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Photoshop Feature #14: Gaussian Blur
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - January 12, 2010 14:00 - 11 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsGaussian Blur is a filter that blurs an image. But its also the math behind the Feather command, drop shadows, and everything that is soft in Photoshop. Watch this video and learn why GB is so important.
Photoshop Feature #15: Alpha Channels
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - January 05, 2010 14:00 - 13 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsMuch can be said of masking: Masking is the art of using the image to select itself. Masking lets you apply the entire weight of Photoshop to the task of editing a selection. And masking, thy name is alpha channel.
Photoshop Feature #16: Adjustment Layers
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - December 29, 2009 14:00 - 12 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsAn adjustment layer is an independent layer of color adjustment that can edit any time you like. Plus it affects all layers below it, consumes very little space in memory, and affords the opportunity for selective edits.
Photoshop Feature #17: Layer Effects
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - December 22, 2009 14:00 - 8 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsYes, layer effects let you make drop shadows. But they also let you create credible compositions, render simple layers in dimension, and add ambient lighting. I cannot imagine working in Photoshop without them.
Photoshop Feature #18: Smart Objects
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - December 15, 2009 14:00 - 9 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsSmart objects aren't all that smart. And they aren't objects. What they are is envelopes. The kind that hold things. And keep them safe. So that everything you do protects the image from harm. This is Photoshop at its best.
Photoshop Feature #19: Luminance Blending
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - December 08, 2009 14:00 - 8 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsBuried deep inside the Layer Style dialog box are two slider bars, This Layer and Underlying Layer, that let you blend pixels according to their brightness. Despite their prosaic names, these sliders rank among the most powerful features in all of Photoshop.
Photoshop Feature #20: Free Transform
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - December 01, 2009 14:00 - 8 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsAs powerful as Photoshop is, there is little about the program that is obvious. Case in point: How do you rotate a layer? Right-click on it and select Rotate? Choose Rotate from the Layer menu? Click on the Rotate tool? The answer is no, no, and no. Fortunately, there's the Free Transform command...
Photoshop Feature #21: The Gradient Tool
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - November 24, 2009 14:00 - 8 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsEvery app offers a gradient tool. But Photoshops is special. Not only can you paint a soft transition from black to white. But you can soften the transition from one image to another. The gradient tool fades, swipes, and more.
Photoshop Feature #22: The Healing Brush
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - November 16, 2009 14:00 - 12 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsBe they pits, pock marks, or pimples, we all suffer blemishes that we wish we didnt. Or so we would were it not for Photoshops healing brush. This amazing tool grafts good skin onto bad--and heals the seams in between.
Photoshop Feature #23: Color Range
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - November 10, 2009 14:00 - 11 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsIf you use the magic wand tool, stop what youre doing and switch to Color Range. This outrageously useful command lets you select an image as easily as the wand. But with more flexibility and much better results.
Photoshop Feature #24: Curves
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - November 03, 2009 14:00 - 14 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsWhere luminance-correction is concerned, no feature gives you greater control than Curves. This one command lets you rein in highlights, open up shadows, and reveal all points in between. Curves takes a bud of an image and makes it blossom.
Photoshop Feature #25: Selection Calculations
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - October 27, 2009 14:00 - 12 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsYou may know that you can add to a selection by pressing the Shift key. But you can likewise press keys to subtract and find an intersection. Better yet, these tricks apply to layers, channels, and paths. They're a power users dream.
Photoshop Feature #26: Dodge and Burn
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - October 20, 2009 14:00 - 13 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsPhotoshop offers two tools that paint with luminance: The dodge tool paints in brightness, the burn tool paints in darkness. Crazy useful, and they've gotten so much better in Photoshop CS4.
Photoshop Feature #27: The Crop Tool
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - October 13, 2009 14:00 - 9 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsSince the first daguerreotype, photographers have cropped their images to hone in on the details that matter most. The crop tool does that, as well as straighten and more. Check it out.
Photoshop Feature #28: Hue/ Saturation
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - October 06, 2009 14:00 - 15 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsHue/Saturation not only spins colors and intensity values, it lets you modify one color independently of all others. And it does so in such a credible way, you would never know it was there. Perfection.
Photoshop Feature #29: Liquify
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - September 29, 2009 14:00 - 12 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsThe Liquify filter lets you paint in distortions, so you can perform digital nips and tucks. You can slim people down, edit their posture, and make them look their absolute best. See how in this video.
Photoshop Feature #30: Actions
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - September 22, 2009 14:00 - 14 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsThe Actions palette lets you record your work so you never have to do it again. Plus, you can build up complex visual effects and share them with others, as Deke demonstrates in this jaw-dropping video.
Photoshop Feature #31: The Brush Tool
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - September 15, 2009 14:00 - 4 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsThe modest brush tool is one of the deepest, most versatile tools in Photoshop. It's not only a terrific painting tool, but it is also invaluable for masking, as this video demonstrates.
Photoshop Feature #32: The Pen Tool
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - September 08, 2009 14:00 - 8 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsMany folks select images in Photoshop with the likes of the Quick Select and Magic Wand tools. Highly automated, but these tools rarely work accurately. Experts use the Pen tool. Using the Pen tool is an art form worth learning, because it always works.
Photoshop Feature #33: Calculations
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - September 01, 2009 14:00 - 5 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsOne of the oldest, most abstruse, downright incomprehensible commands in Photoshop, Calculations lets you merge two channels to create a new alpha channel. Learn it: It's the backbone of masking.
Photoshop Feature #34: Save for Web and Devices
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - August 25, 2009 14:00 - 7 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsIf you're creating Web graphics, then there's no substitute for Save for Web and Devices. It disposes of non-essential data, reduces file sizes to their absolute minimum, and converts the image to sRGB, the color space of the people.
Photoshop Feature #35: Refine Edge
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - August 18, 2009 14:00 - 7 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsPhotoshop offers lots of tools for automating selections, but two stand out from the pack: The first, Refine Edge, lets you modify your selection using five different parameters and preview the results in five different ways.
Photoshop Feature #36: Black and White
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - August 11, 2009 14:00 - 5 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsIn the digital age, we shoot full-color photographs. Which is a good thing, because it means we can distill the perfect black-and-white shot in Photoshop.
Photoshop Feature #37: Fill Functions
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - August 04, 2009 14:00 - 5 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsMany of Photoshop's best features can only be accessed from the keyboard. Like, how would you know Alt+Backspace (or Option-Delete) fills with black? Watch. It gets better.
Photoshop Feature #38: Vector Type
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - July 28, 2009 14:00 - 6 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsType in Photoshop is forever editable and super-smooth. Deke shows how it works by assembling a high-res, pro-quality magazine cover in one short video.
Photoshop Feature #39: Layer Comps
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - July 21, 2009 14:00 - 6 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsLayer comps let you assemble multiple image variations or even independent pieces of artwork inside a single Adobe Photoshop file. The Layer Comps palette gives you the freedom to explore.
Photoshop Feature #40: Reset and Purge
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - July 14, 2009 14:00 - 5 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsDeke gets things started with a pair of options that can clean out Photoshops plumbing when things get clogged up: Reset and purge.
Introduction
Photoshop Top 40 with Deke McClelland - July 13, 2009 14:00 - 1 minute - Video ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsAmerica likes its lists, and here's another one. Imaging expert and award-winning author Deke McClelland presents his list of the top 40 features in Photoshop—beginning with #40 and working his way up to #1—one weekly video at a time. Some are tools, others are commands, still others are conceptu...
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