My dear dekeIstorians, the final course in Deke’s Photoshop CS6 One-on-One series—known to the soon-to-be-initiated as Mastery—is nigh. It’s imminent. It’s due to be released this week!

I know some of our faithful dekeItarians have been waiting for this one; I’m looking at you skinny3829, tjean1332, and yerachmiel. I’m looking at you because I found your missives of yearning in the comments when I searched for “Mastery.” (That will teach the rest of you to think about keywording!)

After the jump (do people still call it that?), I’ll let you know a few more details about the course content, but let me just say that this completes the set. In fact, if I weren’t sailing somewhere in the Caribbean right now, I’d be adding the Mastery course to my lynda.com Photoshop One-on-One playlist. (I’m typing this in the past, because I’m magic.)

However, you can a) check out my playlist to get ready for this week’s release and b) sign up for a free week trial of lynda.com at lynda.com/deke. A week should be enough to catch up on the 26-ish hours of the series so far and still have the wherewithal (and time) to watch the Mastery course later this week. Here’s what it will cover:

Chapter 35: Art Filters and Oil Paint

In this chapter, Deke covers the Photoshop effects that live in the Filter Gallery as well as the Oil Paint filter. Follow along as he uses these (sometimes questionable) filters in the service of turning a regular photo (or two) into a pencil-like sketch and ink-like drawing.

Chapter 36: Lighting Effects

Photoshop’s lighting filters actually allow you to change the lighting of a photographic scene. They also allow you to do interesting things to text. Combine them, and you get this CNN-meets-embossed credit card project that will show you how to change a scene’s fundamental lighting, create custom vignettes, and raise text from the surface of your image.

Chapter 37: Panoramas and Wide Angle

A wide-angle lens or panorama stitch can help you capture a vast vista from relatively nearby. In this chapter, you’ll see how to use Photoshop’s adaptive wide angle feature to correct the distortion that comes with these kinds of shots.

Chapter 38: Puppet Warp and Animation

Puppet warp is no longer just for manipulating your subjects to your will. Maybe it is, or maybe it never was. Regardless, Deke takes a fresh approach to Puppet Warp by creating a progressive series of warped bird wings and using Photoshop’s animation controls to put the creature in flight. This is your chance to see how to create the ubiquitous animated GIFs that are all the rage right now.

Chapter 39: Editing Video

Who would edit video inside Photoshop? Maybe you, if you just want a familiar place to process your DSLR video footage. Also included in this chapter, Deke does his impression of Master Control from the original Tron movie.

Chapter 40: High Dynamic Range

HDR theoretically allows you to combine images of differing exposures to make the most detailed image possible, merging expanded highlights and shadows for a truly detailed photograph. But Photoshop’s HDR features are hard to wrap your head around on a technical level. So leave it to Deke to deep dive for you. (And leave it to the lynda.com editors to take out all Deke’s expletives.)

Chapter 41: Advanced Layers

You know how to use layers by now, and that’s actually part of what gets problematic. In this chapter, Deke helps you manage the multi-layered document. And lest you think this sounds like a snoozefest: a) this is really important info for working efficiently in Photoshop and b) Deke uses this delightful flesh-eating alien file to keep your attention.

Chapter 42: Actions

Actions are invaluable for saving your sanity and your wrist strength. In this chapter, Deke will show you how to record sequences of operations so you can play those steps back automatically. Eliminating drudgery should be an easy sell, but actions are sometimes hard to embrace. Deke will help you with that.

The course should be released by the end of the week, at which point I’ll be somewhere further and further south in the Caribbean seas (yes, future me is on a ship). And if you’re not a member then remember, lynda.com/deke, gets you a free week to check it out.