Most users don’t realize that you can create your own custom panels for Photoshop CS4 and for the new CS5. You do this using a free download called Adobe Configurator. In this post, I’ll show you how to get started making your first Photoshop CS4 panel using Configurator 1.0.
One Brief Moment
"A photograph is a stop in time for just one brief moment." – Charles Dobbs PhotographyArchive
Tag: Software
One of the challenges of landscape photography is that it’s so dependant on the changing weather. This is particularly true when shooting sunrises and sunsets. You can travel for hours to get to the perfect location, only to find a dull sky, nothing like the image you had hoped for.
via Create Amazing Sunsets with Lightroom’s Split Toning Tool.
When you have a lot of similar images from a shoot, you can organizing them using the Lightroom Stacks feature. This allows you to stack images together so that only one image representing the stack appears in the Grid, Filmstrip and Loupe. This can clean up the screen reducing the number of images you see.
As rumored, Adobe has launched Photoshop CS5 and CS5 Extended – the latest versions of its image manipulation software. They will be available separately or as components of the Creative Suite 5 family of design and production software bundles. Both include revised interfaces and a host of new tools and refinements discussed in the accompanying story. Photoshop CS5 and CS5 Extended are expected to begin shipping next month for around US $699 and $999. Licensed users of the previous versions can upgrade for $149 and $349 respectively.
via Adobe unveils Photoshop CS5 & CS5 Extended: Digital Photography Review.
One real annoyance with Photoshop CS4 is that Print Package and Contact Sheet printing is missing. These options appeared in earlier versions of Photoshop but they aren’t installed automatically in Photoshop CS4.
Over-editing in Photoshop is a chronic problem. When photographers first get and learn to use Photoshop, they often are in awe of its capabilities but do not have the skills to use it properly. As a result, many start out playing with filters and plug-ins and over-use them. Sometimes photographers feel Photoshop is all powerful and take images that should have been in a reject pile, and they try to “save” them. As a rule, Photoshop should not be used to save unacceptable photos. If a photo is out of focus, blown out, severely under-exposed, or has really awkward composition, Photoshop will not make it drastically better. Used in excess, it can actually make the image worse.
via Over-Editing in Photoshop: How to Avoid 25 Common Editing Mistakes.
One of the annoyances most photographers encounter from time to time is sensor dust. This is dust that you get on the camera’s sensor and which shows up in your images as dark marks or flaws on your photos. Most often you’ll see this in the sky but it can appear anywhere in an image and it will appear in the same place in all your images – the tell tale sign that you have problems.
Adobe has just released a 2nd public beta version of Lightroom 3 called Public Beta 2, with some new features, enhancements, and tweaks based on your feedback from Public Beta 1.
