If you would like a refresher on the demonstration I gave, there is a two-part video tutorial here that you can take a look at. Please note though that this video uses Photoshop Elements 5 and the conversion dialog has changed since then, with the thumbnails for adjusting red, green and blue channels, as well as contrast being replaced with slider controls.

The other technique I demonstrated was how to retain only selected areas in colour while converting the image to black and white. This tutorial demonstrates how to do that as well as revealing some other ways of doing the black and white conversion.

So there you are, taking rather fantastic photos, and then, one day, you realise that everyone else seems to be getting better results. Unfair? Possibly. Or perhaps they’re just handier in Photoshop. Like my old friend Maxwell. I recently came across three of his photo-shopped portraiture sessions (one, two, three), and was rather impressed.

For the purpose of this article, let’s shelve any reservations you might have about the ethics of photoshopping the hell out of a portrait or fashion image (you’ve all seen this video, right?), and have a look at how it can be done. As a wise old man once told me, only if you have the skills to do something do you have the skills to choose not to do it…

Maxwell graciously accepted the challenge to talk us through how he edits his portraits, and is using a photo of himself to go through the process… Take it away Max!

Photoshop Makeovers :: Photocritic photography blog

If you’re used to clicking the crop tool dragging the tool over your image and pressing Enter, it may surprise you to know that there are other options that you can use when cropping in Photoshop.

Here are my five “best-kept secrets” of the Photoshop crop tool.

This workflow is by far the shortest and easiest path to fixing the Leaning Tower of Pisa effect that often happens when shooting architectural photos without fancy equipment like a View Camera or a Tilt Shift Lens.

Though Photoshop has grown over time to become a many-armed beast of a program, it was first created with the modest aim of helping users to modify and improve their digital photography. In this post we return to Photoshop’s roots with a wonderful collection of digital photography and photo editing tutorials.

Non-destructive burning & dodging is most often done with a 50% gray fill layer. Although using this method has worked for me in the past, I’ve found it difficult to predict what sort of result I would ultimately attain when finished. Lately, I’ve been using adjustment layers with a mask to do my burning & dodging and I’ve found that I have more control over image tone and contrast.

The benefit of using this method is that once the layer mask is applied, you can easily re-open the layer adjustment dialogue box and change the amount of brightness or darkness given to particular areas.

Being a user of both Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 with Adobe Bridge, I often get asked what the differences are, if any, between the two programs and why one may be better than the other. If you are trying to make the decision between Lightroom 2 or Photoshop CS4, there are few differences between the actual capabilities of these suites, however, those differences may be a big factor in the decision on which software to go with.

Can Photoshop do everything? Of course, it can. But one should have extreme skills, plenty of experience and a great deal of time before retouching images or creating graphics pixel by pixel. Photoshop is an amazing graphics application that has forever changed graphic, Web design and digital photo editing.

One should know how to use Photoshop to its full potential to get the most stunning results. This is where Photoshop plug-ins come in handy. (Plug-ins aside, though, if you have time to acquire extreme skills, we encourage you to do so because there is nothing better than learning something new.)

Featured below is the ultimate collection of useful Adobe Photoshop plug-ins that will make your work easier, faster and better and reduce the number of steps needed to accomplish tasks. They will also allow you to do things you just cannot do with the features built into Photoshop. Some of the plug-ins are collections of filters, whereas others are programs or utilities that you may find useful.

DANCE OF LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Eric & Nicole Palmer present in STELLENBOSCH

BEGINNERS PHOTOSHOP DAY on the 9 May 2009

ADVANCED PHOTOSHOP DAY on the 13 June 2009

Time: 8h30 to 17h30
Cost: R 650 per person
Venue: Jonkershoek Nature Reserve

For details and bookings:
contact Nicole directly on 082 5105 694
or e-mail : nicolep@adept.co.za

GIMP is the favorite graphics editing program of many designers and graphic artists. It is free and compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux (the two big reasons for its popularity). It has a wide array of features, as well as plug-ins, filters and brushes. Documentation is primarily available in online communities, as well as through extensive add-ons.

GIMP was never designed to replace Photoshop, yet with every release, it comes a little closer to being able to do so. It can be used to author graphics, create logos and edit photos, as well as make short animations (using GAP). Despite these features, the open-source app is a foreign world for many users switching from Photoshop. Familiar tools are missing, menus are laid out differently and tasks must be accomplished in unknown ways.

In this article, we list eight tweaks to make GIMP a more serious Photoshop replacement option. Version 2.6 was used to test the following tweaks, but past versions of the app should work as well.