dekeStuff

There's been a fair amount of interest around the Subtract and Divide blend modes that Adobe recently added to the Photoshop CS5 Layers panel. Subtract is not actually new; it's been around forever in the Calculations and Apply Image dialog boxes. And even in the Layers panel, where Subtract is a freshman, you could achieve the same effect by inverting a Linear Burn layer. The Divide mode, meanwhile, is slightly-more authentically new. (Inverting a Color Dodge layer produces an identical effect, but previously there was no mode named Divide.) Even so, they have their uses. Which is why Blend Mode Man so enthusiastically contemplates their formulas below:

It's okay if you're afraid. You'd have to be as wicked-cool as Blend Mode Man to smile in the face of such bewildering information. Thankfully, it only gets easier from here. (But you'll have to be member to read more.) Read more » 

Photoshop CS5’s boldest and most far-reaching innovations are its new painting tools. This upgrade adds the bristle brushes, which simulate real-world traditional art brushes, down to the quantity and stiffness of the hairs. It also adds the mixer brush, which lets you mix the foreground color with a base photograph as if the photo were rendered in wet oils.

In a recent Photoshop CS5 Top 5 video, I showed you how to combine these tools to transform a photo of Colleen (below) into a hand-brushed painting (below that), complete with textured brushstrokes.

But in order to really grok things, I need to show you how the bristle brushes, which are demanding little devils, work. (You'll have to be a member of dekeOnline to view this article.) Read more » 

As many of you know, I'm in the process of developing and releasing my Photoshop CS5 One-on-One tutorials, which have for years ranked among the #1 book and video resources on Photoshop. My exhaustive Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Fundamentals video course went live on the lynda.com Online Training Library early this month. My book, Adobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One, is nearly complete. And I'll release the Advanced and Mastery video courses in the coming months.

Whether book or video, my One-on-One courses begin by urging you to load a collection of custom keyboard shortcuts called dekeKeys. The reason: You can work inside Photoshop more quickly and fluidly if you can access the most essential commands by pressing a few keys, as opposed to wasting precious (not to mention tedious) time hunting through menus. With dekeKeys, you can work as fast as you can think.

Today I make these keyboard shortcuts available for free to members of dekeOnline. (If you're not yet a member, it costs nothing and it's easy. Just click here to get started.) Read more » 

For those unaware, Photoshop Top 40 is my countdown of the most essential features in Photoshop, starting with Feature #40: Reset & Purge and working my way up to #1. And lest you think it sounds like a trivial concept ("hey gang, Feature #38 is Vector Type cuz type in Photoshop is scalable, ain't that just the swellest?"), I go into detail and share tips and tricks on every topic. For free, because my name starts with a G for Giver (not Geek, although I embrace that too).

Now that I'm poised to unveil the Final 10 Features, I thought I'd ratchet things up a notch with a contest. And not just any contest either. The best contest possible. One with a winner every week with gobs of prizes from a host of sponsors.

You'll need to be a member to see what's in store. Which is a lot. Read more » 

My Photoshop Top 40 countdown continues. And now that we’ve moved into the realm of the Top 20 (drumroll please), the whole gang here at dekeOnline figured it was time for a contest. And the prizes are phenomenal!

This is no small contest. It's a grand, knock-down drag-out, show-us-your-talent contest in which three lucky winners will take home a jackpot of prizes just in time for the holidays. The Grand Prize winner in particular will receive a brand new Olympus E-620, the world's smallest and lightest image-stabilized digital SLR, as pictured below. I am seriously not kidding--someone's going to win an f'ing SLR! (You have to be a dekeOnline member to comment and participate.)

Read more »