Issue 136 is out now, and it’s packed with the very best in the Photoshop world, no matter your skill level!
Make spectacular photo edits with filters in our amazing feature; learn to use layer masks, play with perspective and create a photo mosaic fast.
Discover 18 projects with our tutorials, ranging from creating an 80s-style illustration, editing HDR, face-swapping, making an awesome ark and compositing a four-season landscape.
Master Elements with our Elements Creative section! This issue we focus on how to create a typeface, editing your photos in an Instagram style and creating a surreal chopping board effect.
Delve deeper into art and the industry: discover 10 pro tips for improving illustrations, master 3D typography and much more with our Advanced Photoshop section.
See what’s happening in the world of Photoshop, with the Trending Gallery, step Inside the Studio of RedVertex and check out the work of the incredible La Boca studio with this issue’s Portfolio Interview.
As well as this, check out what your fellow Photoshop Creative readers have been creating in the Readers’ Gallery.
Win a £500 Photoshop course from Highlander or a Moleskine Smart Notebook with our amazing Readers’ Challenge.
Download $386 worth of free Photoshop resources from the FileSilo, such as 3D renders, brushes, actions, templates and textures, to improve all kinds of projects.
Get your issue now from all good newsagents and supermarkets.
It’s been some time since the last post, due to personal issue. Back now, and hopefully able to update on a more regular basis now.
Adobe have announced an update to Photoshop, the April update, version 23.3
In this update, there are the usual bug fixes. Main features are
Copy-paste Live Text from Ai
The wait is over! Easily copy and paste Type layers from Illustrator into Photoshop as editable Type layers to maintain both functional and visual fidelity
Edge enhancement in your skies
Enjoy better foreground and background blending and improved masking for thin-line objects in your sky composites. Also, control lighting around object edges.
Also improvements to Cloud documents, saving files and performance enhancements
One sad thing about this update is that the Camera Shake Reduction (Filter > Sharpen > Shake Reduction) will be removed. The technology is not compatible with newer development platforms.
Adobe have released there latest version of Photoshop, version 22.5.1. This new release comes with some interesting updates, plus some sad news (for some).
The main updates to this version are, an enhanced sky replacement. You now have more detailed and complex skies to use with this filter.
The warp tool now has a handy transform feature, that makes it even easier to use.
Sadly this version also comes with some discontinued features. From this version you can no longer export to SVG.
The main discontinue feature however is 3D. From version 22.5, you can no long use any 3D features in photoshop. The reason why and alternatives can be found here: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/3d-faq.html
The latest version of Photoshop was released in October 2020, but already we have seen 2 further updates. Most are just bug fixes, however the latest update 22.1.0 does have a new version of Camera Raw and support for new cameras.
A full list of details for each update can be found here:
In both the updates (22.0.1 and 22.1.0) there has been fixes to the new neural filters, which does show that time is being spent on them, and they are not just a fad item, that will be forgotten (like Repousse 3D tool that was ditched and replaced with a rebuilt 3D set of tools)
The new Neural filters do look interesting and could be a real bonus in your work flow.
With the new release of Photoshop (CC 2021), comes some interesting new features. First is Sky Replacement. This does exactly as it says and replaces sky in a picture. It does it rather well and is far more intelligent than just slapping a new sky on your picture. It can analyse your picture to tell where to place the sky, what to include and exclude. You can also alter the temperature of the surrounding picture making it warmer or cooler. You can flip the sky, scale and even use your own sky picture if you have one rather than using one of the preset pictures.
Goto Edit>Sky Replacement
Choose the sky you want, the Sky Replacement properties panel will appear. Now you use the sliders to get the sky just right. Once happy click OK. The nice thing is that once you click OK, the sky is created as a new layer with a mask and blend mode automatically.
A. Sky Move Tool B. Sky Brush C. Hand Tool D. Zoom Tool E. Select a replacement sky F. Settings G. Recently used sky H. Create new group I. Create new sky J. Delete sky K. Preset Preview Zoom Before and After with Sky Replacement
The next new feature is pretty special. Neural Filters. This is a new workspace with a collection of filters. It uses Adobe Sensei, which is Adobe’s AI engine. The filters are split into 3 categories. The first 2 filters are fully working, the next 6 filters are beta filters, which means you can still use them, but the results may be unexpected as there are still in the testing phase. The last 4 filters are not available yet, but will be (or at least in beta) soon. On upgrading to CC 2021, most of these new filters will need to be downloaded. Just click the cloud icon with the arrow shown on the filter to download.
As we have an array of filters here, it would take a while to explain them all. So, here is just some of the more exciting ones.
Smart Potrait filter works with peoples heads. It allows for adjustments to their face. A bit of a Liquify filter 2.0. You can make them happy, sad, anger, surprised. All which alters their face, mouth, eyes etc. You can also make someone older or younger, and even turn their head. The interesting thing is that Adobe Sensei will create parts that are not even in the picture. For example it can open the persons mouth and show their teeth and tongue, even though the original picture their mouth was shut. Turning their head it can recreate their ear and side of head, even if you can’t see the ear in the original photo. Pretty amazing stuff, and remember it’s still in beta.
Colorize is another stand out filter in this collection. This filter will colour a black and white photograph. And it does it pretty well. Sliders are available to adjust the result, and you can even select a colour and assign to the picture.
One thing to note is that these filters require Cloud access, as the filter processing is done in the cloud. This means you need to connected to the Internet to use them. I was put off with some of Adobe’s mobile apps when they did this, and it now seems the desktop version are going the same way. I understand that this enhances the power of the Creative Cloud, but is this really the future. Is it going to end that programs are just an interface, with all the work being done externally in the cloud?
The next big update for Photoshop is here. The new November update brings Photoshop to version 21.
Photoshop CC 2020 is now available through Creative Cloud for download.
This is a big update with lots of bug fixes and enhancements. We also have new tools and a new look to the interface as the panels have had a make over.
