We know that those of you practicing digital painting and photomanipulation are always looking for high resolution photo stock that’s free!

So here we’ve provided you with the means to get creating with this statue themed pack. There are 10 high resolution examples to use in your architecture images and fantasy landscapes. You can even lift textures to use as brushes in your artworks.

Feel free to share your creations with us on the Advanced Photoshop gallery – www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk.

Download images here.

All images are royalty free and non-commercial use.

Before

After

Inside Levels, change the Channel option from RGB to Red. Align the black point on the left so that it lines up with start of the graph.

Align the white point on the right to align with the end of graph. The third adjustment needs to be made to the middle point on the graph. Bring this more towards the centre between the other two points, and around areas where the graph peaks.

Repeat this process for both the Green and Blue Channels and you should see a dramatic improvement to the colour balance of your image.

The new Photoshop CS6 & CS6 Extended have arrived at Adobe’s Store, with a special introductory offer on subscriptions through the Creative Cloud.

Start a Photoshop subscription for as little as £17.58 per month (for one year), or choose a monthly subscription for £27.34.

A membership to Creative Cloud is available from £46.88, giving you access to all exlcusive new features, products, tools and services.

Fotolia’s have recently updated their Adobe Creative Suite plugin!

This was originally released to the public in February 2012 for CS5, to be fully compatible with CS6.

This means that designers will continue to have instant access to Fotolia’s premium content.

Developed by Silicon Publishing, the plugin was specifically designed to ease the creative process by enabling users to browse, manage and directly incorporate images into Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator.

Since its release earlier this year, designers have loved the ability to swap comp photos with high-res versions with the on-the-fly replacement feature.

This is one of the many features that CS6 users can benefit from for a more streamlined workflow.

Download the Adobe CS6 extension for free at http://en.fotolia.com/adobePlugin

In the Color Range menu, there are three options under Select: Shadows, Midtones and Highlights.

Select one of these and you’ll see that those areas of the image are instantly highlighted in the preview. All other options are greyed out.

Select the Shadows options and hit OK. A selection will now be around all shadows in the image.

Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Curves and notice how the mask of the adjustment has taken into account the selection. Control the Curves to balance the exposure.

Repeat this for both the Midtones and Highlights options in the Color Range menu, using separate Curves adjustments for both of them to create better overall lighting.

Fotolia’s TEN collection introduces its 6th digital artist Neopen in the series bringing together the best of digital art, graphic resources and education.

This project allows image enthusiasts to fine tune their knowledge and skills with the help of free access to the source files of the world’s top digital artist.

Once again you will get instant access to over 100 files and see how each individual graphic component plays a part in creating the final image.

You will not only have access to the file in its entirety, you will also be able to view the ‘making of’ video of each featured artist.

Don’t miss the opportunity to discover Fotolia’s TEN COLLECTION and download your Neopen PSD for free for 24 hours on the 10th of May. After the 24-hour period, the file is available for £6.

The shiny exterior hides a number of flaws, however, and when shooting they begin to show through. This is not to say it’s all bad news, so we’ll start with the positives.

For starters you have Nikon’s latest processor, the EXPEED 3. This is faster and works hard to reduce image defects such as noise. It has a quick continuous shooting speed (using the electronic shutter) of up 10, 30, or 60fps at full resolution.

Along with Motion Snapshot mode, which shoots stills while capturing a short movie clip, it’s hard to miss a moment as the scene unfolds.

The issue of noise has been successfully addressed, with ISO ratings going as low as 100 and up to 3,200. The maximum ISO setting can be set in order to limit the extent of noise.

You have a choice of Nikon 1 NIKKOR lenses to shoot with, but as the J1 has no built-in vibration reduction (VR), you’ll have to be wary of blurry images when using the non-VR 10mm pancake lens.

Manual focusing is an option using the menu. Unfortunately the lenses come without a focusing ring, which will seem disappointing if you’re after that full DSLR experience minus the bulk.

The build quality of the camera feels solid, though is not as light and compact as you may first expect from simply looking at it; the camera’s weighty body makes the lens featherlight in comparison.

The pop-up flash shoots up using a quick-release switch, but the positioning and height of the flash seems a bit too precarious for our liking.

The Mode dial is seated next to a grip for your thumb, with four featured modes: Movie, Auto, Smart Capture and Motion Snapshot.

The manual options such as aperture and shutter priorities are left tucked inside the menus, though these could be placed in the empty slots on the Mode dial.

Smart Photo Selector is recommended to use with changing scenery, as the camera can go from Macro into landscape mode instantly.

If you’re a beginner, or are looking to step up from standard lightweight compacts, the new Nikon 1 series will tick many of the right boxes. For more experienced photographers, a DSLR, with a wider variety of lenses, will be more to your liking.

Head to Nikon to view a complete list of specifications and where to buy.

Price: RRP £549.99 (body with 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens)

If you’re yet to download Photoshop CS6 Beta, you have until 2am (BST) on 4th May – that’s a matter of hours from now!

After that, it’s available to pre-order and upgrade from Adobe.

Change the opacity of masks using the Levels adjustment

Select the mask’s thumbnail and head to Image>Adjustments>Levels (or simply press Ctrl/Cmd+L). In here, the Output Levels can be shifted inwards to affect the blacks and whites of a mask.

To lower the opacity of the black areas of a mask, push the black marker inwards. The opposite effect will happen if the white marker is pushed in.

The mask in the Layers palette should fade to bring through more or less of the content from the layer.

Reallusion’s new iPlay physics system means you don’t need a degree in engineering or physics, or even in animation for that matter, to create machinery, explosions, convincing collisions and motion dynamics in a 3D environment.

The plug-in works with iClone’s smart physics engine and can be used to easily create environments. There are over 30 powerful tools for constructing 3D models and structures with game-like control.

Watch a YouTube demo video on using the new Physics Toolbox.

iClone Physics Toolbox is available from Reallusion’s Store, where you can purchase the plug-in for £69.99, or bundled with iClone5 Pro for £199.99.