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My perfect portable setup for the traveling retoucher or photographer

Technology has really evolved in a way that has made it possible for people to work more efficiently on the go. I used to remember when laptops were barely able to keep up with Photoshop and working on the road was a huge pain. Now it’s changed drastically!

I am a working and traveling retoucher, photographer, and co-founder of Infinite Tools. This year alone I’ve had the pleasure of traveling and working in places like Cape Town, Iceland, and Namibia! Whether it’s going abroad or locally, I always need to be able to retouch client work and I wanted a setup that could adapt to home and travel life. After all, sometimes I am only home for a bit and even when I’m home, I like to work in different locations to change things up.

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Is Photoshop ruining photography or is it actually helping it?

This is a topic that I see posted on social media every single day. It’s usually not a discussion of the actual topic, though. More often than not, it’s bundled up in a comment like “This isn’t photography!” or “Fake! You’ve Photoshopped this!”. Yeah, it’s a pretty one-sided conversation a lot of the time. But photographer and educator Blake Rudis explores the topic quite in-depth in this video.

The criticisms of the use of Photoshop in photography often come from the self-proclaimed “purists” who believe that every image has to look how it looks right out of the camera (which still has digital post-processing applied, btw) and there’s very little that seems to dissuade them from their beliefs. But ultimately, does it really matter what other people think about your use (or lack) of Photoshop?

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How to create and fake a realistic tilt-shift look without using a tilt-shift lens

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When it comes to lenses that present a unique look none really stand out more than the tilt-shift lens. Largely the domain of architectural or product photographers, tilt-shift lenses shift the plane of focus and the centre point of the lens to be able to correct things like perspective and focus shifts and produce looks that are otherwise virtually impossible to achieve unless you’re shooting large format.

But tilt-shift lenses have another quirky use, too, and that’s making things look miniature. It’s a look often imitated in post but usually, the effect is a little too strong and unrealistic. In this video, Pye Jirsa from SLR Lounge walks us through the process of creating tilt-shift images in photoshop that actually look like they were shot by a real tilt-shift lens for very subtle but effective results.

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Photographer used Photoshop skills to steal $16,000 from photography association

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An Australian astrophotographer has pleaded guilty to several counts of fraud and theft after stealing over $16,000 from the Professional Photographers’ Association of Queensland (PPAQ) over a 3 year period.

Photographer Mark Culley allegedly used his Photoshop skills to forge bank statements and financial reports, and also to replicate the signature of the association’s accountant.

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Adobe adds Content-Aware Fill, background removal and portrait selection features to Photoshop for iPad

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Adobe has announced a new update for Photoshop on the iPad that brings with it some significant features. It now has Content-Aware Fill, Remove Background, as well as Select Subject designed specifically for people and tricky hair selections. There’s also a new font browser, along with Auto-tone, colour and contrast features.

Photoshop for the iPad was initially launched in 2019, and Adobe says they’ve been working hard to add more of the desktop features we know and love to the mobile version ever since. Obviously, this takes some time to adjust the application from a mouse-based UI to a finger-based touchscreen one and this year they’ve been focusing on adding as many one-tap features to the arsenal as possible.

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How to create movement in your portraits using this circular stretch effect in Photoshop

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Online photography groups are one place that can be a goldmine for inspiration. When you have time on your hands or simply want to try some new Photoshop techniques, you could start in worse places. (Photography blogs are also really great, but if you’re reading this then you probably already know that!).

Commercial photographer Mark Manne stumbled across an interesting Photoshop video recently which inspired him to create some very interesting dynamic portraits which create a real sense of fun and movement. He shared with DIYP how he made them (and also the original tutorial video by Safii Clon).

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This is how terrible Photoshop 2.5 was 30 years ago

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Photoshop has been around for over 30 years, and some of you may have used it from its very beginning. Colin Smith of Video Revealed used it for photo retouching back in the mid-1990s and he reflects on Photoshop 2.5  that he used back then.

In this video, Colin looks back on some of his projects and the difficulties he faced working in an early version of Photoshop. There were no layers, he only had one undo… And these were only some of the challenges he faced.

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Infinite Skin Panel gives you a shortcut to great looking complexions in Photoshop

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By now you’ve probably heard of Pratik Naik’s Infinite Tools selection. The series was co-created by Naik and his team to streamline some of the gaps they found in Photoshop and make the retouching process fast and fun. The latest addition is Infinite Skin Panel, a plug-in that works with Photoshop CC2021 and later, and is apparently “perfect for any photographer dealing with the need to soften skin”.

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How to digitise your signature and watermark your photos with a one-click action in Photoshop

Whether you love them or hate them, watermarks are a thing and some people want it to be a bit more personal than just a logo. Sometimes, they really want to “sign” it. But how? It’s a pretty easy process to do when you know how and in this video, Jesús Ramirez at the Photoshop Training Channel shows us how.

But not only does Jesús show us how we can digitise our signature properly for placing on top of an image, but he also shows us how we can create an action within Photoshop to automatically apply it to our images with just a single click. Alternatively, we also learn how to turn it into a brush so we can easily adjust and resize it for different uses.

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Best gift ever: Son uses Photoshop to “fix” a photo his dad hates, makes it even worse

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Printed and framed photos are among the best Christmas gifts in my book. For this holiday season, motivational speaker Kyle Scheele made one such gift for his dad, but with a twist. He took a family portrait his dad hates, used his Photoshop skills to “fix” it, and the result made his parents laugh to tears.

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