Masking with Photoshop

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FINALLY! 3D

In the following 2 tutorials I will show you one of many ways we can make an image 3D. I want to mention how this thing started because it is important. Friend, Kevin Good, showed off some fun 3D footage he was playing with that was show it 3D and was interesting but I did not bite. Mark Vohwinkel and Ali Black began showing me the versions of experimentation they were playing with, still not biting. Then Mark asked me for some advice on how I would filter an image for use with the cyan/red 3D glasses. OK now the challenge, I nibble...that evening when poking around the "rabbit hole" I got sucked in. I admit it, thanks to these 3 I am down the hole and right now not even looking for a way out. Thanks for the journey.
As we explore new ways to make images more and more compelling we discover things like this that hope to get people to think outside the box and explore...think about where HDR started and where it is now. It had its 15 minutes of super fame and then started to find a place in the subtle ways we make images more and more interesting. Enjoy and Experiment.



Send me your experiments and questions: chrisalvanas@me.com
See more 3D images here: lightyearimnaging

PHOTOSHOP FLIGHT CHECK

This image comes to us all from Jim Hooper, a great friend that gave me the idea to create a check list for those times when killing your computer seems like a good idea when running Photoshop. Here are some things that may keep you from killing your machine... it was created in hopes that it would be saved and kept as a quick reference for those times of need, that is why it is business card size. Enjoy.

Basic Processing 101

In this movie Chris will discuss how to set up the RAW file and ready it for future processing.

RAW CONVERSIONS - SMART

INTRODUCING - ALEX UNCAPHER

Alex Uncapher is a former student at CDIA and quite the visionary. Where most students struggle with coming up with creative insights or curious points of view, this is where Alex lives. Check out this months issue of After Capture magazine for the full scoop.

article...

OPTIONS - NOT ALWAYS BLACK AND WHITE!

In this tutorial Chris will walk through a few of the more important things to think about and how they may effect your final conversion to Black and White - at the very least they will show how they effect your results.

JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN...

...does not always mean you should. The ethics of beauty retouching - how far is too far! This topic has perplexed me for sometime and I know it does not take much to freeze me into the headlights but I think it really requires a bit of thought(the ethics that is). The following video shows a normal speed (I wish) sample of a retouch job. Now for the sake of showing techniques I show what IS possible, but think for a moment about what you require for delivery to your client. A nip and tuck here and there never hurt anybody - maybe. I enjoy post production work. Truly I do!

But ask yourself what you are doing and better yet why you are doing it. It has never been intended to be there as a reason for poor photography - more about making great photography even greater. Taking it to places that excite ones imagination not to mention the workflow advantages and do overs. I am appearing at PhotoPlus 2009 and have 2 sessions, one on HDR and the other on Glamour Retouching. We'll dig in and show how we can solve problems as a retoucher and we may also ask a few questions about when and why? Enjoy

BACK!

Sorry to take a brief break in the action, but I recently moved - Wow, I thought Photoshop was difficult. Anyhow, I am back and ready for a few new trick and tips to show. Stay tuned as we will dive into some Skin Softening techniques in my next post. Thanks for standing by.
Cheers

HDR Many Ways

There are many ways to skin a cat and if your cat happens to be a bracketed or non-bracketed scene, there are in fact many ways to process.

DO YOU SUCK AT PHOTOSHOP?

Thought this might be a bit entertaining as I come back from holiday and get ready for some new stuff.

LATEST FROM JPC

VECTORS IN CS4

NEW WINDOWS IN CS4

This is part of the new navigational advances in CS4. This upgrade seems mostly about better use of screen real estate and navigation along with a few other nice bonus features we'll talk about soon.

HI PASS SHARPENING

There are so many ways to sharpen an image and it posses another question of when to sharpen as well. With all of the possibilities that Photoshop offers, the hi-pass sharpen has given me the most flexibility and success. Check it out...

PHOTOSHOP CS4 - NAVIGATION

Again Adobe has produce another version of Photoshop. Like it or not - it is what it is. I will say a number of the new features are small but robust. The use of monitor space and navigational workflow is pretty nice as are a number of other features. Here are some of the navigation changes i CS4.

BRIDGE CS4 NAVIGATION

I am finding the major boost in the upgrade to CS4 seems to be mostly about navigation.  There are a number of other features in Photoshop proper that have a lot of value, but navigation and workflow would surely be one.  By the way - stop calling me Shirley

DEKE AND GRAYSCALE

HDR STEP BY STEP2

This is the second (obviously) of 2 movies regarding step by step processing for HDR.  Chris has a 28 movie DVD due out later this month on the topic .

  Here is a small taste...

THOSE WACKY BLEND MODES!

I was thinking about who or how I could explain in logical or not so logical terms, the 25 blend modes in Photoshop.  They are frequently used when working at an advanced level of Photoshop and warrant some understanding to grasp how and when to put them in play.  Deke McClelland just posted this video that really does a wonderful job in explaining those frustrating but very necessary blend modes.  Enjoy!