Levels

Levels and Curves: Photoshop's Left and Right Ventricles Pump Luminance

Submitted by LouBrz on 8 February 2011 - 6:15am.

Simply put, the Levels and Curves adjustments allow you to control the luminance of an image on a channel-by-channel basis. With these features, you can correct brightness, contrast, and color casts. They are essential commands and the two most powerful color correction facilities in Photoshop. The Levels command offers relative simplicity, while the Curves command gives you more control. Use one or the other as needed to adjust your images, but you'll never need both in a single project. In this article, we'll look at the features of the Levels command and then look at how the Curves command expands upon its capabilities.

Photoshop levels curves lead

This article is compiled from Chapter 14 of Deke's video course Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Advanced. Like the last tip, it's packed with useful information, but there's even more value in viewing the actual chapter on lynda.com. Read more » 

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All Pirate Flag Files and Art

Submitted by deke on 27 October 2010 - 9:15am.

Today I share with you the essential pirate flag asset files. As described in this week's 6-day video blog (which began with "Sketching the Pirate Flag" and continues until Friday, October 29), the flag art measures five feet wide by three feet tall. It's an Illustrator file, so every line is razor smooth, as if drawn with pen and ink. And because Illustrator saves PDF-compatible files, you can open it in the free Adobe Reader utility. Even better, you have my permission to modify the file and print it as you see fit.

Here's a picture of me with said flag that was shot this morning.

Deke and the pirate flag

It's my gift to you. The only catch is that you have to be a member of dekeOnline. Read more » 

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Adding Contrast and Color

Submitted by deke on 26 October 2010 - 12:15am.
Illustrator CS5 One-on-One: Advanced PREVIEW, Part 3

Welcome to Day Three of my first-ever totally-free, cradle-to-grave, real-world project demonstration, in which I---like the Martha Stewart of digital imaging that I am---show you how to make a wicked-awesome, Halloween-appropriate, large-format pirate flag. Today's video hails from my upcoming video series Illustrator CS5 One-on-One: Advanced (lynda.com) and yet, as with yesterday's installment, it happens entirely in Photoshop.

Here's the official description: Read more » 

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Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Advanced Goes Live

Submitted by deke on 16 August 2010 - 12:15am.

Some of you have been asking when my Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Advanced series is coming out. And I was all prepared to tell you this Friday. But lynda.com, being the incredible juggernaut of a video publisher that they are, began releasing it today. Chapters 13 thru 18 are up this very second. That's more than 100 movies, so it should keep you occupied for now. (If not, I totally suck.) The remaining Chapters 19 thru 24 will be up in 10 days.

Here's a live-action frame from the series. My director told me that, in retrospect, my spendy Elie Tahari shirt "looked a little disco." Let me assure you that this is one of the best shirts I've ever owned. It's a matte forest green with some excellent under-collar and inner-sleeve highlights. In the video, I don't look disco, I look positively wet. Meaning that I glisten. Like someone is misting me. Which is not necessarily what you want in a training video. But it's what you get.

Advanced

That said, who gives a tinker's gumph what I look like? Read more » 

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Martini Hour 062, In Which Colleen Graciously Lets Deke Pick Up Where We Left Off

Submitted by colleen on 22 April 2010 - 12:05am.

You may recall a few weeks back, I had to put my unshod foot down and get Deke to stop talking about the Levels command. (I'm just trying to keep Martini Hour somewhere in the not-exactly-an-hour space, dekeOphiles.) But I'm a woman of my word, so this week I let Deke resume that discussion, this time addressing the ability that Photoshop gives you to adjust levels on independent color channels. Although it sounds complex, you know Deke will walk you through with patience and compassion. And knowing how to do this will allow you to use the Levels command to remove a color cast while your fixing contrast problems. Efficiency and martinis, that's what we provide in the dekeLounge.

Here's where Deke went when I let the reins loose: Read more » 

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