Layers Magazine

Photoshop Guru RC Concepcion shows you how to edit, sharpen and prepare your photos for posting on Google+ so they look their absolute best. You’ll learn everything from dealing with color profiles and sharpening strategies to which plug-ins you’ve got to have to make your images jump off the page.

Find out more about the Google + Photographer’s Conference by clicking here.

This is your chance to hear from Bradley Horowitz, Vice President of Product Management at Google+. It’s the perfect way to kick off a G+ learning love fest, so you’ll absolutely want to check it out!

Find out more about the Google + Photographer’s Conference by clicking here.

There are a few simple things you can do to make your hangouts more interesting, have a better flow, be more useful and more fun. In this session, we’ll look at a few simple things to consider when planning and hosting your hangouts that will make them must-attend events.

Find out more about the Google + Photographer’s Conference by clicking here.

Best-selling business book author, CEO of Alltop and author of the just released book about Google+, “What the Plus?”, the one and only Guy Kawasaki shares his techniques for building your brand on G+ and offers some key insight into how he became one of the circled people on Google+.

Find out more about the Google + Photographer’s Conference by clicking here.

Scott Kelby and the other Photoshop Guys are out in San Fransisco this week for the first-ever Google Plus for Photographers conference. Scott was interviewed by USA Today about the conference. Follow this link to read the article at USAToday’s TechnologyLive section.

This tutorial will show you a simple way to create the illusion of flower blossoms using selections, work paths, and simple brushes with a couple of different blend modes and layer styles.

Tutorial Assets
1-Wood panel texture by ~plastikmaniac
2-Leaf Silhouettes Free Brush Pack by stock_graphic_designs
3-Lane font

Step 1

Create a new 1280 x 1024 px document. You can enter different values for the width and height depending on the text you’ll be creating.

Place the “Wood panel texture” on top of the Background layer, then go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, and change the Saturation value to -100.

Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels, and change the Gamma value to 0.50 to darken the image. It is important to have a quite dark background for this text effect.

Step 2

Create the text in All Caps using the color White, and the font Lane Narrow. The font size is 255 pt, and the Tracking value is set to 200 to avoid overlapping later on.

Double click the text layer to apply the following Layer Style:

1. Drop Shadow: Just use the default values.

2. Color Overlay: Set the color to #1f0615.

3. Stroke: Change the Size to 30 and the Color to # 1f0615.

This is what the text should look like. It’s thicker and darker, and this will be the base for the other elements that will be added later on to create the final text effect.

Step 3

Next, we are going to create the blossoms brush. So create a new 300 x 300 px document with a White background.

Set the Foreground color to Black, pick the Ellipse Tool, and make sure that the “Shape layers” icon is clicked in the Options bar. Then, create an ellipse in the upper half of the document. The ellipse created here is 77 x 111 px, you can check the dimensions in the Info panel (Window > Info) while you’re creating the ellipse.

Double click the ellipse shape layer to apply a Gradient Overlay effect. Click the Gradient box to create the gradient using the colors #ffffff and #8c8c8c. Then, change the Style to Radial and the Scale to 130.

Duplicate the shape layer, then go to Edit > Transform > Rotate.

Rotate the copy shape layer around 40° to 45° clockwise (you can check the Rotate angle in the Options bar). Then press Enter/Return to accept the changes.

Continue duplicating and rotating the ellipse shape layers until you get a flower-like shape. You can as well change the order of the ellipse shape layers as you like. Once you’re done click the Background layer, then go to Edit > Define Brush Preset, and type in a name for the brush then click OK.

Go back to the original document, pick the Brush tool, and choose the brush you’ve just created (it will be down the Brush Preset picker in the Options bar). Then, open the Brush panel (Window > Brush) and modify the settings as shown below:

1. Brush Tip Shape:

2. Shape Dynamics:

3. Scattering:

4. Color Dynamics:

Step 4

Set the Foreground color to #f26d7d and the Background color to #f2f0c7, pick the Direct Selection Tool, and Right-click/ Control-click the text layer then choose Create Work Path.

Create a new layer on top of the text layer and call it “Blossoms 1″, then Right-click/ Control-click the work path and choose Stroke Path.

Choose Brush from the Tool drop down menu and make sure that the Simulate Pressure box is un-checked, then press OK. This will stroke the path with the brush you created and modified. Hit Enter/Return to get rid of the work path.

Duplicate the “Blossoms 1″ layer and change the copy’s Blend Mode to Linear Dodge (Add), then duplicate the copy and change the second copy’s Blend Mode to Overlay.

Double click the “Blossoms 1″ layer to apply a simple Drop Shadow effect using the default values.

Change the “Blossoms 1″ Fill value to 0%, then select all the “Blossoms 1″ layers , group them (press Ctrl/Command + G), and rename the group to “Blossoms 1″.

Step 5

Ctrl/Command + click the text layer’s thumbnail (icon) to create a selection, then go to Select > Modify > Expand, and type 10 in the “Expand By:” box. This will expand the selection 10 px outwards.

Next, open the Paths panel (Window > Paths), press the Alt/Option key, click the “Make work path from selection” icon down the Paths panel, and set the Tolerance value to 1.0. This will convert the selection to a work path. (A low Tolerance value means more anchor points and a more accurate conversion).

Create a new layer right below the “Blossoms 1″ group, call it “Blossoms 2″, and stroke the new path just like you did previously.

Duplicate the “Blossoms 2″ layer twice and change the first copy’s Blend Mode to “Linear dodge (Add), and the second copy’s Blend Mode to “Overlay”, then change the “Blossoms 2″ layer’s Fill value to 0, apply a Drop Shadow effect using the default values, and group the “Blossoms 2″ layers in a “Blossoms 2″ group. Just like you did with the “Blossoms 1″ layers.

Step 6

Choose a soft round brush and open the Brush panel to modify its settings as shown below:

1. Brush Tip Shape:

2. Shape Dynamics:

3. Scattering:

4. Color Dynamics:

Create a work path from the text layer, create a new layer on top of all layers and call it “Pollen”, and change its Blend Mode to Overlay. Then, set the Foreground color to #fff200 and the Background color to #f7941d, and stroke the path.

Step 7

Ctrl/Command + click the text layer’s thumbnail to create a selection, then go to Select > Modify > Expand, and type 20 this time.

Alt/Option + click the “Make work path from selection” icon down the Paths panel.

Open the Brush panel, choose the brush shown below from the “Leaf Silhouettes Free Brush Pack” (after you load the brushes), and modify the brush settings as shown below:

1. Brush Tip Shape:

2. Shape Dynamics:

3. Color Dynamics:

4. Transfer:

Set the Foreground color to #8dc63f and the Background color to #406618, create a new layer below the “Blossoms” groups and on top of the text layer and call it “Leaves”, then stroke the path with the leaf brush you modified.

Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels, and change the Gamma value to 0.75.

Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, and change the Saturation value to -10, and the Lightness value to -10 as well.

Finally, add a Drop Shadow effect using the default values to the “Leaves” layer, and you’re done.

(click for larger image)

While the final effect seems to have many flowers placed all over the text, it’s actually really simple and quick once you create the brush and adjust its settings. Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and found it useful.

Preflight Digital Files

Most printers are familiar with FlightCheck, a standalone preflight application; however, with less-experienced users doing more work in-house, the need for proper preflight – a checklist of inspection points that must meet certain criteria – increases every day. Designers and production artists have always used checklists to make sure something important wasn’t overlooked, but FlightCheck was the first software to automate the process.

FlightCheck Professional 6.8 has a large array of customizable settings, and supports many native applications, including QuarkXPress 9, InDesign CS5.5, Illustrator CS5.5, Photoshop CS5.5, and PDF files (up to Acrobat X). Plus, if you have the software installed (not always a requirement), FlightCheck can run you through the native files to fix the problem(s), and then it collects the job with all linked graphics and fonts – even fonts activated with most font managers. Settings (Ground Controls) for native files and PDFs can be customized and shared with other users and you could probably ask the printer for a copy of the settings (password-protected to prevent unwanted modifications). The list of available options for inspection is too extensive to cover here, but a 30-day demo and documentation is available online.

Although Photoshop InDesign CS4 (and later) has a decent built-in preflight, it doesn’t include such features as advanced inspection of linked graphics; separate settings for small text and rules as black-only or color; and there’s no in-between flag – InDesign check items are either OK or Error. Acrobat Pro has built-in preflight to fix minor issues with PDFs, but most printers have to deal with native files once in a while. And Acrobat only catches problems late in the production cycle. Granted, the combination of InDesign and Acrobat can catch most problems, if set up properly. If you’re using QuarkXPress, Illustrator, or Photoshop, you have fewer options for preflight, although QuarkXPress has Job Jackets. lllustrator doesn’t have built-in font and linked-graphic collection, and Photoshop can’t collect fonts, although Illustrator and Photoshop can Save As a PDF to embed the fonts/graphics.

One major problem I have with FlightCheck Professional 6.8 is that it’s Mac only. When FlightCheck first appeared, Macintosh computers dominated the print industry, but many corporations today are doing in-house marketing and advertising, and I’d guess it’s a 50/50 split between Mac and Windows. The older FlightCheck Windows version is nowhere to be found on Markzware’s website – although they did say that updating the Windows version was being looked into this year.

The only other problem I found with FlightCheck Professional 6.8 is that the floating windows are not enlargeable. They can be hard to read on a high-resolution monitor.

Why do you need to spend $400 to check your files after you just spent a grand for design software? Well, as stated above, InDesign’s preflight isn’t comprehensive, QuarkXPress – Job Jackets are hard to set up, and other programs don’t have built-in preflight or collection. Perhaps the real questions should be: How much time is lost fixing problems found at the printer?; or, How much money (and time) is wasted from jobs being reprinted?

Printers dealing strictly with PDF files could stay with Acrobat to preflight files but customers would have to fix the errors, causing delays in schedules or they could just run the jobs as GIGO (garbage-in-garbage-out); neither of which makes for repeat business. FlightCheck Professional 6.8, used early and often during the production cycle, could pay for itself by catching one major problem in a reasonably sized print job.

Note: I should disclose that I’m an authorized trainer for Markzware FlightCheck but that just means I think it’s a good product!

Company: Markzware
Price: $399 (Upgrade: $99)
Web: www.markzware.com
Rating: 4
Hot: Checks PDF and native files
Not: No comparable Windows version

Compact, Mirrorless Digital Camera

Nikon has entered the mirrorless camera market with a strong start by introducing their new Nikon 1 system, which includes the J1 and V1 cameras. They did not, however, take the same route as other manufacturers with a 4/3 system but came up with their own sensor size, which they call CX format (slightly smaller than the 4/3 and APS-C format cameras). The CX-format CMOS sensor has a 2.7x magnification/crop factor, providing users with a range of 27-297mm with four lenses to choose from: Their 10mm, 2.8 is an ultra-compact, fast lens; the 10-30mm and 30-110mm provide a full range of focal lengths in just two lenses; and the 10-100mm provides the same range in a single lens (albeit a bit heavy and bulky) with Nikon’s well-respected glass.

The specs of the J1 (which I tested) read very much like many sophisticated DSLR bodies, yet the J1 is very easy to operate and uncluttered. The key settings are available at the push of a button on the exterior of the camera and many more adjustments can be accessed from the menu.

Some key features that set the Nikon 1 system apart from others include Nikon’s new hybrid AF system that combines phase detection/contrast-detect AF with a 73-point focus array, which continually works to keep your subject in sharp focus. Add an auto advance of 5 fps (frames per second) in full-res mode (up to 60 fps in electronic Hi mode) and you won’t miss a single shot.

Want to make a movie? The J1 offers 1080p video-capture, with single-frame capture while filming at the touch of the shutter – without interrupting the video. Don’t want video, but want to capture a mini sequence? The new one-touch Motion Snapshot captures short bursts (approximately 1 second), ensuring you capture that special moment at precisely the right time. Additionally, the J1 is equipped with ultra-slow-motion video for creative special effects that are only available in much higher-end cameras at a much greater cost.

The J1 is geared toward the hobbyist, so I decided to test it without reading the manual, to see just how intuitive it was. I was pleased to find that I could make many adjustments without referring to the instructions. (I later read the instruction book to make sure I was optimizing the camera and getting the most out of the features it offers.)

To keep the camera compact, one sacrifice was made: the lack of a viewfinder. And this proved problematic in bright light when I couldn’t see the rear LCD to compose my shot. At 10 megapixels, however, the J1 doesn’t sacrifice quality for size and I was pleasantly surprised at how low the noise was at higher ISO settings.

And if that’s not enough, Nikon has announced that they’ll offer the FT-1 Mount Adapter to accommodate F-mount single lens reflex (SLR) lenses in the near future. While adding an SLR lens to the camera will totally overpower the body, it does offer the opportunity to increase the magnification range to an extreme at 2.7x the effective focal length of the lens attached.

With all the features and accessories that the Nikon 1 system offers, it fills a niche for photographers, from the snapshot shooter who wants more than a point-and-shoot offers to the serious shooter who’s looking for a compact, full-featured camera with RAW capabilities.

The highlights for my shooting with the J1 include: the broad range of focal lengths offered in a compact camera, the high speed that ensures peak-of-action capture, and the RAW format. Of course, HD video is also a plus. The downside to the J1 is the lack of a viewfinder, making it difficult to see the rear LCD in bright light. But, if that’s a deal breaker, there’s always the V1! (The V1 also includes Nikon’s new multi-accessory port for attaching options such as the new SB-N5 Speedlight.)

Company: Nikon Inc.
Price: Starts at $649.95
Web: www.nikonusa.com
Rating: 3.5
Hot: Compact camera with broad zoom range
Not: Rear LCD is hard to see; no viewfinder

InDesign’s Story Editor is a useful tool for editing text copy directly without the page design getting in the way. Use Story Editor to open your text copy in a separate window where the text flows in an easy-to-read, linear view.

Instant Face Lifts and Makeovers

Beauty in a box? Believe it or not, here’s an interesting program that really allows you to do complete makeovers on your images with the click of a button and Intensity sliders. Perfect365 allows you to see results quickly with standard tricks such as face reshaping, teeth whitening, and blemish removal. But it’s really more, so let’s take a look.

Some cool features in Perfect365 make this a fun and creative tool. Options allow you to apply colored contacts and one-click styles let you select from templates that include Natural, Red Lips, and Cat Eyes, to name a few. The Enhancements panel is where you can choose from categories such as: Skin, to remove blemishes, circles, whiten skin, apply foundation, etc.; Face, to slim the face, lift cheeks, or enhance the nose; Eyes, to apply eyeliners, colored contacts, color, and brighten; and Mouth to deepen smiles, add lipstick, and whiten teeth. With the tools and parameters, there’s no limit what you can do to your images! You may use this more for photos of women at first but when you get used to it, you’ll find plenty of uses for photos of men, as well.

This isn’t going to replace your favorite editing program for your professional work but I think this is one of the best programs for quick results, and the control and capabilities provide a wide range of options for your images. The ability to export at full resolution is also a huge plus for those who need to keep the budget in check while being able to print at full resolution.

Company: ArcSoft Inc.
Price: Free download
Web: www.arcsoft.com
Rating: 5
Hot: Ease of use; quick results; one-click makeover
Not:

In this third video on working with Symbols in Adobe Illustrator CS5, AJ Wood shows how to move those Illustrator symbols into Photoshop and Flash.

This just in…every registered conference attendee for the Google+ Photographers Conference is getting a complimentary copy of onOne Software’s Perfect Effects 3 as a bonus gift ($99.95 value). Perfect Effects 3 includes a complete library of over 300 professional quality photographic effects that can be stacked, blended, and previewed with ease. Sweet!

Plus, a new conference promo saves you $50 off registration and gives you two free months of online training from KelbyTraining.com! Use promo code: GPLUSCOMM when signing up online.

If you’re a student, you can attend the conference for as little as $99. Use promo code: GPLUSSTUD when signing up online. (You will need to have student ID available when you pick up your conference badge atcheck in.)

Compact Adventure Camera

The Nikon Coolpix AW100 represents the company’s initial offering in the rugged compact camera market. As youd expect from a camera in this category, it’s waterproof to 33′, shockproof to 5′, freezeproof to 14 F, and it has built-in GPS, making it great for all of your adventures.

The AW100 is a solid camera. The buttons on the back are a bit small and close together, but that sacrifice was made to fit the fantastic 3″ LCDa trade-off Id take any day. There’s a large Action Control button on the left side that allows you to change settings easily, even while wearing gloves.

Inside the tough exterior, the AW100 features a 16-megapixel CMOS sensor, a 5x zoom NIKKOR lens (28140mm equivalent), lens-shift vibration reduction, and 1080p video capture. All of this makes for a tempting camera, but there’s a catch. During testing, a lot of photos were soft and exposure was off, especially in contrasty photos. Changing the scene mode helped in most cases. This is where the real problem lies. There’s no manual setting, so you have to select from one of 20 scene modes, or use the Easy Auto mode. The best scene mode isn’t necessarily what you think it should be. For example, while attending an indoor party, I set the camera to Indoor Party mode, thinking it would be perfect. Most shots came out blurry (the flash was on). I switched to Nighttime Portrait and that improved the results exponentially. The point is that to achieve good, consistent results, you must first master the scene modes, understanding that you’ll have to experiment and find what works for you, not what the camera says will work. Then, you must be diligent and change your settings as the scene changes. In many cases, auto simply won’t cut it.

The Coolpix AW100 is a good camera, but there’s definitely room for improvement.

Company: Nikon Inc.
Price: $379.95
Web: www.nikonusa.com
Rating: 3.5
Hot: Solid build; great LCD screen
Not: No manual setting; no RAW; must master scene modes

Here are 10 tips for beginning InDesign users. They include tips on changing measurement units, showing frame edges, placing content, preview mode, turning frames into grids, showing the tool hints panel, and more.

On his blog today, Scott Kelby offers a Q&A about the new Adobe Creative Cloud. He answers questions about pricing options and offers suggestions to users out there who are not sure if the Creative Cloud is right for them.

Read Scott’s blog post here.

Adobe Evangelist Greg Rewis shows what’s new with CSS3 support in Dreamweaver CS6.

In this video, Adobe Design Evangelist Terry White shows how to use the new Liquid Layout and Alternate Layout in InDesign CS6.

It’s here! It’s here! Tonight Adobe has launched the next versions of their Creative Suite – CS6. On top of this, Adobe has made an _awesome_ addition to this by augmenting their Creative Cloud offering. In short, for a monthy price, you can get *ALL* of the Adobe Apps, installed on your desktop whenever you want. Comparing the price of the subscription version versus getting all of the boxed copies of Master Collection is going to make it a wonderful time for people to jump in the Creative Suite game. Totally excited!

Tomorrow at 10am Pacific (1PM Eastern) Adobe will have a live streaming event showing all of this off. Click here to register: http://adobe.ly/HUScFz

NAPP will also be hosting a series of Webinars all this week on Photoshop CS6.  To see them go to the Photoshop CS6 Learning Center!

Simplifying Photo Effects

RadLab is a Photoshop action set. With its own palette, you can start RadLab and decide whether you want it to work with your image on the same or a new layer, or as a smart object.

RadLab’s interface overtakes the Photoshop interface: On the left is the image; a middle column shows all the available effects (Stylets in RadLab speak); and at right are the controls. Users get a histogram, a Save/Cancel button, and for each group of effects a couple of simple slider controls. There are also sliders that control brightness, contrast, and warmth.

Totally Rad! claims their interface is the first one to make photo effects simple—a bold statement. I found RadLab’s interface not dramatically easier to use than Nik’s Color Efex Pro, which allows for more fine-tuning of each filter.

RadLab has a number of interesting effects you won’t find anywhere else and, as with Color Efex, users can create recipes by combining effects. But RadLab has its flaws. For example, if you tune an individual effect or Stylet, the change is immediately applied to all Stylets. One Stylet—the POS Lens—showed strange artifacts when I set the Strength and Vignette options to 179%. My images started showing pure red and yellow discoloration at the edges.

The way changing recipes rippled through the entire Stylets library was confusing. I could only get back to default values by resetting the recipe after saving it, or by restarting RadLab.

Company: Totally Rad! Inc.
Price: $149
Web: www.gettotallyrad.com
Rating: 2.5
Hot: Contains a number of nice effects or Stylets
Not: Not as simple as it claims to be

This first-of-its-kind conference will teach photographers how take full advantage of what’s happening now and what’s to come on Google+, all taught by the best Google photographers, top photography instructors and social media geniuses.

The conference will consist of two jam-packed days of live photo shoots, one-on-one portfolio reviews, panel discussions and photography workshops. The workshops include, How to Host a Successful Hangout with Trey Ratcliff, Building Your Brand on Google+ with Guy Kawasaki, The Art of the Headshot with Peter Hurley and Crush the Composition with Scott Kelby. The complete conference schedule can be found here.

The conference also offers the opportunity for you to take part in one of 10 photo walks being held around San Francisco, led by conference photographers and instructors.

Don’t miss your chance to save $50 on your registration by signing up no later than April 30. With your registration you’ll receive a FREE copy of Guy Kawasaki’s E-book What the Plus!Google+ for the Rest of Us. But you’ll need to act fast because space is limited! Register NOW!