More and More Photoshop Stuff

If you are finding yourself wanting to get more acquainted the Photoshop, you must check out the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, otherwise known as the NAPP. This is an organization started by best-selling author and world famous Photoshop instructor Scott Kelby.

Since its inception, the NAPP has amassed over 70,000 members worldwide and has become the largest graphics organization around. The member website is the hub for NAPP members everywhere, providing everything you could imagine. There’s a massive tutorial library that is updated weekly with tutorials from Matt Kloskowski, Dave Cross, RC Concepcion, and myself, among others. There is also a free portfolio site for all members, a member supported forum community, and a subscription to NAPP’s official publication, Photoshop User Magazine, plus so much more. There are also exclusive member discounts offered by major industry retailers such as Adobe, Apple, Dell, B&H Photo, CDW, etc. NAPP also produces Photoshop User TV and members can access past episodes for free. Also, as a member you get discounts to the NAPP’s bi-annual conference Photoshop World. The very best part is that you get all this for the low annual membership fee of $99. Find out more here and join us today.

April 22nd, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (2)

More Hollywood Inspiration

A while back I did a post about a company called Daniel Clark and Associates. They design marketing material for major motion pictures. Well, there is another company I found online that does even more cool Hollywood stuff. They are called BLT & Associates and get this, their site is bltomato.com. That’s too funny and with a portfolio of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, they have truly cemented themselves as the source for feature film branding. Just looking through their portfolio of images always sparks something for me. They have just recently redesigned their site with neat Flash interactivity that allows you to move around a mosaic of movie posters. It really is pretty cool! Check it out!

April 21st, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

Custom Coins

In this tutorial Corey creates a realistic-looking coin effect using the channels palette and the lighting effects filter. Continue Reading »

April 18th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Effects, Tools, Tutorials, Videos | Comments (22)

Photoshop Book of the Week

This week I recommend Photoshop for Video by Richard Harrington. This book covers the information you need to implement Photoshop into your video workflow. It covers using channels effectively, setting up automation, creating interesting effects, and much more. If you want to get a better handle on working with Photoshop in your video workflow then this is the book for you. Richard is an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop and After Effects and is an instructor at major events like Photoshop World and NAB. His visual communications consultancy, RHED Pixel, creates motion graphics and produces video and multimedia projects. Richard also has a blog at RasterVector.com and another at PhotoshopForVideo.com. You can also find out more about his book here.

April 17th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (2)

New Workshop!

Famed wedding photographer and Photoshop World instructor David Ziser has a new workshop. It’s called David’s Digital Master Class, and if you want to improve your flash technique, your photography expertise, your Photoshop and Lightroom skills, and build a more profitable business, then David’s Master Class is for you. Nobody can put more down to earth, practical, usable ideas into a week long course than David - he’s been doing it for over 20 years. By incorporating David’s class information, you will quickly see improved results in your lighting, imagery, and your bottom line. The cost - only $795. Call 800.292.2994 today to register - class size is limited to only 25 participants. All info at www.davidziser.com.

April 16th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

PhotoshopUser TV Live from Photoshop World

This week’s episode of PhotoshopUser TV was filmed at Photoshop World in Orlando. The Photoshop Guys are in usual form as they bring cool Photoshop tips right from the showroom floor. Also, RC managed to make his way around the Expo and talk with a few of the vendors at the event. Check that episode out here.

Also, as you may remember, Adobe released a public beta of Lightroom 2.0 and it has gotten a lot of people asking questions as to whether or not they should try it. Matt Kloskowski, who hosts the Lightroom Killer Tips site, posted a very informative Q&A regarding common about questions on this very subject. Check that out here.Oh yeah, and have a Happy Tax Day!!

April 15th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

“See What’s Possible” Winners

For those of you who haven’t heard - the winners for the $20,000 design contest put on by Cut & Paste and Adobe were announced at Photoshop World. The winners and finalists’ animations can be viewed here on John Nack’s blog. You can also view other entries on YouTube. These animations are simply incredible and the quality is amazing. Very creative stuff. A big congratulations goes out to TJ Sochor for winning the grand prize of $20,000 and the entire Master Suite. In other news, Scott Kelby was in Dubai over the weekend teaching at the Adobe Middle East Conference. He posted some really cool pictures of interesting landmarks on his blog.

April 14th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

Borders Under a Minute

Create really cool borders in under a minute to use on virtually any one of your photos or even video for that matter. Continue Reading »

April 11th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Effects, Photography, Tutorials, Videos | Comments (41)

New Online Course!

My newest online course is available now over at Kelby Training. This new course is called Mastering the Pen Tool. It deals with all aspects of the pen tool and its various functions in Photoshop, but more than that, it covers everything having to do with vectors in Photoshop. This includes shape layers, custom shapes, vector masks, and much more. If you have ever wanted to master the pen tool and all its functions, this is the course for you. Check it out here. Happy Friday!!

April 11th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (2)

Adobe TV is Live!

Yesterday Adobe launched Adobe TV. This new media server streams content from numerous sources; all of them dealing with the creative suite. They have even got a few new shows they created themselves. Of course, you can also access highly-rated shows like Photoshop User TV and Layers TV. You can access these through the site here or through the Adobe Media Player that is available for download here. The speed of the player is remarkably quick with very little lag time. This is so cool. If only I had this many resources for learning when I started out.

April 10th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (1)

Photoshop Book of the Week

This week’s selection is the newest book from photographer Kevin Ames. It is called The Digital Photographer’s Notebook: A Pro’s Guide to Adobe Photoshop CS3, Lightroom, and Bridge. If you are a photographer, novice or a professional, you will benefit greatly from this book. It not only covers the important functions of these apps, but it also gets into specific workflows based on the type of scenario you find yourself in. Kevin is a remarkable commercial photographer and is also an instructor at Photoshop World, among other workshops. You can find out more about Kevin at www.amesphoto.com and to learn more about his book go here.

April 9th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

Photoshop World Coverage

On his blog today, Scott Kelby has posted numerous links to other people’s sites that have posted pictures and wrote up reviews from Photoshop World. As I mentioned, we all had blast and the event was a huge success. I want thank everyone who attended my sessions and say that I hope you had fun learning. I was especially excited to see the turnout for my Illustrator Down & Dirty Tricks session that I did in the NAPP Expo Theater. It seemed to go over really well. For those of you who missed it, you can find out more about the online course or the DVD over at Kelby Training. It contains the same examples I showed in the session, plus so much more.

April 8th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

Adobe Sneak Peaks

Adobe revealed some sneak peaks of Lightroom 2.0 and Photoshop CS4 during the keynote at Photoshop World in Orlando last week and my buddy Rod Harlan over at DV Confidential shot some video of the event with his handy little HD camera. The demo shows the newest features in the new Lightroom 2.0, which was released as a public beta on April 2. Also Adobe showed some of the new features in Photoshop CS4. While the actual release is a ways off, these were just some of the more ‘finished’ features. I would certainly count on more by the time of its release. Anyway you can watch these video clips at DVConfidential.com. Lastly, there is a new Lightroom 2.0 Learning Center, produced by Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski, that gives you an in-depth look at this new version. Check it out here.

April 7th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (2)

Photoshop World Day Three

Whew!!! It’s day three and I just wanted to get a quick update in. Last night was Midnight Madness and I must say, What a Blast! Thing got a little crazy, especially when we saw the blooper reel from the keynote movie. Too much fun!! Anyway, its day three and we have got a few more sessions and then the big wrap up session. Also the Expo will be open fror an extra day today as well. I will post some wrap up news after the event. Until then…see ya.

April 4th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

Photoshop World Day Two

Well it’s day two and we are having a blast here. Last night was the party at B.B. Kings and Big Electric Cat played brilliantly. Big props to Scott “The Boot” Kelby, Kalebra, Felix, Tony, and Scott for putting on an awesome show. The keynote was a great success and a big congrats to all the Guru winners. Today I have a Photoshop in Motion class and then roaming around the Expo and doing some interviews and tonight is Midnight Madness. No where else can you have more fun and learn nothing about Photoshop with a bunch of Photoshop geeks.

April 3rd, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)