Adobe Creative Cloud

Real World Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: now available

So now you’ve got Adobe Photoshop CS5, and you need to know which new features can bring the highest return to your photography and your studio’s workflow. Lucky you…just grab my book Real World Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers, which is now available.

Real World Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers book coverI concentrate on the needs of professional digital photographers so that you don’t have to wade through explanations of 3D, HTML, or cheesy special effects just to get good, solid images out the door. This book is about Photoshop for pure photography: How to get the image from the camera into editing and then produce the best possible version for the diverse forms of output that your clients demand today, such as CMYK printing, RGB inkjet printing, online photo galleries and sharing websites such as Facebook and Flickr.

Going well beyond a mere description of what’s in the menus and tools, Real World Photoshop still includes the time-tested, fundamental guidance about color correction, color management, and efficient workflow that has made edition after edition a perennial best-seller. You’ll also find valuable tips on almost every page in the book and advice on how to put together a killer Photoshop computer.

Here are some of the new features I cover in this CS5 edition:

  • Mask difficult edges, such as hair, more quickly using improved Refine Edge
  • Extend and optimize image dynamic range with Merge to HDR Pro and HDR Toning
  • Retouch faster with Content Aware Fill and Content Aware Heal
  • Correct lens distortions with new Lens Profiles
  • Select and specify colors faster with the new HUD Color Picker
  • Convert images and upload directly to Facebook, Flickr, and other destinations in one step, using the new Output panel in Adobe Bridge
  • Make the most of the rewritten raw processing engine, dramatically improved noise reduction, and new lens corrections in Adobe Camera Raw 6

How to get yours

Get Real World Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers at your favorite bookseller, at Amazon.com, or at Peachpit.com. Want it as an e-book? Check out Safari Books Online. If you’re a Creative Edge subscriber, you can even start reading Rough Cuts drafts of this and other Peachpit Press books online before they come off the press.

Photoshop CS5: Fix crashes in Mac OS X 10.6.4

If you experienced crashes in Adobe Photoshop CS5 on the Mac after installing the Mac OS X 10.6.4 update, there were issues with the graphics drivers in that particular Apple update that may have caused your crashes. (The bugs may have also affected you if you use Apple Aperture or play certain graphics-intensive games under Mac OS X 10.6.4.)

Now the good news: Apple has released Snow Leopard Graphics Update 1.0. If you download it and then install it on Mac OS X 10.6.4, it should resolve the problem, according to Adobe.

If you had been holding at Mac OS X 10.6.3 like I’ve been, it looks like it’s finally safe for Photoshop users to move up to Mac OS X 10.6.4 as long as you also install Snow Leopard Graphics Update 1.0.

Adobe Creative Suite 5 launch event on April 12, 2010

Adobe has announced that there will be a web launch event introducing Adobe Creative Suite 5 on April 12, 2010. The launch page contains several preview videos of new features and workflows.

The event is also billed as a “first look,” so don’t expect the software to be available right away.

See the launch event page at:
http://cs5launch.adobe.com/

Color Management without the Jargon video: now available!

[Note: I now have a newer video, Color Management for Photographers and Designers (2014), that updates what I covered in Color Management without the Jargon (2009). Color Management for Photographers and Designers includes more current information about color-managing Photoshop, Lightroom, and Adobe Creative Suite applications as well as demonstrations of profiling a display, a printer, and a camera.]

Are you a photographer or designer and still not quite sure how color management works? Confused about how to use color profiles? Have you tried to read books and articles about color management, but are overwhelmed by the terminology?

Color Management without the Jargon cover

Now you can better understand color management with my DVD and online video, Color Management without the Jargon: A Simple Approach for Designers and Photographers Using the Adobe Creative Suite. I created this video as an approachable introduction to the ideas behind color management and the basics of a good color management workflow. While there’s a lot of good material about color management out there, I feel that much of it jumps into jargon and abstract concepts too quickly. I saw an opportunity to explain color management in the simplest possible terms. I intend Color Management without the Jargon to prepare you for and to complement the deeper, more comprehensive, but also far more challenging material out there.

What you’ll learn

This 1½ hour training video helps beginning and intermediate Photoshop, Bridge, InDesign, and Illustrator users understand the basics of color management, including how to profile monitors and create consistent color in a production workflow. This video provides technical background without being overwhelming, and presents concepts and steps that are easy to follow.

How to watch

You can order Color Management without the Jargon as a DVD from your favorite bookseller or store, or you can watch it online as a streaming video from Peachpit Video. Here are some links to get you started:
DVD on Amazon.com
DVD on Peachpit.com
Watch online at Peachpit.com

More info

Below is the publisher’s marketing copy if you want to learn a bit more…

Every digital photographer or graphic designer knows that color management is important, but many still do not calibrate their computer monitors or understand how color works in different spaces. This 90-minute DVD will help beginning and intermediate Photoshop, Bridge, InDesign, and Illustrator users understand the basics of color management and how to create consistent color in their workflow.

Highlights of this accessible and easy-to-follow DVD video include:

  • Calibrating your monitor and digital SLR camera
  • Tackling color profile detective work in Photoshop and InDesign
  • Assigning, converting, and embedding profiles
  • Managing color output for print and the Web
  • Integrating raw files and Lightroom into your workflow
  • Handling color conversions between video-editing software and Photoshop

The supporting 48-page printed reference guide provides additional links and content.

Adobe Bridge: Workspace not saved on Mac OS X

You want to save a workspace in Adobe Bridge in Mac OS X, but it won’t “take.” The next time you start Bridge, the workspace isn’t available or doesn’t apply when you select it. It just does nothing.

The fix is to open Apple Disk Utility, select your startup volume, and click Repair Disk Permissions.

Now, I know that in theory, repairing permissions shouldn’t fix it. You can count me among those who think that repairing permissions is generally voodoo and that you really oughta be going down other roads first, to fix a problem. But for this particular problem, repairing permissions has worked every time. One time a person walked up to me after one of my conference talks and asked this question and brought the laptop on which it was happening. We tried deleting Bridge preferences and all the other usual troubleshooting techniques, but saved workspaces simply didn’t work until I repaired permissions. It doesn’t make sense, but hey, don’t knock it if it works, right?

I know this is true for Adobe Bridge CS4 on Mac OS X 10.5. I’m not sure if the problem exists or if the solution works on other versions of either software.