Photoshop User January 2017

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A D O B E® P H O T O S H O P

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Transform midday landscape shots into magical golden-hour photos using Photoshop ACR

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In this new column, learn how to design for both print and Web

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J a n u a r y

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Photoshop Ecosystem The

Don’t hit the ceiling because you’re away from your desktop. No matter where you are, Adobe mobile apps and the Creative Cloud allow you to keep capturing and editing amazing images.

Ian Munro KelbyOne Member

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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January 2017

FEATURE

The Photoshop Ecosystem

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Images: Adobe stock; Layout: Margie Rosenstein

Mobile devices aren’t just convenient any more; they’ve become tools of daily life. There’s no shortage of creative apps for phones and tablets, though it can be a challenge to get them all to work together. Adobe recognized this challenge and put significant amounts of energy toward making smooth transitions from devices to desktops, enabling you to continue your creativity on the run or in a chair. The growing catalog of creative apps is set to turn your phones and tablets into real tools for productivity and creativity. Scott Valentine

Departments

Reviews



A Note from Scott

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Macphun Luminar



Contributing Writers

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Perfectly Clear Complete



The Benefits of Membership

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KelbyOne Community

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Heard on the Tweet

022 105



From the Help Desk

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DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT Whenever you see this symbol at the end of an article, it means there are either downloadable practice files or additional content for KelbyOne members at http://kelbyone.com/magazine.

Capture One Pro 10

DxO ViewPoint 3

GoPro Hero5 Black

Photoshop Book Reviews

All lighting diagrams courtesy of Sylights

Click this symbol above to access the Table of Contents.

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©Adobe Stock/digitalskillet1

How-To

024 DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

Create a Football Poster Composite

034 DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

0 44 BEGINNERS’ WORKSHOP

Kirk Nelson

Create a Surreal Levitation Photography Project

Three Ways to Use the Threshold Adjustment Layer

0 86 DESIGNING WITH PHOTOSHOP

Welcome to Graphic Design for Photoshop Users

092 PHOTOSHOP TIPS

Boost Your Productivity and Creativity

094 DESIGN MAKEOVER Freeze Frame

DYNAMIC RANGE

50 Creating a Golden-Hour Look

Dave Williams

We’re told time and time again that there are only two times each day when we can successfully shoot a landscape: the golden hour, which is early in the morning and again in the evening. But when we’re out on the road, we have to carefully choose where we are for sunrise and sunset. We’ll take a look at what makes a golden-hour shot versus a shot taken in the middle of the day, then use that information to emulate the golden-hour look using Adobe Camera Raw’s powerful processing and manipulation abilities. Dave Williams

©Adobe Stock/gromovataya

0 56 PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND

Lesa Snider

How to Create a Selection Using Channels

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EDITOR’S NOTE

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SCOTT KELBY

A Note from Scott the gallery at kelbyone

KelbyOne members around the world (and afterward we’ll ship the printed images to the featured artist, with our compliments). The best news is—this isn’t a one-time thing. This is an ongoing project and we’ll be featuring other artists (with subjects ranging from photography to illustrations to fine art created in Photoshop) all year long. We’re so excited about this project and the opportunities it can bring to some of the talented artists and photographers in our membership. Of course, The Gallery at KelbyOne is just one small part of building our community this year, and we have so much planned. It’s all in our Members-Only Webcast that I mentioned earlier, where we share all the things we have planned for 2017—a year where we focus on expanding our community and making KelbyOne more valuable to our members than ever. As always, we archive our live Members-Only Webcasts, and you can find that episode right here. Thank you for being a KelbyOne member and coming with us on this journey as we empower people through education to create beautiful, fascinating, wonderful things. 2017 is going to be an amazing year!

All my best,

Scott Kelby KelbyOne President & CEO Editor & Publisher, Photoshop User

› › k e l b yo n e . c o m

If you caught our latest live Members-Only Webcast, you already know that one of our big initiatives for 2017 is building on and expanding the community aspects of KelbyOne. One of the things I’m most excited about is “The Gallery at KelbyOne.” This is an idea that my awesome wife Kalebra came up with as a way to raise up some of the talented members of KelbyOne—artists and photographers who might not otherwise have the opportunity to have an actual gallery showing. This isn’t an online gallery; this is a traditional art gallery, constructed at our home offices, where we’ll print and frame the images and display them on the gallery walls. The deadline for KelbyOne members to submit their work for consideration was January 15, 2017. The winner will be announced on The Grid on February 1, 2017. We hope you submitted your work, and we wish you the best of luck! We’ll fly the featured artist and a guest roundtrip to our headquarters in Florida to attend their own gallery opening, with a wine and cheese reception, followed by an interview with the artist about their work, their images on display, and about them personally. This interview will be streamed live to

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J A N U A R Y 2 0 17 • V O L 2 0 • N O 1

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF

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EDITORIAL: Scott Kelby, Editor-in-Chief Chris Main, Managing Editor Kim Doty, Associate Editor

A D O B E® P H O T O S H O P

DYNAMIC RANGE

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“ H O W -T 0 ”

Transform midday landscape shots into magical golden-hour photos using Photoshop ACR

MAGAZINE

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In this new column, learn how to design for both print and Web

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J a n u a r y

2 0 1 7

DESIGN WITH PHOTOSHOP

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Steve Baczewski • Corey Barker • Peter Bauer • Dave Clayton Michael Corsentino • Kirk Nelson • Colin Smith • Lesa Snider Scott Valentine • Erik Vlietinck • Jake Widman • Dave Williams

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COLOPHON: Photoshop User was produced using Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 and Adobe InDesign CC 2017. Roboto was used for headlines and subheads. Frutiger LT Std for text.

Photoshop Ecosystem The

Don’t hit the ceiling because you’re away from your desktop. No matter where you are, Adobe mobile apps and the Creative Cloud allow you to keep capturing and editing amazing images.

Ian Munro KelbyOne Member

Each month we feature cover art by KelbyOne members! This issue’s cover composite is Ejector Seat by UK-based artist Ian Munro, of Ian Munro Photography. Ian is a dedicated professional photographer who directs his style toward conceptual storytelling or “Tableau” photography. He creates scenes and sets a story based on any scenario. He first made the transition in 2008 after a successful body-building career. Soon after the photography awards came; Ian decided to take the role on full time.

All contents ©COPYRIGHT 2017 KelbyOne, LLC. All rights reserved. Any use of the contents of this publication without the written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. Photoshop User is an independent journal, not affiliated in any way with Adobe Systems, Inc. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom, and Photoshop are registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks mentioned belong to their respective owners. Some of the views expressed by contributors may not be the representative views of the publisher. ISSN 2470-7031 (online)

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PHOTOSHOP’S MOST WANTED

Contributing Writers STEVE BACZEWSKI

COREY BARKER

is an award-winning designer and illustrator. A featured instructor at the Photoshop World Conference and an Adobe MAX Master Instructor, he has produced numerous training titles for KelbyOne. Look for his latest book Photoshop Tricks for Designers.

PETER BAUER

is an Adobe Certified Expert that does computer graphics consulting for a select group of corporate clients. His latest book is Photoshop CC for Dummies. He was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame in 2010.

DAVE CLAYTON

is a KelbyOne instructor, designer, and creative specialist with more than 30 years experience. He specializes in creating branding projects and logos and has been published by Peachpit and KelbyOne. He’s also an Adobe Influencer and ACA in InDesign.

MICHAEL CORSENTINO

is an award-winning wedding and portrait photographer, Photoshop and Lightroom expert, author, columnist for Shutter Magazine and Resource Magazine, and speaker and international workshop leader. Learn more at www.michaelcorsentino.com.

KIRK NELSON

is a professional graphics artist in the Washington, D.C., area. He has a B.A. from George Mason University and is an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop. Kirk’s career has touched on a broad range of subjects from logo design to animation. He can be reached here.

COLIN SMITH

is an award-winning digital artist, photographer, and lecturer who has authored 19 books and has created a series of training videos. Colin is also the founder ofthe online resource PhotoshopCAFE.com and president of Software-Cinema.com.

LESA SNIDER

is the author of Adobe Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC for Photographers: Classroom in a Book (2016), Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual, Photos for Mac and iOS: The Missing Manual, TheSkinnyBooks.com, more than 40 video courses, and the “Creaticity” column for Macworld.

SCOTT VALENTINE is a member of Adobe’s prerelease team, an Adobe Community Professional, and Photoshop author. His books include The Hidden Power of Adjustment Layers and The Hidden Power of Blend Modes (both by Adobe Press). Keep up with him at scoxel.com.

ERIK VLIETINCK

founded IT Enquirer in 1999. A J.D. by education, Erik has been a freelance technology editor for more than 22 years. He has written for Macworld, Computer Arts, Windows NT Magazine, IT Week, New Media Age, and many others. He also contributes to UK-based Red Shark News and Red Shark Sound.

JAKE WIDMAN

is a writer and editor who lives in San Francisco. He’s been covering the intersection of computers and graphic design for about 25 years now—since back when it was called “desktop publishing” and Photoshop was just a piece of scanning software.

DAVE WILLIAMS

is a well-seasoned, UK-based travel photographer with internationally published work and a passion for sharing his knowledge of Adobe software. Dave lives by the mantra, “Lend me your eyes and I’ll show you what I see.”

› › k e l b yo n e . c o m

is a freelance writer, professional photographer, graphic designer, and con­sultant. He also teaches classes in traditional and digital fine arts photo­graphy. His company, Sore Tooth Productions, is based in Albany, California

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#KelbyOneBooks

You’ve Updated Photoshop , ®

Now Update Your Photo Editing Skills!

The photographer’s workflow in Photoshop has evolved greatly over time, and in the latest edition of The Adobe Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers (2017 Release) by Scott Kelby, you’ll wind up doing a lot of your processing and editing in Photoshop’s Adobe Camera Raw (whether you shoot in RAW, JPEG or TIFF—it works for all three). That’s because, for years now, Adobe has been adding most of Photoshop’s new features for photography directly into Camera Raw itself. Since today’s photography workflow in Photoshop is based around Camera Raw, nearly half of this book is about mastering Camera Raw like a pro. If you’re ready to learn all the “tricks of the trade”—the same ones that today’s leading pros use to correct, edit, retouch, and sharpen their work—then this is the book that will get you up to speed!

fuel for creativity

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Inspiration, information, and member musings to fuel your creative think tank By Rachel Scott and Dave Clayton

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12 Days of Christmas Recap Don’t Miss Out On Your Toolkit!

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The year 2016 might be over, but as long as you’re an annual member, you can still reap the rewards of the holiday season. What are we talking about? We’re talking about the 12 Days of Christmas presents we gave to our annual members! Starting on December 13, we rolled out a new gift every day—not fake gifts like discounts and BOGOs, but real, free, usable gifts. On the first day, we gave our members a Photoshop 100 Hot Tips Guide to help change and improve their workflow. Some other gifts included a free eBook through Rocky Nook, a download of Scott’s Light it, Shoot It, Retouch It Tour, and Lightroom print templates. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback on these gifts and want to make sure you know they’re still available. All you have to do is go to the Toolkit button on the left side of your dashboard. Once you’re there, you’ll see your tools. Download away! But, if you’re not already an annual KelbyOne member,

don’t worry. You can sign up today and snag yourself some goodies. Keep an eye on that toolkit, though, because there’s lots more to come in 2017. Welcome to the New Year!

Instructor Recognition: Jeremy Cowart!

Welcome to the Online KelbyOne Community

As you know, all of our instructors do incredible work, but sometimes they create pro­jects that deserve even more recognition than usual. Remember Jeremy Cowart? He has filmed several classes for KelbyOne, including one on the photog­ rapher’s journey and one on shooting in South Beach, Miami, Florida. Good, now that your memory is refreshed, we can tell you what he’s been up to! Jeremy recently took a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, to create awareness for the recent fires in a project that captured TIME’s attention. Using a drone, he documented the devastation that the Gatlinburg fires caused, and photographed some of the affected families in the remains of their homes, urging his followers to donate to the pages set up for the families. “Voices of Gatlinburg” is a jarring and thoughtful look into the lives of just a few of the thousands affected by the fires. Check it out and give Jeremy some praise on his social channels for all his hard work!

Have you noticed anything new when you log into your KelbyOne membership? It’s this cute little “Community” button on your dashboard, located right below “Discounts” and above “Toolkit.” Now you’re probably asking yourself, “What the heck is a KelbyOne Community?” The KelbyOne Community is this nifty space, entirely dedicated to you—KelbyOne members—and your discussions. It’s set up forum-style so you can find discussions by categories that include online classes, Photoshop, Lightroom, photography, gear, and any­thing else the community deems worthy. Plus, we moderate it. That way you feel safe and get the respect you deserve when having that friendly conversation with other KelbyOne members. We hope you’ll all take advantage of this new feature, as it’s always good to have that network of support, especially when it’s from people who are interested in the same things you are! n

KelbyOne Artist Spotlight >> Jonathan Thompson MEMBER SINCE 2010

KelbyOne Artist Spotlight >> Tim Swart MEMBER SINCE 2011

KelbyOne Artist Spotlight >> Ian Munro MEMBER SINCE 2017

KelbyOne Artist Spotlight >> Cathy Weatherston MEMBER SINCE 2015

KelbyOne Community J.R. Maddox

Who’s Who in the KelbyOne Community J.R. Maddox is a photographer in Simi Valley, California, specializing in many areas of photography, including real estate, portraits, retouching, creative compositing, aerial photography/video, and 3D photography.

What made you move toward real estate and portrait photography? I never intended to be a real estate photographer. I love a lot of different avenues of photography. Compositing and photo manipulation is always my favorite though. Real estate photography was just one avenue I found that I could make a living at. I’m happy being able to support my family shooting homes. With that, realtors need headshots, so I had to learn studio lighting, which I learned from KelbyOne’s site. What is the biggest challenge with two such diverse subjects? My biggest challenge is when I get people who want headshots. I have no problem doing the headshots; the problem is that I don’t have a studio. Having no studio, I need something I can set up quickly and in pretty much any space available, such as the client’s office. I had the pleasure in assisting Joel Grimes on one of his workshops. He showed me what he uses and it works great for small areas. It’s the X-Drop Kit by Westcott. I use a 50% gray background so

that I can cut them out of the background or add a texture to the background. I love that technique, as you don’t need to buy a bunch of different studio backgrounds. Who has inspired your photography? To narrow it down is so very hard. At KelbyOne there are so many great, and I really do mean great, instructors. The two instructors who have helped me more than I could ever imagine have to be Joel Grimes and Glyn Dewis, two of the nicest, genuinely caring, helpful, and encouraging people. I don’t think I’d be where I am today in my career if it wasn’t for them. They don’t teach real estate photography, but I learned so much from them in terms of techniques and just applied what I learned to real estate. They’ve been a couple of the most helpful guys in my career and I’m now happy to call them my friends. There’s one last teacher from whom I’ve learned a lot— Mike Kelley—who has a couple tutorials on real estate photography. What kind of equipment is needed for your 3D pho­ tography and how has that helped your business? You have to have a 3D camera, and I have one made by Matterport. This has brought in about 50% more income to my business, so it was well worth the investment. It’s typically only used on your higher-end homes. The enduser doesn’t even have to come to the house to view the home; he can actually walk through the entire house without even stepping outside. The realtor gets more serious buyers, and in most cases gets more money for the house. I had a client the other day say she made $50,000 more on her listing because of the photos and the 3D Matterport images I did on the house. That’s what I love hearing. At the end of the day, good, quality photos make a difference. n

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How did you become aware of NAPP/KelbyOne and why did you become a member? I first heard about NAPP/KelbyOne back in 2013 from a friend who suggested that, if I wanted to learn about photography, this was the place. I gave the old NAPP website a look, and if I’m not mistaken, at that time I got in on some Kelby Training videos as well. It was a no-brainer for me, as I was tired of just learning on YouTube. I felt I needed so much more and this was it. At the time I didn’t know where or what I wanted to shoot, so I shot everything. But, from going through the huge selection of videos and tutorials, I was able to find my preferred style and genre. Also, now being able to view the classes on the KelbyOne app and website, both streaming and downloadable, I was able to learn as I sat on my couch. Plus, I’ve now been to a couple of Photoshop Worlds and that was mind-blowing for me. Not just to see the instructors in person but also to meet and share stories and tips with others in the KelbyOne community. I think that’s the difference for me from other training sites. It’s not a hard decision renewing each year!

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For years, we’ve seen KelbyOne Members take amazing photos and create incredible images, but we weren’t sure how to showcase the work...until now. That’s why we created The Gallery at KelbyOne. Throughout the year, our team will select a lucky member to display his or her work in the Gallery at KelbyOne.

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In addition, the member and one guest will enjoy an all-expenses paid trip to

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attend their Gallery Opening at KelbyOne headquarters here in the Tampa Bay area, where other members and enthusiasts of the photography, creative, and art community will be invited. After the opening we’ll invite everyone to the KelbyOne Theater for a live Q&A with the featured artist so he or she can tell everyone about his or her work. We’ve received over 500 hundred submissions already and it’s going to be very hard to choose a winner with so many outstanding submissions! Make sure to tune into The Grid on Wednesday, February 1, at 4pm EST to hear the winner announced.

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Best of 2016 E

Don’t miss your chance to watch t

Preview

Just One Flash

Preview

Portrait Retouching in Adobe Lightroom CC with Kristina Sherk

with Scott Kelby

Preview

Under the Milky Way: Lightpainting and Photographing Stars with Dave Black

Preview

How to Build an Audience in Instagram with Scott Kelby

Editor’s Choice

these “can’t miss classes of 2016.”

Preview

Finding Your Artistic Voice

Preview

Inexpensive and DIY Photography Gear Solutions with Larry Becker

with Karen Hutton

Preview

Rockin’ the Free Nik Collection of Plug-Ins with Scott Kelby

Preview

Becoming a Marketing Genius with Joel Grimes

New Online Training

At KelbyOne, we release a new course weekly. That’s at leas

Top Ten Things Every Photographer Should Know About Their Camera

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Join Scott Kelby as he takes you through the ten most important things every photographer should know about their camera.

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Dog Photography: Overcoming Challenging Situations Join Kaylee Greer as she shares her tips and techniques for dealing with a variety of canine personality types.

g Course Every Week

st four courses each month! Check out these latest courses:

Travel Photography: A Photographer’s Guide to Venice

Just One Flash with Scott Kelby Join Scott Kelby as he starts from scratch and covers everything you need to know to get the kind of images you’ve always dreamed of when using your flash.

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Join Scott Kelby and Larry Becker as Scott shares the kind of veteran traveler tips that will help you capture images that you’ll be delighted to bring back home.

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Heard on the Tweet

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› ›

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Industry News and Inspirational Musings from Twitter

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› › H E A R D O N T H E T WE E T

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HOW TO › ›

Down &Dirty Tricks

create a football poster composite BY COREY BARKER

Do you have photos of your kid playing high school football or perhaps even college football and you want to be able to do something really cool with them? In this exercise, we’ll explore using a couple of shots of a football player combined with a few tricks to create a polished football poster in no time. Feel free to follow along with the images provided then try your own images, adding your own flare.

©Adobe Stock/digitalskillet1

Step One: You only need two images to create this composite but you can add up to five depending on how you want to lay it out—just don’t overcrowd the design. Since I don’t have a relative who plays high school or college football, I found a couple of good player shots over at Adobe Stock. I like the pose and emotion in both shots. These two will work just fine. [KelbyOne members may download the files used in this tutorial at http://kelbyone.com/magazine. All files are for personal use only.]

©Adobe Stock/digitalskillet1

› › DOWN AND DIRTY TRICKS

Step One

Step Two: Start by creating a new document in which to build the design. In Photoshop, go to the File menu and choose New. In the right side of the New Document dialog, enter a Width of 1200 pixels, a Height of 1500, and a Resolution of 100 ppi. Click on the Background Contents drop-down menu, choose Black, and click Create.

Step Two

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©Adobe Stock/Mirko Milutinovic

Step Three: Open the perf_texture.jpg image from the exercise downloads. Of course, you can use your own texture but make sure that it’s seamless so it can be scaled. I found this image on Adobe Stock as well by searching for seamless texture. Tip: You can check if a texture is seamless by going under the Filter menu to Other and choosing Offset. Adjust either of the sliders to offset the tiling. If it’s seamless, you won’t see any edges appear in the image. Once the texture is open, go to the Edit menu and choose Define Pattern. Give it a name when prompted and click OK. You can close the pattern image. Step Three

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HOW TO › ›

Step Four: Back in the main design file that we created in Step Two, open the Layers panel (Window>Layers) and click the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the panel. We need to fill this layer with a base color. Press Shift-Delete (PC: Shift-Backspace) to open the Fill dialog, and select 50% Gray in the Contents drop-down menu. Leave the Mode set to Normal and the Opacity at 100%, and click OK.

Step Five: Click on the ƒx icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Pattern Overlay. Click on the Pattern thumbnail to open the Pattern Picker, and locate your newly defined pattern, which will usually be at the bottom of the list. Once the pattern is selected, set the Opacity to 50% and the Scale to 20%. These settings will vary with different patterns so feel free to play with different scenarios. Don’t click OK just yet.

Step Four

Step Five

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Step Six: Click On Blending Options at the top of the list on the left side of the Layer Style dialog. Then, under Advanced Blending, set the Fill Opacity to 0%. This will make the gray base fill invisible, leaving just the pattern. Now click OK.

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Step Seven: With the perforated background in place, let’s bring in the first of the two player images. Open the image of the celebrating player, switch to the Move tool (V), and drag it into the main design. Press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) for Free Transform, then scale and position the image in the upper background area similar to what you see here. When scaling, hold the Shift key to maintain proportions. For now, get it in position; we’ll mask it shortly.

Step Six

Step Seven

› › DOWN AND DIRTY TRICKS

Step Eight: Open the other player image and bring it into the design file as well. Make sure this layer is above the first player image in the Layers panel. Drop the layer Opacity to 75% so you can see the layer below to help you size and position this foreground image. Use Free Transform again to scale and position this subject in the lower area of the canvas as shown here. Press Enter when done, then return the layer Opacity to 100%.

Step Eight

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Step Nine: Click on the Add Layer Mask icon (circle in a square) at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a mask to this foreground layer. Select the Gradient tool (G) in the Toolbar. In the Options Bar, click on the preview thumbnail and choose the Foreground to Transparent preset, click OK to close the Gradient Editor, and then choose the Linear Gradient icon to the right in the Options Bar. Press X until the Foreground color is set to black. Drag gradients inward from the edge of each side, as well as from the top, to fade the background of the foreground subject, thus revealing the larger subject behind him. Notice how the dust effect remains somewhat and adds a cool effect to the background. This is why there was no selecting and extracting of the subject for this particular image.

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Step Nine

HOW TO › ›

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Step 10: Now add a layer mask to the larger subject layer (Layer 2). Use the Gradient tool again with the same settings, except change it to a Radial Gradient in the Options Bar, to add small gradients around the subject to reveal the pattern background. Already looking really good and we’re hardly finished yet. I did feel at this point that the foreground subject would look better if he was more vertical, so I used Free Transform to rotate him to the right. I also added a couple of additional black to transparent radial gradients to either side of his head on the layer mask to fade the background even more.

Step 10

Step 11: Let’s create a frame element with a simple shape. In the Toolbar, choose the Rectangle tool (U). In the Options Bar, set the Tool Mode to Shape, and the Fill to none. Click on the Stroke icon and either choose a color from the set of swatches that appears or click the multi-colored icon at the top right to open the Color Picker. We chose a bright yellow to go along with the yellow on the subject’s uniform. When done, set the Stroke thickness to 3 px in the Options Bar. Starting near the upper-left corner, draw an inset frame like you see here. The shape layer will automatically be created in the Layers panel. Drag the shape layer to the top of the layer stack. You can also switch to the Move tool, press Command-A (PC: Ctrl-A) to Select All, then use the Align Vertical Centers and Align Horizontal Centers icons in the Options Bar to center the stroke in the canvas. Press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect.

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Step 11

› › DOWN AND DIRTY TRICKS

Step 12

Step 12: Back in the Layers panel, set the shape layer Opacity to 50%, and add a layer mask by clicking the Add Layer Mask icon at bottom of the panel.

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Step 13: Select the Brush tool (B) in the Toolbar. Open the Brush panel (Window>Brushes) and choose a simple round, soft-edged brush with no additional settings. Press X until black is the Foreground color. Then, paint over the yellow line wherever it appears over the subject to make it appear as though the yellow line slightly fades behind the subject. Behold the magic of masking. Once done you’ll see the simple stroke frame adds more interest to the overall composition as a unifying element.

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Step 13

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Step 14: Now let’s add a particle element. Here I have a cool custom brush that I often use. You’ll find this brush as part of the exercise downloads. To load it into Photoshop, simply double-click on the .abr file (it will actually load two brushes: a Particle brush and a Cinematic Flare). Once loaded, it will appear near the bottom of your Brush Preset Picker. Set the brush size to around 1000 px. Create a new blank layer at the top of the layer stack and set the Foreground color to white by pressing D then X. Click one instance of the particle brush at the bottom around the foreground subject. In the Layers panel, set the layer blend mode to Difference and drop the layer Opacity to 60%.

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Step 15: Add a layer mask to this particle layer and make sure the mask is active as indicated by the white corner brackets around the layer thumbnail. Switch to the Gradient tool, and set it to a radial Foreground to Transparent gradient with the Foreground color set to black. Add a couple of gradients in the middle of the particle effect to fade it from over the subject.

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Step 15

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Step 16: In the Layers panel, click on the main layer thumbnail for the particle layer to activate it instead of the layer mask. Then, go under the Filter menu to Blur and choose Radial Blur. In the Radial Blur dialog, set the Amount to 7 and the Blur Method to Zoom. Click on the grid pattern and drag the center of the blur down a little relative to the position of the particles on the main canvas. Click OK when done. Step 16

› › DOWN AND DIRTY TRICKS

Step 17: Now let’s add a little fade to the bottom of the image. Create a new layer, then add a simple Foreground to Transparent gradient with the tool Opacity set to 75% in the Options Bar and the Foreground color set to black. Drag just a little ways up from the bottom edge of the canvas. Step 18: Save your work at this point. We’re going to create a contrast and color-grading layer. Go under the Image menu and choose Duplicate. Click OK when prompted, and when the duplicate file opens, go under the Layer menu and choose Flatten Image. Don’t change the image size. Step 19: Go under the Image menu to Adjustments and choose HDR Toning. Start by setting the Saturation (at the bottom) to –100. Increase the Detail to around 122, then drop the Exposure just a little to compensate for the Detail. You can nudge the Gamma a little to the right as well. Finally, tweak the Radius and Strength sliders to adjust the contrast a little more. Click OK when done. You can see it’s a high-contrast version of the image.

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Step 20

Step 20: Using the Move tool, hold the Shift key and drag this HDR-toned image back into the main design file. The Shift key will line it up with the original image. Drag this layer to the top of the layer stack. Set the layer blend mode to Soft Light and the layer Opacity to 50%.

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Step 21: With the HDR-toned layer still active, press Command-U (PC: Ctrl-U) to open Hue/Saturation. Check on Colorize and set the Hue to 32, Saturation to 23, and the Lightness to 13. This will add a warm cast to the image and lighten the shadows a bit. Turn the layer on and off (click its Eye icon) to see the difference it makes.

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Step 22: Click on the pattern layer (Layer 1) that we created in the beginning to make it active. Add a Hide All (black) layer mask to this layer by holding down the Option (PC: Alt) key while you click the Add Layer Mask icon. Once again, using the Gradient tool set to a linear Foreground to Transparent gradient, the Foreground color set to white, and the tool Opacity set to 100%, drag gradients in from each corner to fade in the pattern background. Step 22

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Step 23: Create another new layer at the top of the layer stack. Set the blend mode to Overlay and the layer Opacity to 75%. With the same radial gradient we’ve been using, click on the Foreground color swatch and set it to a yellow color like we have here. Add a couple of large yellow gradients on the left side of the image to enhance the lighting on the subject and background. Do the same with a light-green color on the other side of the same layer. You could call this composite pretty much complete at this point. In the final image shown here, I added some text and flare effects to finish it off. You can see how this was done in a short video by clicking here. ■ CLICK TO RATE

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Final

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Down &Dirty Tricks

create a surreal levitation photography project BY KIRK NELSON

The very idea of flying has always captivated our human imagination. As creatures that are naturally restricted to the ground, we often entertain the fantasy of being able to shrug off the chains of gravity and will ourselves to be lighter than air. Levitation photography seeks to capture that yearning by crafting the impossibility of flight in a surreal setting. A successful project is more than just a composite of two images; it’s the artistic nature of the composition that evokes the emotional response.

› › DOWN AND DIRTY TRICKS

[KelbyOne members may download the files used in this tutorial at http://kelbyone.com/magazine. All files are for personal use only.] Step Two: Now bring in the model and support elements. The idea here is to get a pose that doesn’t look like she’s sitting, but floating. Pay attention to how the hair falls and where her arms and legs are positioned, as those are critical elements of creating the feeling of weightlessness. Also, make sure that the stools do not create any obstructions. Have the model sit on the edge of the chair closest to the camera so the folds of the dress fall naturally. Step Three: Launch Photoshop and open the background image first. Then go to File>Place Embedded and load the model image. Press Enter to place the image over the background, and then create a layer mask with Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. Grab the Brush tool (B) and use a Soft Round Brush tip with black paint (press X until the Foreground color is set to black) on the mask to quickly remove the majority of the visible chair pixels.

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Step One: The background environment is a critical aspect of the project. The setting should be visually familiar, but not boring. It should be interesting but not distracting. A forest setting with fall colors works very well. Using a sturdy tripod will make the compositing much easier, as the first shot should be a “blank” background setting shot. It’s important that the camera settings remain the same for the background shot and the model shots. If you want to practice the project with the files shown here, they’re available for download to all KelbyOne members.

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Step Four: Zoom in close to the image by holding down the Command (PC: Ctrl) key and tapping the Plus (+) key. Reduce the brush size with the Left Bracket key ([) and carefully trace along the edge of the model’s dress to remove the rest of the visible chair. If you accidentally paint away any of the model, press X to switch the Foreground color to white, and paint those areas back in. Once you’re satisfied with the composite, create a merged layer by holding down the Option (PC: Alt) key and going to Layer>Merge Visible. Doubleclick the name of the merged layer and rename it “Merge.”

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Step Five: The power lines running behind the trees are a terrible distraction from the aesthetic we’re trying to build with this piece. Grab the Spot Healing Brush tool (J) and adjust the brush size to be just larger than the thickness of those lines. Then run the brush along the lines in short spans to remove them from the image.

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Step Six: Go to Filter>Convert for Smart Filters to convert the layer into a smart object, and then go to Filter>Liquify. Use the Forward Warp tool (W) to push the folds of her dress into the space where the chair was and remove the obvious flat spot where she was sitting. Click OK. (Tip: If the Liquefy tool creates visible warping of the background trees and leaves, use a layer mask on the Merge layer to hide those areas.)

› › DOWN AND DIRTY TRICKS

Step Eight: Add a new layer with Layer>­ New>Layer, name it “Gradients,” set the blend mode to Soft Light, and click OK. Press D to change the Foreground color to black and switch to the Gradient tool (G). In the Options Bar, click on the gradient preview thumbnail, select the Foreground to Transparent preset, and click OK to close the Gradient Editor. Select the Linear Gradient icon in the Options Bar, and set the Opacity at 50%. Add subtle linear gradients to the top and the bottom of the image to slightly darken those areas.

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Step Seven: The model’s current skin color has a bit of a reddish tint to it. Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/ Saturation) and use the On-Canvas Adjustment tool (that’s the icon that looks like a pointing hand between two arrows) in the Properties panel to sample her skin tone to target the magenta color tones. Then, reduce the Saturation to –50.

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Step Nine

Step Nine: Next add a Vibrance adjustment layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Vibrance) and increase the Vibrance to +21 and the Saturation to +4. The goal is to increase the color of the autumn foliage, but if the adjustment is creating too much color saturation on the model’s skin, use the layer mask on the adjustment layer to remove the effect from her. Step 10

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Step 10: Create another new layer and name this one “Light Rays.” Use the Lasso tool (L) to create an irregular selection near the top of the frame. Click on the Foreground color, set it to a pale yellow (#d9d19c), and click OK to close the Color Picker. Set the Background color to black. Go to Filter>Render>Clouds to fill the selection with a fractal type pattern. Then, press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect.

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Step 11: Go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur; set the Blur Method to Zoom and Amount to 100. Move the Blur Center to the top center of the frame, and click OK. After applying the blur, set the layer’s blend mode to Screen to see the full effect. If the light rays seem too short, run the filter again by selecting Radial Blur at the very top of the Filter menu.

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Step 12

Step 12: Grab the Brush tool (B) and open the Brush panel by pressing F5, or going to Window>Brush. Set the brush tip to Soft Round and increase the Spacing to 200%. In the Shape Dynamics area, set the Size Jitter to 100%. Engage the Scattering, and set the Scatter amount to 700% and check the Both Axes box.

Step 14: Add a Photo Filter adjustment layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer> Photo Filter) and use the Warming Filter (85) filter at a Density of 25%. This adds warmth to the image and increases the surreal feel of the setting.

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Step 13: Add a new layer named “Dust Particles.” Press-and-hold the Option (PC: Alt) key to temporarily switch to the Eyedropper tool (I) and sample a bright-yellow color from the light streaks. Use the newly created brush to paint in subtle particles of dust floating in the sunlight around the floating model.

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Step 15: Go to Layer>New Layer and in the New Layer dialog, set the Name to “Dodge-Burn,” the Mode to Overlay, and check the box for Fill with Overlay-Neutral Color (50% Gray). Click OK. Use this layer as a nondestructive dodge and burn layer. Press O to switch to the Dodge tool, and set the tool Exposure to 11% in the Options Bar. Brighten the highlights with the Dodge tool and deepen the shadows with the Burn tool (nested under the Dodge tool in the Toolbar).

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Step 16: Create another merged layer at the top of the layer stack and convert it for smart filtering. Then, go to Filter>Camera Raw Filter. In the Basic tab, set the Clarity to +30 and the Vibrance to +25. Switch to the Effects (fx) tab and set the Dehaze to +27 and the Post Crop Vignette Amount to –27. Click OK.

› › DOWN AND DIRTY TRICKS

Step 17

Step 18: Go to Filter>Render>Lens Flare and use the 35mm Prime Lens Type and drag the Brightness slider to 100%. Then position the source of the flare to be off the top of the frame aligned with the center of the light rays. Click OK.

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Step 17: Create even more of a surreal effect by adding a simulated focal blur. Go to Filter>Blur Gallery>Iris Blur and set the Blur amount to 15 px in the Blur Tools panel. Set the epicenter on the model’s face, then scale up the blur ring by dragging on its outer ring to extend it beyond the bounds of the canvas as shown here.

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Step 19: Switch over to the Channels panel (Window>Channels), and hold down the Command (PC: Ctrl) key while clicking on the composite RGB channel. This loads the luminous values of the image as a selection. Switch back to the Layers panel and press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to copy the selected pixels to a new layer.

Step 19

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Step 20: Set the new layer’s blend mode to Screen and go to Filter>­Blur> ­Gaussian Blur. Use a Radius of 5 pixels, and click OK. Then, set the layer’s Opacity to 25%. This adds a subtle soft focus glow effect to the entire scene to finish off the surreal appearance.

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Ultimately, creating a stunning levitation scene isn’t particularly difficult. As with many “photo-illustration” type projects, the secret to success lies in the planning of the photo shoot. In this case, using a tripod and knowing how to pose the model on the chairs are the details that really pay off in the end and make this project “rise” above the others! ■

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Final

COMING SOON TO A CITY NEAR YOU!

get more information at kelbyonelive.com

HOW TO › ›

Beginners' Workshop how to create a selection using channels

LESA SNIDER

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Step Two: Open the Channels panel (Window> Channels) and press Command-3, -4, and -5 (PC: Ctrl-3, -4, -5) to view the Red, Green, and Blue channels, respectively. Stop when the object you want to select (the balloons) looks the darkest, which is the Blue channel here. Duplicate the channel by dragging it onto the Create New Channel icon at the bottom of the Channels panel (circled). This creates a “Blue copy” layer at the bottom of the panel. It’s not another color channel; it’s an alpha channel that you’ll adjust to create a precise selection. Tip: Think of channels as storage containers for all the color information in a photo. In the RGB color space of photography, you have individual channels for red, green, and blue. Each one is a grayscale representation of that color of light in the image.

©ADOBE STOCK/NIK_MERKULOV

Step One: In this tutorial, we’re going to select the sky in an image of hot-air balloons so we can replace it with a more interesting sky. In Photoshop, choose File>Scripts>Load Files into Stack. Click Browse, navigate to the images you want to combine, select them, click Open, and click OK in the Load Layers dialog. If you’re starting in Lightroom, Shift-click to select two thumbnails and choose Photo>Edit In>Open as Layers in Photoshop. Either way, the images land on separate layers in a Photoshop document. If you’re using the practice files, make sure the balloons layer is at the top of your layer stack. [KelbyOne members may download the files used in this tutorial at www.kelbyone.com/magazine. All files are for personal use only.]

LESA SNIDER

Sometimes the easiest way to make a tricky selection is to let the image do the work for you. If you have good contrast between what you want to select and its background, try using the photo’s individual color channels to create a precise selection that you can hide with a mask.

› › BEGINNERS' WORKSHOP

Step Three: With the Blue copy channel active, choose Image>Adjustments>Levels or press Command-L (PC: Ctrl-L) to open the Levels dialog. Drag the black Input triangle rightward to make dark areas darker, and drag the white Input triangle leftward to make bright areas lighter. Drag the gray Input slider slightly rightward to darken midtones. Your goal is to make the balloons black and the background white. Why? Because layer masks use black and white. That said, you must maintain the integrity of the balloon edges—if you drag the triangles too far, the edges erode (settings of 154, 0.82, and 194 were used here). Don’t worry if you can’t make it perfect; you’ll touch up the balloons and the background next. Click OK to close the Levels dialog.

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Step Four: First, we’ll touch up the balloons with black paint. Press B to activate the Brush tool (circled). In the Options Bar, click the Brush Preset Picker (also circled) and set Hardness to 100% to avoid creating too soft an edge around the balloons. Press D on your keyboard to set the color chips at the bottom of the Toolbar (circled) to the default of black and white, and press X until black hops on top.

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Step Five: Mouse over to a balloon and paint the gray areas. Zoom in by pressing Command-+ (PC: Ctrl-+) repeatedly, and Spacebar-drag to reposition the image onscreen. Tap the Left and Right Bracket keys on your keyboard ( [ , ]) to decrease/increase brush size, respectively, as needed. Tip: Use a really big brush on the middle balloon to create a smooth curve around its left edge.

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Step Six: Now let’s touch up the balloon wires. In the Channels panel, click the visibility icon of the RGB channel (circled) to view the alpha channel as a red overlay so you can see the wires. Zoom way into the image, and in the Toolbar, grab the Polygonal Lasso tool (press Shift-L to cycle through the Lasso tools). Click one end of a balloon wire to create a point and then click the other end of the wire to create another. Scoot over a few pixels, click to set another point, and then point your mouse at the original point and, when you see a tiny circle appear next to the cursor, click to create a very thin selection.

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Step Seven: Choose Edit>Fill, and in the resulting dialog, pick Black from the Contents drop-down menu. Set the Mode drop-down menu to Normal and Opacity to 75%. Click OK.

› › BEGINNERS' WORKSHOP

Step Eight: Repeat Steps Six and Seven on the other noticeable wires. You may not have to do them all, but it’s good practice at making thin selections. For curved wires, set more points to follow the curve. When you’re finished, press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect, and then click the visibility icon of the RGB channel to turn it off so you’re seeing the Blue copy alpha channel as black and white again.

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Step Nine: Touch up the upper- and lower-left corners of the background with white paint. Press X to flip-flop your color chips so white is on top and press B to grab the Brush tool. In the Options Bar, choose Overlay from the Mode menu (circled). With white as your Foreground color chip, this mode lightens gray, yet leaves existing areas of white or black alone, so you don’t have to worry about brushing across those areas.

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Step 10: Load the white areas of the alpha channel as a selection by clicking the dotted circle icon at the bottom of the Channels panel (circled).

Step 11: Choose Select>Inverse to invert the selection so the balloons are selected instead. Click the Layers tab to switch to the Layers panel, and add a layer mask by clicking the circle-within-a-square icon at the bottom of the panel (circled). Photoshop hides the original background and you see through to the new sky on the layer below. If you need to edit the layer mask, you can always activate it in the Layers panel and then paint with either black or white according to what you want to do (conceal or reveal, respectively). Just be sure to set the Brush Mode back to Normal in the Options Bar. Until next time, may the creative force be with you all! ■

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#KelbyOneBooks

Ever feel like you’ve hit a wall in Photoshop ? ®

This book’s your tool to break through!

NEW from Scott Kelby, the world’s #1 best-selling author of photography technique books, and Editor and Publisher of Photoshop User magazine.

HOW TO › ›

Dynamic Range

creating a golden-hour look in adobe camera raw

DAVE WILLIAMS

In this project, we’ll overcome an obstacle that photographers face all too often. In landscape photography, we’re told time and time again that there are only two times each day when we can successfully shoot a landscape: the golden hour (often referred to as the “magic” hour), which is early in the morning and again in the evening. But when we’re out on the road desperately trying to cram so many awesome locations into our tight schedules, it’s not always practical, and we have to carefully choose where we are for sunrise and sunset.

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Our well-planned golden-hour shoots can easily be cancelled because of weather or something else in the environment that gets in our way. And then there are those times when we chance upon an awesome location that would have been great at sunrise but it’s now the middle of the day and we don’t have the opportunity to go back. I’m a firm believer that it’s important to know what the rules are so that we can best break them! So with all that in mind, here’s my tutorial on faking a golden-hour landscape, breaking the rules appropriately to achieve

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the best shot and overcome whatever obstacle prevented the shot in the first place. Some purists will call me a cheat; however, I live photographically by the phrase, “Lend me your eyes and I’ll show you what I see.” What I do in post is show you what was in my mind’s eye at the time I took the photo. I’ve spent years working on this technique through trial and error, patience and practice. We’ll take a look at what makes a golden hour shot versus a shot taken in the middle of the day, then use that information to emulate the golden hour look using Adobe Camera Raw’s powerful processing and manipulation abilities.

Step One: Load your image into Adobe Camera Raw. The image I’m using for this tutorial is one from Olmsted Point in Yosemite National Park. It was taken about 1 p.m., which is as far away from the golden hour as you can get, but we’ll make it look as if the early-morning sun is bathing the scene in golden light. I took this shot in July 2016 while driving from San Francisco to Las Vegas on my way to Photoshop World, having been shooting for a travel assignment in California. I wasn’t able to be there at the golden hour, so I only had this one option. The golden hour gives your image characteristics that are vastly different from the flat and cold midday light we see in this image. The main consideration to keep in mind when using this technique is the sun; so don’t let that out of your thoughts here. There’s usually wild contrast and warmth, so that’s what we’ll try to emulate in Adobe Camera Raw. The first step is to open your image and leave all the sliders alone. All of them!

Step Two: First, we need to get that sky looking more like the golden hour. That, for me, is warm and radiant, and with a bit of sun. We’ll put the sun in there using the Radial Filter (J). The settings to use are the maximum Exposure, which is +4 stops over, and drag the White Balance Temperature slider to a nice, warm yellow or orange tone. When selecting the color temperature, we need to gauge it by eye, adjusting the look and feel of the difference between the result and the original image. We also need to select the Inside radial button at the bottom of the Radial Filter panel to have the brightness radiate from the circle, rather than into it. Make a very large circle in the sky with the Radial Filter and let it overexpose the scene like I have in this picture, ensuring you have Feather up around 50 to keep it looking as natural as possible and without any defined edges. When you’re done with the Radial Filter, you can exit the tool by clicking the Hand tool icon or pressing H. Now you can start looking at other aspects of your scene.

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› › DYNAMIC RANGE

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Step Three: Next up is to balance the rest of the image with the massive amount of light we’ve just put into the overall scene. To do this we need to use the Exposure slider to darken things a bit, matching the relative darkness of golden hour on the landscape. I’ve pulled the slider down to –2.3 to really let the scene go into shadow, much like you’d expect to see in early morning light.

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Step Four: The next golden-hour attribute we need to simulate is a warmer ambience. When the sun is low in the sky, the light has to travel laterally through a far greater depth of our atmosphere than if it were shining straight down at midday, and this causes the bluer end of the light spectrum to scatter, leaving the more reddish tones. We need to replicate this effect in our image. To warm up the tones, we need to raise the Temperature slider to a nice, natural-looking, warm position. I’ve gone for 7765K in this case. As with all retouching, bear in mind that the sliders should normally be used conservatively. Take it up and down little by little until you reach the best look for the image.

› › DYNAMIC RANGE

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Step Five: Next up, we can give the scenery a sun-kissed feel with some creative use of the Adjustment Brush (K). We’ll paint in some light to gently bathe the landscape in the way we’d expect to see from light during the golden hour. Because the contrast during golden hour is less than that caused by an overhead sun, the highlights are less likely to be overexposed, but this doesn’t remove much from the overall darker tones of contrast. This warm-colored light hitting our scene enhances the colors and texture of our shot, and it’s this that we’re addressing with this point. Have all the sliders set to zero except for Exposure, which we’ll put at around +1 stop over. With the Adjustment Brush, just click on select spots or paint areas to add light. Employ your intuition to paint areas where you feel the light from the rising sun would fall, depending on where you placed your sun in the sky. This fantastic effect gives the impression that the light is cast on the scene just like in real life.

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Step Six: The next step for this technique is to adjust the Clarity and Contrast to create an even more convincing look for our fake golden hour. This Contrast is something matched in a real golden-hour shot, and the Clarity further adds to its definition. In the middle of the day, we can all too often end up with harsh shadows and extreme contrast. If we start this technique with a well-balanced and well-exposed shot, we can address the fact that there still needs to be contrast, albeit quite specific, to match the atmosphere we want to create. The low sun causes long shadows, which we’re enhancing in both difference and definition with the Contrast and Clarity sliders. Adjust these sliders upward to complement the overall look and feel of the image. In this case, I’ve moved the Contrast slider to +30 and the Clarity slider to +40. With careful adjustments, we can add to the realism and enchantment of the scene.

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Step Seven: Now for the finishing touch, we’ll warm up the overall scene further, specifically attacking the highlights. The warm glow of a golden-hour shot adds a pleasing and inviting feel to the image, and that’s what we’ll enhance here. To do this we’ll use the Split Toning panel. With the Highlights adjustment in Split Toning, select a nice warm color from the Hue slider; in this case I’ve moved the slider slightly away from the red end to 27. Gradually increase the Saturation slider until you’ve added a nice extra bit of warmth, replicating the warmth I described earlier, which is caused by the sun shining through a denser atmosphere than at midday. Judge this by eye and keep it as real as possible. Tip: When you make changes to things such as Clarity, Saturation, and Vibrance, it’s easy to over-egg it and push your adjustments beyond a realistic look. If you reach this point, simply halve the adjustment and you’ll have a much more realistic look.

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That’s it! Our landscape scene that we shot in the middle of the day has been transformed into a work of golden-hour art, thanks to Adobe Camera Raw. Here are a few other scenes with a fake golden hour—promise you won’t tell anyone! This technique is dynamic and has so many options and applications, but once you get the hang of it, you can make any midday scene look like it was shot with the early-morning rays of the sun kissing the landscape. ■

› › DYNAMIC RANGE

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Final

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Photoshop Proving Ground three ways to use the threshold adjustment layer

SCOTT VALENTINE

FINDING NEUTRAL GRAY The first technique is for photographers: it helps you find neutral gray so you can quickly apply a rough color correction to a properly exposed image. Step One: Above your Background layer, create a blank layer and fill it with 50% gray (Edit>Fill and select 50% Gray from the drop-down menu).

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Step Two: Now set the gray layer to Difference blend mode near the top left of the Layers panel. Anything that has a neutral tone becomes black to dark gray, which we can use to our advantage.

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Step Three: Show the rulers (Command-R [PC: Ctrl-R]) and drag out a horizontal guide and a vertical guide so they intersect on a black region. You don’t have to be exact, just get them close for now. Step Four: Next, above the grayfilled layer, add a Threshold adjustment layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Threshold) and drag the slider all the way to the left in the Properties panel. Everything should be white.

Scott Valentine

Got Threshold? This tool only has one control, and relies on separating your image into black and white, with nothing in between, and only one slider for control. Everything darker than the slider value becomes black, and everything lighter becomes white. That’s it. How can you be creative with such limitations? Let’s take a look at three ways you can make use of this extremely simple adjustment layer.

› › PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND

Step Five: Start edging the slider back to the right until you begin getting black pixels. You may have to keep going a bit to make a large enough region near the intersection of the guides. This black spot should represent a good sampling point for using a Curves adjustment layer. If you need to, use the Move tool (V) to adjust the guides you set. The reason for adding the guides first is to ensure that you’re close to an actual gray area, rather than a region that’s simply neutrally toned, but has its own distinct color. Step Six: Finally, add a Curves adjustment layer (Layer>­New Adjust­ment Layer>­Curves) at the top of your stack and click on the gray Eyedropper in the Properties panel. Turn off the Threshold and 50% gray layers by clicking on their Eye icons in the Layers panel, then click on the intersection between your two guides with the eyedropper. This will automatically adjust the color curves so that the sampled area becomes a true 50% gray. You can refine from there, though I recommend a second Curves adjustment for general contrast enhancement and other control.

Step One: Add a Threshold adjustment layer above your Background layer, and start with the slider all the way to the left. Now creep to the right until you get the first set of details you want to include in your effect. In this case, I set the slider to about 33. Step Two: Next, with the Threshold adjustment layer active in your Layers panel, use the Stamp Merge Visible command: ShiftOption-Command-E (PC: Shift-Alt-Ctrl-E). This creates a stamped version of your results on a new layer. Double-click the name of this new layer and rename it “0” or whatever makes sense to remind you that it will be your base layer. Turn off the 0 layer.

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©Adobe Stock/gromovataya

CLASSIC POSTERIZATION EFFECT The next two techniques are creative, and show that you can use the Threshold command for foundations of some great classic effects. Let’s start with a classic posterization effect. I’m using a portrait for this one, but anything with smooth variations works well.

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HOW TO › ›

Step Three: Select the Threshold layer again in the Layers panel and move the slider to the right a bit more. You’re building up the posterized slices of your image this way. I used about 76 this time. Repeat the above steps to stamp, rename, and turn off the new layer. Drag it to the top of the layers stack.

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Step Four: Do this same process for a couple more layers. In my example here, I used a total of five layers with different Threshold values. I named them 0, 25%, 50%, 75%, and White. You’ll see why in a moment.

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Step Five: Okay, here comes the tricky part! We’re going to use blend modes and Solid Color fill layers to stack everything up. Turn on layer 0, click on it to make it active, and add a Solid Color fill layer above it (Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color). In the New Layer dialog that appears, turn on Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask, click OK, and the Color Picker will open. Choose a dark gray (click on the B radial button and set it to 25%) in the Color Picker, and click OK to close it. Then set the Solid Color layer’s blend mode to Multiply in the Layers panel. Step Six: Turn on the 25% layer and make it active. Set its blend mode to Screen. You should see some of the gray from below coming through. Just like the previous step, this layer also gets a Solid Color fill, using 25% gray and the Multiply blend mode.

› › PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND

Step Seven: For the 50% layer, repeat the Screen blend mode and a Solid Color fill layer, but choose a lighter gray (hint: the layer names reflect the gray values I chose). And then repeat for the 75% layer with an even lighter gray.

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Step Eight: For the White layer, you don’t need a Solid Color fill because it provides the highlight. As you work your way up, notice that the image layer sets the base back to white, and the Solid Color fill layer gives you the gray values. What’s great about this method is you can go back and selectively blur the individual layers, add or remove detail (though you have to paint directly on the layers), and at the end you can apply a Gradient Map adjustment to the top of the stack, or even change the individual layer color fills directly.

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©Adobe Stock/Svetlana Fedoseeva

HOW TO › ›

Step One

THRESHOLD AND THE MIXER BRUSH The final effect is easy-peasy to set up, but can give some really great results.

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Step One: Starting again with a photo and Threshold adjustment layer. Drag the slider for a modest balance that shows off your subject reasonably well. It happens in this case that I can’t find a good balance between her facial features and the highlights in her hair.

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Step Two: To solve the problem, I added a Black & White adjustment layer between the Background and Threshold layers. In order to only affect her hair, I used the Brush tool (B) set to black and painted on the B&W layer’s mask. I then adjusted the B&W sliders in the Properties panel to bring out the highlights to provide some contrast and detail. The trick here is to recognize that you can add layers below the Threshold adjustment to control individual colors and values above or below the Threshold amount. You can also paint on masks, dodge and burn, or do anything else to help refine the result. Step Two

› › PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND

(if nothing happens, ensure Sample All Layers is selected in the Options Bar). You can continue to add more blank layers and build up your painting in pieces if you like. This technique really benefits from using a tablet like a Wacom Intuos Pro or Bamboo, where you can control brush dynamics and rotation easily. Like most tools in Photoshop, the Threshold adjustment is just waiting for a creative mind like yours to turn out some topnotch art. Show us what you come up with on Facebook! ■

CLICK TO RATE

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Step Three: The next part of this technique is entirely up to you, but it’s really what makes this look sing! Grab the Mixer Brush (nested under the Brush tool [B] in the Toolbar) and choose a Blender from the Tool Presets Picker at the far left of the Options Bar. (Note: To load different tool presets, click on the gear icon at the top right of the Picker and select one of the sets at the bottom of the menu.) I used a few different brushes, all with the textures turned off for my final result. Create a blank layer at the top of your layers stack, and begin painting

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Mobile devices aren’t just convenient any more; they’ve become tools of daily life. There’s no shortage of creative apps for phones and tablets, though it can be a challenge to get them all to work together. Adobe recognized this challenge and put significant amounts of energy toward making smooth transitions from devices to desktops, enabling you to continue your creativity on the run or in a chair. The growing catalog of creative apps is set to turn your phones and tablets

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into real tools for productivity and creativity.

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THE CREATIVE CLOUD APP—KEEPING YOUR STUFF TOGETHER Since one of the key capabilities in the current suite is integration, I want to talk a bit about how files and assets are shared across apps and devices through your Creative Cloud account. While many apps can share directly or make round trips (such as Lightroom Mobile making use of Photoshop Fix’s ability to heal and liquify), if you want to have true freedom of mobility, you’ll need to understand both CC Libraries and the Creative Cloud Files folder. Libraries are the most visible aspect of sharing, especially from desktop apps. They’re primarily meant to hold project assets, such as styles, colors, and graphic elements. You have a panel (Window>Libraries) directly in desktop apps such as Photoshop and Illustrator that lets you see and manage multiple libraries very easily. These same libraries are available to many of Adobe’s mobile apps. Here’s a link to Adobe’s site that helps explain how CC Libraries work. Creative Cloud Files is a different beast, and it’s not always obvious from the desktop. The Creative Cloud Files folder is where actual project documents are stored when moving from mobile to desktop. For example, when you create a mockup in Adobe Comp CC and send the file to Photoshop, it’s first sent through your Creative Cloud account then written to a folder on your computer. The Creative Cloud app keeps track of these

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assets, helping you stay organized and synced.

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On the Web, you can create a new folder using the

The Adobe Creative Cloud app itself is available for

Actions drop-down menu on the right of the screen, or

both desktop and mobile, and is really the go-to place for

you can upload project files to an existing folder. If you

seeing all of your creative materials in one place. When

choose the Folder option, you can see the actual location

you open the Adobe Creative Cloud app, choose the

on your computer where your files are stored. Some-

Assets tab, and click on Files, you’re offered the oppor-

times this is simpler to manage, and the Adobe Creative

tunity to see the Web app, or to open the local folder on

Cloud app will track changes you make there as long as

your computer.

you don’t move the parent folder.

So which should you use? I use the local folder for

want to go tinkering in the file structures to find them.

deleting and adding full project documents directly,

When you delete a Library, the items are archived until

then let them sync in the background. But for every-

you delete them or run out of space in your CC account.

everything in my account in one easy interface. Mobile

THE MOBILE APPS—GITTIN’ BIZZY

projects, Libraries, and XD Prototypes are all there, and

Alrighty, then! Now that the background stuff is out of

you can even see things that have been archived (stored

the way, let’s dive into a pair of creative workflow projects.

before you permanently delete them) and shared assets.

There are more than a dozen mobile apps from Adobe right

It’s incredibly useful.

now, so I’m going to pick some of my favorites to show you

With both Creative Cloud Files and Libraries, your assets

how I use them in real life. You can get a full view of what’s

are saved locally on your computer, but only with Creative

available here. This page will also tell you which apps are

Cloud Files are they easy to find. Libraries are meant to be

designed to work together, and you can find tutorials and

used only through applications themselves, so you don’t

overviews of each of the apps from there.

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thing else, I go to the Web version, where I can see

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LIGHTROOM MOBILE AND ADOBE COMP

my iPad Pro. Lightroom Mobile syncs over the cloud to my

By now, many of us know that Lightroom Mobile has a

makes the files available as smart previews on all of my other

camera feature, and recently the Professional mode was

connected devices. Once the upload is complete, I can easily

announced for many devices, with a new interface available

get to the image in the same collection on my iPad.

for iPhones. My Android phone lets me shoot straight into

Tip: In the Lightroom Mobile prefs, turn on Sync Only Over

DNG format, which gives me incredible latitude in process-

WiFi if you have a limited data plan. This feature is found by

ing. Here’s a shot I took in San Diego this past November.

tapping the Lr logo in the upper left on the home screen.

While the Android version has many of Lightroom’s

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powerful controls, I prefer working on the larger screen of

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mobile-enabled catalog on my desktop machine, but also

If you see me in person, ask me how I cranked through a month’s worth of data in one morning without realizing it.

My iPad allows me much more room to move around, so

loaded, drawing a simple gesture onscreen creates an image

I’ll do most of my corrections here. Anything I do on my iPad

placeholder (on the canvas, draw a large X that fills the tem-

will be synced to the desktop so I can pick up and use more

plate space). Tapping the image button at the bottom gives

powerful features there, such as creating output formats for

me access to all kinds of assets, including My Files (Creative

books, or managing my keywords. I also find it much easier

Cloud Files) and Libraries. In this case, I know I just saved my

to rank and flag images on the iPad using simple up and

photo to Creative Cloud Files, so that’s where I’ll go.

down swipe gestures.

Pro Tip: If you haven’t used Comp before, there’s a built-in

But what if I want to add some text or a social media

cheat sheet for the gestures. Tap the gear icon in the upper

banner? Easy! Once I’m done with my corrections, I can tap

right and choose Drawing Gesture Help. Tapping on any of

the Share box in the upper right, choose Share, and then

the gesture icons shows you an animated version of how to

select Import with Creative Cloud. (Note: You’ll need to have

draw them. You can also watch my Adobe HelpX video.

the Creative Cloud app installed on your device to see this

After I’ve placed my image, I can add a text box and

option.) There are some options to send to other applica-

other design features. A few gestures later, and I’m ready to

tions using Open In, but not all of them are immediately

upload my new cover photo.

available. The Creative Cloud app will launch where you can pick a folder to which to upload the file, or you can create a new folder. Using Creative Cloud, I can get to my files from any of the mobile apps.

I’m done in Lightroom Mobile for now, so it’s time to

including my desktop apps where the design will come in

open Adobe Comp CC. Comp is a layout application that’s

with all of the elements on layers, along with text styles. For

meant for building quick mockups of collateral for print,

the moment, I’m going to choose Share Image, then click

screen, and Web. It has lots of preset project sizes, and

Facebook. Once it’s uploaded, I can add my new cover image

I want to create a Facebook cover photo. Once the project is

(see next page) from the post that was created. Schweet!

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The Share button lets me choose a variety of destinations,

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ADOBE PHOTOSHOP EXPRESS, FIX, AND SPARK PAGE

used the Import with Creative Cloud feature as described

If you don’t want the complexity of Lightroom, you can opt

Cloud button at the bottom of Express, navigate to your

for Photoshop Express and its killer collection of presets. In this project, I want to create a small story out of images that I shot during Photoshop World last year in Las Vegas and then share that with others online. When you first open Express, you’ll get the All Photos option at the bottom, which of course shows you everything on your device. But you still have options for looking into your other photo sources or taking a new picture. Since I’m on my iPad with everything synced, I’m just going to start working immediately on the images I want to use, but I’ll save them to my Creative Cloud Files account. Normally when you save your image in Express, it generates a copy and stores it in your device gallery, so if you forget to save it

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to your CC account, it’s easy to find by date.

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Okay, I’m going to start in Express with an image I shot with my phone that I saved to Lightroom Mobile and then

earlier. Once the image is synced, just click on the Creative

photo, and click Open File. This image is already nicely

With healing all done, I can now explore the great Looks

blurred due to long exposure, but I’m going to go straight

that ship with Express, or I can do some additional correc-

into healing with Photoshop Fix, which is located under the

tion and cropping. Except for the Looks, changes stack up. If

Creative Cloud button at the top of the screen in Express.

you choose the Adjustments panel, you can independently

This is a round trip, meaning the photo will open in Fix and I

control each of the characteristics such as Clarity, Exposure,

can paint over the areas I want to cover up, but I don’t have

and Temperature.

access to the other Fix tools from here. Still, I can heal, patch,

Pro Tip: Do your adjustments and corrections before

and clone my way to brilliance! When I tap the blue bar at

you apply Looks! This way you’ll get a better view of what

the top, my results are sent back to Express. It’s important to

you’re adjusting.

keep in mind that this is a destructive operation but Express

Once I’m happy with the results, I can save the photo

makes a copy of your image—you’re not chang-

back to my Creative Cloud Files account using the Share but-

ing the original at all.

ton. This will place the file in the top level of the folder, so

in Express because it only operates like a spot-

it can get cluttered—be sure to move or archive this folder after each project to keep it organized.

ting tool—you can’t paint with it; you can only

The reason I like to place files in the Creative Cloud Files

tap small areas for correction. It works fine, but I

is for the next step—Adobe Spark Page! With Adobe Spark

prefer having more control that’s available in Fix.

Page it’s easy to create and share dynamic webpage stories.

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Note: I choose not to use the healing feature

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From within Spark, you can select those images and then

see all of your Spark projects (Post, Page, and Video) in one

combine them with others from just about everywhere,

place. Grab links, edit your pieces, and create new ones

including Adobe Stock. Add some text, explore the page

from either mobile or Web versions. All of your projects are

themes and photo layouts, then preview your page. When

“automagically” created for mobile and Web display, so you

you’re done, publish it and share the link. Click here to see

don’t have to configure anything or make different versions.

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an example that I created.

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Spark Page is an easy way to put together gorgeous pic-

You don’t have to finish your project all at once, by the

torials and visual stories with no technical insight needed.

way. You can save your page and come back to it later, but

Share your vacations, special events, and projects quickly,

because it’s within the Creative Cloud universe, you can

and look good doing it. Here’s another example from

also access your pages through a Web browser on your

Terry White when he and Scott Kelby went on their photo-

desktop. When you’re logged in to your CC account, you’ll

graphic adventure in Iceland.

AND MORE! GENERAL TIPS AND GOODIES

when I license the image from my Library panel, after a

There’s so much power available in the mobile apps that

few moments, it’s available for update directly in Mix (if

there’s no way to cover everything in one article. But there

you don’t have the project open, you can tap the tex-

are a few things I don’t want you to miss out on, so I’ve

ture layer’s icon and choose Update—this will apply the

collected some of my favorite tidbits here for you to try out.

licensed stock image, removing the watermark and swap-

PHOTOSHOP MIX

ping the preview for a high-resolution version).

Consider keeping a little stash of textures available in a CC

PHOTOSHOP FIX

Library. I have a dedicated Textures library that I populate

If you’re looking for some vignette love, head over to Fix. There’s a dedicated vignette feature that lets you choose the color of the vignette along with the intensity. What’s insanely cool about it is that the vignette is applied as a layer. Seriously! When you save the file to a library or send it directly to Photoshop, you’ll get a solid color shape layer with a raster mask. Double-click on that bad boy in the Layers panel and you change the color of the vignette in the Color Picker. Fix also features Liquify and Healing. Liquify is a destructive operation, while Healing is not. When you open the file in Photoshop, you’ll get a Healing layer, but Liquify will have been applied to the base photo.

while browsing Adobe Stock. Whenever I come across something interesting, I’ll add it as a preview to that library. I can then place them as smart linked previews into my Photoshop Mix project. While they come in at low resolution, it’s usually fine for figuring out what texture I want. When I find something I like, I can license it from my desktop right in Photoshop, even if I haven’t sent the

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Mix project to my desktop. In fact,

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PHOTOSHOP EXPRESS

tap the Looks button (it’s the two overlapping rectan-

I didn’t mention it earlier, but Photoshop Express has

gles with a little arrow) and choose a color theme (see

a nifty collage feature. When you open the app, there

top of next page). It will be applied to all of the pho-

are two options at the top: Edit Images and Make

tos. A sneaky trick here is to check out the far right of

Collage. When you create a collage, you’re asked

the Looks samples—your own images show up there.

to select your photos, then tap Next at the top right

What’s going on? Well, Photoshop Express has kindly

of the screen. From there, you not only have a bunch

created basic Color Lookup Tables (CLUTs) from your

of options for page layout, but also aspect ratio.

own photos in the collage! That way you can spend

Here’s another opportunity to create awesome social

time dialing in the look of one, then gather them into

media graphics!

the collage and apply the same look to all of them.

Rearranging the images is easy—just tap-and-hold

Finally, you can send your collage to Mix, which

for a few seconds on one, then drag it to another posi-

opens the project with each of your images cropped

tion on the page. The two images will swap places.

and on its own layer. Do all the magic you want here

You can also tap an image in the collage and choose

on each layer, including adding blended textures or

the Edit icon (looks like a pencil) to do additional work,

continuing with other adjustments; however, you

but from the Collage feature, you can’t send the image

can’t send the results back to Express directly—but

out to other apps like Fix or Mix.

given all the other output options, I’m sure you can find something useful!

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©Adobe Stock/otsphoto/Lindsay_Helms/Monkey Business

If you want a more consistent look to all the photos,

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LIGHTROOM MOBILE

the Collections view, you can see how many images

There’s a handy Gesture Shortcuts guide under the

in a collection are flagged, unflagged, and set for

Lr logo in the same place as the Sync Only Over WiFi

delete. Tapping again shows you how many images

option I mentioned earlier. There are three gestures I use

total are in each collection and which ones are synced

all the time: toggle information; show before/after; and

for offline editing (there will be a small mobile device

swipe up/down to rate and apply flags.

icon and a checkmark). Wait—offline editing? Yes! When you load images into Lightroom Mobile and it’s had a chance to sync with your CC account, the original gets stored on your desktop (if you have a mobile-enabled collection active), and your device keeps a smaller smart preview. This is killer for saving space, but if you want to work on the full-resolution images, you’ll need to Enable Offline Editing—tap the disclosure icon (three dots) to

can share the whole collection, create a new

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A two-finger tap toggles information displays. In

Spark Page, and use various other features.

073

the far right of the collection and choose the option. That disclosure menu is also where you

Tapping with three fingers and holding on an image

than doing it on your desktop with a keyboard and

shows you the before version if you made some edits.

mouse. The ratings and flags are automatically synced

There’s not much more to say about this feature, but I

with your desktop collection.

can tell you it’s one of those things that everybody loves when they first see it.

WRAPPING UP

When you’re in the Flag and Rate section, swiping

Whew! There’s just an insane amount of potential in

up and down on an open image lets you quickly set a

these apps, and there are even more Adobe mobile

flag or give star ratings to your photo. But here’s the

apps out there. To take full advantage of them, you’ll

secret: it matters where you swipe! Swiping up on the

need a Creative Cloud account. Even a free CC account

left gives you the option to set a flag, remove a flag, or

comes with 2 GB of data for storing and syncing your

flag for delete. Swiping up on the right of the image

mobile projects (keep in mind that a paid Photography

gives you the star ratings. (Note: Swiping to change star

or All Apps membership is required to send projects to

ratings only seems to work on newer devices.)

desktop applications).

And of course, swiping left and right navigates back-

Since most of us have a phone or tablet nearby, it

ward and forward through your collection. You can

makes sense to put them to good use. Grab a few of

quickly run through dozens to hundreds of photos,

these apps (or all of them!) and start making your tools

making your selections in record time. It’s actually faster

work for you, wherever you go. ■

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CLICK TO RATE

074 ALL IMAGES SCOTT VALENTINE EXCEPT WHERE NOTED

REGISTER TODAY AT PHOTOSHOPWORLD.COM | 800.201.7323

Photoshop World THE Annual Conference Is In Orlando This Year Photoshop World is an exciting mix of people—creative professionals, soccer moms, artists, educators, students, hobbyists, bloggers, photographers, videographers, and more—who all come to immerse themselves in three days of incredible in-depth training, creative inspiration, and fun! The whole event is about losing yourself in a flood of new ideas and techniques while meeting other creatives just like yourself, including Photoshop users, photographers, graphic designers, social media marketers, and Lightroom fanatics. They’re all there and they’re all ready to learn and network. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner, intermediate or an advanced user, there’s something for everyone. Basically it’s a bunch of really cool, really fun, creative people like you!

Three Days Of Non-stop Photoshop, Lightroom And Photography Training Wed. April 19 | Thurs. April 20 | Fri. April 21 |

In-Depth Workshops — Separate registration & fee required, Meet-Up

Keynote, Sessions, PSW Film Festival, After-Hours Party, Partner Pavilion Sessions, Photo Shootout, Live Natural Light Shoots, Partner Pavilion, Midnight Madness, Pub Crawl

Sat. April 22 |

Sessions, Guru Awards, Wrap-Up Ceremony

View all the Photoshop World 2017 highlights at photoshopworld.com/events

Instructors Get Ready To Learn From The Best

We all know the difference a great teacher can make and that’s why only the world’s best instructors are invited to speak at Photoshop World. It’s a team of the most talented, passionate and gifted teachers on the planet. All here to share their latest techniques and tricks of the trade to help make you faster, more efficient, and more creative so you can have more fun while you’re doing it. Here are some of this years all-star instructors:

Scott Kelby

Joe McNally

Terry White

Lindsay Adler

Joel Grimes

Jay Maisel

Moose Peterson

Kaylee Greer

Matt Kloskowski

Kristina Sherk

Dave Black

Jeremy Cowart

Frank Doorhof

Julieanne Kost

Corey Barker

View all of this year’s Photoshop World instructors at photoshopworld.com/instructors Instructors, classes and class materials may change without prior notice. Visit www.Photoshopworld.com for the latest schedule and information

In-Depth Workshops Come a day early and dive deep into one of our pre-conference workshops.

Partner Pavilion

After-Hours Party Drink, dine, and mingle with the Photoshop World instructors and your fellow attendees.

Hands-On Labs

Get face-to-face with the industry’s leading companies, and take advantage of major discounts.

Work on your own project but with the professional guidance of our own PSW instructors.

Live Natural Light Shoots

Midnight Madness Enjoy a hilarious evening of surprises, laughter,

Have fun in our shooting bays and capture everything from food to flowers to a model shoot.

Portfolio Reviews

Have an in-depth review with candid appraisals, valuable business insights and real world, practical advice.

prizes, games and fun.

Guru Awards

A contest created to honor and recognize the design, photography, and creativity of our attendees.

IN-DEPTH WORKSHOPS (04.19.17) SCHEDULE The day before our conference kicks off, we hold in-depth workshops. These workshops provide a deep dive into the topics you want to learn most with small class sizes, live shoots and hands-on training. Separate registration & fee required. Photo Safari | Moose Peterson

Food Glorious Food: A Lesson in Food Photography | Joe Glyda

Location Lighting Shootout | Erik Valind

Sit! Stay! Snap! On-Location Dog Photography Shoot | Kaylee Greer

Photograph Like a Thief: From Concept to Print & Everything Between | Glyn Dewis Posing to Flatter Anyone | Lindsay Adler

Jaw Dropping Images on a Low Budget | Frank Doorhof

Live Shoot: Lighting a Car for Maximum Effect | TIm Wallace

Lightpainting Classic Cars | Dave Black

Seamless Multi-Platform Workflow A Live Shoot | Bryan O’Neil Hughes

First Time Attendee Orientation Larry Becker

color coded

Customize Your Learning Experience

One of the best things about Photoshop World is that you can build a custom training experience that’s just right for you, choosing from over 100 classes in 9 different learning tracks—all open to you with a full conference pass. Choose your own schedule and even change tracks or sessions any time you want. We also color-coded each track so you can easily identify the ones you want to follow.

CREATIVE CLOUD

LIGHTING

LIGHTROOM

PHOTOSHOP

VIDEO

PHOTOGRAPHY

INSPIRATION

BUSINESS

ADOBE MOBILE APPS

CONFERENCE EVENT

View the entire Photoshop World 2017 schedule at photoshopworld.com/schedule Attend conference sessions in any track and move between them as you like. Instructors, classes and class materials may change without prior notice. Visit www.Photoshop®world.com for the latest schedule and information.

DAY 1 (04.20.17) SCHEDULE

12:00pm 1:00pm

4:00pm 5:00pm

5:15pm 6:15pm

Getting The Most Out Of The Creative Cloud Photography Plan (LR + PS + Mobile) | Creative Cloud

Bryan O’Neil Hughes

Lightpainting Step by Step Lighting

Dave Black

Organizing Your Images with Lightroom Lightroom

Terry White

See Like an Artist: How to Shoot Extraordinary Photos in Ordinary Situations | Photography

Jeremy Cowart

Master the Art of Magazine-Quality Skin Retouching: The Fundamentals | Photoshop A

Kristina Sherk

The Art of Winning Inspiration

Joel Grimes

Portfolio Business

Tim Wallace

Intro to Illustrator | Creative Cloud

Dave Cross

Getting Started with Strobes Lighting

Erik Valind

Creating and Working with Presets: Importing, Exporting and Develop Module | Lightroom

Matt Kloskowski

The Wildest Subject of All: How To Get the Shot in Wildlife Photography | Photography

Moose Peterson

Photoshop CC: Extending Your Creativity Photoshop A

Julieanne Kost

A Town Hall Meeting – Hour One Inspiration

Joe McNally

How to Land a $100,000 Ad Campaign Business

Joel Grimes

Getting Started with InDesign Creative Cloud

Dave Clayton

Creative Studio Lighting to Blow Your Mind Lighting

Lindsay Adler

Lightroom Tips & Tricks | Lightroom

Scott Kelby

The Way to Perfect Exposures Photography

Kevin Ames

Landscape and Light | Photoshop A

Matt Kloskowski

A Town Hall Meeting – Hour Two Inspiration

Joe McNally

How to Contribute to Adobe Stock and Make Money from Your Photography | Business

Terry White

DAY 2 (04.21.17) SCHEDULE

8:00am 9:00am

9:15am 10:15am

10:30am 11:30am

Three Ways to Create & Update Your Portfolio with Adobe CC | Creative Cloud

Terry White

Harnessing the Power of Lightroom’s Develop Module Lightroom

Katrin Eismann

A Photographer’s Guide to Posing: Techniques to Flatter Everyone | Photography

Lindsay Adler

Compositing: Don’t Get Stuck, Get Creating! Photoshop A

Glyn Dewis

Master the Art of Magazine-Quality Skin Retouching: Advanced Techniques | Photoshop B

Kristina Sherk

Creating A Life’s Masterpiece: What Does It Actually Take? | Inspiration

Jeremy Cowart

Sharing Your Photos with the World Adobe Mobile Apps

Scott Valentine

The Power of Using Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign Together | Creative Cloud

Dave Cross

Cityscape Master Class Lightroom

Serge Ramelli

The Secrets to Creating the Best Dog Photos Ever | Photography

Kaylee Greer

Master Class: Selections and Cutouts Photoshop A

Glyn Dewis

Evolution of an Image: Transform In-Camera Images to Images with Impact | Photoshop B

Rick Sammon

A Year in the Life of a Photographer Inspiration

Joe McNally

A Modern Photo Workflow Adobe Mobile Apps

Bryan O’Neil Hughes

Improv Photoshop & Illustrator Hour Creative Cloud

Corey Barker

Creating Unique Styles & Looks in Lightroom & Lightroom for Mobile | Lightroom

TBA

Creating Magic with Less (Live Shoot) | Photography

Frank Doorhof

Let’s Edit | Photoshop A

Matt Kloskowski

Retro Down & Dirty Tricks Photoshop B

Corey Barker

Creativity Class Inspiration

Joe Glyda

Mobile Photography: Making the Best Images Using Your Phone | Adobe Mobile Apps

Katrin Eismann

DAY 2 (04.21.17) SCHEDULE

3:00pm 4:00pm

4:15pm 5:15pm

5:30pm 6:30pm

Location Lighting with Speedlites Lighting

Dave Black

Black & White Today & Yesterday Lightroom

Serge Ramelli

Light, Gesture & Color Part 1 Photography

Jay Maisel

DSLR Video Basics Video

Justin Wojtczak

Selections & Masks Demystified Photoshop B

Dave Cross

A Primer on Mobile Apps Adobe Mobile Apps

Bryan O’Neil Hughes

Conquering Crappy Lighting Lighting

Lindsay Adler

Unlocking the Power of Lightroom Mobile Lightroom

Matt Kloskowski

Light, Gesture & Color Part 2 Photography

Jay Maisel

Snapshot Videos – Small Videos that Create Large Opportunities | Video

Justin Wojtczak

Photoshop Lighting Effects for Photographers Photoshop B

Glyn Dewis

Unlocking the Power of Lightroom for Mobile Adobe Mobile Apps

Matt Kloskowski

Master the Light Lighting

Joel Grimes

The Lightroom Ecosystem: Working in Lightroom Across All Devices | Lightroom

Rob Sylvan

Portrait Photography: Choosing the Right Lens and Light for Anyone | Photography

Erik Valind

DSLR Interviews: Setting Up and Coaching Your Subject to Tell the Most Impactful Story | Video

Justin Wojtczak

Essentials of Designing with Type Photoshop B

Scott Kelby

Creating Photo Collages On the Go Adobe Mobile Apps

Scott Valentine

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Photoshop, LIghtroom, Creative Cloud are all registered trademarks of Adobe Systems, Incorporated. Images courtesy of Brad Moore, Kevin Newsome, Kathy Porupski, Jeff Leimbach, Rob Foldy and Randy Van Duinen.

DAY 3 (04.22.17) SCHEDULE

9:15am 10:15am

10:30am 11:30am

1:00pm 2:00pm

Illustrator Tips & Tricks Creative Cloud

Dave Cross

Live Car Shoot Lighting

Tim Wallace

Creating Beautiful Books in Lightroom Lightroom

Scott Kelby

Think Before You Press the Shutter Photography

Dave Black

Photoshop Selections, Layers and Masks Photoshop A

Katrin Eismann

Top Ten Photoshop Tricks for Photographers Photoshop B

TBA

Social Media Best Practices for Photographers Business

Lindsay Adler

Ten Tips & Tricks for InDesign Creative Cloud

Dave Clayton

Taming Natural Light, No Strobes Required Lighting

Erik Valind

All The Other Stuff: HDR, Panos, Video, History, Snapchat and Customizing | Lightroom

Terry White

Light on the Land: Bring Your Landscape Photography to Life | Photography

Moose Peterson

Creating 3D Composites in Photoshop Photoshop A

Corey Barker

Fixing Common Image Problems in Photoshop & Lightroom | Photoshop B

Dave Cross

Silencing the Critics Business

Joel Grimes

Intro to Adobe Muse CC Creative Cloud

Terry White

21st Century Speedlites Lighting

Joel Grimes

Working with Photoshop Lightroom

Serge Ramelli

Travel Photography Essentials Photography

Rick Sammon

Photoshop Power Hour Photoshop A

Glyn Dewis

Modern Photo Restoration Photoshop B

Bryan O’Neil Hughes

Let There be Light: Licensing, Copyright and Usage Business

Tim Wallace

Early Bird Conference Pricing HURRY! SAVE UP TO $200 | EARLY REGISTRATION ENDS MARCH 17TH NEW ATTENDEES

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TO REGISTER Visit photoshopworld.com or call 1-800-201-7323 After March 17th, pricing will increase to standard pricing. Discounts cannot be combined with any other offer or discount. To qualify for the alumni discount, you must have attended a previous Photoshop World (your name must be in our database). **Proof of educator or student ID required at conference check-in. To qualify for the KelbyOne member discount you must provide your username & password at checkout.

Stay Where All The Action Is! Hyatt Regency Orlando | 9801 International Drive, Orlando, FL 32819 Our home for Photoshop World is the beautiful Orange County Convention Center conveniently located on International Drive. Placed within walking distance to Pointe Orlando with dozens of beautiful shops, exciting eateries, and nightclubs, it’s the ideal location for a conference and best of all, it’s connected to our host hotel. Special Event Rate Per Night: $159 plus resort package fee and current Orange County room tax of 12.5% (subject to change). Book your room by Friday, March 24, 2017 (and tell them you’re a registered Photoshop World attendee) . To reserve your room visit photoshopworld.com/travel

Host Hotel

HOW TO › ›

Designing in Photoshop welcome to graphic design for photoshop users

DAVE CLAYTON

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©Adobe Stock/peshkova

› › p h ot o s h o p u s e r › j a n u a r y 2 0 1 7

For those of you using InDesign, if you’ve been reading the “InDesign Tips” column that has appeared in these pages over the past year, hopefully it’s helped your workflow and given you some timesavers along the way. A lot of what I’ve taught in these pages and in my KelbyOne classes can also be achieved in Photoshop. Photoshop is so versatile that there’s not a lot you can’t create with it.

The other apps in the Creative Cloud all have their individual strengths—InDesign for Layout, Illustrator for vectors/­logos, and Dreamweaver/Muse for Web—but Photoshop can actually handle all these disciplines in some way, shape, or form. It’s also the most creative tool, and that’s why this year we’re going to teach you some basic tips and techniques to enable you to start creating content for yourself, whether for your

business, local clubs, charities, or just because you love rolling your sleeves up in Photo­shop and learning new ways of working. We’ll create stationery, posters, social media content, and flyers. And if there’s anything you’d like to see, just email the editor and let us know! Graphic design is nothing to be afraid of; if you’re already a photographer, then you’re already a designer of sorts.

› › DESIGNING IN PHOTOSHOP

You’re learning about composition, color, space, and print. We’ll just add some cool techniques, typography, and a whole lot of fun stuff to get you excited about designing in Photoshop, as well as retouching. In future tutorials, we’ll also look at the assets already available in the Cloud: templates, content from Marketplace and Adobe Stock, and Typekit for those with the full Creative Cloud package. That’s enough chat; let’s get working!

MAKING OUR FIRST DOCUMENT About 80% of what I create ends up printed, whether it’s business stationery, pull-up banners, flyers, posters, leaflets, or info sheets. If you’re designing for print, then you need to learn about bleeds, margins, and guides. Once you learn this, your local print company will love you, which means they may print more quickly and give you better prices! In this first exercise, we’ll set up a simple document and make an A4 poster for your wall to encourage you to get designing. For this, we’ll need a blank document, an image, and some type. We’ll cover these as we go. Both Illustrator and InDesign provide the ability to create files that contain bleed marks to assist you when designing your project. Photoshop, though, seems to be missing this feature, but we can still accomplish this with a little bit of understanding and planning.

WHAT IS BLEED? Bleed is specific to print jobs. You won’t ever hear someone in the video or Web industry ask for a file that contains bleed. When you have a project where the final printed document contains ink that goes to the very edge of the paper, bleed will be required. Most printing presses, both lithographic and digital, can’t print to the edge of a piece of paper. (Some printers can print to the edge of the paper, but the results can be poor.) To avoid this, the artwork must  be printed on a larger piece of paper that includes bleed (the image area extends past the edge of the paper’s final size) and then trimmed to produce the final product. Think of it like coloring outside the lines and then cutting along the lines. If the artwork doesn’t contain any bleed, you run the risk of revealing areas of white (the paper color) along the edge of the printed document, which doesn’t look good and would take a long time to correct manually. If you look to the right of the image at the top of the next column, you can see where the paper was trimmed but missed the edge of the print.

The first thing you need to determine is the finished size of the printed document. It’s always better to do this at the start of the project instead of at the end because sometimes you might find you’ve already removed image information that you need to create the bleed. Here in the U.K., we work with the metric system, so we work with A-sized paper, A4 being the closest to Letter (forgive me, I’m useless at working in imperial inches when designing—fractions was never my strong point). The standard bleed in the printing industry for this size is around 3–5 mm, but always check first with your local print company to be sure. Some projects, like books and large artwork (pull-up banners and signage), often need a larger bleed. If in doubt, always ask! Some print companies will supply template files with the bleeds and margins marked for you to work with.

START ME UP—SIZING THE DOCUMENT We’ll start by creating a new document (File>New) in Photoshop at the final trim size, which in this project is A4. Just click on the Print category at the top of the New

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PLANNING AND PREPARATION

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HOW TO › ›

Document dialog, select A4, and click Create. For print, I always design at 300 ppi (pixels per inch). You can get away with a lower resolution but you can’t go wrong with 300 ppi; it’s an industry standard. The beauty of using Adobe Stock or images from your camera, which is hopefully set to the highest resolution or even RAW, is that they’re suitable to go straight to print at 300 ppi. The Print presets in the New Document dialog automatically set the Resolution to 300 ppi for you.

whatever you type into the Width and Height Fields. In this instance, we’ll enter 6mm into both the Width and Height fields. I prefer this method because I don’t need to do the “maths” (yep, I said maths with an “s”—that’s how we roll here in England); I just know I need to enter 6mm (for a 3mm bleed) or 10mm (for a 5mm bleed, etc.).

It’s advisable to start every project like this; in some cases you can open existing artwork and add the bleed afterwards. Make sure that the rulers are displayed by choosing View>Rulers or pressing Command-R (PC: Ctrl-R), and to assist with precision, ensure that snapping is enabled by choosing View>Snap. Now click once in the top ruler and drag a guide to the top edge of the document, where it should automatically snap to the edge of the document. Do this for all sides of the document until you have four guides showing. These guides are there to show you where your bleed will start.

A couple more things to consider here before clicking OK are to choose the Canvas Color Extension—in most cases, it’ll be white, but you can select any other color. And click the dot in the middle of the Anchor grid so that the canvas extends equally outward from the center of the document (in this case, it will add 3 mm to each side). When you’re done, you should end up with a document that’s the bleed size of your final project with guides showing where the document will be trimmed.

ADDING THE INGREDIENTS

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LET IT BLEED

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Now we need to increase the document size by the amount of the bleed. We know that A4 is 210x297mm. If we’re adding 3mm bleed all the way around, then we need to add a total of 6mm to both dimensions, giving us 216x303mm. (If you need more bleed, just use the same equation.) The easiest way to do this is to select Image>Canvas Size. You’ll now have a dialog showing the current document size. Bizarrely, Photoshop never seems to show the exact size; it’s always off just a tad. Why? I have no idea! But we can simply type 216 and 303 in the New Size area and click OK. But there’s also another way. Before you enter any numbers in the Canvas Size dialog, turn on the checkbox below that says Relative (both the Width and Height fields will change to zero). This tells the canvas to increase by

Now that we have our print-ready document sized correctly, we can start adding the pretty stuff. Keep in mind that the final printed piece will be trimmed at the location of the guides in your Photoshop document. Anything that you want to print to the edge needs to go past those lines to the edge of the document onscreen. We’re going to use an image we found on Adobe Stock to make our poster image. I searched for “white brick wall,” and in the Filter section I chose Photos only and Portrait Orientation (we’ll cover Adobe Stock and templates more in future projects). Once we’ve found the perfect image, we can license and download it to our computer. By all means, use your own images for your projects. To add the image, go to File>Place Embedded (there is an option for Place Linked but we’ll cover that in a future tutorial; for now, Embedded is fine). Navigate to where

› › DESIGNING IN PHOTOSHOP

We’ll add some text using my mantra for 2017: Keep learning, keep earning. Most people select the Type tool (T), click in the document, and start typing; however, you can also draw a text box over the image so that the text will automatically wrap to the next line or remain within the boundary, which can be useful when you have a lot of type. Again, we’ll explore this more in a future tutorial. In the Options Bar, we selected the text font, size, color, and the Center Text icon. We’ll just add a cheeky drop shadow to the type by going to the Layers panel (Window>Layers if it’s not already in the right-hand panels). With the type layer active, click on the little ƒx icon at the bottom of the panel and choose Drop Shadow. Set the Opacity to 77%, Angle to 120°, and the Distance, Spread, and Size to 3 (you can play around with these settings). Click OK.

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the image is saved, select it, and click Open. Don’t worry if the image isn’t the exact fit; we can adjust that. Hold down Shift-Option (PC: Shift-Alt) and click-and-drag from any corner of the bounding box that appears around the placed image to resize it proportionally from the center outward. Drag until the image fills the entire canvas so when it’s printed and trimmed, it will print to the edge. Press Enter again to confirm the transformation.

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Tip: If you want to add the same layer style to another text layer, Right-click on the name of the layer style in the Layers panel, choose Copy Layer Style, then Right-click on the new layer, and select Paste Layer Style. Lastly, InDesign and Illustrator will output the file with crop marks, which helps in getting the printed document trimmed accurately. Even if we output to PDF in Photoshop (the printer’s choice of format), we won’t have the ability to add crop marks and bleed, so it’s a good idea to add these if we want to see them. This is pretty easy to do—it’s a workaround, but it does work. First, create a new layer above the topmost layer, double-click this new layer’s name, and label it “CROPMARKS.” Select the Rectangular Marquee tool (M), hold the Shift key for proportion, and drag out a selection around one of the top corners until it snaps to the crossing guides. After the first square selection, you can then hold the Shift key to add each additional corner until you have four marchingant squares.

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Then, go to Edit>Stroke. Make the Width 2 px, select Center, and choose a contrasting color that’s easy to see. In this case, we chose 100% magenta by clicking on the Color swatch and selecting the color in the Color Picker. Click OK twice, then press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect.

Now all we need to do is save the document. I always save the original PSD first for future editing, as it’s nondestructive. Then, go to File>Save As, select Photoshop PDF in the Format drop-down menu, and click Save (ignore the first warning box). Make sure that the Adobe PDF Preset dropdown menu at the top of the Save Adobe PDF dialog is set to High Quality Print. (Note: Your printer may have you choose another available option.)

And that’s it. We’ve set up our first print-ready Photoshop file. If you’d like to save this as a template, here’s how: After saving the final document, delete all the layers except for the Background layer and the CROPMARKS layer. Leave the guides showing, and then save this file as “A4 Print Template.” Over the coming issues, we’ll delve into more great options that you can use in Photoshop to create other projects, both large and small. So as the poster says, “Keep learning, keep earning.” ■

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© 2107 Corey Barker

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HOW TO › ›

Photoshop Tips

boost your productivity and creativity

COLIN SMITH

Welcome to a fresh set of Photoshop tips. These tips are sure to alleviate those little Photoshop frustrations, as well as put you on the fast track to speed and proficiency in Photoshop. This is my 14th year writing this column, so if you’ve been reading it regularly, you should be a speed demon by now. If you’re a newer member and new to this column, fasten your seatbelts and check out some of the back issues on the KelbyOne site.

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EXPORT LAYER AS AN IMAGE When working in a multi-layered document, there may be times when you want to export a specific layer as a new image. Maybe you’re making variations of an image, or perhaps you have a perfect background that you’d like to reuse later. A beginner’s option is to hide all the other layers and then export as an image, or Save for Web. Here’s a better option: Right-click on the layer in the Layers panel, and choose Export As. In the Export As dialog, choose your format (JPG, PNG or GIF), click Export All, navigate to where you want to save the file, and click Export. That isolated layer will be exported without playing hide and seek.

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RESET ALL TOOLS There are times when your tools get all messed up, or after a heavy editing session, all the alternative tools are showing in the Toolbar. You may have changed some of the default settings on the tools too. This doesn’t seem like a big deal until you’re trying to do something later and the tools aren’t working properly. The usual response is to blame Photoshop and say it’s not working right. Chances are that you changed a setting, such as a blend mode, and now things aren’t working as expected. You can easily reset all your tool defaults at the top left of Photoshop in the Options Bar where you see the currently selected tool icon. Right-click on that icon and choose Reset Tool (for the current tool), or Reset all Tools to reset all the tools in the Toolbar to their default settings.

LOAD AS STACK Do you have multiple images that you want to combine in Photoshop? In the old days, we used to open all of the different images in Photoshop, and then arrange the

documents into tiles. Finally, we’d select each image and drag it into one common image. This was time-intensive. I no longer use this method, do you? If you’re newer to Photoshop, or you haven’t updated your workflow in years, here’s a faster way of accomplishing this laborious task: Choose File>Scripts>Load Files into Stack. In the Load Layers dialog, click Browse, select the images, click Open, and then click OK in the Load Layers dialog. Photoshop will now do all the work for you. “Oh, that’s what the Scripts menu does?” Yep, it’s a very scary name for a very useful set of automation tools. RETINA WOES Are you using a Retina or HiDPI display? Most of the time this is great; however, when you’re working with Web or multimedia images, they appear half their actual size. This can throw you off. One solution is to display them at 200% magnification and then they’ll look normal. The problem is that every time you open an image, you’ll need to change the magnification to 200%. You could set a keyboard shortcut for this, or skip the extra step entirely and make Photoshop display the regular resolution. “Where’s the setting?” you may ask. “I’ve looked in every menu and preference and can’t find it!” This is a hidden gem. Go to the launch icon for Photoshop (not the shortcut on the toolbar, but the actual

› › P H O T O S H O P T I PS

install in the Finder [PC: Explorer]). Right-click on it and choose Get Info. You’ll see a window with info, including a checkbox that says, “Open in Low Resolution.” Click that box on, and the next time you launch Photoshop, the images will appear at 100% normal instead of the Retina half size. RESET DIALOG When you’re working in a dialog, sometimes you may mess up the settings so much that you’d prefer to start over again. You could click the Cancel button and try again, or you could click the hidden Reset button and carry on working with the initial settings when you first opened the dialog. Where is this hidden Reset button? If you hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key, the Cancel button will turn into a Reset button. Click it and you’re good to go.

ADDING COLOR TO CURVES Curves is a very useful tool for adjusting images in Photoshop. You can sample an area in your image and pin it to the curve. In the Properties panel for the Curves adjustment layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Curves), click the topleft icon that looks like a little finger. When you click in your image, it will leave a point on the curve that can be adjusted. What if you want to add a point to one of the color channels? If you click RGB near the top of the Properties panel and choose a color channel under the drop-down menu, you’ll see that a point wasn’t added. To add the point, hold down Shift-Command (PC: Shift-Ctrl) and click in the photo. You’ll now see a point in the color channels of the curves. This is great for doing advanced color correction.

SCALE WITH PROPERTIES PANEL When you’re creating something on a layer, you can always resize it afterwards. Free Transform (Command-T [PC: Ctrl-T]) is the common command to scale the contents of a layer. In Photoshop CC there’s a unified Properties panel. Make a layer active by clicking on it in the Layers panel. In the Properties panel, you can adjust the width (W) and height (H) together or separately (by turning the Link icon on/off). Either type in a specific size (this is how you make something an exact size) or click-and-drag over the name of a field to enlarge or shrink an object. You can also change position, or set a specific position, using the X and Y fields. ■

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VISUALIZE SPOTS When you’re in Camera Raw and doing cleanup work, there’s a way to get Photoshop to show you all the specks and sensor dust in your image without having to pan through the entire image at 100%. When you choose the Spot Removal tool (B), you’ll see options in the lower right. See the box next to Visualize Spots? Click the box and you’ll see the specks. If you need some help, you can fine-tune it by moving the slider and changing the intensity.

093 ALL IMAGES BY COLIN SMITH

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COLUMN

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DesignMakeover JAKE WIDMAN

CLIENT

77K Freeze www.77kfreeze.ca

freeze frame

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before

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For the past four years, Yasumiko Garry and some of her friends have shared an unusual hobby: using liquid nitrogen to make frozen desserts at home. After years of controlling the ingredients and the freezing by hand, they decided to see if they could design an electronic system that would let them manage the process just by pushing buttons. They put together a prototype of their Cryogenic Control Unit and debuted it at a Maker Faire this past June. The system worked well all weekend, serving about 600 desserts, and “we didn’t kill anybody,” says Garry. After that success, the group decided to open a retail operation called 77K Freeze, named for the temperature (on the Kelvin scale) at which nitrogen turns to liquid. Located in Vancouver, British Columbia, the café and lounge will feature five Cryogenic Control Units and will let patrons concoct their own freezes, as well as ordering the specialties of the house. Customers who can’t or don’t eat commercial ice cream will be able to order freezes with their own choice of ingredients—pure milk and fruit, low sugar or no sugar, or whatever their diet requires. “We’re targeting a personalized dessert for individual people,” says Garry. They’ll also use the data on what people order and what makes a good freeze—the optimal combination of fruit, fat, and sugar, for example—to work toward producing a fully automated, self-serve system. Garry had put together a website to support the team’s appearance at the Maker Faire, but to prepare for the retail launch, she wanted to find a designer with extensive website experience to look at their website with a fresh pair of eyes—“to look at it from a customer’s point of view,” she says.

Before (Top)

makeover submissions We’re looking for product packaging or labels, print advertisements, websites, and magazine covers that are currently in the marketplace for future “design makeovers.” So if you or someone you know has a design that you’d like us to consider making over, or if you’re a designer and you’d like to be considered for a future “Design Makeover,” send us an email at [email protected]. (Note: This is purely a design exercise and the designers do not work directly with the client, create functioning websites, etc.) We’ll also be covering real-world makeovers in this column, so let us know if you recently had a branding makeover or if you did a branding makeover for a client that you’d like us to consider.

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DESIGN MAKEOVER

CLIENT

77K Freeze www.77kfreeze.ca

the project

Garry put a website together using Wix to promote the team’s appearance at the Maker Faire. It was visible to the public, but wasn’t advertised beyond that. And after the Faire, nobody put much effort into it. In preparation for the launch, Garry looked for a designer to polish up the website—someone to “act as a reviewer,” she says, and offer suggestions of ways to improve it. At the same time, though, she didn’t want to change it too much. She’d consulted the other team members extensively during the creation of the initial site and incorporated a lot of their preferences into the design. She didn’t want to have to take a whole new design back and get everyone’s approval again, so she wanted the designer to stick fairly closely to the existing site. One of the team members found designer Sony Lin through a Web search. “This project was a unique experience for me,” says Lin, “because it’s not a new Web design project from scratch or a total makeover of an old website. Miko and her partners at 77K Freeze had already spent hours discussing and building a fully functional concept website that I could look at. She didn’t want me to change the structure of their concept site but to add a few of my personal touches. The limitations actually made it a fun challenge for me.” Garry also didn’t want to implement changes to the website that might wind up having to be undone later. “After working with Sony for a while, I realized that after we launch, there may still be other changes,” she says. She’s prepared to tweak the design as necessary and didn’t want to add another layer of revisions to the initial version.

about the client The 77K team’s goal is to return control back into the hands of consumers and to rid the world of boring and “harmful” desserts. They’ve been creating “freezes” in private for several years and sharing these high-quality desserts with friends and families. They perfected their recipes and designed a system to safely handle liquid nitrogen for food making. Now, they want to share these creations with the public. Behind 77K Freeze is, in their own words, “a team of seven—our trades are scientist, engineer, designer, artist, manager, health care professional, and creative genius. But none of us can, hand-on-heart, say that we enjoy commercial frozen desserts for taste, aesthetic, health, and dietary reasons. We want simple, high-quality ingredients that we know are good for us and good for our Freeze. We want to provide personalized Artisan desserts in the European style that stand out from the crowd. Most of all, we want dessert now—freshly made and the way we like it!”

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Before (Bottom)

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DESIGN MAKEOVER

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DESIGNER

Sony Lin www.sonykun.com

the process

Before

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What struck Lin right away about the concept website was its one-page design. “It has become a trend to have all your information on one page so your target clients find it easier to navigate, especially on a mobile device,” Lin says. Lin also identified a few weak points he wanted to address. One was that the navigation didn’t work smoothly, but that was more of a technical issue than a design one. From the design point of view, Lin focused on improving the site’s overall color selection and graphics. He wanted to keep the design simple, clean, and elegant in order to make it work well on a single page: “You can’t just upload all the images and text into this one page,” he says. He decided that instead of showing all the photographs Garry provided, he would turn some of them into background art. Working with the product shots Garry provided, Lin applied colors and effects to give them a consistent appearance. In addition, he added a cold fog effect in the first image and frost marks in the second to create a freezing mood (see next page). Finally, he used a dark gray color to tone down the background images so they wouldn’t compete with the text, and tied them all together with a blue wash, again reinforcing the overall freezing mood. To keep the whole site from looking too dark and cold, Lin alternated the dark background areas with lighter ones. “I chose more colorful photos for the light background images to bring some cheerfulness to the website, because ice cream is supposed to be fun and enjoyable,” he says. Lin chose Agency FB (originally designed by The Font Bureau) for the company name and the introductory information. “Its modern and sci-fi style fits perfectly with the blue and cold style of the overall theme,” he says. For the subtitles, he chose Google’s Reenie Beanie script font to add a “human touch.” He set much of the text in a gold color to add another touch of warmth.

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DESIGN MAKEOVER

DESIGNER

Sony Lin www.sonykun.com

the result

Working with Lin “was very smooth,” says Garry. Lin would post revisions to the design for her to review (the two still haven’t met), and she praises his “clear communication.” “It’s a great improvement on the original website,” Garry continues. “It’s got a responsive design that Sony checked on different devices; something I’d never have had time to do.” She’s also glad that Lin incorporated some ideas that will support the café going forward, such as adding buttons for social marketing via Facebook, Instagram, et al. “We already have ideas on how to take it further,” she says. “It’s opening new doors and new ideas.”

“It’s got a responsive design that Sony checked on different devices; something I’d [Garry] never have had time to do.”

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about the designer Sony Lin is a freelance graphic and Web designer and photographer in Vancouver, BC. He graduated from Vancouver’s Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2002 with a fine arts degree, but lately he’s been doing more design work than oil painting. “I live by the premise that your goals and my stunning design go hand-in-hand,” he says. The first website Lin created, gatchafive.com, showcases his photographs of ’80s toys. He also built the website for his family’s framing business, hsinframing.com, and offers custom framing through his own site. His Web address, sonykun.com, leads a lot of people to ask if his last name is really Kun. No, it’s Lin; -kun ( ) is a Japanese honorific used by anyone when addressing or referring to male children or male teenagers, or among male friends. “I would like my clients to feel comfortable working with me as their friend,” says Lin, “so I named my website sonykun.com and incorporated the ideogram into my logo.” ■

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REVIEWS

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Macphun Luminar Powerful, Bargain-Priced Image Editor Review by Steve Baczewski

Macphun has produced an inexpensive ($69), yet extraordinarily comprehensive image editor called Luminar, and it warrants attention from beginners to seasoned professionals. Currently, it’s exclusively for Macs running at least OS 10.10.5 and it works as a standalone or as a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture, and Elements. You can also launch it as an extension from inside Apple’s Photo application. If you’ve used any of Macphun’s other applications, such as Aurora HDR, Luminar’s interface will be familiar; but just in case, Macphun has posted 63 video tutorials, a user’s guide, and a

Company: Macphun

comparison chart stacking Luminar up against Photoshop and Lightroom. Macphun’s commitment to Luminar’s development

Price: $69

is both reassuring and impressive. Since launch, Macphun has

Rating: 5

added batch processing, Touch Bar support for new Mac laptops,

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and dehaze and golden-hour filters—the latter adds a warm-

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Hot: Powerful, inexpensive image editor; customizable

tone sunlight effect that’s just beautifully nuanced. Also coming up is a DAM (digital asset management) feature.

Not:

Working with Luminar as a standalone, you can navigate to a folder or simply drag-and-drop a file on the splash screen. Luminar quickly opens JPEGs, TIFFs, and every major proprietary RAW file. Its clear-cut interface has a large image window with most of its editing features along the window’s right side. On top is a toolbar and, with the standalone version, you

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GET THE SCOOP ON THE LATEST GEAR

can export a finished file to a desktop folder or

image by letting the user customize the workspace with just the

share it on Facebook, Flickr, SmugMug, or to an

filters necessary for specific work, like architectural, portraiture,

email. You can’t print directly from the stand-

or landscape photography.

as a Lightroom or Photoshop plug-in.

Luminar has dozens of image-editing “filters” (Macphun’s term for features) like those you’d see in a standard RAW processor,

Under the image window are 60 presets broken

for example: Exposure, Tone, Curves, HSL; but it also includes

down into categories, such as outdoor, drama,

conventional filters, such as fog or texture overlay. Built into

portrait, etc. This is a great place to start if you’re

each filter are unique options for blending modes and mask-

new to image editing. The large preset thumbnails

ing. When you select from the list of filters, a before-and-after

help visualize the effect, and integrated into each

illustration helps you visualize the impact of each filter on your

thumbnail is a slider that lets you adjust the degree

image. You can add as many filters to your image as you need

of the preset’s effect. You can also customize or

by clicking the Add Filter icon. Sliders control the degree of

create and save your own presets. Many of the

each filter effect, and many of the filters (Tone, for example)

presets are superb, from stylized color to black-

have multiple sliders. The sliders are well designed and imple-

and-white, and sometimes the effect is so good

mented, needing only slight incremental movements to create

that no further tweaking is necessary. Tweaking,

visible distinctions.

however, is where Luminar shines.

Overall, there’s a simplicity to the Luminar interface that belies

There’s a comprehensive set of more advanced

the power, fast processing, and sophistication under the hood.

features that will be familiar to professionals

Luminar is missing some of the niceties that are in Photoshop or

including: layers, adjustment layers, layer masks,

Lightroom, like the target adjustment tool or the white-point “tur-

blending modes, object removal, a history panel,

key baster,” but Macphun listens and responds to users’ requests,

curves, a histogram, and much more. Luminar

so we just might find them with the next update. Try the 30-day

allows you to streamline the process of editing an

trial and see for yourself. This is quite a strong first version. ■

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alone version, but you can if you use Luminar

099

REVIEWS

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Perfectly Clear Complete Suite of Plug-Ins Brings Out the Best in Your Photos Review by Michael Corsentino

When it comes to digital photography, I think we’d all agree that what we want is less time spent editing and more time spent shooting. The folks at Athentech Imaging have come up with Perfectly Clear Complete to help us do just that! Compatible with both Lightroom and Photoshop, Perfectly Clear Complete does the majority of the “heavy lifting” for us. In fact, this software, long the industry-standard backend for photofinishing labs, provides an astounding 20 corrections with just a single mouse click! As its name implies, Perfectly Clear Complete is comprised of a suite of several useful and well-integrated imaging tools. In addition to its namesake, Clear, also included in the suite of plug-ins are Perfect Eyes, Perfect Exposure, and Perfect Skin. Each plug-in is also

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Company: Athentech Imaging Inc.

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Price: $149 Rating:

included as an individual title that allows slightly more options when used separately. The 40 award-winning presets in Perfectly Clear Complete will have you expertly tuning up your images in a heartbeat, rapidly improving both color and detail. Being a manually

Hot: 20 corrections with a single click; quickly fixes images; strong batch processing

inclined person and a natural-born skeptic, I have to say that I

Not: Skin corrections can lack pore structure after smoothing

can do it. Images go from average to amazing with literally a

was amazed by what this software can do and how quickly it few clicks. When custom refinements are called for, presets can

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Before

After

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be tweaked easily using the set of robust control sliders that are provided for just about every attribute imaginable. These adjustments can then be saved as new user-created presets for future use. The real magic happens when you combine Perfectly Clear Complete’s automatic corrections and its ability to batch-process thousands of images in minutes. Perfect Skin does a fairly good job of getting you started with basic skin retouching, corrections, cleaning up blemishes, skin smoothing, etc. As is

Before

typically the case with retouching plug-ins, however, you’ll probably want to lean on Photo­shop for additional refinements. (Again, this perspective is from someone who does all their retouching manually.) Ideally, I’d like to have more pore structure maintained, and additional controls for skin-tone uniformity. All in all, it’s a good entry point. ins can be purchased individually for $79 and $99, respectively. Perfect Exposure is available as a free plug-in. ■ After

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Note: The Perfect Eyes and Perfect Skin plug-

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Mark Mawson

REVIEWS

Capture One Pro 10

Imaging powerhouse Phase One recently released version 10 of their venerable RAW-conversion software, Capture One Pro. For any software, version 10 represents a milestone, as it speaks to staying power and a history of continued development. Capture One Pro is already mature software with a sophisticated set of best-in-class tools, so updates, even major ones, are less

Image-Editing Software for Professionals

about reinventing the wheel and more about refinements.

Review by Michael Corsentino

In fact, there are actually 15 new features in Pro 10, along with plenty of interface improvements and under-the-hood finetuning, that provide a superior user experience compared with

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Company: Phase One

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previous iterations. Capture One Pro 10 sees improvements in speed across the

Price: $299; $15/month for 12-month, single-user subscription

board with faster image browsing, zooming, panning, and

Rating:

added is a new, more intuitive, default workplace for new users

Hot: Improved speed and user interface refinements; powerful new sharpening Not:

switching between images at 100% view and below. Also that includes getting-started examples. This updated software also gives users more control over sharpening with the addition of a new, powerful, three-stage image-sharpening process that corrects for lost sharpness

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Emil Mony Freddie

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caused by diffraction; allows sharpening to be applied globally or locally to elements within an image; and allows user-defined sharpening options during image output. Another noteworthy new feature is onscreen proofing. An enhanced proof mode takes the guesswork out of the RAW simulate the final size, resolution, color, compression artifacts, and sharpening of images. This is particularly useful with small files intended for Web use and for optimizing image-compression quality. Rounding out Capture One Pro 10 are full integration with Tangent editing panels, added flexibility with folder organization, the ability to search by image orientation, and a new camerafocus tool module for tethered cameras, among others. Capture One Pro supports more than 400 digital camera models and version 10 adds support for the following cameras and lenses: Olympus E-M1 Mark II, Sony RX100M5, Sony A6500, Sony A99M2, Sony FE 70–200mm f/4 G OSS, Sony 70–200mm f/2.8 G, and Sony E 18–200mm f/3.5–6.3 OSS. ■

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“This updated software also gives users more control over sharpening with a new, powerful three-stage imagesharpening process…”

conversion process. From the viewer panel, users can now

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REVIEWS

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DxO ViewPoint 3 Automatic Corrections & Tilt-Shift Effect Review by Erik Vlietinck

Company: DxO Labs Price: $79

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Rating:

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Hot: Automatic corrections get it right even with difficult photos Not:

DxO has a reputation for automating image editing. With DxO ViewPoint 3, you can now also automate the correction of image distortions such as perspective and horizon problems. ViewPoint 3 has one new feature as well: a tilt-shift effect (miniature effect). I tried DxO ViewPoint 3 with a whole series of photographs. With DxO ViewPoint 2, you could easily correct for any perspective and horizon problems, but you needed to do it yourself. With DxO ViewPoint 3, however, you can still do it yourself and it will be user-friendlier than before with a flatter, uncluttered look, and easier-to-use correction tools. In addition, DxO ViewPoint 3 lets you have fully automatic corrections based on the camera-lens combination data you download from DxO’s servers. I was expecting the app to make a mess of those images that were really badly skewed on multiple axes; but it managed the most difficult corrections spot on. Of course, the automatic correction also takes care of the necessary cropping. The tilt-shift effect is said to simulate perfectly the depth-of-field reduction that’s identical to the creative look that usually requires you to purchase a costly tilt-shift lens. To replicate the miniature look, DxO ViewPoint 3 shows handles for the location and intensity of two blur gradients the user can adjust symmetrically or asymmetrically—even at an angle. The application also enables photographers to simulate several types of bokeh. It works well and gives a nice effect, but I can’t tell if it comes even close to the effect you achieve with an actual tilt-shift lens because I don’t have one. As far as I’m concerned, this new effect resembles photos taken with a tilt-shift lens; whether the effect is identical to that of an expensive tilt-shift lens is a different matter. ■

GoPro HERO5 Black Real Exposure Control & a RAW-Image Format Review by Erik Vlietinck

Company: GoPro Inc. Price: $399 Rating: 4 Hot: 4K HDMI-out; RAW photos; LCD display; audio quality; stabilization Not: Voice control isn’t 100% dependable; SD-card is hard to remove

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GoPro’s Black action cameras are among the best money can buy. I bought a HERO5 Black to test its new features and image quality. Let’s start with the photography features. The new HERO5 Black allows you to shoot RAW images, which are saved as .gpr files. You’ll need Lightroom 6.7 or later to use these files. A Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) JPEG mode is also available. The WDR mode creates a pleasing, higher-than-normal dynamic range photo. Both photos and videos can be tagged with GPS metadata. The HERO5 has a brilliant 2" built-in, LCD display, and it’s waterproof with no further protection required for depths of up to 33'. The SD card is in a hopelessly tight spot, next to the battery behind a sealed door that’s quite difficult to open and close. I could control the HERO5 by voice, but it often went hilariously wrong. More useful is the surprisingly-responsive touch color display. The QuikCapture mode—which lets you use the record button to turn on the camera and automatically start recording, as well as stop recording and turn off the camera—gave a mixed experience. It’s not clear what all the powering up and down does to the electronics, so in the end I turned it off. The built-in electronic video stabilization (EIS) works wonders when shooting while walking. But what really made me happy are the HERO5’s clean 4K HDMI-out and its exposure control. For the latter you hold your finger on a target area on the LCD screen and select whether the camera should lock on or not. Finally, the HERO5 gets audio quality right. You can record to a separate .wav file with control over the quality of these recordings. In addition, you can connect an external microphone via a USB-C adapter. The sound will be richer than ever before, either way. ■

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BOO K RE V I E WS › › P E T E R B A U E R › ›

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Rick Sammon’s Evolution of an Image: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Creative Photographic Process

Taming your Photo Library with Adobe Lightroom

By Rick Sammon

By Rob Sylvan

At last, a couple of new non-eBooks to review! And a couple of great ones at that. In this book, Rick Sammon walks you through his image capture and development process using Lightroom and various third-party plug-ins. His final chapters are entitled “The Photoshop Advantage,” focusing on adjustment layers and smart filters. (As a bonus, the photos themselves are inspirational as well.) He shares “Behind-the-Scenes” stories about many of the images. Don’t skip the Preface in which he shares his “Sammonisms.” There’s both a short version, in which he explains important concepts in a single sentence, and a long version, in which he explains in more depth (and using different images). The Introduction is also an important part of the book. The author discusses the sequential steps required to produce a great image: seeing, thinking, photographing, and processing. (Rick doesn’t discuss printing—it’s not among his specialties.)

My colleague Rob Sylvan comes through again with another great book on working with Lightroom. If you’re new to Lightroom, the first chapter, “Getting in a Lightroom Frame of Mind,” will be especially valuable. Other chapters cover the Library module and importing image files; the Folders panel, creating and deleting folders, deleting and renaming photos, and how to deal with missing folders and files; organizing with Collections; working with image metadata; taking care of your catalog; becoming more efficient in Lightroom; common and advanced workflows; integrating with Lightroom Mobile (an important chapter for today’s mobile world); and troubleshooting. While the title focuses on the Lightroom Library, as you can see, no stone goes untouched when it comes to this program. You’ll find this book easy to read and understand, and well documented with appropriate photos and screenshots. Even experienced Lightroom users will find this book has much to offer.

Publisher: Focal Press Pages: 268

Publisher: Adobe Press

Price: $34.95 (paperback)



Rating: ◆◆◆◆◆



Price: 39.99 (paperback) Rating: ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Pages: 256

#KelbyOneBooks

D E PA R T M E N T › ›

From the Help Desk

answers to photoshop & gear-related questions

PETER BAUER

Do you have any quick tips on photographing people?—Pauline

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To: Pauline From: KelbyOne Help Desk

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Every photographer who shoots portraits or group shots has favorite techniques. And many are very dogmatic about their techniques. “This is the only way to…,” “You must always…,” “Make sure that…,” “If you don’t….” I’ve heard it all in classes I teach, and I’ve read about “absolutes” in many of the books I review for Photoshop User magazine. I’m more flexible and think that every image is unique and each situation has its own requirements; however, I do have some general “Do” and “Don’t” advice, little things that may (or may not) improve your photo—again, depending on the individual situation. Generally speaking, try to avoid mixed lighting and locations where dark shadows and bright sunlight (or artificial lighting) fall on the subject. I know a lot of people will strongly disagree with me on this, but I love shooting outside on overcast days. The lighting will generally be flat, which enables me to add highlights, shadows, and perhaps tint in Photoshop. And it’s a piece of cake to select that overcast sky and replace it with a beautiful blue sky and the clouds I want. (I have a library of skies on my server from which to choose. Some are shot at an angle and some with the lens parallel to the ground. My collection includes sunny and stormy skies, as well as night skies.) When shooting a head shot, it’s often (again not “always”) good to have the subject’s jawline aligned with the lens. That enables the subject’s cheekbones to stand

KelbyOne Member

out. And shoot a couple of shots, at least one with the subject looking at the lens and another with the person looking straight ahead. You may need to use your flash to add “fill” lighting, especially if the background is quite bright. Pointing the flash directly at the subject may be overwhelming, so you may want to bounce the flash off the ceiling when shooting indoors, or use a FlashBender (or similar device) to diffuse the light. And, of course, you may have forgotten about it, but your flash may have come with its own snapon diffuser. And you can often use a longer lens and shoot from farther away to soften your fill flash. Don’t forget to control the environment before you click rather than thinking, “Oh, I’ll fix it in Photoshop.” If, for example, you’re taking a shot of a wedding party and there’s a cocktail napkin in the foreground, walk over and pick it up. Not only will it save time in post-processing (okay, save a few seconds in this case), people who see you pick up a piece of trash may be impressed with what a nice person you are. (You are a nice person, aren’t you?) While I was waiting for a car in maintenance, one of the dealer’s account executives, Ron Bell, inspired me to add one more tip: Don’t overlook taking a photo of a person with his or her favorite or signature item. Ron suggested that the perfect photo would be of someone behind the wheel of a brand-new, bright red, Mustang convertible. Of course, it could be someone with their golf bag, a teddy bear, a special hat, or perhaps in uniform. ■

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HELP DESK

Are you taking advantage of the Help Desk at the KelbyOne member website? This is the place where you can get all of your Photoshop and Lightroom questions answered by our Help Desk experts. Not only that, you can get photo and computer gear help and advice, as well. What are you waiting for? Visit the Help Desk section under My Account on the KelbyOne member site today! ■

Photoshop User magazine is an official publication of KelbyOne. Each issue features in-depth Photoshop tutorials written by the most talented designers, photographers, and leading authors in the industry. As a KelbyOne member, you automatically receive Photoshop User delivered digitally ten times a year.

FIND KELBYONE MEMBERSHIP DETAILS AT

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