shadows

Photoshop Top 40, Feature #9: Levels

Submitted by deke on 16 February 2010 - 12:15am.
Feature #9: Levels

Feature #9 is my favorite adjustment command: Levels. Adjusted only slightly since its introduction in Version 1.0, this seminal feature lets you set the black and white points, as well as correct the midtones without harming either. It refrains from clipping colors unless you tell it to. It boasts Photoshop's first on-board histogram. And it works as well in CMYK and Lab as in RGB.

(Well there's another clue for you all.)

We had nearly twice as many entries last week as the week before, with 19 of you correctly guessing Levels or some variation. The winner is earthrat, whose guessed "Using Levels to work." Congrats to earthrat!

Now it's time to guess Feature #8. Hint: It's the ultimate convenience tool. All members have been sent an email invitation with a URL to enter the contest. (No direct URL this time around.) Join dekeOnline now to receive a reminder and an invitation to next week's contest!
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Photoshop Top 40, Feature #26: Dodge and Burn

Submitted by deke on 20 October 2009 - 12:04am.
Feature #26: Dodge and Burn

Just three features ago, I demonstrated the Liquify filter, which I described as "one of Photoshop's great destructive retouching tools" (see Feature #29: Liquify). The words one of implied that more were on the way, as they are, starting this week with two tools that recently rose like twin Pheonix from the ashes, dodge and burn.

Like Liquify, D&B permanently modify pixels in the interest of making those pixels look better than when they started. Both are brushes. The dodge tool brushes in brightness; the burn tool brushes in darkness. Read more » 

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Photoshop CS3 Lab box art
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Photoshop Lab Color

Based on the device-independent CIE specification from 1976, Lab color is frequently misrepresented as a techy, labor-intensive color space. In fact, Lab color performs certain types of color modifications more quickly and with better results than RGB. In Photoshop CS3 Mastering Lab Color, Deke McClelland explores how to use Lab color "to make bad photographs great and great photographs even better." He demonstrates image manipulations that are best suited to Lab, and walks through a typical, non-destructive Lab correction. Read more » 

List price: $99.95USD
Photoshop CS3 Mask box art
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Photoshop CS3 Channels & Masks

Essentially a collection of luminance data that controls the transparency of an image, the modest alpha channel informs just about everything you do in Photoshop. and coming to terms with alpha channels (a.k.a. masks) is the most sure-fire way to boost the quality of your work in Photoshop. But masking isn’t easy. In fact, the elusive alpha channel has been described as the least understood feature in Photoshop’s enormous arsenal. Until now, that is. In Photoshop CS3 Channels and Masks, expert Deke McClelland blows the lid off the topic. Read more » 

List price: $149.95USD
Photoshop CS2 Mask box art
Amazon.com

Photoshop CS2 Channels and Masks

The elusive alpha channel remains one of the most misunderstood yet powerful tools in Photoshop. Alpha channels are collections of luminance data that control the transparency of an image, and they inform just about every aspect of Photoshop. Selections, layer boundaries, masks, the Quick Mask mode, layer masks, knockouts, and masking with the Channels palette all rely on alpha channels. In Photoshop CS2 Channels and Masks, award-winning author and Photoshop expert Deke McClelland teaches channels and masks comprehensively. Read more » 

List price: $149.95USD