Photography

Up and Running with Photoshop for Photography

Things have been crazy around here lately. So forgive me for just now finally getting around to posting the fact that my beloved video publisher, lynda.com, has released the fourth and last in my series of crash courses on Adobe programs. It's called Up and Running with Photoshop for Photography, and it explains how to get started with Photoshop specifically and digital photography in general. So gather your loved ones, microwave some popcorn, and get ready to watch 3 hours, 32 minutes, and 33 movies of the best video training you ever laid your eyes and ears on. (I don't mean to be boastful; I'm just excited.) Newbies and seasoned pros will find much to learn. (Again, I stress: I'm excited.) Here's my choice for a poster frame, featuring the adorable Alicia, as captured by the equally adorable Jacob Cunnigham (the guy in the Coke shirt coming up soon).

Up and Running with Photoshop for Photography

Here's my chapter-by-chapter description: Read more » 

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Deke's Techniques 028: Adding Stereo-3D Text and Shapes

Deke's Techniques 028: Adding Stereo-3D Text and Shapes

Hey gang. This week's Deke's Techniques videos are all about adding text and shapes to a 3D stereoscopic photograph, like the one created in last week's technique. In today's free movie, I show you how to add text and shapes at different planes of depth. In the follow-up video at lynda.com, I show you how to tilt the text and shapes so they incline in 3D space toward the viewer.

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

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Deke's Techniques 027: Making a Stereoscopic Photo

Deke's Techniques 027: Making a Stereoscopic Photo

As I write this, I've published 20 hours of video training on the topic of 3D imaging in Photoshop. (For those who may be curious, it begins with the 5-hour Photoshop CS5 Extended One-on-One: 3D Fundamentals, about which you can learn more at lynda.com.) These movies are all about creating photorealistic 3D artwork from scratch. But what if you're not interested in 3D artwork? What if you want to create 3D photographs? Well then you're in luck, because that's precisely what this week's technique is all about.

Remember those old View-Master images? It's like that, only with glasses. Plus loads of fun and really easy.

In today's free video, I show you how to shoot two photographs---one for each of your naturally stereoscopic eyes---using a standard single-lens camera. And then I assemble them in Photoshop so that the composite image appears in everyday-average lifelike depth when viewed through a pair of red-cyan glasses, like the ones pictured below, provided by Fotolia.

3D glasses from the Fotolia image library

Red, white, and blue. What a fitting day-after-Fourth-of-July tribute! Meanwhile, here's the official description from lynda.com: Read more » 

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Deke's Techniques 021: Assembling a Flawless Panorama

Deke's Techniques 021: Assembling a Flawless Panorama

It's tempting to dismiss stitched panoramas as a kind of trendy fad, one that passed about the same time that Adobe finally got its act in gear with the current version of Photomerge. But I see panoramas very much in the realm of ongoing relevance, and for two reasons. First, the obvious: You can build an image with roughly the same proportions as human eyesight, thus permitting the viewer to fully immerse in your photograph. Second, and more importantly (because there's nothing that says these things have to be wide), you can assemble a higher number of pixels than your camera can otherwise capture. For example, a collection of 12-megapixel shots can grow upwards of 30 megapixels---even after cropping---enough to measure at least 3 feet wide (or 3 feet tall, if you prefer) at 267 pixels per inch.

Photoshop's Photomerge command is easy enough to use. But getting flawless results out of it is another thing. It's less a matter of Photoshop wizardry---there's not a whole lot you can do to control Photomerge's automated behavior---and more one of capturing the best scene while behind the camera. And because panoramas are best suited to grand vistas and other location shots, you may have just one chance to get it right. Which is what this video is ultimately about.

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

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This Is Me in Real 3D

I'm so sorry to do this. But I get excited whenever I record a really great video. This one will be a Deke's Techniques movie for lynda.com, available (I believe) July 5th. Altogether for free. And it will document how to make a stereoscopic photograph with a single lens (i.e., standard) camera, perfect for viewing with a pair of red/blue glasses---that is to say, red on left and blue (actually cyan) on right. Get yourself such a pair and check out the following:

This is me in real 3D

This is me, btw. I imagine that some of you might want to see someone other than me, possibly a person with longer hair and more depth. But me is what you get. Me in real 3D. Read more » 

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