Weblog TUAW posts a detailed step-by-step tutorial for using Photoshop's Lens Blur tool to clip objects from one photograph to another. In the example, the author moves an open book from a plain white background to a wood floor, and though the lighting is a little conspicuous, the results are still impressive. The guide is also packed with helpful screenshots, which makes any good Photoshop tutorial stand out. Check out how to blend layers in Photoshop with displacement for a similarly cool effect, or try TUAW's other guide to simulating a tilt-shift lens with the Lens Blur tool.

Windows Mobile only: Photoshop.com, a picture-sharing site connected to the ever-improving Photoshop Express editing tool, has released a mobile application for uploading, viewing, and sharing both your smart phone's pictures and any shots you've uploaded from your desktop. The app currently supports only a few Motorola Q, Palm Treo and Blackjack models, but free app Shozu can also put your pictures on Photoshop.com. From a quick test, the app worked as promised, and a built-in editor provides some basic crop and tone functionality. To download the app directly, head to m.photoshop.com. Photoshop Mobile is a free download for Windows Mobile phones only.

Are you a Linux lover with a not-so-secret need for Photoshop and its many, many filters? Check out the newly-revived User Filter plug-in, which, combined with download-able filters, makes the free, open-source editor quite a bit more useful. [via]

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Interested in getting good with Photoshop but know nothing about the popular photo editing software? Weblog Elite By Design puts together a crash course for mastering Photoshop in one week that might be a good place to start.

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Previously mentioned Photoshop Express offers more web-based image management and editing features, like drag and drop upload (via an Adobe AIR app), tags to organise your photos, and slideshows put to music. [via]

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Photoshop funny-man Donnie Hoyle tackles displacement in the most recent tutorial of his "You Suck at Photoshop" series, explaining how to insert new layers on top of photos without making them look out of place. The video demonstrates the method by inserting a new name on top of a jersey and blending it in with both the shadows and texture of the cloth behind it. The method is simple enough and the results are impressive. Like all of Hoyle's guides, this one's borderline NSFW depending on whether or not you're wearing headphones.

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Hilarious (in the dark humor way) Photoshop tutorial guy Donnie Hoyle is back with another installment of "You Suck at Photoshop"—this one showing you the ins and outs of Smart Objects. See the previously posted episodes: Touch Up Your Pics in Photoshop, Master Photoshop's "Select Colour Range", Paths and Masks, and Distort, Warp, and Layer Effects plus Covering Your Mistakes and Manual and Clone Stamp.

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Photoshop enthusiast and frantic video editor Deke McClelland fits 101 tips for Adobe's premiere product into five minutes of video, and the results are surprisingly watchable. Granted, a lot of the tips are simply shortcuts you may or may not have discovered, but McClelland fits a good bit of real advice—such as which tools to just stay away from entirely—into his frantic run. Worth a listen to catch shortcuts you might not have known, and real advice from a serious Photoshop enthusiast.

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Photography web site Photojojo details how to get crisp, beautiful prints from your digital photos with Photoshop's Unsharp Mask. What's the point of sharpening, you ask?

Digital cameras have a fixed grid of pixels, each of which can only capture one colour or shade at a time. Say you take a picture that has a sharp edge between black and white... The single pixel that records that hairline edge can only record one colour, so it renders it as grey. What we think of as sharpness is actually the contrast we see between different colours. A quick transition from black to white looks sharp. A gradual transition from black to grey to white looks blurry.

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The Digital Photography School blog has an instructive tutorial on using layers for those just getting their feet wet inside Photoshop, or other high-end image editors like the open-source GIMP. Those jumping in will learn how to make transparent layers, use masked layers to roll back effects, and duplicate layers for sharpening and other effects. Hit the link for a quick schooling, including links to related lessons, or offer up your own tutorials and advice in the comments.

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