Deke's Techniques 119: Rendering Type in Brushed Metal in (Good Old But Also Recently New) Photoshop

Today I show you how to render type in brushed metal using a couple of smart filters and some layer effects.

Deke's Techniques 084: Drawing Rays of Light in Photoshop

This week, I build further on my completely fabricated but no less green energy project, adding an unnatural but sustainable starburst glow around a lightbulb.

Deke's Techniques 082: Tracing an Image with Path Outlines

Forget the Pen tool. Selecting a complex object without relying on the Byzantine manipulation of anchor points and control handles is a handy way to trace stuff in Photoshop.

Photoshop Top 40, Feature #9: Levels

The Levels command, and its cohort the histogram, let you adjust luminance levels on a channel-by-channel basis. The upshot is that you can increase contrast, correct for color cast, and make a bad image good.

Photoshopping the Great Masters

There is no objective standard of beauty. In fact, the very definition of beauty shifts from one generation to the next. Want proof? Watch a 16th-century honey turn into a 21st-century hottie in this dekePod.

The Masks Palette

Working in the quick mask mode? Photoshop CS4's Masks palette reads: "No mask selected." Working on an alpha channel? "No mask selected." Learn how to satisfy this wicked imp of a palette in this week's dekePod!

Blurring Live Text with a Drop Shadow

Employing a Seamlessly Repeating Pattern