…a Photoshop guru.

I’ve been using Adobe Photoshop® since early 1993. For anyone who’s familiar with the program, it may put it in perspective to say that I was using Photoshop before “layers” were introduced. I’ve still got my original installation discs for version 2.5 “Merlin” (currently, Photoshop version CS3-10.0 “Red Pill” is in beta testing) and I’ve thought of installing it on one of my old Mac’s just for nostalgia’s sake.

One of the best things about my job is the opportunity to take a photograph and change it or correct it in order to make it better suit its purpose.

Here’s an image I received from a Japanese restaurant…

…and this is what it looked like after I added motion and touched it up.

Sometimes, I get to take a black & white photograph or a color photograph which lacks “punch” and add color to it. This makes it more eye catching and increases its effectiveness, especially in a newspaper where the bulk of the advertising has traditionally been black and white.

This image was provided by a nationally known vacuum cleaner manufacturer.

The customer requested that I use this photo in a full-color ad, so I made the grey kitten into an orange tabby.

Of course, Photoshop isn’t just for photos. I also use it to alter stock illustrations for use in ads. This includes adding color, props and backgrounds.

This was a great illustration, but the customer wanted to tailor his President’s Day sale to fit our local Mardi Gras celebrations.

With color added in the background and some Mardi Gras props, the image gained in intensity and reflected the current holiday season.

Sometimes I use Photoshop to create an entire ad or a shell which I’ll later fill with more copy.

This image needed to be branded as part of our classified advertising promotions. I added some distressed type and a subtle classified advertising background. With a logo and a disclaimer, this was ready for print.