Blur

Deke's Techniques 044: Miniaturizing the World in Photoshop

Submitted by deke on 1 November 2011 - 12:15am.
Deke's Techniques 044: Miniaturizing the World in Photoshop

This week, I take you on a journey into the world of the small. That is, I show you how to make the world small, as if you---quite by contrast---have become inexplicably and fantastically HUGE. So that you can tromp around your photographs and proclaim maniacally, "I am vast and powerful!" as you crush cars, trains, and buildings with your bare feet. And squish the fleeing citizenry with your fingertips.

Or just pick 'em up and play with 'em. Your choice.

Here's the official description from lynda.com: Read more » 

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Blurring Live Text with a Drop Shadow

Submitted by deke on 15 July 2008 - 12:01am.

I realize I owe you lovers of the graphic arts a Part 2 to my Illustrator Transparency, Photoshop Resolve article. (If that sounds familiar, it's because I copied and pasted that sentence from last week.) But given that not a single person has expressed a problem with my delaying Part 2 -- which makes me cry real, actual, enormous crocodile tears (below) -- I'm guessing you're okay waiting.

In the meantime, I discovered something quite by chance today that made me geek out and do the d'oh, slap-my-head, I-can't-believe-I-never-figured-that-out-before thing.

Here's the idea: Photoshop does not let you blur live text. Well, all right, that's a lie. Photoshop does let you blur live text if you first convert the text to a smart object. But that's a Big Italicized If. Converting text to a smart object restricts your access to it and requires you to edit the text in a separate window, which is an increduloppus painoloopamus in the hippopotamus. Read more » 

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Photoshop CS3 Sharpen box art
Amazon.com

Photoshop CS3 Sharpening Images

Real focus happens inside the camera's lens element. The sharpening features in Photoshop CS3 exaggerate the contrast along edges in a photograph to transform a well-focused image into an outstanding image. In Photoshop CS3 Sharpening Images, Deke McClelland teaches a host of sharpening and noise reduction techniques, including using filters such as Unsharp Mask, Smart Sharpen, High Pass, and Reduce Noise. The training teaches the essentials of sharpening, including what it does, why it's important, and how the filters function. Read more » 

List price: $99.95USD