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Cool Lightroom Presets

Now I may have mentioned this once before but if you have not gone over to my buddy Matt Kloskowski’s blog site: Lightroom Killer Tips then you must go. Every Monday Matt posts a free set of Lightroom presets that you can use on your photos. I bring this up because I particularly like this week’s presets. They give your photos a real cinematic look. The site is not just about presets, he posts interesting links to other photographers and also provides free tips and videos. If you are a Lightroom user you should have this site bookmarked. No question about it.

February 6th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

New Class on Kelby Training

John Paul Caponigro is truly an amazing photographer who is deeply passionate about his craft. It’s easy to see this when you look at his work. The man has a keen eye and his images always have a sense of wonderment that is just unexplainable. Now you can learn straight from the man himself. John Paul has a new course on Kelby Training Online called Drawing With Light-21st Century Dodging & Burning. This course will help you understand and master selections and masking, among other things, and it will help to make your images truly inspirational. Don’t miss this course. Find out more here.

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

Photoshop User Awards Announced

The Photoshop User Awards are finally announced and a congrats to all the winners and congratulations to Gregory Carter of Santa Ana, CA for winning best of show with his piece: Taking The Field. Gregory has won the grand prize of a trip to Hawaii. Click here to see the other winners. Some really impressive stuff. My favorite is the Artistic category.

February 1st, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

Adobe Design Achievement Awards

Adobe just recently announced a call for entries in the 2008 Adobe Design Achievement Awards. This contest is geared toward higher education students who want to get their work out there and get recognized. As a designer, I can certainly attest to the fact that it doesn’t hurt at all to have some awards to go with your work. Enter as many places as you can. This contest has 12 different categories in 3 different media areas with a prize package amounting to over $60k in prizes, including a trip to the awards ceremony in New York City. Find out more about how to enter here.

January 30th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

Pointless But Hilarious!!

So some of you may have been hearing around the Photoshop water cooler about these videos on YouTube called “You Suck At Photoshop”. They are a series of tutorials or comedy sketches in which a man demonstrates certain pointless Photoshop techniques such as removing the wedding band from a picture of his wife’s finger and such like that. There are four of these movies and I must say they are quite hilarious. Be warned, they do contain some explicit language. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. Click here to see the first three and here to see the fourth.

January 29th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

Some Photography Stuff!!!

Ok, couple things to get your Monday started. First, if you have never checked out Matt Kloskowski’s Lightroom Killer Tips site then you are missing out. Even if you don’t necessarily use Lightroom it is still worth a look because besides Lightroom tips, he occasionally spotlights a particular photographer or some other inspirational site that just might give you that creative spark. Check it out here. Also, I saw this on John Nack’s blog - this guy came up with a really clever tripod using an i-bolt, some string, and a washer. Here is a video demonstration. It really is quite ingenious. Anywho, have a great Monday.

January 28th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

New Online Course!!

A new online course by famed photographer and Photoshop World instructor Joe McNally has just been released on the Kelby Online Training site. It’s called Light Shaping Tools and it covers all aspects of “speaking with light” covering how to use light shaping tools to create really dramatic effects for portraits. Joe is a truly amazing visionary and this is truly a unique opportunity to learn from one of the very best photographers working today. Learn more about this course here. Also Joe’s new book “The Moment It Clicks” will be shipping in the next week or two. This is truly an inspirational book that no photographer should be without.

January 25th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

Book of the Week

This week I recommend Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography Book Volume 2. For those of you who know how much of an invaluable resource Volume 1 was, this one is every bit as good and more. It covers the newest techniques with the newest camera equipment and software and it is written in Scott’s famous straight-forward style that made the first volume a huge success. Whether you are a professional or a beginner, this is a resource you cannot be without. Find out more here.

January 23rd, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

Lightroom News & Cool Technology

A couple days ago Scott Kelby posted a lengthy article on his blog on what he would like to see in Lightroom 2.0 and he invited his readers to post their suggestions as well. The response was overwhelming and there was a tremendous amount of suggestions. Well, according to Scott’s blog, they are reading those suggestions and taking them very seriously. Don’t underestimate the power of the people. In other news, John Nack posted a rather interesting item on his blog the other day. It’s a multi-eye, interactive video camera that you control. It is mounted at the top of a vehicle and it records where it goes and lets you move your point of view in 360 degrees. Is this the next step for MapQuest?

January 22nd, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

My Newest Illustration!!

It’s funny where inspiration hits. The other day I was having lunch and I noticed on the menu there was a remarkable image of a margarita. I started thinking, “that is an interesting water effect.” Of course being the Photoshop geek I am, I started thinking about how I would create that effect in Photoshop. Well, I got home that evening and started messing around with it and the result came out pretty good. This piece was created entirely from scratch using Photoshop and Illustrator. No photographs whatsoever. Click here to see. As a result I have begun to break it down and I am exploring the possibilities of recreating the image as an online training course for Kelby Training.

January 18th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (1)

More TV Please!!!

What a week of shows. No, I am not talking about American Idol. I am talking about podcasts. First, you want to check out this week’s episode of Photoshop User TV. It was taped live at the Imaging USA Expo here in Tampa. We had a large Kelby Training booth with a live theater and the Photoshop Guys were in their usual form, and Dave Cross brings a special ’shine’ to the show. Even RC got around and interviewed some the more than 600 vendors in the expo. Check it out here. Also, famed wedding photographer David Ziser stopped by as a guest on Layers TV this week and shares some tips on portrait lighting. Check that out here.

January 17th, 2008 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

Pretty Cool Stuff!!!

John Nack of Adobe posted something on his blog yesterday that was quite interesting. It seems that a company has developed software which allows you to create a 3D model from a video clip. It is still in the developmental stage, but looks really cool. Here is the link for a video demonstration of the software. Now the video may seem a little ho-hum at first, but keep watching because when it gets to the real heart of the demo it is really neat stuff.

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

Bootcamp Online

If you have ever considered getting Adobe certified in Photoshop then you will definitely want to check out one of the newest courses over at the Kelby Training site. Matt Kloskowski of Photoshop TV has just released a new online course: Adobe Certified Exam Bootcamp. This was a pre-com course Matt had done at Photoshop World and now it has become part of the many amazing courses available on Kelby Training. This course covers every aspect of what you need to do to get prepared for the Adobe Photoshop ACE exam. So, if you have been after the recognition that comes with being an Adobe Certified Expert, but don’t know where to start. Check this out now.

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

Photoshop Elements for Mac

Well the wait is finally over…sort of. For you Elements users out there. Photoshop Elements 6 for the Mac was announced yesterday. This is big news because there was no Elements 5 for the Mac, but Adobe came through and has given it back to the Mac people. I guess I am getting too theatrical. Anyway, it isn’t shipping yet. In fact, it isn’t going to be available until March but we can at least put to rest any speculation as to whether there was going to be one. You can find out more on Adobe’s website. Also I produced a little tutorial over at the Elements User website. Just a quick preview of this new version on the Mac.

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

Photoshop Tutorials

Design Effects
Corey shows how to use the luminosity of an image to create a cool design effect and spice up your simple photos.
Stylized Comic Book Effect
Using this effect, you can transform anyone into a comic book character with a halftone, saturated look.
Text Shape Layers
Converting text into shapes allows you to distort the text as you like while retaining straight, clean edges.

3D Design

Using 3D tools in Photoshop CS4 Extended to create a logo element.
Bullet Hole Brushes

Here we will uses a series of custom shapes to create a bullet hole on a brush.
Displaced Effects

Here is a quick and easy way to use displacement maps to create a cool grunge look.
More Fun With Brushes

Here we will explore another aspect of custom brushes to create a cool background effect.

Create Smart Contact Sheets in Adobe InDesign
Adobe Bridge CS3 and InDesign have this secret relationship that allows you to do some really cool things with automating image placement and metadata
Exposure Blending in Photoshop
Digital cameras make very easy is blending more than one exposure together for contrast control, increased dynamic range, or creative purposes
Image Slide Show in Adobe Fireworks
How do you create a slide show without having to write a bit of code? The answer is Adobe Fireworks.
Using IFrames in Adobe Dreamweaver
Follow along with this tutorial and learn how to create an IFrame on your website using Dreamweaver.

Document Your Happy Accidents

Sometimes our best creations happen by pure experimentation and accident. Sitting in front of a Photoshop file, you are 40 History States in, and then it happens—magic! You really want to be able to get back to that moment. To do so, make sure that you turn on the History Log checkbox in the General Preferences (Photoshop>Preferences>General [PC: Edit>Preferences>General]). You can save the information as metadata, as a separate text file, or both!