Lessons
Bootcamp Introduction
16:22 2The Bridge Interface
13:33 3Setting up Bridge
06:55 4Overview of Bridge
11:29 5Practical Application of Bridge
27:56 6Introduction to Raw Editing
11:00 7Setting up ACR Preferences & Interface
07:39 8Global Tools Part 1
16:44Global Tools Part 2
20:01 10Local Tools
22:56 11Introduction to the Photoshop Interface
07:13 12Toolbars, Menus and Windows
25:07 13Setup and Interface
11:48 14Adobe Libraries
05:57 15Saving Files
07:39 16Introduction to Cropping
12:10 17Cropping for Composition in ACR
04:44 18Cropping for Composition in Photoshop
12:40 19Cropping for the Subject in Post
03:25 20Cropping for Print
07:34 21Perspective Cropping in Photoshop
07:11 22Introduction to Layers
08:42 23Vector & Raster Layers Basics
05:05 24Adjustment Layers in Photoshop
27:35 25Organizing and Managing Layers
15:35 26Introduction to Layer Tools and Blend Modes
21:34 27Screen and Multiply and Overlay
09:15 28Soft Light Blend Mode
07:34 29Color and Luminosity Blend Modes
12:47 30Color Burn and Color Dodge Blend Modes
07:43 31Introduction to Layer Styles
11:43 32Practical Application: Layer Tools
13:06 33Introduction to Masks and Brushes
04:43 34Brush Basics
09:22 35Custom Brushes
04:01 36Brush Mask: Vignettes
06:58 37Brush Mask: Curves Dodge & Burn
06:53 38Brush Mask: Hue & Saturation
07:52 39Mask Groups
05:52 40Clipping Masks
04:11 41Masking in Adobe Camera Raw
07:06 42Practical Applications: Masks
14:03 43Introduction to Selections
05:42 44Basic Selection Tools
17:41 45The Pen Tool
11:56 46Masks from Selections
04:22 47Selecting Subjects and Masking
07:11 48Color Range Mask
17:35 49Luminosity Masks Basics
12:00 50Introduction to Cleanup Tools
07:02 51Adobe Camera Raw
10:16 52Healing and Spot Healing Brush
14:56 53The Clone Stamp Tool
10:20 54The Patch Tool
06:38 55Content Aware Move Tool
04:56 56Content Aware Fill
06:46 57Custom Cleanup Selections
15:42 58Introduction to Shapes and Text
13:46 59Text Basics
15:57 60Shape Basics
07:00 61Adding Text to Pictures
09:46 62Custom Water Marks
14:05 63Introduction to Smart Objects
04:37 64Smart Object Basics
09:13 65Smart Objects and Filters
09:05 66Smart Objects and Image Transformation
10:57 67Smart Objects and Album Layouts
11:40 68Smart Objects and Composites
10:47 69Introduction to Image Transforming
04:34 70ACR and Lens Correction
09:45 71Photoshop and Lens Correction
14:26 72The Warp Tool
11:16 73Perspective Transformations
20:33 74Introduction to Actions in Photoshop
09:27 75Introduction to the Actions Panel Interface
05:06 76Making Your First Action
03:49 77Modifying Actions After You Record Them
11:38 78Adding Stops to Actions
04:01 79Conditional Actions
07:36 80Actions that Communicate
25:26 81Introduction to Filters
04:38 82ACR as a Filter
09:20 83Helpful Artistic Filters
17:08 84Helpful Practical Filters
07:08 85Sharpening with Filters
07:32 86Rendering Trees
08:20 87The Oil Paint and Add Noise Filters
15:08 88Introduction to Editing Video
06:20 89Timeline for Video
08:15 90Cropping Video
03:34 91Adjustment Layers and Video
05:25 92Building Lookup Tables
07:00 93Layers, Masking Video & Working with Type
15:11 94ACR to Edit Video
06:10 95Animated Gifs
11:39 96Introduction to Creative Effects
06:08 97Black, White, and Monochrome
18:05 98Matte and Cinematic Effects
08:23 99Gradient Maps and Solid Color Grades
12:20 100Gradients
04:21 101Glow and Haze
10:23 102Introduction to Natural Retouching
05:33 103Brightening Teeth
10:25 104Clean Up with the Clone Stamp Tool
08:07 105Cleaning and Brightening Eyes
16:58 106Advanced Clean Up Techniques
24:47 107Introduction to Portrait Workflow & Bridge Organization
14:47 108ACR for Portraits Pre-Edits
21:27 109Portrait Workflow Techniques
18:46 110Introduction to Landscape Workflow & Bridge Organization
12:17 111Landscape Workflow Techniques
37:36 112Introduction to Compositing & Bridge
06:59 113Composite Workflow Techniques
34:01 114Landscape Composite Projects
24:14 115Bonus: Rothko and Workspace
05:15 116Bonus: Adding Textures to Photos
07:05 117Bonus: The Mask (Extras)
05:18 118Bonus: The Color Range Mask in ACR
04:54Lesson Info
ACR as a Filter
The first filter that we're gonna start with is going to be the Adobe Camera Raw as a filter. So if you open up Adobe Camera Raw, for a JPEG or a RAW image, you're gonna get the Adobe Camera Raw dialogue. But inside Photoshop, you have what looks like the Adobe Camera Raw dialogue, but it has some features that are removed because they aren't working on a RAW file they're just working on a static image. So I'll just open up this JPEG in Photoshop. Now this is a recent shot that I did in Paris. And I didn't necessarily like the shot, but I took it anyway. As we seemingly do. But what I want to do with this is I want to give it the feel of that Paris feel that you would see like a stylish filtered look. So I'm gonna go ahead and just duplicate the background layer. Press Command + Control + J to duplicate that background layer. And then I'm gonna jump into Adobe Camera Raw as a filter. All the filters in Photoshop can be found up here in this top area where you see the word 'filter'. Wha...
t I would suggest is that when you use these filters, you use these filters on a duplicate copy or as we've talked about in the past, a stamped layer. So if you have work that's happening within your image, you can make a layer stamp and do that work on top of there. Another thing about filters is that, some of them will only work... They won't work on adjustment layers. An adjustment layer as we've talked about before, is a calculation layer. It's a layer that knows no bounds, sits on top of your image and if I were to come in here real quick and just put curves adjustment layer on here and go to filter, you'll notice I don't have anything here. There's nothing there, it's all grayed out. I can't do anything with it. But, on the flip side of that, you'll notice that if I click on the mask and go to the filter, I can do some things to a mask. Because a mask is a pixel based object and not a vector based thing or something that knows no bounds. Now let's see what happens with text. So if I were to just type something on here, (typing) and if I were to go to filter, you're gonna see that you do have the option to go to filters but they aren't gonna interact with this quite the same way that they would with a pixel based layer. So for instance, if we go to something like distort, and go to something like twirl, it's gonna say "hey, before we can do this "we have to convert this to either a smart object or rasterize it. Because as it is right now, as a piece of text, it can't do that. So just know that if you're gonna be using filters on text, you might lose that. What happens is if you convert text to a smart object, you can't go back and type in there again. It becomes basically a vector based layer made of pixels. Or if you rasterize it, it becomes a pixel based layer with transparency. So I'm just gonna go ahead and hit 'cancel'. That was really just to show you what happens, cause as we've talked about, pixel based layers, which is what we see right here, we've talked about vector based layers, and we've also talked about adjustment layers, how filters will interact with those. That's why, if we're going to be using filters, we either want to use a stamp on the top of all the layers, or a duplicate of the background layer. So if I wanted to access Adobe Camera Raw as a filter, I can either go up to 'filter' right here, and click on 'Camera Raw Filter'. Or I could press Control + Shift + A and that's gonna pop me into Adobe Camera Raw as a filter. What you'll notice is that there's some things missing here though. You'll notice that we don't have... What don't we have? If we go into lens corrections, we do not have the ability to find the lens profile. Why would we not have that? Well that's because this is looking at a pixel based image and not a raw image, so because it's not looking at a raw image, it doesn't necessarily know what that would be anyway. Because it's a pixel based version. So it's giving you access to things that happen in Adobe Camera Raw, but it's making it a filter and removing some of the raw-based items. So this would work just like it would if you were using Adobe Camera Raw. You've got your exposure, your contrast, your highlights, your shadows, but it's working on basically, it's not working on a RAW file. It's working on that pixel data that you're bringing into it. Another way that Adobe Camera Raw can be used as a filter is if your traditionally a Lightroom user and you want some of those Lightroom things in Photoshop and you're like "man, I really wish I could just "bump the exposure up like I would in Lightroom." Well you can make a copy or a stamp of all the stuff that's happening, and you could bump that up right in Adobe Camera Raw as a filter. It gives you access to all of the things in Adobe Camera Raw that you would have beyond the Raw capabilities and maybe lens corrections. In that case, we would use lens corrections like we used in the prior lesson in Photoshop. One of the things that I often do with Adobe Camera Raw as a filter is if I'm not using things like gradient maps and I wanna color grade my image, I've got access to split toning. So if I come into the hue of any of my colors, I can select what color I want to make my highlights, what color I want to make my shadows, and what the saturation would be on those colors. So what I suggest for this is just like we showed before, bumping up all of the saturation in those colors and then selecting the exact color you want. I'm gonna go with something that's like a cream ish color. Cream ish yellow like that and then bump this up to a nice cyan ish blue, maybe make this a little bit more on the orange and get a little bit more of that reddish color in there. And then from there I could drop down the saturation of these colors. But you know, your not just stuck, I tend to get really stuck into these two colors. I love what happens when I color grade with a blue in my shadows and in my highlights it gets a kind of a yellowish color. But you know, push yourself a little bit, see what happens when you go to something like the magentas or the reds, drop that saturation down so it's not so vibrant and then maybe bring this into something like your greens or something like that and drop that down so it's not so vibrant and then we can adjust the balance of where we want that to be. And now, really quickly we've got an image that now has a little bit more mood and feeling to it. Once I press 'Ok', you're gonna see that this isn't a smart object. Like we opened Camera Raw as a smart object before. We could've made this a smart object before we went into Adobe Camera Raw, but it's not gonna give you that option to turn it into a smart object to come into Photoshop. So if we would've gone back in history a little bit here, right click and say 'convert to smart object', I don't have to fear losing those settings. Cause the last thing I did was Adobe Camera Raw. If we go up to 'filter', you'll see up here, it says Camera Raw as a filter it remembers all things I did from Adobe Camera Raw. It will only remember the last filter that you chose though. So if I press Alt + Control + F It's gonna open up Adobe Camera Raw and it should've just applied those settings but it didn't. It wants me to do it again. (chuckles) It's probably because it was a smart object, we'll see here. So I'll just go into the split tone and we'll just redo it, it's not that big of a deal. We'll just add a little bit of that greenish color, come over here and add a little bit of that magenta color and drop that saturation a little bit. Press 'Ok'. So now, because it's a smart object now, we have the ability to go back into it and adjust any of the settings that we would have from Adobe Camera Raw. They pop on over back into that Adobe Camera Raw as a filter. If I were to try and press 'Shift' and click on 'Ok', it's not gonna open up as a smart object. That's what I'm tryna get across here is that the only time you come into Photoshop as a smart object from Camera Raw is if you're working on a RAW file and bringing that into Photoshop. With the capability of smart objects and filters now, we still have access to the mask as we did before. And one of the things we also have the capability for is 'Blend if' and all of our layer styles. So we aren't just stuck with this filter now with this crazy split tone effect on it. If we go into our blend modes, we can change this to something like 'soft light', 'hard light', 'overlay', or 'color'. Maybe we don't want it to bring its luminance data when it comes over. We just want it to bring its color, which is that split tone color. We could go and come down to color and only apply the colors that are happening with that split tone to our image and allow the luminance values that are underneath to show through. Again, 'blend if' still applies here as well. If we double click inside this filter, move this over, so we're protecting the shadow areas, 'alt' or 'option', and we can blend that in. So you're not just stuck with what you get out of Adobe Camera Raw, you can start blending that effect into the image. And this is where you start incorporating all the things that we've talked about so far. We've talked about a lotta stuff in Photoshop here, we've talked about layers, we've talked about blend modes, we talked about opacity, we talked about blend if. Now we're talking about filters and smart objects and we're just stacking all this stuff together to create these effects with these filters.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Robert Andrews
Blake Rudis is the absolute best in teaching photoshop. His knowledge and how he presents the instruction is clear and concise - there is NO ONE BETTER. Yes, his classes require some basic skills, and maybe I'd organize the order of (or group) the classes in a different order, but, let me be clear - if anyone is to be successful or famous in the Photoshop world, it should be Blake Rudis. I strongly recommend his teaching. I started photography and post processing in 2018, and because of this class, I'm know what Im doing. The energy you get when you create something beautiful is profound, it makes you bounce out of bed (at 4AM) like a 5 year old, to go create. It's a great ride! Thanks Blake, & Thanks Creative live.
a Creativelive Student
Amazing course, but don't be fooled into thinking this is a beginner's course for photographers. The problem isn't Blake's explanations; they're top. The problem is the vast scope of this course and the order in which the topics are presented. Take layers for example. When I was first learning Photoshop (back when we learned from books), I found I learned little or nothing from, for example, books that covered layers before they covered how to improve/process photographs. These books taught me how to organize, move, and link layers before they showed me what a layer was actually for. Those books tended to teach me everything there is to know about layers (types of layers, how to organize them, how to move them, how to move them two at a time, how to move them two at a time even if there are other layers between the two you're interested in, useful troubleshooting tips, etc. ) all before I even know (from a photographer's point of view) what it is the things actually do. The examples of organizing, linking, and moving mean everything for graphic designers from Day One, but for photographers not so much. Blake does the same thing as those books. Topics he covers extremely early demand a lot of theoretical imagination for a photographer who doesn't already know quite a bit about what he is talking about. Learning about abstract things first and concrete things later only makes PS that much harder to understand. If you AREN'T a beginner, however, this course is amazing. I thought it would be like an Army Bootcamp, taking you from zero and building you into a fit, competent Photoshop grunt. Now I think it's more like Army Bootcamp for high school varsity jocks. It isn't going to take you from the beginning, but the amount you'll get out of it is nonetheless more than your brain can imagine. I've been using PS for years to improve my photographs, and even to create the odd artistic composite or two. The amount I've learned in the first week is amazing, and every day I learn something -- more like many things -- which I immediately implement to improve my productivity and/or widen the horizons of what I can achieve. If you ARE a photographer who's a Photoshop beginner, I'd take very seriously the advice Blake gives in the introduction: Watch one lesson, and practice the skills and principles you learn in that one lesson for two weeks. THEN watch the next lesson. You can't do that of course without buying the course, so it's up to you to decide whether you'd like to learn Photoshop and master Photoshop all from the same course. Learning it first and mastering it later will cost more money, but I think you'll understand everything better and have a much more enjoyable ride in the process. As for me? I'm going to have to find the money to buy this course. There is simply way too much content in each lesson for me to try to take on all at once, but on the other hand I don't want to miss anything at all that he has to share.
Esther Gambrell
WOW!!! I've been purchasing CL classes for several years now and have watched HOURS of "How-To Photoshop" classes, but this is the first one I've actually purchased because of the AWESOME BONUS content!!! SERIOUSLY??!!?!? A PLUG-IN??? But not only that, Blake is SO easy to understand, and he breaks down concepts in different ways to connect with different people's learning styles. I REALLY appreciated this approach because I am a LEFT-BRAINED creative that has an engineering background, so I really connected to what Blake was saying. THANK YOU FOR THAT! There are TONS of Photoshop courses out there, but I found this one to be the most helpful in they way Blake teaches concepts so that you know WHY you're doing what your doing. I feel like he taught me how to fish with Photoshop to feed me for a lifetime instead of just giving me a fish to feed me for one day. This is the BEST overall PS course out there!!! Thank you!!!!
Student Work
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