Much can be said of masking: Masking is the art of using the image to select itself. Masking lets you apply the entire weight of Photoshop to the task of editing a selection. And masking, thy name is alpha channel.

Photoshop Feature #15: Alpha Channels

Imaging expert and award-winning author Deke McClelland presents his list of the top 40 features in Photoshop. Some are tools, others are commands, still others are conceptual. All are invaluable. Learn this 40 feature and you'll know Photoshop.
		Special bonus content: Deke's Photoshop CS5 Top 5, which covers the best new features in Photoshop CS5 in just five easy-to-watch videos!

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In today's installment of Photoshop CS5 Top 5, Deke demonstrates Photoshop's bristle brushes, which simulate traditional paint brushes—the kind your local art-supply store sells—and its new Mixer brush, which lets you give a photo a painterly look. Along the way, Deke passes along a tip for customizing Photoshop's interface—one of those little chores that can save so much time, but that so few of us do.

Photoshop CS5 Top 5 Tip #5: Painting Tools

In this installment of Photoshop CS5 Top 5, Deke McClelland explores a feature he calls fun to use, funny to watch, and extremely powerful. Take a fifteen-minute tour of the Puppet Warp feature, then head over to check out all of our Adobe CS5 training to explore new courses and tutorials covering Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, InDesign, Flash, Premiere, and more.

Photoshop CS5 Top 5 Tip #4: Puppet Warp

Refining selections and creating masks are unglamorous but utterly essential Photoshop techniques—you've got to master both in order to perform tricky compositing tasks, such as extracting a person from an image and then adding a different background.

Photoshop CS5 Top 5 Tip #3: Refine Edge

Whether you want to be subtle or brash, the greatly improved HDR features in Photoshop CS5 are worth a close look. They're the subject of today's Photoshop CS5 Top 5 movie. Watch as Deke McClelland walks you through Photoshop CS5's HDR toning and HDR Pro features.

Photoshop CS5 Top 5 Tip #4: High-dynamic range photography

In this first episode of Photoshop CS5 Top 5 on lynda.com, Deke McClelland introduces us to the common sense enhancements, tweaks, and fixes in latest version of Adobe Photoshop. Learn about the new Straighten button, the Content Aware Fill tool, and more.

Photoshop Feature #15: Alpha Channels

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