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January
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My Favorite Tool/Technique/Effect

Photoshop's like an ocean: it's miles deep, but you only need swim in the upper couple of feet to get somewhere.

From your first assignments, it's clear that you all have explored different shores and reefs of this ocean. It's time we get together and show what we've found. For the rest of the semester, I'll be asking each of you to give a short 5 minute demonstration of something you've found. (Click any of the links here to read fuller explanations to the bottom of the page.)

What's your favorite Photoshop tool that you've discovered so far? What techniques have you developed to use that tool? What cool or at least useful effects have you been able to achieve? What did you work the hardest to figure out? Please e-mail me by Tuesday, Feb. 26 with your choice of tool/technique/effect to demonstrate and which class meeting you'll be able to do it (the sooner the better!).

I'll.post your topic and the date we agree on here. If you're deciding on a topic, be sure to check here to see that someone hasn't taken it already.

If you want to post a Web page of examples and directions, as Matt did--see the link below--please send me the URL so I can include it here.

Name Tool/Technique/Effect

Date
Andy Dickson

cloning tool: "...possibilites of that tool are endless, I have also found some shortcuts that may help the class"

2/28
Bess Ellenson

blur tool
3/7
Casey Sjolund

magic wand tool with shortcuts
3/14
Charlie Jackson

distort and glass tool

3/12
Christin Hill

Filter > Artistic tool. "It can really do interesting things."
3/5
Erik Yanda

Layer Cutting & Hue/Saturation/Lightness values to create a Sepia Colored Image
3/12
Greg Muzetras

many uses of the SHIFT key when used with other tools
3/14
Jacob Schreiber

liquify tool: "I have found it
to give some very interesting end results in photoshop"
3/26
Jason Rickertsen

 

  
Joe Curtis

 

  
Justin Powers    
Karen Frank

masking
3/5
Kelly Rauzi

"layering one image over another and decreasing the opacity of the overlay, then adding a translucent gradient for cool effects"
3/7
Mark Paschke

create rollovers in photoshop and imageReady and export to html
3/26
Matthew Woestehoff bubble/transparent text

2/28
3/28
Molly Rivers

 

  
Nicholas Roessler

skew/transform tool to make a shadow for some lettering
3/14
Nicholas Schmidt adjust levels, hue and saturation of an image: "to get the best picture as well as how to use to alter an image for a unique effect"
3/12
Nichole De Mars New Layer Fill
3/7
Nissa Boetcher wind, distort, ripple drop down tools to create fire effect
2/28
Sarah Harrington the lasso tool
4/4
Shanna Willie    
Teri Lefaver    
Tina Hansen using opacity in layers

3/5

The demonstrations should last about 5 minutes and should follow this general format:

  1. show an image you've created that includes the effect you're going to demonstrate how to achieve (this effect would probably be a particular feature in an image). You'll need to bring the image in on a PC-compatible disk (floppy or 15Zip) to open it up with Photoshop on the instructor's station at the front of the room.
  2. say why or how this effect is useful, how it solves a problem or answers a question. You could phrase this in terms of your own process of creating the image you've started with. ("I was trying to get rid of my ex-boyfriend in the picture, and I couldn't match the background where he had been standing....")
  3. start with a blank or partially finished Photoshop document (which you'll also need to bring in)
  4. go slowly enough so everyone can follow along, doing the same thing at their own computers
  5. show us how to get to the tools in Photoshop you're using, along with how to open any helpful palettes, menus, etc.(going slow). Be sure to use the proper names for the tools.
  6. show us your technique(s) for using that tool (together with any other tools needed) to achieve your effect (going slow). If your technique doesn't have a name, give it one!
  7. ask if anyone has any questions (with the understanding that you may not have all the answers).