Photoshop cafe Newsletter

Welcome to the December issue of CAFE CUP, the newsletter from PhotoshopCAFE.com. I hope your getting ready for the holidays, this has been a good and busy year. At the Cafe we have had a site redesign, 2 new Videos and seen some really fast growth. I have personally produced my first book on Flash and 8 hours worth of Video training (this will be avaliable reallly soon, keep an eye on your emailbox for this). This will be the last newsletter for the year, You may receive 1 or 2 newsflashes as there are some announcements coming such as our annual contest.

Just a reminder to add this email address to your address book so that you can see all images and your CAFE CUP won't get lost in spam blockers.

Thanks for supporting PhotoshopCAFE this year and I really hope that your enjoy the tips. Don't forget to take advantage of the discount code and order your videos in time for the holidays!

Is it possible to get quality Royalty free stock photos for $3? Sure is, check out istockphoto - They also have Flash movies and Illustrator files.

12,800 royalty free Designs inside in Vector format including a 320 page color catalog. All this for only $274

It's not that often that I mention a 3rd party product in our newsletters, but when I saw the ornament pack for myself I was very impressed with the quality. We have all seen the "clipart bumper packs" full of junk and a few useful images. This one is full of great images, they are very up to date and extremely hip. Not only that, but we have arranged for cafe members to get a special price as well as a free backgrounds pack with every order this month. Check these out for yourself

Use your Photoshop skills to break a world record for charity.

PhotoshopCAFE have joined forces with a global art alliance to try and create the world’s largest ever artistic collaboration. Five international charities have come together to produce a record breaking piece of global art that will represent all people from around the world, and have enlisted the help of the PhotoshopCAFE community to help them reach their goal.

So what’s it all about? How can you create a true snapshot of our global society, and sum up its diversity in one single picture? Simple. Get together one million people from all around the world, and get them to work on the picture together in the world's largest ever artistic collaboration - a collaboration where everyone is equal, where all outcomes are valid. Nobody knows what will happen when one million people create a single work of art. Will the result be a crazy patchwork of images? Will some larger picture emerge from the chaos? Let's find out!

We’re looking for as many PhotoshopCAFE members as possible to join the project and create a small square image. Your image will be just one of one million images that will make up the entire picture - The One Million Masterpiece.

You need to create your image online with some pretty simple tools, stripping back your Photoshop skills to the bare basics. What you choose to draw is completely up to you, and you can make it fit in with the surrounding pieces or make it stand out. You can change your image at any time if you don't feel happy with it, and you can exchange messages with your fellow artists using the community pages.

The complete picture is set to be printed and unveiled on World Population Day 2007 as a symbol of global unity.

The first step to achieving this goal is to smash the current world record of 25,297 contributors to a single artwork. We think that with the help of the PhotoshopCAFE community we can hit that target by Christmas – so get on over there and make your mark! Joining The One Million Masterpiece is free. Visit www.theonemillionmasterpiece.com and follow the simple instructions. Anyone wishing to make a donation to the international charities can do so securely through the site.

Did you know that you can send a password Protected image through Email using Photoshop?

Did you know that a lot of the hard work you do can be done automatically by Photoshop while your doing something else?

Do you need to organize your images and be able to quickly search through 1,000’s of photos to find the right one. Do you need to submit images to stock agencies, publications or anywhere online? Perhaps your concerned about protecting your images on email or online? This video is jammed full of insider secrets. You'll learn all about metadata, security, creating galleries, and portfolios easier than you thought. The automated workflow will shave hours off the process. This is all the essential information that’s hard to find and now it’s explained in simple language.

Award winning designer and best-selling author, Colin Smith will be your personal coach. You will love his easy to understand, conversational style that will “just make sense”. Learning doesn't have to be boring, you will have a lot of fun as you tear through these unique tutorials.

This fast loading CD ROM/Download contains over 2 hours of sharp 800 x 600 video. The advanced interface frees you up, instantly jump to any of the lessons with complete control over the playback. All the image files are included, so you can follow along at your own pace! Also included: 19 Bonus Actions from actionFX.com.If you are a photographer or designer who uses Adobe Photoshop and Bridge, this video is one of the best investments you can make.

Check out Special OPS

Don’t forget the special discount. Save an additional 10% on ANY of our training disks and downloads CODE: PSNL1106

I have had a lot of people ask me when the new PhotoshopCS2 Type Effects will be available on CD for our store. The wait is over, they are now in stock and ready to shop! Order now

Constrain me.
When you are using the marquee tools, shape tools and resizing objects, its always a bear to keep things in proportion. Make a habit of holding down the shift key while dragging and you will have perfect circles and squares, custom shapes will look how they should and resized objects will keep their proportions intact.

I have created a new page where you can view over an hour's worth of video tutorials for free. This is a sampling of the content from my 7 different titles produced over the years. There should be something for everyone here. Check out the free Photoshop videos

Yippie! My new book is finally out. It was unveiled at Photoshop World and Flash Forward. I was told that this was the #3 best seller at Flash Forward. This is for beginners and intermediate Flash users.

I follow the same approach that I have with Photoshop training. You will learn how to create all the cool things you have seen with Flash without all the confusing jargon. Make all kinds of animation and transitions, things will sparkle, metal will shimmer and you will even make realistic moving smoke. Learn how to build entire sites in Flash… 2 ways! Easily add video, green screen effects and all kinds of video effects to web pages. Want to create an old-time looking video in Flash? No problem. Add sound, music, dynamic scrolling text, email forms, galleries etc. In total there are over 70 fast paced, recipe-style projects. All source files are included on the CD. If you have always wanted to learn Flash or know the basics but looking for some really awesome techniques to make your work look like the pros.. this is the book for you

I have decided to take the plunge and start a blog. Check it out news, opinions, resources and other stuff related to design and photography.

http://www.photoshopcafe.com/blog

Find the center of a page quickly
Holding down shift while dragging into a new document will put the object smack dab in the center of the page. Knowing this, create a new document of any size. Create a new layer and click once with the brush or pencil tool. Drag this new layer into your original document while holding down shift and you have now found the center point of your page, quickly and painlessly.

Thanks for tuning into the CAFE Cup and remember: Create don't Steal! See you at the cafe