My Digital Coach Blog

10 Things You Could be Using Photoshop for But Probably Aren't

Author: Shaun Pearce

Most people don't use Photoshop to its fullest capabilities.  Here are just ten uses to which you could put this highly versatile software.

1. Restoring Old Photographs. Have a look through that old family photo album - the really old one from up in Grandma's attic.  Inside there are probably a few photos from way back when that haven't stood the test of time so well.  They've got cracks and tears that really spoil their appearance. Scan them into Photoshop, and then set to work with the Clone Stamp, Healing Brush, and Patch tools. The Healing Brush in particular is a great tool for this purpose as it samples data from one part of the picture and blends it in with what's already there.   

2. Correcting Mistakes.  We've all done it:  Had an attack of "finger over the lens syndrome," or got too close with the flash, so our subjects suffer from "red eye" and look like extras from a horror movie.  Use the crop tool to salvage something usable from your obscured photo, and the enlarge wizard to blow it up to a reasonable size.  For "red eye" and "pet eye," use the eyedropper tool to sample color from around the iris, and a brush to paint away the red.   

3. Adding Graphics to Videos.  It's a little known fact, but many domestic and professional nonlinear editing systems (especially the Mac based ones like Avid or Final Cut) enable you to import Photoshop .psd files directly into the timeline.   

4. Creating Text Effects for Print and Web.  There's an almost unlimited amount of things you can do with text in Photoshop.  Use the Type Mask Tools to create picture filled text, then upload the results to your web page - or print them out for a one of a kind T-shirt.   

5. Turning a Photo Into a Work of Art.  Everyone likes to have nice things to look at.  Most of us like to have pictures on the wall, and something that looks different from what other people have on their walls is a definite plus.  Unless you're blessed with artistic talent, though, this can be very expensive - until now.  Use one of Photoshop's many Artistic or Brush Stroke filters to turn your photos into "new masters,"  then print them out on quality art paper.   

6. Designing Web Banners and Buttons.  Photoshop comes with a predefined web banner sized canvas.  Photoshop's sister application, Image Ready, comes with several - and lots of tools for animating text and pictures. You can also create interactive buttons that enhance a web browsing experience.     

7. Adding Text to Photographs. Impress your boss by putting the company name on the side of an airliner, building, or racing car.  Use the Move Tool to skew the text to fit the contours of the picture, adjust the opacity a little, and hey presto! The text will look like it's always been part of the photo.   

8. Combining Pictures, Text, and Graphics to Make Covers for Books, Reports and CDs. Photoshop contains many of the image manipulation capabilities of high-end DTP applications that cost thousands.  Use the "Layer via Cut" command to make your title text go behind part of the picture - just like on the cover of "Rolling Stone."   

9. Designing Web Pages.  Did you know that Photoshop and Image Ready can turn your photograph or artwork into a web page?  Use the slice tool to cut your work into easily downloadable pieces, then the rollover function to embed website URLs.   

10. Combining Pictures to Make the Impossible Possible.Come on!  You didn't seriously think that Michael Moore and President George W. Bush really stood hand in hand on the White House lawn for the Fahrenheit 9/11 poster, did you? I don't know for certain that they used Photoshop to fake that picture, but they certainly could have done. With Photoshop you can remove the background from one picture, take some elements from another, and combine them with the background from a third to create a picture that could never have been taken for real.  Who says the camera can't lie!
 

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/10-things-you-could-be-using-photoshop-for-but-probably-arent-463117.html

About the Author:
Shaun Pearce is a writer and video maker.
His latest production, "Photoshop Master", is an interactive video tutorial.  It shows you how to get the most from Photoshop, and can be downloaded from  http://www.learnphotoshopfast.com?=art01

Internet Addiction Disorder

Author: Fredrick Romanus Ishengoma

Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, once said “every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic is be alcohol or morphine or idealism”.  

Recently advancements technology had brought out unusual types of Addictions including Internet, gambling, pornography, gaming, on-line shopping and eBay addictions.   

Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) doesn’t differ from other type of addictions. While drug addiction victim needs drug to feel normal, the Internet addiction victim becomes dependent on Internet to feel normal.   

Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) victims normally have special interests in Internet which can include pornography, on-line gaming, gambling and or auctions.   

1 out of 14 American adults have shown at least one sign of IAD, according to a recent study by Stanford University.   

While the cause of the AID is not clearly known, several factors that have been proposed as contributing to Internet addiction. Pleasurable feeling developed by a person when using the Internet, might reinforce the addiction. Like alcohol addiction, biological study tells us that, there may be a combination of genes that make a person more susceptible to addictive behaviors.  

According to Dr. John Grohol, in his book Internet Addiction Guide, he relates to the idea that people engage in the activity because they do not want to deal with the problems in their lives. Some affected persons may lack the social skills that would enable them to meet people in person rather than on-line.  

The big question behind is whether it is the proper to term it as a type of addiction rather than a technology that supports other addictions?   For example, a girl addicted to shopping could transfer her addiction from the local mall to on-line stores.   

Some psychologists do not accept the term addiction to describe what happens to people when they spend too much time on-line. What about other technologies like video games and telephones?   

Some may view addiction as when a task becomes a necessary part of a user's life. When the on-line experience enrich and expand people's lives, it can also seduce the vulnerable into ignoring the real world.  

In his book Trapped in the Web, Potera highlights that, Internet has become a destructive force, its remarkable benefits overshadowed by its potential to disrupt the lives of those who can't resist the lure of round-the-clock social opportunities, entertainment, and information. For such people, work, friends, family, and sleep are replaced by a virtual world of chat rooms and games.  

Also, studies by Stanford's SIQSS and Carnegie Mellon's HomeNet Project revels that,  People who spent more time on the Internet spent less time socializing with peers, communicated less within the family and felt more lonely and depressed.

The amount of time spent on-line and the service provider charges can lead to financial problems. Phone calls while chatting and telephone connection charges are among the common financial issues.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/e-learning-articles/internet-addiction-disorder-428584.html

About the Author:
Fredrick Ishengoma is a Tutorial Assistant in the University Of Dodoma, Tanzania. 
You can contact him at  ishengomaf@yahoo.com  or at his blog  www.ishengomaf.blogspot.com

Learn a New Language Online

The internet is a great place for self-improvement.  If you want to learn a new language in the comfort of your own home at no cost, check these out:

BBC Languages
Want to brush up on your French? Interested in learning a more exotic language, like Urdu? The BBC offers audio lessons in 13 different languages, downloadable in MP3 format.

American Sign Language Browser   
A print dictionary is unhelpful for learning sign language, so Michigan State University created an online video dictionary of hundreds of standard signs.

Free Online Self-Improvement Opportunities

You don't have to spend a fortune or get into debt to get an education.  These website offer ways for you to explore many different self-improvement opportunities from the comfort of your own home. And they are FREE.

MIT OpenCourseWare
If you want a degree from an Ivy League school, it's going to cost you. But if you want the next best thing—for free—go online. Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers access to 1,700 courses spanning sciences, humanities, and management.

Stanford CS Education Library
Stanford offers computer science tutorials, starting with C++ and working towards programming a complete game of Tetris.

UC Berkeley on Google Video
The search site hosts UC Berkeley lecture videos on science, humanities, and public policy.

OpenUW
University of Washington course materials in selected areas. Current courses include Heroic Fantasy: Tolkien and History of Jazz: New Orleans.

Open Learning Initiative
Carnegie Mellon University offers online courses in 10 areas, including statistics and causal reasoning.

Tufts Open Courseware
The school offers a variety of online courses. The Tufts School of Medicine, for one, has 12 online classes ranging from Genetics to Pathophysiology of Infectious Diseases.