Hot Stuff
Win a Wacom Tablet
We're giving away one Wacom tablet!
Subscribe to Author CreativePro Author > Deke McClelland
Deke McClelland
Electronic publishing pioneer Deke McClelland is a popular lecturer on Adobe Photoshop and the larger realm of computer graphics and design. He hosts the in-box videos that ship with Photoshop and Illustrator CS4, as well as many previous versions of the programs. He has also created hundreds of hours of tutorial-style video training for industry leaders lynda.com and, prior to that, Total Training. In addition to his video work, Deke has written over 80 books translated into 24 languages, with more than 4 million copies in print. These included many For Dummies books and the bestselling title ever published on Photoshop, the Photoshop Bible. (He has since parted ways with that knucklehead publisher.)
One of the most award-winning writers in the technology market, Deke received the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Computer Book in 1989. Since then, he has garnered more than 30 honors, including seven independent citations from the Computer Press Association and an elegant-looking Russian citation that he's never been able to read. In 2002, he was inducted into the National Association of Photoshop's Photoshop Hall of Fame. (Interestingly, this was Deke's second Hall of Fame induction. His first one was in high school for his art and theater work. Who'da thunk?)
In 2004 Deke created the One-on-One™ book series, which uses video, step-by-step exercises, and hundreds of full-color illustrations to provide readers with the closest thing possible to private instruction from a recognized expert. These ambitious, self-paced guides include the bestselling Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-on-One and Adobe InDesign CS4 One-on-One. Late in 2006 Deke teamed up with vanguard online training company lynda.com to bring the One-on-One training strategy to a line of video products, beginning with Photoshop CS3 Beta One-on-One, the first series available for the public beta of Photoshop CS3. His other One-on-One videos include Photoshop One-on-One, Illustrator One-on-One, and InDesign One-on-One: Style Sheets. One-on-One videos for CS4 are in the works.
In the design and graphics space, lynda.com is the most popular video training company and Deke is the company's most popular and award-winning trainer. In 2007 and 2008, his videos (which also include Photoshop Channels and Masks and Photoshop Sharpening Images) have won an unprecedented nine industry awards, including The Communicator, Horizon Interactive, Omni Intermedia, Ava Platinum, DV, and Hermes Creative Awards; two Videographer Awards; and the highly coveted 29th Annual Telly Award.
In Summer 2008, Deke introduced dekePod, his series of free, irreverent, once-every-other-weekly videos on computer graphics and digital imaging.
Deke is an Adobe Certified Expert, a member of the PhotoshopWorld Instructor Dream Team, and a regular speaker for the Photoshop Fling cruise seminars. Deke lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife, two super-powered monkey boys, dog, cat, turtle, three-year-old tadpole, and frog. Not to mention a bunch of bugs that the youngest child keeps hiding in his room.
Photoshop How-To: Fill a Face Full of Words
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on November 23, 2011
Using one photo and three layers of text, you can create a powerful image in Adobe Photoshop.
Turn a Red Car to Gold in Photoshop
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on October 31, 2011
It's fun and useful to change the color of one object in a photo. While you can do it easily enough in Photoshop, the Hue/Saturation technique most people try usually doesn't work well. Instead, use my foolproof method.
Striking Starbursts Make Your Work Stand Out
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on October 5, 2011
Why settle for Illustrator's default starburst shapes when a few tweaks create something unique that will really grab attention? Here are two ways to go beyond the ordinary.
Photoshop How-to: Give a Horse Wings
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on August 11, 2011
Pegasus (a horse with wings) may be a mythical animal, but you can bring it to life in Photoshop.
Create Outer Space Inside Photoshop
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on April 7, 2011
Use Deke's techniques and it won't take long to turn an inky void into a starfield that would fit into any science fiction show.
Create a Reflection in a Broken Mirror for Seven Years of Photoshop Good Luck
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on February 24, 2011
Combine two images, add some of Photoshop's Smart Filters, and you'll end up with the most fortunate results: a reflection in shattered glass.
Photoshop How-To: Really Hot Type
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on February 3, 2011
Through the magic of Photoshop, make any text so smokin' you can almost see the heat rising off its molten letters. Bonus: You can go back and edit the type without burning your fingers.
Photoshop How-To: Turn Type Into Gold
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on January 24, 2011
Go for the gold inside Photoshop! Follow along with this video how-to and you'll end up with metallic type that looks much more realistic than the results of many other tutorials, yet is easy and fast to create.
Turn Text to Ice in Photoshop
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on January 10, 2011
Create your own typecicle with a combo of Photoshop's wind filter and some layer effects. Because it's done through smart objects, you can change the text at any point.
Make an Image Pop in Photoshop
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on April 15, 2010
Learn how to use Photoshop's Sharpen filters to enhance a photograph's detail.
Fix Mistakes In Photoshop
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on April 5, 2010
There's no Undo in life, but there is in Photoshop. There's also Revert and the ever-useful History panel. All three, especially the History panel, can go a long way toward fixing anything you regret doing in Photoshop. Here's how to use their full powers.
Save Bad Photos and Make Good Ones Great
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on March 18, 2010
Camera Raw is a free subprogram that runs inside Photoshop. It lets you "develop" photographs by exploiting every byte of the information captured by a digital SLR camera. Here's how to tap into Camera Raw's many features to make huge improvements in images.
Fix Skin Tones & Color Casts in Photoshop
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on March 15, 2010
Photoshop's Adjustment Layers is one of the oldest and best forms of nondestructive editing in Adobe Photoshop. Learn how to use it to fix a photo by adding saturation to skin tones and removing unwanted blue color casts.
How to Use Gaussian Blur in Photoshop
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on March 4, 2010
Gaussian Blur is a filter that blurs an image. But it's also the math behind the Feather command, drop shadows, and everything that is soft in Photoshop. And here's the crazy thing: You can sharpen an image using Gaussian Blur!
Throw Photoshop's Magic Wand Out the Window!
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on February 26, 2010
With Photoshop's Color Range command, you can select an image as easily as you can with the Magic Wand. However, Color Range gives you more flexibility and much better results.
Master Masking with Photoshop's Alpha Channels
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on February 16, 2010
Much can be said of masking: Masking is the art of using the image to select itself. Masking lets you apply the entire weight of Photoshop to the task of editing a selection. And masking, thy name is alpha channel.
Get the Best Web Images Out of Photoshop
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on February 7, 2010
Sure, you can turn almost any image into a GIF, JPG, or PNG with a simple Save As in Photoshop. But if you instead use Save for Web & Devices, you'll get smaller, better-looking images that are perfect for the Web.
Get the Wet Look with Photoshop's Layer Effects
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on January 27, 2010
When you combine Photoshop layer effects and take them beyond their defaults, you can end up with amazing results -- in this case, a photo that looks as if it's been covered in water droplets.
Make Smooth Selections in Photoshop
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on December 16, 2009
Don't like the jagged edges in your Photoshop selection? The Refine Edge feature can take care of that.
Control Light in Photoshop
How-Tos: Written by Deke McClelland on December 2, 2009
In this tutorial on the Photoshop Curves command, you'll learn how to put highlights and shadows in all the right places.
