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» QT: Load a layer mask as a selection

In Photoshop you can load your layer masks as selections. Just Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) on the layer mask thumbnail right in the layers panel and it will be activated. All the normal selection shortcuts apply.

» Defend your Art

 The major discussion right now is all about the Orphan Works Act and that we need to do something about it. A recently created website by a couple of members on the NAPP Forums, are this website called Defend Your Art. On the site you can get to know all about what you need to know and how the act affects us and what we can do about it. You can also find posters to print or share over the net that’ll help spread the word about what’s coming, because no one, in the act’s current writing, is spared from it. Definitely go and take a visit on the site. Here’s below a quote from the site, one of the more disturbing ones.

A quick Google search will show that Shawn Bentley was a lawyer and lobbyist for none other than Time Warner Cable. As far as I can tell, he was the VP in charge of intellectual property, who’s job description included: the acquiring of, the management of and the protection of intellectual property for Time Warner Cable. To me this says he fully understood what he was doing

 

» QT: Fading adjustments and filters in Photoshop

Did you know that you can fade the effect of a filter and most adjustments you make in Photoshop after you’ve applied them? You can! Right after you’ve applied the filter or adjustment (and we are talking right after), go under the Edit menu and you’ll see an option that says "Fade" and then the name of whatever filter you applied or whichever adjustment you used.

» It is Tuesday-day!

Well today is indeed Tuesday and adding some corny titles to it, we end up with Tuesday-day, the day which really is Tuesday. Just arrived home after being at the doctors taking a blood test to find out if I’m allergic or not, unfortunately I bleed easily so the nurse had to try twice, once in each arm because the first vain broke. Anyway I’m all good and now I just need to wait for the results and just take the pills when I get symptoms. Anyway, that’s enough about me and onto the news!

• Firstly, I’m taking a minute to wish one of my best friends a very happy birthday!! You know who you are and have the best birthday possible!
   
• Yesterday I released a brand new starting episode of the Creative Suite Tips and Tricks Podcast. It’s great to be back and you can view the InDesign tutorial on the podcast site. Also released are two new tutorials here on the site, Create HDR Photos Part 1 & Part 2.
   
• If you are a user of iWorks and specifically Pages you probably want to check out the list of templates for Pages from Jumsoft. They are available from there for only $29 and are of great quality. They also have other templates for other applications.
   
• Trying to get a job? Just got a job and want to make sure you handle it? Over at A List Apart today they’ve posted an article today called Why Did you Hire me?. It gives you some tips on what you do when you just get a job with negotiations etc. Give it a read!

» New Headset Purchase!

Finally, what you all have been waiting for I’ve just got back after picking up a new headset for my recordings. Things are sounding a lot better now I can tell you and a much cleaner sound! I’ve done some initial tests to see the performance and I think it looks really good for my purposes! I’m going to try to record some new things today and get up a lot of things this week.

When it comes to the CSTT podcast, I have a lot of episodes to catch up on and you’ll see a few new this week and continuing the coming as planned originally!

» Sunday Chilling

I was away yesterday at my cousins confirmation service and I had a blast meeting up with all the family and I got some pretty nice shots and the above being one of them. A note though, I was just one in the audience (who had an especially big camera) but luckily I was in the first audience seat. However with it being said, the above one is one of the best I got which had a really nice perspective to it.

I also posted a new Photoshop Tutorial just now about creating a cool text effect which has a cool shiny blue line effect to it so go and check that out as well.

Otherwise today it is a pretty relaxed day. I’m finishing up some presentations and essays for this week which is again going to be really full with things including my debut organ concert tomorrow so instead of a news post tomorrow there’ll be an interview posted for you while I’m gone playing

Happy Mothers Day!

» Thursday Happenings

It’s another fine day and that makes you happy! However, there is one thing that is bothering me and in the end you guys as well. My microphone that I’m using to record the tutorials with has gone awry and I will need to get a new one (about time I got a good headset anyway). Good thing for you all is that it’s going to improve the quality of the audio. Bad news is that it’ll take me a little while to find a good one and get it shipped here, so meanwhile, all episodes of the podcast and all video tutorials will be halted. Now onto the news!

• Open Office 3.0 Beta has just been released. Being one of the best competitors to the Microsoft Office Package and being free it is a very awaited new release. What’s best for Mac users, is that it has been made to use Aqua, the program frame on Mac and thus you no longer need X11 installed to run it.
   
• Do you deal with customers a lot in your business? If so then David Ziser, famous wedding photographer, has posted a little step by step number guide on what to do when answering the phone with a client on the line. It’s a good read and most of these pointers I myself consider pretty self-explanatory but nevertheless it isn’t for a lot of people.
   
• Scott Kelby posted last week a little review on the Hoodman RAW Memory Cards which has some incredible reliability. Today he posted that he got an email from Hoodman VP of Marketing who was telling a little bit more about the cards. They do sound pretty cool so I urge you to check the post out!

 

» The site gets a facelift!

It’s the springtime and it is definitely time to get the site a facelift from being dark grey to lighten up to white and blue. The same main structure is kept so you’ll be feeling right at home with the navigation.

Coming soon to Bernskiold Media

What’s getting really close to completion is some new features we are working hard on to release and also a lot of new materials! Expect it coming in the next two or three weeks and stay tuned for it. It’s definitely worth waiting for I can promise you.

Please leave your comments on the new springtime update of the site and if you find any bugs, report them in the comments. Also, if you have any suggestions on what you want to see, leave them also in the comments!

» Wednesday Goodies

 

I’m proud to announce that I’ll be rolling our a couple of interviews soon with some amazing artists in various medias who I really think you’ll all like. I’m just waiting for the interviews to be completed before I get them out, so expect it in a couple of days!

• Photomatix Pro 3 has just been released and is available as a free upgrade to current 2.x license holders, if you don’t have a license, they are available for $99. Updates in version three includes a much better interface and a lot of cool new features!
   
• Adobe has released their new version 1.0 of the Adobe Meda Player now featuring a lot of cool free content among others, from Lynda, Total Training, Kelby Training and more. What’s also cool is they have a new channel called Adobe TV as well!
   
• I was looking in my Feedburner statistics for this site’s feed and my podcast feed and I was stunned to see the podcast has over 700 subscribers! Thanks to everyone who has subscribed (although I doubt you are reading this since this site only has 12 subscribers :D) in just two weeks!
   
• I just finished writing a massive tutorial (over 14,000 characters) on how to create a simple website with only code which will be expanded on in future tutorials. I just posted it up for all NAPP members on the NAPP Member Forums to see what kind of reactions it gets and if it is all good, I’ll get it up here as well!

» Creative Suite Tips and Tricks Podcast Live Again!!

After a long while being practically dead because of bandwith troubles with it not being enough. Now after a long while of planning the podcast, it is now back online on its brand new and own website www.csttpodcast.com! It’s all new graphics, all new intro and all new episodes coming, but a good thing, if you were a previous subscriber all you need to do is to make sure to have the right podcast feed URL and use the correct link to iTunes. Or just do a search for Creative Suite Tips and Tricks on there!

Happy listening to the first released episode today!