Creative forum

@Talk to us! Send us your thoughts on anything Photoshop to PCR@imagine-publishing.co.uk with the subject header ‘Letters’. Alternatively, post your missives to Letters, Photoshop Creative, Imagine Publishing Ltd, Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 6EW, UK Creative Forum

Write in and share your creative triumphs, tears and tantrums with other readers

Photo fan

I never bother to write to magazines and newspapers, but am so impressed and enthused about Photoshop Creative that I’m breaking the habit of a lifetime!

The best aspect of Photoshop Creative was that it moved a little further than most photography magazines into the artistic possibilities of Photoshop. I regard it as a serious magazine. But I’m wondering about the balance of articles and tone for the intended audiences. At this stage I’d have the impression that it is more of a graphics artists’ publication than a photographers’ publication. Am I wrong? Maybe I am. But if one photographer got the impression that the magazine was intended more for graphic artists than for photographers, then surely others will have that impression too. Possibly it will not have the sales it needs if photographers come to regard it as just a magazine for graphic artists. So I think that the appeal to photographers is important. The main article that was well pitched to core photographers was the article on retouching portraits in issue one. Photographers will keep coming back for more if there’s plenty of photo touch-up and eff ects like that. The camera reviews, however, did not do that much for the balance in favour of photographers. The cameras chosen were not DSLRs in either case, and would be regarded as graphics artists’ accessories rather than serious photographers’ kit. I hope this didn’t come across as negative. I only write out of enthusiasm to off er feedback, and would be the fi rst to point out that mine may be a minority opinion. Lastly, and on a very positive note, I love Hannah Gal’s articles on producing paintings in the style of the old masters. I’d keep

buying the magazine for that alone! Could Hannah’s series include Jack Vettriano’s style? I’d be very impressed by that and would make great use of the techniques. Nigel McMorris

Thank you for your letter Nigel, and also your comments. To be honest, it’s a bit of a nightmare putting the magazine together because there are so many possibilities off ered by Photoshop it’s impossible to try and squeeze them all in! Although it’s probably best known for what it can do for photographers, it also has a wealth of artistic options, as you rightly point out. But we don’t want to forget about our photographer friends – you’ve no doubt noticed that our feature this issue is a special look at how professional photographers use Photoshop to boost photos. We’re delighted that you enjoy Hannah’s digital painting series – she’s always up for a challenge, so we’ll see if she wants to tackle Jack Vettriano’s style. Watch this space!

Missing in action?

Hello, I really enjoy your magazine. I’ve been waiting for a title dedicated to Photoshop for quite a while now, so am over the moon that one’s arrived. I’ve just bought issue and was looking forward to following the tutorial on using the selection tools. I’ve been a Magic Wand person for quite a while, but want to try my hand at some of the other methods. However, I can’t fi nd the blossom image on the disc. Is it there? Terry Filby

If you have a little look at the bottom of page 36 (issue 2), you’ll see that we list the blossom and city images as coming from the stock. xchng site. If you haven’t already visited here you really must; take a few minutes to register (it’s free) and you can gain access to over 150,000 photos. There are some real crackers in here and the best bit is they cost you nothing. Ideally the images would have gone on the CD, but since this wasn’t possible we tried the next best thing. Sorry for any confusion.

t ip R e a d e r s’

Going straight

I use Photoshop to do little bits of drawing and sketching, but used to fi nd it impossible to draw a straight line. I have a graphics tablet, but still couldn’t draw a straight line for toff ee. The only way I could do anything would be to use the Pen tool or Line tool, but it was annoying to have to keep change from whatever brush I was using to do this. Sometimes I even tried using a ruler on my graphics tablet! However, it turns out there was a simple way all along. Now I can go about my business using the Brush tool, but when I need to make a straight line, all I do is hold down Shift, click where I want the line to start and then keeping Shift held down, click on another point on the line. Perfect straight lines! As long as you keep Shift held down you can have as many lines as you want! Rose Cringle

Thanks for the tip, Rose. We’re a bit rubbish at drawing straight lines too, so your tip has saved us any embarrassment as well!

Shorts

Back to the beginning

I have just picked up Issue 2 of Photoshop Creative and am very impressed. Is the fi rst issue available to purchase from yourselves at all? I can’t get hold of one anywhere! Looking forward to future issues.

Colin Bourke

At the time of writing we had copies of issue one still available. If you phone our subscriptions hotline, you’ll be able to fi nd out about availability and cost. Phone 0870 428 8353 if you’re in the UK or 44870 428 8353 if you’re outside the UK.

Visit us online!

We now have a website and forum dedicated to the magazine and want to see you in there! Visit www. pshopcreative. co.uk/forum and have your say!

Apologies

We’d like to clarify the picture status of The Standout Stock Site feature in issue two. All of the images used were from iStockphoto and should have been marked as such. We apologise to the company and the photographers for any harm caused.