Post-Processing

Adobe Further Beats Dead Horse, Extends Photography Program for Everyone Again

Don't lie, you saw this one coming. Adobe has already beaten the proverbial horse bloody when it comes to their Photoshop Photography Program being extended again and again and again... and again.

And yet, here they are doing it again, this time once more allowing anybody in the US (regardless of whether or not you own a previous license or not) to get the special bundle for only $10/month on an annual basis.

Creating Motion in Stills: How to Animate a Photo in Post (Part 2)

A couple of months ago, The Creators Project and post-processing guru Joe Fellows teamed up to show you how to turn stills into '2.5D' animated sequences. The tutorial was very popular on PetaPixel, but it left some with as many questions as answers, and so the duo are at it again, creating a part 2 that addresses the most common concerns.

Lightroom for iPad Leaks Momentarily on Adobe’s Site, Will Cost $100/Year

Back in May, Adobe Lightroom product manager Tom Hogarty appeared on the online show The Grid and gave the photo community a sneak peek at the powerful RAW editing capabilities of the tablet version of Lightroom the company is working on.

At the time, the app was very much in the 'alpha' stages, but it seems Adobe is finally primed to release the first version judging by the product references that accidentally appeared on the company's site earlier this week.

How To: Photoshop Perspective Warp Tool Demonstrated Using Optimus Prime

The introduction of the new Perspective Warp tool (among other things) for Photoshop CC was met with a good deal of excitement by photographers. But if you haven't had a chance to play with it yourself, or you're still unsure exactly how it works from the intro video, the demo above should give you a much better idea of how to put the tool to use.

Rolex Retouching Timelapse Demonstrates Astonishing Skill and Attention to Detail

Okay, we know you've asked for less time-lapses and we're doing our best to kick the habit, but this one couldn't be helped, and we're pretty sure you'll forgive us. It's not your standard stunning landscape time-lapse, this one shows the remarkable attention to detail and skill that goes into taking a great photograph of a Rolex watch, and making it phenomenal.

Adobe Adds Perspective Warp and Linked Smart Objects in Major Photoshop Update

One of the advantages to the Creative Cloud model is that those onboard don’t have to pay any extra when major upgrades come. No more updating to the newest creative suite because Adobe has added a tantalizing feature like Content Aware Move, the update will come your way and all you have to do is continue to make your monthly payment.

Such an update just went live this very moment, featuring a couple of exciting new features: Perspective Warp and Linked Smart Objects.

Architectural Photog Transforms a Munich Hotel 88 Mind-Bending Ways in Post

From no Photoshop straight to excessive yet awesome image manipulation, we're all over the spectrum today. Although general belief (at least among purists) is that it is always better to create something in-camera than in post, there are certain things that just can't be done in-camera... and architecture photographer Víctor Enrich did ALL OF THEM to this one hotel in Munich.

Humor: ‘Body Evolution’ Model Turned Into Santa Claus by Cheeky Ad Agency

Last year, a time-lapse called 'Body Evolution - Model Before and After' went viral as people the world over had their eyes opened to just how much a model can be altered with the help of hair, makeup and, most of all, Photoshop. That video has accrued almost 8 million views, and is still shared today in hopes of convincing magazines to begin putting disclaimers on images that are significantly altered in post.

The video above by ad agency Victors & Spoils takes that video and does something hilarious with it. Almost as if to say "You think that's extreme? We'll SHOW you extreme!" the agency Photoshopped the model further, from the beautiful Barbie-like cover girl into none other than Santa Claus!

Adobe CC Splash logo

Survey Reveals that Adobe’s Photography Program is Bringing in Tons of Users

If you've followed PetaPixel even just the last month, you might have noticed that Adobe extended its Photoshop Photography Program (also referred to as the Photography Bundle) to people regardless of whether or not they own a previous version of Photoshop not once, not twice, but three times.

That is: this special promotion that allowed everyone to sign up was supposed to end on the 2nd... then on the 8th... and now is extended all the way to the end of the year. And while our you guys have come up with all manner of reasons in the comments as to why Adobe might be doing this, a new survey reveals the real reason: it's working really well.

Taking Photographs Weakens Memories, Psychological Study Finds

Here's something that both photographers and the typical millennial have to look forward to in old age: Your memory is going to suck because of all the photos you took when you should have been paying attention to what was happening around you.

That's the upshot of a new psychological study that finds you can have a good photographic record of an event or a good memory, but not both.

Adobe Opens Up CC Photography Bundle to Everyone for a Limited Time

When Adobe officially announced its special Creative Cloud plan/bundle for photographers, there was a catch: you had to own Photoshop CS3 or above in order to qualify for the special $10/month pricing. Well, no more. For a limited time, Adobe is lifting that restriction and making the special bundle available for everyone.

Nokia Publishes DNG RAW Image Samples Taken with Lumia Phones to Silence Critics

When Nokia announced that the new Lumia 1520 and the current Lumia 1020 would both soon have DNG Raw capabilities, the response was polarized -- half of the smartphone photo community was excited, the other half skeptical. Would these files really give you the latitude that RAW is known for? Or would they just be a massive waste of hard drive space.

Chinese Government Embarrassed After ‘Miniature Woman’ Photoshop Fail

If you're looking to make an argument for the inherent superiority of Western-style capitalism, consider how difficult it apparently is to find a competent Photoshop jockey in the Communist world.

The latest example comes from the Eastern provinces of China, where what was supposed to be a heartwarming record of regional officials honoring the elderly turned into an internationally recognized example of how not to doctor a photograph.

Photoshop Tutorial: Retouching Shiny Skin

Without a makeup artist at your disposal, even a great portrait can be ruined by shiny skin. So if you're looking through the results of your most recent portrait shoot and there's a lot of shine there, here's a fantastic tutorial that shows you how to get rid of it without making the photo look like it's been doctored.

Is This Another North Korean Photoshop Goof Up?

The image above, which was published by Pyongyang's official news agency KCNA, seems to show Kim Jung-un and some of his underlings touring the site of a children's hospital. However, like so many of the photos released by KCNA in the past, its authenticity is being called into question.

Star Trek Face Morphs Combine Faces of Past and Present Star Trek Actors

Well, here's one for the Trekkies... yes, I'm looking at you Cheri. Reddit user and Star Trek enthusiast Pedro Berg Johnsen (better known as ThatNordicGuy) took it upon himself to blend the faces of the Star Trek: The Original Series stars with their modern-day counterparts.

The resulting images have sparked some interesting conversation about how good a job the casting directors of the new Star Trek films did. Many of the actors blend together incredibly well.

Adobe Admits to Being Hacked, 2.9M User Accounts Compromised

Adobe users who have purchased a product or signed up for Creative Cloud recently beware. According to Adobe's website, the company's servers were hacked "very recently," and the attackers made away with customer information from 2.9 million Adobe accounts, as well as source code for a few Adobe products.

Researchers Develop Method for Getting High-Quality Photos from Crappy Lenses

There are many reason high-quality lenses cost as much as they do (and in some cases that is quite a lot), and one of them is that high-end lenses use many specially-designed elements that are perfectly-positioned to counteract aberrations and distortions.

But what if you could correct for all of that in post? Automatically? With just the click of a button? You could theoretically use a crappy lens and generate high-end results. Well, that's what researchers at the University of British Columbia are working on, and so far their results are very promising.

Google+ Unveils Improved RAW-to-JPEG Conversion, Supports Over 70 Cameras

It's hardly news that Google+ is doing its damnedest to secure itself as the social network of choice for the photographic community. And the network's ability to handle full-size RAW uploads, in addition to the easy-to-manage system and powerful new in-browser editing tools, in many ways already makes it a shoo-in for that title.

But get ready, because Google isn't done yet. Another update has been pushed Google+'s way, and this time it concerns your RAW photos. Or, more specifically, how good they look when they're automatically converted to JPEGs for viewing.

Adobe Reveals Parallel and Contour Apps to go With Mighty and Napoleon Hardware

Adobe made several announcements yesterday, and one of the most talked about revolved around projects Napoleon and Mighty, the digital ruler and pressure sensitive stylus the company debuted in early May.

Back then, both pieces of hardware were basically prototypes in the "technology exploration" phase, but now Adobe has announced that Mighty and Napoleon will be hitting store shelves in the first half of 2014, and they won't be alone. Two accompanying iOS apps -- Parallel and Contour -- are being designed as well.

Powerful New In-Browser Photo Editing Tools Added to Google+

Snapseed's team has been hard at work since their company was acquired by Google last September. They've already put new photo filters in the Google+ app and some auto-enhance tools in Google+, and now they're working on something even grander: turning Google+ into a full-fledged, browser-based photo editing tool.

Creating an Awesome Photo Manipulation from Sketch to Final Product

Swedish photographer and retouch artist Erik Johansson creates amazing photo manipulations -- in fact, we've actually featured his work before. This, however, is the first time we've had the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at how these manipulations come together.

In the video above he gives us a glimpse at how he created the manipulation Drifting Away, all the way from the first sketch to the final 123-layer manipulation.

New Algorithm Can Pick Out Photo Fakes by Looking at Shadows

As post-production software continues to become more and more powerful, researchers are doing their best to keep up by developing new methods of spotting digital photo fakes. In the past, we've seen that noise patterns and even Twitter trends can help spot fakes, but a new method out of UC Berkeley is taking a look at something else entirely: the shadows.

Leonardo: A Full-Featured Photo Editing App for iOS Devices

Back in mid-June, Yahoo! purchased Ghostbird and pulled the company's popular advanced mobile editing app PhotoForge off of the app store. If you weren't one of the lucky ones who purchased the app before it got pulled and you've been looking for a suitable alternative, look no further: Leonardo has you covered.

Review: Alien Skin Software’s Exposure 5 is a Solid Film Emulation Program

Alien Skin Software's Exposure 5 is a starting point for building stylish and creative photos that will impress even the harshest of critics. With hundreds of ideas to pick, layer and build upon there's really no limit to what you can make. Opening an image for the first time in Exposure 5 may prove a little overwhelming with the vast array of filters there are to tinker with. Everything from a subtle film look still available at your local shop to the original daguerreotype feel. It is impressive to say the least.

Time-Lapse: Creating an Impressive 284-Layer ‘Super Composite’

Photography purists might want to look away on this one. The above video is a 9 minute time-lapse that speeds up 7+ hours worth of Photoshop CC work. That work was spent creating an intense composite that wound up consisting of 284 layers before it was all said and done.

A Rapid-Fire Animated Tribute to Every Photoshop CS5 Filter

Photographers are intimately familiar with the myriad filters available to them through Photoshop. Nothing like the Instagram-style "filters" we've come to hear about more and more often, these have names like Grain, Diffuse, Ocean Ripple and Pinch.

And although Adobe has had to deal with some negative reactions to its business model as of late, Barcelona based audiovisual studio Device decided to pay tribute to the company's filtering abilities by putting together this short animated tribute to all of Photoshop CS5's filters.

Video: Photo Restoration and Colorization Demonstrated Through a Time-Lapse

Digital image editing technology -- culturally controversial uses aside -- has enabled us to do some pretty amazing things. In the past, we shared a video that showed how the Internet came together to restore a WWII veteran's Navy photo to its former glory.

This time, we get to see the process in action, as Redditor thehatersalad shows us the impressive restoration and colorization work he did on an old photo of user f2ISO100's grandmother -- time-lapse style.

Bending Pixels: Fun Things You Can Do With Panorama Stitching Software

One of the great workflow possibilities that was opened up by the advent of digital photography is the ability to easily create panoramic images. It's become trivially easy to generate panorama images, so much so that it's even become an integrated feature into smartphones.

What many photographers may not realize is that there are a number of other interesting results that can be created using panorama creation software, if you just keep in mind what the software is actually doing (and what you are actually telling it to do).

Get Ready for Photo Editing in Photoshop Done with Hand Gestures

You know those computers in Minority Report and Iron Man that are completely controlled through hand gestures? One day soon, we may all be using Photoshop in the same way.

The video above is a short demo showing a Photoshop plugin that introduces some introductory gesture controls to the image editing program.