Photoshop Tips – Create a Custom Halftone Design
September 26, 2008
The halftone pattern is one of those design elements that never seems to get old. You can make your designs even more timeless by getting creative with your halftone patterns. Let’s take a look at a quick and easy way to add a custom halftone effect to your images or designs.
Optimizing PDF Files
September 12, 2008
PDF files that are created for press and printing can have high resolution and large file size. This can make it difficult to view these files on the Web or send them via email. In some earlier versions of Acrobat, you could simply go to File > Reduce File Size and you were done. The Reduce File Size option was a quick and easy way of downsizing your PDFs, but with the introduction of Acrobat 8 we’re presented with a much more full-featured tool; the PDF Optimizer.
Keep in mind that performing this Optimization can result in reduction of resolution and compressing certain file components. This is not recommended for files that are bound for press.
Digital Photography Workflow – High Contrast Effect from Start to Finish
August 25, 2008
Your digital photography workflow is important because it’s the process that you employ to create an image. Each step in the workflow is important as it makes each sub-sequent step easier and makes the overall workflow more efficient, allowing you to devote more time and energy to creating great images.
One key to creating great images is starting with a great photo and then enhancing the photo further in Photoshop. In this tutorial, I’ll explain how I setup the lighting and composition for the photo and then used Lightroom and Photoshop to end up with the final image.
Getting Started in Graphic Design: Part 1
August 6, 2008
Design is all around us. The shapes, the lines, the colors; the concepts we are exposed to everyday whether consciously or subliminally. Design is about communication; forming a bond between the audience and the design medium and getting the message across.
While there are endless ways to get the message across, there are a few basic rules that every designer should know. While all rules are made to be broken, it’s best to show that you know the rules and understand them, so that when you break the rules you can do so intentionally and for the benefit of the design. Also, design is art, and the old belief still holds true that those who know nothing about art make art about nothing.
Professional Portrait Retouching – Comparing Skin Softening Techniques
July 23, 2008
There are many ways to soften skin inside Photoshop; some methods are more effective than others, but each method typically gives you different results, however slight they may be. It can be confusing and frustrating to try out each of these techniques to find out which works best with your particular photo or photographic style.
This tutorial will walk you through an easy way to setup and compare three of the most popular skin softening techniques inside one Photoshop document while maintaining realism and skin texture. This not only gives you insight into what each softening technique has to offer, but also gives you more flexibility with your images.
Professional Portrait Retouching – Removing Dark Circles
June 30, 2008
In our previous portrait retouching lesson, we looked at the simple task of brightening a subject’s eyes. This time, we’ll be working on removing the dark circles under your subject’s eyes. With the use of some of Photoshop’s healing and retouching tools, we can easily paint away wrinkles and blemishes and make your subjects look years younger.
Professional Portrait Retouching – Brightening the Eyes
June 16, 2008
One of the easiest ways to make your portraits really stand out is to brighten your subject’s eyes. This is a quick and easy photo retouch technique used by professionals that you can use on most any portrait.
Check out the video after the jump, as well as a step-by-step rundown of the technique used.
Illustrator Tutorial – Create a Cool Ad Design with Shapes and Patterns
April 28, 2008
I recently saw a holiday advertisement that had this cool effect to it. It had a pattern of shapes with a few of the shapes outlining some text. I thought it was a neat concept so I tried to reverse engineer what they had done and this is what I came up with.
We will be creating this design inside Adobe Illustrator. While this design can be made inside Photoshop, it’s much easier to layout in Illustrator and you will end up with a more versatile master file in case you need to recreate the design for multiple purposes.
How to Crop Non-Destructively in Photoshop
January 16, 2008
Come on, admit it. You get a little crop-happy sometimes. We all do. You may be a closet-cropper, but I’m here to assure you that it’s perfectly normal. We’ve all been in the position of cropping a little too much here and there.
The kind folks at Adobe have included a feature in Photoshop that is just for those closet-croppers out there. It’s somewhat hidden, so many beginners may not know about it. (Hell, even seasoned pros may be in the dark.)
