Here's a chance to prove yourself in the ultimate knowledge game! Prepare for your next Microsoft certification exam with this free online game from Microsoft!

Are You Certifiable? has two tracks (IT professional and developer) full of certification exam questions, engaging characters, and leader board spots to compete for!

Click here to play: http://www.microsoft.com/click/areyoucertifiable/

Join us from the comfort of your own office… on the Web! Webinar events are quick and convenient.

New Horizons Webinars are a great opportunity for business decision-makers, training professionals, developers, engineers and project managers to see the real value these new technologies can bring to your organization. With new topics every month, there's something for everyone. Go to www.newhorizons.com/webinars to enroll in all events.

APRIL

Introduction to Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Office 2007 (Level 100)

Get the most out of the Microsoft Office 2007 System. As someone beginning to use Microsoft Office 2007, you will learn about new features and timesavers to help in your day-to-day work. This session is good for beginner, intermediate, or advanced users – everyone will learn something! The Microsoft Office System has evolved from a suite of personal productivity products to a more comprehensive and integrated system. This presentation will demonstrate useful tips and tricks for Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

• Presenter: Andy Reed, Senior Training Specialist, Microsoft Corporation
• Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009
• Time: 10 am Pacific; 12 pm Central; 1 pm Eastern
• Click here to register: www.newhorizons.com/webinars
  

Tips and Tricks for Maximizing Outlook 2007

Attend this webinar and witness how Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 delivers the functionality to provide better information sharing including publishing and sharing calendars, and exporting Outlook data. Also, see how Outlook 2007 can be configured using settings, trust, add-ins, and customized appearance and content. In this session, we also provide a better understanding of some of the terms used for communications and the capabilities; see Really Simple Syndication (RSS) versus XML, phishing, signatures, and other useful features of Outlook 2007.

• Presenter: Andy Reed, Senior Training Specialist, Microsoft Corporation
• Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2009
• Time: 10 am Pacific; 12 pm Central; 1 pm Eastern
• Click here to register: www.newhorizons.com/webinars

MAY

Intermediate Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Office 2007 (Level 200)

Get even more out of the Microsoft Office 2007 System. As someone who has worked with the Microsoft Office system for some time, you will discover efficient ways to configure, customize and utilize Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook to get the most out of Microsoft Office. The presentation will demonstrate useful tips and tricks for Microsoft Outlook, Word and Excel. In addition, you will see useful ways to interact between these Microsoft applications.

• Presenter: Andy Reed, Senior Training Specialist, Microsoft Corporation
• Date: Wednesday, May 6, 2009
• Time: 10 am Pacific; 12 pm Central; 1 pm Eastern
• Click here to register: www.newhorizons.com/webinars

Introducing Microsoft Windows Vista® for Microsoft Office 2007 Users (100)

This webinar introduces to those familiar with Microsoft Office the features of Microsoft Vista that best suits them. You will see the advantages of using Windows Vista and Office together including better file origination, starting programs, search, communication, and Internet navigation. Get tips & tricks to better share and find your files, discover the consistency of search capabilities throughout Windows Vista, and navigate the new features of Internet Explorer. From this session, you’ll get a number of tips to help you immediately benefit from installing Windows Vista into your Microsoft Office 2007 environment.

• Presenter: Andy Reed, Senior Training Specialist, Microsoft Corporation
• Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2009
• Time: 10 am Pacific; 12 pm Central; 1 pm Eastern
• Click here to register: www.newhorizons.com/webinars

In the March 2009 issue of The Elevate Newsletter from New Horizons:

Microsoft Office Productivity
Three ways to protect your Excel data with confidence
Sometimes you need to keep your Excel data away from prying eyes. But you can protect your data in so many ways that the whole process gets confusing. We’ll break it down for you so your data never stays vulnerable. more >

Information Systems Protection
Twelve ways to harden your domain controllers and prevent security breaches
Domain controllers (DCs) hold a lot of valuable information about your Windows server, which means that you must secure them. We’ve compiled a few ways for you to keep intruders out of your network by strengthening your domain controllers. more >

Web Design & Development
Employ interactive elements to keep users on your site
Finally, nothing drives away online visitors like a boring website. We’ll introduce you to a few ideas for adding interactive elements to your site so visitors want to stay. more >

_____________________________________

New Horizons' goal is for our students to become more productive and successful in their daily activities. With this in mind, we have created Elevate, a newsletter specifically created for New Horizons students. In this free monthly publication you will read articles on how to put what you learned at New Horizons into action.

Simply click on the following link to access the March issue of Elevate.
http://www.newhorizons.com/uploadedFiles/ElevateNewsletter/Elevate_March2009.pdf

Good luck on your path of lifelong learning.

Enter for a Microsoft training giveaway from New Horizons Computer Learning Center!
New Horizons Computer Learning Center is offering a free Microsoft training course worth up to $2,500 to be given to one lucky Microsoft Subnet reader. Deadline for entry is March 31.

http://www.networkworld.com/subnets/microsoft/


How can Microsoft Certification help you and your career?

View Microsoft Certification Movie Clip >

Microsoft Certification has proven effective for growing skills and gaining professional recognition. According to a study conducted by Applied Research Consultants, 90% of Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs) said certification was extremely useful in their work. In another study, managers and supervisors felt their Microsoft Certified Professionals were significantly more competent than non-certified employees. This is valuable proof that certification means increased knowledge and enhanced credibility.

New Horizons Computer Learning Centers conducts more Microsoft technical training and certification courses than any other training company. New Horizons is the world's largest network of Microsoft Gold Certified Partners for Learning Solutions and Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions (CPLS). We provide courses to thousands of students each year - more than any other company.

As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partners for Learning Solutions, New Horizons maintains the rigorous standards required by Microsoft. Every Microsoft course follows the Microsoft Official Curriculum and is taught by a Microsoft Certified Trainer.


The New Microsoft Certifications Provide a Better Fit

The new generation of Microsoft certifications was created to be more cost effective and more targeted to enable IT professionals to work toward certification that truly meets their needs. Microsoft's new certifications are more specific in order to directly relate to the latest technology and your specific job role. These new certifications, starting with Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005 and Microsoft Visual Studio™ 2005, help confirm your skills as an IT Professional or Professional Developer.

New Horizons offers a full range of Microsoft offerings, including courses mapping to the following certifications:

Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)

Individuals with expertise in a particular Microsoft® product can pursue the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) credential. MCPs have demonstrated in-depth knowledge of at least one Microsoft technical product. The MCP credential provides a helpful first step on the way to other Microsoft technical certifications. more >

Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP)

The new Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) credentials provide IT professionals with a simpler and more targeted framework to display their technical and professional skills. Now you can distinguish yourself as an IT professional with the current skills and proven job-role capabilities to work effectively with a comprehensive set of Microsoft technologies. The Microsoft Certified IT Professional paths include: Business Intelligence Developer, Customer Support Technician, Database Developer, Database Administrator, Enterprise Messaging Administrator, Enterprise Project Management with Microsoft Office Project Server 2007, Enterprise Support Technician, Enterprise Administrator and Server Administrator. more >

Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD)

The Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) credential demonstrates your ability to use Microsoft Visual Studio and the Microsoft .NET Framework to excel in a specific, real-world job role. There are three MCPD certification paths: Windows Developer, Web Developer, and Enterprise Applications Developer. more >

Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS)

The Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist credential enables professionals to target specific technologies and distinguish themselves by demonstrating in-depth knowledge and expertise within their area of specialization. Microsoft Certified Technology Specialists are consistently capable of implementing, building, troubleshooting, and debugging a particular Microsoft technology. more >

Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA)

Candidates for the Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator on Windows Server 2003 (MCSA: Windows Server 2003) verify their knowledge as system administrators of Microsoft Windows operating systems. MCSA certification can help advance your career by confirming that you have the skills necessary to successfully manage and troubleshoot system environments. The Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) certification helps you advance your career by ensuring that you have the skills you need to manage and troubleshoot network environments running on the Windows operating system. more >

Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD)

The Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD) credential provides industry recognition for professional developers who build powerful applications using Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET and Web services. Responsibilities include implementing requirements, developing, testing, deploying and maintaining department-level applications components, Web or desktop clients, or back-end data services by using Microsoft tools and technologies. more >

Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA)

The Microsoft® Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA) credential is the premier certification for professionals who design, implement, and administer Microsoft SQL Server™ databases. more >

Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST)

The Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST) credential proves that you have the skills to successfully support end users and to troubleshoot desktop environments running the Microsoft Windows operating system. more >

Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD)

The Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) credential is the premium certification for professionals who design and develop custom business solutions with Microsoft development tools, technologies, and platforms. The credential covers job tasks ranging from analyzing business requirements to maintaining solutions. more >

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE)

Candidates for the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer on Windows Server 2003 (MCSE: Windows Server 2003) verify their ability to analyze the business requirements for information systems solutions, and to design and implement infrastructures based on Windows Server 2003. more >

Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS)

The Microsoft Office Specialist program is globally recognized as the standard for demonstrating desktop skills with the Microsoft Office suite of business productivity applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook) and the Microsoft Project applications. With an Office Specialist certification, thousands of people have demonstrated increased productivity and have proved their ability to utilize the advanced functionality of these Microsoft applications. more >

Design, Media & Graphics

Sometimes when creating an advertisement or marketing piece, you’ll need to convey a certain image. But does your model really want to dye her hair purple just for your photo shoot? Whether you’d like to complement your model’s skin tone, go with a funky ‘do, or simply darken those locks, there’s a simple approach to colorizing hair in Photoshop — and it doesn’t require a trip to the hairdresser.

Make a selection

We’ll start by selecting the hair on our model shown in Figure A. You can do this any way that works best for you, but we’ll make a Quick Mask selection.

To make a Quick Mask selection:

1. Double-click on the Edit In Quick Mask Mode button located at the base of the Tools palette to display the Quick Mask Options dialog box.
2. Select the Selected Areas option button and set the opacity to your liking. We set ours to 50 %, as shown in Figure B.
3. Click OK.
4. Select the Brush tool from the Tools palette, choose a soft round brush, and set the diameter to whatever size you’re comfortable painting over the hair with.
5. Paint over the hair.
6. Press Q to exit Quick Mask Mode and preview your selection, as shown in Figure C.

Tip: Save this selection as a channel in case you accidentally deselect it. Simply click the Save Selection As Channel button located at the base of the Channels palette.

Choose your dye

Now that you have an active selection, you can easily add a fill color and, with a quick blending mode switch, colorize the model’s hair any way you like.

To colorize the hair:

1. Click on the Create New Fill Or Adjustment Layer button located at the base of the Layers palette.
2. Select Color Fill from the pop-up menu to display the Color Fill dialog box. The color fill layer automatically masks around your selection so only the hair shape is colorized.
3. Set the color to R:149, G:51, B:4 for a reddish brown dye, as shown in Figure D, and click OK.
4. Set the layer opacity to Soft Light for results shown in Figure E.

Notice two things as you select colors. You can watch your model’s hair change colors as you choose different colors. You can also sample a color from your model by moving the mouse over your image and clicking on an area where the cursor displays as an eyedropper.


Clean up the edges

When we zoomed in to our model’s shoulders and face, we noticed the imperfections from the selection we made. We spotted hair color on the face and shoulder! That’s easy to fix.

To remove unwanted color:

1. Select the Color Fill layer’s mask thumbnail in the Layers palette.
2. Select a soft round brush and set the diameter small enough to paint on these areas.
3. Set the foreground color to black.
4. Paint over the areas that display fill color but shouldn’t.

Change the color

Don’t like the color you selected? It’s easy to change. Simply double-click the Color Fill layer thumbnail to open the Color Picker and select a different color. Figure F shows different RGB values and how they affect the model’s hair. So whether you’re going for punk or subdued, you can really spruce up your subject’s mane with this technique!


Related Courses

• Photoshop CS3 - Level 2
• Photoshop CS3 Photo Printing and Color
• Photoshop CS4 - Level 2

Graphic & Design eTips to Enhance Your Work

If you are an expert at what you do, then you want to sign up for FREE New Horizons Graphics & Digital Designer eTips. Each week you will receive expert advice from our experienced editors that will improve your productivity and enhance your work. Learn more about the applications you use everyday, including: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Pagemaker, Adobe Photoshop, Digital Photography and QuarkXPress. Imagine the possibilities with the skills you’ll gain!