August, 2002 | CreativePro Network

Digital Camera How-To: Trick Your Camera into Taking Silhouettes

This story is taken from "Exploring Digital Photography" (Element K Journals). Creativepro.com readers can subscribe to Element K Journals at a discount. Click here to learn more. A silhouette is a classic and dramatic photographic technique. By isolating the outline of a subject while eliminating detail, a silhouette places tremendous emphasis on shape and contrast. […]

For Position Only: The PDF/X Files

As if adopting a PDF workflow weren’t enough to keep you busy, you’ve probably heard at least murmurs of something called PDF/X. Or rather, PDF/X-1, PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3…STOP! I hear you. You don’t have to shout. I know it’s daunting, but rather than cover your ears and yell at me, why don’t you let me tell […]

Photoshop Tips: Trashing the Preferences File

Few things can be as big a headache as a misbehaving Photoshop. Thankfully, replacing Photoshop’s Preferences file can do wonders when the program is acting up. Think of it as “Photoshop Aspirin.” Here’s how to do it, and a tip that makes it easy to do regularly. The Preferences File The Preferences file is where […]

The Creative Toolbox: Surprisingly Agile Photoshop Elements

Adobe Photoshop keeps marching along: Now in its seventh incarnation, this mega-program retails for about $600. While many of us have been able to keep up with its new features and pay its upgrade prices through the years, imagine what it must be like for newcomers trying to start with Photoshop from scratch nowadays. Many […]

The Art of Business: Is It Time to “Incorporate”?

Did you hear the one about the artist who became an accountant? Probably not, because it’s a preposterous idea. Artists (and writers) are notoriously bad with all things financial. If you can relate, you may still be toiling away as a sole proprietor (and paying all that self-employment tax) or locked inside a business entity […]

Illustrator How-To: Making Editable Compound Objects

The ability to make complex vector paths has long been a hallmark of Adobe Illustrator. Version 10 of this venerable drawing program included enhancements to its PathFinder palette. Now, you can create a live compound shape that remains editable, thus keeping your artwork flexible and your creative options open. Learn how to exploit these new […]

Under the Desktop: Prospecting for Quartz in Mac OS X

Watching the countdown timer in anticipation of this weekend’s release of Apple Mac OS X v10.2 update, a.k.a. Jaguar, the mind wanders to related subjects, such as Quartz, the imaging model used in OS X. We see its graphics bells and whistles reflected in the Aqua interface, but how much do you really know about […]

Real World Tips for QuarkXPress 5: Web Graphics

Excerpted from “Real World QuarkXPress 5” (Peachpit Press). Peachpit Press is offering this book at a discount to creativepro.com readers. Follow this link. Tip: Use TIFFs, not EPS Files Sure, XPress can automatically convert your document’s TIFF and EPS pictures into GIF or JPEG files upon export. However, because EPS graphics contain “encapsulated” data, XPress […]

Canon EOS D60: More Pixels, Less Bucks, Great Camera

Released in the fall of 2000, the Canon EOS D30 was the first high-quality digital SLR camera with interchangeable lenses to sell for less than $5,000. At about $3,000 (without lens), it undercut by far the previous price leader, the Nikon D1 (which sold for $5,500 also without lens), and though the Canon model lacked […]