Photoshop TV Improving With Each New Episode

Maybe the Photoshop Guys read my last piece, because they are taking it to heart

Photoshop TV has been on the “air” for six episodes now, and after my previous article about their lackluster performances I am happy to say that the podcasts are much improved, with more tips and less fluffy banter (though there’s some of that too).

One Less Host

I had advocated getting rid of at least one host (Scott Kelby, Dave Cross and Matt Kloskowski were too many cooks) and my man Scott must be reading D:Photoshop religiously because since then there have been only two hosts for each episode. It’s been something of a musical chairs game though:

Photoshop TV Hosts, Episodes 3–6

• Eps. 3: Dave Cross, Matt Kloskowski
• Eps. 4: Dave Cross, Larry Becker
• Eps. 5: Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski
• Eps. 6: Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski

Every time someone has been away due to a seminar, Photoshop World in Japan or some other event. I only hope that those in charge realize that, if it’s this difficult to get all three Photoshop Guys in one room at one time, maybe it’s better not to. And it really helps the show by only having two hosts; the third host is always a third leg and doesn’t have much to do but smile and laugh at Scott’s jokes.

More And Better Tips

I’m very pleased to report that we’ve seen a healthy increase in tips since the founding of Photoshop TV. The first two episodes had between two and four tips in their entire half-hour run, but since then no episode has dipped below four full tips and tutorials, and Episode 3 had a whopping seven tips (that was the one episode with Dave and Matt as hosts, and they are my pick for the best hosting tandem for this podcast). All I can say is more—more! The tips are better than ever and the in-depth tutorials are very fine; there’s no better way to demonstrate Photoshop than with video.

Here’s a rundown of the tips in each episode:

Episode 3

• Fading effects
• Burnt edges using an adjustment layer
• Airbrush keyboard shortcuts
• LAB adjustment layer
• Using the Wacom tablet
• Matching color with the Healing Brush (contributed by Ben Willmore)
• Sorting by rating in Bridge

Episode 4

• Creating a signature brush and saving brushes as presets
• Adding a stroke with effects to a photo as a frame
• Using “Sample All Layers” to clone to a new layer, using Duplicate Layer to patch to a new layer
• Conditional actions in ImageReady

Episode 5

• Opening RAW images from Bridge to Photoshop without the Camera Raw dialog box
• Using the “x” key to zoom in while in the Vanishing Point dialog box
• Filter tips: Command-F, Option-Command-F and click-and-drag to disable preview
• Using blending sliders to composite photos

Episode 6

• Making layer visibility changes appear in History using the History Palette Options
• Using Image Processor and an action to resize, downsample and resave a batch of images
• Pen tool tutorial
• Using Overlay mode to emphasize a night photograph

The Future of Photoshop TV

The Photoshop Guys have settled into their groove (or is it a rut?) and have created one of the most popular podcasts on the Internet today. I’m really excited to see they have improved the product and I wonder what future refinements are in store for us? Stay tuned!

Links

Photoshop TV
National Association of Photoshop Professionals