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Deke's Techniques 037: Auto-Collapsing a Selection Outline

Submitted by deke on 13 September 2011 - 8:15am.
Deke's Techniques 037: Auto-Collapsing a Selection Outline

This week's technique is going to seem boring a hell or wickedly wonderful as hell depending on your state of mind. Good old fanciful old Hell. It's either hideously horrible or astoundingly attractive based on your momentary whims.

But here's the idea: I start with a flat image file from a talented artist who does great work but isn't particularly skilled at Photoshop. And you have to edit it. Specifically, you want to select a detail and have your selection automatically contract around said detail, without you having to expend a lot of unnecessary effort. (You're on deadline, after all!) Well, this extremely button-down technique shows you how it works.

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

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Martini Hour 091, In Which We Self-Select for Awesomeness

Submitted by colleen on 11 November 2010 - 12:30am.

In my admittedly dilettantish opinion, the essence of nuanced Photoshop work is proper selection. Where our eyes can select, Photoshop falls short, so learning how to speak Photoshop's language is important. Because whatever you do, retouching, adjusting tone or color, compositing, covering your tracks, embroiling your neighbors in scandals, making great selections makes it better. This week in the dekeLounge, we discuss the pros and cons of all the selection tools. And Deke holds back nothing, in true Deke style. After this not-quite-hour of bourbon-sipping conversation, you will have your head wrapped how everything from the simplest lasso, to the most useless quick selection tool, to the fabulous color range actually works. 

Here's a list of all the tools that make an appearance in this week's show (and a quick note on Deke's opinion): Read more » 

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Photoshop Top 40, Feature #23: Color Range

Submitted by deke on 10 November 2009 - 12:15am.
Feature #23: Color Range

I have returned from Southern France. And with the exception of a few exciting airport debacles--never ever try to return your car to the "French sector" of the Geneva International Airport!--I had a great time. Avignon, Les Baux-de-Provence, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. Mouth-watering cheeses, world-class wines, and chocolates like you've never tasted. Plus everyone's super polite and the speed limit is >80 mph. You can't get a decent martini, but I did manage to parlay a glass of 15-year Laphroaig, which'll tide me over in a pinch.

In the meantime, I'm in Toronto. In fact, this very day I'm teaching a full-day, super-intensive Channels & Masks seminar at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, at which every attendee gets a copy of my book Photoshop CS4 Channels & Masks One-on-One.

So it's only fitting that today's feature is Photoshop's most successful automated masking function, Color Range. To say it's good is an understatement. Like a Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine, it is soigné. Check out the free high-quality streaming video to learn more. Read more » 

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