selections

When I released my first "Photoshop Channels & Masks" course for lynda.com, it shot to the top of the Online Training Library and remained there for months. Naturally, I've been eager to update the videos, but as seems forever to be the case, there have been plenty of other things to occupy my attention.

Fortunately, that unfortunate situation officially changes today. Nearly four years after the release of my last "Channels & Masks" course, I am just today putting the finishing touches on its update. Only this time around, we'll be calling the video "Photoshop Masking & Compositing: Fundamentals." And it contains all new content. (Okay, so there are a couple of archival projects, but I thoroughly rehashed them, so they're new too.)

Here's a sample project, in which I take a couple of foreground subjects, one with lots of hair and the other with lots of feathers:

And I arrange them against a new background, complete with some adventurous compositing techniques and a few synthetic effects:

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This week, appropriately enough, we discuss the Refine Edge feature in Photoshop CS5. Appropriate, because last week we discussed all the ways to select various elements in Photoshop, and now we can refine those edges with the command that is turning out to be Deke's favorite new thing in CS5. Because, once you make the best selection you can (more on that during the show, please don't try to solve crappy selections with Refine Edge), this tool can add that extra level of control that gives you a selection up to Deke's standards. And those standards are pretty darn refined. 

Here are the salient refinements of this week's show: Read more » 

It's Friday, but seriously, deeple, get your entertainment and education at the same time as you enjoy this video which I pilfered for your enjoyment from the companion DVD of Deke's Photoshop CS4 Channels & Masks One-on-One book.

In this lesson, Deke introduces you to the Calculations command which can be a little tricky, but oh-so-very useful and important to understand. As Deke notes:

Now I won’t sugarcoat it, Calculations is not easy—in fact, it might be Photoshop’s single most difficult feature to master. But it is the command that’s going to increase the quality of your masks.

When you're done, you can return to your less edifying Friday festivities. Happy Weekending, Deeps. Read more » 

Hey, Kids. I'm hiding in my room after my fifth day of Macworld festivities (and by festivities, I mean business meetings, talking to book lovers in the booth, and supporting my beloved authors). My boots are kicked off. I'm looking for a cocktail. And I'm noticing that the hotel internet is back online, so I'm going to take the opportunity to post another video for you.

This is from Lesson 3 of Photoshop Channels and Masks One-on-one, which by the way is here at the show and not only looks amazing but smells good (if you like fresh ink!). Tired as I am, (and I still have the O'Reilly experts appearance at Macworld in a mere 50 minutes), I'm gonna steal Deke's description from the book for you rather than try to write my own:

People often mistake simple tools for simplistic results. But in the hands of a capable and informed artist, Photoshop’s relatively mundane selection tools can produce out-of-this-world results. To prove my point, I walk you through the creation of a fast but furious composition, created using nothing more than three images, a couple of color adjustments, and the two marquee tools, rectangular and elliptical.

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