TECH TIPS Using Layer Styles Blending - John Reuter - "There are many filters available that can alter your images. I occasionally find partial use of them exciting by fading or blending them, but I tend to stay away from them because they seem to have an aesthetic of their own. What I love about Layer Styles Blending is that the artist sets up the process by image selection and layer placement. The tool then introduces the same kinds of accidental effects and chance interactions that informed my earliest work with traditional materials.

The following example demonstrates how to use and modify Layer Styles Blending for your own work."

Adobe Photoshop CS
Part of the new Adobe Creative Suite (which also includes Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive, and Acrobat Pro), the latest revision of Photoshop is so much enhanced that Adobe couldn't just call it Photoshop 8.0. For starters, it allows you to manage your images, not just view them. You can display previews at any size; sort, rearrange, catalog, and search; and assign images keywords and customize their metadata. You can even perform batch functions straight from the browser. The application's built-in Adobe Camera RAW utility lets you open and edit nearly any camera's RAW file format without third-party software. With the Lens Blur filter you can alter a picture’s apparent depth of field, while Shadow/ Highlight correction offers a sort of automated dodging and burning-in. Most major tools, including layers, now operate in 16-bit mode.