Contact details
Address: 3 Bowyer House
Vermont Road
London SW18 2AE
Telephone: +44 (0)20 31382049
E-mail: hello@shapeshed.com
22 May 2008
If you have lots of images you want to resize Photoshop can take care of it for you. Using Actions and Automate you can do it once then put your feet up. Here's how it works. Read more
7 May 2008
When designing in Photoshop there are a couple of options that allow you to review your design without noise around it. Here's a quick overview of how you can take a step back from the digital canvas. Read more
30 Apr 2008
If your camera can shoot in RAW format should you be using it? Here's a quick overview of the difference and what you can do with the RAW format in Photoshop. Read more
21 Apr 2008
Smart Objects can save you a great deal of time if you are designing for the web in Photoshop. Furthermore they allow you to manipulate images without destroying the original. Read more
20 Apr 2008
Until recently I'd been using desaturate to convert photographs to black and white in Photoshop. In fact there is a much better non-destructive method. Read more
10 Apr 2008
Creating a grid to base your designs on is invaluable for giving structure to the page. Here's a quick introduction to grids and how you can speed up creating them in Photoshop. Read more
6 Dec 2007
Photoshop comes with a handy feature that allows you to quickly crop and use scanned images or sketches. Read more
18 Nov 2007
If you are not already using the quick select tool you should give it a go - it can be far more efficient than the magic wand or magnetic lasso tools. Read more
30 Oct 2007
Sometimes you might want to add a stroke to a stroke on the same layer in Photoshop. Thankfully with a simple technique you can. Read more
27 Oct 2007
If you have Photoshop CS3 you can automatically merge two different photographs to create a new one, with Photoshop doing all of the hard work for you. Read more
27 Oct 2007
Often designs need a background to fill space behind navigation or other page elements. Here one way to create them. Read more
19 Oct 2007
Here a simple tip that will save time if you need to sample colours from outside Photoshop for use in your artwork. Read more
18 Oct 2007
Here's a simple tip I picked up to quickly sharpen images in Photoshop using the High Pass Filter. Read more
3 Oct 2007
Photoshop doesn't come with the same one-click ability as Illustrator to make the fill of shapes or objects transparent. Here's a workaround. Read more
19 Sep 2007
I'm not often moved to criticise other designers work. It is their livelihood after all. But the new Photoshop logo falls well short of the mark. Read more
12 Jul 2007
Designing for the web in Photoshop has one thing missing - dotted lines. Here's how to create dotted lines so you can show clients how links will look. Read more
21 May 2007
Often clients deliver images that are not really good enough for use on the web. Photoshop comes with some less well known features that can improve image quality drastically in a couple of clicks. Read more
21 Mar 2007
Designing with grids is commonplace in design but the danger is that everything looks a bit ordered. Using grunge effects you can keep your grid and mess up your hair to look a bit cooler. Read more
26 Feb 2007
One day you might just be insane enough to want to write concentric text in Photoshop. It is quite illegible and likely to give you a headache but if you still want to do it read on. Read more
26 Feb 2007
My favorite tool of all the pen tool allows you maximum control over drawing shapes and paths. It can be a little tricky to master at first but once you are up and running you won't look back. Read more
21 Feb 2007
A less well known feature of Photoshop is that you can create custom vector shapes and use them throughout your designs. Here's an of examples of how to do it. Read more
20 Feb 2007
Adding type to designs is a daily task in Photoshop. Especially if you are interested in Typography mastering this tool is a must. Read more
17 Feb 2007
Patterns area hidden gem in Photoshop. Here's a short tutorial showing you how to make your own and how to use them in your designs. Read more
10 Feb 2007
The path and selection tools let you quickly move and manipulate any shape with a path. Part of the workhorse tools of Photoshop they will let you shift and change shapes quickly. Read more
6 Feb 2007
More art-working tools that come straight from the darkroom to Photoshop. You can use these to fine tune your images and correct malformed exposure. Read more
3 Feb 2007
The Blur Sharpen and Smudge tools are artworking tools that can give photos a different perspective. Also useful for graphical work they are well worth learning. Here's a short overview and a video showing how to use them. Read more
19 Jan 2007
The Gradient and Paint Bucket tools are both useful gems in Photoshop and can be used to quickly fill in areas as well as create backgrounds for websites. Read more
18 Dec 2006
Photoshop CS3 is released as a public beta with a few new features but most importantly Intel support on the Mac. Here's a review from a Mac-based web design perspective. Read more
6 Dec 2006
A common task in Photoshop is to remove pixels entirely from images. The Eraser tool offers a number of techniques to achieve this. Read more
29 Nov 2006
A well designed promotional graphic can be a great way to drive traffic through your site. Here's one way to do it. Read more
24 Nov 2006
The History Brush Tool allows you to paint and reveal previous states of images. This can be very useful in creating effects. Read more
22 Nov 2006
Choosing a colour scheme, or swatch, is one of the first things you need to do in planning a design. Thankfully Adobe provides a number of tools that make creating and managing swatches simple. Read more
19 Nov 2006
The clone tool allows you to retouch images and remove blemishes. Understanding how it works will allow you to adapt images to your requirements. Read more
11 Nov 2006
The brush tool is one of Photoshop's most basic tools allowing you to draw freehand shapes and lines. The tool allows precision and correction abilities as well as some tricks using brushes. Read more
5 Nov 2006
Primarily an artworking and retouching tool, the Healing Brush allows you to correct blemishes and errors and remove parts of your photos and images. Read more
30 Oct 2006
For precise interpretation of PSDs to XHTML I recommend avoiding this tool. But there may well be a time when you can use this tool so here's a quick overview. Read more
26 Oct 2006
Especially for high contrast images the Magic Wand tool makes selection simple. A tool for daily use this example shows how to remove a background quickly and easily. Read more
20 Oct 2006
I get a lot of search engine referrals from people looking to create curved images or curved rectangles in Photoshop. So here's a quick tutorial to show you how. Read more
19 Oct 2006
I've always designed using the web safe colour palette. Recently I realised I didn't actually know why. After a bit of research it would seem it is less relevant than I thought. Read more
17 Oct 2006
The Lasso Tool is another invaluable tool for making selections. For those with an unsteady hand or a hangover the Magnetic Lasso Tool will also save serious time in cutting out selections. Read more
30 Sep 2006
The second in a series on Photoshop Tools from a web perspective. The Move Tool is simple but has some advanced features that can save you serious time. Read more
26 Sep 2006
The first in a new series on Photoshop Tools from a web perspective. The Marquee Tool is undoubtedly one of the most useful at your disposal and holds some unexpected capabilities. Read more
19 Sep 2006
In creating a website branding is as important as any other discipline. One of the techniques I like to use to evoke brand messages is to use captioned images. Using a photoshop and a bit of knowledge of masks and opacity you can have a powerful brand motif in no time. Read more
Address: 3 Bowyer House
Vermont Road
London SW18 2AE
Telephone: +44 (0)20 31382049
E-mail: hello@shapeshed.com
