Happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us, happy birthday Photoshop Creative, happy birthday to us!

Is that a big big-headed to sing happy birthday to yourself? Probably. But we don’t care because we’ve reached our 50th issue and feel very proud and honoured indeed. Thank you all so much for your support of the magazine. We believe we have some of the most loyal, lovely readers in the world and it’s been fabulous working for you all to bring you lots of Photoshop goodness.

For those who haven’t popped to the shops yet, we have a fantastic celebratory issue. You’ll love our specially designed glittery cover, not to mention an awesome competition where you can win the ultimate design kit worth over £2185! Wowser - I wish I could enter, I’m very jealous!  : (

We also have a fantastic interview with Photoshop fanatic and pro, Scott Kelby, plus some amazing tutorials to improve your skills. There’s also a whopping £160 worth of free Photoshop resources on the CD alongside 55 minutes of video tutorials too. So head down to WH Smith, Borders or your local supermarket and grab your copy today. Alternatively, head online to www.imagineshop.co.uk to purchase the spangliest issue yet!

Now, I’m off to eat some cake : )

Don’t forget to listen to the latest podcast interview available now! We caught up with the lovely Scott Kelby to find out more about his hectic Photoshop lifestyle and reveal more about the man behind the biggest Photoshop organisation in the world.
Check it out for free here: http://www.photoshopdaily.co.uk/news/podcast-interview-with-scott-kelby/

If any of you are missing issues of Photoshop Creative magazine, don’t forget to check out volume 3 of the eMag. This interactive DVD contains issues 25-36 in their entirety, and you also get any tutorial source files to boot.

This eMag is perfect for anyone who missed out on a copy of the magazine. The disc contains PDFs of all the magazine articles, including search features to make finding what you want really simple. You can read through the content by issue, browse according to type of article (feature, tutorial, news etc), or use the advanced search function to search for a specific keyword. You can access the content through the disc interface, or print out high-quality PDFs for later reference.

This eMag has over 900 pages of content and costs just £19.99. If you’d like to order a copy, head over to www.imagineshop.co.uk

There is heaps of Photoshop talent on the gallerys here and Photoshop Creative readers are often asking us how to recreate many of the pieces of artwork featured online. So, with this in mind, we are opening the doors of Photoshop Creative to any aspiring tutorial writers out there.
Get in touch if you want your tutorial idea to be considered for the magazine. You will need to be able to clearly, and most importantly, concisely explain how to create one of your images and provide a screen grab for each step. If this sounds appealing, then drop us an email at PCR@imagine-publishing.co.uk, giving us your tutorial idea and artwork example. You could soon be getting your work and name in print!

By now you’ve hopefully checked out Photoshop Daily - the resource site for people who love all things Photoshop. It’s a place where you can downl;oad stock images, tutorials, video tutorials, textures and desktops as well as catch up on the latest industry news and reviews.
But no doubt we can make it even better, so I would love to hear from anyone who has any ideas on how their own ultimate Photoshop website would be like. Email us at pcr@imagine-publishing.co.uk or leave a comment. Perhaps your bright ideas may appearing online soon : )

You may have noticed the good-looking window that now sits in the Photoshop Daily spot on this website. It’s had a makeover and we have now launched Photoshop Daily as a fabulous website in itself. Here you can still catch up on all the latest Photoshop news, but also take advantage of some other fabulous features such as free resources, video tutorials, features and tutorials.

This fantastic hub of Photoshop goodness is updated daily, enabling you to enjoy freebies everyday, so make sure you bookmark it and pop in each day. We will still be posting all the latest news up on this website too, so you can be super knowledgable on all things Photoshop wherever you go. So go forth, spread the Photoshop Daily message to world and enjoy! www.photoshopdaily.co.uk

I received an email today from a frustrated reader who wanted to upgrade from CS3 to CS4, but didn’t know whether to just in case  CS5 appeared on the shelves. His email read:

“…does anyone have any idea when Adobe is going to finish “Photoshop CS” , because they seem to come out
with a new version every couple of months or so, at the moment I have CS3 ,and I would like CS4, only to
find in a another couple of months they will bring out CS5 , then CS6.”

It is stressful deciding whether to fork out the considerable amount of cash for an upgrade or not. Thankfully, Adobe generally tends to release a new version of Photoshop approximately every 18 months (CS3 launched in March 2007 and CS4 launched in September 2008) so you do have a bit of time to make an informed choice. Personally I would always go for the upgrade if you can afford it. Making the transition from CS to CS4 is a hefty jump in terms of features. The jump from CS3 to CS4, however, is much more manageable (although still completely worth it in terms of efficiency improvements and upgraded features).

I guess it largely depends on what you use Photoshop for. If you intend to make a living from it, then staying bang up to date is essential, both for the speed of your workflow and the knowledge of the latest technology. If you just like to dabble now and then, however, then an older version is perfectly capable of producing amazing results. We have readers using Photoshop Elements 5 who are producing stunning digital paintings, as are people using Photoshop CS.

If you are a master of your tools then you can make anything work to your advantage. The latest Photoshop version is not going to make you brilliant, it’s how you use that will define you as an artist.If you are looking to upgrade at the minute then head to http://mail.adobe-direct.com/v?xlJnWlTEJcqcvHHTT where you can save up to £200 off CS4 right now. We estimate (of course we could be wrong) that there are another 11 months before the arrival of the lastest version of Photoshop - plenty of time to get stuck into CS4!

Our staff writer, Simon Skellon, can be quite the chatterbox at times so he was very pleased to be sent on a mission to chat to one of the UK’s best Photoshop professionals this month – Simon Joinson.

Head to the podcast section of this website (or click here if you can’t be bothered) and listen to the two Simons nattering away about our favourite program. The podcast interview includes a gallery of Simon Joinson’s work to, keeping your eyes just as amused as your ears. Enjoy!

Ahhh, I know, I know I’m a bad person and I haven’t updated this for a while, but I seriously don’t know where the time has gone! It’s been a busy period here at Photoshop Creative towers, with the launch of our new digital bookazine (perfect for those of you who cant get hold of the paper version) the production of the brand new Photoshop Collection Volume 5 bookazine, which will be available to buy in a month or so, plus the usual magazine shenanigans.

What’s more we’ve just joined the Twitter revolution and are keeping the world updated with all the latest Photoshop news and tips to hit the headlines daily. If you’re not following us yet, then head here and click on the ‘Follow’ button. It’s the easiest way to receive Photoshop advice every day.

The latest issue of Photoshop Creative (Issue 47) hits the shelves this week too, so grab your copy while you can. This issue features an 8-page Horror Effects special, a top guide to creating pencil sketchs from photos and a special beginners’ guide to drawing digitally.

Right now, I’m off to organise our extra special 50th issue, which is creeping up fast - keep your eyes peeled for some more announcements on that one coming soon!

Just to let you all know the Photoshop Creative team is now on Twitter, so you can find out what we’re up to on a regular basis. Simply log on to www.twitter.com , choose to follow us and we will keep you up to date with all the Photoshop Creative going’s on!

Our Twitter name is PshopCreative, so come and follow us today!