Photoshop expert sings: Ctrl-J, yo!

Click on the image above to watch "101 Photoshop Tips in 5 Minutes," in which author Deke McClelland offers Photoshop tips to a beat.

Anyone who grew up in the era of Schoolhouse Rock's "I'm Just a Bill" knows the lasting educational value of a memorable ditty. If that little song could teach a generation about the progress of legislation on Capitol Hill, it's fair to assume that a rap number could do the same for Adobe Systems' Photoshop. That's the idea, at least.

Deke McClelland, author of a number of books and videos about Photoshop, is out with a music video called "101 Photoshop Tips in 5 Minutes" in which he sings about image-editing software.

Yes, sings. And dances "like a crazy monkey." (Those are his words, not ours.)

"Wanna copy a layer? I say jump it. Ctrl-J," he sings sort of rapper-style, while hopping around frenetically next to a San Francisco freeway overpass. The video's producer, Flying Moose Pictures, has him freestyling his tips in other mean-streets locations--in front of barbed wire, for example, and in a darkened freight elevator.

"I'm king of the hill. I'm your 12-hour pill. You'll learn from me in time. Your attention is mine," McClelland growls into a microphone as the camera pans in for a black-and-white close-up. With videos this entertaining, the whole world could be resizing images--and refining their edges--like a pro.

The video belongs to the newly resurrected DekePod, a series of biweekly videos about computer graphics and digital imaging. Photoshop fans can subscribe via RSS or iTunes.