lesa's blog

This morning, Adobe announced and shipped the 2014 release of Creative Cloud, which includes a new version of Photoshop CC! It has the most enhancements for designers that I've seen in years — which is a great thing!

At 1pm Eastern time (10am Pacific), Adobe is hosting a live event about the release (tune in here), and they’ve posted a list of what’s new in Creative Cloud here. Be sure to click through to the blogs and videos about the individual products.

Below is my roundup of the new features — you’ll be able to learn everything about them in the upcoming update to my book from O’Reilly, Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual, 2014 edition.

Your summer photos will be even more precious to you a few years from now! Why not invest $1.99 to make them the best they can be? My brief new e-book provides a handful of time-tested techniques that will take your photos from Hmmm to Wow!

My examples make these tips seem like common sense, so you’ll be taking better photos right away. Get “The Skinny on Taking Better Pictures With Any Camera” in our Books section.

I'm thrilled to be teaching again at the Geek Girl Tech Conference in San Diego! Please join me June 21, 2014, at the University of San Diego -- and get 20% off your registration with code PhotoLesa14.

All the presenters are women, and the conference attendees are mostly women and girls, but it’s not limited to women. One aspect I’m particularly proud of is their sponsorships for underprivileged girls, many of whom have never spent time with successful women (especially in tech!). Below are my workshop topics. I’ll also be signing copies of my books on iPhoto and Photoshop! Click the "Read more" link below to see a list of my classes.

It was such fun to shoot Tran's Black Belt Spectacular event this past Saturday in Loveland, CO. What an inspirational event! The lighting wasn’t ideal (standard gym lighting); however, that was no problem for a Canon 5D Mark III + a 70-300mm L series lens + Lightroom! A huge thank you to www.LensProToGo.com for loaning me the gear. If you’re unfamiliar with them, they are the best rental camera gear company on the planet.

Are you ready to take advantage of all the benefits of Adobe's Creative Cloud? Join me March 31–April 2 for "Creative Cloud Essentials", a comprehensive 3-day immersion into how it can enhance your business. This class can be watched through any web browser, and it's 100% free while live, though videos will be available for a small fee after the workshop. Click the link in this paragraph to enroll and download several useful cheat sheets.

Adobe's special "Photoshop Photography Program" ends March 31, so if you want to take advantage of this opportunity to get Photoshop and Lightroom in a Creative Cloud special bundle for just $9.99 per month, do it now!

Join me this Wednesday, March 19, from 4pm-5pm Eastern time (1pm-2pm Pacific) for a PhotoFocus hangout on using Lightroom together with Photoshop! My good friend and Lightroom expert Rob Sylvan is hosting this hangout, which is produced by the incredibly knowledgeable Richard Harrington.

We're proud to announce the release of two new Skinny books! As the name implies, our Skinny books are short, yet comprehensive e-books that are finely focused on a single subject.

The Skinny on Photoshop Elements 12 ($7.99)

Learn the essential differences between Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, and how to use Elements’ three editing modes: Guided, Quick, and Expert.

As a teaser for Photoshop Week, here’s a step-by-step tutorial plus video on how to remove a person from a background and place him into a new one! No matter what your skill level is, you’ll be able to follow along.

For the second year, eleven of the planet's best Photoshop instructors are all converging in the creativeLIVE studios from Feb. 24-28 for Photoshop Week... and it's all 100% FREE! You can watch in your pajamas or Star Trek best from your home or office via any web browser. We'll be broadcasting two channels for five straight days, featuring more than 40 workshops. You can enroll and see the full schedule at this link: http://lesa.in/1kkzVT2.