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Creative Photoshop with John Reuter — Software How-To
Creative Photoshop with John Reuter

Photoshop artist and educator John Reuter has created this Photoshop podcast geared towards the fine art photographers and teachers who are beginning to embrace Photoshop as part of their personal work and teaching curriculum. Less focused on singular tips or tricks it rather attempts to instill a more comprehensive approach to image making and manipulation that relies on Photoshop as its core. To John, Photoshop is as much a printmaking program as it is a photography program. The emphasis is to encourage the viewers to explore their creative impulses through Photoshop technique and develop a more personal vision. These episodes are generally longer than many Photoshop podcasts but the goal is to provide the equivalent of a classroom experience with a more thorough examination of the topics. To see examples of the images John creates and the workshops he offers in Photoshop at the International Center of Photography, Maine Photographic Workshops, Palm Beach Photographic Centre and Santa Fe Workshops please visit www.johnreuter.com. To post comments on the episodes visit http:/johnreuter.libsyn.com.

Latest Episodes:

Selections, Selections, Selections....with John Reuter Feb 22, 2007

Show notes

I have always said that mastery of Selections is the most important skill you can learn in Photoshop. They are the doorway to amazing control over tonality, color, and emphasis as well as the vehicle to create believable and unbelievable composite images. It is a deep topic and I will devote three consecutive episodes to Selections in both Photoshop CS2 and the CS3 Beta. Our first episode focuses on a selection of a figure with fine detail, that is hair and we will approach it with three tools, the Magic Wand, Color Range, and converting an existing color channel, altering it and turning it into a selection. Along the way we will as always revisit some techniques from previous episodes, as they are a part of building and manipulating our selections.

Class Project: Image Composite with John Reuter Feb 13, 2007

Show notes

In this episode we explore image composite as I presented it to my Creative Photoshop class at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre in Florida. The idea was to explore many concepts in one exercise, from working in camera raw, to placing an image from the Bridge, creating a selection with the pen tool, working with Smart Objects and masks and finally with Smart Filters. We also managed to get a Blend Mode in there as well. I hope to do more of these project based podcasts that start with a concept and utilize the tools necessary in Photoshop to execute that concept. Along the way we will revisit many of the Photoshop features and tools we have examined in isolation but this time within the context of building an actual image. I hope you enjoy it.

Black and White Conversions in CS2, Lightroom, and CS3 Feb 06, 2007

Show notes

In this episode we explore converting color images to grayscale. In Photoshop CS2 we use an adjustment layer technique to create not only a grayscale effect but an infrared effect as well. I first learned of this technique on Kent Conklin's Two Minute Photoshop Tricks and have found it a great way to mimic an infrared look. We then explore how Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop CS3 allow the same conversions. Adobe is making it easier and easier to make beautiful black and white images form your raw files or existing color scans. My feeling is that more and more artists will take advantage of this and choose to work in black and white.

Blend Modes, Part Two with John Reuter Jan 28, 2007

Show notes

Part Two of Blend Modes focuses more on creative effects. The first effect is one I learned of on Russell Brown's excellent podcast and shows ways to paint with Blend Modes through the History brush and offers extremely flexible ways to change the tone, contrast and color of your image in a very intuitive way without layers. Next we explore hand coloring or rather mouse coloring to take an old photo and add color to it before it is added to an image composite. Finally we explore figure and background blending through use of the new Darker Color Blend mode in CS3 and the use of the blending sliders. There are many blend modes still to cover and no doubt there will be a Part Three. Stay tuned.

John Reuter: Photoshop Imagery Jan 28, 2007

Show notes

In this episode I want to go in a slightly different direction. Rather than another how-to tutorial I want to present my work from a more creative perspective, how I evolved as an artist and a Photoshop practitioner. So we will look back at early work that predated my Photoshop involvement as well as the evolution of the imagery as I began working digitally. I hope this gives you a perspective on the role that Photoshop as a software program plays in my thought process as I work through the building of various images. I also hope in the future to feature other Photoshop artists and explore their working methodology and how Photoshop influences their working process and relationships with their images. My goal is to provide a balance between technique and the thought process that creates the final images.

Photoshop Blend Modes Part One Jan 16, 2007

Show notes

The Photoshop Blend Modes offer the artist a great deal of creative and practical possibilities. At first glance they can seem a little overwhelming and confusing. But if you approach them by their groupings and understand what each group does they begin to make more sense. This podcast explores the historical origins of the blend modes and how they have evolved in Photoshop. We then explore some of the uses of blend modes to create borders, add noise, enhance a portrait, burn and dodge, remove dust and apply adjustment layers. In part two of blend modes we will explore some more creative effects.

Photoshop CS3: Smart Objects and Smart Filters Jan 04, 2007

Show notes

Photoshop CS3 has taken the concept of Smart Objects to a new level, adding the capability of working with Smart Filters. Smart filters are non-destructive filters associated with Smart Objects that give Photoshop capabilities that programs such as Adobe After Effects have had for years. They come at a price, however. In larger files you may find that they will tax your system resources to the maximum and you have to be more careful in laying out your workflow. Some of my experience with them in this tutorial may be due to the fact that we are working with a beta version of CS3 and hopefully the final version will have faster performance. This tutorial was created on a G5 Dual 2.0 gz with 2.5 megs of ram. I since tried the same files on my Mac Book Pro with 2 gigs of ram and performance was noticeably faster but the Lens Blur and re-rendering of Smart Objects still took over a minute or so. I still think waiting for this is worth the flexibility and is a superior alternative to adding extra layers to run filters on. In any event Smart Filters are a powerful addition to Photoshop and offer new freedom and capabilities in creating images.

Fotofusion 2007 Dec 29, 2006

Show notes

I will be appearing at Fotofusion 2007 at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre from January 16-21. It is an amazing Photo Festival with seminars in Photoshop, digital cameras, photo shoots and panel discussions as well as many social events where you can meet many of today's most important photographers, Photoshop gurus, and educators. Contact the Palm Beach Photographic Centre at the link below right for more information. Fotofusion includes: Photography Seminars & Panels, One-on-One Portfolio Reviews, Hands-on PhotoshopÂ® Workshops, World Class Photography Exhibitions, FOTOshoots, Book Signings & Gallery Walks, Technology Centre, Multimedia Presentations, and Fusion-Schmooze Parties. I will be teaching seminars in: Creative Photoshop, Fun with the History Palette, and The Top Ten Ways to Use Blending Modes. Hope to see you there!

Sneak Peek, Photoshop 2.5: A Look Back Dec 28, 2006

Show notes

With all of the excitement of the release of the Photoshop CS3 beta I too have been tempted to begin offering some tutorials on the new version. But rather than put up some quick me too tutorials I would rather wait and work with the program and complete some meaningful images for me before I want to offer opinions about CS3. Right off the bat it looks amazing and I thank the other podcasters who have offered some looks at the new features. I was inspired to make a tutorial on my first version of Photoshop. It was version 2.5, released in 1993. I had just switched from Aldus Photostyler and my first version was for Windows. My first computer was a cheap IBM clone, a 486 with 4 megs of ram and a 135 meg hard drive. So much focus then was on hardware resources or lack thereof and ways to work to maximize your system's resources. But Photoshop back then was still amazing and many of its core elements are still the basis for what I do with it today. I feel that looking back to the program in a somewhat simpler form is a great way to think about image selection fundamentals and working with channels, whether you use Photoshop as a digital darkroom or as a composite generator or both. So I hope you enjoy this look back and use it as a way to look forward with your Photoshop creative technique. Happy New Year!

Smart Objects in CS2 Dec 22, 2006

Show notes

I'm glad to be back after two weeks off for shoulder surgery. My right arm is still in an ultra sling for three more weeks so this podcast is a left hand creation. I'm not bad but not great with the mouse left handed so pardon the erratic movements at times. This episode's topic is Smart Objects, an underused and rather misunderstood feature in Photoshop. They offer some real benefits now, particularly in layer transformations but I'm hoping I will encourage you to take a closer look at what they offer in PS CS2 because what I have seen only briefly in my look at PS CS3 will really make them part of your daily workflow. So take a look at Smart Objects.

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