But what does this mean for you, the user? Along with new tools and technologies, as well as some key workflow enhancements, the shift to Photoshop CC also brings some long-term benefits like never having software that’s out of date. Below is our list of 10 things every photographer should know about Photoshop CC.

What you need to know about Photoshop CC: 01

Photoshop CC combines Photoshop Standard and Photoshop Extended. So all Photoshop Extended features, including 3D tools, are included in Photoshop CC.

What you need to know about Photoshop CC: 02

Photoshop CC introduces the sneak-peaked ‘deblur’ filter that’s been talked about since 2011, which is now revealed as: Camera Shake Reduction.

What you need to know about Photoshop CC: 03

Camera Raw 8 will include the new features being showcased in the Photohsop Lightroom 5 public beta, ie Advanced Healing brush, Radial Gradient tool and the Upright tool.

What you need to know about Photoshop CC: 04

Photoshop CC offers integration with Behance, the online portfolio sharing website for creative professional. This integration offers the ability to post directly into your Behance gallery from Photoshop.

What you need to know about Photoshop CC: 05

Along with the integration mentioned above, Photoshop CC subscribers get free access to the Behance Pro-site.

What you need to know about Photoshop CC: 06

Intelligent upsampling – in Photoshop CC you will be able to make big prints without compromising edge detail or introducing noise.

What you need to know about Photoshop CC: 07

Adobe is offering a special subscriber deal of $9.99 for Photoshop CS3 users and above – for the first year.

What you need to know about Photoshop CC: 08

It looks there’ll be no Photoshop CS7, and Photoshop CC will evolve with constant updates to subscribers. What this means is that there is no longer any need to wait 18 months to two years for an upgrade!

What you need to know about Photoshop CC: 09

A perpetual license of Lightroom will still be available as will Photoshop CS6.

What you need to know about Photoshop CC: 10

You do not need to be connected to the internet to use Photoshop CC. This is a very common misconception. The Photoshop CC software is installed on your computer. However, Adobe will need to periodically check your subscription is current so you’ll need to log on once a month.

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Best monitor for photo editing: 01 Eizo ColorEdge CG243W

Price: £1,200
Buy it: www.eizo.co.uk
This thoughtfully laid-out monitor has a versatile swivelling screen, which makes fitting it into your workspace a doddle, even with the (included) hood in place.

The menus are sensibly laid out, with icons popping up above the buttons so you always know what to press, even in a darkened studio.

The included calibration software enables you to build an ICC profile quickly, and the 1920×1200-pixel display offers high-end reproduction, but this doesn’t come cheap and, at 24 inches, this is the smallest monitor on test.

Pros: A high-end, flexible monitor with rich, consistent colours
Cons: Only 24 inches; functional rather than stylish design; pricey

Score: 88%

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Our final image

Cross-processing in film photography involved processing film in the wrong types of chemicals, which creates stylised images with different contrast and colours.

Our starting image

This technique is still popular today and can be very easily achieved in the digital darkroom. Here we’ll show you how to create a Photoshop Action that enables you to cross-process your photographs in just the blink of an eye.

01 RECORD THE ACTION

Open the image ‘action_start.jpg’. In order to create our Action which will do all the hard work for us in the future, go to Window>Actions to view the Actions panel. Click the Create New Action icon on the bottom of the palette. Give it a name ‘Cross-processed’. Click the Record button.

02 CHANGE THE COLOURS

To give our portrait a cooler tonal range and a more cross-processed look, click on the Create New Adjustment Layer icon of the Layers panel and select Colour Balance. Set the Tone option to Midtones, move the Cyan/Red slider to -37 and the Magenta/Green slider to +66.

03 BOOST THE CONTRAST

Click the Create New Adjustment Layer icon and select Curves. There is a Cross-Processed option in the Curves Preset menu, but the effect is harsh. Instead, create a gentle S-Curve by moving points along the diagonal line until blacks are richer and highlights are brighter.

04 FINISH THE ACTION

Click Stop Recording in the Actions panel. To see how the Action works, drag both Adjustment Layers to Trash. In the Actions panel, select the Cross-Processed option then click the Play Selection button. Our portrait now has a vivid and distorted colour palette.

All Star Wars fans dream of owning their very own lightsaber. The Jedi Knight’s weapon of choice is possibly the greatest fictional gadget ever. The closest we’ll come to the real thing can be achieved easily in Photoshop with a simple blur and colour balance technique.

Our starting image

When you start this tutorial, you’ll be but a learner. By the end, you’ll be the master. The circle is complete.

01 ADD A BLACK LAYER

Open the file ‘lightsaber_before.jpg’ and then go to Layer>New>Layer to access the New Layer Dialog Box. Give the layer a name and then change the Mode drop-down to Screen. Now check the box next to ‘Fill with Screen-neutral colour (black)’ and press OK.

02 SELECT THE BLADE

Select the Pen tool and then click at the bottom of the shaft to add an Anchor Point. Click again at the top to add a second point, then continue the path so it goes right around the blade. When it’s closed, right-click and select the Make Selection option.

03 MAKE THREE COPIES

Hit D to reset your colours to black and white, then Cmd/Ctrl+Backspace to fill the selection with your white background colour. Now press Cmd/Ctrl+J three times to copy the selected white blade onto three new layers.

04 APPLY FOUR BLURS

Highlight the top layer first and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Set Radius to 70 pixels and hit OK. Now apply the blur to the layer below, but this time with Radius at 40. Repeat on the next two layers with Radius at 20 and 2.

05 MAKE IT BLUE

Go to Image>Adjustments>Colour Balance. From here, add cyan and blue, then press OK. For a different colour, press Cmd/Ctrl+U and move the Hue slider. Now we need to paint in reflected colour, so select the Brush tool from the Tools Panel. Hold Alt and click on the blade to sample a colour.

06 ADD REFLECTED COLOURS

Create a new layer and then press Alt+Backspace to fill it. Hold Alt and click the Add Layer Mask icon for a full mask, then change the Blend Mode of the layer to Colour. Finish off by painting with a white soft-edged brush to reveal colour along the edges of the model’s arms and the top of his head.

01 SET UP THE TOOLS

Open the image, ‘astronaut.jpg’. Select the Pen tool, and from the drop-down list in the Options Bar, select Shape. Select Fill and set it to No Fill (the white box with a red slash). Set Stroke to a red colour and set Width to 1 px.

02 MAKE THE SELECTION

Using the Pen tool, make a selection around the astronaut. Start by zooming in close then click and drag on the edge of the astronaut to start the path. Continue to click and drag around the shape to outline it. Click the starting point to close the shape.

03 ADJUST THE PATH

Use the Direct Selection tool to click any point in the path that needs alteration. Move the point if necessary and adjust its handles. Hold down Alt as you drag on one handle to move it independently of the other handle.

04 CONFIGURE THE DASHES

With the path selected, click the Set Shape Stroke Type list and choose a dashed line. Click More Options and set Dash to 3 and Gap to 2. Set Align to Inside, Caps to Butt and Corners to Miter. Click OK to create the effect.

Our final image

NOTE: click each image to see a larger version of the Adobe Lightroom 5 interface

Adobe Lightroom 5 New Features: Improved Spot Removal

Previously the Spot Removal tool has only let you make circular heal points with the tool, but in Adobe Lightroom 5 you can now paint with it like a brush (just like using the Spot Healing Brush tool in Photoshop), which is great news for retouchers.

And if you’re plagued by sensor marks, there’s also a handy new feature called ‘Visualise Spots’ which places a mask over your image that highlights those pesky marks, making them easier to remove.

Adobe Lightroom 5 New Features: Better Lens Correction

The Lens Correction panel now sports automated options that allow you to fix perspective, correct converging verticals and put wonky horizons right. There are three modes that offer different levels of correction, ‘Full’ being the most aggressive.

Adobe Lightroom 5 New Features: New Radial Gradients

A new Radial Filter tool allows you to position circular gradients over your images to focus attention on the subject, which means vignettes can be placed wherever you want, rather than just in the corners of the frame. There are all the usual options to alter exposure, colour and clarity, as well as the softness of the circle.

Adobe Lightroom 5 New Features: New Smart Previews

In Adobe Lightroom 5 you can create ‘Smart Previews’ of your images as proxy versions for making adjustments. This means you don’t have to be connected to the Hard Drive containing the image to alter it. Which will no doubt prove very handy for photographers who need to work on-the-go.

Adobe Lightroom 5 New Features: Book Module changes

The book module now makes it easy to add page numbers and text into your templates. You can also save custom templates with a right-click and quickly make other pages.

Adobe Lightroom 5 New Features: Improved functionality

Alongside these improvements, Adobe have also listened to feedback from users and made over 50 minor improvements to functionality (which it calls ‘Just Do It’ improvements, or JDI’s) in Lightroom 5. These include Full Screen mode by hitting F, the ability to import PNGs, and LAB support for the Histogram.

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By using Layers and Photoshop’s Transform tool, you can easily flip any face upside down. If you want to try this fun technique on your friends, keep the background clutter-free and use a light source off to one side like on our example portrait here.

01 SELECT THE FACE

Open your own close-up portrait and grab the Polygonal Lasso tool. Click to make a rough, straight-edged selection around the edges of the face. There’s no need to be too precise. Go to Select>Modify>Feather, enter 20px and hit OK.

02 COPY THE FACE

Hit Cmd/Ctrl+J to copy the face on to a new layer. Open the Layers Panel (Window>Layers) then double-click the Background layer. Hit OK in the New Layer box. This will convert the Background layer to make it editable like any other layer.

03 ROTATE THE HEAD

With the lower layer highlighted, go to Edit>Transform>Rotate 180. Highlight the top layer, then grab the Move tool and drag the face into position. If you need to rotate it, hit Cmd/Ctrl+T, drag outside the bounding box, then press Enter to apply.

04 FLIP THE FACE

On the original portrait the face was lit with a light off to the right of the camera, so there’s a shadow on the left. The upside down face doesn’t match up, but we can fix this by going to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal.

05 MASK THE EDGES

If you need to work on the edges of the face, click the Add Layer Mask icon in the Layers Panel, then grab the Brush tool and paint with a soft-edged black brush around the edges to hide parts of the face and blend the layers.

06 CLONE TO TIDY UP

Click the Create New Layer icon in the Layers Panel, grab the Clone Stamp tool and then set Sample: All Layers and Opacity 30% in the Options bar. Hold down Alt to sample a source, then use the Clone Stamp tool to tidy up any rough areas for a seamless finish.

A shallow depth of field is a great way to focus attention on part of a scene by transforming the background into wonderful bokeh, which is why it’s a classic technique for portrait photography.

Normally you’d achieve shallow depth of field with a wide aperture of around f/2.8 or f/4. But aperture isn’t the only factor in shallow depth of field.

Focal length and the subject’s distance from the camera also play a part in giving your images a shallow depth of field.

The longer the lens and the closer the subject, the more of a shallow depth of field effect you will achieve.

Our before image

Conversely, shorter focal lengths and distant focus points result in deeper planes of focus.

Captured at f/4 with an 18mm wide-angle lens, the background in this scene is fairly sharp. We can employ Photoshop’s Gaussian blur filter to fake a shallow depth of field, focusing attention on the figure and blurring distracting details.

By applying different strengths of blur to duplicate layers then restricting the effect with Layer Masks, we can create a fall-off of sharpness either side of our digital focus point.

How to fake shallow depth of field

01 Select the figure
Open your start image. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+J four times to make duplicate layers. With the Quick Selection tool, paint over the figure. Use ] and [ to resize the brush. Hold Alt and paint to subtract areas from the selection. Go to Select>Refine Edge. Set Smooth 10, Feather 0.5 and hit OK.

02 Add to the selection
Go to Window> Layers to access the Layers panel. Rename the top layer ‘Sharp’. Grab the Selection Brush tool, set Mode: Mask and pick a soft circular tip. Paint over areas that would be the same distance from the camera as the figure to add them to the selection.

03 Create layer masks
Click the Add Layer Mask icon on the Layers panel to turn the selection into a mask. Highlight the layer below. Go to Filter>Blur> Gaussian Blur. Set Radius 1.5px. Hit OK. Name the layer ‘blur 1.5px’, then hold Alt and click the Add Layer Mask icon to add a full black mask.

04 Reveal the blur
Grab the Brush tool and set colour to white. With the layer mask thumbnail on ‘blur 1.5px’ highlighted, paint over the foreground and tree. Highlight the layer below, rename it ‘blur 3px’, apply the Gaussian Blur filter at that value, then Alt-click the Add Layer Mask icon again.

05 Apply stronger blur
Paint with white to reveal the stronger blur on the ‘blur 3px’ layer in the grass and scene behind the tree. Next highlight the layer below. Rename it ‘blur 6px’ then apply the Gaussian Blur filter at that strength to make the trees in the background appear more out of focus.

06 Boost the tones
Finally, use Adjustment Layers to boost the tones. Highlight the top layer, click the Create Adjustment Layer icon on the Layers panel and choose Brightness/Contrast. Set Brightness 6, Contrast 12. Next add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer and set Saturation +7.

PHOTOSHOP CS BLUR GALLERY
While the blur filters available in Photoshop Elements can give realistic results, Photoshop CS6 offers more options. In particular, the new Blur Gallery has three filters that are designed to mimic shallow focus and tilt-shift effects, with greater control over the look of the digital bokeh. The new filters make it much easier to create the fall-off of sharpness achieved here with different strengths of blur.

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If you want to capture true infrared on your digital camera then there are two common solutions – some pretty invasive surgery that will change your camera forever or a specialist IR filter that attaches to your lens. Both of these methods filter out visual light resulting in just the infrared light being captured by the sensor. Although the second solution leaves the integrity of your camera intact, it’s still a hassle, especially when an equally convincing infrared effect can be quickly applied in Photoshop.

Our after image

The technique we’re going to use will reflect a true infrared image with lightened foliage, darkened skies, false colour, grain and a slight vignette. Working with Adjustment Layers and Smart Filters will give us complete flexibility over the look, meaning that we can accurately pinpoint tone and colour, firstly by inverting and blending the original image and then using the colour channels to fine-tune the infrared look. Once the colours and tones are set, we’ll then look at adding realistic grain and vignette.

Our before image

As infrared exposure times are usually far longer than standard colour images, we’ll also take a look at adding motion blur to the clouds. This additional blur will again reinforce the illusion of true infrared. Finally, to add impact, a little dodging and burning can be applied to help boost the grassy foreground and highlight the clouds against the darkened sky. So, with a colour image ready, here’s how to get the infrared look.

6 Simple Steps for Creating an Infrared Image in Photoshop

01 DUPLICATE AND INVERT

Open your colour image in Photoshop. Duplicate the Background layer using Cmd/Ctrl+J, and invert the colours via Cmd/Ctrl+I, to create a negative. Switch Blend Mode to Color. This instantly transforms the look of the image. We now need to look at the colour of the grass which should be dark blue/purple.

02 FINE TUNE THE COLOUR

Create a New Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer.  For our image, we set Hue to 100 and Saturation to -30. For the sky, we selected Yellow from the Channel drop-down and set Hue to 60, Saturation to 30 and Lightness to -50. Selecting Cyan, we reduced the Hue to -100 and the Saturation to -100 to remove the colour from the rocks.

03 ADJUST THE TONES

Depending on the image, the values here will change but these should act as a good starting point for any shot with plenty of green and blue. You’re looking for the grass to change to red and the sky to darken. To boost tone and contrast, create a new Curves Adjustment Layer and make a subtle S-curve.

04 ADD MOTION BLUR

Select all of the layers and then use Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E to merge those layers into a new layer. From the Filters drop-down, select Convert For Smart Filters then Filter>Blur>Radial Blur and select an Amount of 22, click Zoom and Best then click OK. Add a Layer Mask and select a black soft-edged brush.

05 BLEND IN THE SKY

Paint into the Layer Mask to reveal the foreground and carefully paint up into the sky to help blend it. Create a new blank layer and fill with 50% grey then go to Filter> Noise>Add Noise. Increase the Amount to 12.5. Select Gaussian and Monochromatic and click OK. Now swap the Blend Mode to Overlay.

06 ADDING VIGNETTE

Create a new blank layer and fill with white, then go to Filter>Lens Distortion. Click on the Custom tab and set the Vignette amount to -100. Switch the Blend Mode to Multiply and Opacity to 40%. Finally, use the Dodge and Burn tools to add contrast to the grass and darken the sky to make the clouds stand out.

Few of us have direct access to a studio large enough to comfortably accommodate a car, or for that matter a car that we’d want to shoot in a studio! However, attend any car event and there will be a whole host of vehicles that we can dream of owning. While the owner might not be too pleased if you drove off with the car itself, a quick snapshot will at least give you a small memento to take home.

Our before image

A big issue with event photography is always the amount of clutter that distracts from the main subject. At the event, it’s impossible to clear the surrounds for a clean shot from the desired shooting position and angle, but back in the digital darkroom it’s easy to isolate the car and replace the background. However, while the removal of the background will clean up the image, for this shot we want to give the impression that the car was photographed in a professional studio, and not only that, but one with a reflective floor.

Our after image

This may seem easy enough at first, especially if the car has been shot from the side and on the level, because then it’s just a case of mirroring the image and masking. However, if the car has been shot from a more common standing position and at an angle, a straight vertical flip just won’t do the job. A few more advanced techniques need to be employed, splitting the reflected image into planes and warping them into the required shapes. So, with your dream machine image ready, here’s how to get the look of a studio car shot.

01 SELECT THE CAR

Open your starting image and click the Quick Selection tool. Make the selection then press Q to enter Quick Mask mode and use black and white brushes to clean up. Double-click the Background layer and then add a Layer Mask by clicking the icon at the foot of the Layers Panel.

02 SELECT THE FRONT

Add a new blank layer, then drag it below the car layer and fill it with white using Shift+F5. Click back onto the car layer and duplicate it with Cmd/Ctrl+J, right-click the Layer Mask and choose Apply Layer Mask. Select the Polygonal Lasso tool and in the options set the feather to 2, then select the front of the car.

03 REFLECT THE FRONT

Press Cmd/Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer, then right click the bounding box and choose Flip Vertical. Hold down Ctrl and click the right middle point to adjust the perspective. Click and drag inside the box to move it into position then press Enter to confirm the change. At the moment the vent doesn’t look quite right.

04 FINE TUNE THE REFLECTION

Use the Polygonal Lasso tool to select the front vent and use Cmd/Ctrl+J to copy it to a new layer and then move the layer to the top of the Layers Panel. Drag it into position and transform it to match the angles. Select the Brush tool, hold down Alt and click near the script on the vent.

05 CREATE THE SHADOW

Use the Brush to remove the writing and drag the car layer back to the top of the Layer Stack. Hold down Cmd/Ctrl and click the car to remake the selection, then press V and use the cursor keys to move the selection down slightly. Create a new layer below the car layer, and refine the edge with a feather of 7.

06 REVEAL THE REFLECTION

Continue working around the car, selecting areas and moving them into position. For tricky areas, use the Warp tool to help manipulate the edges. Select all duplicated layers and press Cmd/Ctrl+G, hold down Alt and click the Layer Mask icon, select a white brush and paint onto the mask to reveal the reflection.