Amsterdam

Or something like that. You see this episode begins with a peek into the author/editor process. How, in Amsterdam, under the influence of a small amount of Jenver, the glowing light of Deke's iPhone, and a hefty dose of denial, we hatched a plan about how it would be great to create a new chapter to the fifth version of Deke's book, Adobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One. The theme of the new chapter is Pro Photography tools, and it includes exercises on HDR Pro and Photomerge.

Flash forward: chapter complete (after time and pain spent), beautiful book on the shelf, and we once again decide to take a swim in our bottomless pail of optimism regarding what we can accomplish in a given amount of time. Under the influence of a small amount of gin, the glowing lights of the dekeLounge, and a hefty dose of denial, we decide to do a show about Photomerge and HDR Pro. And of course, we really only get halfway through. (Because we're not supposed to take the "hour" in our show's title literally.) Thus, this week's show is really all about stitching panoramas in Photomerge. Don't let it tell you otherwise.

Turns out, as automated as the photostiching phase of the process is, there was quite a bit to talk about: Read more » 

Back in Amsterdam, last December, Deke and I hatched an ambitious plan: to revamp the Adobe Photoshop One-on-One book for CS5, no holds barred. We've had moments since then where we wondered if we'd gotten ourselves in a little more deeply than we'd intended. (That Jenever, it'll getcha!) But tonight that book went to the printer, and those insanely late-night work sessions where we questioned not only our ambition but our very sanity, seem so obviously worth the effort. The book supplies you, quite figuratively, with the keys to using Photoshop, as pictured below.

Yes, dekeItarians. This very night, Adobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One is heading to the printer, thanks to the amazing efforts of Deke's crackerjack team, for release in mid-July. And it is beautiful. Altogether reorganized with new exercises and even a whole new lesson on Pro Photography Tools. What feels particularly fresh is the way the five hours of online video lessons integrate into the 450 pages of book-based ones. Read more » 

What does it take for Deke and I to float outside our Design Premium Suite comfort zone? Well, transport us to another country, give us a new product, and hook us up with a couple of gracious Adobe evangelists. Last month, while still at the Netherlands User Group meeting in Amsterdam (Adobe User Group XL, aka #augxl) we caught up with the two keynote speakers from the conference, Serge Jespers and Jason Levine, both of whom have multi-syllabic titles at Adobe that they reveal during the show. Fortified with Jenever, Deke and I forayed into uncharted waters with our two stalwart and generous guides (who also graciously put up with the scent of raw herring wafting through dekeLounge Amsterdam).

Our first port of call was Adobe's upcoming new application, Flash Catalyst. What, exactly, is Catalyst you ask? (Have I been reading Jr. High School newsletters you ask?) Well it's a program that lets you, our beloved creative types, control the design of your web pages and AIR widgets, and then hand off your hard work in pixels in the form of live code for your favorite developer. And you can currently download said product in beta form from Adobe Labs. Pretty cool. 

Serge (left) and Jason, as captured by photographer and all-around great guy Hans Frederiks. 

But wait, there's more.

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And when I say "going native" below, I mean slurping up some Jenever accompanied by raw herring. The latter was brought into the dekeLounge Amsterdam by Deke's Dutch publisher, Bob Van Duuren and his partner, Wouter Vermeulen. (You'll probably still be able to smell the fish and its itinerant pickles and onions in next week's show.) We sit down with the braintrust of Van Duuren Media to find out about translating Deke's books, publishing computer books in the Netherlands, and the love of "vintage" software.

The revelation of this week's show is that Bob is Deke's idol. You see, after years of writing books (and translating a few of you-know-whose into Dutch), Bob went off with Wouter to start his own publishing company. Van Duuren Media now threatens to be the top computer book publisher in the Netherlands. Part of their success is apparently based on Bob's undying love for Corel's Ventura Publisher. Listen as Bob and Deke stroll down the memory lane of graphics software, while Wouter and I just worry if the books will be published on time. They're like our Dutch mirror-images.

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