Video pick of the month

We have 2 cats. When I suggested a 3rd my husband thought I was crazy.
I need to send him the following video.


*There are reasons for limits. I'm just glad they all look healthy.

Photoshop - Hiding selections

I've had a lot of times when working on a photograph that the selection gets in the way. Usually it's when I'm zoomed way in and trying to look at something the moving selection line can be very distracting.
There's a simple solution to temporarily hide the moving selection without actually deleting it. To do this use Ctrl + H / Cmd + H. The selection line will be not be seen on the screen but it still works as a selection. To make the line visible use Ctrl + H / Cmd + H again.
This works great when you are trying to apply a slight color change and wanting to make sure the edges are changing cleanly.
In this example, hiding the edge would allow me to make sure a color change was working properly all the way to the edge of the shirt without the moving line getting in the way.
If you do hide the selection and get busy doing other things, it can be easy to forget there is still an active selection. You might start using another tool, and things won't work because you have a hidden selection. Just use the Ctrl + H / Cmd + H again to show your selection.
Hopefully you'll realize something has been selected before spending too much time scratching your head wondering why things aren't working at usual.

New version of Firefox

Do you like Mozilla's Firefox as a browser? If so, version 3.5 is now available.
Some of the new features make it faster and safer.
You can download it at the following site.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

Want to see the new features before you download? Here is a movie with a quick tour about the new features.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/video/firefox-3.5.html

Photoshop Blur Filters - When blurring a photograph helps

When I first started using Photoshop, I had a couple of questions about blurring.
1. Why would I want to blur? I already have enough photographs that have that problem!?
2. Why are there so many ways to blur??









Here is at least a partial answer to those questions.
Blurring can give you some beautiful effects.
In the following example, I made an oval selection of the barn, feathered the selection, selected the inverse/opposite and blurred the background surrounding the barn. This works well when you want to focus on just part of the image.

Somewhere along the line, I read that Gaussian blur worked the best on photographs. Most of the time I use the Gaussian blur but I do experiment with the other blurs to try to get the best results.








In this next example, I used a Gaussian blur to create a soft-focus effect like you might see in a glamour shot. It removed harsh lines and softened the image up with just a simple Gaussian blur.













These blurring examples took away definition.
I never thought that blurring could actually “fix” a photograph until I played with the following image.
This old postcard has a lot of noise or graininess going on. I selected the lake and then tried a Gaussian blur.

Here is the results of a Gaussian blur on the lake and using the filter auto-levels. What an improvement!
I never thought I’d be trying to blur photographs on purpose!









Want to blur by hand? Don't forget that there is a blur "brush" in the toolbar.
Happy blurring!

Cool Mac Doc feature for Windows

I was a Windows user until about 8 years ago. Now, I have both a Mac and Windows computer on my desk. There are things that the Mac can do much better than Windows. One of the features I love on my Mac is the Dock.
The Dock is a bar of icons that sits at the bottom or side of the screen providing easy access to your favorite applications without the clutter of a bunch of desktop shortcuts.
I found a free program that lets me have this neat feature on Windows! It's called RocketDock. Check it out at http://rocketdock.com

My video pick for the month

Here's a mystery for you.
Three people are in a room. And one is dead. How did it happen? And who did it?
The answers are right before your eyes. However, not everything is as it seems. This is a test of your awareness. How observant are you?
I never saw it coming.
This is actually a public service announcement about bicycle safety. It’s a good message. Share it with the ones you love.
To be honest, I failed miserably!

No Bold option for your Photoshop Font? No problem!

How many times have you chosen a font in Photoshop only to find out that BOLD was not an option?
Here is the work around.
Open your Character panel. (In Photoshop go the the Window menu - Click on Character to open it)
Here you'll be able to use the "faux" bold option to get the style you want.