Free Photoshop CS6 iBook

A free Photoshop CS6 eChapter is now available to downloadfrom iTunes for your iPad

Grab the free download by going to the ‘Books’ section in iTunes and search for Photoshop CS6 Essential Skills. Or check it out online by following this link.

The eChapter covers a range of special effects and contains over 2 hours of movie support. Follow along with the tutorials by downloading the supporting image resource pack.

The Photoshop CS6 – iBook Image Resource Pack resource pack is available to purchase for US$2.00

I have just created a tutorial using the Photoshop CS6 Public Beta. The creation of a distortion-free vertical panorama uses the new Adaptive Wide Angle filter to perfect the stitched image.

I have avoided using the ‘Adobe Photomerge’ feature so that I can intercept the stitching process at the alignment stage to specify which image (with the least distortion) Photoshop should respect in terms of its perspective.

The resulting image is then enhanced using the luminance-preset available from the e-Store on this website. This Preset allows you to uses the Black & White  adjustment layer set to Luminosity mode. The combination of adjustment layer and preset gives you Luminace control over colours as you would see in Adobe Camera Raw

Download: luminance-preset

Very exciting news!
Adobe has just announced that the brand new release of everyone’s favourite editing tool (Adobe Photoshop CS6) is now available for FREE download as part of their public beta program.

There are tons of mind-blowing New Features (well, 65 new features according to the Adobe press release)
Mark and I will be reviewing and writing about what’s new and amazing about the new release, but in the meantime here’s a quick rundown of the latest features.

• Totally fresh new user interface
• Searchable layers
• Content-aware move
• A whole new way to crop images….

Brushes
- HUD brush resize and hardness can now change opacity
- Increase brush size to 5000px
- Change color dynamics to per stroke instead of per tip (user option for old behavior)
- Brightness/contrast slider for textures when painting
- Brush projection for static tips
- Brush cursor reflects brush dynamics for round and captured tips

Eyedropper
- Show the sample size popup for the various eyedropper tools (black point, white point,
etc.)
- Add ignore adjustment layers options bar item for the eyedropper
- New mode for eyedropper to select layers current and below

File formats
- Read common stereo image pair formats (JPS, PNS) Allow for more bit depths in TIFF files
- Read BIGTIFF format
- Give the user choices regarding how they want transparency treated in OpenEXR on file open

Grammar
- Policed throughout app
- Use consistent grammar style in the title of dialog windows (no commands such as “Choose a color:”)

Layers
- Add a contextual menu item that deletes a layer effect not just disables it
- Add dither options to Layer Styles for Gradient Overlay and Gradient Stroke
- Allow 00 or Shift 00 to work when setting layer/fill opacity (previously no way to get 0%)
- Add bicubic sharper & bicubic smoother options when free transforming layers
- Allow changing of blend modes for multiple layers at once
- Allow locking of multiple layers
- CMD+J to duplicate layers and layer group
- Allow changing color labels to multiple layers at once
- Layer tooltips to include layer name (if defined)
- Opt+click on toggle arrows (groups and effects) in layer panel should close all targets
- Show blend if/Blending Effects badge on layer
- Show correct opacity and blend mode values for hidden layers
- Tab goes to next layer on inline layer rename, SHIFT + TAB goes to previous
- New command to raster layer effect into layer, merging the selected layers into themselves
- Reorder effects in the layers palette to match the Z-­­order style/blend mode (bottom most effects in termsof blending order, drop shadow is below the other effects

Liquify
- Resize Liquify brush with shortcuts
- Increase maximum Liquify brush size Add option to load last mesh

Presets
- Add new document presets for common devices (e.g. iPhone, iPad, etc.)
- Add new Gradient Map presets for toning and split-­­toning
- Sticky reorganization of tool presets (changes persist after re-launch) Add Contact Sheet II as an Automation option

SDK
- Add the ability to return an array of guides in a document from the scripting SDK
- Add ability to access tool name associated with the tool preset name via scripting
Selections
- Make the marquee, lasso, and mask panel feather values support decimal places like the feather dialog
- Remember feather radius when showing dialog for selection from a path

Transform
- Improve dragging of vector curves
- Don’t hide smart object icon when transforming a layer
- Rotate 90 with even x odd pixel dimension to be smooth (bjango.com)
- Undo or disable auto -­­rotate on open

UI
- Remove the app bar and reduce the drag/app bar over 30%
- [Windows] New/open document to context click on a document tab (has always been on Mac, now Windows too)
- Add “Don’t show again” checkbox to Purge warnings

Miscellaneous
- Enable Split Channels for documents with layers
- Select Hex field by default and allow clipboard pastes with # in contents (i.e. #fffffff)
- Increased GPU stability by prequalifying GPUs on the fly before use
- Auto-­­select the best resample method based on the type of resize
- Enable Invert and Threshold adjustments for masks in 32 -­­bit
- Hold SHIFT during startup to disable 3rd party plugins
- Add warning message that 16 -­­bit images cannot display their file size in the Save as JPEG dialog
- Add command to insert “lorem ipsum” for type

While you wait for your free beta copy of Photoshop CS6 to finish downloading, here’s the inimitable Russel Brown (not to be confused with the idiosyncratic Russel Brand!) has a rundown of his favourite 6 features.

For all photo-nerds who had been holding their breath in anticipation of a new 5D to be announced…. it’s finally here.
The new full-frame digital SLR offers a 22.3-megapixel CMOS sensor, speedier Digic 5+ processor, 61-point autofocus, new buttons for easy navigation and a host of new features. Expected to be in stores by the end of March 2012 at an RRP of USD$3,500.

The new Digic 5+ processor claims to make the new model unto 17 times faster than its predecessor.
Canon has introduced a new series of accessories that will be rolling out over the next few months. Most notable is probably Canon’s new flash, the Speedlite 600EX-RT. This $629.99 flash is Canon’s new top-of-the-line model and is the first Speedlite on the market with a built-in wireless radio transmitter, which eliminates the need for accessory radio units. The 600EX-RT can be used as a master unit and trigger up to 15 off-camera “slave” 600-EX-RTs, as long as they’re within 30 meters of the master unit.

One of the features that got a cheer from me was the inclusion of a headphone jack for monitoring audio during video capture.
The Australian press release said “EOS 5D Mark III incorporates a new High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode to enable greater creative expression. The camera captures three images of a single scene at different exposures and then merges them automatically to create a single HDR image. Four additional, in-camera special picture effects (Art Standard, Art Vivid, Art Bold and Art Embossed) allow even greater creative freedom.” That sounds promising for all HDR mavens.

Canon also made the Owner’s Manual for the 5D Mark-III available online, for a bit of light bedtime reading.

Check out images and movies created using the new Canon 5D Mark-III at http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/samples/eos5dmk3/

I’ll sign off with a quirky hands-on review of the 5D Mark-III by Kai-W of DigitalRev.

Embarrassing confession time, I’ve been meaning to calibrate my screens ever since I upgraded to Mac OSX Lion, finally got around to it—and not surprisingly the process wasn’t as smooth as it normally is.

If you’re new to screen calibration, or are wondering why one would want to calibrate their screens in the first place(!) we should go over the basics. Jeremy Daalder is our go to guy for anything to do with producing color-correct outcomes and he has some excellent free articles to learn all about this black art.

In a nutshell, we calibrate our screens/monitors to ensure that the device is able to display images using the most accurate colours, brightness, and contrast. The device (it could be a screen or a printer) is calibrated against some absolute benchmark for that device’s behaviour—typically using some additional piece of equipment. Have a read of Jeremy’s exhaustive article on calibration and profiling to understand this inside out.

So, in my case I was using a Gretag MacBeth EyeOne Display2 calibration device, to calibrate my MacBook Pro & Cinema Display running Mac OSX Lion.

To make life interesting, a number of things had happened since I last looked under this rock.

• A while back Gretag Macbeth was acquired by Xrite.
• The EyeOne Display2 has been superseded by the i1 Display Pro
• The latest Mac OSX release no longer supports the driver software that came with the original EyeOne device

This was a classic face-palm realisation for me. Not helped by alarmed users writing articles like this one, basically declaring that the old device was now an unusable relic!! Grr-aargh! :-O

However, a solution exists!!
Fortunately, the good folks at Xrite have been quick to respond to the plight of users in the same predicament as myself, and have released a software update.
Download it for FREE from the Xrite website.

But the trickiness does not end with the download. I had to calibrate 3 different setups:

• 27″ iMac: Install successful, no problem!
• Mac-mini Connected to a 55″ LED display: Install successful, no problem!
• Thunderbolt Cinema Display and a MacBook Pro: Major bummer!

Trying to calibrate the MacBook with the Cinema display connected was a non-starter—the software could not detect the EyeOne device. After much trial and error and USB port swapping we finally figured out the correct sequence of events:

1. Connect the EyeOne device to the Macbook and calibrate Macbook by itself first
2. Close the calibration software and disconnect the EyeOne device
3. Restart
4. Connect Cinema Display to Macbook
5. Connect EyeOne device to the Cinema Display
6. Initiate calibration process

Things went smoothly from there. Happy Days.

Calibration went smoothly by configuring one screen at a a time

There you have it, problem solved.
Here’s a vintage video of the original EyeOne Display2 in action.

Looking like a sci-fi version of the kaleidoscope my mum bought me for my 5th birthday, the Lytro is the distilled essence of breakthrough physics simplified for use by snap-happy amateurs.

So what is it?
In a nutshell, the Lytro is a digital camera that allows the user to capture an image first and choose the point of focus later!!. Did I hear you say “what the?!”.

I’ll be honest, based on the initial marketing hoopla surrounding its announcement, I dismissed the Lytro as a gimmick that might do well as a Christmas present for those suffering from sloppy-focusitis. But digging deeper, it turns out there is a mind-boggling amount of genuinely breakthrough science behind the Lytro, making it quite possibly one of the first truly ground-breaking bits of technology to come our way in a long time.

Each point of focus is selected *after* the image has been captured

At the heart of the Lytro is something called “plenoptic” or “Light Field” capture. The main things to get excited about are:

• Refocusing: Users are able to refocus images after they are taken.
• Speed: Because there is no need to focus the lens before taking a picture, a plenoptic camera can capture images more quickly than conventional point-and-shoot digital cameras.
• Low-resolution: Users will be able to convert Lytro camera’s proprietary image into a regular JPEG file, however it can not be refocused thereafter. The resulting image has 1080 × 1080 pixels – roughly 1.2 megapixels.
• Low-light sensitivity: the ability to adjust focus in post-processing allows the use of larger apertures than are feasible on conventional cameras, thus enabling photography in low-light environments without a flash.
• 3D images: since a plenoptic camera records depth information (which allows it to focus at variable depths), stereo images can be constructed in software from a single plenoptic image capture.

There’s an online demo of the Lytro showing how the images can be “tweaked”. The Lytro also introduces several innovations in interface design, including iPhone like gesture enabled touch-screen and zoom control built-into the case itself.

The guys at Gizmodo have done and an awesome hands-on review of the Lytro. They actually gutted one completely to reveal that the little camera might be kitted out with blue-tooth and wi-fi capabilities too.
And the propellor-heads at Wired give a great run down of its innards</>a.

The candy-bar sized camera is set to retail for US$399-499 (depending on which colour you choose).

But the piece of news that’s created a bigger stir is the fact that iGenius Steve Jobs apparently met with Ren Ng, inventor of the Lytro, just before Jobs passed away. Apparently Ren said he’d send “an email outlining three things he’d like Lytro to do with Apple”.

The magic of infinite focus from the comfort of your iDevice? The mind boggles!

I’ll leave you with a neat video that shows how the camera works.

Download Free Tutorial

To learn how to maximize sharp detail across your entire digital workflow download this free PDF tutorial.

Tutorial Pack (includes 2 hours of movie tutorials, images + 3 Bonus Actions)

Maximum Performance Tutorials

This tutorial bundle provides movie and image resources for six tutorial projects (3 additional Elements 10 movie tutorials are available for free in the Elements 10 resources section).

These projects are features in the Photoshop Elements 10 Maximum Performance book. Focal Press

These resources are suitable for users of Photoshop Elements 9 or Photoshop Elements 10.

The bundle includes:

• Over 2 hours of movie support,
• All the resource images used in the tutorials,
• 3 bonus actions to fast-track the workflows (High Key, High Impact and Toning) and an Actions overview movie.

Project Overview

The 6 Projects are:

1. Black & White: Create dramatic Black and White images that Ansel Adams would have been proud of.
2. Depth of Field: Learn how to reduce depth of field in post production
3. High Key: Learn how to create the classic High Key look that is ideal for glamorous portraits or stylised landscapes.
4. Cross Process (and creative borders): Learn how to creatively tone or color grade your image and add a creative border and texture.
5. High Impact: Create an image with maximum impact and drama.
6. Replace a Sky: Learn to master the art of compositing.

What you have to see on Amazon about the tutorials

Purchase the book

Adobe Photoshop Elements 10: Maximum Performance

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

Focal Press

You need to pick which software you’re using:

An overview by Mark Galer

Adobe has released its public beta for Lightroom. You can download a copy from:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom4/ 

The new 'Map' module in the Photoshop Lightroom 4 beta

As a beta version of the software it is free to download and use, but the software is neither feature complete or completely stable (it will crash!). I would, however, definitely recommend it to Photographers who are desperate to see what Adobe has been working on for the last 18 months, provide feedback to Adobe about the development of Lightroom 4 and use it as a way of skilling up with the new features prior to the release of the official version later this year. It is not a replacement for your existing Lightroom 3 catalog and Adobe recommends even duplicating the images you intend to import into a new Lightroom 4 catalog that you would like to use to test-drive the software (just in case).

Soft Proofing in Photoshop Lightroom 4

Although Lightroom 4 has lots of great new ‘wow’ features, such as the new ‘Book’ and ‘Map’ modules, I would have to say the most significant changes for most professional photographers and photographic enthusiasts is:

1)   The arrival of the new 2012 Raw Processing engine,

2)   The ability to soft proof images in Adobe RGB, sRGB and to any printer profile you may have on your operating system (a long overdue feature I had requested with the original beta of Lightroom 1).

3)   Video editing capability.

Trimming a video in Lightroom 4

This last feature is likely to find an instant fan club amongst the video shooting DSLR crowd. Lightroom 4 can now preview and edit video files as well as just catalog the files. Users will be able to trim video files and perform basic edits (minus the Shadows, Highlights and Clarity adjustments). Users can also apply a ‘Saved Preset’ that utilises tone curves and split toning adjustments from the Develop Module.

The 2012 Process: Don’t Panic!

The new 2012 process engine is likely to be seen as the most significant change by most photographers, and some of these changes are so big that it may cause some photographers, who are not fond of change, to throw their hands in the air in a state of disbelief. Unlike the changes to the Processing engine when Lightroom 3 was released, the changes to the 2012 process engine have been accompanied by a complete rethink of all the sliders photographers have been using since the arrival of Adobe Camera Raw in 2003. Users do, however, have the choice of using the older process engines but if you decide to embrace the new and improved 2012 process you will have to completely rethink the way you work your image files (no more Brightness, Fill light or Recovery sliders).  When upgrading images processed with Lightroom 2 to Lightroom 3, users would typically only see the improvements of the upgrade – slightly sharper images, better vignettes and improved shadow detail. Images upgraded to the 2012 process, however, are unlikely to retain their visual appearance, requiring the user to process the file again in order to fine-tune the appearance using the new sliders. Only when this occurs will the user see the benefits of the 2012 process engine.

Fig04. The new 2012 Process recovers astonishing detail from both the highlights and shadows

So is using the new process engine worth the investment of time to re-learn a workflow? Absolutely! The new Process engine is quite remarkable. It has the ability to recover shadow and highlight detail like never before, and offers the photographer the ability to rescue images or extract maximum quality detail from high-contrast images in pursuit of a folio quality image.  

Fig05. Edge artefacts are supressed or removed when extensive editing of both highlights and shadows is required

The edge artefacts that were visible, when extreme recovery of both shadows and highlights was required in the previous Process versions, have now largely been supressed or removed. Many photographers who were used to bracketing and then using HDR software or double-processing Raw files to achieve a high-quality end result may now find they are achieving the same high quality results using a single Raw file.

Fig06. The new Tone Curve has individual RGB channels for precise adjustments or for the creation of heavily stylised images

Improvements in the Develop module have not been limited to just the new Process engine (and the sliders that drive it). We now have a new Tone Curve that gives the user access to the individual RGB channels, providing control over precise color adjustments or the creation of heavily stylised images, such as the cross-process effect.

Create and upload book creations to Blurb or export as a PDF

Maybe not a feature that will excite everyone but Adobe has added a Book module to Lightroom. This allows the user to create a folio book and then upload the whole project to Blurb without ever leaving Lightroom. I don’t think there will be many photographers who will skip this version when it finally releases later this year. Hey… I would upgrade for just the new Process engine!

Mark Galer

New Features in Lightroom 4 Beta

• Highlight and shadow recovery brings out all the detail that your camera captures in dark shadows and bright highlights.
• Photo book creation with easy-to-use elegant templates.
• Location-based organization lets you find and group images by location, assign locations to images, and display data from GPS-enabled cameras.
• White balance brush to refine and adjust white balance in specific areas of your images.
• Additional local editing controls let you adjust noise reduction and remove moiré in targeted areas of your images.
• Extended video support for organizing, viewing, and making adjustments and edits to video clips.
• Easy video publishing lets you edit and share video clips on Facebook and Flickr®.
• Soft proofing to preview how an image will look when printed with color-managed printers.
• Email directly from Lightroom using the email account of your choice.

Download the beta

Free download at: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom4/