books

When the awesome fashion photographer, Photoshop expert, and bestselling author Martin Evening honored us by stopping by the dekeLounge, we seriously considered dropping the i from Martini in his honor. Instead, we decided to take advantage of having his considerable expertise and quiz him on what he thought was significant for photographers in Photoshop CS5. Our questions served two purposes, 1) it's always good to hear what savvy, notable photographers have to say, and 2) Martin is one of those guys that Deke thinks is smart enough to steal tips from. 

Of course, the exchange of ideas betwixt two luminaries is never really outright stealing. Here's where Deke and Martin took the "reciprocal exchange of ideas" this week, and why Martin thinks CS5 might be one of the best versions of Photoshop to come along for photographers: Read more » 

Some of you have asked, so I thought I'd let you know: It looks as though "Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Fundamentals," my comprehensive 194-movie, 20-hour video series for lynda.com, will go live the week of May 3. That is to say, just one week from Monday. As I've mentioned before, it includes roughly 99% new content and a slew of new features. But mostly, it's all about bringing you up to speed with how to use Photoshop, from cradle to grave---as I trust this macabre pencil sketch (which I use to explore the Image Size command) demonstrates in no uncertain terms. Hint: the sheep did it!

Meanwhile, I'm hard at work on "Illustrator CS5 One-on-One: Fundamentals." Read more » 

By now, most (if not all) of you know that Adobe is updating its entire line of Creative Suite products. The net result will be Creative Suite 5. And there are the usual bazillion features to look forward to.

Adobe has made it clear that I can't tell you what those features will be. (Oh sure, Adobe itself has leaked many of the minor features, including Content-Aware Fill, which will blow you away once you see it for yourself. But I myself make no mention of Content-Aware Fill. Oh, crap, yes I did. Oops!) However, I can tell you this: I'm hard at work on creating a slew of books and videos for CS5. And that is what I'm here to share with you today.

Here's the skinny: I have not only recorded the entirety of my video series "Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Fundamentals" for lynda.com. I'm also halfway done with my book, Adobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One for Deke Press in cooperation with O'Reilly Media. And I am well into my video series "Illustrator CS5 One-on-One: Fundamentals," again for lynda.com. In other words, things are well under way.

And to make matters more interesting, virtually all the content is brand-spanking new. New outlines, new projects, new everything. New new new. Read more » 

Myyyy Photoshop, myyyy Photoshop, Top 40! Okay, so actually, it's the Top 3. That is, the Top 3 entries in our recent Photoshop Top 40: The Contest. I asked you to create a magnificent piece of artwork that celebrates no fewer than three of the features from my Photoshop Top 40 podcast. Happily, your response was overwhelming. Sadly, your response was overwhelming on Christmas Eve, while I and my sidekick Colleen were with our children. But eventually, we found time to review all 146 enthusiastically submitted entries. (Thank you, by the way! Nothing gets us going like a hot contest!)  From that, and with great difficulty, we have selected three winners.

I promised our choices would be purely subjective. And they are. But subjected to the things we love: Photoshop craftsmanship and creative ingenuity. And, go figure, we liked pieces that celebrated the theme of the contest, Photoshop Top 40. In other words, good art direction trumped precise execution, although our winners showed some mad skills. Read more »