January, 2014 | CreativePro Network

Accelerate Graphics Production Using Metadata Filters in Adobe Bridge and Lightroom

You’ve got a folder full of images and you need to run some production chores on them, like converting formats or applying noise reduction. How can you quickly tell which images need work? The filtering features in Adobe Bridge and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom can save you lots of production time by helping you quickly target […]

Free Art Books Galore

Art books are often incedible sources of education and inspiration. They can also weigh and cost about as much as a small car. So if your budget and bookshelves can’t support a large collection of printed art books, fear not, because the you can download hundreds of free books from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim […]

Creating a “Fold Back” Effect for a Heading in InDesign

You’ve seen this effect, right? A rectangle that appears to bend or fold backward behind itself: How on earth did I do that? Well, I used two different methods in the image above. However, in both cases, the blue frame behind the heading was created with a Rule Below — a really big, thick rule […]

Automate Your Time Tracking Chores With CreativeWorx TimeTracker

For many creative pros, time tracking is a tedious chore that takes away from the work they really want (and need) to be doing. An ideal solution would be easy to use, mostly automated, integrated with major creative apps, and satisfy all the reporting requirements of business units. TimeTracker from CreativeWorx promises to do all […]

Transform an iPhone Into a DSLR With Ladibird

Like a lot of smartphones, one of the main selling points of the iPhone 5 is its camera. Compact, capable of great shots, and easy sharing. But a true DSLR it is not. The makers of ladibird aim to combine the convenience of an iPhone with the professional-level image quality of a DSLR. Ladibird is […]

Essential Tips for Cropping Images in Photoshop

Whether it’s done to make images fit a specific space, or to make them tell a certain story, cropping is one of the most fundamental tasks in any Photoshop workflow. Take advantage of these tips and techniques to get your cropping jobs done quickly and easily. C is for crop 1. Press c to get […]

Polaroid’s C³, the Cute Cube Camera

CES 2014 wraps up today in Las Vegas, and among the ginormous bendable TVs and Dick Tracy smartwatches, Polaroid unveiled a nifty…ok, adorable little cube camera called the C³ that fits in the palm of your hand. For a suggested retail price of $99, the C³ offers a 5MP CMOS Sensor and 120° wide angle lens. It can capture […]

Color Management is Not Color Correction

In the webinar I presented to the Graphic Artists Guild titled Color Management for the Graphic Arts Professional, I highlighted a key concept—that color management is not color correction. It is a common misunderstanding that the two processes are thought to improve color, but in fact, they are two very different things. Color correction is the […]

A quick way to abut the edges of 2 (or more) objects

I usually use smart guides to butt the edge of one object exactly up against the other. But sometimes there are so many other objects on the page that smart guides fail or are difficult to use. Of course, you could pull down a ruler guide, snap it to the edge of one object, and […]