Advanced Photoshop Issue 021
Advanced Photoshop Issue 021
Advanced Photoshop Issue 021
DYNAMIC
Retouching reality masterclass | Create ink art | Master outer space | Bert Monroy interview
6-PAGE MASTERCLASS
CREATE BRUSHES
INK ART
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
0+
Take control of 32-bit Support
2
Make the most of Preferences
Perfect outer space effects TIC
TAS IRLSE’S
N
FA K SW ISS
U
IN THCISD
ONREE
LAPTOP
F
ROUNDUP
We take a tour of the
best notebooks around
ISSUE 21
ISSN 1748-7277 £5.99
21
9 771748 727009
GIVE IT A GO 7 30
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
Our readers’ comments and feedback
7 8
INSIGHT 7 10
News and showcases from around the globe
All the latest events, exhibitions and awards 10
Angel D’Amico presents her portfolio 18
Digital wonder Tom Bagshaw shows all 20
Check out the work of PCP 22
HELPDESK 7 78
Your technical traumas shared with fellow readers
and answered by our expert
7 85
THE COVER
Learn a few of the techniques
needed to emulate our cover artist,
24 RESOURCES
Angle D’Amico’s amazing style. Just Bert Monroy reveals the Vital assets to improve your Photoshop work
techniques behind his art
turn the page and get creating
Vista: The preview 86
Gadgets 90
Books 92
Photoshop websites 94
E ...
THIS MONTH’S CD 7 96
Superb stock art, project files to go with this
B 6
C RI ge 7 f month’s issue and more!
UBSto pa £s ofce
S rn ave pri
Tu d s ver 36 48
an e co Make a living with
the Adobe app
The final part of our
Photoshop relay race
th
4
Advanced Photoshop
TECHNIQUES
Faster, better, more… How can you work smarter?
RETOUCHING REALITY
Master skin, hair and beauty Photoshop work
7 30
FEATURES
INTERVIEW: BERT MONROY 7 24 INK ART
Manipulate reality with cool ink effects
7 42
The digital wonder shares his secrets
5
Advanced Photoshop
Mailbox
Got something to say about the magazine or
Photoshop in general – write in and tell us!
Email us at advancedpshop@imagine-
publishing.co.uk or visit the forum at
www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk
8
Advanced Photoshop
the point
the earth Hi-Liter and
OF READING
the Goddess challenge
Pixel perfection
YOUR
MAGAZINE Subject: Issue 20
From: Dan Horne
THAN I DID IN I’ve been a fan of pixel art for years and it’s great
to see it being represented in a magazine like
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Advanced Photoshop
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 MIRANDA WAT
KINS, GRID TA
British design ta BLE: As well as
to compulsive shopping disorder and celebrity obsession, acting len sh
flavour. Over 15 t, the programme will have an owcasing
as a revealing and insightful commentary on the 21st Century countries are ex international
creativity, and pected to be de
show monstrating th
human condition. Norway, India an s from countries including Th eir
d Singapore wi ail
ll add a truly glo and, Austria,
The vast majority of Festival exhibitions are free although some bal dimension
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
www.londondesignfestival.com
planned, who’s hosting, and where and when its on, alongside
details of similar or nearby events.
10
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Go wild!
As digital imageers, we’re turning our
hands more and more to the
11
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12
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TRAFALGAR SQUARE
ARTS FESTIVAL
Until 21 August
London
13
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Vegas, baby!
ga
Over the other side of the pond this ’re thinking of buyin
GET READY: If you ta rea dy or che ck
September is one of the biggest events in the it is Vis
new PC, make sure tible
see if it’ll be compa
Photoshop year. The NAPP Photoshop World out the website to
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
, President of the National
association with over 50,000 members SCOT T KELBY KEYNOTE: Scott Kelby
ls (NAPP) and Conference Technical
Association of Photoshop Professiona World extravaganza
worldwide, and is the leading resource for Adobe Chair, kicks off the three-day Photoshop
Photoshop, education, training and news.
Leopard: the new Tige
www.photoshopworld.com
The beginning of
August saw the un
r DOWN, TIGER: Ap
In the Eighties it ga
ple
revolution in the Sev ignited the PC
enties with the Apple
II.
veiling of Apple’s ve us
addition to its Ma latest continues to lead the the Mac. Today, it
c OS X family, Leop industry with deskto
previewed earlie ard. Version 10.5 and notebook com p
r this year but wa wa s puters and its OS X
system
public on August s finally shown to
7. the
It is generally expe
cted to get a full rel
end of 2006 or ea ease at the
rly 2007, with Apple
support both Powe saying it will
rPC and Intel x86-
Revealed at the Wo based Macs.
rldwide Developers
(WWDC), the prev Conference
iew of Mac OS X ‘Le
the only thing to opard’ was not
get tongues wagg
WWDC, developers ing. Throughout
discussed best pr
developing Unive actices on
rsal applications
advantage of the that take
performance of Int
So we can be sure el-based Macs.
that the big deve
seemingly working lopers are
together for a mo
computing experie re unified
nce…
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Advanced Photoshop
MASTERING THE
POWER OF SMART
OBJECTS
30 September – 1 October
Berkeley
PICTURE PERFECT
COLOR SEMINAR
teach
BEYOND THE MUNDANE: Robin will 14 September
what it
you how to look at an image and see Minneapolis
airplane
can be – like this transformation from
(right) to luscious holiday-esque scene 5 October
Chicago
10 October
PUFFHAIR: Learning from one of the Miami
industry’s top names, our new column
will give you all the tips and tricks to
24 October
follow in Robin’s footsteps San Francisco
1 November
Coming up... New York
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d with a
CREATE: “I starte
COLLABORATE TO Ph illia’s ph oto grapher, Megan
PH by
photograph from the original
n was cut out from
Petersen. The woma added some watercolour
the n
background and I ph”
ck feather photogra
flowers and a peaco
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Advanced Photoshop
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 d combination
C: Through a detaile
Painter IX’s way of blending paint LIGHT FANTASTIPainter, Tom creates ethereal, almost
on the canvas an intuitive process, of Photoshop and stillness but the
t have a painting’s
so I tend to hop out of Photoshop surreal images tha graphic scene
and use this program for specific accuracy of a photo
areas of blending”
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FEEDBACK (LESS NO
ISE): Because their
images are drawn dire
ctly in Photoshop, the
artwork has a distinc
tive watercolour appear
ance
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TH US: “The
COME RUN AWAY WI using the
ated
I OFTEN DREAM line drawings were cre
7, with a little
TO STAY AWAKE: Brush Tool in Photoshop
os3 Tablet”
Multiple layers help from a Wacom Intu
allow Heisuke to
draft up complex,
busy imagery
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Advanced Photoshop
KEEPING Y
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
IT REAL
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
Bert Monroy: author, artist and photo-realist, as everything is in focus. If you look closely you’ll notice
up to 2,000 hours creating just my images can take so long I can’t just sit there.”
Yet although the starting point might be photographic, there is
one image, Monroy’s nothing but digital painting in his images. “There are no photos in the
actual painting. Nothing is traced, nothing is brought in,” he stresses.
masterpieces are some of the City slicker
finest Photoshop creations 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
you’re ever likely to see gas, there for the sole purpose of attracting attention. There is
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Advanced Photoshop
something so urban about them. Being originally hours to complete, whereas this
from New York and being a city guy, the urban piece took a lot more motivation.
landscape has always been my fascination. It A few times I almost dropped it
offers a lot more because of the fact it is man- completely ‘cause I was just
made. The dirt and the grim and the wear and getting bored with it. That is a
the tear are all stories. Nature is eternal but man- tremendous amount of time to
made stuff is of the moment, you might say.” be spending on something. So, I
Having given up the bright lights of the Big began by working on the
Apple more than 13 years ago, Bert is now a platform on the left side, then I
citizen of Berkeley, California. Whiling his days started work on the city, which
away authoring books, teaching at San Francisco began getting tedious so I
State University or creating his hyper-realistic switched to the orange
artwork, his latest creation, Damen, has been one building just off-centre on the right.
that you could only describe as a labour of love. When that started getting too involved I really
TRAINING UP: The front face of the train was
Clocking in at over 2,000 hours of work, the mega started losing it and the desire to start the next created in its own file. The reflections in the windows
project has around 15,000 layers and is comprised painting kicked in. So I decided to knuckle down were added once the train was placed in position
within the overall image. The side of the train car was
of close to 50 Photoshop files. and work on the right side on the station, and
created in a separate file and duplicating that file
So just how does an artist keep motivated to that kind of anchored it. made it easy to add additional carriages. The
complete such a mammoth project? “That’s a It gave it an overall dimension. That gave me duplicates required changing the reflections in the
windows, the accumulated grime and the car
good question, especially for that piece. On the motivation to finish the piece. In the end it numbers to make each car appear different
average my pieces take between 80 and 250 was worth it. When I did my once-over –
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Advanced Photoshop
ADOBE EVEN KNEW IT EXISTED programs that allow him to create such painterly
feeling pictures. His tools are a major factor
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IF YOU DO side. Next the tablet came out and I was back to
holding a pen, but it was on the side.
challenge myself. I’m always looking for
something I haven’t done before and I enjoy the
SOMETHING THAT The Cintiq has brought it back full cycle so that
we’re looking up at the canvas again, watching
learning process along the way. I’m not in
competition with anyone but myself.
YOU REALLY LOVE, your hand work over the canvas. Like the way I
was traditionally trained, but digital. It is a lot
If I was, I wouldn’t be out there training
thousands of people.”
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Advanced Photoshop
LOOKING FOR
myself a hyper-realist artist. I
love to paint. I use the word
paint for lack of a better word.
number of books, including co-authoring the first their fledging Photoshop careers, hoping to work.” His passion for his art is obvious through
ever book on Photoshop, The Official Adobe follow in his footsteps. the devotion he can give to just one project, but
Photoshop Handbook. However, this isn’t “My students all ask ‘Can you make a lot of what does the future hold for one of Photoshop’s
something he particularly enjoys doing. money doing this?’ and I tell them right off the founding fathers?
“I enjoy using them because they become bat that the motivator shouldn’t be the money, “I do animation work and I’ve done a lot of
great training tools. Writing books is purely a the motivator should be that this is what you effects for movies. So from a commercial
vehicle to help me teach but the actual writing of want to do. When you’re working this is where standpoint I have a little more diversity. My
the books I don’t enjoy at all – it’s a lot of work you spend most of your life. If you do something personal artwork is just 2D work, so I would at
creating all the visuals, writing and editing and that you really love then your life feels very some point like to get into 3D art. Now it’s getting
so on. They are a necessary way of fulfilled. So if you want to pursue this, do it not to the point where machines are powerful
communicating my techniques and I do teach because it has the potential to make you a lot of enough and the programs are powerful enough
quite a bit, which I enjoy!” money but because it has the potential to make that the results can be really good. My only fear is
Currently teaching at San Francisco State you feel satisfied, because it’s something that that once I get involved in a 3D program it’ll
University, Bert understandably has many you love, because it’s something that you want probably take years to create just one image! But
students looking to him for help and advice on to wake up the next day and can’t wait to get to for the future, I’d say that’s where I’d like to go.” 5
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Advanced Photoshop
I
n this tutorial we’ll look at how to clean up and adjustments, remove clothing and more. A head
ON THE DISC
improve a fashion and beauty shot using replacement was also done because the shot we
On this month’s disc you’ll find a link to
Simon’s site where you can download the Photoshop’s image-editing toolset. You may be wanted to use had the butterfly glassware obscuring
images for this tutorial. These images are working with a beautiful model, but there will often the model’s body.
strictly for recreating this tutorial and are
still be plenty of cleaning up to do if you want to It’s a relatively simple task to composite two photos –
for use in non-commercial work only.
Photos (c) Luqman at L’uzzine. achieve a perfect look. Another thing is that if you’re taking the head from one and the body from the other
OUR EXPERT Simon Danaher not the photographer, you may not be available for – especially in a controlled environment like a studio. Far
Simon is a digital artist and author with five books and many the shoot itself. In these cases you can’t give advice trickier was removing the wooden table to create a
magazine articles to his name. You can see more of his work and to help make your touch-up work easier later. neutral, reflective surface. This involves a fair bit of work
get some free tutorials on 2D and 3D graphics at his website
In this example a lot of work was done to clean up to get the effect looking natural, but was essential in
www.simondanaher.com.
the image, integrate composited elements, make skin order for the final shot to look clean.
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Advanced Photoshop
“WE’RE NOT
LOOKING FOR
3 Clean up the fringing
The result is an image that seems THE BEST FINAL
a little low in contrast and sparkle. That’s
fine, we want as much mid-range detail IMAGE SETTINGS,
as possible. Further editing is done in
the RAW panel to clean up things – BUT FOR THE
adjustment of the chromatic aberration
MAXIMUM
FLEXIBILITY FOR
to remove some colour fringing and a
small amount of colour noise reduction.
EDITING THE
Luminance smoothing is not used
because it softens details too much.
IMAGE LATER”
4 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
5 Clean your background
First, we clean up the background using the Clone
tool to remove any marks. Then a gradient layer is
6 The path for separation
To separate the girl from her background we use a
path. You could try extracting her using the various
the final composite image. At the top is the main body applied using sampled colours from the backdrop in the selection tools or maybe a plug-in matte creation tool,
shot, at the bottom right is the shot from which we’ll image. This is overlaid with reduced opacity over the but it’s often a lot quicker and more accurate to simply
take the head and left is the butterfly glassware shot. image so that some of the original background shows draw a path. A good clean path is worth a dozen dodgy
There’s a lot of work ahead. through. We’ll duplicate the girl in a moment – all we’re selections, and it’s resolution-independent too.
looking at here is the smoothness of the background.
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Advanced Photoshop
blurs
The tricky part is removing the background. top of the head. This is desirable because it helps to
Gradient keep the shot looking natural and not too much like a
Photoshop comp.
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
9 10
bloom and noise.
Mask painting Hair detail retained
The path is loaded as a selection and saved as a The new girl mask is loaded as a selection and
channel. Then the edited blue channel is loaded as a is applied to a duplicate of the main image as a layer
selection and used as a mask through which the hair mask. This is placed above the gradient layer so that
detail can be painted, using a large brush, into the saved she’s no longer obscured by it. As you can see, with the
path channel. Although it’s a little scrappy, the hairs are mask applied the fine hair detail remains intact against
so fine and low enough in contrast to be unnoticeable. the smoother background, preventing her looking like a
crude cut-out.
“PATH
SELECTION 11 Aligning the shoulder
12 Skin and bones
WITH THE HAIR, in the hair area. The shoulder is a little more difficult and adjustments. Cloning is one way to do this, but a simpler
BUT WE CAN
requires cutting and pasting a small section of the chin/ approach is to just paint out the details with a brush, like
shoulder area, rotating it to align the shoulder and then traditional ‘airbrushing’. Skin tones are sampled from her
CREATE A
blending using a layer mask. back, and using a soft brush the unnecessary details are
then painted over. This is done in a new layer to keep
SEPARATE
things editable.
SECTION FOR
THIS AND ADD
IT TO THE PATH
THAT’S
CONVERTED”
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Advanced Photoshop
16 Butterfly babe
The butterfly is added next but is almost a
project in itself. Photoshop’s Layer Sets help a lot when
17 Flip it
Some reconstruction is needed to fold the
wings, otherwise the glassware will obscure the girl too
organising large composite documents like this. Once much. The butterfly layer is duplicated, flipped, skewed
again a path was used to cut out the butterfly from its and rotated to get the desired perspective, as if the wing
background – easier this time, as there’s a hard edge all was folded over. The unwanted sections of both wing
grain
the way around. It’s dropped into the main document. layers are masked out using masks applied to their
respective layers.
Film
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.
18 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 fake-
looking. 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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24 Back it up
More shadow is applied next, this time to the
girl’s back as if cast from the butterfly wings. Again, this
25 Lengthen the legs
Lastly, it was felt that from this angle her legs
looked a little short compared with her body. To fix this
26 And finally…
The background was adjusted with a radial
gradient to add some vignetting to the edges and bring
is painted in on a new layer using a soft brush and a flattened duplicate of the main document was the focus more strongly on the girl. A little noise was
sampling colours from shadow areas in the image (again created. This allowed us to extend the legs and the then added and blurred to match the film grain. This
it’s very subtle). Linear Burn is used as the blending reflection in one go. The legs were copied from the top helped blend the hair area and prevent the background
mode because this darkens the skin tones while also of the thigh down where the skirt is, making the join looking too false and clean compared to the subject. 5
keeping the colours in shadows look natural. easier to disguise. We’ve lowered the opacity so you can
see how much the legs were lengthened.
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I
t’s hard to believe that Photoshop, arguably the generate revenue in the millions – and we’re not just
most famous computer application of all time, talking about Adobe’s sales figures.
almost never got released. It began life first as a The beauty of Photoshop is, of course, its versatility.
program called ‘Display’ and then ‘ImagePro’, Over the last 16 years the feature-set has expanded to
written in the mid-Eighties by Thomas Knoll with the point where the program has a role in just about
help from his brother John, an employee at every possible digital art and animation process
Industrial Light And Magic. None of the publishers imaginable. Best of all, that versatility also opens up
they approached showed any interest at all in countless commercial possibilities for the market-savvy
the program, and in the end it fell to a scanner user searching for ways to harness their artistic skills.
manufacturer to release the first version of Whether looking to make a living or earn a little extra
‘Photoshop’ on an unsuspecting world, giving cash, Photoshop is the ideal tool for the job.
away around two hundred copies to purchasers Illustration and graphic design are the most obvious
of its hardware. commercial applications for Photoshop, of course.
Then Adobe entered the picture, and in February of Whether working as part of a team in a studio, setting up
1990 Photoshop 1.0 was released. Since then, successive a one-man business or dabbling with a bit of freelance,
versions have transformed the computer’s role into an there are myriads of opportunities for designers with an
artist’s tool. From visual effects for multi-million dollar affinity for creating marketable visuals for ads, product
blockbusters through to home users removing a little designs and more. But beyond these obvious and
red eye from their holiday snaps, Photoshop is owned visible Photoshop livings, there are countless other
and used by millions. What’s more, it’s also helped money-making avenues worth exploring.
Illustration by Magictorch
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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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Advanced Photoshop
OPEN AN ONLINE SHOP AND YOU’VE then it’s really taken off and become a pretty valuable
source of supplementary income.”
GOT A GLOBALLY ACCESSIBLE, OPEN- Prints, postcards and stickers are particularly easy
for the home Photoshop designer to create. But don’t
ALL-HOURS STORE WITH A POTENTIAL be put off by the idea of selling more labour-intensive
merchandise such as mugs, wallets or clothing. There
CUSTOMER BASE IN THE MILLIONS 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
open-all-hours store with a potential customer base bought plain and printed up yourself if you really
in the millions. There are already a good number of want to take a DIY approach.
design teams and even solo artists who have Or at the other end of the scale, websites such as
harnessed the power of the web to sell art-related Café Press (www.cafepress.com) simplify the whole
items direct to punters. Take a look at the website of merchandising process. For a fee they’ll create an
design duo Tado (www.tado.co.uk) to see how online store for you, handle all aspects of selling, and
simple an online shop can be, and what sort of even automate the entire product creation process,
art-related goodies are favoured by successful enabling anybody to create hats, clothing, prints,
e-selling artists. Tado’s success in this field is even calendars, toys, mugs and more. Dedicated websites
more impressive given that it was never conceived also exist for the sale of digital art and prints. Some,
as a serious business concern. “It was originally like www.4wall.co.uk, offer work from a very select
supposed to be just a bit of fun to help us range of artists, but others such as UKPortfolios
de-clutter the studio,” says Mike at Tado. “But since (www.ukportfolios.com) work on more of an open
house basis. And of course, stock image libraries are
BRUSH STROKE always looking for fresh, high quality material.
S: Ta
sell creations as do lented designers can Image libraries do focus more on photographic
wn
CDs for customers. loads or by burning imagery, but even here Photoshop can prove
Ge
Seipp’s http://phot t inspired by David
oshopbrushes.co invaluable. Combine good snapping skills with strong
m/
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
a
are easiest. Create advertising, packaging and publishing. Check
TADO TS: T-shirts inting company
e a T-shir t pr out the book Adobe Photoshop CS2 for
design, us se
d run, then adverti
to turn out a limite s from Tado Photographers: A Professional Image Editor’s Guide
n come
online. This desig to the Creative Use of Photoshop for the Macintosh
and PC (Paperback). Written by Martin Evening
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Advanced Photoshop
PERHAPS THE MOST INSPIRING WAY and weaknesses, and as such you’re bound to
improve your own skills as well as (hopefully!) helping
TO MAKE MONEY USING PHOTOSHOP IS others. Ultimately it’s just a sideline, but I see it as a
valuable one.”
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Advanced Photoshop
Ink effects Something smells fishy. Create fantasy still life shots
by combining several source pictures BY EMMA CAKE
I
ON THE DISC n the world of Photoshop anything’s possible: techniques that will enable us to create a convincing
Make your own inky still life images using a selection of free ink
pigs can fly, money can grow on trees and even composition. Layer modes are an absolute must, as are a
photographs supplied on this month’s disc, courtesy of the most heathen of souls can walk on water. number of blending techniques and opaque brushes.
Shutterstock and iStockPhoto. Get snapping to create your other The key to creating a great constructed piece of art is You’ll also discover the benefits of lesser-used tools, such
source imagery. Alternatively, if you want to create this tutorial in
full you can download the fish bowl (file number ‘797211’) and the the use of flexible source imagery. as the Blur and Smudge. You can download the
goldfish (file number ‘520198’) from www.istockphoto.com. If your individual elements are stunning of their own elements from iStockPhoto to use with your free ink
accord then, with some careful mastering in Photoshop, images but we suggest making your own original ink art
you can make a faux still life shot that requires a second using your images as a resource. There’s no limit to the
glance. On this month’s cover disc there are a generous fun you can have with this!
batch of ink stock images courtesy of www.
OUR EXPERT Emma Cake
shutterstock.com and www.istockphoto.com. Over
With weeks spent longing for some pets and a
the following pages one of these ink samples will be biOrb fish bowl, these scaly characters were the
used to create a still life with a difference. Using one of most obvious choice to appear magically out of
Emma’s ink art.
the ink images as a basis we’ll be looking at a number of
42
Advanced Photoshop
OF FLEXIBLE
then expand the top, bottom and right-hand side of along the bottom of the bowls to make sure that they
the selection. The new work area will need to be able to line up correctly.
fit in another copy of the bowl to the right-hand side
and reflections. SOURCE IMAGES”
3 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 Your own
Healing Brush tool to make sure that
the blends are accurate and don’t
look messy.
photography
If you’re feeling a little saucy and fancy
scrapping the images on the disc and creating
5
being underexposed.
Add the ink
4. Natural light will be best for illumination if
Select and copy the newly coloured ink and go you’re unable to take your image in a studio
back to your main canvas. Paste this selection onto a setting. However, if you need fluorescent
new layer and the use the shortcut Apple/Ctrl+T to lighting then make sure you alter the white
transform the ink and move it to cover the left-hand balance on your camera.
bowl. You will need to reduce the scale to around 60%. 5. Keep an eye out for nasty reflections. Your
Alter the Layer Mode to Darken so the ink blends into shot won’t look very good if you’ve captured a
the water in the bowl and there are no nasty white messy bathroom in the reflection.
elements to the image.
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Advanced Photoshop
8 On the side
Where the ink is nearly touching the right side of
the bowl duplicate this part and transform to a width of
9 A fishy tale
We located a fantastic image that included plenty
of goldfish in different positions, facing different
10 Blending in
Now concentrate on blending the fish into
the ink. Not only should you experiment with position
-100%. Drag the corner of the transform box to rotate directions. You can locate this by logging onto by using the Transform tool but work on the colours so
this slightly clockwise. Then, with the Eraser tool, carry www.istockphoto.com and typing in the file number that the fish matches the tone and shading of the ink as
out the same fading procedure as in the previous step. ‘520198’. Select one of the fish (thinking carefully how close as you can. Great tools for doing this include the
Open up the Liquify command and use the Bloat tool to well it could be incorporated into the ink) and then Color Balance command, Levels and Curves. Here, we’ve
distort this slightly to match the curvature of the bowl. paste this onto a separate layer in your main artwork. adjusted the Color Balance to a setting of Shadows: +75,
You may find that you need to use the Eraser tool to get +3, 0, Midtones: +35, -13, -1 and Highlights: +13, -4, +25.
rid of stray fins from neighbouring fish.
11 Smudge
and Burn
Colour alone isn’t enough to
make the fish blend into the
ink. Select the Clone Stamp
“COLOUR
tool from the Colors palette
and duplicate parts of the ink
44
Advanced Photoshop
14 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.
15 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.
16 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 Colour
as Overlay. This doesn’t blend the
light blue areas as well, so you
will need to use the Eraser tool
calibration
with a Soft Round Airbrush to get Your image could look perfect on screen but if
rid of the faint orange box. 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.
45
Advanced Photoshop
17
hidden underneath the Blur tool). Adjust the size of the
That’s magic brush using the ‘[‘ and ‘]’ keys and carefully pull areas of
Don’t underestimate the the ink so they blend well into the fish. Erase parts with a
benefits of using the Magic Wand. low-opacity brush if it looks out of place.
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.
ESTIMATE THE you’ve done already. Do any of the fish look a little out of
place? You can fix this by applying more Gaussian Blur.
confusing with so many different layers and it will help
to be able to distinguish between the left bowl and the
BENEFITS OF 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.
right. Select ‘Create a new group’ in the Layers palette
and drag all of the layers you have added to the left
USING THE hand bowl into this folder, leaving the original
MAGIC WAND”
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.
21 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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Advanced Photoshop
24 Level
it up
When you’re happy with
the composition of your
image, save a PSD version
just in case things go
“WE’VE ONLY
wrong later and flatten
the layers. Open up the
Levels command and
alter the Input Levels to 0, SKIMMED OVER
0.80, 255, just to make the
image a little brighter and THE SURFACE
more vibrant.
OF THE LIQUIFY
FILTER”
25 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%.
26 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
47
Advanced Photoshop
Star t
48
Advanced Photoshop
Photoshop
Relay The final three competitors get
their creative mitts on our image –
who will triumph? You decide
I
t’s a well known fact. Creative types are the ultimate prize – the opportunity to gloat over their
most competitive people you’re ever likely to fellow competitors!.
meet, and when the creatives you’re talking For your chance to vote either drop us a line at
about are at the top of their industry, you know [email protected] or log on
you’re going to have a scrap on your hands. to our forum (www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk) and
Taking control of the creative baton this issue are answer the poll. Be sure to take the time to say why
our final three Photoshop relay competitors. And what you’re voting for your winner and post your own
amazing challengers they are! The three top designers attempts – we love to see them!
within Imagine Publishing going head-to-head ensures And so, without further ado, our fourth challenger
you’ll see something special. takes up the stylus. Claire Kendrick, art editor supremo,
But this isn’t where it all ends. Once you’ve browsed takes the baton…
the newly trodden steps of the final three challengers,
ON THE DISC
it’s crunch time. You then get to decide who has
For those of you who missed issue 19 and the Shutterstock starting
added the most to the relay race and who should be image, we’re providing it once again this month. You’ll also find
crowned AP Photoshop Relay champion. The winner Emma’s image which is where we left off at the end of last issue on
this month’s CD.
will not only get a (small) trophy, they’ll also get the
Shutterstock
www.shutterstock.com
The AP Photoshop Relay starting image is one of
Shutterstock’s thousands of images. The largest
chal y
world, Shutterstock was founded in 2003 and is
now one of the fastest growing suppliers of
le ng
Claire er s royalty-free stock photography in the industry. Its
outstanding collection of premium images
vs Ro Kendrick combined with a user-friendly interface has made
vs Mass Andrew Shutterstock a trusted resource for an expanding
rk Ken s global customer base. Shutterstock currently has
dick nearly 900,000 images available to its subscribers,
and that number increases every day.
49
Advanced Photoshop
3 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.
Kendrick
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
Art editor, Advanced Photoshop duplicated the layer and flipped it horizontally.
50
Advanced Photoshop
4 Pin Light
Using the cut out bird layer from James’ relay I
placed it on a new layer, removed the colour and
1 Paths to perfection
Although I’m sure my rivals might accuse me
of switching to Illustrator, Photoshop’s path tool is
2 One had a stroke
Having loaded up the Calligraphic brush set I
picked the narrrow, vertical elipse. Creating a new
enhanced the black channel using Curves. I then more than up to the task of creating some flowing layer for each path, I stroked each one with white to
duplicated the bird layer and overlayed it to create a ribbons to break the symmetry of the image, giving create the basic ribbon shapes; I’ll worry about the
symmetrical effect using Pin light, so as to see it a little more dynamism. Although I originally colour next.
background glimpses through the wings. worked on one work path, I then copied and pasted
pieces into seperate paths.
6 Add a mosiac
The mosaic effect was added using the filter gallery
and then using blending modes applied as screen at 50%
3 Layer styling
To give the ribbons a hand-drawn penciled
look I double clicked a ribbon layer to bring up the
4 Doing it old-school
Although I love the many and varied tools of
Photoshop, sometimes you just can’t beat a little
to add further texture only in certain areas of the image. Layer Style window and added a one point black hand shading with the brush tool – which is exactly
At this stage I went back to the duotone layer and stroke. A trip to the Gradient Overlay section then what I did after merging the styled layers onto fresh
removed parts of the flipped image I felt were now gives me a nice gold sheen. To save a bit of time I Ctrl clean layers below each one (to rasterise the layer
unnecessary – the duplicated string and the hand drawn clicked the styled layer and chose ‘Copy Layer Style’, style) and creating new, clipped layers to paint the
character. I also add an adjustment layer to tweak the pasting it onto the other ribbon layers, where I could shading on, giving the ribbons more depth.
colour levels. then edit the gradient colours and angle.
Pa s s
51
Advanced Photoshop
2 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.
Pa s s
52
Advanced Photoshop
Vote
for your
favour ite s
tep
Email us
visit our noer
online foru w
m
53
Advanced Photoshop
PEER PRESSURE 7 72 with ease. Just load up your brush and get started…
Insider
es
iqu
Info
n
ch
Te
INSIDER INFO 1
MERGE TO HDR
INSIDER INFO 2
62 PREFERENCES 70
HELPDESK 7 78
Combine bracketed exposures Adjust Photoshop settings to Sometimes even the pros need some
into a single frame with this nifty improve performance using these sound advice. We have the answers
new CS2 tool helpful hints to all your technical angst in this
month’s helpdesk
55
Advanced Photoshop
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 showed how an innocent-looking circle could
OUR EXPERT Ross Andrews
I
be made into a beautifully glowing planet,
As group art editor Ross works on a range
you missed last issue then we suggest you complete with rings. Now the fun really of creative titles here at Imagine Publishing,
do whatever you can to try and get hold of begins, as you get to unleash your and he’s also a Photoshop supremo who
can point your pixels in the right direction
it, whether it’s giving our subscriptions imagination, warp factor 10, on the process of when it comes to inventive image creation.
department a ring, trawling eBay, or begging creating a fiery, planet-spewing nebula.
a copy from a pixel-pushing friend. We’re not Your nebula won’t be perfect straight away. A These steps are only guidelines; they recount
saying this because we’re trying to tout our fair amount of tweaking will have to be made in how we made the image shown here, but don’t
wares (although you will be getting a vital the first few steps before you start to see great feel you have to follow them exactly. Experiment,
collection of Photoshop tricks, tips and results, so whatever you do don’t get repeat steps and build up layer upon layer of
techniques!), but because we took you, step- discouraged. The key is to invest the time and textures, glows and clouds. You’ll have a lot
by-step, through the process of creating an effort into building up your swirling shapes, and more fun, and your image should end up looking
out-of-this-world piece of art. We walked you then as soon as the Smudge tool comes into the better for the hard work and energy you’ve
through using filters to create starfields and play, everything will quickly fall into place. put into it.
56
Advanced Photoshop
OPACITY’’
95%, and perfect the shape of your nebula by realistic texture. Copy the nebula layer, ensure
nudging areas about so they seem to flow your foreground and background colours are set
together naturally. Keep tweaking until you’re to black and white by hitting the D key, and from
perfectly happy with the result. the Render section of the Filter menu select
Difference Clouds.
57
Advanced Photoshop
SHOULD BE
Sure, the last step will give you a cloudy, The cloud texture should look great, but
smoky texture, but it will also give you some probably more than a little artificial, so it’s a
WORK
AGAINST THE
WHITE’’
GETTING CREATIVE
Give your nebula a realistic look with Smudge, brush effects and colour tweaks
9 Dupe
To start adding more contrast, duplicate the clouded nebula layer
and switch the blending mode to Color Burn. Don’t panic when this
10 Hue and cry
All it takes to get your nebula back to
looking fantastic, is a trip to
11 Let’s smudge again
Once again it’s time to reach for the
Smudge tool, and it’s back to the 4-pixel setting
blacks out most of your image – choose Image>Adjustments>Levels Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation. Leave the at 95%. Work across both the clouded layers,
and drag the white slider to the left past the middle point. Your nebula Hue slider alone, but drag the Saturation slider pushing from dark to light and vice versa to
may not look great, but it’ll look better. completely left to -100 and experiment with the build feathered, flaring detail into the image. It’s
Lightness to get the desired effect; in our case the contrast between parts of the nebula that
we dragged it up to +56. really give it depth.
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Advanced Photoshop
14 And repeat
When you’re happy with your
contrasting shapes it’s time to repeat a few
15 Experiment
Now that the nebula is looking a bit
healthier, it’s a good time to experiment.
16 Highlights
This should give you some pretty weird highlights.
Emphasise these by opening Image>Adjustments>Levels and
steps from earlier. Begin by using the Smudge Duplicate the main nebula layer (created in step dragging the white triangle to the left, exaggerating the effect.
to tease out strands of black and break up the one) and drag it to the top of the Layers palette.
obvious edge; you can also reverse your strokes Repeat the Difference Clouds filter and set the
to great effect. Then duplicate the layer, apply layer mode to Color Dodge.
Difference Clouds, lower the Saturation and
experiment with the Lightness. Set the layer
mode to Pin Light.
17
obvious edge; you can also reverse your strokes
Paint effects to great effect. Then duplicate the layer, apply
With black Difference Clouds, lower the Saturation and
selected as your colour, experiment with the Lightness. Set the layer
Flow set to 50% and the mode to Pin Light.
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.
59
Advanced Photoshop
20 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
21 Colour shift
A top tip for most Photoshop
creations is to have a final experiment with
22 Colour the highlights
When you’re happy with the colour
of the nebula, use Hue/Saturation again to tweak
and experiment with moving it around the image until the colour before committing to an end result. Work the colour of the planets so that they match. For
composition works. through the nebula layer by layer using Hue/ the large planet in the nebula’s centre it’s also a
Saturation to tweak colour ranges until you find a good idea to push the saturation a little to give a
combination you love. Ours took a red hue by strong coloured glow.
taking the Hue slider right down to -111.
23 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
E
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.
62
Advanced Photoshop
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
W
hen it comes to using the Brush and tilt, drawing direction and even speed,
tool in Photoshop, many people producing incredibly lifelike effects. Via these
ON THE DISC
think that there are just two dynamics you can control the size of the brush,
The reference image used in this
flavours of brush tip: a soft-edged one and its colours, textures, opacity and a whole lot more.
tutorial can be downloaded at
www.istockphoto.com. You can hard-edged sibling. We’re going to use these Dynamic Brushes to
find it by searching for ‘1107104’. But nothing could be further from the truth. If create a very energetic image, complete with
However, the techniques used in
this step-by-step can be applied to
you’re armed with a pressure-sensitive graphics realistic flowing hair, a subject that is just made
any image, so why not try it on one tablet, you can open the door to a whole new for very responsive brushes. We’ll also be using a
of your own? world of creativity by exploring Dynamic Brushes. custom dual brush, which allows us to combine
OUR EXPERT Tim Shelbourne In essence, all of Photoshop’s brushes can be two brushes for some extra special effects. As
With 20 years’ experience as an artist and illustrator, Tim is made dynamic and can be configured to you work through the tutorial, watch out for the
one of Photoshop’s leading lights. As well as writing tutorials, respond in very specific ways. Dynamic Brushes tip boxes that will give you the low-down on
Tim’s book Photoshop Photo Effects Cookbook is a must-read.
can be set to respond to pressure, stylus angle configuring Dynamic Brushes.
64
Advanced Photoshop
65
Advanced Photoshop
CONTROL flowing sections of hair with your brush, set the Size Jitter control to Pen Pressure. Set
CENTRAL FOR
controlling the brush size with your stylus. Minimum Diameter to 5%. So that the strands of
hair flow in the right direction, set the Angle
A PROJECT
Jitter Control to Direction.
LIKE THIS”
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
12
adjust the dynamics
within a particular Burn tool setup
category, you simply Click in the Other
click it in the list and Dynamics category and set
place a checkmark the Exposure Control to Pen
next to it to activate Pressure. In the Options bar,
those dynamics. choose Shadows from the
Within a particular Range Box and set Exposure
category, the Control to 5%. Now, using this brush at
Options relate to the
about 125 pixel size, begin to
way the brush reacts
add some darker tones to the
to a pressure
sensitive stylus, so hair in long sweeps. You can
set this up to suit adjust the size of the brush
your needs. via the square bracket keys on
the keyboard.
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Advanced Photoshop
15 Fore/background colours
Click the foreground swatch and
choose a medium burgundy colour from the
16 Add life to the hair
Use the softest pressure setting on
your graphics tablet and vary the size of the
17 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
colour picker. Now click the background swatch brush regularly. By using the brush at a bigger varying angles and sizes, the more realistic the finished piece will look.
and choose a slightly more saturated shade of size, you can add broader sections of hair. Be careful to finish off any blunt ends of hair with the brush at a very
this colour. Return to the Brush Dynamics Conversely, use the brush at a very small size to small size. Clean up any parts of the initial drawing on the lower hair
palette and click in Colour Dynamics. Set the drag out wispy strands of hair to break up the layer with the Eraser tool.
Foreground/Background Jitter Control to Fade. outlines and add realism.
Now, using the brush at a small size, begin to
add some light strands of hair.
18 New brush,
“THE MORE
new settings
Time to change brush
STANDS OF
again. Still working with
the Brush tool, click in the
Brush Picker, load the Thick
Heavy Brushes and choose
HAIR YOU
the Smoother Round Bristle
brush. In Brush Dynamics, ADD, THE
set the Size Jitter Control to
Pen Pressure and the MORE
Minimum Diameter to 50%.
In Other Dynamics, set the REALISTIC IT
Opacity and the Flow
Control to Pen Pressure. WILL LOOK”
67
Advanced Photoshop
MODIFIED
Click on the ‘Skin Shadows’ layer and Increase the size of the brush and
add a new layer, naming it ‘Skin Highlights’. For paint in some rough highlight areas on the
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
22 Super realism
Click on the ‘Skin Shadows’ layer and
add a new layer, naming it ‘Eyes’. For the
23 Adjust for eyelashes
Change your foreground colour
to a very dark brown. In the Brush Dynamics
Brushes. From the brush thumbnails choose the Dune Grass brush. foreground colour swatch choose a very dark palette click Shape Dynamics and reduce Angle
Open the Brush Dynamics palette (F5). Set the Size Jitter Control to Pen brown. Position your brush over the widest part Jitter to 0%. Now click Brush Tip Shape and
Pressure, Minimum Size to 5%. Set the Angle Jitter Control to Direction of the eyebrow and adjust the brush size to suit. check the Flip X box. Grab the arrow point on
and the Angle Jitter slider to 7%. Now use this brush to paint in the eyebrows. the brush map in the dialog and drag it
Use heavy pressure on your stylus for the wide clockwise until the brush is at the correct angle
parts, less pressure for the narrow tails. for the eyelashes.
68
Advanced Photoshop
“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
29 More highlights
Change your foreground colour to a
pale yellow. Still using the same brush, add
30 Tidy and adjust
Finally, check each individual
layer for any ragged edges or over-painting. Use
Brushes set. Select the Smoother Round Bristle some more broken highlight lines here and the Eraser tool to tidy up any rough edges.
brush and set the Dynamics options as in Step there throughout the image to strengthen and Remember you can always change the tone of
18. Choose a light blue/green from the Color clarify it. Remember, you control the width of the painting on any of the layer via the Levels
palette and paint over the eyelids at low opacity the stroke by varying your stylus pressure. command. Here we’ve darkened the skin
to add a touch of eye shadow. shadows a little. 5
69
Advanced Photoshop
T
Trevor Morris here’s no arguing that CS2 loves
OUR EXPERT
Trevor Morris is an official Photoshop beta tester
a fast processor and lots of
and amateur digital photographer with more than a RAM, but before you run out
dozen years’ design experience. He works as a senior and spend a heap of money upgrading
graphic designer for a Canadian web design
company and also maintains the Photoshop-centric your system, try configuring
website GFX™ (http://user.fundy.net/morris). 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
Photoshop’s performance is most
RESET PREFERENCES: To reset all significantly affected by the amount of
palettes and preferences to their factory available RAM, how much of it is
default settings, hold down the Apple/ allocated to Photoshop, and what it
Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift keys while booting MEMORY MANAGEMENT: The Preferences dialog allows you to customise the
Photoshop. Be careful though, as this is used for. amount of memory and scratch disk space allocated to Photoshop, based on your
will overwrite any custom presets that To begin with, choose Photoshop/ particular hardware configuration and the demands of your workflow
you haven’t saved Edit>Preferences>Plug-Ins & Scratch
Disks and select the drive(s) and/or select a fast, dedicated drive (or The Memory Usage setting
partition(s) you want Photoshop to use partition), such as a RAID 0 partition. determines what maximum portion of
as scratch disks (virtual memory). You Never use network and/or removable physical memory should be allocated to
can assign up to 64 exabytes of scratch drives as scratch disks, since their read/ Photoshop. There are two vital factors to
disk space over four volumes – that’s 64 write speeds are far too slow. Also avoid consider when setting this value. First,
billion GBs! For best performance, assigning Photoshop’s scratch disks to entering a value that’s too high may
the same volume used for the operating deprive the operating system and other
system’s virtual memory, as this may applications of the RAM they require to
Additional resources result in a competition for resources. function adequately – which could
Next, choose Memory & Image Cache ultimately result in poor performance for
For more information about optimising Photoshop’s performance, check out (Apple/Ctrl+8) from the drop-down at all applications, including Photoshop.
the following articles from the Adobe Support Knowledgebase: the top of the Preferences dialog. Here Second, Photoshop will only use as
● Optimise performance of Photoshop CS2 you can configure the number of much RAM as there is scratch disk space
Mac OS: www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/332270.html low-resolution previews Photoshop will available. So if you only have 500MB of
Windows: www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/332271.html store in memory to speed up screen scratch disk space, Photoshop will use no
● Memory allocation and usage redraws for high-resolution images. The more than 500MB of RAM, regardless of
www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/320005.html higher the Cache Levels, the more how much memory you assign. I
previews Photoshop stores: however, recommend using a memory setting of
● Slow performance and screen redraw problems in Photoshop CS2
higher values also require more RAM between 55% (the default for Windows)
on Windows
www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/331412.html and cause images to open more slowly. and 70% (the default for Mac),
Acceptable values range from 1 to 8, depending on how much RAM you have.
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 where 1 disables image caching Adobe suggests using a value that’s
titled Improving Performance and Troubleshooting. altogether (ie, only the current screen several times more than the largest
image is cached). The default value is 6. image you typically work with.
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71
Advanced Photoshop
O
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
Ice cold
approaches that you all take. It’s a healthy sign to see NAME: Joe Upton
EMAIL: [email protected]
so many different creative styles emerging from your
good selves, and this month’s Peer Pressure shows off
Joe Upton is a meat cutter by trade and both an amateur
those skills better than ever before. Have you got a photographer and an avid Photoshopper in his spare time. He has
digital masterpiece up your sleeves that you’d like to been using Photoshop for about three years and is often seen with a
share with your fellow readers? Canon Digital Rebel XT in his hand. This image was inspired by the
Sending your images in to us for inclusion in Peer ice tutorial featured in Advanced Photoshop 17. “Choosing an image
Pressure is an ideal way to get your name out there. You with the proper skin tones and highlights was more challenging
never know who’s browsing through the magazine looking than I originally supposed it would be. One particular problem with
for a new Photoshop guru to front their company. this image was that the right shoulder was almost all highlight and I
If you’d like to see your own work on these pages, please feared it would appear blown out. This was solved by choosing a
foreground ice image that would hide most of the right shoulder.”
send us low-res versions to advancedpshop@imagine-
publishing.co.uk – 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.
“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.
72
Advanced Photoshop
Purgatory
NAME: Matthew Kempton
EMAIL:
[email protected]
WEB:
www.cucumbersandwich.co.uk
73
Advanced Photoshop
BE
IN ST
SH
OW
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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Advanced Photoshop
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.
75
Advanced Photoshop
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
HELPDESK
tiny sensors meaning that the enlargement ratio for printing CALL FOR QUESTIONS
out at A4 is a lot bigger than on the D50, which, like all DSLRs, Want help with your Photoshop problems?
has a larger sensor. This means that at A4 size you will get Then let our team of experts sort you out.
better quality images from the lower-resolution Nikon than
the nine-megapixel Fujifilm. You will also benefit from less Send your emails to us at:
noise and better contrast. Therefore, if picture quality is [email protected]
your only concern then we’d definitely recommend going
for the DSLR option, although you will have to take other Remember to specify whether you are
OUT OF CONTROL: The Pen Tool is tricky, but you just things into consideration like cost, additional lenses and using a PC or Mac and the version number
gotta learn how to use it. Online tutorials can help portability before making your final decision. of your edition of Photoshop.
79
Advanced Photoshop
I
f your love for Photoshop is as big in the office. But if, like most of us, you need to be Although you won’t want to carry around an
as ours, then those times when budget-conscious, then you will need to install unnecessarily large model, a generous monitor
you’re away from your computer the same package you have on your desktop onto size is a must to make your Photoshop work easy
are painful. Staring out of the your new laptop. The Adobe CS2 licensing allows on the eye. Most new models don’t scrimp on
window on a train or watching an awful you to install a package onto a maximum of two this, but try to opt for a widescreen that measures
rom-com when jet-setting seems like a waste of different machines. There’s no hybrid version of more than 15 inches so you can spread out your
precious practice time. Similarly, if you have an Adobe Creative Suite 2, so if you’ve already gone windows and palettes.
important appointment with a client and want the way of the Apple at home, you’ll need to get Finally, there will be more freedom using your
to prepare a presentation without worrying a MacBook. You’re less limited when it comes to laptop if you choose a piece of kit that comes
about the hardware you’ll be greeted with, it’s Windows systems, because there’s plenty more with a good quality DVD writer, so you can burn
probably time to think about getting a laptop. choice for model types and brands for a variety and back up all those essential files.
There are so many models on the market that of budgets – although you may find the system
parting with your hard-earned cash can be a less intuitive. Go shopping
decision nightmare. It’s easy to get carried away by There are a few pointers to remember when There are plenty of places to pick up your laptop
the temptation of a sleek and snazzy model, but if buying a laptop. Because you’ll be working with models. The obvious place is a company website
the specs aren’t up to scratch your purchase could large file sizes that could easily slow down your to mail-order your pieces of kit, although this
be a big mistake. machine, plenty of memory and hard drive space won’t necessarily give you the best deal. A local
(around 100GB) will be invaluable. Of course, you chain store is another option, but let’s face it,
The model for me? can always attach a portable hard drive to save getting your ear talked off by a shop assistant on
If money is no object and you don’t mind your storage from being used up, but your commission isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
splashing out on another software package, then Photoshop work will be tedious without that extra The best deals will come from scouting the
you won’t have to worry about matching up your oomph of good speed. web. If you’ve got Del Boy tendencies and fancy
operating system with your hardware at home or Working with high-resolution images will mean trying your luck with a bargain, check out eBay
that a good graphics card is essential. Steer away and start placing your bids. A potential bargain
PARTING from integrated graphics cards. You’ll be able to might immediately come to light by logging on
80
Advanced Photoshop
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
81
Advanced Photoshop
op
ran
a rea
ges
dem
lly serious competitor, whi
ava
and
ilab
s. All
le from
roc k’s
roc k, all catering for different
products have a three-year
nee ds, wit h ple nty of power
collect-and-return warran
es with an option al second
ty, Apple
Web: www.apple.com
awry. The CTX T2500 com
mind if anything does go on the move. Great for tho
se
so you can have peace of rs of extra pow er Contact: (0800 039 1515 (UK),
t swa ps wit h the DVD writer to give over three hou form anc e.
battery tha rificing screen size and per 1800 88 20 29 (Ireland)
op on the train without sac
who need to use Photosh 1-800-275-2273 (US)
GREAT
read support (DVD+R DL/DVD +/- RW/CD-RW)
Display: 13.3-inch glossy widescreen TFT display
FOR THOSE
Graphics Card: Intel GMA 950 graphics
processor with 64MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared
with main memory
WHO NEED
TO USE
PHOTOSHOP
ON THE
TRAIN
82
Advanced Photoshop
83
Advanced Photoshop
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
mends
websites 94
Recom 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.
85
Advanced Photoshop
A view of
Windows Vista
With the next generation of Microsoft Windows
just around the corner, will it be worth the wait?
T
he next generation of Windows, officially
BY STEVE JENKINS 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
86
Advanced Photoshop
EXPERIENCE
different. Microsoft states that its latest OS will be the The Windows Sidebar is a panel that resides to the
most secure version of Windows yet. To this end it has side of the desktop and lets users organise Gadgets
included a host of tools and features to prevent for easy access.
A big player in the Windows universe and the
unwanted intrusions. Automatic Updates and As you might expect from a new Windows OS,
World Wide Web, Internet Explorer has been
Windows Security Center can help you keep your PC Microsoft has included a host of media tools that
given a long overdue overhaul. The latest beta
up to date with the latest security patches, while the begin to take Vista beyond a PC operating system.
(www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.
improved Windows Vista firewall will help repel Included is an updated version of Windows Media
mspx) introduces a sparkling new interface
hackers, viruses and worms. Windows Defender Player with a new improved interface and all round
and a host of new features including the much
(already available in beta) helps protect you against manageability. Integrated into the player is URGE, a
vaunted tabbed browsing. This finally brings it
spyware and other potentially unwanted software. new digital music service from MTV Networks. Vista’s
in line with its few competitors (mainly Firefox).
Plus there is the inclusion of the Malicious Software own version of Media Center with updated interface
Web searching straight from the toolbar,
Removal tool, which scans your PC looking for known makes an appearance making it easier than ever to
reading and subscription to RSS feeds, and
prevalent viruses. find, play and manage all your digital entertainment
improved support for cascading style sheets
on your PC or TV using a remote control. It’s almost
(CSS) are also included. The ‘ools menu gives
way to the all-new and improved Phishing
Gadgets and Sidebar like you never had a PC. Alongside the big players
Vista is by no means going to be all work and no play, there’s the updated Movie Maker, now with support
Filter, which offers Automatic Website
though. A new addition, that Mac OS X and even for HD video and burning to CD/DVD plus DVD
Checking to ensure that a site is safe.
Google users might have seen the like of before, is Maker for creating DVD interfaces.
Gadgets. Essentially, Gadgets are mini-applications
Much like the old Control Panel, the Vista version is that are web services delivering information to the A Photoshopper’s paradise?
available in two views – Classic and Category – with desktop. These include news updates, weather But what about Photoshop users? Will Vista be
the Category view now expanded. Tailoring the look information and Internet radio streams. These are but a paradise for us, or will we find that like the
and feel of Vista to suit personal requirements is now the tip of the iceberg though with Gadgets being brand new Intel-powered Macs, Photoshop has not
within easy reach thanks to the Ease of Use Center. capable of integrating with installed applications – been considered?
User Accounts and Family Safety provide control over Media Player, or being standalone apps – Calculator. As usual, the app giant is being tight-lipped about
how children access and make use of the PC, as well Alongside the standard Vista set, further Gadgets any forthcoming changes to software to encompass
as giving the option to impose time limits. can be downloaded from a wide variety of new technology, although one Adobe spokesman
MINI APPS: Download, install and manage a host of MUSIC: Get to grips with the all new interface of
CONTROL PANEL: The Control Panel is where the mini applications with the help of the Windows Windows Media Player 11, and take control of your
heart of Windows Vista lies and a visit will reveal a Sidebar and a pool of Gadgets available from music and video. Plus, expand your music collection
host of new improved applets, an amazing 54 in total developers and manufacturers across the globe with the integrated download service URGE
89
Advanced Photoshop
Y
Price: £35 / $44.99
ou’re probably familiar with the work of TADO (www. Web: http://www.pqimemory.com
tado.co.uk). A design company that produces its own If you thought your flash drive was small,
cartoon-esque worlds through Photoshop, Illustrator and then check out the latest offering to be
Flash, Mike and Katie are well-known in the design industry. announced by PQI. The U510 looks set to be
the world’s slimmest flash drive at just 3mm
Expanding their creative wings further than their illustrations
thick. That’s not much bigger than your
and range of toys takes them, they’ve now designed a series of credit card!
flash drives. Imagine tucking your work onto these funky drives Designed to fit neatly in your wallet or
– you’d be the envy of the design world! Check out www. pocket the U510 has a built-in retractable USB
connector, works with Macs and Windows,
mimoco.com, where you’ll find designs by lots of artists
and holds an amazing 16GB of data!
and the storage goes up to 2GB – not bad. Convenient Although the some information remains
and portable, these drives are an essential working tool, unobtainable (at time of print) the U510 will be
and with one this design-friendly, you’ll never lose it. 5 mends available in iron grey, metallic silver and a
Recom football-inspired design. 5
Rating: 5/5 Rating: 4/5
Keyboard
Web: www.logitech.co.uk
Designed specifically with the stylish white
Macs in mind, the new S530 is the ideal
Price: £10.49 / $18 companion for your monitor, scanner and
printer. Complete with a one-touch button
Web: www.editorskeys.com
that allows you instant access to your music
I deal for those new to the Adobe app, this gadget is and photos on a Mac, the Desktop also
compatible with both PC and Mac keyboards. Allowing includes a cordless, ergonomically designed
keyboard with extended battery life and a
you to work faster than ever by giving you easy access to sculpted laser mouse for extra precision.
shortcuts, the Photoshop Keyboard is fully compatible Perfect for those using Photoshop.
with the default shortcuts in Photoshop 5 and above. Although if you’re a PC user this one is
Transforming your keyboard couldn’t be simpler – just stick definitely not for you, with the USB mini-
receiver and stand, this is the perfect package
and go for a potential increase in your productivity. Although
– even if you’re designing on the go. 5
we’re not huge fans of keyboard stickers like this, they can be
Rating: 4/5
and invaluable resource while you’re learning and can be easily
disposed of afterwards. 5
Wacom Graphire4 Classic
Rating: 3/5 Price: £54 / $99.95
Web: www.wacom-europe.com/uk
Even those put off by some of
Wacom’s more expensive
Availabot
tablets can’t turn their nose
up at the Graphire4 range. Recom
mends
Starting at just $99.95
Price: TBA (around £54) the tablet is
cheap enough to let you get the
Web: www.availabot.com feel of the stylus, without feeling like you’ve
Rating: 3/5
90
Advanced Photoshop
MacBook
American Express
Price: £1028.99 / $1499
Web: www.apple.com Butterfly
Do you like to stand out Recom
mends Price: N/A
from the crowd? If so your
next purchase should be the
Web: www.americanexpress.com/uk
I
MacBook black. f you’re starting your own design business, could there
We’re all used to seeing the white Macs. be a better way to impress clients than to buy lunch on
People on trains rub them in our faces
(metaphorically only of course), students show
an American Express? Yes: buy it with the new Butterfly.
them off in the local parks and TV shows seem Only available to Gold Card holders, the butterfly comes in
to sport more than their fair share. However, its own sleek case that can be worn around the neck, but its
they’re all white. show-stopping feature is the fact it is jointed to bend in half.
The new MacBook from Apple features
The Butterfly, although not available to everyone, is embedded
Intel technology, a screen over 13 inches wide
as well as all of a Mac’s usual fare, and comes in with status and style that means it’s sure to turn heads. But a
either traditional white or the bold black. whole host of people wearing their cards round their necks in a
Which will you choose? 5 recognisable case can mean only one thing. Trouble. 5
Rating: 5/5
Rating: 3/5
HP TravelScan 860 Business
Card Scanner
Price: £36 / $67
Web: www.usbgeek.com/prod_detail.
php?prod_id=0283 Sony Mouse Phone
For people who are always meeting new Price: £55 / $100
clients, business cards can become more of
Web: www.sony.co.uk
an annoyance than a resource. However,
with this cool little portable scanner from
I
HP, that might all be about to change. f you want decadence, look no further than the Sony
As you get a new card you can simply feed
VAIO VN-CXI – a mouse and phone in one. If you like the
it into the miniature scanner and it’s stored
directly on your computer. The scanned concept, it could be the perfect gadget for a home office.
images can be converted into text using In mouse mode the VN-CXI is highly responsive, featuring
built-in optical character recognition 800dpi resolution that makes navigating files and the Internet a
technology, and can be imported directly into breeze. As an Internet telephone incoming calls are announced
Outlook or another client. Costing just £36,
by a LED on the mouse or by a ring tone if you prefer and the
you get the black and white scanner, cable,
software and carrying case. 5 device opens at the touch of a button to become a handset for
Rating: 4/5 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
91
Advanced Photoshop
Game Art Using Photoshop modern day the book focuses on specific
typefaces and where they originated, looking at
how they are still used today. A little samey after
Author: Luke Ahearn a while, especially if you have no real interest in
mends
the area, although if you’re looking for a new
Publisher: Focal Press
font for your site this might help out. 5
Price: £29.99 / $54 Recom
Rating: 3/5
ISBN: 0240807685
Web: www.focalpress.com
Automating Photoshop To
I 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
Get Twice The Work Done
In Half The Time
Author: Matt Kloskowski
another, it’s great to know we can create what we’re Publisher: Peachpit Press
Price: £24.99 / $45
looking at. ISBN: 0321441656
3D Textures teaches you how to create professional-looking Web: www.peachpit.com
videogame textures with step-by-step tutorials. Also focusing This book reveals all the tricks, tips and
on teaching you the most efficient workflow critical for game techniques behind automating Adobe
Photoshop to save time and effort.
development, this is not a book that speaks down to you.
Written by Matt Kloskowski, education and
Using just Photoshop the book explores the skills needed to curriculum developer for the National
create grungy urban settings or rich fantasy worlds. From start Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP),
to finish the volume looks at the research behind the games, to the book can help you master Photoshop’s
powerful tools, and leave you wondering how
creating effective bullet holes, blood splatters and blast marks.
you ever got along without them. This guide will
Written by Luke Ahearn, a professional game developer with you want to part with your hard-earned cash, the CD-ROM extra also show you hidden actions and automation
more then 13 years’ experience in the business, this is not a read might just be. Packed full of everything you’ll need to get gems that are already loaded when you install
for Photoshop beginners. Ahearn was involved in the started developing your own game textures, the CD is the Photoshop CS2 – if you want to increase your
production of Dead Reckoning and America’s Army as well as perfect accompaniment to a great book. 5 speed, and get twice the work done with half
the headaches, this is the book for you. 5
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 Rating: 5/5 Rating: 4/5
92
Advanced Photoshop
P
visitors with access to an abundance of
roviding visitors with access to all things Photoshop,
Photoshop tips to make creating Actions,
the Café is a great place to visit. From online forums to batch processing, Histogram updates and
discuss your ‘Shop woes, to some fantastic tutorials more, easy.
provided by imaging experts, it’s all here under one roof. Subscribe to the site for free and get the
Created originally by Colin Smith, the site has grown to tips delivered straight to your Video iPod or
iTunes player (iTunes version 6 or higher only),
become a one-stop resource shop for image editors of all so no matter where you are you won’t miss
persuasions, including coverage of new features of CS2, out on the top tips.
competitions, book reviews and lots of useful links to Although other resources on the site are
thin on the ground – there’s just a handful of
mends
Photoshop inspiration across the web.
Recom
links and the archived tips – the hints
A particularly fine feature on the website is the tips
themselves are well worth a look to improve
page. Whether you want to know how to create custom your Photoshopping abilities. 5
gradients easily or how to create a composite layer, this site Rating: 4/5
covers it all. Well worth a visit next time you’re online. 5
I
Photoshop Contest hosts all the
f you want to chat to fellow Photoshoppers about web competitions one person could need. There’s
design, advanced techniques or just the basics, there’s a daily one to test your skills as well as
few finer places than within the Planet Photoshop forums. long-term contests to give you some extra
thinking time. You can also take a look
Although the community is still fairly small, it’s friendly and
through the site’s past winners in order to get
you’ll start seeing lots of familiar faces. But that’s not all this site some inspiration.
has to offer. Tutorials on the site cover a host of subjects – And that’s not all. With tutorials, forums,
photography, effects, text, web and so on – and the tip of the news, galleries and more, this is one site that’s
day is a really nice feature. sure to hold your interest for more than just a
moment. Highly recommended. 5
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 Rating: 4/5
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: 4/5
94
Advanced Photoshop