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ISSUE 21 Retouching reality masterclass | Create ink art | Master outer space | Bert Monroy interview

6-PAGE MASTERCLASS

CREATE INK ART

DYNAMIC BRUSHES

Unleash their potential with this step-by-step guide

Photoshop masterpieces with water and ink

HOW TO…

Get to grips with the new Vista OS Take control of 32-bit Support Make the most of Preferences Perfect outer space effects

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TIC AS IRLSE’S T N U FA K SW ISS IN THCISD ONREE F

LAPTOP ROUNDUP

We take a tour of the best notebooks around

Master skin, hair and beauty retouching with Photoshop £5.99 21 9

MAKE MONEY WITH ‘SHOP

Use your Photoshop skills to create more than art – make a living too!

771748 727009

pages of professional tips & essential stepby-step tutorials

ISS UE 21

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ISSUE 21 ISSN 1748-7277

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Cover

Cover image Angel D’Amico is a freelance designer and illustrator from Chicago. Combining her fine arts background into her digital work, she creates beautiful and exotic illustrations. Typical of her fresh, imaginative style our cover image showcases Angel’s talents with Photoshop and watercolour – a gift that has allowed her to stand out from the Photoshop crowds. / For more of Angel’s work, turn to page 18

Imageer: ANGEL D’AMICO

I USUALLY START EXPERIMENTING AND IT LEADS TO SOMETHING I WASN’T EVEN EXPECTING TO CREATE 3

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nds mme Reco

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GIVE IT A GO

Master digital retouching and watch your images go from good to great. Simon Danaher shows you how to perfect fashion-esque shots

ISSUE #21

inside... LETTERS

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Our readers’ comments and feedback

INSIGHT

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News and showcases from around the globe All the latest events, exhibitions and awards Angel D’Amico presents her portfolio Digital wonder Tom Bagshaw shows all Check out the work of PCP

HELPDESK

10 18 20 22

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Your technical traumas shared with fellow readers and answered by our expert

THE COVER

24 RESOURCES

Learn a few of the techniques needed to emulate our cover artist, Angle D’Amico’s amazing style. Just turn the page and get creating

Bert Monroy reveals the techniques behind his art

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Vital assets to improve your Photoshop work

86 90 92 94

Vista: The preview Gadgets Books Photoshop websites

THIS MONTH’S CD

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RI ge 7 f C BSto pa £s ofce U S rn ave pri Tu d s ver an e co th

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Superb stock art, project files to go with this month’s issue and more!

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Make a living with the Adobe app

The final part of our Photoshop relay race

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Master Painter style effects with Dynamic brushes

TECHNIQUES Faster, better, more… How can you work smarter?

RETOUCHING REALITY FEATURES

Master skin, hair and beauty Photoshop work

INTERVIEW: BERT MONROY

7 24

INK ART

MAKING MONEY WITH ‘SHOP

7 36

CREATE OUTER SPACE

THE AP PHOTOSHOP RELAY

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INSIDER INFO 32 BIT SUPPORT

The digital wonder shares his secrets

Inventive ways to make Photoshop work for you

The final stage in our marathon competition

PEER PRESSURE

7 72

ROUND UP: LAPTOPS

7 80

Inspiring and challenging images from your fellow readers

We take a tour of the best notebooks around

PREVIEW: VISTA

Can the new OS really live up to the hype?

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Manipulate reality with cool ink effects

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The second part in our series on the art of space

Think you’ve mastered it? Think again

DYNAMIC BRUSHES

Everything you need to know to create Painter-esque art

INSIDER INFO PREFERENCES Make the most of Photoshop using this feature

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Letters

Mailbox

Got something to say about the magazine or Photoshop in general – write in and tell us! Email us at [email protected] or visit the forum at www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk SUBJECT: Qualification qualms FROM: Richard Trainor I was wondering how necessary qualifications actually are in regards to landing a career in design. I recently left my first year of a graphics course I was doing for the second time as I felt I wasn’t learning anything and the course was mostly filled with things I didn’t think matter. In all honesty I have learned far more in a few months of reading your magazine than I did in two years of college, where there were no actual lessons, just project after project. The thing that tipped the scale for me was seeing the senior students’ final projects and thinking they obviously hadn’t learned any techniques, their work was of the same quality as when they started the course. So I was wondering, is it more important to have a good quality portfolio of quality images with no certificate, or a piece of paper with some letters on it aside a poor portfolio?

Editor replies: Well, opinion on this is quite divided, as it really will depend on where you would like your career to go. Generally speaking an employer (like a magazine publisher or ad agency) will look at qualifications first, then at your portfolio should you get through to the interview stage. If it’s a freelance career you’re after then your clients will be more interested in seeing what you can do, not your qualification. Why not try looking for a better course? One of the ones mentioned in issue 19 of Advanced Photoshop might suit you more and give you a solid education so that you can choose either path. I hope that helps somewhat and good luck!

SUBJECT: Feature suggestion FROM: Darren Blume I’ve noticed that you’re now doing a regular hardware round up and would like to suggest a topic for that feature. As a dedicated mouse user I’d like to see a review of the best wireless ones, as well as optical and laser options. I know most people seem to be switching over to tablets now, but some of us are stuck in our ways!

SUBJECT: Sister sister FROM: June Jennings Am I the only person who finds your forum confusing? Which bits belong to those who read Photoshop Creative and which to those who enjoy Advanced Photoshop? Every time I think I have worked out which section I should be in, another post appears which contradicts my decision. Please can’t the two magazines have separate forums?

DECISION TIME: While he’s making the decision between hands-on training or education, check out some of Richard’s work

SPLITTING IMAGE: Over the next few months there’ll be some radical changes to both the forum and the website, so keep checking! Editor replies: This is something a few people have had problems with so both magazines have been working with our in-house multimedia department to split up the forums. Visit the new Advanced Photoshop forum at www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum.

SUBJECT: Top grades! FROM: Derek Meadle Can I just say a big well done to Trevor Morris, your Insider Info writer. He does a superb job every month explaining the technical side of new Photoshop features that most of us have never been able to get our heads around. The Vanishing Point one in issue 18

“I’VE ONLY JUST GOT ISSUE 18 AND YOU’RE ALL TALKING ABOUT ISSUE 20 – THAT’S JUST CRUEL!”

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“I HAVE LEARNED FAR MORE IN A FEW MONTHS OF READING YOUR MAGAZINE THAN I DID IN TWO YEARS OF COLLEGE” was a particular favourite of mine and cleared up many issues I had with that feature. Other aspects I personally have some trouble with are the Print With Preview feature and data-driven graphics – have you covered these in previous issues or dare I hope you might include them at my request? Editor replies: Hi Derek, thanks for the email. Trevor’s features are a big fave here in the office and with you guys reading the mag, so we’ll always do our best to cover the features you’re finding most troublesome. You can except to see one of your suggestions in the very next issue, with the other following closely behind. Enjoy!

SUBJECT: Fluid mask FROM: Keely Hunter I got Fluid Mask recently and I must say it is very good. I love the fact you can pixel-pick the colours you want

Straight to

XXXLDS APART:

From opposite sides of the earth Hi-Liter and Revjessecuster, two forum users, took up the Goddess challenge

the point Pixel perfection

to remove. Check out the gallery of cutouts on their site – it really shows what you can do! Editor replies: Finding a new app which makes life easier is always a pleasure but for those of you who have yet to try out Fluid Mask or have used it but don’t own it, count down the days until issue 22. Along with our new news feature from Robin Preston will come the chance to win a copy of Fluid Mask – we’ll set you a little Photoshop challenge and let you fight it out between you!

SUBJECT: Wacom wonders FROM: Stephen MacArthur I wanted to drop you all a quick line to thank you for your round up of tablets in issue 20. After pondering over purchasing one for many months I’ve finally taken the plunge and expect my new toy any day.

SUBJECT: On a positive note FROM: Joan Charmant I received an issue 18 magazine today, it’s the first time I’ve got an issue of Advanced Photoshop in my hands and I must say you guys do a fantastic job, both on content and on print quality. I have prepared a package of five pictures for possible inclusion in your Peer Pressure section – I hope you enjoy them. Keep up the good work!

LOVING IT: He might love reading it, but having his work appear in it is even better! Check out Joan’s work on page 72

PAIN OR PLEASURE:

Whether you spent five minutes or five hours giving pixel art a go, you all seemed to love our last cover

Subject: Issue 20 From: Dan Horne I’ve been a fan of pixel art for years and it’s great to see it being represented in a magazine like yours. Too often ‘advanced’ magazines address their audience like they don’t know what a layer is or how to create a new document. Although to the beginner pixel art can look complicated and daunting, once you give it a go you’ll find your Photoshop skills and creative thinking will make things seem a lot easier. Subject: 20 is the magic number! From: John Bradshaw Although I’ve never been a big fan of pixel art I must admit your cover made me stop in my tracks. A bright, vivid magazine that proclaimed I could ‘Create this cover’. After giving Mr Lucken’s tutorial a go I am convinced I could indeed recreate your cover, if I had the patience! Surely pixel art is enough to drive any sane person completely mad! Did anyone else feel like this or do I just have the attention span of a gnat? Subject: Anticipation killed the Photoshopper! From: Jeff, via email I love that you give us forum users a bit of a sneak preview of upcoming covers every month but I do have a bit of a moan. For those of your loyal readers based in the US, like me, this can seem like torture. I’ve only just got issue 18 and you’re all talking about issue 20 – that’s just cruel! That said, the content looks fab and I can’t wait to get my hands on my next copy of AP. Editor replies: We’re glad you liked the mag – or the look of it for those of you outside the UK – and we’re pleased to hear you’re having a crack at the tutorials. Pixel art is quite time-consuming and here at AP we’re divided between those who gave up after five minutes and those who spent countless afternoons playing with pixels!

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Keeping an eye on the latest trends in contemporary photography, art and design, Insight sets out to snapshot innovation in the making

Destination London There’s still a month to go before the London Design Festival, but things are starting to heat up already. With new events being announced daily, the festival, due to show from 15-30 September at various locations throughout London, is sure to be one of the best yet. Established in 2003, the London Design Festival is an annual international event celebrating and promoting London and the UK’s creativity. Events announced so far include Tom Dixon in Trafalgar Square, [re] design 06 and Scarlet Projects, which sees 12 stalls manned by a selection of the most talented and dynamic young UK designers selling remedies for modern-day ‘illnesses’. Ailments treated could be anything from iPod addiction to compulsive shopping disorder and celebrity obsession, acting as a revealing and insightful commentary on the 21st Century human condition. The vast majority of Festival exhibitions are free although some may require tickets, so keep checking the website to make sure you don’t miss out. Each of the listings includes details on what’s planned, who’s hosting, and where and when its on, alongside details of similar or nearby events.

MIRANDA WAT KINS, GRID TA British design ta BLE: As well as len sh flavour. Over 15 t, the programme will have an owcasing countries are ex international pected to be de creativity, and monstrating th show eir Norway, India an s from countries including Th ail d Singapore wi ll add a truly glo and, Austria, bal dimension www.londondesignfestival.com

[RE] DESIGN, RYAN SRANK INKUKU: Just one of the designs you’ll see if you go along to [re] design – on at the Old Truman Brewery from 20-26 September

FUSE DESIGN COLLEC TION, CANDLESTICK: During the Festival design is everywhere in London , and projects can be found in over 150 diffe rent venues. The home for projects varies by type and includes museums, college s, creative businesses and tempora ry locations

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09.06

2006, A GOOD YEAR: Artwork from this year’s Xchange brochure. The event is only for those involved in the teaching of design, advertising and communications

CHERS: DESPERATELY SEEKING TEA tion at Channel 4’s case study presenta last year’s D&AD Xchange

SEVEN’S A CROWD: Safari photographer supremo Todd Gustafson shows the standard the judges have come to expect

Go wild!

Design Xchange Of special interest to teachers of design, advertising or communications is D&AD Xchange. On from 4-5 September in London, the event, which is sponsored by Adobe, is a packed two-day programme of talks, case studies and debate covering the full range of creative disciplines. Aiming to ensure courses are covering the most relevant, up-tothe-minute and inspired content for the year ahead, this is a must-see for anyone in the teaching industry. This year’s speakers include Adrian

Shaughnessy, Dave Trott, Digit, John McConnell, Mark Porter of The Guardian and many more. You’ll be able to find the full programme of events and speakers at www.dandad.org/xchange. D&AD is an educational charity that represents the global creative, design and advertising communities. Since 1962, D&AD has been setting industry standards, educated and inspired the next generation, and more recently, has demonstrated the impact of creativity on enhancing business performance.

TALKING THE TALK: Jonathan Jeffrey’s (www. bibliothequedesign. com) presentation at the 2005 D&AD Xchange

As digital imageers, we’re turning our hands more and more to the photographic side of our art. But, no matter how good we become, one of the hardest topics of photography remains wildlife – you can’t ask your subject to stand still, pose or get too close, but you want that perfect shot. Now in its 42nd year, the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition aims to find the very best photography featuring natural subjects. Open to amateur and professional photographers, it’s one of the most prestigious competitions of its kind. And in just weeks, we find out the big 2006 winners. If you want the chance to see the winning entries for yourself, pop down to the Natural History Museum during October.

www.nhm.ac.uk

EBOY: To see more of the work of contributor eBoy check out its pixel-art based website hello.eboy.com/eboy

Two become one

Shockwave Player : Available free, the MAKING A WAVE t such as games, ten con b ctive we lets users view intera d adverts from an nt me ain ions, entert of Shockwave business presentat s nd usa tho of ndreds is installed a web browser. Hu ave ckw Sho d an ded daily, Players are downloa cent of Internet-enabled desktops on more than 55 per

al. er the life of the de Adobe products ov re su et, the ern rs Int me s custo n on the Wherever you tur The first stage bring ns of Adobe or downloads of sig d th wi fin l ar u’l olb yo To gh le enou Goog , the pair lds fie ir the Shockwave Player. in dia nts Google. Two gia Adobe’s Macrome nt me ce are some of the n forces to “Adobe customers have decided to joi siastic consumers their dominance. most savvy, enthu t ll rke ma ve cti pe res d we think they wi “As leaders in our of web content, an d ll let an wi e ar ob olb Ad To le for g og tin Go categories, it’s fit love the fact that ether to r of Google search Google to work tog them take the powe rs d me sto cu ys re on the web,” sai improve the wa with them anywhe of nt de d esi an pr as e ide vic r th engage wi id Kordestani, senio Om u nt tan me Shan siness develop information,” said global sales and bu and chief nt de esi pr , en ray Na at Google. a at Adobe. on or to download operating officer For more informati e. es ob se ad nt w. me ww it ree vis ag r, w ye The ne free Shockwave Pla er/. distribute cts/shockwaveplay Adobe agreeing to du ro /p .uk co us rio va th wi ar the Google Toolb

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insight Adobe: New super-power? n of a free versio download st ju To , : ls FF ia U nt T FREE S ooter Esse tec RawSh tec.com the Pixman te at www.pixman si eb w visit the

It never seems enough for Adobe. Leader in every market it touches, it has acquired Macromedia and all that it stood for, has gone into partnership with Google, and now Adobe has announced that it has acquired the technology assets of Pixmantec, maker of digital imaging software that provides advanced workflow management and processing capabilities for digital camera raw files. “With high-quality digital cameras now within reach of every photographer, customers are gravitating to raw file formats that allow them to get more control over final results,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions at Adobe. “By combining Pixmantec’s raw processing technology and expertise with our own, we’re continuing to deliver on the promise that even your existing raw files can be processed with increasing quality as our software technology evolves.” Adobe plans to integrate Pixmantec raw processing technologies – including its RawShooter line of digital photography software products – into Lightroom as well as other applications. Existing Pixmantec customers will continue to be supported by Adobe and will be provided with an upgrade path to the Adobe digital imaging product family.

CUT-BACKS: In preparation for this integration, the Pixmantec RawShooter Premium product is being discontinued, though the free RawShooter Essentials product will continue to be available until the Lightroom public beta program is completed

CAPTURE THE MOMENT: With the help of software like Adobe’s Photoshop and Nikon’s new Capture NX, home snaps can now be turned into works of art. All images copyright Martin Hartley/Adventure Ecology

A world without ‘Shop Ever wondered what the world would be like without Photoshop? Which company would have the digital imaging market sewn up in its place? The recently released Nikon Capture NX is probably the closest we’ll ever get to ever knowing. Priced from £119.99 ($221), Capture NX is the radically enhanced and redesigned version of Nikon’s image editing software. Aimed at photographers shooting with raw, the software has some powerful and dedicated tools. Robert Cristina, manager of Professional Products for Nikon Europe, said: “One of the main barriers inhibiting and limiting creative image editing has been the skills required to isolate areas or subjects in the image. Layering and masking techniques have been the exclusive preserve of experts and retouchers. Nikon’s Capture NX redefines the image editing landscape and marks a significant new direction for both Nikon and our partner, Nik Software.” Features you can expect to find include New U Point technology to apply subtle enhancements to areas of any JPEG, TIFF or NEF (raw) image. It also boasts selective tools and colour management control, a powerful image browser and repetitive global editing actions.

RAW TALENT : Ab means this new le to handle file types such as raw software has th e extra flexibilit to the digital im y essential ag compete with Ad eer – but will Nikon’s effort ev er truly obe’s Photosho p?

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09.06 DIARY DATES IMAGES 30 4-12 August

London

TRAFALGAR SQUARE ARTS FESTIVAL Until 21 August

London

LET THERE BE LIGHT: Situated between 100% Detail and 100% Design, this year will see the launch of 100% Light, a new lighting event. Presenting architectural and contemporary lighting, it will link the two already established shows

No less than 100% On at Earls Court from 21-24 September is 100% Design. One of the world’s leading contemporary design exhibitions, the event showcases the latest furniture, lighting, accessories, wall and floor coverings, textiles, and kitchens and bathrooms. Attracting over 35,000 visitors including architects, interior designers and retailers, 100% Design is full of innovative ideas for your home and office. Exhibitors include international and British designers, as well as first-time exhibitors and old hands – ensuring you get to see the best new products around. Concurrent with the exhibition, 100% Design hosts a series of seminars and discussions at Earls Court 2. These events are free and cover a range of topics from the professional status of the interior designer to the factors that inspire creatives in their work. Now in its 12th year, Ian Rudge, brand director and co-founder of 100% Design comments, “100% Design has changed the face of design in this country forever, placing it high on the agenda for consumers and professionals alike. At 100% Design 2006, yet more new designs and designers will be placed in the public eye, ensuring that this legacy of championing design continues into the future.”

PAINT THE CITY 31 August

Manchester

DESIGN MART Until September

Preston

THE LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL 15-30 September

London

NEW ARRIVALS, NEW VOICES IN ILLUSTRATION EBOY: To see more of the work of contributor eBoy check out its pixel-art based website 17-23 September hello.eboy.com/eboy

London

ARTS SHOW 2006 Until 17 September

Leeds

LEARN MORE: For more information on the event or to book your place, visit www.100percentdesign.co.uk

MAKE THE GRAD E: The high qualit y of 100% Design’s exhibitors is maint ained by the string procedure that allo ent vetting ws only the very bes t in design into the show. A panel of res pected industry lea ders assesses every potential new exh ibitor, judging wh ether or not the newcomer has wh at it takes to make the grade

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insight ON THE STRIP: As well as the convention, the NAPP expo has organised a series of events. From seminars to parties, you could even get to see the newest members of the Photoshop Hall of Fame inducted

PHOTOSHOP WORLD ATTENDEES: Last year halls were packed with attendees leaving the conference kick-off ceremony, excited to learn the latest Photoshop techniques

Vegas, baby! Over the other side of the pond this September is one of the biggest events in the Photoshop year. The NAPP Photoshop World and Expo will be held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, and is well worth a visit if you can get there. Bringing together photographers, designers, artists, educators, motion graphics designers and Photoshop users of every kind for the three-day event, it means there simply is no other event like it in the world. Although the tickets are a little pricey – they start from $149 (£81) – we reckon it’ll be worth it to see presenters including Russell Brown, Scott Kelby and this issue’s interviewed artist, Bert Monroy. Photoshop World is now in its seventh year, and since its inception it has been sponsored by Adobe and produced by NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals). NAPP is the largest graphic and digital imaging trade association with over 50,000 members worldwide, and is the leading resource for Adobe Photoshop, education, training and news. www.photoshopworld.com

ga ’re thinking of buyin GET READY: If you ck che or dy rea ta Vis is it new PC, make sure tible see if it’ll be compa out the website to

, President of the National SCOT T KELBY KEYNOTE: Scott Kelby ls (NAPP) and Conference Technical Association of Photoshop Professiona World extravaganza Chair, kicks off the three-day Photoshop

Leopard: the new Tige

r

The beginning of August saw the un veiling of Apple’s addition to its Ma latest c OS X family, Leop ard. Version 10.5 previewed earlie wa s r this year but wa s finally shown to public on August the 7. It is generally expe cted to get a full rel ease at the end of 2006 or ea rly 2007, with Apple saying it will support both Powe rPC and Intel x86based Macs. Revealed at the Wo rldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the prev iew of Mac OS X ‘Le opard’ was not the only thing to get tongues wagg ing. Throughout WWDC, developers discussed best pr actices on developing Unive rsal applications that take advantage of the performance of Int el-based Macs. So we can be sure that the big deve lopers are seemingly working together for a mo re unified computing experie nce…

DOWN, TIGER: Ap ple revolution in the Sev ignited the PC enties with the Apple In the Eighties it ga II. ve us continues to lead the the Mac. Today, it industry with deskto and notebook com p puters and its OS X system

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09.06 DIARY DATES PHOTOSHOP WORLD CONFERENCE & EXPO 7-9 September

Las Vegas

MASTERING THE POWER OF SMART OBJECTS 30 September – 1 October

Berkeley

PICTURE PERFECT COLOR SEMINAR

teach BEYOND THE MUNDANE: Robin will what it you how to look at an image and see airplane can be – like this transformation from (right) to luscious holiday-esque scene

14 September

Minneapolis

5 October

Chicago

10 October

Miami

PUFFHAIR: Learning from one of the industry’s top names, our new column will give you all the tips and tricks to follow in Robin’s footsteps

24 October

San Francisco

Coming up... It’s been a busy few months for Robin Preston. You may remember the creative from issue 18’s interview feature, but you’re bound to see a lot more of him in the future – especially within these pages! As well as touring the country (and indeed the world) giving presentations on behalf of Adobe, Wacom and the like, he’s also been named senior evangelist by the Wacom crew. And that’s not all. Starting next issue, Robin will be contributing to your favourite Photoshop magazine every month. Reviewing products, telling you about forthcoming events or sharing his wisdom – it’ll soon be your must-read every month. Next issue Robin will be launching his column by giving you the lowdown on Fluid Mask, as well as offering you the opportunity to win a copy. Don’t miss it!

1 November

New York

HASSLEBLAD CLEAR FOCUS STUDIO TOUR 14 September

Los Angeles

2-4 November

New York

DIGITAL DAYS 9-10 September

Philadelphia

23-24 September

Denver

4-5 November

New York

PHOTOPLUS EXPO 2-4 November

New York

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insight

PHOTOSHOP BEAUTY: “YRB Magazine sent me amazing photographs of international models which they wanted me to use my watercolour and Photoshop skills on. I picked a colour for each set of photographs and watercoloured a background that would fit the photograph. I scanned them in and manipulated the colour and shapes and then applied a burn and adjusted the contrast”

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ph from PH by l used a photogra GLITTERATI: Ange shop. She then oto Ph o int it k d too Phillia Clothing, an dif ferent paint d use d an ck bla nd made the backgrou es to create all of the sparkles iqu and airbrush techn

Angel D’Amico Chicago-based Angel D’Amico is an arts and crafts lover. She paints, draws, sews, makes books and takes photos. All of these interests no doubt influence her eclectic style. After studying visual communications and opting for a whole host of fine art options, Angel never really thought about taking up her art as a freelancer. “It was after I was featured in a ten-page spread in Digital Graphics Magazine Magazine, based in Australia. They only saw my work from a school internship I had. I was very into watercolour at the time, so I just started painting a background, scanning it in and then either took photographs of my friend, boyfriend, myself or whoever, retouched the photo, incorporated my watercolours and just went crazy with it.” Angel has perfected a process that she uses on most of her designs. “If I get a job or start a project I usually have a main object I’m designing around. I research what I want to work with, or take photographs. Then I start drawing with a charcoal pen and maybe spray paint, add watercolour. I scan all of this into Photoshop and piece the elements together, sometimes bringing in vector elements I have drawn in Illustrator. Then I start playing and manipulating the colours, contrast, hue and saturation. I really like to make my images bold and use many beautiful colours. My images end up with thousands of layers. I usually start experimenting and it leads to something I wasn’t even expecting to create,” Angel enthuses. “I love Photoshop!” Angel’s website can be found by logging onto the link below, where you can peruse more of her work. www.angeldamico.com

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09.06 MOUSE ADDICT: “I started with charcoal drawings of the mice and spraypainted clouds, which I scanned into Photoshop. I layered the mice onto the clouds in Photoshop and then added the colours and squares from Illustrator drawings”

THE WHOLE TOOTH: “I had a fast recovery after I had wisdom teeth surgery so I wanted to send my oral surgeon a card. I drew some teeth with wings in Illustrator and brought them into Photoshop, using a watercolour background”

d with a CREATE: “I starte COLLABORATE TO grapher, Megan oto ph ’s illia Ph by PH the original photograph from n was cut out from Petersen. The woma added some watercolour n the ph” background and I ck feather photogra flowers and a peaco

BEAUTIFUL DECAY: Watercolour drips were added to these images and the threshold was altered to provide a different-coloured background

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insight

MAKING THE MOST: “I try to

make full use of layer styles, layer shapes and masking techniques in order to be able to fine-tune colours throughout my process”

PAINTER BACKGROUND:

“As a traditional artist I find Painter IX’s way of blending paint on the canvas an intuitive process, so I tend to hop out of Photoshop and use this program for specific areas of blending”

d combination

C: Through a detaile LIGHT FANTASTIPainter, Tom creates ethereal, almost

of Photoshop and stillness but the t have a painting’s surreal images tha graphic scene accuracy of a photo

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Tom Bagshaw

09.06

When a client can’t tell the difference in quality between a painted illustration and a digitally created one, you know that it’s time to embrace the latest imaging technology and broaden your wings. Tom Bagshaw grounded the roots of his career studying traditional art at Bournemouth and Poole College of Further Education where oils, acrylics, pen and paper were the standard medium. He initially wasn’t taken by the digital bug, but with the introduction of Photoshop 5 and the advent of Painter he soon decided to ditch his beloved brushes. Now, along with his trusty Wacom graphics tablet, Photoshop is the most valuable tool in his workflow. “Everything I do these days has been created entirely in it, or been through Photoshop at some point. Although, if the graphics tablet hadn’t been invented I think I would probably still be a traditional artist.” Tom works under the name mostlywanted. It began life as a small online portfolio for the illustrator and designer, but after turning freelance full time in 2004, mostlywanted became not only the domain name for his portfolio but also his trading identity. The style of mostlywanted has been shaped by more traditional artists although Tom has a penchant for Craig Mullins, Karen Oxman, Cellia Calle, Andy Potts, Shiv, Rich May and Aya Kato to name but a few. As many of the images are aimed towards the fashion market, mostlywanted’s art has a distinctive style that combines vector graphics, 3D elements and painted strokes. “My work is always varied and I wanted to show a more unified style that wasn’t only based on my painting skills, but something that demonstrated a graphic edge.” To find out more about Tom’s work log onto the mostlywanted site, where you can browse a sketchbook and portfolio. www.mostlywanted.com

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THE SHIFTING HEART:

“When I’m happy with my progress I tend to save a flat copy of the image and then continue the illustration using that flat file as a base layer, progressively building up layers until another save point is reached”

SNOW

WHITE: “Apart from blending, Photoshop for I use prett figure is painted y much everything else. The with a certain am overflow outside ount of of the known ou layer is masked tline, then the with a vector cli pp For more comp lex shapes Illustr ing paths. ator is needed”

FOREVER: “These start as thumbnail sketches, either on paper or in Photoshop, to get an idea of composition and colour. A final version at high res is created, using references from books, magazines, and my photography”

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insight

FEEDBACK (LESS NO ISE): Because their images are drawn dire ctly in Photoshop, the artwork has a distinc tive watercolour appear ance

Hype Hope Wonderland aka PCP If a digital artist describes their style of work as “dreamy” and “druggy”, you know it’s not going to be run-of-the-mill Photoshop art. PCP’s work is a cavalcade of the magical. In his world fish swim casually out of their tanks, deer have stomachs riddled with skyscrapers and rabbits take over the underground. Hype Hope Wonderland is the creation of Heisuke Kitazawa – also known as ‘PCP’ – a freelance illustrator/designer based in Tokyo and Los Angeles who regularly “goes back and forth between the two cities, making illustrations for various purposes”. These succulent images wouldn’t be possible without our favourite app coming into the equation. “I do everything in Photoshop, from rough sketches to printouts. I sketch in Photoshop with the help of a Wacom Intuos3 tablet and then paint them using an airbrush and custom brushes. Sometimes I will print the file out and physically paint over it with acrylics. Past projects have seen collaborations with Honda Mobilio in Japan, Trespassers William band, Mercir and Cartonbox, while Heisuke is currently working on a Nintendo DS game, a picture book and CD for the band Her Space Holiday and a store design for a restaurant chain in Japan. If you’re floating around San Francisco then you can see PCP’s images on display at Giant Robot from 26 August. To find out more about PCP visit www.hypehopewonderland.com or become his myspace.com chum by logging onto to his MySpace address. THERE TO FROM HERE, describes ke isu He : www.myspace.com/pcpweb WHERE ” and

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“druggy his imagery as e world of “dreamy”. In th nderland, Wo pe Ho Hype ble anything’s possi

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09.06 ROCK THE FROG: “This was created in a very straightforward way with no Magic Wand Tool or any Selection Tools used”

FRAGILE BRIDGE OF UTOPIAN BABYLONIA: “I like drawing deer and airplanes (or something related to technology). I often see or hear about deer getting hit by automobiles, so the deer loosely represent something that’s taken over and beaten up by technology. Aeroplanes and other technological icons represent the opposite side, or enemy side. Sometimes they fight against each other, and sometimes they can coexist. I try to draw many aspects of relationship between technology and nature or hype versus hope”

I OFTEN DREAM TO STAY AWAKE: Multiple layers allow Heisuke to draft up complex, busy imagery

TH US: “The COME RUN AWAY WI using the ated line drawings were cre 7, with a little Brush Tool in Photoshop os3 Tablet” help from a Wacom Intu

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Inter view

KEEPING IT REAL Bert Monroy: author, artist and Photoshop legend. Spending up to 2,000 hours creating just one image, Monroy’s masterpieces are some of the finest Photoshop creations you’re ever likely to see

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ou’d be forgiven for thinking Bert Monroy was a straight-up photographer. His images are detailed snapshots of predominantly urban scenes, created almost entirely within Photoshop. “As a photo-realist painter, I have often been asked why I don’t just take a photograph,” he says. “Good question, when you consider my paintings look like photographs. Well, for one thing, I’m not a photographer. To me, it is not the destination that is important – it is the journey. It’s not the image; it’s not displaying it afterwards or getting it printed. It is creating it. It’s the process of getting to the end result that is important. That’s the most rewarding part.” Bert describes himself as a hyper-real artist. Taking photos of scenes and then recreating them digitally, he has earned a place in the Photoshop Hall of Fame for his art. “My stuff is a little different from a photo-realist, as everything is in focus. If you look closely you’ll notice that even the tiny little screw in the corner will be completely in focus with the dirt around it. In most cases I start by taking a photo because my images can take so long I can’t just sit there.” Yet although the starting point might be photographic, there is nothing but digital painting in his images. “There are no photos in the actual painting. Nothing is traced, nothing is brought in,” he stresses.

City slicker Bert Monroy was born and raised in New York, explaining his obvious love of the neon sign in his creations. “Twisted pieces of glass filled with gas, there for the sole purpose of attracting attention. There is

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Bert Monroy

‘SHOPPER SHOWSTOPPER: This was Bert’s latest and most

ambitious digital painting, of a Chicago scene, unveiled at Photoshop World in Miami on March 22, 2006. It is a panorama of the Damen Station on the Blue Line of the Chicago Transit Authority. Adobe Illustrator was used for generating the majority of the basic shapes as well as all the buildings in the Chicago skyline. The rest was created in Photoshop

something so urban about them. Being originally from New York and being a city guy, the urban landscape has always been my fascination. It offers a lot more because of the fact it is manmade. The dirt and the grim and the wear and the tear are all stories. Nature is eternal but manmade stuff is of the moment, you might say.” Having given up the bright lights of the Big Apple more than 13 years ago, Bert is now a citizen of Berkeley, California. Whiling his days away authoring books, teaching at San Francisco State University or creating his hyper-realistic artwork, his latest creation, Damen, has been one that you could only describe as a labour of love. Clocking in at over 2,000 hours of work, the mega project has around 15,000 layers and is comprised of close to 50 Photoshop files. So just how does an artist keep motivated to complete such a mammoth project? “That’s a good question, especially for that piece. On average my pieces take between 80 and 250

hours to complete, whereas this piece took a lot more motivation. A few times I almost dropped it completely ‘cause I was just getting bored with it. That is a tremendous amount of time to be spending on something. So, I began by working on the platform on the left side, then I started work on the city, which began getting tedious so I switched to the orange building just off-centre on the right. When that started getting too involved I really started losing it and the desire to start the next painting kicked in. So I decided to knuckle down and work on the right side on the station, and that kind of anchored it. It gave it an overall dimension. That gave me the motivation to finish the piece. In the end it was worth it. When I did my once-over –

TRAINING UP: The front face of the train was created in its own file. The reflections in the windows were added once the train was placed in position within the overall image. The side of the train car was created in a separate file and duplicating that file made it easy to add additional carriages. The duplicates required changing the reflections in the windows, the accumulated grime and the car numbers to make each car appear different

BEING A CITY GUY, THE URBAN LANDSCAPE HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY FASCINATION 25

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Inter view

NIGHT LIFE: This 2005 creation shows Bert’s love of the urban scene – packed full of neon lights and street wares, the effects can only truly be appreciated close up. Visit www.bertmonroy.com to see his images in their full glory

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Bert Monroy OPENING DOORS: One of Bert’s earliest paintings, this was created in 1986 in MacPaint and shows what a talent he had for the digital arts even then

LIGHT FANTASTIC: Created in 2002, the little details take a while to spot. The angles and reflections are painstakingly placed so that you wouldn’t know that this wasn’t a photograph

when I flatten it and go section by section, inch by inch, looking for discrepancies – at that point I really got more motivated to put more details in.”

Canvas cowboy Although Bert’s time is spent working digitally now, it hasn’t always been that way. In fact, this digital whiz was from a far more traditional creative background. “I started off at the high school of Art and Design in New York, after that I went to the

School of Visual Arts where I was doing more traditional painting because computers were nowhere near the field then. In 1984 I was working in an ad agency and my partner, a real computer buff, said we were going to get a computer. I warned him straight off that I didn’t want to be sitting there all day entering data, but he told me there was a new computer coming out that I could do my layouts on. I went down to the store to see this thing, which was a Macintosh 128, started playing with it and using

I WAS WORKING WITH PHOTOSHOP TWO YEARS BEFORE ADOBE EVEN KNEW IT EXISTED

MacPaint, and something clicked. This was it; this was the future. I was in that store every day until my Mac arrived. I was doing demos at the store after a week ‘cause I’d mastered it already.” From there Bert went on to experiment with PixelPaint (he was even referred to within the industry for a while as Mr PixelPaint!) before switching over to Photoshop and Illustrator to create his visions. “I was working with Photoshop two years before Adobe even knew it existed. So being an early adopter of the technology, any time anyone was bringing out anything to do with graphics it would end up in my lab: ‘What do you think, how should I improve this?’” But the question on most people’s lips now is surely, how do you create such detailed 3D artwork in 2D software? “Illustrator is pretty much the pencil-on-thecanvas type thing. It’s a lot easier on RAM than Photoshop and you can work with a larger workspace. It gives me the flexibility to play around with images, bend lines here and there, and establish my perspective. Then that is brought into Photoshop and turned into selections to do something with – to fill or to stroke or whatever is necessary in Photoshop.” Bert also finds that it’s not just the high-end programs that allow him to create such painterly feeling pictures. His tools are a major factor

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Inter view

PIXEL PERFECT: Created in 1988 in PixelPaint: “My inspiration is whatever happens to capture me. If I’m walking down the street I’ll suddenly see the painting. For commercial stuff, especially with the Internet, sources of inspiration are everywhere. Like today I have to create this baseball stadium so I’ve been relying on a lot on Internet searches”

IF YOU DO SOMETHING THAT YOU REALLY LOVE, YOUR LIFE FEELS FULFILLED

too. “I use a tablet. In fact I use a Cintiq, where you draw direct on the screen. It’s gone full cycle back to the way it used to be. I used to hold a brush and look up at the canvas, then I went to the computer and held that little bar of soap on the side. Next the tablet came out and I was back to holding a pen, but it was on the side. The Cintiq has brought it back full cycle so that we’re looking up at the canvas again, watching your hand work over the canvas. Like the way I was traditionally trained, but digital. It is a lot easier to work this way. It’s nice to look exactly where your hand is moving, it allows for a lot more flexibility and free-flowing drawing.”

Although there can be no argument that Bert has reached the top of his game, he’s not content to rest on his laurels and he’s always on the lookout for a new challenge. “I stay on top of the technology and constantly challenge myself. I’m always looking for something I haven’t done before and I enjoy the learning process along the way. I’m not in competition with anyone but myself. If I was, I wouldn’t be out there training thousands of people.”

Spreading the word As well as holding workshops and seminars teaching people his art, Bert has written a

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Bert Monroy I’M ALWAYS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING I HAVEN’T DONE BEFORE

number of books, including co-authoring the first ever book on Photoshop, The Official Adobe Photoshop Handbook. However, this isn’t something he particularly enjoys doing. “I enjoy using them because they become great training tools. Writing books is purely a vehicle to help me teach but the actual writing of the books I don’t enjoy at all – it’s a lot of work creating all the visuals, writing and editing and so on. They are a necessary way of communicating my techniques and I do teach quite a bit, which I enjoy!” Currently teaching at San Francisco State University, Bert understandably has many students looking to him for help and advice on

their fledging Photoshop careers, hoping to follow in his footsteps. “My students all ask ‘Can you make a lot of money doing this?’ and I tell them right off the bat that the motivator shouldn’t be the money, the motivator should be that this is what you want to do. When you’re working this is where you spend most of your life. If you do something that you really love then your life feels very fulfilled. So if you want to pursue this, do it not because it has the potential to make you a lot of money but because it has the potential to make you feel satisfied, because it’s something that you love, because it’s something that you want to wake up the next day and can’t wait to get to

HOT WHEELS: “I consider myself a hyper-realist artist. I love to paint. I use the word paint for lack of a better word. My medium is actually light. I have a passion for making things happen on the screen. Finding a new way of doing something and finding a new room in my imagination is what I love about the work.” From his website www. bertmonroy.com

work.” His passion for his art is obvious through the devotion he can give to just one project, but what does the future hold for one of Photoshop’s founding fathers? “I do animation work and I’ve done a lot of effects for movies. So from a commercial standpoint I have a little more diversity. My personal artwork is just 2D work, so I would at some point like to get into 3D art. Now it’s getting to the point where machines are powerful enough and the programs are powerful enough that the results can be really good. My only fear is that once I get involved in a 3D program it’ll probably take years to create just one image! But for the future, I’d say that’s where I’d like to go.” 5

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Photos (c) Luqman at L’uzzine (www.pressbook.com/luzzine)

MASTERCLASS

Retouching reality Studio shots are rarely perfect, especially when it comes to fashion and beauty where models and environments have to look flawless. But perfection can be achieved with a little tweaking in Photoshop… BY SIMON DANAHER

ON THE DISC On this month’s disc you’ll find a link to Simon’s site where you can download the images for this tutorial. These images are strictly for recreating this tutorial and are for use in non-commercial work only. Photos (c) Luqman at L’uzzine.

OUR EXPERT

Simon Danaher

Simon is a digital artist and author with five books and many magazine articles to his name. You can see more of his work and get some free tutorials on 2D and 3D graphics at his website www.simondanaher.com.

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n this tutorial we’ll look at how to clean up and improve a fashion and beauty shot using Photoshop’s image-editing toolset. You may be working with a beautiful model, but there will often still be plenty of cleaning up to do if you want to achieve a perfect look. Another thing is that if you’re not the photographer, you may not be available for the shoot itself. In these cases you can’t give advice to help make your touch-up work easier later. In this example a lot of work was done to clean up the image, integrate composited elements, make skin

adjustments, remove clothing and more. A head replacement was also done because the shot we wanted to use had the butterfly glassware obscuring the model’s body. It’s a relatively simple task to composite two photos – taking the head from one and the body from the other – especially in a controlled environment like a studio. Far trickier was removing the wooden table to create a neutral, reflective surface. This involves a fair bit of work to get the effect looking natural, but was essential in order for the final shot to look clean.

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Aiming for perfection

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RAW essentials The first step is importing the RAW image into Photoshop. Photoshop’s RAW importer is an essential tool for working with images because you have so much control over the unprocessed, uncompressed images from the camera. You also have control over the image resolution, allowing us up to 6144x4085 pixels for this particular photo – despite a little softening.

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Maximum flexibility For this shot we know that there’s going to be a lot of work done, so this is reflected in how the RAW settings are chosen. We’re not looking for the best final image settings here or making any artistic choices – instead we’re looking for the maximum flexibility for editing the image later. So we don’t want clipped shadows or highlights, though we do want some neutral tones.

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Clean up the fringing The result is an image that seems a little low in contrast and sparkle. That’s fine, we want as much mid-range detail as possible. Further editing is done in the RAW panel to clean up things – adjustment of the chromatic aberration to remove some colour fringing and a small amount of colour noise reduction. Luminance smoothing is not used because it softens details too much.

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Three’s a crowd Once the RAW editing is completed we can set to work. Here are the three shots that we’ll use to create the final composite image. At the top is the main body shot, at the bottom right is the shot from which we’ll take the head and left is the butterfly glassware shot. There’s a lot of work ahead.

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Clean your background First, we clean up the background using the Clone tool to remove any marks. Then a gradient layer is applied using sampled colours from the backdrop in the image. This is overlaid with reduced opacity over the image so that some of the original background shows through. We’ll duplicate the girl in a moment – all we’re looking at here is the smoothness of the background.

Gradients and

banding

When specifying a gradient, be careful that you don’t get colour banding. This occurs most often on large gradients that don’t have a lot of contrast. Photoshop only has 256 shades in each colour channel to create your smooth gradient from, and banding occurs when there aren’t enough shades to go round. Certain colours are worse than others, but enabling the Dither option in the Gradient palette can help. The easiest way to eliminate banding without tweaking the colours is to add noise, although you’ll often need a lot to eliminate banding altogether – which may be unacceptable.

“WE’RE NOT LOOKING FOR THE BEST FINAL IMAGE SETTINGS, BUT FOR THE MAXIMUM FLEXIBILITY FOR EDITING THE IMAGE LATER” 6 The path for separation To separate the girl from her background we use a path. You could try extracting her using the various selection tools or maybe a plug-in matte creation tool, but it’s often a lot quicker and more accurate to simply draw a path. A good clean path is worth a dozen dodgy selections, and it’s resolution-independent too.

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MASTERCLASS

Gradient

blurs

Gradient blurs are a great way to create photoreal effects such as depth of field or attenuated diffused reflections. The traditional way to do this is to create your gradient in a new channel, load this as a selection and then apply the Gaussian Blur filter multiple times using a small value (say 2.0 pixels depending on image size). However, Photoshop CS features a Lens Blur filter, which can be used to produce a graduated blur using a channel as a control, and can do so in a single pass. You also get the option of applying features such as highlight bloom and noise.

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Swapping heads The new head is dropped in from the other photo. It is simply marquee-selected, copied and pasted into the main document, and then roughly aligned with the background body. Because the two shots are so similar it’s not a difficult task to get things looking good. The tricky part is removing the background.

Mask painting The path is loaded as a selection and saved as a channel. Then the edited blue channel is loaded as a selection and used as a mask through which the hair detail can be painted, using a large brush, into the saved path channel. Although it’s a little scrappy, the hairs are so fine and low enough in contrast to be unnoticeable.

“PATH SELECTION 11 CAN’T COPE WITH THE HAIR, BUT WE CAN CREATE A SEPARATE SECTION FOR THIS AND ADD IT TO THE PATH THAT’S CONVERTED”

Aligning the shoulder The head is attached to the body by blending using the layer masks where possible, such as in the hair area. The shoulder is a little more difficult and requires cutting and pasting a small section of the chin/ shoulder area, rotating it to align the shoulder and then blending using a layer mask.

Hair today… Path selection, as good as it is, can’t cope with the hair, but we can create a separate selection for this and add it to the path that’s converted to a selection. Here the blue channel has been duplicated and edited to give the most contrast to the fine strands of hair on the top of the head. This is desirable because it helps to keep the shot looking natural and not too much like a Photoshop comp.

Hair detail retained The new girl mask is loaded as a selection and is applied to a duplicate of the main image as a layer mask. This is placed above the gradient layer so that she’s no longer obscured by it. As you can see, with the mask applied the fine hair detail remains intact against the smoother background, preventing her looking like a crude cut-out.

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Skin and bones The back has to be retouched to remove her top and to make some subtle skin and bone adjustments. Cloning is one way to do this, but a simpler approach is to just paint out the details with a brush, like traditional ‘airbrushing’. Skin tones are sampled from her back, and using a soft brush the unnecessary details are then painted over. This is done in a new layer to keep things editable.

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“WHEN THE SHADING IS TURNED OFF, THE RESULT IS UNNATURAL AND FAKE-LOOKING” 13 14 15

Boob job To remove the rest of the top involves a bit more work. To begin with, we select and copy/paste a portion of her shoulder and arm to a new layer to serve as the new skin. This helps because there’s already some shading and curvature to the skin from this area that aids in the reconstruction.

Similar shading Shading is painted in using colours sampled from other parts of the image where there are similar shadow tones. Getting the right shadow darkness can be tricky, since the shadows vary at different locations. Applying the paint layer in Multiply mode allows you to adjust the opacity to get the best balance.

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Butterfly babe The butterfly is added next but is almost a project in itself. Photoshop’s Layer Sets help a lot when organising large composite documents like this. Once again a path was used to cut out the butterfly from its background – easier this time, as there’s a hard edge all the way around. It’s dropped into the main document.

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Flip it Some reconstruction is needed to fold the wings, otherwise the glassware will obscure the girl too much. The butterfly layer is duplicated, flipped, skewed and rotated to get the desired perspective, as if the wing was folded over. The unwanted sections of both wing layers are masked out using masks applied to their respective layers.

The right FXs Integration is not quite right, but that can be improved with a little layer effects shading. The Bevel and Emboss section is used to add a small highlight to the leading edge of the skin area, while the Inner Shadow option provides further darkening nearer the elbow. Linear Burn is used to keep the shadow area the correct colour.

Film

grain

Most cameras will generate some grain whether they are film cameras or digital. When compositing non-photographic elements (such as 3D-rendered objects) or when replacing backgrounds, be careful not to have too much of an obvious difference between the grain in these sections. You can easily add it back though. Simply create a new layer, fill it will 50% grey and apply in Overlay mode. Apply the Noise filter to this layer, then blur it slightly, just enough to match the grain in the photograph. You may have to repeat this once or twice to get the right match.

Get real Almost invisible shading is applied to the edges of the butterfly. Although barely perceptible when active, when the shading is turned off the result is unnatural and fakelooking. The shading consists of a smooth dark line inset from the edge of the cut wing, as well as a lightening as if reflected from the girl’s back. It helps to give the cut edge some dimension.

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MASTERCLASS 19

Get consistent The other shots in the series this was created for (six in total) all have a silver sheet on the table which, although cleaned up, is kept in the final images. In order to keep all the shots in the story consistent we need to replicate the effect in the butterfly image. One of the other shots is opened so that we can copy a small portion of the reflective board to use under the girl.

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Transform your image A small section of the board is copied and pasted into the main document. Sections are duplicated and moved to increase the surface area, then stretched across the whole width using the Free Transform command. This is just to capture some of the texture of the board. The reflection and other surface detail will have to be recreated by hand.

Camera

RAW Photoshop CS ships with the Camera RAW plugin, accessible when Photoshop identifies a RAW image via its Open dialog or Adobe Bridge. Bridge offers greater integration of RAW processing, since you can apply RAW adjustment settings to similar images in a set without having to open them. The adjustments are visible in thumbnail view and in the large preview panel in the Bridge window. The latest version of Photoshop RAW, 3.4, can be downloaded from www.adobe.com.

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Ripple and reflect The girl layer is duplicated and flipped vertically to make the reflection. It’s moved below the main girl layer and set to Overlay mode. This is a good blending mode for subtle reflections such as this. The opacity is reduced and then the layer is distorted a little using the Ripple filter, because the board is not meant to be a perfectly flat mirror.

Blur her To make the reflection accurate it needs to be blurred, but not uniformly. Using a gradient mask, the blurring can be varied so that the blur is stronger the further the reflection is from the girl. The gradient channel can be loaded as a selection and then the reflection layer blurred multiple times using small values of Gaussian Blur.

Skirt the shadow Along with the reflection there should be some shadow too, since the surface is not entirely reflective (ie, it reflects light diffusely). This is applied using a Levels Adjustment layer and layer mask to control where the shadow appears. Using a soft brush, the shadow can be painted in the desired locations under the skirt and feet.

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Back it up More shadow is applied next, this time to the girl’s back as if cast from the butterfly wings. Again, this is painted in on a new layer using a soft brush and sampling colours from shadow areas in the image (again it’s very subtle). Linear Burn is used as the blending mode because this darkens the skin tones while also keeping the colours in shadows look natural.

Lengthen the legs Lastly, it was felt that from this angle her legs looked a little short compared with her body. To fix this a flattened duplicate of the main document was created. This allowed us to extend the legs and the reflection in one go. The legs were copied from the top of the thigh down where the skirt is, making the join easier to disguise. We’ve lowered the opacity so you can see how much the legs were lengthened.

And finally… The background was adjusted with a radial gradient to add some vignetting to the edges and bring the focus more strongly on the girl. A little noise was then added and blurred to match the film grain. This helped blend the hair area and prevent the background looking too false and clean compared to the subject. 5

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Feature

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MAKING MONEY WITH PHOTOSHOP

Making money with

Photoshop Is your copy of Photoshop just sitting there without earning its keep? Never fear. We explore the many ways in which Adobe’s seminal application can be used to generate extra income BY MARK JAMES

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generate revenue in the millions – and we’re not just talking about Adobe’s sales figures. The beauty of Photoshop is, of course, its versatility. Over the last 16 years the feature-set has expanded to the point where the program has a role in just about every possible digital art and animation process imaginable. Best of all, that versatility also opens up countless commercial possibilities for the market-savvy user searching for ways to harness their artistic skills. Whether looking to make a living or earn a little extra cash, Photoshop is the ideal tool for the job. Illustration and graphic design are the most obvious commercial applications for Photoshop, of course. Whether working as part of a team in a studio, setting up a one-man business or dabbling with a bit of freelance, there are myriads of opportunities for designers with an affinity for creating marketable visuals for ads, product designs and more. But beyond these obvious and visible Photoshop livings, there are countless other money-making avenues worth exploring.

Illustration by Magictorch

t’s hard to believe that Photoshop, arguably the most famous computer application of all time, almost never got released. It began life first as a program called ‘Display’ and then ‘ImagePro’, written in the mid-Eighties by Thomas Knoll with help from his brother John, an employee at Industrial Light And Magic. None of the publishers they approached showed any interest at all in the program, and in the end it fell to a scanner manufacturer to release the first version of ‘Photoshop’ on an unsuspecting world, giving away around two hundred copies to purchasers of its hardware. Then Adobe entered the picture, and in February of 1990 Photoshop 1.0 was released. Since then, successive versions have transformed the computer’s role into an artist’s tool. From visual effects for multi-million dollar blockbusters through to home users removing a little red eye from their holiday snaps, Photoshop is owned and used by millions. What’s more, it’s also helped

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Feature

WHEN CHOOSING WHERE TO APPLY YOUR SKILLS, CONSIDER HOW MANY OTHER DESIGNERS YOU’LL BE COMPETING AGAINST AND HOW LARGE THE MARKET IS LIKELY TO BE Let’s start with the Internet, unquestionably the ideal place for entrepreneurs to network, advertise and sell their wares, all without the need for expensive investment. The trick is to showcase your skills while also offering an extra incentive for people to visit. Think hard about your target market – career, age, gender, disposable income, etc. Whether you’re trying to sell your design skills or other Photoshop-related knowledge to individuals, companies, even other Photoshop users, will determine just what value-added extras you should be offering. You could choose to start up your own Photoshop-related blog, for example, regaling the many millions of armchair Photoshop Elements owners with insider tips. Or you could launch a full-blown website where visitor-friendly goodies such as reviews, news snippets and downloads help raise its profile. Don’t know how to design a good site? No problem. Simply find a web designer who’s willing to trade skills, coding your site in return for some of your Photoshop design work. To ensure your web presence doesn’t go unnoticed, it pays to gain an understanding of how to get listed

SIMPLE IS BEST

EXPLODING DOG: When creating a site to showcase your work, add something that’ll keep people coming back and increase traffic. For inspiration check out Exploding Dog (www.explodingdog.com). Creator Sam Brown posts a new image almost every day

ADOBE CERTIFICATION Adobe is now rightly famed for its certification system, which enables keen Photoshop users to gain additional training and professional credentials. While just about any Photoshop user is likely to benefit from the additional experience

and training it offers, whether it makes financial sense to take this extra step depends not only on how serious you are about making money from Photoshop work, but also the nature of that work. If you’re selling merchandise to consumers it will be of little value, but if you’re planning on offering logo or template design services to businesses then being able to flash the Adobe Certified Expert qualification will help you get noticed, instantly gain the confidence of potential clients and stand out from the crowd. Needless to say, it really comes into its own if you’re hoping to teach others your skills. Some training centres won’t even consider letting you loose on a classroom without ACE or ACP (Adobe Certified Professional) accreditation. You can train for certification either by buying a self-paced course from Adobe or finding an instructor-led class. For further details log onto the site at www.adobe.com/support/certification/ace.html

by search engines (http://searchengine http://searchengine watch.com)) as well as doing a bit of online networking with other Photoshop professionals and people working in related areas. Become an active part of the online community by posting at online forums such as www. photoshopforums.com, www.advancedphotoshop. co.uk/forum or www.purephotoshop.net – as well as more general arts-based ones like www.cgsociety. org – and you’ll be amazed how your reputation will grow. And with improved stature comes a greatly increased chance of attracting paying customers, whatever type of Photoshop service you’re selling.

Web work When choosing where to apply your skills, consider how many other designers you’ll be competing against and how large the market is likely to be. Perhaps the most obvious online market is for Internet-related design skills. The Internet is awash with companies and individuals looking to attract an audience for online services or personal musings, and for that they require a strong logo, striking visuals and an easy-to-navigate user interface. While those who can combine Photoshop knowledge with HTML, Flash and similar skills are well placed to provide a full web design service, remember that there’s also a market for bespoke items such as individual company logos, front-page artwork, page templates or button designs. Try designing logos for friends and colleagues, or create a portfolio using sample designs, get them up on your website and start contacting potential clients. Once you’ve got a couple of successful commissions under your belt, you’ll be surprised how quickly word of mouth can bring in new clients. For those searching for a more modest entry into the world of web design, it’s also worth looking to the world of the blogger. Blogging has turned into a genuine online phenomenon over the last couple of years, with seemingly every web user keen to document their thoughts and experiences, and then let the rest of the web community read all about it. And as more and more blogs vie for attention, so bloggers increasingly look for ways to give their own site a unique visual angle.

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Making money with Photoshop Case Study: Publishing

e’s book LD: Graham Rawl WOMAN’S WOR t Photoshop, but ou ab t no is rld Woman’s Wo Every word with the program. was put together mags and rs/ pe pa ws ne m old wle.com was scanned in fro ra am ah gr www. laid out on-screen:

Chong Xue Ling, aka XueZi (http://glossified.net/), is a Singapore-based Photoshop user who has carved herself a niche creating blogskins. “I started out using custom-made skins found on www.blogskins.com, but soon got sick of using the same stuff as everyone else,” she explains. “Soon I was editing and personalising them, and so began reading tutorials and tips and developing a style of my own.” XueZi, who treats blogskin design as a part-time sideline, admits that the availability of so many free ready-made designs can make it difficult for designers to charge for a unique service. “You need to offer something more. I custom make blogskins according to what my clients want, giving them the opportunity to customise absolutely everything, from colours and pictures to styles and themes. If you treat the clients well they’ll keep coming back.” She also emphasises the need to educate potential clients, highlighting the fact that truly creative blogskin design is something worth paying for. “Get the customer to understand that a large amount of effort and inspiration is needed to design a template. It can take hours, with constant changes to the design, just to create one single skin.”

Martin Evening

In addition to a successful career as a photographer, Martin Evening is also author of Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Photographers. Evening says his journey to authorship began when he first joined various mailing lists and found he was able to offer Photoshop advice to other users. “I was also involved in setting up meetings for the digital imaging group and writing various articles for magazines,” he recalls. “It was the culmination of all this work that led me to think about writing a book about Photoshop.” Evening says his membership of the Photoshop beta-testing team also proved useful. “It wasn’t easy to get an invite to join, but by building contacts with Adobe and learning how to provide the Photoshop team with useful information, I’ve built up a good working relationship.” Now Evenings’ role as author has led to further Photoshop-related commercial work, in the form of Pixel Genius: “That came about through friendship between myself, Bruce Fraser, Jeff Schewe, Andrew Rodney, Mike Skurski and Seth Resnick. Since agreeing to meet up once or twice a year, our small company has now produced a series of automated plug-ins for Photoshop.” www.martinevening.com www.photoshopforphotographers.com PIXEL GENIUS: Ma rtin Evening divide between photogr s his time www.pixelgenius.com aphic in studio Pixel Geniu work, membership of plugs, and authorship of books such as Adobe Ph otoshop CS2 For Ph otographers

Sideline success In a similar vein, but this time catering for other Photoshop users, why not try your hand at brush set design? Again there are quite a few free ones out there, but if you’ve got the skills to create truly desirable designs then it’s perfectly feasible to make money by selling them as downloads or on CD. Check out David Seipp’s http://photoshopbrushes.com/ to see an example of good, simple Photoshop brush marketing. But why limit yourself to designing for other professionals? The Internet is arguably even more effective when selling direct to the public. Open an online shop and you’ve got a globally accessible,

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OPEN AN ONLINE SHOP AND YOU’VE GOT A GLOBALLY ACCESSIBLE, OPENALL-HOURS STORE WITH A POTENTIAL CUSTOMER BASE IN THE MILLIONS open-all-hours store with a potential customer base in the millions. There are already a good number of design teams and even solo artists who have harnessed the power of the web to sell art-related items direct to punters. Take a look at the website of design duo Tado (www.tado.co.uk) to see how simple an online shop can be, and what sort of art-related goodies are favoured by successful e-selling artists. Tado’s success in this field is even more impressive given that it was never conceived as a serious business concern. “It was originally supposed to be just a bit of fun to help us de-clutter the studio,” says Mike at Tado. “But since BRUSH STROKE S: Ta sell creations as do lented designers can wn CDs for customers. loads or by burning Ge Seipp’s http://phot t inspired by David oshopbrushes.co m/

a are easiest. Create TADO TS: T-shirts ing company int pr t hir T-s a e design, us se d run, then adverti to turn out a limite do Ta m fro s me co n online. This desig

Case Study: Tutoring Having bought his first copy of Photoshop in 1994, only to discover that decent tuition wasn’t easily available, Jack Casement set about applying his own knowledge to help newcomers, initially offering Photoshop lectures to camera clubs. “I organised small workshops in my home office. Then eight years ago I was approached by Bracknell & Wokingham college, which was looking to start Photoshop courses.” He progressed to teaching digital imaging for a City & Guilds qualification. Casement eventually moved away but soon found himself teaching Photoshop once again, this time for Light & Land Wildlife Photographic Holidays. Find out more at www.lightandland.co.uk.

then it’s really taken off and become a pretty valuable source of supplementary income.” Prints, postcards and stickers are particularly easy for the home Photoshop designer to create. But don’t be put off by the idea of selling more labour-intensive merchandise such as mugs, wallets or clothing. There are many companies out there (again, easy to find on the web) which can run up these sort of items using your custom designs, while T-shirts can even be bought plain and printed up yourself if you really want to take a DIY approach. Or at the other end of the scale, websites such as Café Press (www.cafepress.com) simplify the whole merchandising process. For a fee they’ll create an online store for you, handle all aspects of selling, and even automate the entire product creation process, enabling anybody to create hats, clothing, prints, calendars, toys, mugs and more. Dedicated websites also exist for the sale of digital art and prints. Some, like www.4wall.co.uk, offer work from a very select range of artists, but others such as UKPortfolios (www.ukportfolios.com) work on more of an open house basis. And of course, stock image libraries are always looking for fresh, high quality material. Image libraries do focus more on photographic imagery, but even here Photoshop can prove invaluable. Combine good snapping skills with strong retouching work, and you’ve got a great chance of finding a market for your photographic imagery. It’s also possible to blend digital design and photography even more overtly, creating truly striking and highly marketable collage work. Just a few years ago such imagery was considered strange, but it’s now highly prized by executives in the worlds of advertising, packaging and publishing. Check out the book Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Photographers: A Professional Image Editor’s Guide to the Creative Use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC (Paperback). Written by Martin Evening

Jack Casement

BEFORE AND AFTER: Retouching work by Jack Casement shows how effective photographic manipulation can be. Casement has been showing photographers how to get the most from Photoshop for almost a decade – teaching courses in colleges, at home workshops and for private businesses

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Making money with Photoshop Case Study: Merchandising Naature Clothing Naature Clothing was founded by designers George Smith (aka Precursor) and Jason Krieger, self-confessed fans of cool T-shirts who decided to try designing their own in Photoshop. “To our surprise, the first batch of designs we did was a major success, with only a few now remaining in stock,” says Smith. “The whole web-based T-shirt business has really taken off in the last couple of years and is still up for grabs, but to get into the game you need to make sure you have some sort of niche. Our whole goal to stand out from the crowd was to offer fresh and different designs with a BACK TO NAATUR E: Five new designs are to heavy abstract influence. be launched in Augu Our personal artwork has st. Guest designers include Justin gained many followers Maller of depthCO RE.com over the years, so most of and John Leigh of Karborn. com – this design our customers were is by Leigh already there – we just needed to tap into them.” Smith suggests designers simply approach local T-shirt or printing shops for a cost effective screen-printing service. “Watch out for setup fees and minimum quantities though. re atu Na : Make sure you know what you’re getting into,” he advises. ON TI LIMITED AC r Jason “Once you build up enough capital, you could invest that into a Clothing co-founde op sh Krieger used Photo screen printer and have complete control over the process and n itio d ed to create this limite save a lot of money in the long run.” n T-shirt desig Find out more at http://clothing.naature.com.

MARKETING MERCHANDISE: Designing art for merchandise is a great way to make extra cash. Jon Burgerman’s distinctive work can be found on prints, wallets, books, etc at his store and published by Focal Press, it provides an expert guide to the world of image retouching. Not that retouching work has to be limited to self-shot photos. Develop these skills sufficiently and it’s possible to earn a substantial amount providing a service for professional photographers, many of whom still don’t fully appreciate the ins and outs of this craft, or else prefer to focus on the image-taking and let another expert handle the post-production work.

Teaching trick Perhaps the most inspiring way to make money using Photoshop is not to use it to create designs that you can market, but to actually sell your knowledge. From ad-hoc private lessons and sessions at local Internet cafés, through to training at established creative training centres and colleges, there are a myriad of tutoring opportunities for those with a real understanding of the program. When it comes to college lecturing, Photoshop teaching expert Jack Casement notes that tutors are required to take a 7307 teaching course. But as these classes are often aimed at high-end Photoshop users (and command fees to suit), the extra effort can be well worth it. And remember, it’s not just budding digital artists who can benefit from your knowledge. Casement highlights the suitability of camera clubs for providing Photoshop tuition. “At least 75 per cent of the audience are using digital imaging now, and in

6

fact many camera clubs now run Photoshop teaching evenings for beginners.” Not that teaching always involves dealing with a class of students. The very finest Photoshop experts might also consider whether they have the necessary writing chops to get their hints, tips and artistic guidance published. The ultimate aim of many is to get into print, either following in the footsteps of experts such as Martin Evening by authoring their own book, or by writing for magazines. But the easiest place to build up tutorial writing skills is definitely online. Again, forums or your own home page are ideal places to offer advice and put together tips and tutorials while simultaneously raising your profile. In fact, several of the Photoshop experts who

PERHAPS THE MOST INSPIRING WAY TO MAKE MONEY USING PHOTOSHOP IS TO SELL YOUR KNOWLEDGE

regularly contribute to this very magazine are equally renowned for their contributions to the online community. For example, in addition to writing for Advanced Photoshop magazine and enjoying a successful career as a digital artist, Sam Gilbey (www.personalspaceinvaders.co.uk) is a regular at Pixelsurgeon (www.pixelsurgeon.com). “I’ve always enjoyed writing, and my Visual Arts degree required lots of it, so it was a natural thing for me to start doing tutorials once I graduated and became a professional graphic designer and illustrator,” he explains. For Gilbey, one of the enjoyable side effects of writing tutorials is that it prompts him to analyse his own techniques. “You can’t help but end up with a better understanding of your own strengths and weaknesses, and as such you’re bound to improve your own skills as well as (hopefully!) helping others. Ultimately it’s just a sideline, but I see it as a valuable one.” A healthier approach to the whole subject of making money using Photoshop you’re unlikely to find. 5

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MASTERCLASS

Ink effects Something smells fishy. Create fantasy still life shots by combining several source pictures BY EMMA CAKE

ON THE DISC Make your own inky still life images using a selection of free ink photographs supplied on this month’s disc, courtesy of Shutterstock and iStockPhoto. Get snapping to create your other source imagery. Alternatively, if you want to create this tutorial in full you can download the fish bowl (file number ‘797211’) and the goldfish (file number ‘520198’) from www.istockphoto.com.

I

n the world of Photoshop anything’s possible: pigs can fly, money can grow on trees and even the most heathen of souls can walk on water. The key to creating a great constructed piece of art is the use of flexible source imagery. If your individual elements are stunning of their own accord then, with some careful mastering in Photoshop, you can make a faux still life shot that requires a second glance. On this month’s cover disc there are a generous batch of ink stock images courtesy of www. shutterstock.com and www.istockphoto.com. Over the following pages one of these ink samples will be used to create a still life with a difference. Using one of the ink images as a basis we’ll be looking at a number of

techniques that will enable us to create a convincing composition. Layer modes are an absolute must, as are a number of blending techniques and opaque brushes. You’ll also discover the benefits of lesser-used tools, such as the Blur and Smudge. You can download the elements from iStockPhoto to use with your free ink images but we suggest making your own original ink art using your images as a resource. There’s no limit to the fun you can have with this!

OUR EXPERT

Emma Cake

With weeks spent longing for some pets and a biOrb fish bowl, these scaly characters were the most obvious choice to appear magically out of Emma’s ink art.

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Add ink effects to source images

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The bigger picture Here’s a handy way to make a larger canvas using an original source image as a basis. We downloaded file number ‘797211’ from www.istockphoto.com. Using the Crop tool, create a marquee around the canvas and then expand the top, bottom and right-hand side of the selection. The new work area will need to be able to fit in another copy of the bowl to the right-hand side and reflections.

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Another bowl Create a selection around the bowl and press Apple/Ctrl+C followed by Apple/Ctrl+V to add another bowl to the image on a separate layer. Display your ruler guides by pressing Apple/Ctrl+R and drag a line along the bottom of the bowls to make sure that they line up correctly.

“THE KEY TO CREATING A GREAT PIECE OF ART IS THE USE OF FLEXIBLE SOURCE IMAGES”

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Goodbye, fish Zoom into the goldfish in the left-hand bowl and use the Clone Stamp tool to carefully erase it out of the bowl leaving just the source image that we need. This will work best with a Soft Round Airbush measuring 24 pixels. When you have got rid of the goldfish go over the area with the Healing Brush tool to make sure that the blends are accurate and don’t look messy.

Your own

photography If you’re feeling a little saucy and fancy scrapping the images on the disc and creating your own source files, then here are a few photographic tips:

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Colour the ink Pick an ink image from this month’s cover disc. We’ve chosen one where the ink has spread out to give us more scope to manipulate. Add another layer on top of this and fill it with a bright orange using the Paint Bucket tool. Then, alter the Layer Mode to Color. Open up the Levels command and make tweaks with the slider to brighten the orange and get rid of the dull background. You might find it helps if you Desaturate the lower Background layer.

1. If you’re pouring ink into a container or bowl then make sure you have an assistant handy. It will be a nightmare if you have to do everything yourself. 2. Use a suitable backdrop, such as a white sheet, so that the colours that are captured are vibrant and clear.

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Add the ink Select and copy the newly coloured ink and go back to your main canvas. Paste this selection onto a new layer and the use the shortcut Apple/Ctrl+T to transform the ink and move it to cover the left-hand bowl. You will need to reduce the scale to around 60%. Alter the Layer Mode to Darken so the ink blends into the water in the bowl and there are no nasty white elements to the image.

3. A camera with manual settings is essential to take the shot. For ease, set your camera to Program mode and take the shutter speed right down. Your aperture will need to open up (a smaller F-stop number) to avoid your image being underexposed. 4. Natural light will be best for illumination if you’re unable to take your image in a studio setting. However, if you need fluorescent lighting then make sure you alter the white balance on your camera. 5. Keep an eye out for nasty reflections. Your shot won’t look very good if you’ve captured a messy bathroom in the reflection.

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MASTERCLASS 6

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Tidy it up Use the Eraser tool to tidy up the ink. Make sure that the top of the ink is level with the water and get rid of the parts that cover the curved sides of the bowl (in theory you wouldn’t see this). Reduce the risk of the ink looking too regimented by erasing out parts of the ink so it doesn’t fill the entire water line.

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On the side Where the ink is nearly touching the right side of the bowl duplicate this part and transform to a width of -100%. Drag the corner of the transform box to rotate this slightly clockwise. Then, with the Eraser tool, carry out the same fading procedure as in the previous step. Open up the Liquify command and use the Bloat tool to distort this slightly to match the curvature of the bowl.

On reflection The bowl won’t look realistic unless there are a few reflections. Do this by selecting the ink, copying it and then pasting it. You can flip the ink by pressing Apple/Ctrl+T and then altering the height in the upper toolbar to -100%. Use the Eraser tool to get rid of every part of this ink reflection apart from the area around the base of the bowl. Lower the opacity of this level to around 16%.

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A fishy tale We located a fantastic image that included plenty of goldfish in different positions, facing different directions. You can locate this by logging onto www.istockphoto.com and typing in the file number ‘520198’. Select one of the fish (thinking carefully how well it could be incorporated into the ink) and then paste this onto a separate layer in your main artwork. You may find that you need to use the Eraser tool to get rid of stray fins from neighbouring fish.

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Blending in Now concentrate on blending the fish into the ink. Not only should you experiment with position by using the Transform tool but work on the colours so that the fish matches the tone and shading of the ink as close as you can. Great tools for doing this include the Color Balance command, Levels and Curves. Here, we’ve adjusted the Color Balance to a setting of Shadows: +75, +3, 0, Midtones: +35, -13, -1 and Highlights: +13, -4, +25.

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“COLOUR ALONE ISN’T ENOUGH TO MAKE THE FISH BLEND INTO INK”

Smudge and Burn Colour alone isn’t enough to make the fish blend into the ink. Select the Clone Stamp tool from the Colors palette and duplicate parts of the ink pattern using a Soft Round airbrush with an opacity of around 80%. The Smudge tool can be used to work these areas into the fish. Once you’ve done this, select the Burn tool from the Tools palette and darken patches of your little pet. Don’t go overboard though!

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Blur it At the moment the fish looks too sharp compared to the ink. You can fix this by applying a Gaussian Blur. Select Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Alter the slider amount to 0.4 pixels. Make sure you check the Preview button so you can see the effect before committing to the blur.

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A shoal of fish Open up the fish image again and pick another unsuspecting character. Remember, you can experiment as much as you like with rotation, scale and flipping. You shouldn’t need to erase any of the white areas around the fish as long as you alter the Layer Mode to Darken. For a more convincing blend select the original ink layer and use the Eraser tool with a low Opacity to knock this back a little.

“REMEMBER YOU CAN EXPERIMENT AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE WITH ROTATION, SCALE AND FLIPPING”

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Get organised It’s very important to make sure you keep organised with your layers. Every time you add a fish to the bowl create a new layer for it. That way, if you need to tweak colours when you take a step back near the end you can jump straight to the correct layer. Colours can also be adjusted using the Hue/Saturation/ Lightness command, although you will need to Overlay the effect with the Burn tool so it blends into the ink inconspicuously.

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Unusual angles We want to keep the fish in the ink bowl down to three as it will be more successful if it’s not too over worked. For the final addition we’ve chosen a fish that’s swimming forwards, just so it doesn’t look too regimented. You can really experiment with this one by tucking it into the ink.

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Colour overlay If you’re having trouble getting the blend right, you can sample from the ink layer by selecting a square with the Rectangular Marquee tool. Paste this into a new layer and set as Overlay. This doesn’t blend the light blue areas as well, so you will need to use the Eraser tool with a Soft Round Airbrush to get rid of the faint orange box.

Colour

calibration Your image could look perfect on screen but if your monitor isn’t calibrated, those gorgeous aqua blues may turn out looking like a muddy swamp. We suggest getting your hands on a Pantone Huey to make sure those pixels are perfect. Log onto www.colourconfidence.com to shop for one.

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MASTERCLASS 18

Blur to blend With the original ink layer selected pick out the Smudge tool in the Tools palette (this may be hidden underneath the Blur tool). Adjust the size of the brush using the ‘[‘ and ‘]’ keys and carefully pull areas of the ink so they blend well into the fish. Erase parts with a low-opacity brush if it looks out of place.

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That’s magic Don’t underestimate the benefits of using the Magic Wand. Although it has a reputation for being one of the more primitive selection tools it will come in handy for tricky parts such as fish fin. To make sure that the wand doesn’t select too much, lower the tolerance of the wand right down to 1px. Then click and Shift-click to add more areas to your selection. When you’re happy, erase this part of the Overlay layer.

“DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE BENEFITS OF USING THE MAGIC WAND”

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Correct depth Zoom out and take a good look at the work you’ve done already. Do any of the fish look a little out of place? You can fix this by applying more Gaussian Blur. Don’t go over the setting of 0.5 pixels for any of the fish you’ve added or this will just look very out of focus.

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Group together The artwork is in danger of getting a little confusing with so many different layers and it will help to be able to distinguish between the left bowl and the right. Select ‘Create a new group’ in the Layers palette and drag all of the layers you have added to the left hand bowl into this folder, leaving the original Background layer where it is.

Ink

inspiration If you want some inspirational ideas for how you can use the ink images supplied on this month’s cover disc, then check out the gorgeous work of Lewis Mulatero (www. lewismulatero.com). The photographer of the recent Britvic Robinson’s squash images shows you that it’s possible to make even the most complex of subjects out of an inky image.

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Adjustment layer At the moment all of the ink artwork looks a little bit too red. Eventually, we want the inky fish and the goldfish we’re going to place in the right-hand bowl to have similar colour tones. With the new group folder selected add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer and adjust the Hue to +13, the Saturation to +6 and the Lightness to -1.

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Another new group Add another group layer to the palette and call this ‘Right Bowl Art’. Drag this existing ‘Right Bowl’ layer into this group folder. We’re going to add a few more fish to keep the current one company in the right hand bowl and balance out the artwork more.

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Four’s a crowd Add three more fish to the right bowl, using the same techniques as before. Changing each of these new layers to Darken mode should mean that they blend well into the bowl. Don’t forget you can reduce the scale and rotate each addition to make sure the composition is accurate.

Blending

methods In this tutorial we’ve made good use of the Blur and Smudge tools but only skimmed over the surface of the Liquify filter. It’s a bit of a tricky one to master, but not only can you use it to blend additional images over your ink shots, it’s perfect for manipulating your ink swirls to make them more exciting. The best tools to use within the Liquify filter are the Forward Warp tool and the Twirl Clockwise tool (if you hold down the Alt key you can alter this to a Twirl Anti Clockwise Tool). Be warned however – the Liquify Filter struggles under low memory.

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Level it up When you’re happy with the composition of your image, save a PSD version just in case things go wrong later and flatten the layers. Open up the Levels command and alter the Input Levels to 0, 0.80, 255, just to make the image a little brighter and more vibrant.

“WE’VE ONLY SKIMMED OVER THE SURFACE OF THE LIQUIFY FILTER”

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Reflection Create a new path and use the Pen tool to draw a selection around each bowl – one at a time. Once you’ve finished your path Ctrl/right-click and choose Make Selection. Copy this selection and then paste on another layer. Press Apple/Ctrl+T and then flip the bowl by changing the height to -100%.

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Mirror image Make use of the ruler guides to align the reflections of the two bowls. For each of these two layers lower the Opacity to 30%. Then use the Eraser tool to rub out the reflections for a feather effect – lowering the Opacity of the tool closer to the base of the bowl. Finally, flatten your image and save. 5

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Star t

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Photoshop Relay

Photoshop Relay The final three competitors get their creative mitts on our image – who will triumph? You decide

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t’s a well known fact. Creative types are the most competitive people you’re ever likely to meet, and when the creatives you’re talking about are at the top of their industry, you know you’re going to have a scrap on your hands. Taking control of the creative baton this issue are our final three Photoshop relay competitors. And what amazing challengers they are! The three top designers within Imagine Publishing going head-to-head ensures you’ll see something special. But this isn’t where it all ends. Once you’ve browsed the newly trodden steps of the final three challengers, it’s crunch time. You then get to decide who has added the most to the relay race and who should be crowned AP Photoshop Relay champion. The winner will not only get a (small) trophy, they’ll also get the

ultimate prize – the opportunity to gloat over their fellow competitors!. For your chance to vote either drop us a line at [email protected] or log on to our forum (www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk) and answer the poll. Be sure to take the time to say why you’re voting for your winner and post your own attempts – we love to see them! And so, without further ado, our fourth challenger takes up the stylus. Claire Kendrick, art editor supremo, takes the baton…

ON THE DISC For those of you who missed issue 19 and the Shutterstock starting image, we’re providing it once again this month. You’ll also find Emma’s image which is where we left off at the end of last issue on this month’s CD.

Shutterstock www.shutterstock.com

Rela chal y le

ng

er s Claire vs Ro Kendrick vs Mass Andrew rk Ken s dick

The AP Photoshop Relay starting image is one of Shutterstock’s thousands of images. The largest subscription-based stock photo agency in the world, Shutterstock was founded in 2003 and is now one of the fastest growing suppliers of royalty-free stock photography in the industry. Its outstanding collection of premium images combined with a user-friendly interface has made Shutterstock a trusted resource for an expanding global customer base. Shutterstock currently has nearly 900,000 images available to its subscribers, and that number increases every day.

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Feature

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Unify the image To enable me to add more complex textures to the image I needed to first simplify the colour palette. I did this by greyscaling the image and converting it into a duotone. I chose some subtle contrasting colours that would not overpower any textures I want to overlay. Then I convevrted it back to RGB.

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Gaussian Blur After taking away most of the colour from the image I needed to replace some colour depth. On a new layer I created a large circle, filled it in green and then applied a large Gaussian blur to ensure there was a smooth blend between the colour and the background. As it’s on a layer this can be changed using blending modes to achieve the correct amount of colour.

Claire Kendrick Art editor, Advanced Photoshop

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Stroke path I wanted to add some extra highlights to the contrasting bird shapes. Using the Magic wand I made a selection around the bird, converted it into a selection and added a 1pt brush to the stroke in white. I scaled and offset them and removed any parts of the stroke that were distracting from the bird’s features. I then duplicated the layer and flipped it horizontally.

“Picking up the relay challenge fourth doesn’t leave me with too many options. So I’ve decided to build on the textures and composition using symmetry to create a hi-key butterfly effect with the birds wings.”

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Photoshop Relay

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Halftone pattern After duplicating the duotone layer I selected the Halftone pattern filter from the filter gallery and applied it over the image with a fairly large pattern size. The end result can be tweaked at a later stage using the blending modes to get the desired level of contrast. I then flipped it horizontally and applied it at 80%.

Ross Andrews

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Group Art Editor

“This poor old bird has been through a lot. Time to give it some sweet, sweet nectar to sip from; oh and time for me to show off some flowery Photoshop skillz.”

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Pin Light Using the cut out bird layer from James’ relay I placed it on a new layer, removed the colour and enhanced the black channel using Curves. I then duplicated the bird layer and overlayed it to create a symmetrical effect using Pin light, so as to see background glimpses through the wings.

Add a mosiac The mosaic effect was added using the filter gallery and then using blending modes applied as screen at 50% to add further texture only in certain areas of the image. At this stage I went back to the duotone layer and removed parts of the flipped image I felt were now unnecessary – the duplicated string and the hand drawn character. I also add an adjustment layer to tweak the colour levels.

Paths to perfection Although I’m sure my rivals might accuse me of switching to Illustrator, Photoshop’s path tool is more than up to the task of creating some flowing ribbons to break the symmetry of the image, giving it a little more dynamism. Although I originally worked on one work path, I then copied and pasted pieces into seperate paths.

Layer styling To give the ribbons a hand-drawn penciled look I double clicked a ribbon layer to bring up the Layer Style window and added a one point black stroke. A trip to the Gradient Overlay section then gives me a nice gold sheen. To save a bit of time I Ctrl clicked the styled layer and chose ‘Copy Layer Style’, pasting it onto the other ribbon layers, where I could then edit the gradient colours and angle.

One had a stroke Having loaded up the Calligraphic brush set I picked the narrrow, vertical elipse. Creating a new layer for each path, I stroked each one with white to create the basic ribbon shapes; I’ll worry about the colour next.

Doing it old-school Although I love the many and varied tools of Photoshop, sometimes you just can’t beat a little hand shading with the brush tool – which is exactly what I did after merging the styled layers onto fresh clean layers below each one (to rasterise the layer style) and creating new, clipped layers to paint the shading on, giving the ribbons more depth.

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Feature

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Flower arranging The flowers are actually the easiest parts. Instead of creating them from scratch, I cheated and copied them from Illustrator’s Flower symbols. They came as Vector Smart Objects which I could position, scale and rotate before rasterising them. I then added two white borders around both the ribbons and flowers, keeping the lower one selected and running the Wave filter to mess it up a little.

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Time to grunge it up a little My final step was to unify the image, and give it a little accent before passing in on to Mark. I started out by merging and duplicating my layers, setting the lower one to Multiply, and adding a layer mask to the upper so I could paint out some areas. I finished by grabbing some flower, line and dirt brushes from Vered (www.vered.fredfarm.com/vbrush/main.html) and painted in some white and red detail onto select layers, bringing everything together.

Mark Kendrick Creative Director

“There have been some tough arts to follow. So rather than trying to continue their work I decided to add a human focus yet grunge it up a little at the same time. My mag, my company, my rules – I win! Ha ha.”

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Beginning of the end First I duplicated Ross’ set of ribbons and flipped them horizontally. Next I added a new layer and adjusted the Hue/Saturation from there to brighten the whole image.

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Perfect symmetry My second step involved buying an iStockphoto. com image of a girl (ref no. 1898365) to add a human element. This also adds another element of symmetry to the piece. You can purchase this image from $1.

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Photoshop Relay

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Flip it! Next I imported the image and rotated it to match the angle of the birds, before hiding the original. Duplicate the layer and, using the Lasso tool, I crudely cut around the hair, then duplicated this off as a master and applied Find Edges.

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All in the detail Using the master of the face created in step three, I erased away the non-essential details. Next I applied Screen blending mode and set this behind the ‘Find edges’ layer.

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Frame her face To create more symmetry across the top of the image, I took the ribbons from Ross’ steps and duplicated them, laying them across the top of the piece.

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Cross the threshold We’re almost finished now but one of my final steps was to duplicate the hidden master from earlier once more and apply Threshold (Image > Adjustments > Threshold), followed by a Color Halftone.

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Last but not least Finally, I applied a new adjustment layer and lightened the entire image so it faded away at the edges. Then I painted the details back in at the centre of the image. Voila, your Photoshop relay is finished!

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Step-by-step Workshops

PEER PRESSURE

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PAINTING WITH DYNAMIC BRUSHES

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THE FINAL FRONTIER

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If you want to discover a new element in your artwork then look no further than this tutorial. Making full use of Photoshop’s brush palette, this step-by-step will show you how to produce Painter-esque effects with ease. Just load up your brush and get started…

We’ve been inundated with fantastic Photoshop creations this month. Here’s your chance to browse through our pick of the best. Seek inspiration for new design concepts, swot up on new techniques and check out the competition. If you think you’re up to the challenge then get your designs to us by e-mailing advancedpshop@imagine-publishing. co.uk. You never know who’ll be flicking through next issue and you may even get to see your design on our front cover.

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Info

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Add the finishing steps to your intergalactic Orso Major artwork as Ross Andrews sends you and your favourite app into orbit

INSIDER INFO 1

MERGE TO HDR

INSIDER INFO 2

62 PREFERENCES

Combine bracketed exposures into a single frame with this nifty new CS2 tool

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Adjust Photoshop settings to improve performance using these helpful hints

HELPDESK

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Sometimes even the pros need some sound advice. We have the answers to all your technical angst in this month’s helpdesk

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CREATE SPACE!

This is the final frontier. With the warp factor up to max we complete the final steps of our breathtaking nebula. Welcome back to space… BY ROSS ANDREWS

PART TWO: PLANET-SPEWING NEBULA

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you missed last issue then we suggest you do whatever you can to try and get hold of it, whether it’s giving our subscriptions department a ring, trawling eBay, or begging a copy from a pixel-pushing friend. We’re not saying this because we’re trying to tout our wares (although you will be getting a vital collection of Photoshop tricks, tips and techniques!), but because we took you, stepby-step, through the process of creating an out-of-this-world piece of art. We walked you through using filters to create starfields and

showed how an innocent-looking circle could be made into a beautifully glowing planet, complete with rings. Now the fun really begins, as you get to unleash your imagination, warp factor 10, on the process of creating a fiery, planet-spewing nebula. Your nebula won’t be perfect straight away. A fair amount of tweaking will have to be made in the first few steps before you start to see great results, so whatever you do don’t get discouraged. The key is to invest the time and effort into building up your swirling shapes, and then as soon as the Smudge tool comes into play, everything will quickly fall into place.

OUR EXPERT

Ross Andrews

As group art editor Ross works on a range of creative titles here at Imagine Publishing, and he’s also a Photoshop supremo who can point your pixels in the right direction when it comes to inventive image creation.

These steps are only guidelines; they recount how we made the image shown here, but don’t feel you have to follow them exactly. Experiment, repeat steps and build up layer upon layer of textures, glows and clouds. You’ll have a lot more fun, and your image should end up looking the better for the hard work and energy you’ve put into it.

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PICK UP WHERE WE LEFT OFF Don’t worry – it’s a shaky start

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A word of warning One thing we’ve discovered about creating nebulae is that they begin looking awful. With that in mind, grab a 40-pixel soft green brush, at about 30% Opacity, 50% Flow, and on a new layer above the planet layer set, sketch a rough shape. After this, switch to a larger brush and add a haze around the shape.

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Bright light Increase the brush size to around 800 pixels, and switch the foreground colour to white. Create a new layer and click in the same place on your nebula a couple of times to create a highlight. Tweak the layer’s opacity to your liking and then merge the two nebula layers.

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Smudgy smudgy Now’s the time to start seeing some results. Select the Smudge tool, with a size of around 50 pixels, and set the Strength to 50%. Now, starting from the white highlight, click and push the pixels out in flowing curves, so that the green and white mix and flow together. Think of this process as pushing wet paint around a palette.

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Add some detail When the paints are curving gracefully together, dial the Smudge tool right down to around 4 pixels, but take the Strength right up to 95%. Zoom in to the image and start feathering the swirls by pushing out from the edges – experiment with this technique and you’ll soon get the hang of it.

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Big it up Now increase the size of the Smudge tool to 125 pixels, but with the Strength still up at 95%, and perfect the shape of your nebula by nudging areas about so they seem to flow together naturally. Keep tweaking until you’re perfectly happy with the result.

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Spot the difference Your nebula will be looking more than a little flat and painted, so it’s time to add a more realistic texture. Copy the nebula layer, ensure your foreground and background colours are set to black and white by hitting the D key, and from the Render section of the Filter menu select Difference Clouds.

“ALWAYS WORK WITH A SOFT AIRBRUSH, SET TO A LOW OPACITY’’ Paint with a soft brush Many creatives shy away from hand painting, figuring that their mouse control isn’t that great, but there’s one secret to great results. Always work with a soft airbrush, set to a low opacity. Below 30% works best, but it can be much lower depending on your confidence. As you’re building up colour instead of doing it in one stroke, any mistakes are harder to spot and instead you get a smooth and perfect finish – it just takes a little more patience.

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“YOUR AIM SHOULD BE TO BUILD UP CONTRASTING AREAS, SO WORK AGAINST THE WHITE’’

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Whoa! Sure, the last step will give you a cloudy, smoky texture, but it will also give you some strange colour and no doubt almost completely obliterate your carefully-crafted nebula. Don’t worry though; experimenting with blending modes and opacity settings can easily rectify this. In our case we simply switched the layer mode over to Overlay.

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Smudge some more The cloud texture should look great, but probably more than a little artificial, so it’s a good idea to switch back to the Smudge tool and smear the colours back along the curves again. This still retains the smoky feel in the background.

GETTING CREATIVE

Give your nebula a realistic look with Smudge, brush effects and colour tweaks

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Dupe To start adding more contrast, duplicate the clouded nebula layer and switch the blending mode to Color Burn. Don’t panic when this blacks out most of your image – choose Image>Adjustments>Levels and drag the white slider to the left past the middle point. Your nebula may not look great, but it’ll look better.

Take a tablet It’s probably the tip you’ll find most repeated across the pages of Advanced Photoshop, but it really rings true for this kind of work. If you can afford it, buy a graphics tablet. For the kind of flowing brush work you’ll need to replicate in this tutorial it really is a valuable asset. You can of course do it with a mouse, but it’ll be much harder to get the same results. We recommended using a model from Wacom’s Graphire range as it will give you the ability to be able to experiment with pressure sensitive functions.

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Hue and cry All it takes to get your nebula back to looking fantastic, is a trip to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation. Leave the Hue slider alone, but drag the Saturation slider completely left to -100 and experiment with the Lightness to get the desired effect; in our case we dragged it up to +56.

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Let’s smudge again Once again it’s time to reach for the Smudge tool, and it’s back to the 4-pixel setting at 95%. Work across both the clouded layers, pushing from dark to light and vice versa to build feathered, flaring detail into the image. It’s the contrast between parts of the nebula that really give it depth.

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Build with brushes Put away the Smudge tool and create a new layer. Then, select the Brush tool, and open up the Brushes palette. Click on Texture, select Texture Fill from the thumbnail menu, and then the first texture in that set. Drag the Scale slider down to around 50%.

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Paint effects With black selected as your colour, Flow set to 50% and the Opacity set to around 30%, carefully start painting some cloudy detail into the image. Do this by clicking the mouse, never dragging strokes. Again, your aim should be to build up contrasting areas, so work against the white.

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And repeat When you’re happy with your contrasting shapes it’s time to repeat a few steps from earlier. Begin by using the Smudge to tease out strands of black and break up the obvious edge; you can also reverse your strokes to great effect. Then duplicate the layer, apply Difference Clouds, lower the Saturation and experiment with the Lightness. Set the layer mode to Pin Light.

Stars of the show If you want to make up your own nebula from scratch but need some reference material then check out http:// hubblesite.org/gallery/. There is a stunning array of images that really are out of this world. It’s a useful resource for not only checking out formations but also colours and tones. If that wasn’t enough you can also download hi-res versions of the files to place in Photoshop as a reference. Don’t forget to send us your creations - we’d love to see what you come up with!

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Experiment Now that the nebula is looking a bit healthier, it’s a good time to experiment. Duplicate the main nebula layer (created in step one) and drag it to the top of the Layers palette. Repeat the Difference Clouds filter and set the layer mode to Color Dodge.

SEND UP THE FLARE Adding highlights for effect

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Paint effects With black selected as your colour, Flow set to 50% and the Opacity set to around 30%, carefully start painting some cloudy detail into the image. Do this by clicking the mouse, never dragging strokes. Again, your aim should be to build up contrasting areas, so work against the white.

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Highlights This should give you some pretty weird highlights. Emphasise these by opening Image>Adjustments>Levels and dragging the white triangle to the left, exaggerating the effect.

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And repeat When you’re happy with your contrasting shapes it’s time to repeat a few steps from earlier. Begin by using the Smudge to tease out strands of black and break up the obvious edge; you can also reverse your strokes to great effect. Then duplicate the layer, apply Difference Clouds, lower the Saturation and experiment with the Lightness. Set the layer mode to Pin Light.

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Step-by-step

Workshop Keep working at it The steps printed here are a record of how we created our nebula, but it really is quite a random, organic process. Feel free to repeat any of the steps, building up multiple layers, trying different apply modes, smudge a copy of everything and generally have fun with it – the more time, experimentation and energy you put into it the better it will look. Constructing your nebula can be a mind-blowing task with plenty of layers inevitable. Get organised with your Layers Palette by making use of Groups. As you work you can then bunch layers into these folders. This will make it easier if you need to make adjustments and tweaks later on.

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I like to move it The positioning of your nebula probably won’t be spot on, as you’ve created it quite organically. Select or link all the nebula layers and experiment with moving it around the image until the composition works.

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Creator of worlds Duplicate the main planet from last issue’s tutorial. Use Edit>Transform>Scale to resize it and position over the flare point in your nebula. Experiment with its position in the layer order until you find a combination that looks great. Repeat this step to create a few more planets to scatter about. Move the nebula layers under the main planet layers but above the starfield layer.

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Colour shift A top tip for most Photoshop creations is to have a final experiment with colour before committing to an end result. Work through the nebula layer by layer using Hue/ Saturation to tweak colour ranges until you find a combination you love. Ours took a red hue by taking the Hue slider right down to -111.

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Colour the highlights When you’re happy with the colour of the nebula, use Hue/Saturation again to tweak the colour of the planets so that they match. For the large planet in the nebula’s centre it’s also a good idea to push the saturation a little to give a strong coloured glow.

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Sun burn Finally, to tie the whole image together, create a new layer in the Big Planet set, and create a layer mask using the planet as a selection (with the mask active, Cmd-click (Mac) or Ctrl-click (PC) the planet layer, select Inverse and fill with black). Pick a light colour from the nebula and with a huge soft brush at a low opacity, paint in a coloured highlight. The end result should look absolutely stunning. 5

‘‘A TOP TIP FOR MOST PHOTOSHOP CREATIONS IS TO HAVE A FINAL EXPERIMENT’’ 60

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INSIDER INFO

Insider

Info

Merge to HDR Introduced in Photoshop CS2, the Merge to HDR command enables you to combine a series of bracketed exposures into a single image that encompasses the tonal range of the scene

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ven with the most sophisticated digital cameras available today, you’re only able to capture a relatively small portion of the visible spectrum. For some scenes this limited dynamic range may be acceptable, whereas under extreme lighting conditions, the results might be completely inadequate. But with the new Merge to HDR feature in Photoshop CS2, you can now combine a series of exposures into a single 32-bits-per-channel (bpc) High Dynamic Range (HDR) image that encompasses the full tonal range of the original scene.

OUR EXPERT

Trevor Morris

Trevor Morris is an official Photoshop beta tester and amateur digital photographer with more than a dozen years’ design experience. He works as a senior graphic designer for a Canadian web design company and also maintains the Photoshop-centric website GFX™ (http://user.fundy.net/morris).

HDR EXPOSURE SELECTION: Photoshop Merge to HDR command allows you to combine a series of bracketed exposures into a single 32-bpc, high-dynamic range image

HDR from Bridge

● To merge a series of bracketed exposures from with Bridge, simply select the desired images and choose Tools>Photoshop>Merge to HDR.

HDR preparation Creating a HDR image requires a series of exposures with identical positioning, so a sturdy tripod is absolutely essential. Additionally, the scene must be virtually motionless, as differences between exposures will appear as blurs or ghosts in the final image, ruining the shot. Merge to HDR requires at least two exposures, although for best results, a minimum of three to five exposures is recommended. The more exposures used, the better Photoshop is able to approximate your camera’s response curves, which in turn results in a more even tonal distribution. Each exposure should be separated by one stop: equivalent to doubling or halving the exposure time (do not adjust the aperture or ISO speed). For example, if your first shot was exposed for one second, one stop up (EV +1.00) would be two seconds, and one stop down (EV -1.00) would be 0.5 seconds. Using images that are more than one stop apart could result in posterized output (ie banding). Also ensure that the brightest exposure contains no blown highlights, and that the darkest exposure is relatively noise-free with clearly visible shadow detail.

Additional resources Visit the following links for more information about HDR imaging: ● HDR: High Dynamic Range Photography (CambridgeInColour.com) www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/high-dynamic-range.htm ● HDR features and tips (AdobeEvangelists.com) www.adobeevangelists.com/pdfs/pscs2/hdr.pdf ● Errors when you use Merge to HDR in Photoshop CS2 (Adobe Support Knowledgebase) www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/331730.html

HDR IMAGE PREVIEW: The Merge to HDR dialog allows you preview your final image and corresponding histogram. In addition, you can toggle exposures on or off, preview the white balance and select a bit depth for the combined image

Create a HDR with Photoshop CS2 To create a HDR image, choose File>Automate>Merge to HDR. Select one of the following sources from the Use drop-down list: ● Files – allows you to specify the specific files to be merged (via the Browse button). ● Folder – allows you to specify the folder of images to be merged (via the Browse button). ● Open Files – allows you to merge the files currently open in Photoshop. If your photos weren’t taken on a stable tripod, you may need to enable the Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images, which significantly increases processing time. After processing each exposure, a preview of the HDR image and combined histogram appears. Use the checkbox below each exposure’s thumbnail to designate which images to include/exclude in the final image. The slider below the histogram is used to set the white point preview for the image. Although the white point preview setting is saved with the 32bpc image, it does not alter the data. If you choose an option other than 32 Bits/Channel from the Bit Depth drop-down, the HDR Conversion dialog appears immediately after the HDR image is created. This is the same as choosing the desired bit depth from

Get the patch Adobe has released a Photoshop 9.0.1 patch that, among other things, fixes a high-ASCII bug in Merge to HDR. Download the patch from the Adobe website. ● Mac OS: www.adobe.com/ support/downloads/product.jsp?pr oduct=39&platform=Mac ● Windows: www.adobe.com/ support/downloads/product.jsp?pr oduct=39&platform=Windows the Image>Mode submenu after the HDR image is created. We recommend you use the default 32 Bits/Channel so that you can save an archival version of the HDR image before conversion. Once created, the HDR may appear washed out. Use Image>Adjustments> Exposure to increase the exposure and reveal hidden shadow detail. Currently, only a handful of commands are available for editing HDR images in Photoshop CS2, but just as Photoshop’s 16-bpc support evolved with each successive version, it’s almost certain that future versions of Photoshop will have much more support for 32-bpc images. In the meantime, you’ll need to convert your image to 8- or 16-bpc (Image>Mode>8 or 16 Bits/Channel) for post-processing and final output to screen or print.

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Step-by-step

Workshop

PAINTING WITH

DYNAMIC BRUSHES

In Photoshop your brushes aren’t limited to being boring one-trick ponies. Tim Shelbourne shows how the power of Dynamic Brushes can transform Photoshop artwork BY TIM SHELBOURNE hen it comes to using the Brush and tilt, drawing direction and even speed, ON THE DISC The reference image used in this tutorial can be downloaded at www.istockphoto.com. You can find it by searching for ‘1107104’. However, the techniques used in this step-by-step can be applied to any image, so why not try it on one of your own?

OUR EXPERT

Tim Shelbourne

With 20 years’ experience as an artist and illustrator, Tim is one of Photoshop’s leading lights. As well as writing tutorials, Tim’s book Photoshop Photo Effects Cookbook is a must-read.

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tool in Photoshop, many people think that there are just two flavours of brush tip: a soft-edged one and its hard-edged sibling. But nothing could be further from the truth. If you’re armed with a pressure-sensitive graphics tablet, you can open the door to a whole new world of creativity by exploring Dynamic Brushes. In essence, all of Photoshop’s brushes can be made dynamic and can be configured to respond in very specific ways. Dynamic Brushes can be set to respond to pressure, stylus angle

producing incredibly lifelike effects. Via these dynamics you can control the size of the brush, colours, textures, opacity and a whole lot more. We’re going to use these Dynamic Brushes to create a very energetic image, complete with realistic flowing hair, a subject that is just made for very responsive brushes. We’ll also be using a custom dual brush, which allows us to combine two brushes for some extra special effects. As you work through the tutorial, watch out for the tip boxes that will give you the low-down on configuring Dynamic Brushes.

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Increase your image size Open your start image and hit D to set default foreground and background colours. Go to Image>Canvas Size. Check the Relative box and choose Percent for the dimension units. Enter 30 for Height and Width. Choose Background for extension colour and click OK. Now double-click the Background Layer to make it editable. Add a new layer and fill it with White via Edit>Fill>Contents: White.

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Prepare for tracing Grab Layer 0 in the Layers palette and drag and drop it above the white-filled layer. Now reduce the opacity for this layer to 40%. Add a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name this layer ‘Drawing’. Display the Colour palette via Window>Colour and choose a mid blue. Choose the Brush tool, and from the Brush Picker choose a small hard brush.

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Start drawing Hit F5 to display the Brush Dynamics palette. In Other Dynamics, set Opacity to Pen Pressure. Now, on the new blank layer, begin to trace around the image of the girl using the Brush tool. Vary the pressure on your stylus to create thicker, more opaque lines around the girl’s outline. Try and be very accurate when tracing around the teeth to ensure realism.

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Zoom for accuracy Continue to outline the image, zooming in to complicated areas to ensure accuracy. Don’t trace over the hair in the image, as we’ll be creating our own hair with some Dynamic Brushes a little later. Once the outlining is complete, click the visibility eye in the Layers palette to hide the image layer. Click on the ‘Drawing’ layer and hit the Lock All icon in the Layers palette to protect this layer from editing.

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Set up a brush Click on the hidden image layer and add a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N). Name this new layer ‘Skin Midtones’. From the Brush Picker, choose the Oil Medium Wet Flow brush. In the Brushes palette, in the Other Dynamics category, set Opacity to Pen Pressure. In Shape Dynamics set Minimum Diameter to 50%. Choose a medium skin tone from the Colour palette and begin to paint over the face and hands.

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Establishing skin tones Paint this colour all over the face and hands. Don’t paint over the mouth at this stage. Now choose a deeper flesh tone and add a new layer, naming it ‘Skin Shadows’. From the Brush Picker choose the Spatter 36 brush. Set Opacity to Pen Pressure and Minimum Diameter to 50% in the Brush Dynamics palette.

“WITH A GRAPHICS TABLET, YOU ARE OPEN TO A WORLD OF CREATIVITY” Loading brush libraries In this project, we use brushes from other brush libraries than the default one that is generally used in Photoshop. Although the default brush library features a good selection of brushes, Photoshop has lots of additional brush collections that give us a greater variety of brush tips and truly dynamic brushes. To load one of these additional libraries, you need to click in the Brush Picker and hit the small rightpointing arrow at the top right of the picker window to activate the fly-out menu. From here you can load any brush library simply by clicking on it in the list.

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Step-by-step

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“THE BRUSH DYNAMICS PALETTE IS CONTROL CENTRAL FOR A PROJECT LIKE THIS”

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Add some shadows Now, with this brush, begin to paint in the shadows on the skin, using the supplied shadow map or the original reference image as a guide. Vary the pressure on your stylus to go from dark to light tones as you paint for the best finish. With this same brush and colour, add the shadow area to the hands.

Reinforce the image Return to the original image layer and duplicate it. Drag and drop this layer so that it sits directly above the ‘Skin Midtones layer’. Click the layer’s visibility eye to make it visible, and reduce its opacity to 88%. Now go to Filter>Blur>Smart Blur. Use Radius 39, Threshold 92, High for Quality and click OK. Use a soft eraser to clear any unwanted parts of this layer.

Go with the flow Remember, at this stage we’re not concerned with painting in the fine strands of hair, but simply with establishing the main hair body. As you paint, try to visualise where the main tresses of hair would flow, creating flowing sections of hair with your brush, controlling the brush size with your stylus.

Establish the hair mass Click on the top layer in the stack and add a new layer. We’ll use this layer to begin forming the main body of hair. Choose a very dark burgundy for your foreground swatch. Using the same brush, go to the Brush Dynamics palette and set Minimum Size to 15%. Using the brush at a medium size, begin to paint in a rough shape for the hair.

The Burn tool Now it’s time to change tools. Choose the Burn tool from the toolbar and click in the Brush Picker. In the Brushes palette, click on Brush Tip Shape. Reduce the Spacing to 5%. Now choose the Shape Dynamics category and set the Size Jitter control to Pen Pressure. Set Minimum Diameter to 5%. So that the strands of hair flow in the right direction, set the Angle Jitter Control to Direction.

Brush Dynamics palette The Brush Dynamics palette really is Control Central for a project such as this and is key to exploiting the magic of Dynamic Brushes in Photoshop. You can display the palette by hitting F5 or by going to Window>Brushes. The dynamic characteristics of the brush are split up into separate categories, which you’ll see down the left-hand side of the palette. To adjust the dynamics within a particular category, you simply click it in the list and place a checkmark next to it to activate those dynamics. Within a particular category, the Control Options relate to the way the brush reacts to a pressure sensitive stylus, so set this up to suit your needs.

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Burn tool setup Click in the Other Dynamics category and set the Exposure Control to Pen Pressure. In the Options bar, choose Shadows from the Range Box and set Exposure to 5%. Now, using this brush at about 125 pixel size, begin to add some darker tones to the hair in long sweeps. You can adjust the size of the brush via the square bracket keys on the keyboard.

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Darker strands What we’re doing here is adding some dark accents to the hair, to create a sense of volume and to add some light and shade. Use very little pressure on your stylus and use long sweeping strokes that follow the flow of the hair. A flick of the wrist with your stylus will ensure hair-like end strands as we have brush size set to Pen Pressure.

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Fore/background colours Click the foreground swatch and choose a medium burgundy colour from the colour picker. Now click the background swatch and choose a slightly more saturated shade of this colour. Return to the Brush Dynamics palette and click in Colour Dynamics. Set the Foreground/Background Jitter Control to Fade. Now, using the brush at a small size, begin to add some light strands of hair.

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New brush, new settings Time to change brush again. Still working with the Brush tool, click in the Brush Picker, load the Thick Heavy Brushes and choose the Smoother Round Bristle brush. In Brush Dynamics, set the Size Jitter Control to Pen Pressure and the Minimum Diameter to 50%. In Other Dynamics, set the Opacity and the Flow Control to Pen Pressure.

Brush for highlights Add a new layer, naming it ‘Hair Lights’. Choose the Brush tool. and select the same brush from the Picker (Stipple 12), and use the same settings in the Brush Dynamics. In Other Dynamics, because this is the Brush tool and not the Burn tool, you won’t have an Exposure option. Instead, set both Opacity and Flow Control to Pen Pressure.

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Add life to the hair Use the softest pressure setting on your graphics tablet and vary the size of the brush regularly. By using the brush at a bigger size, you can add broader sections of hair. Conversely, use the brush at a very small size to drag out wispy strands of hair to break up the outlines and add realism.

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Take your time This part of the painting can be a laborious process, but it’s worth taking you time with it as the more stands of hair you add, at varying angles and sizes, the more realistic the finished piece will look. Be careful to finish off any blunt ends of hair with the brush at a very small size. Clean up any parts of the initial drawing on the lower hair layer with the Eraser tool.

“THE MORE STANDS OF HAIR YOU ADD, THE MORE REALISTIC IT WILL LOOK” 67

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Step-by-step

Workshop

“SAVE THE MODIFIED BRUSH AS A NEW PRESET SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO THROUGH IT AGAIN” 21

Dynamic eyebrows Zoom into the girl’s eyes with the Zoom tool. Activate the Brush Tool and click in the Picker. From the fly-out menu, choose Reset Brushes. From the brush thumbnails choose the Dune Grass brush. Open the Brush Dynamics palette (F5). Set the Size Jitter Control to Pen Pressure, Minimum Size to 5%. Set the Angle Jitter Control to Direction and the Angle Jitter slider to 7%.

Saving a new brush preset After you’ve gone to all the trouble of carefully adjusting the dynamic capabilities of a brush, which can be quite time consuming, it’s a good idea to save the modified brush as a new brush preset so that you don’t have to go through the procedure all over again to recreate the brushes effect. You can easily do this via the Brush Picker. Activate the fly-out menu and choose New Brush Preset. Give your brush a descriptive name and click OK. When you change to a different brush library, you’ll be given the opportunity to save the current library containing your new brush.

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Skin highlights Click on the ‘Skin Shadows’ layer and add a new layer, naming it ‘Skin Highlights’. For the foreground colour swatch choose a very light yellow colour. With this brush at a small size, begin to add subtle highlights to the far side of the face and the nose. Vary the opacity of the stroke by using a little less pressure on your stylus.

Highlight accents Increase the size of the brush and paint in some rough highlight areas on the cheek, chin and jaw line. Now choose white for your foreground colour swatch and paint some tiny accent highlights over these areas to add focus and polish to the image.

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Super realism Click on the ‘Skin Shadows’ layer and add a new layer, naming it ‘Eyes’. For the foreground colour swatch choose a very dark brown. Position your brush over the widest part of the eyebrow and adjust the brush size to suit. Now use this brush to paint in the eyebrows. Use heavy pressure on your stylus for the wide parts, less pressure for the narrow tails.

Adjust for eyelashes Change your foreground colour to a very dark brown. In the Brush Dynamics palette click Shape Dynamics and reduce Angle Jitter to 0%. Now click Brush Tip Shape and check the Flip X box. Grab the arrow point on the brush map in the dialog and drag it clockwise until the brush is at the correct angle for the eyelashes.

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Paint the eyelashes Now paint in the eyelashes with this brush, again controlling the size of the brush marks via the pressure applied to your stylus. You can increase the intensity and darkness of the eyelashes simply by working over them two or three times with the brush. Before moving on, crop the unwanted space from the right of the image with the Crop tool.

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Choosing colours and sampling

Brush Picker Click in the Brush Picker and, from the fly-out menu, load the Special Effects Brushes. From the thumbnails choose Drippy Watercolour. Choose a deep red for the foreground swatch and a mid-golden yellow for the background. Go to the Brush Dynamics and check Colour Dynamics. Click Dual Brush and set the Scatter slider roughly central. In Other Dynamics set Opacity to Pen Pressure.

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Liven up the background Click on the white-filled layer at the bottom of the stack and add a new layer. Now paint roughly over parts of the background with the Watercolour brush. Use the brush at a fairly large size, leaving plenty of white areas remaining. Choose the Eraser tool and erase any parts that show through the face. Reduce the opacity of this layer to 65%.

There are a number of ways to choose colours in Photoshop and we use a lot of them in this project. One of the simplest ways is by using the Colour palette. Using this palette, you can simply hover your mouse over the colour spectrum and click to choose a colour. You can even use the sliders to make very fine adjustments to the colour. Remember, when you choose a colour by this method, it is always applied to the foreground colour swatch, so to choose a colour for the background swatch, hit X on the keyboard to swap foreground and background first.

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Add a keyline Choose a very deep blue for the foreground swatch. Add a new layer at the top of the stack. Go to Select>All. Now go to Edit>Stroke. Enter 15 for Stroke Width and choose Inside for Location. Hit OK to apply the stroke around the image.

“CHECK EACH INDIVIDUAL LAYER FOR ANY RAGGED EDGES OR OVER-PAINTING” 28

Add eyeshadow Return to the ‘Skin Shadows’ layer. From the Brush Picker load the Thick Heavy Brushes set. Select the Smoother Round Bristle brush and set the Dynamics options as in Step 18. Choose a light blue/green from the Color palette and paint over the eyelids at low opacity to add a touch of eye shadow.

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More highlights Change your foreground colour to a pale yellow. Still using the same brush, add some more broken highlight lines here and there throughout the image to strengthen and clarify it. Remember, you control the width of the stroke by varying your stylus pressure.

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Tidy and adjust Finally, check each individual layer for any ragged edges or over-painting. Use the Eraser tool to tidy up any rough edges. Remember you can always change the tone of the painting on any of the layer via the Levels command. Here we’ve darkened the skin shadows a little. 5

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INSIDER INFO

Insider

Info

Optimising preferences for better performance Optimising Photoshop to take advantage of your current system and preferred workflow can significantly improve performance and decrease startup time

OUR EXPERT

Trevor Morris

Trevor Morris is an official Photoshop beta tester and amateur digital photographer with more than a dozen years’ design experience. He works as a senior graphic designer for a Canadian web design company and also maintains the Photoshop-centric website GFX™ (http://user.fundy.net/morris).

T

here’s no arguing that CS2 loves a fast processor and lots of RAM, but before you run out and spend a heap of money upgrading your system, try configuring Photoshop to take advantage of the hardware you already have. Of course, you won’t be able to double Photoshop’s performance or halve the load-time, but you should notice a significant difference. Just for fun, you may even want to jot down the approximate time it currently takes to apply a memory-intensive filter or the time it takes to boot Photoshop, and then compare the results after optimising your system.

Memory management RESET PREFERENCES: To reset all palettes and preferences to their factory default settings, hold down the Apple/ Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift keys while booting Photoshop. Be careful though, as this will overwrite any custom presets that you haven’t saved

Photoshop’s performance is most significantly affected by the amount of available RAM, how much of it is allocated to Photoshop, and what it is used for. To begin with, choose Photoshop/ Edit>Preferences>Plug-Ins & Scratch Disks and select the drive(s) and/or partition(s) you want Photoshop to use as scratch disks (virtual memory). You can assign up to 64 exabytes of scratch disk space over four volumes – that’s 64 billion GBs! For best performance,

Additional resources For more information about optimising Photoshop’s performance, check out the following articles from the Adobe Support Knowledgebase: ● Optimise performance of Photoshop CS2 Mac OS: www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/332270.html Windows: www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/332271.html ● Memory allocation and usage www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/320005.html ● Slow performance and screen redraw problems in Photoshop CS2 on Windows www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/331412.html There’s also plenty of useful information in the Adobe Photoshop Read Me file located in the root of the Photoshop installation folder. See the section titled Improving Performance and Troubleshooting.

MEMORY MANAGEMENT: The Preferences dialog allows you to customise the amount of memory and scratch disk space allocated to Photoshop, based on your particular hardware configuration and the demands of your workflow select a fast, dedicated drive (or partition), such as a RAID 0 partition. Never use network and/or removable drives as scratch disks, since their read/ write speeds are far too slow. Also avoid assigning Photoshop’s scratch disks to the same volume used for the operating system’s virtual memory, as this may result in a competition for resources. Next, choose Memory & Image Cache (Apple/Ctrl+8) from the drop-down at the top of the Preferences dialog. Here you can configure the number of low-resolution previews Photoshop will store in memory to speed up screen redraws for high-resolution images. The higher the Cache Levels, the more previews Photoshop stores: however, higher values also require more RAM and cause images to open more slowly. Acceptable values range from 1 to 8, where 1 disables image caching altogether (ie, only the current screen image is cached). The default value is 6.

The Memory Usage setting determines what maximum portion of physical memory should be allocated to Photoshop. There are two vital factors to consider when setting this value. First, entering a value that’s too high may deprive the operating system and other applications of the RAM they require to function adequately – which could ultimately result in poor performance for all applications, including Photoshop. Second, Photoshop will only use as much RAM as there is scratch disk space available. So if you only have 500MB of scratch disk space, Photoshop will use no more than 500MB of RAM, regardless of how much memory you assign. I recommend using a memory setting of between 55% (the default for Windows) and 70% (the default for Mac), depending on how much RAM you have. Adobe suggests using a value that’s several times more than the largest image you typically work with.

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iqu es Te ch n Bigger Tiles plug-in

trim presets is to use the Preset Manager (Edit>Preset Manager), but you can also ● If you have more than 1 GB of RAM, use the individual preset palettes (eg, you may wish to enable the Bigger Styles palette, Gradient Editor dialog Tiles plug-in (Plug-Ins>Adobe box, Customer Shape picker, etc). In Photoshop Only>Extensions>Bigger Tiles), by removing the tilde ( ~ ) from either case, simply Opt/Alt+click on a preset to delete it – the cursor will turn the filename. When enabled, Bigger into a pair of scissors – or drag the Tiles speeds up redraw time by preset(s) onto the Trash icon. increasing the size of image tiles. Note that because the tiles are larger Although it’s always wise to back up they may appear to draw slower, but your settings/files before running overall, the image is updated sooner around madly deleting things, you than with the default smaller tiles. needn’t worry too much in this case, as there are two simple ways to restore Palette preferences Photoshop’s default preferences. To Many of Photoshop’s palettes provide restore an individual palette to its thumbnail previews, such as the Layers, default state, just delete the Paths, Channels and Animation palettes. corresponding palette preferences file However, these previews also come at (PSP) within Photoshop’s Settings folder. the expense of both memory and To reset all settings to their defaults, application response time. Every time hold down Apple/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift you make a change to your image, all while booting Photoshop. Just be careful associated thumbnails have to be that you don’t trash your own custom updated, and the larger the thumbnails presets at the same time! the more resources are required. Another way to speed up Photoshop’s In order to configure the size of the boot time (and save some memory) is to previews for each palette, Ctrl+right-click disable any plug-ins you don’t use. For on an empty area of the palette, or example, Photoshop comes with a set of choose Palette Options from the Digimarc plug-ins that read, write and corresponding palette menu. Choices detect digital watermarks. These pluginclude: None (static 12 x 12 icon), Small ins not only add to Photoshop’s boot (28 x 28 thumbnail), Medium (52 x 52 time, they also increase the time it takes thumbnail) and Large (76 x 76 to open every single file! To disable thumbnail). ‘None’ requires least these filters, locate the Plug-ins\ resources but provides only generic Digimarc subfolder and add a tilde ( ~ ) thumbnails, while ‘Small’ requires to the beginning of the folder name (for relatively little RAM and processor time, example, ~Digimarc). and provides real thumbnails. Follow the same procedure to disable Another palette that can potentially any file formats (8B? files) that you never use a lot of memory is the History palette. use: open the Plug-ins\File Formats That’s because every history state (and folder and add a tilde to the beginning snapshot) requires additional scratch disk of their filenames (eg, ~FilmStrip.8bi, space, and for large images these states ~Pixar.8bi, etc). To disable multiple files can add up very quickly. To configure simultaneously, place them in a the number of history states, choose subfolder whose name begins with a Photoshop>Edit>Preferences>General. tilde (for example, ~Disabled). The default number of history states is 100. Use ‘em or lose ‘em Upon startup, Photoshop checks both Improving load time the System Fonts and Adobe Fonts There are several things you can do to folders to determine the number of reduce the time it takes Photoshop to fonts available for use with the Type load. One way is to delete (or archive) all tools. If you have a lot of fonts installed, the presets you don’t use, such as the this can significantly increase the time it default Styles, Tool Presets, Custom takes for Photoshop to load. The Adobe Shapes and Brushes. The simplest way to Fonts folder may be used to store fonts

“PHOTOSHOP CS2 LOVES A FAST PROCESSOR AND LOTS OF RAM”

Where’s that folder? Assuming a default installation, the locations of the folders referenced in this article are as follows:

FOLDER NAME

MAC OS PATH

Photoshop

/Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS2

Plug-ins

/Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS2/Plug-Ins

Presets

/Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS2/Presets

Settings

/Users//Library\Preferences/Photoshop CS2 Settings

Colour Profiles

/Users//Library/ColorSync/Profiles

Adobe Fonts

/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts

System Fonts

/Library/Fonts (/Users// Library/Fonts)

FOLDER NAME

WINDOWS PATH

Photoshop

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2

Plug-ins

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\Plug-Ins

Presets

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\Presets

Settings

C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Adobe\ Photoshop\9.0\Adobe Photoshop CS2 Settings

Colour Profiles

C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Drivers\Color

Adobe Fonts

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Fonts

System Fonts

C:\Windows\Fonts

Also see ‘Where things are’, a PDF document available from AdobeEvangelists.com: www.adobeevangelists.com/pdfs/pscs2/ wherethingsare.pdf that will only be recognised by Adobe applications – however, you should limit the number of fonts in this folder to those you use on a regular basis. The System Fonts folder contains fonts installed by your operating system and may be used by many applications, including Photoshop. It’s recommended that you don’t remove any of the fonts in the System Fonts folder. Unfortunately, you can’t hide fonts in subfolders prefixed with a tilde. All fonts – even those with subfolders – will be enumerated by Photoshop upon startup, so if you don’t use them, move them to a location outside the fonts folder. Like fonts, all colour profiles (ICC and ICM files) installed on your system are read by Photoshop upon startup, so it’s a good idea to remove any profiles that aren’t required.

Preventative maintenance Finally, make sure you defragment/ optimise your hard drive on a regular basis, as this will improve the read/write speed for files and programs on that drive. A good rule of thumb is to defrag your drive at least once a month – or any time you notice your operating system becoming sluggish. Note that for large and/or significantly fragmented drives, this procedure can take several hours.

SMALL THUMBNAILS: To save additional memory and improve Photoshop’s response time, try reducing the size of the thumbnails for the various palettes (eg, Layers, Channels, Paths and Animation)

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Eye-catching imagery that inspires and challenges

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ne thing that never fails to impress us here at Advanced Photoshop is not only the skill of our readers but the huge variety of different approaches that you all take. It’s a healthy sign to see so many different creative styles emerging from your good selves, and this month’s Peer Pressure shows off those skills better than ever before. Have you got a digital masterpiece up your sleeves that you’d like to share with your fellow readers? Sending your images in to us for inclusion in Peer Pressure is an ideal way to get your name out there. You never know who’s browsing through the magazine looking for a new Photoshop guru to front their company. If you’d like to see your own work on these pages, please send us low-res versions to [email protected] – we’ll get back to you for more information and higher resolution copies if we want to print them. Alternatively, please log on to our forum website at www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum and scroll down to Peer Pressure in the Creative Projects section to post a link to your image samples.

Ice cold NAME: Joe Upton EMAIL: [email protected] Joe Upton is a meat cutter by trade and both an amateur photographer and an avid Photoshopper in his spare time. He has been using Photoshop for about three years and is often seen with a Canon Digital Rebel XT in his hand. This image was inspired by the ice tutorial featured in Advanced Photoshop 17. “Choosing an image with the proper skin tones and highlights was more challenging than I originally supposed it would be. One particular problem with this image was that the right shoulder was almost all highlight and I feared it would appear blown out. This was solved by choosing a foreground ice image that would hide most of the right shoulder.”

“I STARTED OFF TAKING VARIOUS SELF-PORTRAITS IN ANGUISHED POSES...” You’ll stand a better chance of seeing your work in print if you adhere to the following criteria: make sure that your images are high-quality TIFFs or JPEGs (RGB or CMYK), 300dpi minimum, and can be printed at 15cm x 15cm minimum. Don’t forget to include a short text file detailing how you created your work, too.

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iqu es Te ch n The colour of pink NAME: Daniel Sehlstedt EMAIL: [email protected] WEB: www.dannei.com This image was created as a token gesture for Daniel’s girlfriend. “I was feeling uninspired and my girlfriend told me to create something for her.” To begin with a gradient overlay was created using a blend of pink and white. “I needed a background texture and found a nice wavy pattern for which I altered the blending mode and changed to an overlay. I reduced the opacity of this as I didn’t want it to get the full attention.” Daniel then added some text into the background and used a layer mask to hide the sides of the text to make it blend in more. Finally, he polished off the piece by adding a few marks with different brushes and the ‘color of pink’ text.

BB EE ST IN ST INSH S OW If yo H O Be u think y

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Purgatory NAME: Matthew Kempton EMAIL: [email protected] WEB: www.cucumbersandwich.co.uk Matthew taught himself Photoshop and has been learning for two years. His current job as an in-house designer for a small company doesn’t require much Photoshop so he tends to practice in his free time. Inspired by Vault49 and Flatliner Matthew’s piece was an idea conceived from a conversation he had on purgatory. “I thought it would make for a rather interesting project, so I started off by doing a bit of home photography, taking various self portraits in anguished poses. Once I had a photo I was happy with I started working on getting the body to look as if it was about to combust.” The result was achieved by working with several duplicated layers (with subtle filters applied) that were then combined with layer effects. “The sides of the image were built up using a combination of photographs that were traced using the Pen Tool and filled with solid colour. Some brushes that were sourced from deviantART were used to add the final touches.”

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Discover the thinking behind the art

BE IN ST SH OW

SHOAL OF APARTMENTS: “I tried to

think of how our great-grandsons would live in harmony with nature and went for a ‘shoal of fish’ analogy. As often with my pictures this looked quite dull before the very last few steps. It only came together after I added distance blur, light rays, small dithers and a global colour retouch”

CITY HOPPER: The picture was created using a grasshopper as the main source image and replacing each part with a mechanical element. “I couldn’t find sources for the limbs of the pilot so I photographed myself in the position and incorporated this into the image. Sometimes it’s the only way to get a weird perspective to match”

ASIMO RIDE: “A recurring theme in my pictures is the depiction of everyday scenes in a futuristic and mechanical world. I wanted to show the robot having a good time, riding his new hover car.” Joan used a motion blur on the background to spice up an otherwise static scene. “I also turned the car into a convertible to suit the overall feeling”

SUNRISE ON LILYVILLE: “The piece combines several key approaches I had used previously. I created a deep perspective by the multiplication and blurring of elements in the background. A dreamy light was important as sunshine and sunrise always makes for a nice ambiance. As for sense of scale, the man on the boat is there for a reason – it ties the whole thing together. It’s very important in pictures to give the viewer a way to understand the proportions of the elements”

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iqu es Te ch n Visions Of The Future NAME: Joan Charmant EMAIL: [email protected] WEB: www.joancharmant.com

“I DO PHOTOSHOP AS A HOBBY AND I WOULDN’T WANT IT OTHERWISE”

Joan has been dabbling with Photoshop for just under two years. With previous experience in graphical arts he knew that photo-montage would be the right style for him. “It’s something that combines the freedom of illustration with the impact of photography. The possibility of developing my imaginary worlds into convincing pictures instantly attracted me.” Joan has learned a lot about his digital imaging by “trial and error” constructions in the daily competitions on www.worth1000.com. It may surprise some to learn that despite his terrific Photoshop skills Joan isn’t interested in going professional. “I work for the software industry. I do Photoshop as a hobby and I wouldn’t want it otherwise. I sometimes feel that having an art director can spoil the fun of creation. I want to keep it pure leisure, even if it means I’m not getting any money out of it.” BUNCH OF GEARS: This was one of Joan’s earliest works and is one of the first pictures he was happy with. “I did this over the course of an afternoon, with a pretty simple concept in mind. I replaced each and every flower with a gear of the same size and perspective. There are a couple of things I would definitely do differently today, but I guess its symbolism still works quite well”

World Cup Fury NAME: Gareth Julien Gareth is a 26-year old project manager and multimedia student from London. “I’ve dabbled with Photoshop since the days of the Apple Mac Classic and would probably be a guru by now if I’d stuck at it.” He tells us that this was quite a simple piece to create, but “involved a lot of playing about to achieve the correct blending results.” Gareth painted the red flag strips onto the material and adjusted the opacity and the different blending options until he had a convincing result. The Warp and Brush tools were used to manipulate the ‘England’ text and the German strips.

By submitting images to Advanced Photoshop’s Peer Pressure, you hereby grant Imagine and, if relevant, clients to whom the relevant work has been provided, an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free licence to use intellectual property in relation to work similar or equivalent to the work. This includes the right to showcase work on multimedia formats.

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Helpdesk Our Photoshop pro tackles your editing woes and sets you on the path to image enlightenment BY JULIE EASTON lighting can look off when different images from different cameras are comped together. I shoot under Tungsten lights, and set both cameras to the pre-set Tungsten whitebalance setting, but they both produce different results. What’s going on? Simon Tucker

HUE’S THAT GIRL? I am having trouble getting strong colours from my digital SLR and I spend a lot of time in Photoshop increasing the saturation, but the results still aren’t as vivid as when I worked with film. I use a lot of flora in my digital artwork and I really need the texture and vibrancy of flowers to remain. However, I find that Photoshop tends to turn colour into solid blocks and there are uncomfortable transitions between different colours. Can I avoid this effect when adjusting the saturation?

FLOWER POWER: Use the Saturation command as a last resort to avoid blocky colours; try increasing the contrast which is where the “uncomfortable transitions” make their appearance. Digital saturation enhancement will exaggerate the differences in tones that are usually too subtle to notice, and this will lead to the loss of texture that you describe. Before jumping right in and using the Saturation command in Photoshop, try enhancing the contrast first, as this may help to bring out the tones in your image without losing pixel data. Also, use the Levels and Curves adjustments options to make subtle changes to your image. Use the Saturation command as a last resort and hopefully you’ll find that your floral images retain more detail, but still have plenty of contrast and colour.

This is a common problem and it relates to the different ways in which camera manufacturers describe Tungsten lighting. Tungsten covers a wide range of different colour temperatures from 2000-24000 degrees Kelvin for domestic bulbs, to 3200-3400 degrees Kelvin in studio setups. It depends on what the particular manufacturer has based their Tungsten setting on as to what colour the resulting image will be. Generally cameras will be matched to the studio setting (which is what Tungsten film was balanced for), but some cameras will aim to reproduce in accordance with domestic values, which will produce cold tones if used under studio lighting. The best thing that you can do to achieve consistency between your different cameras is to use a manual white balance setting if there is one available. Measure the light using a piece of white card underneath the lighting that you intend to use for each of your cameras and hopefully the images will comp together naturally. If you can, shoot in RAW so that you maintain the image data and can adjust the white balance settings in post-production. LIGHTEN UP: Measure your white balance manually if working under studio lighting

Sarah Dunn Increasing the saturation of an image in Photoshop leads to blocky colours and unwanted artefacts because you are clipping the pixel data and forcing tonal values too high. If you are selectively increasing one colour channel, then you might find that some pixels are changed and others nearby are not,

BALANCING ACT I use a couple of different cameras to capture images that I later comp together for digital projects. I am having trouble getting to grips with my white balance settings and the

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iqu es Te ch n MEMORY LOSS

LET THERE BE LIGHT I am weighing up the odds of buying a handheld light meter and wanted your advice. I have a Canon 5D with reflective light metering and was wondering if I would benefit from investing in a handheld meter that has both incident and reflective metering options. Ian Clifton All DSLRs have reflective light metering built in, which measures the light reflected by the subject toward the camera. Incident lighting measures the light falling onto the subject, and can give more accurate light readings. With a handheld meter you can get in close and take a meter in the same light as the subject, figuring the results into your calculations. The main advantage of using a handheld meter is if you are photographing light, bright subjects like snow, which can often fool a camera’s built-in metering into underexposing the image. They are essential under studio lighting to ensure correct exposure of your subjects. Sekonic (www.sekonic.com) does a good range of light meters to suit all budgets.

PEN TROUBLES I am using a PC with Photoshop CS2. I love your magazine and your tutorials are really excellent, but unfortunately something is holding me back from being able to really move forward creatively. I just can’t get my head around the Pen Tool, therefore I can’t create any of the great stuff in your magazine that relies on this. It’s completely my fault I know, but I just can’t get past what has now become a major hang-up with my Photoshop usage. I have studied web tutorials on using the Pen Tool, but it just doesn’t click for me. Would there be any chance at all of some help with this? I’m sure I can’t be alone in finding the accurate plotting of points for tracing completely mystifying. Antony Baker, via email You’re definitely not alone in this one, Antony. A lot of people have trouble getting used to the Pen Tool for cutting out objects, but it is an essential tool to get to grips with if you want to further your Photoshop skills. The trick here really is practice, practice, practice. The web is full of great tutorials that can help you, though some are more complicated than others. One good tutorial can be found at http://retouchpro. com/tutorials/?m=show&id=30, which isn’t the best-looking of step-by-steps but it is a good one for simple explanations. We wish we could offer you a quick-fix solution, but unfortunately this is one case when there really isn’t one.

OUT OF CONTROL: The Pen Tool is tricky, but you just

gotta learn how to use it. Online tutorials can help

I’ve done something silly and accidentally deleted some images off of my memory card. It was a long and tiring shoot and the thought of having to do it all again is not exactly filling me with joy. I have heard of rescue software; can you recommend a product, and will it work? Jane Dorman There are programs that can recover images from a memory card to a reasonably good extent so don’t panic just yet! A quick Google search reveals a number of different software solutions that you can use. PhotoRecovery is available from www.gorecovery.com and comes in both Mac and Windows versions. The software costs £22.78 ($42) and can be downloaded as soon as payment is made so you can begin your attempt to recover images straight away. There is no guarantee with this sort of program, however, so don’t be disappointed if your images are beyond saving. In the meantime don’t use your memory card or format it, otherwise your chances of recovery disappear completely.

SENSITIVE TYPE: The larger sensor on the D50 make it a better choice for good image quality than a prosumer camera

PIXELS VS POWER I want to invest in a new camera but I am confused as to what is the most important thing to look for: megapixels or imageprocessing capability? I need to be able to print out comfortably at A4 and possibly larger, and I am torn between a ninemegapixel Fujifilm S9500 prosumer model, or a six-megapixel Nikon D50 DSLR. I’ve been working with film and scanning my images in, but now I think it is time to go digital.

BRING IT BACK: You may be able to save deleted images on your memory card with software like PhotoRecovery

Jamie Donaldson Once upon a time it was all about the megapixels, but that race seems to be finally slowing down. Manufacturers are realising that pursuing higher resolutions isn’t worth it when most users don’t print out large enough to notice a difference. What is more important is the size of a camera’s sensor. Prosumer models, like the S9500 that you mentioned, have tiny sensors meaning that the enlargement ratio for printing out at A4 is a lot bigger than on the D50, which, like all DSLRs, has a larger sensor. This means that at A4 size you will get better quality images from the lower-resolution Nikon than the nine-megapixel Fujifilm. You will also benefit from less noise and better contrast. Therefore, if picture quality is your only concern then we’d definitely recommend going for the DSLR option, although you will have to take other things into consideration like cost, additional lenses and portability before making your final decision.

HELPDESK CALL FOR QUESTIONS Want help with your Photoshop problems? Then let our team of experts sort you out. Send your emails to us at: [email protected] Remember to specify whether you are using a PC or Mac and the version number of your edition of Photoshop.

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lap tops

NOW THAT’S WHAT

Do your Photoshop on the move with these powerful laptops that pack a mean punch

I

f your love for Photoshop is as big as ours, then those times when you’re away from your computer are painful. Staring out of the window on a train or watching an awful rom-com when jet-setting seems like a waste of precious practice time. Similarly, if you have an important appointment with a client and want to prepare a presentation without worrying about the hardware you’ll be greeted with, it’s probably time to think about getting a laptop. There are so many models on the market that parting with your hard-earned cash can be a decision nightmare. It’s easy to get carried away by the temptation of a sleek and snazzy model, but if the specs aren’t up to scratch your purchase could be a big mistake.

The model for me? If money is no object and you don’t mind splashing out on another software package, then you won’t have to worry about matching up your operating system with your hardware at home or

PARTING WITH CASH CAN BE A DECISION NIGHTMARE

I CALL A NOTEBOOK

in the office. But if, like most of us, you need to be budget-conscious, then you will need to install the same package you have on your desktop onto your new laptop. The Adobe CS2 licensing allows you to install a package onto a maximum of two different machines. There’s no hybrid version of Adobe Creative Suite 2, so if you’ve already gone the way of the Apple at home, you’ll need to get a MacBook. You’re less limited when it comes to Windows systems, because there’s plenty more choice for model types and brands for a variety of budgets – although you may find the system less intuitive. There are a few pointers to remember when buying a laptop. Because you’ll be working with large file sizes that could easily slow down your machine, plenty of memory and hard drive space (around 100GB) will be invaluable. Of course, you can always attach a portable hard drive to save your storage from being used up, but your Photoshop work will be tedious without that extra oomph of good speed. Working with high-resolution images will mean that a good graphics card is essential. Steer away from integrated graphics cards. You’ll be able to upgrade your machine far easier without one and always make sure you’re up to date with the best graphics technology (this is particularly useful if you ever want to upgrade your software – you never know what new releases are around the corner).

Although you won’t want to carry around an unnecessarily large model, a generous monitor size is a must to make your Photoshop work easy on the eye. Most new models don’t scrimp on this, but try to opt for a widescreen that measures more than 15 inches so you can spread out your windows and palettes. Finally, there will be more freedom using your laptop if you choose a piece of kit that comes with a good quality DVD writer, so you can burn and back up all those essential files.

Go shopping There are plenty of places to pick up your laptop models. The obvious place is a company website to mail-order your pieces of kit, although this won’t necessarily give you the best deal. A local chain store is another option, but let’s face it, getting your ear talked off by a shop assistant on commission isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The best deals will come from scouting the web. If you’ve got Del Boy tendencies and fancy trying your luck with a bargain, check out eBay and start placing your bids. A potential bargain might immediately come to light by logging on to our favourite price comparison website, www.pricerunner.co.uk. Here, you can compare prices from reputable outlets, read up on customer reviews, check out the star rating and save yourself searching high and low for those cracking deals.

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Laptop

ROUND UP

LAPTOPS: PORTABLE POWER When high resolution, fast speed and huge storage space are a must

Sony VAIO AR Series Web: www.sony.co.uk / www.sony.com Contact: (UK) 0870-2402408 / (US) 1-888-476-6972 The AR series is Sony’s designated multimedia PC range, fusing premium technology and entertainment features, and they all look pretty slick. Included in the range is the first VAIO notebook with Blu-ray disc. The benefits of a model from the AR series include a large hard disk capacity – perfect for storing large image files – and a 17-inch WideUltra XGA2 black LCD screen to make your Photoshop work a joy. All of the monitors include a dual-lamp and a multi-layer anti-reflection surface treatment to aid the display’s contrast and brightness.

VGN-AR11S Price : £1,999 / $3,688 Operating System: Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition 2005 Platform: Intel Centrino Core Memory speed (MHz): 533 Memory size: 1024 High Drive capacity (GB): 200 Optical Drive type: Blu-ray Super Multi Double layer DVD +/- RW/ BD-RE Drive Display: 17-inch (1920x1200) X-black LCD with double lamp technology Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce Go7600 GT with 256MB dedicated video memory

A BLU-RAY DISC CAN STORE LOADS MORE INFO PER LAYER THAN A DVD

VGN-AR11M Price : £1,499 / $2,765 Operating System: Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition 2005 Platform: Intel Centrino Core Memory speed (MHz): 533 Memory size: 1024MB High Drive capacity (GB): 160 Optical Drive type: Super Multi Double Layer DVD +/- RW Drive Display: 17-inch (1440x900) X-black LCD with double lamp technology Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce Go7600 with 128MB dedicated video memory

VGN-AR11B Price : £1,199 / $2,213 Operating System: Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition Platform: Intel Centrino Core Memory speed (MHz): 533 Memory size: 1024MB High Drive capacity (GB): 100 Optical Drive type: Super Multi Double layer DVD +/- RW Drive Display: 17-inch (1440x900) X-black LCD Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce Go7400 with TurboCache supporting 256MB

Blu-ray

eration optical know, Blu-ray is the next gen For those who aren’t in the embraced by and Blu-ray Disc Association disc format developed by the format in DVD HD wn kno l wel against the Sony. It’s currently competing true VHS vs Betamax style. r (25 gigabytes s more information per laye A Blu-ray disc can store load . However, gth elen ause of the shorter wav instead of 15) than a DVD bec e. duc pro to ive ens far more exp the drawback is that they’re

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lap tops

rock

Web: www.rockdirect.com Contact: ((UK) 08709 909090

great-quality rock has been producing rs. Although that’s yea st innovative notebooks for over ten ops offer some of the mo to its competitors, its lapt ed par com e tim erts. of t exp IT oun a pretty short am ch is often applauded by lly serious competitor, whi rea a It’s nty of power . ple rket h ma wit the ds, on nee technology k, all catering for different roc from le ilab ava ty, ges ran collect-and-return warran There are a whole host of products have a three-year k’s roc All s. and ond dem sec op al es with an option to satisfy rigorous Photosh awry. The CTX T2500 com se mind if anything does go on the move. Great for tho er pow ra so you can have peace of ext of rs writer to give over three hou DVD the h wit e. ps anc swa t form battery tha rificing screen size and per op on the train without sac who need to use Photosh

rock Xtreme CTX T2500

Apple Web: www.apple.com Contact: (0800 039 1515 (UK), 1800 88 20 29 (Ireland) 1-800-275-2273 (US) Apple delivers the goods with the MacBook and MacBook Pro, offering not only superb specs for speedy Photoshop work but also stunning design. Not only can you rely on Apple to provide a notebook with plenty of welcome extras, there’s always great support both online and over the telephone. Both of these models are similar in style, but vary a little according to size and technical specifications. The MacBook offers 2GHz of Intel Core Duo Power and up to 80GB hard drive, with an optional DVD burning SuperDrive,

Price : £1,644 / $2,995 t Windows XP Home Operating System: Microsof 0 T250 Duo Core (r) Intel : Platform Memory speed (MHz): 667

Memory size: 1GB : 100 High Drive capacity (GB) l Layer +/- DVD Writer Optical Drive type: 8x Dua en ) WUXGA+ X-Glass TFT Scre 1050 x 0 (168 ch 17-in Display: with 256MB GTX 00 Go79 rce GeFo IA Graphics Card: NVID dedicated video memory able that swaps Optional second battery avail give to r write DVD the with over three hours of battery on the move

MacBook

– good for people p who need to use Photosho g on the train without sacrificin . ance orm perf and screen size

GREAT FOR THOSE WHO NEED TO USE PHOTOSHOP ON THE TRAIN

Price : £749 / $1,099 Operating System: Mac OS X v.10.4 Tiger Platform: 1.83GHz or 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo Memory speed (MHz): 667 Memory size: Up to 120GB High Drive capacity (GB): Up to 120GB Optical Drive type: Super Drive with double-layer read support (DVD+R DL/DVD +/- RW/CD-RW) Display: 13.3-inch glossy widescreen TFT display Graphics Card: Intel GMA 950 graphics processor with 64MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory

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Laptop

ROUND UP

Alienware

Web: www.alienware.co.uk/ www.alienware.com Contact: 0800 279 9751 (UK), 1800-ALIENWARE (US) If you’re not one to trundle along with the masses then an Alienware notebook could be the right option for you. Alienware offers award-winning products with a unique style and hefty performance. There are plenty of models to opt for with varying specifications, but all have the distinctive Alienware casing that will be sure to make heads turn.

Aurora MALX Elite Assassin built-in Bluetooth, wireless-ready Airport and up to 2GB of RAM from $1,099 in the US, with the nasty tax man adding a little extra for the UK at £749, while Europeans get it for €1,119. For extra punch, the MacBook Pro is five times the speed of the PowerBook G4, with eight times the graphics

bandwidth. The standard is a 15.4-inch display which comes with 2GHz or 2.16GHz Core Duo, one FireWire 400 and two USB 2.0 ports. However, we’d suggest the 17-inch display, which has 2.16GHz Core Duo, one FireWire 800 and three USB 2.0 ports.

MacBook Pro Price : £1097 / $1999 Operating System: Mac OS X v.10.4 Tiger Platform: 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo Memory speed (MHz): 667 Memory size: Up to 2GB High Drive capacity (GB): Up to 120GB Optical Drive type: 4x SuperDrive (DVD +/- RW/ CD-RW) Display: 17-inch (1680x1050) TFT Screen or 15.4-inch (1400x900) TFT Screen Graphics Card: 17-inch – ATI Mobility Radeon x1600 with 256MB of GDDR3 SDRAM and dual link DVI. 15-inch – ATI Mobility Radeon x1600 with 128MB of GDDR3 SDRAM and dual link DVI

Price : £2,599 / $4,792 Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition Platform: AMD Turion 64 Mobile Processor Memory speed (MHz): 400 Memory size: 120GB High Drive capacity (GB): up to 120GB Optical Drive type: 8x Dual Layer DVD +/-RW/ 24x CD-RW Graphics Card: 256MB Nvidia GeForce Go 7900 GTX SLI Enabled

THE DISTINCTIVE ALIENWARE CASING WILL BE SURE TO MAKE HEADS TURN

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Giving you a creative head-start Push the limits of Adobe’s image-editing app with these essential resources GET FLASHY: The latest, greatest gadgets on page 90

software

86

Everything you need to know about Vista, the new Windows system

gadgets

90

Bring some gadgetry to your desktop with our selection of tech toys

books

92

From game art to digital photography, we’ve got it covered

websites

mends Recom

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Learn online with these top Photoshop sites and resources

C

reating in Photoshop has never been an ‘all work, no play’ affair. Engineering digital images is a fun and creative task, and your work area should reflect this. Giving you a helping hand to obtain the ultimate home office, we’ve compiled a list of the coolest gadgets around. With some proving invaluable to your work within days and others being a more frivolous spend, you’re sure to find something to suit your needs. And that’s not where our creative researching has stopped this month. We’ve had Steve Jenkins, Windows XP Made Easy’s reviews editor, give us the lowdown on the impending launch of Vista. Whatever you need to know about the release, we’ve got it covered. There’s also a wealth of books between these resource pages, covering topics from creating video game art to using Corel Painter successfully with Photoshop. Finally, we’ve included a directory of the finest Photoshop websites around. Whether it’s inspiration, tutorials, news or reviews you want from the Internet, these sites will set you on the right path.

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Feature

A view of

Windows Vista

With the next generation of Microsoft Windows just around the corner, will it be worth the wait? BY STEVE JENKINS

T

he next generation of Windows, officially titled Vista, has been a long time in the making. Its predecessor, Windows XP, first appeared in the public domain in 2001, making the transition almost six years – and that’s if Vista makes its scheduled debut! Although Microsoft has insisted Vista will be unveiled to the public in the first quarter of 2007, the launch has been plagued with problems. Even if that exact date is still open to speculation, when the OS finally does make an appearance, Microsoft assures its waiting consumers that it will have been worth the wait. Will Vista prove to be the powerhouse Microsoft claims or will it be a case of ‘don’t believe the hype’?

Looking good With several betas and the CPP (Customer Preview Program) available, much of the mystery of Vista has already been dispelled. However, one component that’s been gaining plenty of attention is the new user interface. With the right hardware, the visual sophistication of the new interface can be fully appreciated. Vista introduces glass effects to home and office

ALL GROWN UP: The vastly improved graphics engine brings with it visual sophistication and the option to make standard Windows elements semi-transparent. The new Start menu finally grows up and becomes a new mature self

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WINDOWS VISTA computing, enabling elements such as the title bar and taskbar to become semi-transparent so users can focus on the task of actually using the software. This opacity also allows for users to view underlying content without the inconvenience of having to minimise or close a window. This may be a simple feature but could be worth its weight in gold, improving productivity no end. Alongside the new UI, the other famous feature of the Windows Desktop – the Start menu – has also been given a major reworking. The first, most traffic stopping change is that it no longer bears the moniker ‘Start’. Sporting simply the Windows flag that brings forth the new improved menu with a single click, the new look Start menu is sure to cause some excitement. The gateway to Windows also now boasts a redesigned layout, giving the menu a far more compact look and feel. The ‘My’ tag has been removed, with My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, etc simply becoming Documents, Pictures and Music. This rejuvenated menu helps give the impression of a far more grown-up and mature system. And that’s not where the menu updates stop. The cascading All Programs menu system has also been given the boot, and space within the menu is reused to display a sub Contents menu for quicker interaction. In addition, an integrated desktop search known as Instant Search offers the option to find and launch almost any file or program instantly.

Take control The Control Panel is an essential and central point for modifying the many settings that Windows currently possesses. The new improved Control Panel retains some of the old favourites, but boasts plenty of new additions as well. In fact, there are now a total of 54 Control Panel applets waiting for your attention.

Get ready for Vista The appearance of a new OS brings with it one prevailing question. Will my present machine be powerful enough or will I need to upgrade? History dictates that Microsoft’s minimum specs are liberal to say the least. As a general guideline, you’ll need to double whatever Microsoft states to gain acceptable performance from the OS. At a quick glance, users will need for a Vista Capable PC, according to guidelines, a modern CPU (Intel, AMD or Via at least 800MHz), 512MB of RAM and a DirectX 9 class graphics processor. For a Vista Premium PC, a 1 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 128MB graphics memory plus 15GB of free disk space and a DVD-ROM. For further assistance you can try the latest beta of The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. This is a small application that runs on current Windows XP machines LOOK FOR THE LOGO: The Windows Vista Capable PC logo will identify the hardware you need

to find out if they are ready for an upgrade to Windows Vista. This can be found at www. microsoft.com/windowsvista/ getready/upgradeadvisor/ default.mspx. For replacement PCs, users need to look out for the Windows Vista Capable PC logo which identifies hardware that meets or exceeds the requirements to deliver the Windows Vista core experience. For a better Windows Vista experience, be sure to get a Windows Vista Capable PC that is designated Premium Ready.

BE PREPARED: It’s best to play safe and double up on whatever specs Microsoft gives in order to get a reasonable performance from the operating system

ADOBE HAS SUPPORTED MICROSOFT OPERATING SYSTEMS CONSISTENTLY, SO IT’S A NATURAL EVOLUTION FOR US TO SUPPORT VISTA 87

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Feature A NEW BROWSING EXPERIENCE A big player in the Windows universe and the World Wide Web, Internet Explorer has been given a long overdue overhaul. The latest beta (www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default. mspx) introduces a sparkling new interface and a host of new features including the much vaunted tabbed browsing. This finally brings it in line with its few competitors (mainly Firefox). Web searching straight from the toolbar, reading and subscription to RSS feeds, and improved support for cascading style sheets (CSS) are also included. The ‘ools menu gives way to the all-new and improved Phishing Filter, which offers Automatic Website Checking to ensure that a site is safe.

Security is an issue that has been at the heart of Windows for many years, and Vista proves to be no different. Microsoft states that its latest OS will be the most secure version of Windows yet. To this end it has included a host of tools and features to prevent unwanted intrusions. Automatic Updates and Windows Security Center can help you keep your PC up to date with the latest security patches, while the improved Windows Vista firewall will help repel hackers, viruses and worms. Windows Defender (already available in beta) helps protect you against spyware and other potentially unwanted software. Plus there is the inclusion of the Malicious Software Removal tool, which scans your PC looking for known prevalent viruses.

Gadgets and Sidebar

Much like the old Control Panel, the Vista version is available in two views – Classic and Category – with the Category view now expanded. Tailoring the look and feel of Vista to suit personal requirements is now within easy reach thanks to the Ease of Use Center. User Accounts and Family Safety provide control over how children access and make use of the PC, as well as giving the option to impose time limits.

Vista is by no means going to be all work and no play, though. A new addition, that Mac OS X and even Google users might have seen the like of before, is Gadgets. Essentially, Gadgets are mini-applications that are web services delivering information to the desktop. These include news updates, weather information and Internet radio streams. These are but the tip of the iceberg though with Gadgets being capable of integrating with installed applications – Media Player, or being standalone apps – Calculator. Alongside the standard Vista set, further Gadgets can be downloaded from a wide variety of

CONTROL PANEL: The Control Panel is where the heart of Windows Vista lies and a visit will reveal a host of new improved applets, an amazing 54 in total

MINI APPS: Download, install and manage a host of mini applications with the help of the Windows Sidebar and a pool of Gadgets available from developers and manufacturers across the globe

developers. And Microsoft has thought of you if you have too many gadgets to know what to do with. The Windows Sidebar is a panel that resides to the side of the desktop and lets users organise Gadgets for easy access. As you might expect from a new Windows OS, Microsoft has included a host of media tools that begin to take Vista beyond a PC operating system. Included is an updated version of Windows Media Player with a new improved interface and all round manageability. Integrated into the player is URGE, a new digital music service from MTV Networks. Vista’s own version of Media Center with updated interface makes an appearance making it easier than ever to find, play and manage all your digital entertainment on your PC or TV using a remote control. It’s almost like you never had a PC. Alongside the big players there’s the updated Movie Maker, now with support for HD video and burning to CD/DVD plus DVD Maker for creating DVD interfaces.

A Photoshopper’s paradise? But what about Photoshop users? Will Vista be a paradise for us, or will we find that like the brand new Intel-powered Macs, Photoshop has not been considered? As usual, the app giant is being tight-lipped about any forthcoming changes to software to encompass new technology, although one Adobe spokesman MUSIC: Get to grips with the all new interface of Windows Media Player 11, and take control of your music and video. Plus, expand your music collection with the integrated download service URGE

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Windows Vista ”Admittedly we’ve had to wait a long time for a major upgrade to Microsoft’s Windows, but despite that it looks like we won’t be disappointed as there’s definitely a lot to get excited about in Vista – from the fresh new sophisticated look including desktop gadgets and the 3D Flip view to simplified system management and improved security features.“ Stuart Tarrant, Editor – Windows XP Made Easy

Any insight into Vista would not be complete without the mention of the Windows Vista product line-up. This will consist of six versions, two for businesses, three for consumers and one for emerging markets: Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Starter. The three contenders for the home users are Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate. For an in-depth view, head on over to

www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/ feb06/02-26WinVistaProductsPR.mspx. Vista is expected to hit the streets in Q1 2007. However, much in the tradition of all that is Windows, even this date could prove to be flexible. Originally set to be released in 2005, Vista (codenamed Longhorn) has jettisoned many a feature to make even the ‘07 date. This includes the recent removal of WinFS, its relational file system once described as one of the pillars of Vista. The recent €497m fine from the European Commission for a ‘near-monopoly’ of the Windows System hasn’t helped matters either. Microsoft recently said that efforts to improve security in Vista were largely behind the delays. Vista chief Jim Allchin commented, “We’re trying to do the responsible thing here.” Well, let’s hope so, and roll on 2007 when we can finally see the fruits of the software giant’s labour – and it had better be good. 5

SUPREME CONTROL: Take control of access and get peace of mind all in one easy-to-set-up centre. Limit access to undesirable websites, impose time limits and block programs on your machine

PHOTOS: Browse your carefully arranged photo collection via a selected month or day, or view your highly rated favourites. Give the not-so-good a helping hand with a click of Fix

did tell us: “We have supported Microsoft operating systems consistently, so it’s a natural evolution for us to support Vista. Beyond this, it is Adobe corporate policy to not comment on future versions of our software.”

And there’s more

INSTANT VISTA ADVICE The advent of a new OS brings with it plenty of online information, and Microsoft sites among many others can be found in abundance. The main instigator of the latest Vista news and general information lies within the Microsoft site itself. ● Official Windows Vista www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/ default.aspx This is the starting point from which users can branch out, discover and expand their knowledge of the next generation OS. Additional official websites that make the grade include: ● Get Ready www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/ default.mspx This page provides links and insight to Windows Vista Capable PCs, Windows Vista editions, Upgrade Advisor and the Customer Preview Program. ● Windows Vista Community www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/ community/default.mspx This page includes Vista featured articles, links to popular blogs, up and coming events, newsgroups and community MVPs. ● Windows Marketplace www.windowsmarketplace.com Provides a selection of Windows Vista Capable and Premium Ready PCs that are available today. For an unofficial view of the latest and greatest Microsoft OS, pay a visit to: ● ActiveWin www.activewin.com The Active Network is a huge resource that’s dedicated to Windows in all shapes and forms. Alongside its dedicated Windows XP section, users will find the Vista section which offers an in-depth guide to the OS. ● Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows www.winsupersite.com This site embraces all versions of Windows with FAQs, reviews, Tech Showcases and its own dedicated Windows Vista Activity Centre.

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resources

gadgets

When you’re stuck at your desk, a cool gadget or funky flash drive can fire up your inspiration

TADO Hero Flashdrive Price: £64 / $117.95 Web: www.mimoco.com

High-tech treats PQI U510

Y

ou’re probably familiar with the work of TADO (www. tado.co.uk). A design company that produces its own cartoon-esque worlds through Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash, Mike and Katie are well-known in the design industry. Expanding their creative wings further than their illustrations and range of toys takes them, they’ve now designed a series of flash drives. Imagine tucking your work onto these funky drives – you’d be the envy of the design world! Check out www. mimoco.com, where you’ll find designs by lots of artists and the storage goes up to 2GB – not bad. Convenient and portable, these drives are an essential working tool, and with one this design-friendly, you’ll never lose it. 5 Rating:

mends Recom

5/5

Price: £10.49 / $18 Web: www.editorskeys.com

I

deal for those new to the Adobe app, this gadget is compatible with both PC and Mac keyboards. Allowing you to work faster than ever by giving you easy access to shortcuts, the Photoshop Keyboard is fully compatible with the default shortcuts in Photoshop 5 and above. Transforming your keyboard couldn’t be simpler – just stick and go for a potential increase in your productivity. Although we’re not huge fans of keyboard stickers like this, they can be and invaluable resource while you’re learning and can be easily disposed of afterwards. 5

3/5

Availabot Price: TBA Web: www.availabot.com

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ow this really is a frivolity. As yet only a prototype, the Availabot is designed to make you aware when your instant messaging friends are online. For example, when your mate is online Availabot stands up straight, and when they go offline your desktop buddy drops to the floor. A purely fun way of showing whether or not your mates are online at any given time, the Availabot has one more trick up its sleeve to ensnare you into buying. It can be made to look like you or your friends! No word yet on when this little gadget is going to be released or how much it’s likely to retail for (at time of print), but we reckon unless it’s under a tenner, this is one office gadget we can all live without. 5 Rating:

If you thought your flash drive was small, then check out the latest offering to be announced by PQI. The U510 looks set to be the world’s slimmest flash drive at just 3mm thick. That’s not much bigger than your credit card! Designed to fit neatly in your wallet or pocket the U510 has a built-in retractable USB connector, works with Macs and Windows, and holds an amazing 16GB of data! Although the some information remains unobtainable (at time of print) the U510 will be available in iron grey, metallic silver and a football-inspired design. 5 Rating:

Photoshop Shortcut Keyboard

Rating:

Price: £35 / $44.99 Web: http://www.pqimemory.com

4/5

Logitech Cordless Desktop S530 Laser for Mac Price: £69.99 / $127 Web: www.logitech.co.uk

Designed specifically with the stylish white Macs in mind, the new S530 is the ideal companion for your monitor, scanner and printer. Complete with a one-touch button that allows you instant access to your music and photos on a Mac, the Desktop also includes a cordless, ergonomically designed keyboard with extended battery life and a sculpted laser mouse for extra precision. Perfect for those using Photoshop. Although if you’re a PC user this one is definitely not for you, with the USB minireceiver and stand, this is the perfect package – even if you’re designing on the go. 5 Rating:

4/5

Wacom Graphire4 Classic Price: £54 / $99.95 Web: www.wacom-europe.com/uk

Even those put off by some of Wacom’s more expensive tablets can’t turn their nose up at the Graphire4 range. Recom mends Starting at just $99.95 (around £54) the tablet is cheap enough to let you get the feel of the stylus, without feeling like you’ve spent a fortune. The Graphire4 Classic has everything you need to get going with a tablet – a working space of around A6 (which is great for enthusiasts, although pros might find this a tad restrictive), 2000 dpi to allow pinpoint accuracy and a pen compartment to store your new cordless and battery-free Wacom pen. Of all the gadgets you may want, this is one you actually need. 5 Rating:

5/5

3/5

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Price: £69.95 / $127 Web: www.colourconfidence.com

Logitech MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse

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Price: £49.99 / $91 Web: www.logitech.com

This was the world’s first laser mouse and remains to this day a decent product. With an incredible 20 times more sensitivity to surface detail – or tracking power – than optical, laser can track reliably even on tricky polished or wood-grain surfaces. The MX1000 also offers some advanced features that will make you more productive and more comfortable, these include the sculpted thumb support and finger grips for enhanced control, tiltable wheel for scrolling sideways and illuminated four level battery indicator. One more plus point is that it’s available in two hues – gunmetal silver and onyx black – so no matter what your setup, this will look fab. 5 Rating:

4/5

MacBook Price: £1028.99 / $1499 Web: www.apple.com

Recom Do you like to stand out mends from the crowd? If so your next purchase should be the MacBook black. We’re all used to seeing the white Macs. People on trains rub them in our faces (metaphorically only of course), students show them off in the local parks and TV shows seem to sport more than their fair share. However, they’re all white. The new MacBook from Apple features Intel technology, a screen over 13 inches wide as well as all of a Mac’s usual fare, and comes in either traditional white or the bold black. Which will you choose? 5 Rating:

resources

Pantone Huey

High-tech treats

5/5

o be able to work to your best, you have to be sure your technology is working to its best too. And what most people can overlook is proper colour calibration for their monitors. The Pantone Huey is a breakthrough. Able to work with LCD, CRT and laptop screens and compatible with Windows 2000/XP or Macintosh mends OSX 10.3 and above, Huey is the size of a small Recom marker pen and is the first monitor calibration device to continually adjust a monitor as room lighting changes. With calibration complete in less than three minutes, you’ll be left with plenty of time for creativity. 5 Rating:

American Express Butterfly Price: N/A Web: www.americanexpress.com/uk

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f you’re starting your own design business, could there be a better way to impress clients than to buy lunch on an American Express? Yes: buy it with the new Butterfly. Only available to Gold Card holders, the butterfly comes in its own sleek case that can be worn around the neck, but its show-stopping feature is the fact it is jointed to bend in half. The Butterfly, although not available to everyone, is embedded with status and style that means it’s sure to turn heads. But a whole host of people wearing their cards round their necks in a recognisable case can mean only one thing. Trouble. 5 Rating:

HP TravelScan 860 Business Card Scanner Price: £36 / $67 Web: www.usbgeek.com/prod_detail. php?prod_id=0283

For people who are always meeting new clients, business cards can become more of an annoyance than a resource. However, with this cool little portable scanner from HP, that might all be about to change. As you get a new card you can simply feed it into the miniature scanner and it’s stored directly on your computer. The scanned images can be converted into text using built-in optical character recognition technology, and can be imported directly into Outlook or another client. Costing just £36, you get the black and white scanner, cable, software and carrying case. 5 Rating:

4/5

5/5

3/5

Sony Mouse Phone Price: £55 / $100 Web: www.sony.co.uk

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f you want decadence, look no further than the Sony VAIO VN-CXI – a mouse and phone in one. If you like the concept, it could be the perfect gadget for a home office. In mouse mode the VN-CXI is highly responsive, featuring 800dpi resolution that makes navigating files and the Internet a breeze. As an Internet telephone incoming calls are announced by a LED on the mouse or by a ring tone if you prefer and the device opens at the touch of a button to become a handset for hands free or normal calling. Weighing in at just 67g the VN-CXI is available in black, silver or blue, but it’s the question that’s on everyone’s lips we just can’t answer. Why? 5 Rating:

4/5

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resources

books

Not all books are made equal, so we sort the wheat from the chaff in the digitally obsessed literary world

Further reading

Artistic Techniques With Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter

The Book Of Digital Photography Author: Chris George Publisher: Ilex Price: £20 / $36 ISBN: 9781904705857 Web: www.ilex-press.com

Author: Deborah Lynn Ferro Publisher: Amherst Media Price: £21.99 / $34.95 ISBN: 1584281650 Web: www.amherstmedia.com

Available from August, The Book Of Digital Photography is described by its publishers as “its most ambitious single volume photography title to date” and after taking a look at it we’d have to agree. Anyone trying their hand at being a snapper will love this book. Looking at everything from depth of field to focal length, lighting and shutter speed to all aspects of manipulation. Because of the breadth of subjects, some aspects are skimmed over that should be explored further, but for people with a good basic knowledge, this is a fantastic book. 5

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f you want to branch out of the realms of Photoshop and explore some new apps then this book is for you. Looking at the way Photoshop works with Corel’s Painter, this volume teaches even old hands at ‘Shop, new tricks. From selecting the right hardware and software to make your digital masterpieces to revealing tricks to combine the effects of these two powerful apps, everyone will find something new in this read. Possibly one of the most useful features of this book is its advice on marketing and selling your images. Looking at the advantages of producing limited editions, as well as revealing the must-knows behind pricing, marketing and the media, you’ll find it invaluable. The book however, is severely lacking in photographic presence. Although packed full of step-by-step tutorials on how to create images within both apps, the lack of visuals makes the techniques harder to follow and ultimately uninspiring. A few more photographs and a few less words would make all the difference to this book.

Rating:

Moan over – as a whole the volume will teach you some essential tools to combine the power of Corel and Adobe to create collages, painterly effects, pencil sketches, watercolours and more. Top notch for a tenner, but for over 20 pounds you might feel a little disappointed. 5 Rating:

3/5

3D Game Textures: Create Professional Game Art Using Photoshop Author: Luke Ahearn Publisher: Focal Press Price: £29.99 / $54 ISBN: 0240807685 Web: www.focalpress.com

mends Recom

From Guttenberg To Opentype Author: Robin Dodd Publisher: Ilex Price: £19.99 / $36 ISBN: 1904705774 Web: www.ilex-press.com

An informative and comprehensive history of type from the earliest markmaking to the present day, this book is a must-have for anyone working closely with typefaces. A beautifully designed and laid out read, the 400 images to 192-page ratio certainly gets our approval. Starting with the beginning of the written word, to the introduction of printing, this volume really sets the scene. Once we get to the modern day the book focuses on specific typefaces and where they originated, looking at how they are still used today. A little samey after a while, especially if you have no real interest in the area, although if you’re looking for a new font for your site this might help out. 5 Rating:

3/5

Automating Photoshop To Get Twice The Work Done In Half The Time

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t’s no surprise to learn that a lot of Photoshoppers are also gaming and Internet enthusiasts. Spending most of our time locked onto the computer for one reason or another, it’s great to know we can create what we’re looking at. 3D Textures teaches you how to create professional-looking videogame textures with step-by-step tutorials. Also focusing on teaching you the most efficient workflow critical for game development, this is not a book that speaks down to you. Using just Photoshop the book explores the skills needed to create grungy urban settings or rich fantasy worlds. From start to finish the volume looks at the research behind the games, to creating effective bullet holes, blood splatters and blast marks. Written by Luke Ahearn, a professional game developer with more then 13 years’ experience in the business, this is not a read for Photoshop beginners. Ahearn was involved in the production of Dead Reckoning and America’s Army as well as having a hand in the backgrounds of some of EA’s biggest titles. If the thought of learning from the best isn’t enough to make

4/5

Author: Matt Kloskowski Publisher: Peachpit Press Price: £24.99 / $45 ISBN: 0321441656 Web: www.peachpit.com

you want to part with your hard-earned cash, the CD-ROM extra might just be. Packed full of everything you’ll need to get started developing your own game textures, the CD is the perfect accompaniment to a great book. 5 Rating:

5/5

This book reveals all the tricks, tips and techniques behind automating Adobe Photoshop to save time and effort. Written by Matt Kloskowski, education and curriculum developer for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), the book can help you master Photoshop’s powerful tools, and leave you wondering how you ever got along without them. This guide will also show you hidden actions and automation gems that are already loaded when you install Photoshop CS2 – if you want to increase your speed, and get twice the work done with half the headaches, this is the book for you. 5 Rating:

4/5

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resources

websites

Whether you want some Photoshop community, advice, tutorials or inspiration, you’ll find it all on the web

Photoshop User

What’s on the web

Web: www.photoshopuser.com

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un by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), Photoshop User is the place for training, education and news on Adobe’s finest app. Although you have to become a member to enjoy the full benefits of the site, those benefits are numerous. From all the latest news on the Photoshop Expo to getting money off of hardware, software and the like, or being able to showcase your work on their online portfolio and receiving the Photoshop User magazine, the list is comprehensive. However, membership does come at a cost and that isn’t cheap. Starting from $99 the membership will allow you access to Photoshop TV but you might find you can get similar benefits elsewhere and for less money. 5 Rating:

4/5

Photoshop Support Web: www.photoshopsupport.com

Finding a site that provides you with access to great brushes, plug-ins and offers can begin to seem like a challenge once Recomm ends you’ve trawled through the net a few hundred times. If you haven’t yet found Photoshop Support though, you should pop over there soon, as this fantastic site provides you with opportunity to purchase many apps at a discount, as well as providing a host of brush and plug-in downloads. Other resources found on the site include Flash and Dreamweaver tutorials as well as a photo and Hard Drive recovery centre – providing lots of advice and support. Easy to navigate and a good source of inspiration. 5 Rating:

Photoshop Café

5/5

Photoshop Killer Tips Web: www.photoshopkillertips.com

Web: www.photoshopcafe.com

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roviding visitors with access to all things Photoshop, the Café is a great place to visit. From online forums to discuss your ‘Shop woes, to some fantastic tutorials provided by imaging experts, it’s all here under one roof. Created originally by Colin Smith, the site has grown to become a one-stop resource shop for image editors of all persuasions, including coverage of new features of CS2, competitions, book reviews and lots of useful links to Photoshop inspiration across the web. mends A particularly fine feature on the website is the tips Recom page. Whether you want to know how to create custom gradients easily or how to create a composite layer, this site covers it all. Well worth a visit next time you’re online. 5 Rating:

5/5

Planet Photoshop Web: www.planetphotoshop.com

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f you want to chat to fellow Photoshoppers about web design, advanced techniques or just the basics, there’s few finer places than within the Planet Photoshop forums. Although the community is still fairly small, it’s friendly and you’ll start seeing lots of familiar faces. But that’s not all this site has to offer. Tutorials on the site cover a host of subjects – photography, effects, text, web and so on – and the tip of the day is a really nice feature. If you’re based in the US the most useful function will be the events listings, which is a handy feature to help you see what’s going on near you. For those based elsewhere in the world, the resources tab brings up a page of useful links – making a specific Photoshop search much easier. 5 Rating:

Produced by the NAPP, this site provides visitors with access to an abundance of Photoshop tips to make creating Actions, batch processing, Histogram updates and more, easy. Subscribe to the site for free and get the tips delivered straight to your Video iPod or iTunes player (iTunes version 6 or higher only), so no matter where you are you won’t miss out on the top tips. Although other resources on the site are thin on the ground – there’s just a handful of links and the archived tips – the hints themselves are well worth a look to improve your Photoshopping abilities. 5 Rating:

4/5

Photoshop Contest Web: www.photoshopcontest.com

We’re only too aware from our own forum (www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk) that you lot just aren’t happy unless you’re being creative. And you’re even happier when being creative also means being really competitive! Photoshop Contest hosts all the competitions one person could need. There’s a daily one to test your skills as well as long-term contests to give you some extra thinking time. You can also take a look through the site’s past winners in order to get some inspiration. And that’s not all. With tutorials, forums, news, galleries and more, this is one site that’s sure to hold your interest for more than just a moment. Highly recommended. 5 Rating:

4/5

4/5

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