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
Adding Text to Pictures
Now in order to build this, what we're building here, we're building this kind of look right here, notice how you can still see some of the underlying layer underneath that. We still have things like fill and opacity that we can use here. Here's the cool thing about shapes. We've talked about fill before as fill being the calculation for what's happening, and opacity being the intensity of that calculation. With shapes and text, this really starts to play in, and it's actually pretty interesting on how it works. So I'm gonna do something, I'm just gonna double-click on this, and we've talked about layer styles before. What did I say about layer styles before when we were working with just a regular photograph? I said that typically, you'd use layer styles for things like shapes and text, and that's exactly where this is gonna play in now. If I were to go ahead and add a drop shadow to this, (mouse clicking) you can see that a drop shadow is gonna apply itself underneath that shape, and...
it's not very big right now, but if I change the distance here, change the angle of that, you can start to see a little bit underneath there where that drop shadow is starting to appear. You see that down there now? Now, that drop shadow, I can either use this distance here to move that with the slider, or I can click anywhere on this image and move that drop shadow around. And notice what it's doing. It's not just changing the distance, it's also changing the angle. Look at these two and how they're moving independently when I click and drag anywhere within this. This is with any layer style that uses a drop shadow, whether that's a drop shadow with a shape or a drop shadow with text. So I'm gonna make that right about there, I'm gonna make the angle just like this. If we adjust the spread, it's gonna adjust how far out that goes, and the size and the spread work hand-in-hand together. So the spread is basically how far it feathers out, and the size is how big that feather is and how far it can go. If we drop that spread down and bring the size up, it's very faint. So those sliders work hand-in-hand with one another. If I drop the size and I drop the spread all the way down and bring the opacity all the way up, notice how I'm kinda making a straight line down there. And there's a straight line that's not necessarily using the stroke path that we saw before, because the stroke path isn't really cool anymore (chuckles). It used to be cool, but now it's kinda fading away a little bit. So sometimes having an alternating color under here, really when you're working with shapes and text, the best thing you can do, flip through People Magazine. Or can I say that? Flip through any magazine. As you flip through those magazines, you can see the cool new trends that are happening with shapes and text, because they have to be in the know. They have to know at all times what the new fashion trends are with text and shapes. It might sound silly, but typography has been something that's been around since the very early days, long before Photoshop, working with shapes and text has been an art form. So look through magazines and see what the new hot trends are, and one of the new hot trends is to basically put just a little subtle line underneath, and maybe alternate that color a little bit. So because this is a drop shadow, I'm not necessarily using it as a drop shadow, though. I'm gonna go ahead and click on this, and maybe I'll click on the green in this image to add a little bit of green to that area, press "okay". Notice how the blend mode here is set to "multiply". It's actually using a blend mode that would be a better shadow than just normal. Well if I change that to "normal", now I've got a solid green line that's happening underneath that brown shape. So I'm gonna go ahead and change the angle to get it back up to here, 90 degrees, that looks pretty good. And maybe I'll change the color just a little bit, make it a little bit lighter, bring it out just a little bit more. And then move it up a little bit, so just up to about right there, just like that. I might change my angle, if it changes my angle, just change it back to 90. (mouse clicking) So, what I said before about shapes and texts, fill and opacity, that's starting to play in right now. If I look at this shape and I drop the opacity here, watch what happens. It not just drops the opacity of the shape, it also drops the opacity of the the layer styles. So let me go ahead and change this opacity and bring this all the way up, and now go to fill. If I drop this fill down, watch what happens. The drop shadow stays. That's crazy! Because what happens here is that the layer styles are acting independently from that shape. So when we say "adjust the fill of this shape," the drop shadow is connected to that shape, but it's connected to that shape in a way that it doesn't interact with the fill of the shape that we have inside there. So if I bring that fill back up, bring it all the way down actually, and I click outside of there, we don't even have a shape anymore. Completely disappeared, because we're not giving any fill value to that shape, but that fill value still has the drop shadow there, which is pretty neat. So if I go ahead and go back to that layer, and then bring that up, (mouse clicking) I can either use fill here, or I can use opacity, because I want that line to still be solid down there, I'm just gonna drop that fill just a little bit so we can see the underlying layer, but still have the nice solid band there. If I were to drop the opacity down to something like 90%, it's gonna drop the opacity of the shape as well as the opacity of any layer styles that I have involved in there. We're gonna see how this is gonna play in with watermarks in a second, and it's gonna be kind of mind-boggling here. So at this point, let's go ahead and look at what we're building. Now, I just need to put the "National Light Rays in Photoshop" in there. Okay, so if I press "T" for my type tool, notice how if I press "T" for my type tool and go inside the shape, it's gonna want to type inside that shape, because this shape has a path, and you can type on paths. So if you were to use the pen tool and do a really circular type thing, and then use the type tool, you can type along that path. Now I don't necessarily want to type along this path, so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna type outside of it. I'm gonna type "Natural", (keyboard typing) and I click on this, press "V" for the move tool, and I've got my "Natural Light Rays" font there. Not the exact same font that I used before. It really depends, you can obviously tell who is doing the design work for a website, whether it's a man or a woman, typically by the font they're using. I know that doesn't sound right or politically correct, but it's true. Men are gonna typically use things that are more bold, and then we're gonna see more, maybe some more type sets like this for someone maybe, Mom blogs use this all the time. But I'm not a mom blog, so it's probably not a good idea if I use something like that. So I'm gonna go and press "T" for the type tool, click on that, and then change this to my favorite font, which is Bebas. I can just type it in, or I can search for it, and I'm gonna make that bold. Now if I press "V" for the move tool, I can move that around, and notice how I'm getting a magnetic line that shows me what the exact center is gonna be for where I want to place this text. If I press "Command" or "Ctrl-J", press "V" for the move tool, move this down, notice how I'm also working independently on these layers. Type "in", Ctrl-A, and then change this from bold to something like, light. And then Ctrl-T, and then make this smaller, "V" for the move tool, move it over. And it doesn't really matter where I move it right now, because I'm gonna show you something pretty cool here. Click on the "Natural Light Rays", "Ctrl-J", I typically will just use what I already have, duplicate that layer, press "V" for the move tool on that type set, "T" to change the font, and change this to something like, maybe the thicker one, regular, "Photoshop". This is an actual tutorial that I did on YouTube. If I click and drag this around, notice how I can get these two to be in line with one another, but still have pretty nice spacing next to them. If I press "Ctrl", if it's magnetizing and you don't like that it's magnetizing, press "Command" or "Ctrl", it'll allow you to move outside of those bounds and not magnetize it. If I Ctrl-click on both of these layers, this "In" and this "Photoshop", ctrl-click, have both of them selected, and then press "V" for the move tool, now I can get both of them to be nice and in line, and in the center with that "Natural Light Rays" that appears on the top. So there's how we would create that and combine shapes and texts. Now as I said before, you might not be creating splash screens or blog post headers, but you might be doing this for clients, you might be doing this for your client work, where you've got a series of images that you're gonna deliver to a client, you want to have a nice fancy cover photo that maybe you're delivering for them for an album. You can use the same concepts here. Just replace their names with something else. And remember that when we do this, we're using the same open type set font to create these letters here, and if you're gonna use any more than two, really, really consider why you're using more than two. And if you are using more than two, you'll notice that in the PowerPoint Presentation that we had here before, I was using another one that showed the little correction that said "more". Well, in that case I used three, because that one I want that to really pop out at you. So unless you really want that third type set to pop out at people, I would shy away from it and try to stick to just two, two that work well together. A cursive font plus that font are probably not gonna work well together.
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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