Photography Blog DigitalPixels.net

" Adobe's pen tool works pretty much the same across Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Yet, as important as this ubiquitous tool is, many people get confused with how to handle certain tasks, and the differences between the various pen symbols. "

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We love cheatsheets. Those handy quick-reference guides that keep all sorts of vital information right at your fingertips.

In fact, we're dedicating one issue each month to provide a growing collection of creative and technical cheatsheets.

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" This month's tiny cheatsheet contribution covers shortcuts and tricks for Photoshop's Brush Tool:"

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"First, open an image that needs some work. Now make a copy of your background layer by dragging its layer thumbnail from the Layers palette to the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. Since Shadow/Highlight doesn't work as an adjustment layer, having a copy will let you put some of the original back later if you find you prefer it. All your adjustments will be done to the copied layer. You can ignore the original background layer for now."

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Photoshop Video Tutorial : Learn the Basics of Curves

When I think of the perfect sunset photo, my mind immediately fills with lots of warm reds, oranges and yellows as the sun gently sets across the water or beyond the hills. Sunsets are one of the most commonly photographed aspects of nature, and yet photos rarely manage to capture their intense beauty. What was once a sky filled with rich, golden hues often ends up looking cooler, less vivid, and ultimately less interesting.

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Content Aware Scaling with Photoshop CS4 video

Most traditional photographers will be familiar with the range of aesthetically pleasing toners available in the wet darkroom, as well as their ability to infuse images with subtle, and more evocative moods. Traditional photographic prints have been toned since their beginnings for archival stability purposes and creative interpretation. Selenium, sepia, brown, copper, gold and blue toners are but a few of the time honored chemical processes for achieving tonal variations in prints.

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One of my favorite techniques for removing (i.e. make transparent) dark or light areas of an image is to use the blending sliders available inside the Layer Style dialog box within Photoshop. These blending sliders are easily overlooked in pursuit of the more commonly-used Layer Styles available in this dialog box.

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Open your photo in Photoshop and press CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-B to enter the Black and White conversion window. You can also select Image from the main menu and go into Adjustments. Once the window opens, you are given 6 colors that will affect how your photo is converted. There is no fixed rule on what amounts you place in the different colors since it depends on your picture. For the photo that I used as an example, I selected 103% for Red to lighten the man’s face. I lessened the Yellows and Greens to darken the background to make the subject more prominent in the photo.

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from Yanik Chauvin