Tutorials

I am a photographer who is also a frustrated illustrator; simply put, I can't draw my way out of a paper bag. I have great respect for those who can make amazing photographs and paint or draw beautiful artwork, like Victoria White. So, when the new Structure Reference feature went live in Adobe Firefly, I was bolstered by the content I saw others creating, even from simple pencil sketches or line art. What does it do? Well, it helps you create new imagery based on your own imagery as the baseline, generative matching, if you will. Read on to learn how using a simple slider, you control how closely Firefly matches your original image as it riffs off variations based on your text prompt.

Welcome to another practical photography/Gen AI project! If this is your first taste of these articles, my goal is share and show how Generative AI can be used as a tool in your photography without undermining your own creative efforts or skills; Generative AI in Photoshop is a great tool to assist in removing distractions, or enhancing the story of your photo, not a creative replacement for your original work. This project covers three major topics; a basic outline of my post-processing protocol, my how-to for using Generative Fill in Photoshop and a deep-dive into Content Credentials and their importance in this age of Gen AI. Read on to see how I tackle a problematic compositional decision.

I completed a successful proof of concept earlier this year; using Adobe Firefly to realistically expand a landscape photo. The original image was captured in August of 2008. The second image was reimagined in June of 2023 - nearly 15 YEARS LATER.   Read on to learn more about this project.

In the past, I have illustrated my Christmas story with images from Adobe Stock and composites created in Photoshop; I've also converted it to an audio podcast, complete with music and sound effects. And I've shared my process for creating both versions through articles on Behance. This year, I've turned to Adobe Firefly to generate most of the storytelling imagery. As I've done in the past, I want to break down my process for you. Much like other recent creative projects and articles I've written on Generative AI (specifically, Adobe Firefly), I will share how this new technology fits into my creative workflow, assisting me in making my dream a reality, not replacing my creativity.

I've been writing about my adventures and experiments in Generative AI lately, with an expected bias towards Adobe Firefly. Prior articles of mine have talked about practical uses for Firefly/Generative Fill and Generative Expand. But they've been more exploratory than true project application. The Art of the Possible, if you will. Well, this week, I have had the opportunity to do more than muse about the possibilities. This week, I needed Firefly to speed up my workflow and do things I likely

I've been diving into Text-to-image AI, with a specific focus on Adobe Firefly and Generative Fill in the Photoshop beta. In general, I'm quite impressed; I don't know whether to be anxious or in awe of what these tools can do, but I grow increasingly more excited to test them out in my own work. Read on to see a series of before and after images/projects. Some include subtle changes, and some - well - are NOT so subtle. I've also included some nifty tips on getting better results, curated by Adobe's Gen AI experts.

Inspired by a video tutorial from PSDesires, I thought I would try out this technique of using a reduced-intensity selection from an alpha channel to turn my photographs into painterly artwork. I'm very pleased with the overall results and enjoyed applying this technique to more than 1 photo. Read on to learn more.

Confession: I have been trying to write a new article about Firefly (Adobe's Generative AI set of tools) for a few weeks now. However, every time I sat down to start this piece, the wizards at Adobe released something new! Case in point... have you heard the news? It's all over town...people talkin... Adobe announced May 23, 2023 that Generative AI is now part of the current public Photoshop beta. That's right... Adobe Firefly is now integrated right inside of Photoshop! Just as the recently-released AI masking was the biggest thing to happen to Adobe Lightroom in more than a decade, Generative Fill is the biggest thing to happen to Photoshop since the introduction of layers.​

Last year, I started (and finished) a DIY project to create a display case out of an old ladder and some boards. The goal was to have a place to set up my Christmas village, so that it wasn't sitting on the fireplace mantle...or bar...or dining room table. The project was a success. So much so, that I made a little movie of the final display, using a combination of Adobe Rush, Premiere Pro and Adobe Stock for music and motion graphics. I also wrote two articles about the project. While setting up Christmas Town, I quickly realized that this display unit would also be ideal for Halloween Town - for the same reasons. Read on to learn more - and watch the movie!

One of the current downsides to AI-generated imagery is the image resolution that these tools produce. The desire to increase the resolution of these assets is not new; it's been around likely since the first Gen AI image was created. And there are plenty of videos on Youtube offering a variety of methods to upscale your AI images. So... why am I writing this? Simply put, my focus will be on using Adobe tools to perform these functions, from start to finish. Read on to learn more.

This month (April, 2023) Adobe dropped a new update for the Lightroom ecosystem. This capability will be a boon to photographers shooting with smaller sensor cameras like Micro 4/3 and APSC-sized sensors, including yours. There are many reviews on Youtube about the new AI DeNoise feature available in Lightroom Desktop (cloud) and Lightroom Classic, so, rather than just repeating what's already been said, I thought I'd share my own unscientific testing with my own images. Read on to see some real-world examples and read my thoughts on this latest advancement in Lightroom.

I've recently hung a new photography exhibit and - while I've been using Adobe Express sporadically to promote the event - I thought I'd take a more structured approach in the weeks leading up to the show.  Read on to learn how I created an entire social media campaign inside of a single Adobe Express project.

For 2023, I'm making a point of shooting more video footage when I go out to take pictures, both for personal and professional use. My Adobe Stock collection is primarily still images and - considering that video pays much better - I'm hoping to create some attractive b-roll to add to my offering on Adobe Stock. Read on to learn more about my first-hand experience.

Unless you're a professional videographer, you might find that you're shooting video with either your smartphone or digital camera using that device's built-in microphone. While convenient, typically the audio quality is not great - there is often a lot of ambient noise and - depending on your distance from your subject - the audio might even be quite low in volume. You watch the video later and might think, aww if only the sound was better, I'd share this! Read on to learn how to use Adobe Podcast and Premiere Pro to improve existing audio in your film footage.

Graduate exhibitions, portfolio shows, commencements... has your school moved these events online? That in-person student experience can still be maintained by holding a virtual graduate showcase. It's free and easy to manage. How easy? You can get set up in just 7 steps! Read on to learn more.

A few months back, Adobe Express began supporting multiple pages - or artboards - for graphic projects. This has simplified several aspects of how I use Adobe Express: - centralize social media graphics for a campaign in a single project up to 30 pages/artboards - create and consolidate different aspect ratios for posts - create image carousels Read on to learn how I built out an entire series of how-to image carousels for Instagram

In the fall of 2022, Adobe released a new online beta called Adobe Podcast. The whole idea of this service was to bring audio recording to the masses, making it easy to not only capture audio, but to edit and even produce a recording complete with narration, music, even sound effects, all in one place! Read on to learn more about my first experience with Adobe Podcast, where I take my beloved Christmas story, "A Midnight Clear," and jump from the printed page to the realm of spoken word art.

I recently began experimenting with one of Adobe's newest tools, Substance Stager. Stager picks up where our former 2D/3D compositing tool, Adobe Dimension, left off, while still remaining fairly easy to use for the novice (like me). Read on to see how I faired in my first serious attempt.

Recently, I started experimenting with Adobe Substance Stager, to create photo-realistic scenes using my own original photography and 3D models. Virtual Photography, if you will.  While I am in the early days of my learning curve, I am enjoying the challenge.  In my first project, I focused on adding a couple of wooden rowboats and lifejackets to an early morning photo of the lake near my cottage. While I was pleased with the result. I felt the boats themselves looked a little too new, and I learned that to create that additional realism, I needed to learn how to use Substance Painter.  The goal of my second project was to tell a slightly different story - a campsite on the water. Again, I chose a sunrise photo as my background image (background plate). As you can see below, I've included a tent, a campfire, canoe and camp chairs.

Our fireplace and mantle are key features in our living room. In the past, I have used it as a display for my Christmas or Halloween villages. Once, I even created magazine cover shot, here. A couple weeks ago, after missing the chance to catch the actual sun as it streamed across the stone facade, I grabbed one of my Lumecube 2.0 lights on a tiny tripod and did my best to emulate the effect, quickly capturing the shot handheld at ISO 2500. The processed result is the first image. This became one of my Project 365 images. I was so pleased with the photo, I decided to take more time and "do things right." Read on to learn what that means from both photographic and post-production viewpoints.

If you're a heavy Lightroom user like I am, more often than not you're in your own library of images, importing, sorting, editing, tweaking and even sharing via social media. Did you know there is a whole other dimension to Lightroom, Lightroom Mobile and Lightroom Web? An inspirational, educational and somewhat social component? Well, there is, in the forms of Discover Edits and Learn Tutorials. In this article, I'll be focussing on the Discover Edits view; what it is, how to use it and how to share your own edits.

Many years ago, I wrote a Christmas story, A Midnight Clear. It remains one of the favorites I've written. I have shared it as a text-based web story and PDF over the years, during the holiday season and it's been well received by those who read it. But...I always felt it was missing one key element - illustrations. I do not have the wherewithal or skill to create actual illustrations, and while I have a large photographic collection, I had no hope of using my work to properly visualize this story. Enter stock photography and illustrations, specifically Adobe Stock. As both a creative professional and contributor to Adobe Stock, I saw an opportunity to do the story justice with proper, professional imagery and to truly showcase how stock assets can enhance and support the written word...

This article talks about a recent sunrise photoshoot I did to build up my AdobeStock portfolio.

Recently in my drives around the Kawartha area near the cottage, I’ve been fortunate to be able to capture not just gorgeous fields of wheat and rye, but also to view the harvesting process. I captured some great images, but quickly realized that to be acceptable for Adobe Stock, I would need to remove branding elements from the machinery. What I didn’t realize at the time, was how far that process would extend.

Here's a brief tutorial on how to configure your watermark when using the recently updated (December 2019) version of Lightroom Mobile.

There is a somewhat symbiotic relationship between Adobe Stock (Adobe's stock content service, integrated into Creative Cloud) and Adobe Portfolio (quick and simple web site creation tool and hosting service for creatives). In this article, I’ll share with you a couple of techniques that can help generate more awareness (and sales) of your Adobe Stock contributions.

Recently, I've been writing a series of articles on the connections between Creative Cloud Libraries and Adobe Stock. I'm very pleased to say that I've completed the series, as Spark Page projects!  Initially, I had written one very long article on the subject. But, Spark Page does not support any kind of internal page navigation (liked named anchors) I decided that it would be easier for people to focus in on their specific challenges by breaking up the article into segments. This idea also inspired another article, focused on collaboration. I'm adding links to all four projects here.

Adobe Stock just broke the 150-million asset ceiling this March, but a huge collection of great content doesn't mean much if you can't quickly find what you need. With that sentiment in mind, I dig deep into searching for assets on Adobe Stock and talk about the various ways that Adobe's Artificial Intelligence, Sensei, can help you find what you need, fast.

Ever wondered about the connection between Adobe Stock and Creative Cloud Libraries? Well, wonder no more; check out my latest article about this integration.

I've recently started digitizing my decades-old slide collection. One of the challenges I've had is dust/dirt/residue on the film itself. This project shows the improvements I've been able to make using Lightroom and Photoshop to clean up the images.

If you weren't paying attention last week, something crazy cool happened to Lightroom. It's learning to see. Read on to learn more about Technology Previews within Lightroom.

I've been reviewing some of my images lately, from trips taken in the past couple years and - as I do from time to time - have reprocessed several. In some cases it was to do b/w conversions, in other cases it was to see how new features in Lightroom might help. In yet other situations, it was to totally reconsider the initial rejection of an image for either aesthetics or some other lack of visual impact.

A few months ago, Adobe released a new and free mobile app called Adobe Post. Simply put, Adobe Post is a fun and fast way for anyone (and I mean anyone) to create stunning social graphics. You pick a photo, add text, and apply some design filters to instantly create beautiful designs. 

December 1st, 2015 was a little like Christmas morning for many creatives; Adobe released huge updates to many of the Creative Cloud apps. I'll talk about one of the new releases called Adobe Fuse (Preview). What I find really interesting, is its integration with Photoshop! What follows is the overall workflow I used from start to finish to blend a newly created 3D character with one of my existing photos. I won't go into exhaustive detail on how to build a character, but will outline the process of how I got to my final scene.