IMAGE CREATION, MANIPUL ATION & EDUC ATION

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Products from: Kubota, 1-Click, Imagenomic, Pencilpixels, Unique Imagery

ISSUE #10Layout created in ACD Canvas X

Final PDF by Acrobat 9 ProText and images by Mike Bedford

(except as noted)

•Plugs ‘N Pixels will always be free!•

WEBSITE: www.plugsandpixels.comEMAIL: mike@plugsandpixels.com

Dave Cross, Senior Developer of Education and Curriculum for NAPP, with his wife Marleneand daughter Stephanie. Dave and Stephanie can be seen on the Photoshop User TV podcast.

table of contents - introductionPage 3: Actions feature introPage 4: Kubota actionsPage 5: 1-Click actionsPage 6: Imagenomic actionsPage 7: PencilPixels actionsPage 8: Unique Imagery actionsPage 9: Meet The DevelopersPage 10: Meet The DevelopersPage 11: Topaz AdjustPage 12: PixelmatorPage 13: Paint Shop Pro Photo X2Page 14: Susi Lawson trainingPage 15: PhotoshopCAFE trainingPage 16: Featured Artist: Jill Balsam

Page 17: Featured Artist: Danielle

Page 18: Plugs ’N Pixels resources

Page 19: .PSD magazine

Page 20: Closing Artwork

•If you would like your digitalartwork or image editing software(applications, plug-ins, actions, etc.)featured in Plugs ‘N Pixels, pleasewrite Mike at the address above.There is no cost or payment for thisworldwide exposure!•

Plugs ‘N Pixels is dedicated to exploring theuse of plug-ins and other imaging applicationsfor creating and manipulating your images. Butincluded in the bag of tricks are helpfulassistants that are not so much software as asequence of instructions that you load intoPhotoshop, called Actions.

Anyone can easily record an action. The trick isknowing what you are doing along the way in order toget the best results from your steps!

In this issue we take a look at a handful of effectiveaction sets from those action authors who do knowwhat specific steps and settings work well in sequence.

By using these actions, there is perhaps no quicker andeasier way to get your work done. There’s also theadded benefit of learning some new workflow tricks byexamining the steps the actions take as they run.

The Image Trends crew (L-R): Dr. Albert Edgar (CTO), Wayne Galella(VP of Engineering) and Michael Conley (VP of Marketing).

Twice every year the National Association OfPhotoshop Professionals (NAPP) holds itsPhotoshop World convention. This is the place tobe for up-close exposure to the best instructorsand developers in the digital imaging industry.

I enjoy scouring the trade show floor and meetingdevelopers whose products I am familiar with aswell as meeting new contacts and discovering newproducts.

Later in this issue you will join me as we Meet TheDevelopers in Las Vegas! Then we’ll take a look atmore digital imaging applications and training DVDs.

As much fun as plug-ins but even easier to use

This issue’s cover art was createdusing a few different UniqueImagery actions, created byGavin Phillips. I ran his actions(Sketchy, Pop Art and Aged) onduplicate layers of the full originalimage, then used AV Bros. PageCurl Pro plug-in to peel away thevarious layers from differentdirections. After trying sometransparency and blending modeexperiments, I got the final result.

The background image on thispage was an earlier attempt atdesigning the cover art.

The close-up of the girl’s facebelow was treated with one ofthe free LucisArt-related actions.

LucisArt 7 action

A whole industry has grown up around the ability of Photoshop to play backrecorded sequences of workflow steps, called Actions. Those who benefit mostfrom action sets are usually professionals (such as wedding and portraitphotographers, photo editors, etc.) who handle a large volume of images undertight deadlines. But of course the home user of Photoshop can benefit as well.

I’ve included high-end as well as inexpensive (evenfree!) plug-in sets in this issue, so you have an

overview of what is available. There aremany other actions to choose from,

and we will explore more ofthem in a subsequent

issue of Plugs ‘NPixels ezine.

kubota actions

www.plugsandpixels.com/kubotaactions.html

OriginalKevin Kubota is one of the top 10 wedding

photographers in the world, and he makeshis customized sets of post-processingactions available to anyone who wishes toemulate his award-winning styles.Each of the three Kubota Artistic Tools

volumes contains 50 actions for enhancing,color popping, toning, glowing and B&Wconversion of your images. Other actionsets include Sloppy Borders (createdtraditionally in the darkroom and scanned)and AutoAlbum for magazine-style albums.

1-Click actions

SSAAVVEE 1155%%!!

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www.plugsandpixels.com/1clickactions.html

Over the course of seven volumes, MountPhotography’s inexpensive 1-Click Actionstake you from BW conversions, glows,cross-processing, color pops, toning andsplit-toning, portrait retouching and effects,dodge/burn and sharpening, up throughgraduated filters, resizers, edges and finallyvintage/cross-process/fades – all the whileemphasizing the simplicity of “one click”.Emulate film and focus effects, smooth

skin, apply vignettes and sunsets, whitenteeth, apply fill-flash and artistic effects.

imagenomic actions

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SSAAVVEE 1100%%!!

Imagenomic’s Portraiture and Noisewareare both very popular portrait-enhancingand noise reduction plug-ins. Through theuse of the free Imagenomic ActionBookactions for each plug-in, it’s even easier toget great results with them immediately.Using these actions helps automate your

workflow for greater efficiency, includingoffering batch processing capability.

For this example I used Portraiture’sColorWasher action to achieve a highcontrast, low saturation look.

on Imagenomic plug-ins.

The actions are FREE!

www.plugsandpixels.com/portraiture.html

pencilpixels actions

www.plugsandpixels.com/pencilpixels.html

Pencil Pixels offers three different sets ofPhotoshop actions that take your images toplaces they’ve never been before, witheach volume building on the previous.Volume 1 focuses on Watercolor, Chalk &

Rough Drawing, Easy Pencil, Metal & Foils.Volume 2 adds Painting, Stained Glass, andthe Comic-Toon-Poster mini-pack.The Atmospheres set delves into more

esoteric effects such as Chocolate,Concrete, Blackboards, Coins, Camouflage,Fire and Fingerpainting.

unique imagery actions

www.plugsandpixels.com/uniqueimagery.html

Gavin Phillips, known for his tutorialarticles in Rangefinder magazine and hispersonalized Photoshop training sessions,has created four sets of actions as follows:Infrared & Elegant Tones, Stylish FX, BW,Unique Tones & Sloppy Borders andPortrait/Glamour Retouching.This issue’s cover art was created using a

combination of these beautiful actions. Theimage above was done with the Romanticaction alone, with striking results. Theactions allow user-interactive adjustments.

meet the developersPlug-in developers show their stuff at Photoshop World

Photos by Mike Bedford.Frames by onOne PhotoFrame (Vincent Versace Pro Digital Frame Bundle).Curl effect by AV Bros. Page Curl Pro. Background effect by Alien Skin Snap Art>Comics.

Twice a year at Photoshop World (and other imaging-relatedconventions as well), software developers gather to show off theirlatest wares. A tech fair is sort of like visiting the Plugs ‘N Pixelswebsite – you can see everything in one convenient location!

On these pages you’ll meet a handful of plug-in developers I visitedin Las Vegas. Developing these relationships helps Plugs ‘N Pixels keepyou up to date and informed about each new product release.

I first saw Tom Summerall of Media Lab(left) at Photoshop World back in 2001.He and his colleague Chris Perkins are acouple of the most energetic presentersI’ve ever seen! Non-stop demonstrations.

Media Lab has developed twogroundbreaking plug-ins for websitedesign: SiteGrinder and PSD2FL A. Bothmake it incredibly easy to use Photoshopfor web page design and export.

media lab

onone

Mike Wong of onOne software(far right) joined forces withdigital fine artist Jim DiVitale ofDigitalPhotoandArt.com to wowthe booth attendees with newplug-ins and art giveaways.

onOne is known for suchproducts as PhotoFrame, GenuineFractals, MaskPro, Intellihance andtheir new releases, PhotoTune andPhotoTools.

Janice Wendt, Manager of Channel Sales forNik Software, demonstrates Color Efex Pro.

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digital filmtools

Michael Conley (Vice President ofMarketing) works the crowds atImage Trends’ busy booth. ImageTrends is comprised of formermembers of the Applied ScienceFiction team, now a division ofEastman Kodak.Image Trends offers six different

products aimed at digital cameraand scanner users: AutoMatting,SensorKleen, PearlyWhites, ShineOff,Fisheye-Hemi and DustKleen.

Marco Paolini of Digital Film Tools(below) demonstrates their newmasking product, PowerMask. Theyalso offer 55mm, Digital Film Lab,PowerStroke, zMatte and others.

Reveal hiddendetails in the

shadows whilebringing highlights

under control

SSAAVVEE $$7700!!When you

purchase theTopaz suite

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Instant HDR with

a single frame!

ADJUST DOES MORE THAN HDR!ADJUST DOES MORE THAN HDR!While the results of this example are impressive enough,Topaz Adjust does much more than revealing highlight

and shadow detail in extremely contrasty images. Startingwith any of the 18 presets, you can do anything from

simple exposure adjustment to controlling detail, colorand noise, achieving corrective and artistic effects once

reserved for plug-ins costing several times more.

TopazAdjust

Hidden within Mac OS-Xare a number of radicalCore Image filters. You justneed applications to helpyou access and apply themto your images.

The highly-anticipatedPixelmator has now arrived,using a familiar Photoshopparadigm (with a standardtoolbox, a layers palettewith blending modes, afilters menu leading directlyto Core Image options, abrush set, etc.) to makeworking with Core Imageabout as easy as it can be.

Amazingly, Pixelmator wascreated by just two youngbrothers who leveraged thepower of the Mac OS intoan incredible image editor.

Perhaps the easiest way to tapinto Core Image filters withinthe Photoshop paradigm

www.plugsandpixels.com/pixelmator.html

If you don’t do your digital imageediting in Adobe’s Photoshop, chancesare quite good you’re using Corel’sPaint Shop Pro instead. PSP has longbeen known as a viable Photoshopcontender and alternative, and eachnew version keeps nipping at the heelsof its competition.As a Mac user I had not given PSP

much thought over the years, but nowthat Windows runs seamlessly on Machardware, I have been exploring PaintShop Pro Photo X1 and now X2, and Ihave been quite impressed!The various image effects shown in the

examples here are native to PSP, andthe built in image browser makes it thatmuch easier to select images to edit.It’s amazing what Paint Shop Pro can

do when compared to Photoshop, andat a fraction of the price!

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Susi Lawson hails from the Blue RidgeMountains of Virginia but has reachedout to the world via the internet toshare the unique and award-winningvision she has achieved through acombination of Photoshop and Painter.Her two DVD training video sets expose

the techniques used in her signatureartwork, one of which has graced thecover of Photoshop User magazine. Thedelightful videos will teach you tounlock your inner artist in no time.

The top screenshot shows a sample video from PhotoshopMagic. The bottom screenshot is from Portrait Magic, whichteaches fine-art techniques using Photoshop and Painter.

www.plugsandpixels.com/portraitmagic.html

Soft Glow tutorialCamera RAW Creative tutorial

www.plugsandpixels.com/pscafecs3digitalphoto.html

Colin Smith, award winning designer, best-selling author, trainer and host of the popularPhotoshopCAFE website has just releasedPhotoshopSecrets for CS3, bringing his tips andtechniques up to date for the new version.In this DVD full of all-new videos you’ll learn

about Quick Select, Smart Filters, Clone Source,new Curves, Black and White adjustment andmore. The six hours of material is presented in aFlash interface for easy navigation.

Jill S. Balsam of Visual Design Technology uses not traditional butdigital paints, digital canvases and digital brushes. A vast andnever-ending supply of creative digital software is available to herat the computer. “These are the tools that, in my own eyes, havemade me an artist.”Jill created the large butterfly (background) image using LucisArt’s

Klimpt effect on a duplicate layer, which was then masked toreveal fine details such as legs and antennae. Noise Ninja was alsoused for blur effects.The “Flamingos on a Rock” (lower left) also makes use of LucisArt,

while the lotus blossom above it was created using Corel Painter.

ffeeaattuurreedd aarrttiisstt::jjiillll bbaallssaamm

www.ArtInPhotos.biz

ffeeaattuurreedd aarrttiisstt:: ddaanniieellllee

“I‘ve always been impressed with some of the photofreebies from Harald Heim and find good use for them.

“In Photoshop, I used his PhotoWiz PhotoFreebies Sepiawith the setting on colored (default setting 0). This changedthe blue sky to a soft orange. Then in PhotoWizPhotoFreebies Luma Negative I used the full setting of 255Blend making the sky a rich brown, with the tree and birdslooking like an ivory etching.”

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www.thepluginsite.com

ddiiggiittaall iimmaaggiinngg rreessoouurrcceessBy now you know the Plugs ‘N Pixels website is an incredible

resource for quickly gathering information about Photoshopplug-ins, creative and productivity applications and trainingmaterials. But tucked away under the small “forum links” area isa gateway to scores of other imaging resources! Quickly visit asmany forums as you can handle to discuss your imagingtechniques or questions about cameras and software.

www.plugsandpixels.com/links.html

There are many forums dedicated to thediscussion of digital imaging, some withemphasis on software, some on hardwareand others both. For example, Photozo DigitalPhotography Forum (see screenshot above)averages 5000 posts a month. They offermembers a gallery, as well as downloads.Another popular forum, this one dedicated

to plug-ins and digital imaging applications, isThe Plugin Site, with 4381 registered users.The Plugs ‘N Pixels Links page also directs

visitors to various blogs, as well as forumsrelated to 3D artwork and communities forgraphic design. It’s a great page to visitregularly to keep up to date with the latest.

featured forum - photozo

Site hosted by HostGator

www.plugsandpixels.com/psdmag.htmlPhotoshop SolutionsFor Designers magazinecontains advertising andreviews contributed byPlugs ‘N Pixels! Checkit out at Borders andBarnes & Noble stores

.PSD Editor in ChiefEwa Samulska atPhotoshop World

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Created with: LucisArt 1 action, 1-ClickPopGlowMT action, gavinsFX pop_artand sketchy actions, AKVIS Frame Suite

CLOSING ARTWORK

Photo/artwork by: Mike Bedford