Blending Options

As I write this, I've published 20 hours of video training on the topic of 3D imaging in Photoshop. (For those who may be curious, it begins with the 5-hour Photoshop CS5 Extended One-on-One: 3D Fundamentals, about which you can learn more at lynda.com.) These movies are all about creating photorealistic 3D artwork from scratch. But what if you're not interested in 3D artwork? What if you want to create 3D photographs? Well then you're in luck, because that's precisely what this week's technique is all about.

Remember those old View-Master images? It's like that, only with glasses. Plus loads of fun and really easy.

In today's free video, I show you how to shoot two photographs---one for each of your naturally stereoscopic eyes---using a standard single-lens camera. And then I assemble them in Photoshop so that the composite image appears in everyday-average lifelike depth when viewed through a pair of red-cyan glasses, like the ones pictured below, provided by Fotolia.

Red, white, and blue. What a fitting day-after-Fourth-of-July tribute! Meanwhile, here's the official description from lynda.com: Read more » 

Well, well. I'm back from my week in the Golden Age City of Canals, Amsterdam. And although it was great to be there, I must say, it's good to be back. Even if it's a mere 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 Celsius) here in the malevolently icy embrace of Boulder, Colorado. By which I mean, actually, I'd rather be in Amsterdam. With kindly old Sinterklaas waving from his steam boat and blackfaced, red-lipped, clownishly festooned Zwarte Pieten tucking me in at night. Ah, those zany Dutch! Don't they know Santa's slaves are miniature, felt-dressed Vulcans?

Then again, if I were still in Holland, I might be too distracted by all things poetic and profane to post today's Photoshop Top 40 video. And what a shame that would be because this week, I've got a doozy. Read more »