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Illustration: Human Fluidity by Rik Oostenbroek x Adobe Stock
We would like to share the latest work from our good friend Rik Oostenbroek in collaboration with Adobe Stock. Rik is a longtime artist that we have been featuring since our beginnings, more than 10 years ago. We are glad that he is still doing well and coming up with stunning illustrations. Like this one called: Human Fluidity in collaboration with Adobe Stock where he basically had to create a piece using only images from their large library of photos. I guess the result is pretty beautiful, make sure to check out the Making of video as well, you can always learn something by watching others into their craft. More Links Behance Instagram Project Gallery Making Of
Adobe is introducing their third visual trend of the year: Multilocalism
The awesome folks from Adobe is introducing their third visual trend of the year: Multilocalism. What is it? Let's just say it's all about going back to your roots. Where are you from? Where are your parents come from? How about your grandparents? It's an origin of a multi-cultural question but mostly it's all about: Where do you feel yourself at home? I guess this is what is more important, let's take a look at this stunning and exclusive photo gallery that reflect Adobe's connections in a multi-local world. In Adobe's Words For designers and brands, the multilocal trend requires striking a delicate balance. Images need to embrace true, local moments without appropriating them, and to celebrate the local while elevating our shared global connections. Technology, travel, and migration are shrinking the world and strengthening our connections with each other. As we flow between cultural and geographic boundaries, more of us are embracing our complex global identities, deepening our awareness across cultures, and seeking authentic, local moments. For our third visual trend of the year, we’re exploring what it means to be multilocal in 2018 and considering how the newly imagined global village is shaping visual culture. And we’re looking at how stock photographers around the world are helping brands capture genuine, respectful local images that appeal to consumers’ deepening global consciousness. Contributor Spotlight: Andy Smith Links Learn more about Adobe Blog Check out the dedicated gallery of Adobe Stock celebrating a multilocal world
The Fluid Self Photo Series by Ussi’n Yala exclusive on Adobe Stock
The fine folks from Adobe Stock has shared an exclusive collection of gorgeous photos by Ussi’n Yala. He is a photographer originally from Gabon, Central Africa. What started as a simple hobby has now turned into a career. You just gotta appreciate his goal to challenge our perception of beauty and Adobe Stock is using their platform to bring more awareness and increase appreciation of African art and photography. A true stunning collection to share, check it out! In their words As a stock marketplace, it’s our duty and responsibility to provide the most relevant, contemporary, and high-quality images to the world’s creatives. Following British photographer Bex Day’s beautiful and authentic portrayals of the transgender community, we are proud to present Ussi’n Yala’s emotive portraits exploring gender and prejudice, exclusively for Adobe Stock. Ussi’n’s goal is to challenge the notion of beauty and break stereotypes with his images: “I hope to free people from the injustice and social barriers we face today. I want to produce a work that will have an impact on the way society works and the way we see the world.” In October of 2016, he exhibited the photo series “Pink Albino” at the African Art Fair in Paris. The portraits were created to address and shed the prejudices held against albinos in Africa. For his shoot on The Fluid Self, Ussi’n collaborated with two close friends, designers Clément Réthoré and Sandra Boutz. All three of them are based in France, but each faces a unique challenge of identity and acceptance due to their identity and sexuality: Ussi’n is black, Clément is gay, and Sandra is Jewish. “We each live in a constant state of discomfort in society and which is, in part, connected with who we are,” says Ussi’n, “and we wanted for this project to merge our peculiarities, while also telling the love story of two men.” More Links Learn more about Ussi’n Yala Check out the Adobe Blog Photography
Photoshop CC and Adobe Stock Tutorial: Creating a spooky Cinemagraph
It's not usually our day to share a tutorial but why not. Thanks for our friends from Photoshop CC and Adobe Stock, we are sharing this cool tutorial about making a cinemagraph using those very same tools. Staying in the theme of Halloween since it's still a novelty, also the tutorial is by Chris Converse from Codify Design Studio. Let's take a look! In Chris's words A cinemagraph captures the “moment in time” of a photograph, while incorporating the “cinematic effects” of motion. This combination gives us the experience of animation without the need to interpret a linear story. This means we have many more options for creating a cinemagraph experience. In this article, we’ll explore a workflow for creating a cinemagraph by compositing video, illustrations and photos with Adobe Photoshop. Your browser does not support the video tag. Start with an Illustration from Adobe Stock In searching Adobe Stock, I found this illustration of a spooky tree. I liked the black and white composition, and decided I’d like to keep that essence while replacing the background with moving clouds and fog. The first thing I needed to do was mask out the background. I created a new layer and began by painting over the branches of the tree with a bright color. I’ll admit, this was a bit tedious, even with a few selection tricks; but the fine detail really helped the final result. Next, I loaded the pixels of the new layer as a selection. A short cut for this technique is to hold the Command key (Mac), or the Control key (Windows), and click the layer thumbnail icon. Then, select the original tree layer, and add a new layer mask. The result is the branches of the tree appear in white on the layer mask, and the remaining appears in black. The result is a silhouette of the tree against a transparent background. Then, I simply added a new layer, moved it to the bottom, and filled the layer with a gradient from dark grey to black. Adding the moon Next, I searched Adobe Stock for a full moon. Once I found one I liked, I added the file to my composition as a linked Smart Object. In order to apply a mask, I editing the new Smart Object, added a circular layer mask With the moon masked, add a 165 pixel white outer glow, with a spread of 6 and a blend mode of screen. This will create the effect of the moon glowing through dense clouds. Working with video in Photoshop Next, I downloaded two videos from Adobe Stock that we created to apply special effects for photos and video. I designed and animated these black and white videos to help you simulate cinematic effects for a cinemagraph, video, and motion graphic project. In the Photoshop file, open the Timeline panel and create a video timeline. Import a video into a layer by choosing File > Place Linked, then selecting the clouds.mp4 file. Note: If you use the “add media track” option ( the + button) in the Timeline panel, Photoshop will group the video into a video group. To remove the group, select it, and choose Layer > Ungroup Position the clouds behind the tree and set the blend mode to screen. This will drop out the black areas of the video, and allow the moon to show through. Apply a layer mask and fade the right and left sides to be fully transparent. This will make the clouds appear to be lit by the mood. Next, import the fog video, convert to a Smart Object, then position it behind the tree. Duplicate the fog video Smart Object, and position the copy above the tree. This will create some depth within the fog. Add a layer mask to both fog video layers. On the further back fog layer, set the opacity to 30% and mask the right and left edges to be transparent. This will create the same effect for the fog that we set for the clouds. Finally, mask the right and left edges even further than the back layer, giving the illusion that this fog is even closer. Render The fastest growing file format for a cinemagraph is video, specifically an mp4. This file format allows for many more frames than an animated GIF, and results in a much smaller, single file. While CSS- and JavaScript-based cinemagraphs can be even smaller and randomized, they do require more files, and are a subject for another article. To render a video from Photoshop, select Render Video from the File > Export menu. More Links Adobe Stock Resources: Background and Moon Learn more about Chris Converse at chrisconverse.com Via Adobe Blogs
Adobe Stock: Integration with Google Slides and more
Our friends over Adobe is having a busy week with a couple of cool announcements that includes a new add-on that will let you do more within your Google Docs, Sheets and Slides. Announcing their integration with Google Slides to allow users to easily create, edit and collaborate meanwhile using their inventory of images at your disposal. You'll be also able to search for images, explore curated galleries, perform a visual search and more. On the other hand, Adobe Stock is introducing a new member to their team that will be acting as the first director of editorial content. Let's take a closer look. In their words Image via Adobe New Features • Search: Perform a keyword search or browse curated collections available directly inside the add-on panel. You can even use Visual Search powered by Adobe Sensei to find high-quality, royalty-free results that match the color, tone and composition of your uploaded sample -- all you need to do is drag and drop an image onto the search bar! • Templates: Make your work that much better and your life that much easier with the many template options (pitches, portfolios and other pre-made presentations) available. • Preview and License: Easily insert a preview image into your layout to test different options as you work and collaborate on your presentations. Working with Google to develop a stock service add-on for Google Slides has been an important step in ensuring that customers are enabled with the best tools for their presentation needs,” said Vikram Viswanathan, Director of Strategy & Product Partnerships for Adobe Stock. “Users are able to work and collaborate through the Google Slides experience while leveraging high-quality, royalty-free images from Adobe Stock with the confidence that the images come with the appropriate licenses for their business. Image via Adobe Santiago Lyon has joined Adobe Stock As the first director of editorial content. In this newly created role, Santiago will lead Adobe Stock’s editorial content strategy and collection, working with world-class photojournalists, documentary photographers, editorial providers and media. Santiago brings more than 30 years of experience as an industry executive and award-winning photojournalist – including two World Press Photo prizes on conflict and the Bayeux prize for war photography. Under his direction, the AP earned three of its 31 Pulitzer Prizes for photography, for work in Iraq, the West Bank and Syria. Santiago’s passion and perspective reflects a lifetime of taking on new challenges with journalistic integrity – a passion that will continue to propel Adobe’s commitment to delivering the most compelling and newsworthy visuals to creatives worldwide. More Links Install the free add-on, please visit the Chrome Web Store To read more about Santiago Lyon Via Adobe Blogs
Adobe Take 10 Challenge: Imagination with Günther Gheeraert
We have featured an Adobe Take 10 Challenge before on ABDZ, it was in collaboration with Joshua Davis. With great success, our friends over Adobe is making this happen with another Take 10 Challenge. Themed “Imagination,” participants will have to create an original artwork from a custom audio track and 10 Adobe Stock videos. Here is more about the breakdown. In their words Create an original artwork from a custom audio track and 10 Adobe Stock videos, and you may win subscriptions to Creative Cloud and Adobe Stock, and an Oculus Rift and Dell Alienware 13 laptop! Filmmaker Günther Gheeraert will judge the contest submissions and reveal the winners on or about September 29, 2017. Image via Adobe About the Judge Günther Gheeraert is a film director, photographer and World Traveller based in Paris, France. You should definitely check out his Behance for more of his work. Also you should view his own take on the Take 10 Challenge Take 10 Challenge Download the 10 videos and custom audio file and use all of them (and no other videos or photos). Share the final artwork on Instagram or Twitter by 11:59 PM PT on September 24, 2017. Your post must include #TakeTen_Imagination, #Contest, and @AdobeStock. Review the full rules and conditions. Prizes Gheeraert will choose nine finalists, each of whom will receive: • a one-year subscription to the Adobe Creative Cloud and 10 Adobe Stock HD video credits. (That's worth US$1,400!) • The grand-prize winner will receive an incredible package worth more than $3,000: a year’s subscription to the Creative Cloud, 15 Adobe Stock HD video credits, an Oculus Rift + Touch Virtual Reality System, and a Dell Alienware 13 laptop. More Links Learn about the Take 10 Challenge: Imagination Reveal nine finalists and the grand-prize winner on or about September 29, 2017.
Adobe Stock: Stepping into the Third Dimension
Each month, our friends over Adobe Stock will explore through their photo database what creators have been up to making. For this month's theme, they are looking into 3D with a number of artists. From architectural renders and automobile design, to furniture ads and abstract art. 3D is all around us, and new creative tools are opening up 3D technology to any designer who wants to give it a try. In Adobe's Words This month we’re thinking about artists who go that extra dimension. 3D is on our minds for two big reasons: new creative tools are opening up 3D technology to any designer who wants to give it a try, and more and more 2D designers and brands are embracing what 3D can do now and in the not-too-distant future. According to Chantel Benson, Adobe product manager and 3D-industry veteran, using 3D has a lot of benefits. Beyond saving a car company from expensive, complicated on-location photo shoots, 3D opens up future possibilities. Take Ikea: “They’re jumping into this trend because working with 3D models gives them the ability to use content for more than just static marketing collateral like 2D websites — the same chair, cup, or window treatment can be used for immersive shopping experiences, too.” So who else is making the jump into 3D design? Some of the earliest adopters include graphic designers working on branding, using 3D tools to visualize the look of a logo or package design on the actual bottle or box. Designers are also embracing the tools to develop infographics. And digital artists are exploring the creative side of 3D design. Visual Designer Michael Dolan has experimented with 3D art for art’s sake as well as client work. “It’s always fun to step away from work and just create. I’ll see something inspiring and say, ‘I think I’ll create that, too,’” says Michael. “I also use 3D for commercial projects. It’s useful for phone and device mockups on tables. I’ll purchase images and pop in app UIs. You can snap a picture of a table and then throw a device down.” Others artists can share its insights including:Ingrid Tsy, a freelance artist, started exploring 3D by way of her first love: fashion. Ryogo Tovoda finds inspiration from Nintendo designs and brings those to life in a three-dimensional toy town world. Daniel Mangiuca creates sci-fi-influenced renderings and first took advantage of the 3D modeling and software boom to produce amazing art. Links Learn more about Project Felix Adobe Stock Dedicated Gallery of 3D Images Via Adobe Blogs