lesa's blog

Recently I had the honor of being a guest on a new podcast, This Week in Photo's TheFIX with host, and fellow Photoshop author, Jan Kabili. We had a blast talking Photoshop and Lightroom. The 36 minute show is filled with tips as well as full-on tutorials on editing with adjustment layers, using retouching tools safely on empty layers, handling multi-layer documents without flattening them, slimming techniques, using smart filters, and how to soften skin using the Camera Raw filter.

Logos are notoriously difficult (and costly) to design, yet they’re mission critical for any business. Instead of using graphics, try a typographic approach instead. Typographic logos, like the ones shown here—some inspired by tips in Before & After—are both timeless and classy.

With tens of thousands of fonts in circulation, it’s tough to identify a specific font from memory, when you see it. Fortunately, you don’t have to—there are free websites, and an iOS app, that can identify font samples for you on the fly. The process is easy and a whole lot of fun.
From a printed sample

One of the many advantages of an image editor that supports the concept of layers—Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and Pixelmator, to name a few—is that you can push a picture through the content of other layers. In this column, you’ll learn how to push a different picture through each letter in the word LOVE. Not only is this technique a fun project, but it also makes a super sweet Valentine’s gift. If you go the extra step of printing it, you could frame it or the lucky recipient can tack it onto their fridge, and then use it as a bookmark later on.

Assessing photos isn’t the most titillating task on the planet, but it’s mission critical if you ever want to find certain photos in your expanding collection. Happily, most photo management apps—including iPhoto, Aperture, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Adobe Bridge—provide you with myriad marking methods such as flags, keywords, colored labels, and star-rating systems.

UPDATE Feb. 11, 2015: Unfortunately, O'Reilly canceled the webinar. Apparently we didn't get their required minimum registrations numbers by this morning, so they simply removed the signup page. Would've been nice if they had kept the page up and explained that the webinar was canceled, but they merely took the page down. I'm really sorry everyone! Le sigh.

Few design projects are as nerve-wracking—and important—as designing your own business card. Just like the clothes you wear, your business card tells the recipient if you’re professional, artistic, or a big ol’ ball of cheese. Aside from the aesthetic message, you’ve also got to pack a ton of info into a tiny-teeny space and keep it readable. To put your best business card forward, try following these essential design tips...click here to read the full story on Macworld.com

Pets give us unconditional love and endless hours of joy—no wonder we’re constantly snapping their photos! Unfortunately, it’s easy to end up with the animal equivalent of red-eye, wherein their pupils appear green, gold, or even white.

One of the most frequently asked questions posed to seasoned Photoshop pros is how to turn a photo into a pencil sketch. While there are many ways to get it done, this particular technique, which requires Photoshop CS5 or later, produces a remarkably realistic result and gives you lots of flexibility for colorization…without harming your original photo. The first step is to...click here to read the full, step-by-step tutorial on Macworld.com

It’s easy to capture digital memories, but managing all those photos and videos is a galactic drag (after all, there’s no fun in workflow). Unless you’re a pro photographer, it’s hard to force yourself into good habits around renaming, keywording, organizational, and most importantly backup. If you don’t, you can lose a lifetime of memories, plus it’s impossible to find specific photos because they’re stored across various computers, iOS devices, external hard drives, bras (kidding!), and social media sites. Heck, you’ve taken a slew of photos you’ve not yet seen.