Photoshop and Photography Magazines

I'm someone who wants to read magazines on photoshop and photography that contain projects and tutorials.  I get so bored with magazines that discuss the profiles of photographers and so on.  If those photographers provided a tutorial as part of their profile interview then yeah I would take a look.  But otherwise, I avoid magazines that are more product and photographer previews than project related.

So, below you will find links to magazines I've recently started reading.  They are available digitally via Zinio (www.zinio.com) although for South Africa the option of Paypal doesn't seem to be available.

Photoshop Creative: http://www.photoshopcreative.co.uk/
Tutorials for both CS and PSE users with downloadable content. I did find that in some tutorials instructions weren't that clear but still a great magazine.

Photoplus Magazine: http://www.photoplusmag.com/
Aimed specifically at Canon users the magazine contains tutorials as well as how to steps for using your camera.  Some product info included.

50 Photo Projects: http://www.magazinesubscriptions.co.uk/books-and-directories/photography-books/50-photo-projects
Fast becoming my favourite out of all the magazines mentioned here.  Some projects might appear basic but here I learned how to take a photo of a drop of liquid on a petal and get it right.

Practical Photoshop: http://www.practicalphotoshopmag.com/
Also an interesting mag for both PSE and CS users.

There are numerous other magazines, each catering for different tastes.  But those above are currently what I'm reading and generally have my nose permanently stuck to the pages.

Also, for camera equipment have a look at CameraQuip (who also run TimeQuip).

Experimenting with Photoshop Elements 9

If you haven't as yet, have a look at www.deviantart.com.  There are some fantastic photos available for download.  I downloaded a photo by yuvi 2: http://yuvi2.deviantart.com/art/Moon-Lit-Capitan-324810448

Then, using layers and a photo of the Moon that I took, I created a new background as well as a partial "Blue Moon".  This was actually my second try as the first photomanipulation didn't quite work out.

The dog watermark is just to prevent anyone from copying the photo.  You are welcome to download yuiv2's file and go from there.  If requested, I will put up a quick tutorial on how I did this.

I used Photoshop Elements 9.

Photoshop Tutorials worth looking at

I'm always searching for Photoshop Tutorials, but preferably ones that aren't all explained via video.

This site is definitely a keeper. I was unable to complete the Alice In Wonderland because I don't seem to have the Warping tool in PSE9. I worked around the other missing tools but this is one I still need to figure out. Still, it's a great tutorial.

The tutorial I did complete, again working around the missing tools was the Assassin with flaming arrow. All the stock and brushes are obtainable through the links provided in the tutorial:

http://photoshoptutorials.ws/photoshop-tutorials/photo-manipulation/how-to-create-a-photo-manipulation-of-an-assassin-with-a-flaming-arrow-in-photoshop.html

As you can see, my attempt is slightly darker, but overall not too bad for my first try with the Magnetic Lasso. For whatever reason the PSE9 Classroom book didn't cover this. For a quick know how for the Magnetic Lasso tool in PSE9:

http://photoshopelementstips.blogspot.com/2010/11/lasso-selection-tools-in-pse.html

I actually find that the Lasso tool is better at removing a background or isolating than the Mask tool, which tends to cause a fringing on the outer edges.

The Alice in Wonderland tutorial, where you need the Warping tool. If anyone gets around this in PSE9, please leave a comment. If I find anything will update.

http://photoshoptutorials.ws/photoshop-tutorials/photo-manipulation/how-to-create-an-alice-in-wonderland-inspired-artwork-with-photoshop.html