Sometimes after working with images on a transparent background, you’re left with extra space around your object. Cropping the image precisely can be tricky, especially if you have soft shadow edges. This is where Photoshop’s Trim command comes in so handy (choose Image > Trim in Photoshop’s menu). As long as the area you want to […]

Join us at the Creativetechs office Wednesday mornings 9:30am to 11am. Pick up a couple new skills, and get back to work before lunch. You can put what you learn into use the same day.

Too many active fonts can slow your computer down, make the font menu long and unwieldy, and lead to a host of other computer problems. So to coax a little more speed and stability out of your copy of InDesign, graphic designers should keep those long font menus under control.

But what if you are brainstorming a new logo? That’s exactly the time you want access to your full library of thousands (and thousands) of creative fonts.

Happily, the big three font managers (FontAgent Pro, Suitcase, and FontExplorer) all provide a quick way to try out your fonts — without having to activate them first. Type a name or phrase into the preview window. Then scroll through your huge font collection and see what catches your eye. When you find something you want to play with, turn that font on for use in your graphics applications.

The problem with grasping Adobe’s pen tool is that you can’t really learn it by reading a description or watching a demonstration. To master the pen tool, you must actively draw with it. Eventually, after enough repetition, something clicks and the pen tool starts to make sense. So, how does one teach a skill that […]

Join us at the Creativetechs office Wednesday mornings 9:30am to 11am. Pick up a couple new skills, and get back to work before lunch. You can put what you learn into use the same day.

The cost is $50 per workshop.

Microsoft Office 2007 was first released for PC users in late 2006 — introducing a slew of new file formats that couldn’t be opened on a Mac. These new formats include Word 2007 documents (docx), Excel 2007 spreadsheets (xlsx), and PowerPoint 2007 presentations (pptx). The new Mac Office 2008 isn’t expected to ship until January […]

Photoshop guru Jason Hoppe teaches non-destructive retouching techniques in Photoshop. In classes at Creativetechs he shows many ways to improve your images without overwriting the original image data. Done properly, image quality doesn’t degrade as you make edits, and you retain flexibility when clients come back with later change requests.

Here’s a classic example of those non-destructive techniques in action: We’ve added a separate cloning layer instead of cloning directly onto our image. And we’ve used a color adjustment layer to correct our subject’s skin tone without directly changing our photo’s original colors.

However, you must be aware of a subtle-but-important detail when using a cloning layer on images that have been color corrected with adjustment layers. In this week’s creative tip we’ll discuss that issue, and we’ll show why retouchers know to always turn off their adjustment layers before cloning on an image.

Plus we’ll show Photoshop CS3’s new Ignore Adjustment Layers button that makes life better for Photoshop retouch artists.

Retouching skin is rarely an easy task. There are no absolutes when it comes to making skin look the “right” color, smoothing out wrinkles, or reducing blemishes and blotchiness. This tip will take you through one popular technique for smoothing skin texture for a younger, smoother look.

Join us at the Creativetechs office Wednesday mornings 9:30am to 11am. Pick up a couple new skills, and get back to work before lunch. You can put what you learn into use the same day.

The cost is $50 per workshop.

Thanks to everyone who helped make last month such a success. We continue to get rave reviews of our new 90-minute morning workshops. It seems the short format is really working for people. Here is the new lineup for October and November.