view in youtube

One of the first time vendors at Photoshop World in D.C. was Deposit Photos. This stock site features both photo and vector files of a very good quality. I was lucky enough to get a trial membership and took great advantage of that, searching for and finding lots of images that I used in tutorials and as graphics for my blog. I was extremely happy with the selection of photos and their quality.

I have not registered as a seller, both of course they offer that option as well.

Be sure to check it out

So here’s my “Now that I’ve been using it for a while Top Six list of my favorite things in Photoshop CS6″ list. (Top Six, because it’s CS6 – get it?)

1. Crop Tool
I absolutely LOVE the new Crop Tool. It’s so much easier and faster that now I cannot imagine going back to the “old way”. I almost wish Adobe didn’t include the option to go to “Classic Mode” – I fear that some people will give up to soon on the new way and revert back to the old way. Every time I press C for Crop and the crop handles are already there I give an imaginary high five to Adobe.

2. Background Save
It’s easy to forget about this one since it is in the background, but the ability to save a large document and continue to work has been a real time saver. Every. Single. Day.

3. Content Aware Patch
Although Content Aware Fill is great, I have an ongoing love affair with the Content Aware option of the Patch tool. The ability to choose the area to use, and put the results on a new layer? Awesome!!

4. Color Lookup Adjustment Layer
I’ve found myself using this new adjustment layer more than I thought I would – mostly I think because it quickly lets me try looks that would have taken longer n the past. And some of the choices would have previously required a third-party Action to achieve – no it’s an editable effect.

5. Tool Recording in Actions
I”ve already found a number of situations where having the option to record tools as part of an Action have been a huge help. Check out this video for one example.

6. Group Layer Styles
I guess I never realized how often I used to copy and paste layer style from one layer to another until I no longer have to do that. The option to apply layer styles to a Group is very very cool. (and the ability to use a Clipping Mask with a Group is pretty darn cool too).

Other contenders for the top six:
The Lighting Effects filter: haven’t used it much but it’s very interesting
The Blur Filters: again, haven’t had too many reasons to use them, but I do like the look of Field Blur over Gaussian Blur
Layer Search: I can see how this will be a great help the next time I’m working on a document with lots of layers

Not a Fan:
Mini Bridge: I am (was?) a huge fan of Mini Bridge and relied on it each and every day. I do not like the fact that in CS6 I’m pretty much forced to use it as a filmstrip on the bottom. What a waste of space! I am so used to have MB as a pop-up panel that I can put away, but MB definitely does not operate well anymore unless it’s a filmstrip.

What are your favorite features/changes so far? Your least favorites? Comment away….

The demonstrations they showed included having a client look at the layers in a Photoshop document – even if they don’t own Photoshop. Or taking a photo, creating color swatches, uploading to the cloud and using the swatches in Photoshop and Illustrator.

The monthly membership to the Creative Cloud has been announced at $49/month, but if you already own Creative Suite editions or individual products, version CS3 or later (CS3, CS4, CS5, CS5.5 or CS6) you save US$20 per month for the first year on a Creative Cloud membership. Just sign up for an annual plan by August 31, 2012 and get Creative Cloud for just $29.99 a month for the first year.

Check it out!

This post is about Photoshop and how some people don’t use an automated feature in Photoshop when it doesn’t do the entire job for them. For example, I’ve had people tell me they don’t use Actions because they can’t record the entire process that they’re trying to automate. My response is, can you record at least half of the operation?

Here’s a simple example: you need to take 5 versions of the same photo, get them all into one document as layers, align them and then mask out different areas on each layer. Can you do that whole operation automatically? No. But can you automate parts of the task? You bet. In this example I would select all the documents in Bridge and use the command Load Files into Photoshop Layers. That will automatically create a new document with a layer for each photo. Then I’d select all the layers, go to the Edit menu and select Auto Align layers.

Of course I’d still need to manually add layer masks and paint on each one, but at least a good chunk of the work was done for me.

I always like to remind people to “consider the alternative”. If you try Content Aware Fill and it does an “okay” job – not great but pretty good, doesn’t that still save you time, considering the alternative of cloning for 20 minutes? If you can record an Action that does half of an operation (leaving the rest to you), isn’t that better than the alternative of doing the whole operation manually?

Perhaps part of the problem is that often the initial demonstration we see of new technology such as Content Aware Fill (or the new Content Aware Move tool in Photoshop CS6) makes the technology look amazingly perfect. I’m sure you’ve had the experience of watching in amazement as a software company demonstrates their new technology – then when you try it later it doesn’t work as well as the demo. Ever. That’s the reality of technology: companies are going to carefully choose photos that show off their technology on the best light. I understand that, and have changed my expectations: I don’t expect the new tool to work as well as the demo I watched, but I do expect it will help me get closer to my desired end result.

Think about the things you do in Photoshop all the time: aren’t there some operations where you could automate at least part of it? Maybe 50%?

In cases like this, 50% really is good enough. In fact, it’s pretty darn great.

I hope you can join me!

Full details and registration information is here

Check it out! Available NOW in the iTunes store….

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I started this list when my children asked for Christmas ideas from me. They want to get me something for my photography “habit”, hopefully under $25. As I started to come up with ideas, I thought that other photographers might find these ideas useful to pass on to family members who want some gift ideas from you…other than that new camera body or lens. I started looking on B&H to get an idea of prices, some of which I’ve added to give an idea of the price range. Of course you may want to be pretty specific to make sure you end up with the “right one”. (Hint: B&H has a great Wish List option that can be emailed to friends and family)

So in no particular order, here’s my list of ideas, all under $25, some even in the “stocking stuffer:” category:

Wireless remote <$15

Gel Sheets $5 each

USB thumb drive $5 – 20

Lens caps (replacements) $5- 20

Camera Strap $10 and up

Extra batteries (both AA and camera specific)

LCD screen protectors $20

UV lens filter $5

USB 2.0 Card Reader $5 – 20

Gray Card/target $10 – 25

Long USB cable (for tethered shooting) $7 – 20

A clamps $5 each, also sold in sets

Memory cards

Memory card holder

USB hub (there’s never enough USB ports on a laptop) $5 – 20

Photo paper

Head lamp flashlight (for the pre-dawn landscape shooters)

Cleaning Kits <$25

iTunes gift card (to buy photography apps)

Do you have other ideas? Please add them in the comments – just keep them under $25 (it’s harder than you’d think)