Anthony L. Celeste

When shooting portraits on a green screen setup the first stage in the work is selecting and removing the green screen itself, something a “magic wand” or similar selection tool will accomplish. The next stage is finding and fitting an appropriate replacement background, and just as Digital Anarchy’s Primatte Chromakey streamlines the green screen removal process, the company also offers a Photoshop plug-in that streamlines the background creation process. Dubbed Backdrop Designer, the software can aid you in digitally creating muslin drapes, lighting effects, and other photographic backgrounds.

The computer needs of a digital photographer are different from someone who just wants to check e-mail and surf the Web. In this article, I’ll take a look at some of the features you should look for when considering a new computer. You can look at these suggestions as being divided into two categories: Essentials and Options. Essentials will provide the basic needs for the advanced amateur—not the pro—while Options covers those who use their camera to record video and their computer to edit it.

Mystical Focus builds on the success of the Auto FX “Mystical” series of plug-ins, which includes Mystical Lighting and Mystical Tint, Tone, and Color.

It’s common to see blinking buttons and scrolling banners and other animated graphics on websites that look pretty much the same as those on every other website. I want to show you how you can do something different with animation: blur an image, then use animation to grab your viewer’s attention by bringing the blurred photo back into focus.

I’ll be using Ulead...