dekePod

The Instant Liquid Diet

Episode 010: I love this time of year. The crisp breeze on my back. The slight shiver. The smell of the new season.

It's nature's way of telling us to stock up. To fatten ourselves for the hard times ahead, when the ground is frozen and the crops are dead or bare. Only problem is, most of us don't have no stinkin' crops and the frozen foods aisle is as overflowing in December as it is in June. So every Holiday Season marks the introduction of a couple of new pounds that never seem to leave.

But what if this year was different? What if all photographic evidence pointed to a thinner you at the end of 2008? Let dekePod show you how. Here's the official marketing description: Read more » 

Sixties Space Siren

Mudd's woman

Episode 009: Well, kids, we did it. If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, this episode of dekePod is your answer. Because honestly, for the nation's sake, for the world's sake, it's time to reflect. Take stock. Even celebrate. Time to rejoice in our hopeful future while at the same time glorify our romantic past. And what better way to do that than to honor Iowa's most famous native son, Captain James T. Kirk of the Startship Enterprise? With an awesome, not to mention advanced, technique. Here's the official marketing description: Read more » 

The Masks Palette

Killer palette

Episode 008: 'Tis the season for dark and terrible creatures. Mindless teenage slashers, horrors that come alive when you dream, insane devil dolls. Photoshop CS4 has just such a dark creature living inside it: the Masks palette. It pretends to be small, unassuming, even helpful. Until you try to actually use it. That's when it slices at you and chants its taunting catchphrase, "No mask selected!" But there are ways to make the Masks palette submit to your imaging will. Secret ways, peaceful ways. And Deke is privy to them. Here's the official marketing description: Read more » 

Faking an HDR Portrait

A fake HDR portrait

Episode 007:  Well, friends, it's getting to be Halloween, that bestest of holidays, the one made famous by Linus and Jamie Lee Curtis. And you know what that means: Another traditional early-October Halloween episode of dekePod. (Well, the first one, but you have to start somewhere.) This year, I celebrate the spookiness of the season by showing you how to fake an HDR portrait in Photoshop. Perhaps you've seen others demo fake HDR. Now see me do it. Here's the official marketing description: Read more » 

Photoshop CS4, Buy or Die

Photoshop CS4 revealed

Episode 006: We're barely three months into dekePod, and suddenly, the whole paradigm shifts. By which I mean, we are once again confronted by an upgrade. Five or six years ago, I would have written an 8-page Preview article for one of the trade magazines. Today, I'm trying something new: a real-time, lightning-fast, video-based demo and product review. Here's the official marketing description: Read more »