).
12. Paint in spotted or missing areas with white. You can remove any unwanted areas by painting with black.
13. When finished, you can save the image as a layered file such as a TIFF or PSD formatted file.
1. Open an image with an area of continuous color you’d like to select.
2. Turn the Background layer into a floating layer by double-clicking its name in the Layers panel.
3. Choose Select > Color Range to make a selection based on a range of colors. Check the Localized Color Clusters option to reduce the selection area to just the chosen colors.
4. With the Eyedropper, click within the yellow area of the flower to make an initial selection. Hold down the Shift key and drag through other areas of the flower to add to the selection.
5. Leave the Fuzziness set to a low value (30-40). When most of the flower is selected, click OK to create an active selection.
6. Click the Add layer mask button for the layer. The petals will show well, but parts of the flower will be missing.
7. Add a solid color layer to make it easier to see your edges. Choose Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color. A purple layer will help things stand out nicely. Click OK and drag the solid layer below the masked flower.
8. Examine the masked layer closely. You will need to paint in part of the center of the flower. Additionally, some of the petals contain unwanted transparency. You may also have some leaves or stems that bled through. We can fix all of these problems quickly using the Brush tool.
9. Press D to load the default colors of black and white.
10. Select the Layer Mask attached to the layer.
11. Press B to activate the Brush tool. Adjust the size of the brush and its hardness settings so you have a smaller brush with a gentle edge (an 80-pixel brush with a hardness of 75% is a good place to start).
12. Paint in spotted or missing areas with white. You can remove any unwanted areas by painting with black.
13. When finished, you can save the image as a layered file such as a TIFF or PSD formatted file.
Reasons to Upgrade Videos Over at Peachpit.com
Tuesday, September 23 ,2008
Peachpit Press has released a cool series on reasons to upgrade to Photoshop CS4.
You can check out cool videos by:
You can check out cool videos by:
- Bert Monroy's Reasons to Upgrade to Photoshop CS4
- Matt Kloskowski's Reasons to Upgrade to Photoshop CS4
- Chris Orwig's Reasons to Upgrade to Photoshop CS4
- Kevin Ames' Reasons to Upgrade to Photoshop CS4
- Rich Harrington's Reasons to Upgrade to Photoshop CS4
Photoshop CS4 – User Interface Changes
Learn about important changes to the Photoshop CS4 user interface.
- Refined workspaces
– Freely rotatable canvas
– Greater zoom levels
- Enhanced controls with panels
- Tabbed documents
More Than One Billion Users Will View Online Video in 2013
“Sparked by increasing broadband penetration and rising connection speeds available to a growing percentage of the world’s population, over-the-top video has seen phenomenal growth in very recent years. A new study from ABI Research forecasts the number of viewers who access video via the Web to nearly quadruple in the next few years, reaching at least one billion in 2013.
“The rapid expansion of broadband video creates opportunities across a number of market sectors,” comments senior analyst Cesar Bachelet. “A wide variety of actors aim to gain a share of this fast-growing market: not only content owners such as the BBC and NBC Universal, and Internet portals such as AOL and Yahoo!, but also a range of new entrants including user-generated content sites such as YouTube and Dailymotion, broadband video sites such as CinemaNow and Lovefilm, and Internet TV providers such as Apple and Zattoo.”
See the full article...
120 UAP - Curves in Lab - Understanding Adobe Photoshop
Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to use Photoshop curves in the LAB color mode to isolate a color and make it pop.
120 UAP - Curves in LAB - The funniest bloopers are right here
Like the podcast? Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our Books.
120 UAP - Curves in LAB - The funniest bloopers are right here
Like the podcast? Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our Books.
iPhoto versus Aperture – Part 1
Sunday, September 14 ,2008 Filed in: Apple | Photography
Nondestructive Image Processing
Both Aperture and iPhoto offer nondestructive image processing.At any point during the image adjustment process you can restore your image to its original state.Although both iPhoto and Aperture feature nondestructive imaging,they take a different approach to achieve it.Read More...
Photoshop CS4 Just Around the Corner
Want to find out everything new in Adobe Creative Suite 4? Trust me... there’s some really cool things coming. Adobe has an invitation out to view their Web broadcast on September 23rd. But you do need to go to the sign-up page at www.adobe.com/go/somethingbrilliant.
By the way... we are going to be releasing something very special on the 23rd as well as a “thank you” to all our viewers. Be sure to stick around and keep an eye out.
Aperture Podcast Gets Featured
Saturday, September 13 ,2008 Filed in: Apple
It’s always nice to start your day and find out that Apple has listed you on their homepage for Hot News. Seems they like our new podcast on Aperture 2, which is a great program.
By the next day the show was #3 on all of iTunes (beating every television network except for one show from HBO). So, thanks! And for those of you new to the site - welcome! Please look around and explore the many books, training titles, podcasts and resources we have here.
By the next day the show was #3 on all of iTunes (beating every television network except for one show from HBO). So, thanks! And for those of you new to the site - welcome! Please look around and explore the many books, training titles, podcasts and resources we have here.
Music for Sharing with Kids: Secret Agent 23 Skidoo
I often find myself working around my kids... which means we share things like music and television. Every once in a while you find something you don’t mind sharing with them, such as Jack’s Big Music Show or Chuck E. Cheese.
Today, we saw a great concert for kids... by a rapper called Secret Agent 23 Skidoo. The show was great (the rapper has a long career of doing alternative rap with Granola Funk Express).
We bought the CD, checked out his MySpace page. Its nice to find music you can blast without teaching your kids words you’d rather not like. Perfect music for working on deadline or just a long car ride with the kids.
Standout tracks include
2 Gotta Be Me
3 Luck
7 Family Tree
11 The Bluegrasshopper
119 UAP - Zoomify - Understanding Adobe Photoshop
Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to use the Photoshop plug-in Zoomify to share high resolution images on the web.
119 Understanding Adobe Photoshop - Zoomify - Awesome video clips here
Like the podcast? Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our Books.
119 Understanding Adobe Photoshop - Zoomify - Awesome video clips here
Like the podcast? Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our Books.
New Site to Find Out All About Us
Feel free to take a quick browse and try out some of our new resources. I hope you enjoy!
Camera Support Gives Your Wrist a Break
Sunday, September 07 ,2008 Filed in: Video
I tried a unit out and bought one... its a nice way to get stability and literally take a load off the wrist. The unit is designed to work with cameras up to 10 pounds. What’s also nice is that the unity includes a tripod adapter mount making it easy to switch from your standard tripod to the WristShot unit.
We did a video interview on the product and will have it up shortly. For now, check out the company’s website.
Just Got Back from Photoshop World
Sunday, September 07 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe
The show was a great chance to catch up with industry pros as well as friends. I managed to bump into two former students and several viewers of our podcasts.
Some of the highlights of the show:
- Adobe announced that they will announce CS4 on September 23 (weird... I know)
- I caught a few great classes from some top instructors
- I saw some great new technology, blog posts forthcoming
- Lots to talk about soon... tonight I am tired.
New Photos from Red Rock
Tuesday, September 02 ,2008 Filed in: Photography | Personal
Here’s are two new slideshows I put together to show off four things.
1. Some new photos from Red Rock National Park on Las Vegas.
2. The new graphics plug-in Sliver Efex from Nik Software.
3. Animoto Music Videos.
4. Photoshop Express Slideshows.
Enjoy and be sure to check out #2 - #4... if you are in Vegas... set aside half a day and visit Red Rock as well.
1. Some new photos from Red Rock National Park on Las Vegas.
2. The new graphics plug-in Sliver Efex from Nik Software.
3. Animoto Music Videos.
4. Photoshop Express Slideshows.
Enjoy and be sure to check out #2 - #4... if you are in Vegas... set aside half a day and visit Red Rock as well.