I very much doubt you missed the recent announcement from Adobe about the new version of Photoshop coming in June. To recap the next version will be called Photoshop CC and comes with some nice new features.

Adobe has also changed the way we purchase Photoshop (along lots of its other software titles) to a subscription only system that it calls Creative Cloud. This seems to be sending shockwaves rippling around the internet and as is so often the case not everything you read is true.

As someone who’s used Creative Cloud for the past year I’m well placed to give my impressions of the experience, so here are my answers the top 5 questions (in particular order) I keep hearing.

Please take a deep breath and read the whole post before commenting as I will be actively moderating them.

I’m happy with current version of Photoshop. Will that keep working once Photoshop CC comes out?
If you’re happy with your current version of Photoshop and either don’t want or need the new features of Photoshop CC then absolutely nothing will change for you. In fact I’d suggest you stop reading this now and get back to the more enjoyable things in life.

I’ve been told I must be online in order for Photoshop CC to work.
My PC is permanently online but my laptop is rarely online. Photoshop is installed on both machines and both work in exactly the same way. In fact unless I told you I was a Creative Cloud user, you’d never know the difference.  Photoshop needs to running whilst you’re online once every 90 days otherwise it might stop.

I don’t like the idea of all my files being in the cloud.
Neither do I and neither do Adobe. The cloud bit of “Creative Cloud” is where you download the software from and where you can choose to save work too. I keep all my photo, files, videos etc firmly on my PC. However I do use my Creative Cloud space to share things with clients, friends and with you. Check out my Friday Freebies to see that in action.

At the end of my subscription I’ll be left with nothing
I suppose that’s true. If you stop subscribing you’ll be left with whatever you used before you started using Photoshop CC. I look at it like this. Every year I pay a small fortune for insurance on my photo gear and at the end of the year I get nothing in return… assuming I haven’t made a claim. At least with Photoshop you get something back whilst you’re subscribed.

If  I stop subscribing will I loose access to my files?
If they’re on your hard drive then they’re not going anywhere. If you’ve used a new feature of Photoshop CC such as Camera Raw as a smart object layer then it will not be editable in older versions of Photoshop but it’ll still be there and your file will still open. You can also open PSD files in Photoshop Elements and a dozen other software packages from companies other then Adobe.

Photoshop CC won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and that’s fine. If you want the latest and greatest offering from Adobe or like me you need Photoshop and Premiere Pro the Creative Cloud is the perfect fit.

One more thing. If it wasn’t for Adobe’s Creative Cloud then there would have been a lot less Friday Freebies on gavtrain over the past year… just saying

Full download instructions are below but you can also
Download the brushes for
Photoshop CS6 and beyond

Download the brushes for
Photoshop CS5 and earlier 
(Also works with Elements)

If you’re wondering why there are two versions, maximum brush sizes in Photoshop CS6 (and in Photoshop CC) are twice as big as CS5 and earlier. To take advantage of this I’ve created two sizes of brush… be sure and download the correct one.

Once you’ve downloaded and unzipped the brushes they’ll need to be installed. The easiest way to do that is by opening the Brush panel and clicking the flyout menu in the top right corner. Click Load Brushes… and navigate to the light ray brushes that you downloaded and unzipped. Click here see a copy of the menu and information on where to click

If you create a photo using the Friday Freebie then let me (and everyone else) know by leaving the link in the comments below.

Usage rules
The brushes are copyright Gavin Hoey 2013. Use is limited to any personal, non-commercial purposes. Please share the Friday Freebie by linking back to this page. Do not redistribute the original image without my permission.

Download instructions
Click on the correct download link below to take you to my Adobe Creative Cloud download page (no sign up is needed)
Download the brushes for
Photoshop CS6 and beyond 

Download the brushes for
Photoshop CS5 and earlier

1. Click the Actions button and choose Download

2. Click the Download button

3. Save the zip file to your hard drive

Full download instructions are below but you can also
Click Here To Download the weave template

The weave template is a simple JPG image. I’ve made it in a square shape but it’s also very large at 5000 pixels on each side, so it’s easily adapted to both portrait and ladscape format images… as well as square ones of course

Once you’ve downloaded the template all you need to do is paste it over your image and resize it with Free Transform (CTRL+T) if required. Change the layer blending mode from Normal to Overlay and you’ll achieve a result like this. Howver this template works with loads of blending modes and I urge you to experiment, you’ll be amazed just how many variations there are!

If you create a photo using the Friday Freebie then let me (and everyone else) know by leaving the link in the comments below.

Usage rules
The image is copyright Gavin Hoey 2013. Use is limited to any personal, non-commercial purposes. Please share the Friday Freebie by linking back to this page. Do not redistribute the original image without my permission.

Download instructions
Click on the download link to take you to my Adobe Creative Cloud download page (no sign up is needed)

1. Click the Actions button

2. Choose “jpeg” format only.

3. Click the download button

4. Save the background to your hard drive

Full download instructions are below but you can also
Click Here To Download the smoke video clip

You can preview the video clip by clicking here

One of the headline new features of Photoshop CS6 is its ability to edit video clips with exactly the same skills you’d need to edit photos. Unlike Photoshop CS5 the video editing is available to all version of Photoshop CS6 not just the extended version.

Now I know most photographers are yet to embrace video and it’s certainly a very different discipline to learn but if you fancy trying your hand at video then this weeks Friday Freebie is for you.

Usage rules
The video clip is copyright Gavin Hoey 2013. Use is limited to any personal, non-commercial purposes. Please share the Friday Freebie by linking back to this page. Do not redistribute the original video clip without my permission.

Download instructions
Click on the download link to take you to my Adobe Creative Cloud download page (no sign up is needed)

1. Click the Actions button

2. Click the Download button

3. Save the zip file to your hard drive

4. Unzip the folder to access the video

Once you’ve got the video you’ll need something to do with it. There’s plenty of ways you can use the clip but to get you started here’s a quick and simple text animation effect.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Card readers are cheap, convenient and utterly essential in my book. Still not convinced? Here are three great reasons to use one.

Speed
If you want to access your photos fast then a modern USB3 card reader can’t be beaten as long as you have a spare USB3 socket to hand (it’s usually blue coloured, if it helps identify it).

Even the more pedestrian USB2 readers will often out perform download speeds from many camera when pluging them directly in to your computer.

Convenience
Do you know where you put the little cable to hook up your camera to the PC? If the answer is yes then well done you. Like most people I have a habit of loosing cables on a regular basis espeically if it’s a really, EALLY important one. Generally speaking a card reader remains attached to your computer or can even be built in, which makes it much tougher to loose!

Power
Using you camera as a card reader will mean turning it on, which is fine as long as your batteries are charged. Murphy’s Law dictates that the day when you absolutely must get those photos off your camera the batteries are going to be flat and the charger  is no where to be found. No such problems exist with card readers as they draw thier power through the USB cable.

There are 100′s of different USB readers on the market. I’ve used the Lexar brand for many years and can highly recomend them. A word to the wise, if your buying one for a modern SD card make sure it’s compatble with your SDHC or SDXC format if that’s what you have.

In this video I try to break the laws of physics by using one speedlight to light both the back and front of a model with just one light. The secret is reflecting the light off of a silver reflector which in effect makes one light become two.

As a final touch I’ll create a sparkling background by adding a little bit of flour into the air behind my model Kristina but in front of the flash.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Equipment used in the video: 

Adobe Photoshop CS6

http://www.adorama.com/searchsite/default.aspx?searchinfo=photoshop+cs6&category=4294967278+11&KBID=67338

Canon 60D

http://www.adorama.com/ICA60D.html?KBID=67338

Canon 24-105L f/4 IS
http://www.adorama.com/CA24105AFU.html?KBID=67338

5 in 1 reflector
http://www.adorama.com/WE5I1R20.html?KBID=67338

What’s in the box?
The softbox kit contains a total of three softboxes in various sizes and shapes. They all attach directly to any speedlight without the need for any special fixings. You also get a storage bag to keep them clean and safe as well as an instructional DVD with videos starring Erin herself.

Features
You get a choice of 9 inch round, 9 inch square and a 13 inch rectangular box to choose from.

All three pocket boxes feature a brilliant way to attach to your flashgun. There are no naff velcro pads to stick on your precious flash here, all the Pocket box softboxes attach to the speedlight with a combination of rubberised flaps and elasticised strap. The end result is a very secure fit indeed.

There’s one more neat feature that’s common to all three softboxes. Inside each Pocket box is an inner diffuser which helps spread the light evenly across the front surface. It’s also removable if you prefer to shoot without it, although I’d recommend it’s left in place for best results.

Performance
Let’s get this out of the way early. If you’re looking for a mobile version of a studio softbox you’re going to be disappointed with the results here. Even the biggest pocketbox is only 13 inches (33cm) long and when it comes to soft light, bigger is better.

However if the things you’re lighting are small this could be the perfect kit for you.

The Pocket boxes all feel very well made, fold flat for easy storage and do the job they are designed for extremely well. Although they fitted fine on my Canon 580EX whilst on camera, they worked far better when the flash is off camera.

All three sizes are small for portrait use and in practice the only obvious difference from each was the shape of the catch light in the eye. None of them produced a portrait with anything that you might call soft light and although the results were better then the bare flash, you can’t expect softly lit portraits from these little guys.

However when it comes to close up and macro work, these softboxes were brilliant and produced soft directional lighting and should be high on any macro workers “must have” list.

Erin Manning DVD
You can’t miss the Erin Manning branding on the box although, I’m not to  familiar with Erins work. The instructional DVD runs for a little over 30 minutes and covers the basics of the Pocket box’s and a few shoots which produce perfectly fine, although very uninspiring, results.

If you’re a beginner in flash work you may get some insight on how to use the pocket boxes with Erins help but as all the shoots are portraits I’m not sure it shows the best use for these small light modifiers.

Conclusion
If you’re in the market for a small softbox then you really can’t go wrong with the Pocket box’s. Great build quality and a choice of three shapes makes these a brilliant choice.

However it’s worth remembering that diffused light is not always the same as soft light and that’s often what photographers are hoping for when they buy a softbox.

You can also buy each Pocket Box individually, so if you don’t need three then buying just one makes a much better buy.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

If you enjoyed the video and fancy having a go yourself then contact your local rink. Offer to shoot a minor league game (like the one I shot) which often has smaller crowds. If you fancy shooting a Bracknell Hornets game not only will you’ll have to wait until next season but I’d recommend sweet talking to their official photographer Kevin Slyfield who was kind enough to arrange for me to shoot the video at the John Nike ice rink in Bracknell

Gear used in this video:
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 70-200mm L f/2.8 IS
Giottos MML3270B Monopod

Full download instructions are below but you can also
Click Here To Download the slate board template

I can imagine this template being used in lots of ways. You could paste on your own photo, resize it to fit over the slate and blend it in with a layer blending mode such as Overlay. Any photo should work but it probably lends itself best to a timeless, vintage style image.

Alternatively you could keep the template exactly how it is now and just add some text in Photoshop. Think of it as a chalkboard where you can write something witty or poignant… perfect for Facebook!

If you create a photo using the Friday Freebie then let me (and everyone else) know by leaving the link in the comments below.

Usage rules
The image is copyright Gavin Hoey 2013. Use is limited to any personal, non-commercial purposes. Please share the Friday Freebie by linking back to this page. Do not redistribute the original image without my permission.

Download instructions
Click on the download link to take you to my Adobe Creative Cloud download page (no sign up is needed)

1. Click the Actions button

2. Choose “jpeg” format only.

3. Click the download button

4. Save the background to your hard drive

Thanks to the awesome team at Welshot Imaging I’ll be in Manchester for one day only on Sunday 14 April 2013. More details about the day can be found here.

The day is going to be made extra special as I’ll be sharing the stage with Eric Renno, the founder of Tip Squirrel.com and John Arnold who’s a top photographer and a whizz at Photoshop too.

It’s going to be a full on day starting at 9am and running on to 6pm. With three Photoshop experts on hand you’re guaranteed to pick up a hatful of new tricks and tips to improve your photos in Photoshop, Lightroom and Elements. There’ll also be a chance to get involved in the day by undertaking a live photo challenge, so don’t forget to bring a camera.

I’m really excited about what we have planned for the day and if you want to come along you’ll need to act fast as places are limited. Full details can be found on the Welshot website.