dekePod Episode 011: Giving It Up For the Family
Publish Date: Dec. 9, 2008

Creative professionals are routinely roped into frivolous art projects for their families. You don't want to spend much time on them because who wants to do more of what you already do all day? But you don't want to do a lousy job because your cred's at stake. Oh and because, sure, you care about your family. In this episode of dekePod, Deke shows you how to create a spectacular birthday party invitation, with little effort, using a combination of found art and Photoshop.

dekePod Episode 010: The Instant Liquid Diet
Publish Date: Nov. 19, 2008

Ah, the holiday season, a time of expansion. Great physical expansion. Fatty, high-calories food is everywhere you turn. And so we grow. But not this year. In some distant future, when you review Thanksgiving 2008 in your photo album, you’ll look back on it as the first of many years that you actually lost weight. "Thank you dekePod," you'll say. Because in this episode, Deke teaches you how to transform fat into fit using the Liquify command—and with smooth, stretch mark-free results.

dekePod Episode 009: Sixties Space Siren
Publish Date: Nov. 5, 2008

If you’ve seen an episode of the original Star Trek, you’re no doubt familiar with the show’s main character, Captain Kirk, and his eternal blurry-eyed fascination with women. Every time he came in sight of a love interest, she appeared to him in diffused focus. In this episode of dekePod, Deke shows how you can achieve a nearly identical effect in Photoshop with such flattering results that you yourself could win the captain’s affections.

dekePod Episode 008: The Masks Palette
Publish Date: Oct. 22, 2008

Photoshop CS4 has been out one week. Hardly enough time for any of us to embrace it, let alone place our faith in it. And yet faith is precisely what one of the program's most highly touted features, The Masks palette, requires of you. Everything about it is promising; little about it makes sense. The palette that makes masks also wears one. In this special Halloween episode, we unmask the Masks palette. Will it be a bag of treats? Or a bundle of tricks? You'll find out, in dekePod.

dekePod Episode 007: Faking an HDR Portrait
Publish Date: Oct. 8, 2008

Think nothing can scare you? Enter dekePod, that thing that is not even slightly scary and yet, be honest, gives you the heebie jeebies. In this episode, Deke investigates how to simulate an extreme-detail HDR portrait -- which would otherwise require you to shoot multiple exposures of a person locked down in a body brace -- using flimflam and forgery. And a shrunken skull. These are the depths of scariness we go to. Here at dekePod.

dekePod Episode 006: Photoshop CS4, Buy or Die
Publish Date: Sep. 23, 2008

September 23 marks the announcement of Adobe's Creative Suite 4. And that means a new version of the company's flagship image editor, Photoshop. Coming just 18 months after its predecessor, is Photoshop CS4 any good? Enter dekePod, Deke McClelland's irreverent and uncensored video series. Day and date with Adobe's announcement, Deke provides a third-party, impartial, and highly opinionated review of the new software. Titled "Photoshop CS4: Buy or Die," this episode promises to show you all facets of the program—complete with commentary—without interrupting your busy day. In just five minutes, you'll know whether you want to upgrade or not. Either you buy or it dies, it's as simple as that.

dekePod Episode 005: Spirographs on Steroids
Publish Date: Sep. 3, 2008

In this episode, Deke makes the startling claim that Illustrator, a complex piece of software that costs hundreds of dollars, is better than an $8 Spirograph. Using nothing but half an ellipse and a few live, editable effects, Deke shows you how to construct something truly extraordinary. "Trust me on this one. Artist, non-artist, proficient with Illustrator, never even heard of the program -- I don't care if you live in Antarctica, you have no access to electricity, you haven't seen sunlight in 45 days -- oh my God, what are you, a penguin? -- you're gonna wanna watch this!"

dekePod Episode 004: Stretching a Photo in Illustrator
Publish Date: Aug. 20, 2008

Have you ever wanted to stretch a photo's background but leave the foreground unchanged? Or turn a horizontal photo into a vertical one without making a mess of it? You can't do it in Photoshop CS3, but you can in its companion program, Adobe Illustrator. Deke shows you how in a way that'll make you so happy, you'll think you're on drugs. And wait till you see the new look! Deke is dreamy.

dekePod Episode 003: Don't Fear the Lab Mode
Publish Date: Aug. 6, 2008

Color models like RGB and CMYK are frightening enough on their own. But the fact that there's one called CIEL*a*b* D50 (or just Lab), and Photoshop actually encourages you to use it, is terrifying. But Deke says not to worry. RGB and CMYK are for machines. The Lab mode is for you.

dekePod Episode 002: Stealth 'Shop, The Virgin Histogram
Publish Date: Jul. 23, 2008

Imagine yourself walking down a lovely San Francisco street, whistling a merry tune, only to be confronted by the sudden appearance of a menacing robot packing a shockingly massive and entirely unnecessary... ray gun, of sorts. What would you do? If you were Deke, you'd snap a picture and correct its colors. And not in any standard way, either, but in a way that permits you to apply radical color adjustments while leaving a virgin-like histogram in your wake.

dekePod 001: Metadata Forensics, What a Crock
Publish Date: Jul. 9, 2008

We all know digital photos can be modified. So much so that, at least in the popular lexicon, Photoshop is synonymous with turning fact into fiction. But at least one facet of digital photo, a variety of metadata called EXIF, is supposed to be secure. EXIF records when and how an image was captured, and if credible, might actually be judged admissible in a court of law. But not if Deke has anything to say about it. To hear Deke tell the story, metadata forensics is pure baloney. Learn how to cook your own EXIF in this episode of dekePod.

dekePod Pilot #2: 101 Photoshop Tips in Five Minutes
Publish Date: Jun. 24, 2008

If you've ever read a computer magazine, you know the idea behind "101 Tips." One gala issue, lots of first-rate contributors, lots of quality information. And lots and lots of pages. But when's the last time one lone guy tried to capture 101 tips in video? In just 5 minutes of video? Set to music? This is the realm of dekePod, the once-every-other-weekly series from Deke McClelland. It's bold, it's brash, it's ridiculous. It's a podcast with serious issues. Enjoy.