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The Next "Photoshop Masking & Compositing" Course Goes Live @ lynda.com

Ask anyone at Adobe what distinguishes Photoshop from every other image-editing program, app, or digital blip on the planet, and they'll tell you "masking and compositing." Apparently you agree, because my video course Photoshop Masking & Compositing: Fundamentals is tearing up the planet over at lynda.com. It's N-to-the-1-to-the-L-D-C, as the dope kids say. As if I'd know.

Naturally, I'm gratified. (Thanks very much, btw!) Plus, it emboldens me to report: Today I and my beloved video publisher release another installment in the series, Photoshop Masking & Compositing: Advanced Blending. The image below might make it look exacting and academic. Which it is. But it's also expansive and practical. Because it tells the ultimate post-processing story: How to paint without permanence, create without consequences, and, in the end, mask without masking. In short, how to assemble photorealistic artwork through the pure power of artistic thought. It really is that good.

Photoshop Masking & Compositing: Advanced Blending

This is a short course, just 4 hours, and yet it manages to comprise 9 chapters. Here they are: Read more » 

The Self-Made Mask

Today's tip comes from from Chapter 26, "Masking Essentials," of Deke's video course Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Mastery from lynda.com. And because this course is all about mastery, Deke takes on tougher masking challenges in this chapter, delving into such deep techniques as exploiting the native components of an RGB image to create highly exacting alpha channels and masks.

Photoshop CS5 self-made mask

Some of you may recognize this image (care of Stas Perov of the Fotolia image library) from Deke's Photoshop Top 40 videos, starting with Feature #33: Calculations. But this is a more detailed analysis, which includes compositing the masked image against a blue sky background.

We'll focus on the segment entitled "Making an alpha channel," where Deke demonstrates how the art of masking lies in using the image to select itself. Read more » 

Photoshop Top 40, Feature #11: Opacity and Blend Modes

Feature #11: Opacity and Blend Modes

Welcome to a block of the most powerful options inside Photoshop: Opacity and Blend Modes. These include the options at the top of the Layers palette, not to mention those associated with the brush tool, the Calculations command, and a whole lot more. What these options do is blend pixels together, entirely parametrically--meaning no harm done--using math. Beautiful, lovely, gorgeous math. Read more » 

Photoshop Top 40, Feature #31: The Brush Tool

Feature #31: The Brush Tool

If you know anything about Photoshop's brush tool, you know it paints smooth lines in the foreground color. You can control its behavior to the nth degree from the options bar and Brushes palette. And it responds to pressure-sensitive input.

Those attributes alone would earn it a place in the coveted Photoshop Top 40. The fact that it also excels as a masking tool merely cements the deal. Read more »