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S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 W W W . L A Y E R S M A G A Z I N E . C O M

COMMON LOGODESIGN MISTAKES

COLOR SEPARATION BASICS:PRINTING SPOT COLORS

ADOBE ILLUSTRATORSPECIAL EFFECTS

The

Dos & Don’tsof Portfolio Presentations

DISPLAY UNTIL NOVEMBER 16, 2010

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[ C O N T E N T S ]

[ C O V E R S T O R Y ]

30 ] Portfolio ReviewHave questions about your professional portfolio? Layers to the

rescue! This month we talked with three creative directors to get

the gist of what should be included when sending, delivering, orpresenting your professional portfolio. Being employees from Sev-

enthStreet, Sketchers Footwear, and Century LLC, these guys know

their stuff. They’ve seen it all—from the good to the bad—and after

reading their advice, you’ll surely know how to organize your portfolio.

Hey, with the awesome recommendations in this article, you may even

land that dream job you’ve always wanted.

[ F E A T U R E ]

38 ] Broken LogosBad logo design, step aside. Here we discus s 12 common logo

mistakes for you to avoid while creating a name for your clients. You

wouldn’t want to be labeled as an “amateur,” would you? Better turn

the page.—Jacob Cass

[ T U T O R I A L S ]

42 ] Digital Photography:HDR Pro in Photoshop CS5—Seán Duggan

48 ] Adobe Photoshop CS5:Creating Color Separations—Dave Cross

54 ] Adobe Illustrator CS5:

Dramatic Shadow Effect—Corey Barker

60 ] Adobe InDesign CS5:Creating iBooks (EPUBs)—Terry White

66 ] Adobe Dreamweaver CS5:Editing CSS Layouts—Janine Warner

72 ] Adobe Flash CS5 Professional:

ActionScript Made Easy—Paul Trani

] S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

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Page 30

L E E C A L D E R O N

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Whenever you see this symbol at the end of an article, it means there’s either additional material or a download

for that story at www.layersmagazine.com. So be sure to visit the website and check it out.

[ C O L U M N S ]

22 ] Design Makeover:For Art’s Sake—Jake Widman

28 ] Artistic Expressions:Align Layers—Bert Monroy

58 ] The Art of Type:Changing the Rules—James Felici

[ D E P A R T M E N T S ]

8 ] Letter from the Editor

12 ] Layers News

18 ] Designer Spotlight

20 ] The Digital Canvas

84 ] Tips & Tricks

86 ] Creative Suite Q&A

98 ] The Back Page

[ O N T H E C O V E R ]

With clients such as Jose Cuervo Inter-

national, Hallmark, and Fisher-Price,

Lee Calderon is a visual mastermind

of design. His artwork is portrayed

through an array of different venues

and always leaves a lasting impression.

Look through this issue of Layers to see

more of Lee’s artwork.

[Lee Calderon]

Page 20

[ R E V I E W S ]

78 ] Poser Pro 2010—Bruce Bicknell

79 ] FxFactory 2—Marcus Geduld

79 ] SWF & FLV Toolbox 4—Cyndy Cashman

80 ] Toon Boom Animate 2—Marcus Geduld

80 ] Package Central—David Creamer

82 ] Olympus PEN E-P2—Steve Baczewski

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[ O N T H E W E B ] ] S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

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1

[ T U T O R I A L S ]We’re always adding new tutorials to the Layers website,

so be sure to visit often. And don’t forget to sign up for our

graphi cs tip of the day and to keep an eye out for the

latest episode of Layers TV. Here’s a small sampling of

some of the tutorials that you can find at the site now:

[ P H O T O S H O P ] www.layersmagazine.com/category/photoshop

Screened Photo Effect in Photoshop (Video): Learn how to

create an interesting screen effect in Photoshop through

smart objects and a defined pattern. Dave even shows how

to apply this effec t from one image to another, directly in

Photoshop.—Dave Cross

[ I L L U S T R A T O R ]www.layersmagazine.com/category/illustrator

Adding Order to Effects (Video): According to Jeff, the

Appearance panel is like the Layers panel for appearance

attributes of objec ts; it’s a timesaver, it’s consistent, and

you have lots of room to change object order, visibility,

and much more.—Jeff Witchel

[ I N D E S I G N ]www.layersmagazine.com/category/indesignChanging Defaults in InDesign (Video): Having trouble

with a few InDesign defaults? Jeff to the rescue! Learn

how to change the color of different objects without the

interference of the default color swatch, how to disable

a default text wrap in the Options Bar, a new custom

tracking shortcut, and a tip concerning default vector

graphics.—Jeff Witchel

Get Interactive with InDesign CS5, Part 1 of 2 (Video):

In this two-par t series, Tom teaches about the InDesign

interactive features through the Interactive panels with

slide shows, fly-in text, animation, and expor ting; but

he clearly explains these features aren’t substitute forFlash, which is explained in Part 2.—Tom Green

[ F I R E W O R K S ]www.layersmagazine.com/category/fireworks

Fireworks CS5 with Device Central (Video): Watch

how you can preview prototype interfaces on various

mobile devices in Fireworks CS5.—Tom Green

[ L I G H T R O O M ]www.layersmagazine.com/category/lightroom

Using Web Subdirectories in Lightroom 3 (Video):

Learn why the Server Path is so important when

creating Web subdirectory structures for exportingimages in Lightroom 3.—Rafael “RC” Concepcion

[ L A Y E R S T V ]Hosted by Corey Barker and Rafael “RC” Concepcionwww.layersmagazine.com/layerstvBe sure to join Corey and RC for another season of Layers TV. This weekly videopodcast offers killer tips and tricks to full-blown tutorials, and it covers all ofyour favorite print, Web, and video apps from Adobe.

[ S O C I A L N E T W O R K ]http://twitter.com/LayersMagazinewww.facebook.com/LayersMagazineWant to stay up to date on everything happening at Layers ? Of course youdo. Just follow @LayersMagazine on Twitter and be sure to join our Facebookfan page, as well.

06

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C H R I S { } M A I N

[ F R O M T H E E D I T O R ]

portfolio successLooking for a new job can be very stressful, especially in today’s economy. For many people, it ranks

right up there with marriage (or divorce), buying a new home, or having children. The best way to lessen

the stress of looking for a job is to be as prepared as you possibly can before walking into a prospective

employer’s office for that dreaded interview. And for creatives, that means having a kick-butt portfolio

and presentation ready to go. So for this issue’s cover story, “Portfolio Review,” we’re giving you the

information that you need to make that killer portfolio (p. 30).

And who better to give you that advice than three people that look at por tfolios on a daily basis. These are the people

that can tell you what grabs their attention, and what makes them mentally say “next” before they even reach the end of a

designer’s portfolio. Mike Campau is the director of SeventhStreet, a studio in Michigan that creates dynamic imagery for

the advertising community, including Chevrolet, Ford, Minute Maid, Quaker State, and Nescafé. Fred Machuca is the Art

Director for the In-House Advertising/Art Department at Skechers Footwear located in California. And Neal Hettinger is the

Creative Director for Century, LLC, which designs the branding, packaging, advertising, catalogs, and Web landing pages

for UFC equipment, TapouT equipment, adidas boxing equipment, Century Martial Arts, and

maSuccess magazine. Together, these three have years of experience looking at portfolios, and

they know what works and what doesn’t.

In our next feature, “Broken Logos,” Jacob Cass gives some awesome advice on how to avoid

being labeled an amateur when it comes to logo design (p. 38). From typographic chaos to pro-

viding the right files to the client, Jacob breaks it down into 12 easily digestible bite-size chunks.

After reading this article you’ll be creating logos that you’ll be proud to include in your portfolio.

In “The Art of Type” on page 56, James Felici shows us how to use paragraph rules and

underline options to add style to our InDesign layouts. In “Artistic Expressions” on page 28, our

long-time friend, Bert Monroy, teaches how to use Auto-Align Layers and masks in Photoshop

to realistically combine images. Corey Barker uses the perspective tools in Illustrator to create

a really cool text ef fect; Paul Trani shows how easy it is to work with ActionScript using the Code

Snippets panel in Flash CS5; Janine Warner reveals how to customize the new CSS layouts in

Dreamweaver CS5; and the learning goes on and on.

But Layers magazine is much more than just showing how to use Adobe CS5 apps; it’s about creativity and inspiration.

One of our most popular columns is “The Design Makeover.” This issue, three designers give a facelift to the website for the

Community Arts Center in Danville, Kentucky (p. 22). Seeing how experienced designers approach a project can be invaluable

to other up-and-coming designers. As for inspiration, just check out the work of Lee Calderon throughout this issue of themagazine. His work is featured on the cover, and you can learn more about Lee and his incredible artistic style on page 18.

Well, that’s about it for this issue. But don’t forget that once you devour the content in this issue, there’s always www

.layersmagazine.com to satisfy your hunger. Until next time, keep on keepin’ creative.

All my best,

Chris Main

Editor-at-Large

[And for creatives,

that means having

a kick-butt portfolio

and presentation

ready to go.]

putting your best foot forward will get youone step closer to that dream job

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

MANAGING EDITOR

SENIOR TECHNICAL EDITOR

TRAFFIC DIRECTOR

DYNAMIC MEDIA EDITOR

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

PRODUCTION MANAGER

ASSOCIATE DESIGNER

PRODUCTION DESIGNER

VP, SALESADVERTISING COORDINATOR

ADVERTISING DESIGNER

DIRECTOR OF CIRCULATION

PUBLISHER

EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

BUSINESS MANAGER

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

DIRECTOR OF WEB DEVELOPMENT

AND PROGRAMMING

WEB TEAM

PUBLISHED BIMONTHLY BY

SUBSCRIPTIONS

COVER DESIGN

COLOPHON

LEBKC; , DKC8;H + FH?DJ;: ?D KI7

www.layersmagaz ine .com

All contents © COPYRIGHT 2010 Kelby Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Any

use of the contents of this publication without the express written permission of the

publisher is strictly prohibited. Layers magazine is an independent journal not affili-

ated with Adobe Systems, Inc. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Adobe Premiere, After

Effects, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom, and Photoshop are

either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in

the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of

their respective owners. Some of the views expressed by contributors may not be therepresentative views of the Publisher. ISSN 1554-415X

Scott Kelby

Issac StolzenbachChris MainKim GabrielRod Harlan

Ij[l[ 8WYp[mia_ 9eh[o 8Wha[hF[j[h 8Wk[h 8hkY[ 8_Yad[bb C_a[9WcfWk 9odZo 9Wi^cWd @WYeX9Wii HW\W[b ¹H9º 9edY[fY_ed:Wl_Z 9h[Wc[h :Wl[ 9heii I[|d:k]]Wd @Wc[i [jj_d][h

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[ l a y e r s n e w s ]graphics design news • new products • digital video news • other stuff

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Adobe releases Flash 10.1 to mobile platform developersIn an attempt to bring the full Web to mobile devices, Adobe Systems Incorporated (www.adobe.com) has redesigned Flash Player for mobile

from the ground up, adding better performance and features specific to mobile screens. A couple of the new features include accelerometer sup-

port so Flash content can be viewed in either landscape or portrait mode, and Smart Zooming so content can be scaled to full screen.

Adobe has also incorporated a few tricks for making more efficient use of CPUs and improved battery performance. For example, the

new Smart Rendering feature makes sure that Flash content is only running when it’s visible onscreen; when a device enters screen saver

mode, Flash Player automatically enters Sleep Mode; and Flash Player will pause with incoming phone calls or switching to another app.

The final production release of 10.1 for mobile should be available at the same time that Android 2.2 Froyo is available to users. Adobealso released the latest Flash Player to platform partners that support BlackBerry, webOS, future versions of Windows Phone, LiMo, MeeGo,

and Symbian OS.

Flash Player gets augmentedby Total Immersion

Auditionfor the Mac

If we had to make an educated guess, we’d say that most of you have

heard of augmented reality (or AR) by now. Basically, you hold an

image or “marker” up to your webcam on your computer or camera

on your smartphone to launch graphics that are overlaid on the live

video feed. We’ve seen all kinds of uses for AR, from directions to the

nearest ATM, hotel, restaurant, etc. based on the scene in front your

smartphone’s camera to playing rock, paper, scissors with a creepy

hand that sticks out of your T-shirt (www.t-post.se/past-issues/item/

root/higher-education-or-just-plain-high).

Typically, you have to download and install a specific AR plug-in

for these experiences, but Total Immersion has just announced D’Fusion for Adobe Flash Player. Since 99% of Internet-enabled desktops have

Flash Player already installed, additional plug-ins won’t be needed for AR applications that are developed using ActionScript in Flash. And

with Marker Less Tracking Lite (MLT) technology, printed material and product packaging won’t require a specific marker that’s designed to

launch the AR experience—D’Fusion will be able to recognize existing 2D or 3D material. For more information, visit www.t-immersion.com.

No, this isn’t a new program where you have to take a screen test in order to use a Mac. It simply means

that the next version of Adobe Audition will be available for the Mac. Audition is Adobe’s solution for

editing audio from fine-tuning single files to creating multitrack mixes. It also offers restoration tools for deal-

ing with that problem recording that’s been giving you ulcers.

A beta of the Mac version should be available on Adobe Labs (http://labs.adobe.com) in the winter

of 2010. New innovations in Adobe Audition for Mac include native multichannel support for 5.1 sur-

round sound, noise reduction and restoration capabilities, and new audio effects, including de-hummer,

de-esser, and volume leveler. Adobe Audition 3 is currently available for Windows for around $349. For

more info visit www.adobe.com.

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[ news ]

Upcoming Events

PHOTOSHOP CS5 CREATIVITY TOUR

Miami, FL (August 16, 2010)Charlotte, NC (September 27, 2010)www.kelbytraininglive.com

PHOTOSHOP CS5 FOR

PHOTOGRAPHERS TOUR

Virginia Beach, VA (August 30, 2010)Indianapolis, IN (September 20, 2010)www.kelbytraininglive.com

LOCATION LIGHTING

TECHNIQUES TOUR

September 15, 2010Connecticut Convention Center Hartford, CTwww.kelbytraininglive.com

PHOTOSHOP CS5 DOWN & DIRTY

TRICKS TOUR

Nashville, TN (August 6, 2010)Austin, TX (August 18, 2010)Kansas City, MO (August 25, 2010)St. Louis, MO (August 27, 2010)Covington, KY (September 17, 2010)Pittsburgh, PA (September 22, 2010)www.kelbytraininglive.com

MAXIMUM PHOTOSHOP CS5 TOUR

San Jose, CA (August 23, 2010)Cleveland, OH (September 13, 2010)www.kelbytraininglive.com

PHOTOSHOP WORLD CONFERENCE

& EXPO

September 1–3, 2010Mandalay Bay Convention Center Las Vegas, NV

www.photoshopworld.com

AN EVENT APART

September 16–18, 2010Washington HiltonWashington, DChttp://aneventapart.com

ADOBE MAX 2010

October 23–27, 2010Los Angeles Convention Center Los Angeles, CA

http://max.adobe.com

Create your ownplanetary fun

Get yourgeek on!

Have you ever wanted to create your very

own planets? Well, now you can with Cosmic

Pack 2 from Digital Heavens. This updated

set of actions has all you need to build your

own 2D worlds in Adobe Photoshop—no

brushing required.

Cosmic Pack 2 contains actions for creat-

ing planets, planet rings, moons, and gas

giants. It comes with base textures to get

users started and advanced actions for creat-

ing planet textures and city lights. And all

textures are now 5,000x5,000 pixels at 300dpi. The set also includes new star brushes

for creating larger stars, as well as star field

and nebula images for use as backgrounds.

Cosmic Pack 2 is available now for £19.95

for both Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop

Elements. For more information, visit www

.digitalheavens.co.uk.

Are you a professor, scientist, engineer, or technical writer? Then this InDesign plug-in is for you.

MathMagic Pro Edition 7 for Mac OS X is an award-winning, professional-level, math-equation

editor. This means that you can create and edit all kinds of equations, mathematical expres-

sions, and symbols directly in InDesign CS–CS5. Version 7 adds two layers of background color support for more beautiful equations (yes,

equations can be beautiful, too!), more Define Spacing options for better controls over equation

shapes, improved hyphens and dashes, and better ionic expressions in chemical equations.

MathMagic reads and writes various industry standard equation formats, such as MathML,

AMS LaTex, LaTex, Plain TeX, MathType…(okay, I have to stop there because my head i s

starting to hurt). MathMagic Pro Edition 7 is available now for $499 ($299 for Academic). For

more info, visit www.mathmagic.com.

And now introducing…

more HDR software

Photography is all about light—the more control you have over the light the better the image

(usually). Oloneo is claiming that PhotoEngine for Windows, their new HDR software, can give

photographers “full control over light and exposure in real-time, as if they were still behind

the lens.” (Their website says that PhotoEngine is the world’s fastest HDR engine, so we’re

guessing that’s what the “real-time” reference is all about.) Oloneo then goes on to state that

you can “turn on and off light sources and deeply re-expose pictures in full 32-bit per channel

without compromising details and color appearance.” (If you’d like to see just how true these

claims are, Oloneo is offering PhotoEngine as a beta so you can try it out yourself.)

Once PhotoEngine merges your RAW or JPEG files into a single image, it offers control

over white balance, brightness, temperature, tint, and color for each light source. The high

dynamic re-exposure module includes four tone-mapping engines, auto-exposure correction

with fine-tuning, auto-contrast, and more. It also includes an image noise and grain reduction

tool and a RAW photo-processing module. For more information, visit www.oloneo.com.

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C H R I S { } M A I N

[ D E S I G N E R S P O T L I G H T ]

Layers: You earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cal PolyPomona in California. What drew you to an education in architec-

ture, and what was it about i llustration and design that pulled you

away from architecture after earning a five-year degree?

Calderon: My father was an architect and I have fond memories of

when I was very young drawing under his drawing table at home,

while he was drawing houses, trees—things like that. I guess it was

a natural progression to eventually go on to study architecture. After

a brief stint working as an architect, I soon felt that my “canvas” was

not as colorful, conceptual, or creatively challenging as I had hoped.

It was about then that a field trip to Art Center College of Design in

Lee Calderonwas born in Southern California, where he lived, dreamt up designs, and created art,until moving to colorful Colorado about four years ago. His creative journey began, perhaps like most budding artists, closely surrounded by

a stack of papers and loads of crayons. In fact, even to this day, those he encounters swear he smells like a box of crayons—or, at least, to his

kids anyway. Shortly after studying architecture, Lee’s passion for Gothic arches and flying buttresses gave way to his undeniable artistic urges

and “designful” nature. It was also about this time that he swapped out his jars of cobalt blue and cadmium red for pixels and vector art.

Over the years, Lee has created original digital artwork for various venues, such as greeting cards, magazine publications, posters, ad

campaigns, gameboards, children’s picture books, and more. Aside from his artwork, he has created designs for many forms of visual communica-

tion, such as logos, brochures, corporate identities, brand designs, ad campaigns, in-store graphics, and how-to books. Lee’s long list of clients

includes Jose Cuervo International, Hallmark, Fisher-Price, Parents Magazine, and Random House/Tricycle Press.

Pasadena, California, changed my life. It was going to be all about artand design from now on.

Layers: How would you describe your illustrative style? How did

your style evolve? Were you inf luenced by any famous artists?

Calderon: I love color, patterns, lines, and shapes. I like to think of these

fundamental elements as my palette. When I think about it, I sometimes

feel as though my initial passion for architecture never fully left me. My

work has an architectural sense about it—playing with scale, harmony,

layers, spaces, structure, contrast, balance, energy, and of course, some

random playfulness. I’ve come to think of my artwork as a celebration

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[CONTACT] Lee Calderon www.leecalderon.comALL IMAGES BY LEE CALDERON

of “the architecture of things.” I am quite fascinated by the process of

constantly interpreting the things around me, which is probably why one

of my most favorite quotes is one by Pablo Picasso: “I do not paint what

I see. I paint what I know.”

Layers: You’re currently working on two wall-size graphics for the Love-

land Public Library? Have you ever, literally, worked on a project this

large before? What are some of the challenges for creating graphics

that will be output at such a large size?

Calderon: This is the first time working on something of this physical

size. The main thing to consider is the scale of the various elements

throughout the piece—line weights, focal points, hierarchy, propor-

tions—things like that. I really hope to continue creating many more

large-scale pieces for public spaces.

Layers: Your website features some of your incredible design work.

Do you prefer illustration to design, or do you like a balance between

the two?

Calderon: I really do enjoy the balance of both disciplines. I think one

feeds off the other. I just love the challenge and contrast of creatively

balancing structure and freedom in both my artwork and design. I really

think the journey is about getting to know who you are, who you’ve

always been, listening to your inner voice, and of course, the client’s

outer voice.

Layers: Which applications do you use for both your illustration

and design work?

Calderon: My artwork is primarily vector-based, so I work in

Adobe Illustrator CS4. Occasionally, I’ll mix in some Photoshop

for additional masking, textures, etc. For my design work, I pretty

much stick with InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop CS4. As

for CS5, I’ve seen some of the promotional videos and am

fully convinced that magic is real.

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[ T H E D I G I T A L C A N V A S ]S H O W C A S I N G T H E D E S I G N W O R K O F O U R R E A D E R S

[ g a l l e r y ]

Design: The Reaper ] [ Client: Drawlines ] [ Designer: Nelson Malta ] [ Software: Adobe Photoshop ] [ www.drawlines.net

Photography: Beau Rivage Village] [ Client: Carimo, Real Estate, St. Martin FWI ] [ Photographer: Thierry Dehove ] [ Software: Adobe Lightroom ] [ www.thierrydehove.com

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Design: Cultural Industry ] [ Client: Personal Work ] [ Designer: Carol Lantis] [ Software: Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Adobe Illustrator CS4 ] [ www.virb.com/carollantis

Design: Jimi Hendrix ] [ Client: Personal Work ] [ Designer: Tony Merrithew] [ Software: Adobe Photoshop CS4] [ www.tonymerrithew.com

Photography: Black Feathers ] [ Photographer: Adam Webster ] [ Designer/Retoucher: Stephanie Hart] [ Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5] [ www.awebsterphoto.com & www.stephaniehart.com

The staff at Layers magazine

appreciates the time and effort

involved in the creative process,

no matter how large or small the

project. With this in mind, we of-

fer you the opportunity to display

your work on The Digital Canvas.Please submit your print, Web,

or packaging design (jpeg or eps

format) to: letters@layersmaga-

zine.com. Please include name of

piece, client name (if applicable),

applications used, and any web-

site where our readers can view

more of your work.

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[ d e s i g n m a k e o v e r ]

T he first thing that came to mind when I viewed the Community

Arts Center website was that it was stark white and clinical look-

ing. My objective was to ensure that the end user quickly recognized

that the Community Arts Center was a warm, fun, and accessible local

“community” environment.

I started with a small gallery of six expressive black-and-white pho-

tos taken from the brochures, showcasing a variety of artistic activities

enjoyed by all ages. I also added a secondary slide show using photos

already on the site for a quick look at all the activities and events.

For the Community Arts Center brand, I chose the Adobe serif

typeface Trajan Pro, which is popular for movie posters, book covers,

and branding. It’s known for its stability and subtle sense of excitement.

It was important to keep consis tency throughout the site. To do

this, I first chose to use the humanist sans-serif typeface Trebuchet

MS for its bold, classy strength, and ease on the eyes. It’s also a

standard for Web browsers going back as far as Internet Explorer 4.

Second, I added a bright red title banner wrapped around the top-

left corner of each section.

With bluegrass music in mind, I used a soft woodgrain paneling

to span the background. I delineated each section using two shades

of red to help organize and prioritize the content. For a nice contrast,

I used gold for the gallery borders and for the navigational typeface.

These choices result in simple and clear navigation, with the primary

content (the main links and feature events) split across the top and

bottom of the header, and the secondary content in the footer in atwo-column stacked sitemap.

DESIGNER: Chris Andersonwww.chrisanderson-designs.ca

Chris Anderson ] [www.chrisanderson-designs.caChris Anderson was born and raised in the heart of Muskoka cottage country in Ontario, Canada. From a

young age, Chris enjoyed illustrating anything and everything. This passion was carried onto the screen

using early visual manipulation programs such as LightWave, Modular, CorelDRAW, FreeHand, and then

moving quickly into everything Adobe.

After graduating from Cambrian College through the Arts and Technology Graphic Design program,

Chris spent time enjoying something else that he loves: working as an outdoor adventure instructor and guide leading white-

water canoe trips in and around Ontario and Quebec. Shortly thereafter, he joined an in-house design team in Toronto, but

looking for more design freedom and flexibili ty, Chris decided to start his own design business. For the past two years he has

had the pleasure of working with all aspects of the design process from website design and development, custom manage-

ment frameworks, and eLearning modules to branding, photography, illustration, company stationery, etc.

APPLICATION USED: Adobe Photoshop CS4

after

[ A B O U T T H E D E S I G N E R ]

continued on p. 26

My objective was to ensure that the end user quickly recognized that the Community

Arts Center was a warm, fun, and accessible local “community” environment.

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[ t h e d i g i t a l s t u d i o ]

B E R T { } M O N R O Y

[ A R T I S T I C E X P R E S S I O N S ]

Ever have one of those times with your spouse or

friend where you’d love to have a shot of the two

of you but there’s no one around to take the shot,

and no place to set the camera for a timed expo-

sure? My wife and I came across this very situation while visiting a

little town in Germany a while ago. It was early in the morning, so no

one was around to help us. The area in front of where we wanted to

be photographed was a large plaza and I didn’t have a tripod at the

time. We wanted the whole scene, so one of those “hold the camera

at arms’ length” kind of shots wasn’t going to work. With a little care-

ful planning, and a few tricks in Photoshop, the problem was solved.The planning part involves setting up the shot so things will

work once you make the composite. The Photoshop part comes

in with the use of align layers, a layer mask, and, if needed, a little

retouching. Here’s a shot I took of my wife, Zosia, standing in front of

a quaint little hotel. To take the shot, I stood at a specific spot that

I marked on the ground, and then I took a shot of her. She then

came and stood on the exact same spot to take the shot of me. My

position was slightly to the left of where she was standing in front of

the hotel. We now had two separate shots—so much for the photog-

raphy and planning stage. Not much work, just a little attention to

detail. Now comes the Photoshop part.

align layers

[I love telling people that

if you can imagine it, you

can create it in Photoshop.]

STEP ONE: In Photoshop, choose File>Open, navigate to the two

shots you wish to align together, and click Open. Select the Move

tool (V), press-and-hold the Shift key, and drag-and-drop one file

directly onto the other. (Using the Shift key ensures the photos are

centered.) The shot that’s copied onto the other shot will be con-

verted into a layer (Layer 1) while the Background layer will contain

the first shot placed in Photoshop.

I M

A G E S : ©

I S T O

C K P H O T O

I L L U S T R A T I O N : T A F F Y

C L I F F O R D

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STEP TWO: Shift-click each layer in the Layers panel to select them

and choose Edit>Auto-Align Layers. In the Auto-Align Layers

dialog, choose any of the six methods for Projection that you think

will work best for your images. We put our trust in Photoshop and

chose Auto. After making your selection, click OK. Note: After click-

ing OK, the Background layer will automatically be converted into

a layer called Layer 0. To make things easy, name the two layers to

avoid any confusion that might arise while editing.

STEP THREE: Unless the two people taking the shots hold the camera

in the exact , same position (my wife and I were in the same spot, but

we must have shifted a little), there will be a shift in the final result.

Doing a simple crop with the Crop tool (C) will fix any unwanted

edge artifacts. Press Return (PC: Enter) to commit the crop.

STEP FOUR: Now comes the fun part. Select the topmost layer in

the Layers panel and go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. A white

layer mask will be applied to the top layer. Then select the Brush

tool (B) and press D then X to set the Foreground color to black.

Start painting where your missing subject is supposed to be, and

you’ll start to see it appear where the mask is being painted. Zoom

in to really see the mask.

The beauty of doing this type of compositing through a mask is

that if you don’t get i t perfectly the way you want, all you need to

do is press X to switch the Foreground color to white and paint to

restore the unwanted masked areas.

STEP FIVE: Once the mask is complete, the two images will work as

one. As mentioned at the beginning of this column, there might be

a need for some retouching. In the case of the image used for this

tutorial, there was a little retouching to be done. As you see here,

my legs are behind Zosia’s but they appear to be fully exposed to

the light in the scene. Based on the direction of the light source, she

should be casting a shadow over me.

We selected the bottom layer that contained the image of me

standing and selected the Burn tool (nested beneath the Dodge

tool [O]). With a soft-edged brush, we passed the tool over the

edges that fell directly behind my wife’s figure to add the necessary

shadows to complete the scene.

Bert Monroy is considered one of the pioneers of digital art. His work has been seen in many magazines and scores of books. He has served on the faculty of many well-known

institutions, written many books, and appeared on hundreds of TV shows around the world.

[ ]ALL IMAGES BY BERT MONROY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

The result is the two of us standing together in one shot that we

could then show all our friends. I love telling people that if you

can imagine it, you can create it in Photoshop. No matter what the

imaging problem, somewhere in Photoshop you’ll find the answer.

It’s a matter of understanding how the tools work. That understand-

ing comes from sitting there and playing with Photoshop. Have fun,

and play to your heart’s content.

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H U C A

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The first step in submitting a portfolio is when design-ers send a résumé and samples in response to an ad orafter they’ve made a cold call to a prospective employer.

At this point, a prospective employer will make the decision toeither look at more of the designer’s portfolio or file it.

In this crucial stage, designers shouldn’t send in a plain

résumé; they need to show their knowledge of fonts, abilityto communicate, and layout skills. Unlike other professions,this is the first piece in your portfolio. You need to design the

résumé but don’t overwork the layout so that it’s busy. Mostimportantly, make sure there are no spelling mistakes in anyof your written correspondences and résumé. With spellcheck

available, typographical errors will portray you as careless.

Neal Hettinger is the Creative Director at Century, LLC. Previously, he was the Vice President,

Creative at The Lead Pencil, an advertising design studio in Los Angeles. A few of his clientswere Nissan Motors, Universal Pictures, Technicolor, and YMI Jeans. Prior to The Lead Pencil,

he worked at ad agencies in Nashville and Birmingham. He earned his Master of Arts degree

in Advertising and Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Arts at the University of Alabama.

Creative Director, Century, LLC

D. Neal

Hettinger

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What to include?The next pieces of your portfolio are the examples. When nar-rowing down your designs, keep in mind what the employer

has requested. Try to send pieces that are related to whatthey want and also submit your favorite piece and a design

that others have told you is good.

Your full portfolio should start off strong, followed by workthat relates to the potential job, followed by designs that willshow you have other abilities and talents. Finally, finish with

your strongest piece. Leave your portfolio open to that piecewhile you speak to the interviewers. You need to make sure

they remember your face and at least one design in yourportfolio when they make the final decision.

Avoid these mistakes An art director usually receives design portfolios from three

types of applicants: an artist just out of school, which mayinclude a little freelance work; a designer who has been

working for three to five years; and someone with morethan five years’ experience. While all of these portfolios will

contain different types of work, the designers should try tostay away from these common mistakes:

U i>`} vv ÜÌ «iÀÃ> ìÃ}Ã] ÃÕV >Ã LÀÌ`>Þ «>ÀÌÞ

invitations, club flyers, and birth announcementsU *ÀÞ «ÀÌi` À ÜÀ Ã>«iÃ

U ÕiÀÕÃ «Ì}À>«Ã v «>Ì}ÃU ÕiÀÕÃ iÌÌiÀi>`Ã -ÕiÃÃ Ì>Ì½Ã Ü>Ì Ìi >` Ã vÀ®U Ài Ì> ÓÎ «iViÃ v ÞÕ >Ûi > Ì v iÝ«iÀiVi] >`

11 pieces should be enough if you’re just out of school

U À}} > «ÀÌv Ì>Ì½Ã >À}i ÃâiU VVi«Ì} > VÕ« v ÃiÌ} Ì `À Ì>Ì >Þ Ã«U >Û} Ì} Ìi «ÀÌv Ì>Ì ÀiÌiÞ Ài>ÌiÃ Ì

the position for which you’re interviewingU «}â} vÀ Ìi >««i>À>Vi v ÞÕÀ «ÀÌvpÞÕ

shouldn’t be showing it if it’s not ready.

While these suggestions may seem obvious, you’d be sur-prised how many portfolios and interviews I’ve sat through

where designers didn’t think about how they were present-ing themselves or their portfolios. Every designer needs to

approach the interview as a project. The pieces should be

chosen carefully for that employer.

The leave-behindThe last stage of your portfolio is what you leave with the art

director. A number of schools have their students create bookswith their designs that can be given to the art director. This

extra effort will put them ahead of someone with similar experi-ence and portfolio level who only leaves a résumé.

Just because you have 15 years’ experience doesn’tmean you shouldn’t leave behind something reminding

them of your work. In Los Angeles, an ad for a graphicdesigner will bring around 600–750 responses. After

art directors look at those résumés and then a number

v «ÀÌvÃ] Ìi ÌiÀÛiÜÃ LiVi > LÕÀ° i« Ìiremember you and your designs by leaving something

that represents your portfolio.

Communication and creativity ruleA few years ago, we were looking for a designer withfive years’ experience. Of course, we received a lot ofstudent résumés with “three years of freelance.” We were

undecided about the samples and lack of experienceof one artist but we included her in our interviews. She

communicated well with the art director and me, but whatwe remembered was her leave-behind. The designer

}>Ûi ÕÃ > >`>ì Î LÀVÕÀi Ì>Ì ÃÜi` > viÜ vher design projects but when you opened it, the center

top area popped up with her name and contact info.That designer got the position even though she didn’t

have the experience we wanted. The art director and I felt

she would bring a good work ethic and spark of creativityto our agency. We were correct.

Be sure to… 7i ìÃ}iÀÃ vÀ ÜÀ >À}i VÌiÃ ÃÕV >Ã iÜ

York, they may just drop off their portfolios and only inter-view if there’s a call back. In other cities, artists may present

ÌiÀ «ÀÌvÃ° iÃ}iÀÃ ii` Ì Li «Ài«>Ài` vÀ LÌcircumstances and follow these suggestions for a good

portfolio presentation:

U ii« Ì Vi> >` Ã«i

U >Ûi > }V> yÜ Ì ÞÕÀ iÝ>«iÃ >` }ÀÕ« Ìi «iViÃÃ Ìi >ÀÌ `ÀiVÌÀ V> vÜ >} i>ÃÞp`½Ì ÃÜ >letterhead, then an ad, then two webpages, then another

letterhead, and then another adU ,ii>ÀÃi ÞÕÀ «ÀiÃiÌ>ÌpÌ v Ìi µÕiÃÌÃ ÞÕ½

be askedU >Ûi > ÕLiÀ v «ÀÌvÃ] i>V }i>Ài` ÌÜ>À` `vviÀ -

ent industriesU v ÞÕ Ì ÞÕ >Ûi Ì >Þ «iViÃ] ÞÕ `

U v ÞÕ >Ûi V>LÀ>ÌÛi «iViÃ] >VÜi`}i Ìi Ã ÞÕcan show you’re a team player and willing to accept direction

U v Ìi ÌiÀÛiÜiÀÃ Ãii ÌiÀiÃÌi` > «ÀiVÌ] Ì>

>LÕÌ ÌpÌi Ìi Ìi ÃvÌÜ>Ài ÞÕ ÕÃi`] Ü>Ì Ìiclient was like, how the piece exceeded expectationsU v ÞÕ >Ûi Î ìÃ}Ã] LÀ} i À ÌÜ Ì Ìi ÌiÀÛiÜ

U i ÛiÀÞ VÀÌV> v Ìi «iViÃ ÞÕ VÃipÌi «ÀÃ«iV -tive employer will.

A designer’s portfolio is a representation of his or her per-

sonality, abilities, and talent. Art directors will try to figureout if the applicant can design, work with their team, bring

a new creative approach, and meet deadlines. A portfolio isÞÕÀ i ÃÌ Ì ÃÜ ÞÕ V> ` Ìi L° ½Ì VÃi Ìi

ìÃ}Ã ÞÕ ÛipVÃi Ìi ìÃ}Ã > ViÌ Ü Ûi°

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ALL IMAGES BY MIKE CAMPAU

You’ve submitted your portfolio and are waiting for thatcall back, but you made some critical mistakes that will

leave you waiting. Hopefully, we can correct them andhelp you get that position.

Sloppy presentationJust like showing up to an interview in a T-shirt and jeans, apoorly put together portfolio could cost you a job. Your port-folio should portray your personality, your professionalism,

and most of all your creativity. Bad laser prints in an officesupply store binder don’t do your work justice. Get somequality inkjet prints or even digital proofs; with the low print

prices these days, there’s no excuse for poor print quality.And just like you, dress it up in a nice outfit. A quality book oreven a handmade case will start you off on the right foot.

Filler images Don’t try to fill your portfolio to make it look big. Your best

pieces should make your book and if you aren’t completelyexcited to show it, it probably shouldn’t be in there. One

subpar piece can leave questions about your ability andcan take away from your strong pieces. If you’re young

and don’t have quite the arsenal to select from, you stillshouldn’t leave a bad impression with a mediocre piece.Instead, show some of the process behind your better

pieces. This will not only add some size to your book, butalso give some great insight on your creative process andproblem-solving capabilities.

What do you do?

Jack of all trades, master of none—don’t try to show everythingto everyone. If you’re applying for a designer position, don’t fill

your portfolio with photography. It’s good to show that you’re awell-rounded artists, but keep the supporting pieces to a mini-mum or, better yet, separate your book into sections so that

the interviewer can look over what he or she is interested in.

Disc, drive, disasterMake it easy; otherwise, your portfolio might not get lookedat. Sending a disc or flash drive with a cover letter is more than

likely to get tossed because even the little effort of inserting adisc is too much for some people. Plus, some places are a little

hesitant about inserting media into their computers for fear ofviruses and malicious intent. A better plan is to send a samplingof your work along with a link to an online portfolio, then followup with an email that includes the link. That way it’s an easy and

safe click for your contact to find out a little more about you.

Online and on pointThis has less to do with your actual portfolio and more about

you as a brand. Make sure everything online represents whoyou are and the type of work that you do. Yes, an online port-folio is a must these days, but so is what shows up in a Google

search. Guaranteed, if you’re in the running for a position,you’re getting Googled. So always be careful what you post,

but don’t be afraid to get involved. The more good exposure

and activity behind your name shows that you’re involved andup to date with new media.

Beauty and the book In the end it really is about the work, so don’t let your

portfolio case outshine your work or, even worse, distract theviewer as he or she is trying to view your samples. An elabo-

rate, overly complicated portfolio can be a real turn-off:hard to turn the pages, binding that bends the prints, or just

awkward to handle.

Words and pictures We’re all visual people, but sometimes it’s nice to know thestory behind the images. Who was it for? How long of a time-line was there? What was your role in the image? Just leaving

images on a blank page with no information can leave onewith more questions than answers.

Going digitalIf you’re a digital artist or Web designer, an online portfolio is

a must. For online portfolios, don’t get too clever for your owngood. Use common user interface practices and make it easy

and quick for someone to look through your work. Leave thecomplicated scripting and magic in your samples. If people

have a hard time sifting through your work, they’re more likelyto move on to the next site. And just because you live in a digi-

tal world, there’s something to be said for ink on paper and itmight be a good idea to put together a physical book to havewith you just in case.

HookedSome of the best portfolios that I’ve seen over the years have

been handmade pieces of art: custom-wrapped boxes, jewelryposts, hand-bound leather, and letter-pressed type, all very

tastefully done to give a great first impression. But again, theydidn’t get the job because of the portfolio alone, they still had

to have great work. But it did show they felt their work wasworthy of a case built with care and the overall design gave a

little bit of insight into their personality. No matter what you dofor your portfolio, buy it, make it, borrow it, just make sure it

represents your style and enhances your work.

One example of this was a portfolio book that concentratedon fishing and outdoor photography. The book cover was thinleather bound by fly fishing line; all the photo prints were put

on the pages with antique photo corners; and the paper stockwas a thick, heavy, textured paper that really tied into the sub-

ject matter. This is a perfect example of how to enhance yourwork and show a little bit of your personality.

Finally, don’t sweat the portfolio too much. You’re better

served to put your time and effort into improving yourself as adesigner and artist. Just keep it clean, personal, and put your

best work forward and you should be in good shape for yournext interview.

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Due to our success and tremendous growth in the mar-ketplace, I’m consistently meeting with new designers.Lately, I’ve been meeting with new designers anywhere

from five to six times a week. I make sure that I take the time tomeet, discuss, and explain the vision we have here at Skechers.

After I meet with everyone, I put together the “big picture” of

which designer can adjust and adapt best to our world.

The résuméOne major mistake that designers can make is the presen-tation and vision of their résumé. In the world of design, a

résumé is just as important as a portfolio because it’s the firstimpression. Often, I’m handed a résumé before even having

a chance to review a designer’s portfolio. I then ask myself,“How much does this individual really care about design?”

A creative person who lives and breathes design shouldn’tbe handing out a résumé that was typed in Word using

default settings. That only shows me that he or she can

convey a message that’s similar to an IRS form.The résumé is an opportunity to show what you can do in

a tasteful manner. It needs to showcase your design skills by

adding visual elements, using a grid, playing with typography,color choices, and so on; however, overdesigned résumés can

also be overlooked. In other words, what’s most important isto present your information with a solid layout and font choice

that will allow you to show your personal design style. Printingon a stock that has a little weight and color tint is a nice touch.

What kind of portfolio?The physical portfolio is another key component that can go

wrong, and the worst kind is a heavy, briefcase-style portfolio.The portfolio should be clean, simple, and easy to maneuver.Too much work in a portfolio is a common mistake. Most art

directors are pressed for time and don’t want to feel obligatedto look through a 50-plus page book, especially if the work

isn’t hitting the mark. A portfolio should only include the bestwork and be closely related to the type of work that a client or

employer does and wants while showing that you’re a versatileand well-balanced designer. I only want to spend extra time

with a designer on my terms.

Keep it organized

Before an interview, you should look over your book andkeep it neat, clean, and organized. Opening a book with

loose artwork that’s piled together randomly or missingsleeved pages will only make the viewer question your atten-

tion to detail or how serious you’re taking the interview. Inaddition, when you have a portfolio with plastic sleeves, it’s

very important to make sure you don’t see any smudges orfingerprints, for obvious reasons.

Beware of conceptual/student work It’s important not to have too much conceptual work, espe-cially if it’s only student work. An experienced designer

shouldn’t have any past student work, no matter how good

Art Director, Skechers FootwearIn-House Advertising/Art Department

fred

machucaFred Machuca earned a BFA in Visual Communications, Graphic Design, and Advertising

from Cal State University, Long Beach, California, in 1992. Due to his interest in fashion

and sports (surf and skate), he began freelancing for Quiksilver, Billabong, and Mossimo.Then he began working for skate and street wear brands, such as Freshjive, JNCO Jeans,

Vans, and Rusty. For the past eight years, he has worked for Skechers Footwear in Manhat-

tan Beach, California, as Art Director for the In-House Advertising/Art Department.

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it might be. If the designer just recently graduated, student

work is obviously necessary. However, this is why an internshipduring school is important. It can really give you the advantage

over someone who’s just out of school and had no internship.

Viva varietyWhen showing your portfolio of work to an employer, it’simportant to show a variety in both your style and the typesof projects you’ve created. Even though you may have a great

design style, it can really come across as limited in your cre-ative thought process. For example, pushing a certain style is

better suited for an illustrator or a photographer. Even amongthe pieces that focus on a specific area, offer a portfolio mix

that shows your skills working with photos, primarily text lay-outs, full-color work, modern, classic, cutting-edge styles, etc.

Outdated work is a negative because it’s just not relevant.I think this is something that senior-level designers should really

be aware of because there’s so much new talent out there.

Staying modern is extremely crucial. With older-looking pieces,I’ve found myself assuming this person will not be able toproduce fresh ideas.

No cheatingI tend to stay away from online portfolios except to get aquick peek before I meet with a designer. The face-to-face

with a portfolio is what really matters. Not long ago, I metwith a designer who pulled out his 15" laptop and began

showing me his portfolio. I realized it was the same exact PDFfile he emailed me right before we met. I felt cheated and was

expecting more of a reason to meet with other than to see

what he looked like. At this point in time, viewing a designer’sportfolio from a computer screen when meeting face to faceshould only apply to Web designers.

The portfolioThe portfolio itself should be clean and contemporary. Black

is classic but keep it neutral in color. I’ve seen many customportfolios with covers made of metal or wood. I remember

one designer who made furniture as a hobby and created anice wooden case to contain his work. Something like this

makes it exciting to see what is inside.Another positive thing to see in a portfolio is mounted

work. Unmatted work is impressive because the individualpieces aren’t bound together and can easily be picked upand looked at individually. This makes it possible to really

focus and concentrate on detail of the individual piece.

7ʍʕʘʛʞʑʐ ),7It’s a smart idea to tailor your portfolio for each position you’reapplying for. You might need to take out, rearrange, or even

add pieces that you feel will hit the mark for that studio orbusiness. For example, focus on advertising design pieces for

an advertising department. When a designer’s portfolio fitsour style, I think to myself that this person has done his or her

research and really wants to be here.

The best portfolios have a variety of design and execution,

such as layout, typography, logos, and imagery. Not only doI get the sense of talent, but the confidence from the indi-

vidual when seeing diversity in what he or she can do.

Keep it simpleKeeping your portfolio simple with a limited amount ofpages is important. You may have extra work that is relevantbut might just be too much for one book. There will be times

when I really get into a designer’s work and I’m interested tolook at more. There have been times I’ve asked designers to

bring smaller side books or a box of actual pieces that havereally added to the main portfolio. I have a personal mini

portfolio showcasing all my logos that’s easy to go through.Printed work can really add specialty finishes because

it shows great attention to detail. When designers showphysical pieces it takes things up a notch. The best way to

do this is to have the piece mounted to a board, but if it’s

something more substantial such as a booklet or foldedpiece, it’s best to keep it separate. Having those pieces in abox or some kind of sleeve that matches the main portfoliois impressive.

Highlight your skills Even though having too much conceptual or personal

work can ruin a portfolio, just a few pieces are a great wayto improve your book. This can help show what you can

do when given full creative freedom. I believe the bestpieces are those that highlight your skills in Photoshop and

Illustrator. When designers point out these pieces, it gives

me a chance to start a conversation about their abilities andinterests regarding their designs.

Chronological order rules Organizing your work and how it flows is really importantbut in my opinion there’s no right way to do this except the

usual suggestion of showing one of your best pieces firstand finishing off with an equally strong piece. I get a better

sense of the designer and his or her background experiencewhen the work is organized in somewhat of a chronologi-cal order, grouped by place of business or work history. For

example, a senior-level designer put his book together this

way and it gave me a clear understanding of what he wascapable of doing.

The book wins One of the most creative portfolios I’ve seen was one wherethe designer printed his work on a high-quality stock and

bound it as a book with a custom but simple cover. Eachspread had the work on the right page and two lines of

copy about the work centered on the left page. The workconsisted of booklets, posters, music, art, logos, and type

treatments. I enjoyed it because I got a strong sense ofcreative design from the various visual treatments, as well as

a good understanding of his capabilities on the computer.

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One of the easiest ways to distinguish a company is by having

a unique and memorable logo; however, creating a uniqueand memorable logo is not as easy as it sounds. Here are 12

common logo design mistakes that amateur logo designers

often fall victim to.

/V^ [V H]VPK JVTTVUSVNV KLZPNU TPZ[HRLZ

By Jacob Cass

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:L[[SPUN MVY H TVUVNYHTOne of the more common mistakes of the amateur logodesigner is trying to create a monogram out of the business’

initials (e.g., Bob’s Hardware would become a logo madeout of B and H). Although this sounds like a smart solution

at first, it’s rather difficult to build credibility or convey an

intended message with just the initials of a company. You cancertainly explore this route, but don’t settle on it unless youcan create an original, creative, and memorable solution that

reflects the business’ goals.Also, try not to shorten a business name into acronyms

until it has been around for a while. HP, FedEx, IBM, and GMnever started out as acronyms—they became this way after

many years of high-profile exposure.

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ideas are often the first things to pop into one’s head when

brainstorming, and for the same reason should be the firstideas discarded. How is your design going to be unique whenso many other logos feature the same idea? Stay clear of these

visual clichés and come up with an original idea and design.

*VW`PUN Z[LHSPUNVY IVYYV^PUN KLZPNUIt’s sad that this has to be said, but it’s an all-too-common prac-

tice these days. A designer sees an idea that he likes, does aquick mirror, color swap, or word change, and then calls the

idea his own. Not only is this unethical, illegal, and downrightstupid but you’re also going to get caught sooner or later. Do

not use stock or clip art either—the point of a logo is to beunique and original.

.L[[PUN [VV T\JO JSPLU[ PUW\[A client is paying you as a professional designer to come upwith a relevant design, so you should direct the client to the

best possible solution. The best way to do this is to offer yourexpertise, not by letting them direct the project (entirely). If a

client asks for a misinformed change, explain why it may notbe such a good idea and offer a better alternative. If they still

refuse, try sending your own design decisions as well as theirdesign suggestions. They will often realize that their sugges-tions may not have been the best; however, you as a designer

should also realize that you’re not always right, so try giving theclient’s suggestions a go—who knows where it will lead.

7YV]PKPUN [VV THU` JVUJLW[ZLoosely linked to the above point is providing the client withtoo many options. This again means the client will have too

much say over the design direction of the project. If youprovide 10 concepts to a client, more often than not they will

choose what you consider the worst design. A good rule ofthumb is to only send one to three concepts that you person-

ally could see working for their business. Of course, the numberof concepts you send can change from project to project, but

once you feel confident enough as a designer, these one to

three concepts should nail the project on the head every time.

5V[ JSLHUPUN \W SVNV ÄSLZLogo files should be one of the cleanest files you ever deliver

a client. Node points should be kept to a minimum; curvesshould be as smooth as possible and without overlap. Shapes

should be combined, and if your logo is symmetrical, it shouldbe perfectly symmetrical. Everything about the delivered

file should be perfect and as minimal as possible. Imagine ifthe client needs to blow up the logo to put on the side of a

truck. If the logo has any mistakes, these will now be clearly

visible. Make it perfect.

5V[ KLSP]LYPUN JVYYLJ[ ÄSLZ [V JSPLU[Delivering the right files to your client is one way to ensurethat your client never comes back asking for revisions or

different versions of a logo. It also ensures that the logo getsdisplayed correctly in all circumstances, which should be

supported by a style guide. You should give your client four high-quality files per logo

variation—this means providing a spot-color file, a pure CMYK(no spot colors), a pure black file, and a pure white (knockout)

file. These should generally be in EPS, TIFF, and JPEG formats. You can provide a favicon too, if you’re feeling nice.

Hopefully, these ideas will help you build better logos and

deliver happier clients. It’s important, however, to state thatalthough lists such as this are a good starting point, they

should not hold you back—rules are made to be broken.

A pencil on its own would be a visual cliché for any illustrator or designer;however, if you use a cliché in a creative and unique way, then your logo willbe much more memorable. Have a look for the hidden J, C, and D in thelogo shown here.

Take note of the wave hidden in this logo design. As an example of cleaningup files, this wave would have to be knocked out of the letters “W” and “A”rather than simply having a white wave shape sitting on top of the letterforms.

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The new HDR Pro features in CS5 have greatly expanded the HDR capabilities in Photoshop. In addition to basic

exposure blending, you can now apply tone mapping effects similar to those found in stand-alone HDR software.

We’ll use a landscape image to take a closer look at HDR Pro, as well as apply HDR Toning to a single image.

If you’re new to High Dynamic Range (HDR), here’s a quick overview:

The process makes use of multiple shots of the same scene exposed

differently to cover the entire range of brightness in a scene. It’s particu-

larly useful for high-contrast scenes where you can’t capture the entire

brightness range in a single exposure. Multiple shots should ideally be

exposed one stop apart with the aperture consistent for each exposure.

Use as many shots as needed to cover the contrast range (3–7 shots is

common, but some situations may require more).

[HDR OVERVIEW]

S E Á N { } D U G G A N

Using a tripod will ensure the shots line up perfectly, but in some

cases you can carefully handhold the camera (or stabilize it by other

means) and use the Auto Exposure Bracketing mode (AEB) to quickly

capture a range of shots at a specified exposure difference (the illus-

tration here shows a one stop range on a Canon EOS 5D). Check

your camera’s manual for information on AEB. To get the most ben-

efit from HDR Pro (or any HDR software), shoot in RAW to capture

as much tonal information as possible.

[TRIPOD/AUTO EXPOSURE BRACKETING]

LEE CALDERO N

[If you’d like to download the images used in this tutorial to practice these techniques, visit www.layersmagazine.com and navigate to the Magazine section. All files are for personal use only.]

HDR Pro in Photoshop CS5

[ D I G I T A L P H O T O G R A P H Y T U T O R I A L ]

[shooting for HDR]

f/11, 1/200

f/11, 1/400

f/11, 1/800

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Before beginning the HDR Pro process, open all the RAW files in

Camera Raw or Lightroom and check for anything that needs fixing.

This can include simple things such as white balance and dust spot-ting, to more “stealth” issues like chromatic aberration. To check for

the latter, zoom in to at least 100% and scroll to the outer edges of

the image. Look for the telltale red and cyan fringing along high-con-

trast edges. The image here does have chromatic aberration that can

be seen along the rooftops on either side of the image.

Once you’ve made the changes to one file, you can apply the same

settings to the other files in the HDR sequence. In Camera Raw, click

the Select All button at the top left and then click the Synchronize

button. In the Synchronize dialog click OK, and then click the Save

Images button. Click the Done button to leave Camera Raw. In Light-

room, select the file you just adjusted and then Command-click (PC:

Ctrl-click) on the others in the Filmstrip to select them. Click the Sync

button in the lower-right corner of the Develop module and in the

Synchronize Settings dialog, click Synchronize.

Identifying chromatic aberration is the first step to fixing it, and for-

tunately, fixing it is pretty easy. Go to the Lens Corrections controls

in either Camera Raw 6 or Lightroom 3 and use the Fix Red/CyanFringe slider (it’s just called Red/Cyan in Lightroom) to remove the

problem. If you’re unsure of which way to move the slider, just move

it drastically one way or the other and you’ll soon know which is the

correct direction (here, we moved it to –25).

When you’re ready to dive into HDR Pro, you can do so from Bridge

by Command-clicking (PC: Ctrl-clicking) each thumbnail from the HDR

sequence to select them and going to Tools>Photoshop>Merge to

HDR Pro. You can also do the same thing using the Mini Bridge panel

(File>Browse in Mini Bridge) in Photoshop CS5. The basic procedure

is the same: select each thumbnail you want to work with, click on the

Tools icon (rectangle with arrow), and choose Photoshop>Merge to

HDR Pro. If working in Lightroom 3, select each thumbnail and choose

Photo>Edit In>Merge to HDR Pro in Photoshop.

[GETTING IMAGES INTO HDR PRO][SYNCHRONIZING SETTINGS]

[FIXING CHROMATIC ABERRATION][PRE-HDR ADJUSTMENTS TO RAW FILES]

Synchronizing settings in Camera Raw

[HDR preflight check]

[using HDR Pro]

Synchronizing settings in Lightroom

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continued on p. 46

[MODIFYING EDGE GLOW]

In the Edge Glow section, move the Strength slider first to the far

left and then to the far right and observe how this affects the “halo”

edge around contrast edges. Strength controls the level of contrast

in the glow effect. Set this slider to 1.00 and move the Radius slider

back and forth to see how it affects the glow. Radius controls the size

of the glow effect. Set the Radius to 125. The Strength should still be

set to 1.00.

As you did with the previous sliders, experiment with Gamma and

Exposure by moving each one in turn to opposite ends. Gamma

adjusts the difference between highlights and shadows, while Expo-

sure adjusts the overall image tone and brightness. The Gamma

slider is reversed in terms of how sliders normally work; moving it

to the left results in higher values, while moving it right results in

lower values. Set both the Gamma and Exposure to 0.70.

[SET GAMMA AND EXPOSURE]9

Once the Merge to HDR Pro dialog appears, you’ll see the source

image thumbnails arranged below an initial preview of the merged

image. Before we get into the controls in detail, open the Preset drop-

down menu and take some of these settings for a test drive. Most of

these are pretty useless without additional intervention and should

only be considered as a starting point for further explorations. What

they’re good for is seeing how the sliders are configured to achieve a

certain type of look. This is information you can use to help you find

the look you want.

[MERGE TO HDR PRO PRESETS]

Set the Preset to Photorealistic. Though fairly unremarkable, it’s a

good place to start. In the two Mode drop-down menus, 16 Bit and

Local Adaptation should be selected (if you select 32 Bit, the dialog

will look like earlier versions of Merge to HDR; you don’t have all the

cool new creative controls, but it’s useful if you want to create a 32-bit

merged file to import into other HDR applications, such as HDR-

soft’s Photomatix).

[CHOOSE A STARTING PRESET]8

10

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Vibrance and Saturation are fairly self-explanatory, especially if you’re

used to how they work in Camera Raw or Lightroom. Saturation

affects all colors equally while Vibrance has a more refined approach,

affecting less-saturated colors more and more-saturated colors less.

Set both to 50% for this image. Next, click on the Curve tab (located

next to the Color tab).

The Curve is where you can have a great deal of control as to how

the image looks. If you know how curves work in Photoshop, then

this will be familiar to you. Move the lower-left point on the curve

(the shadow point) to the bottom-right corner of the first square in

the grid. Then click on the curve three times to place three additional

points and adjust as shown here (to remove a point, simply drag it

to the left outside of the grid box). This curve lightens the shadows

but makes the highlights a bit too bright; change the Gamma set-

ting to 0.50 to compensate for this.

If you’ve created an HDR look that you like, and that you feel might

work well on other images that are similar in overall tone and contrast

(i.e., landscape images), then it’s a good idea to save your settings

as a preset so you don’t have to start from scratch every time. Click

the Preset Options icon just to the right of the Preset drop-down

menu and choose Save Preset. Name your preset and click Save.

Your new preset will now appear in the Preset drop-down menu.

Detail sets the amount of contrast in the detail of the image. Low

values create a dreamy, diffuse look, while high values render a stark,

high-contrast effect. Set the Detail to 150%. Shadow and Highlight

adjust the luminance (brightness) of those regions. Set the Shadow

to 100% and the Highlight to –60%. Working with all of the sliders

involves a lot of back and forth as they’re interdependent; changes

to one may prompt you to make further refinements to sliders you’ve

already set. That’s why getting a sense of exactly what each slider

does is so important.

[COLOR SETTINGS][DETAIL, SHADOW, AND HIGHLIGHT] 12

[ADJUST THE CURVE] [SAVE HDR PRESETS]13 14

11

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[HDR toning]

If your image contains elements that might have traces of motion in

them, such as moving water or tree branches, enable the Remove

Ghosts checkbox near the top of the dialog. HDR Pro will select the

source file that’s best for the motion-affected areas in the image

(the thumbnail will be highlighted in green). You can also make your

own choice simply by clicking on a thumbnail. After checking for

ghosts, now you can click OK.

Before clicking OK in the Merge to HDR Pro dialog, be sure to zoom

in to 100% or more and scroll around the image to check the edges.

Some combinations of settings can create hard and jagged pixil-

ation along contrast edges. Low Strength settings are often to blame

for hard “crackly” edges, so if you see any, try increasing the value

of this setting. And, keep in mind that changes to Strength may

require slight modifications to Radius, Detail, and other settings.

After you click OK in the next step, inspect the edges again as

Photoshop provides a much better view than the low-resolution

preview in HDR Pro.

[REMOVE GHOSTS][DOUBLE-CHECK EDGES AT 100%] 1615

Seán Duggan is the co-author of The Creative Digital Darkroom and Real World Digital Photography. He teaches regular workshops on Photoshop and Lightroom for Photographers.

Sign up for his free newsletter at www.seanduggan.com.[ ]

One very important thing to remember is that simply running a series

of files through HDR Pro doesn’t necessarily make a finished image.

At best, you’ll have a really good combination of all the source expo-

sures that gives you a solid platform on which to continue enhancing

the image. The use of additional adjustment layers with layer masks

can greatly improve the overall look of the final image. In this example,

we adjusted the Levels for the buildings and bridge, added Curves for

more contrast in the sky, used Hue/Saturation to change the color of

the river, and finished with Vibrance to saturate the overall colors.

Photoshop CS5 also has a great new HDR Toning feature that lets

you create an HDR look for a single exposure. This is great for those

shots where you either don’t have multiple exposures, or making

them doesn’t work for the subject (such as people). You can find

this by going to Image>Adjustments>HDR Toning. The controls are

exactly the same as those in HDR Pro, and you can even use saved

HDR Pro Presets. It’s not the same as real HDR, however; the tonal

range will be limited to the single exposure you’re using.

ALL IMAGES BY SEÁN DUGGAN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

[CUSTOMIZE WITH ADJUSTMENT LAYERS] [Tone mapping a single image]17 18

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One of the simplest ways to create a spot color version of a docu-

ment is to create a second document the same size as the first. To

do this, go to File>New and in the New dialog, click the Preset

drop-down menu and choose your existing artwork document.

Click OK. This will create a new document the same size as your

original. To make things easier, go to Window>Arrange>Tile to

create a split screen of your two documents.

Very often you’ll need to move the Fuzziness slider to include all

the selected areas, but if you do, be careful not to go too far, or

similar colors will be selected. One way to help with this is to change

the Selection Preview from None to White Matte. This will show a

preview on your document with your selection in color and every-

thing else in white. In our example, the selection we made showed

that some of the lighter red color was being selected, so we pulled

back the Fuzziness slider slightly (we’ll add the lighter colors later).

In your original document, choose Select>Color Range to select your

first color. (Choose a main color at 100% opacity, not a color that’s at a

reduced opacity.) Make sure the Image radio button is active, and use

the Eyedropper tool in the dialog to select an area of your first color

(we chose the dark red color) in the dialog’s preview section. After

you’ve made your selection, activate the Selection radio button to

see your selection as a mask, with the white areas representing your

selection and the black areas indicating what isn’t selected. Using this

option will help make your selection precise.

Click OK to accept the color range settings and press the M key to

select the Rectangle Marquee tool (or any marquee tool, it doesn’t

matter which one). Place your cursor on a portion of your selection

and your mouse will turn into a white arrow with a small selection

box underneath. When this happens, click-and-drag your selection

into the second document, and then hold down the Shift key to

center it on the document. Then, in the Channels panel (Window>

Channels), click the flyout menu and choose New Spot Channel.

[ADD A SPOT CHANNEL][FUZZINESS AND PREVIEW OPTIONS]

[SELECT THE FIRST COLOR][CREATE A SECOND DOCUMENT]

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Create additional spot channels for each main color (shades of the

main colors—reduced opacity colors—will come later). In the main

document, press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect your previous

selection and follow Steps 4 through 7 to create new spot channels.

(Note: After making each selection, click the color swatch at the bottom

of the Toolbox to note the color being selected; if you don’t do this,

Photoshop will use the last color selected when a new spot channel is

created.) Eventually, you’ll have a spot channel for each main color, and

the image will look pretty good with only a few missing pieces.

Make sure the appropriate spot channel (for our example, the red

spot channel) is active in the Channels panel, and then go to Edit>

Fill. Because we want this to print as a lighter version of our color,

select 50% Gray from the Use drop-down menu and click OK. On

the document image, you’ll now see some lighter red areas while

on the spot channel in the Channels panel you’ll see 100% black

and 50% black.

In the New Spot Channel dialog, name the channel and make sure

that the color swatch holds th

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