Faster Access When Switching Applications_
When you switch from Photoshop to another application, if there is data on the clipboard, Photoshop can export it to the system clipboard for pasting into the other application. However, because Photoshop files can be extremely large, it can cause a delay while it exports the data on the clipboard. What happens, in fact, is that the data is converted to WMF or PICT format, depending on the OS, and that's what can cause the delay. If you find yourself waiting more often than you actually use the...
Rearranging Brushes in the Brushes Palette
Unfortunately, you cannot rearrange the brush tip shapes or the brush presets in the Brushes palette or in the pop-up Brushes palette. Although it would be nice to be able to do so directly in the Brushes palette, all is not lost. Select the Preset Manager from the Brush palette menu or call it from the Edit menu. If you select it from the palette menu, it will open showing the brush presets window Figure 3-3 . You can move the presets one by one or by selecting them in multiples.To rearrange,...
Specifying Default Resolution for New Preset Documents
When you create a new preset for a custom document size in the File New dialog box, Photoshop uses the resolution values set in the Units amp Rulers screen in the Preferences dialog box. The default resolution is 300 ppi for print and 72 ppi for screen. These settings affect all presets that you select from the Preset pop-up menu in the New dialog box. If you find yourself constantly changing the resolution, you can customize the settings. To take advantage of this opportunity, open the...
The Eraser Tool
The Eraser tool has three modes Block, Pencil, and Brush. In Block mode, the only control you have is to erase to history or to alter the size of the block by changing the magnification of the document. To erase, select the tool and then drag in the document. If the layer is a normal layer, pixels are erased to transparency if you drag on a Background layer or a layer with locked transparency, pixels are painted with the background color. To erase to history, select Erase to History on the...
Smart Objects
A Smart Object is simply a container for holding a composite version of a raster or vector file. When the Smart Object is modified in the originating application and saved, Photoshop updates the embedded composite in line with the modifications. For example, you can create a composite version of an Illustrator vector file as a Smart Object and have it update automatically each time you make changes to the file in Illustrator. You can create a Smart Object by placing a file or by converting an...
Revealing and Deleting Hidden Data
In the course of editing, data might move off the canvas intentionally or unintentionally. For example, when you transform a layer, some of the visible image content might disappear beyond the document bounds. The overspilled image content is not lost but remains hidden beyond the document bounds Figure 11-11 .To give another example, when you use the Crop tool in Hide mode, as opposed to the normal Crop mode, the cropped or shielded image content is made invisible by redefining the document...
Allowing Nonlinear History
By default, new history states are added from the top down oldest history states at the top and newest at the bottom. If you select a history state, all states that follow are dimmed and then deleted when you apply an edit. The new history state is then appended below the currently selected state. This method allows new histories to be added linearly. However, there is a downside to working in a linear history mode When you delete a state, all states that follow will also be deleted. If you...
Specifying Tool Cursors_
The default cursors that accompany a tool can be very handy for identifying the tool that you are using, but from a practical point of view, they present a problem because you cannot do any precise work with them. Fortunately, you can choose between five types of cursors for the painting tools and two for the other tools, and the place to choose them is once again the Preferences dialog box. You probably know the drill for accessing the Preferences dialog box, but here are the keyboard...
An Alternative Method for Sharpening Images
One alternative to using the filters in the Sharpen submenu is to use the High Pass filter. The filter works by increasing contrast on the edges of the image and leaves large, flat areas unaffected. The filter has only one setting Radius. To apply the filter, take the following steps 1. Duplicate the layer that you want to sharpen and give it a descriptive name, such as High Pass. 2. Set the magnification to 100 for screen output or to 50-25 if outputting to an offset printer. 3. Choose Filter...
Using Guides and Grids
Guides and grids are nonprinting visual aids that can help you place or move image content more precisely. They can also help you create selections and paths by providing visual markers for the start or end of a selection or path segment. You have two ways of creating guides in Photoshop You can have the rulers showing View Rulers and drag with the mouse pointer into the document window from the horizontal or vertical ruler to make the guide snap to an increment on the ruler, hold down the...
Vector Masks
If you are creating a design that contains elements with clear, defined outlines and you need to hide parts of it, instead of adding a grayscale mask, try adding a vector mask. Vector masks are infinitely editable and do not increase file size in the way that grayscale masks do. You can also use them in conjunction with a grayscale mask to create a soft- and hard-edged mask. Vector masks can also be converted to a grayscale mask if required. To add a vector mask to the active layer that does...
Layer Comps
When you need to show different versions of a work in progress to your clients, you could create multiple versions and then view them as a slide show from Bridge. However, trying to keep track of all the different versions, incorporating the client's comments, and creating modified files and then another slide show can become tiresome and lead to errors. A much better option is to create Layer Comps. You can quickly cycle through them and keep comments in the file by using Annotations. What's...
Brush Shape Dynamics
Although there is no substitute for playing in the Brushes palette Window Brushes, or click the palette icon in the options bar , the following figures Figures 10-13 through 10-18 and brief, technobabble-free explanations should help you to understand how the settings affect a brush preset. The stroke on the left of the figures was applied using a No Style brush and those on the right using a style. Click the item name, for example, Shape Dynamics, in the left side of the Brushes palette to...
Feathered Selections
When you use a selection to make compilations of images, extract elements from their background, apply edits, or make tonal adjustments, feathering can help to blend the object being worked upon into the background by creating a soft edge around the selection edge. The soft edge is not unlike the anti-aliasing applied to elliptical and irregular selections. However, it differs in one respect. It extends inward and outward from the selection edge, whereas anti-aliasing creates a soft...
Grayscale Masks
When you create a grayscale mask, you have two options at your disposal You can either create a mask that hides the layer content ready for you to reveal underlying content or one that reveals all ready for you to hide underlying content . Both have their uses in the scheme of things. Masks work on the principle that where the mask is black, it hides content directly underneath where the mask is white, it reveals content directly underneath where the mask is a shade of black and white, it...
Filling in Dust Spots and Scratch Marks
Regardless of how carefully you clean your scanner and your prints, some dust spots nearly always manage to escape the net. The following hack removes dust spots and small scratch marks without doing undue damage to the detail. 2. Next, apply Filter Noise Dust amp Scratches. 3. Set Threshold to 0 and then increase the Radius until you see the dust spots begin to disappear. You can make a judgment call by watching the document window or the proxy window. To compare a before and after preview,...
Locking and Unlocking Layers
The four lock icons at the top of the layer stack allow you to partially or wholly lock the layer content Figure 3-29 . Locking content can be useful, for example, when you want to paint but do not want the paint to intrude into the transparent area, or want to paint but not move the content accidentally. From left to right, the icons allow the following controls Lock Transparent Pixels Clicking the icon locks the transparent areas on the layer useful for filling and painting without affecting...
Using Blend If
When you blend layers or groups using the Blend Mode pop-up in the Layers palette, all the data from the default channels is blended. You can specify the level of opacity for the top layer, but that's about the only control you can exercise. Suppose that you need not only to specify which layers and channels to blend but also to limit the blending to shadows, midtones, or highlights. The Blend If feature is made for just such a supposition. It works on an If true, then do basis. You specify the...
Reducing Color and Luminosity Noise
Noise can be quantified as unwanted luminosity or color data, also known as chrominance signal-to-noise ratio. Noise is mostly apparent in images taken with consumer cameras, but prosumer cameras are also prone to it. It can appear as random patterns of color, most noticeable in light areas, such as skies, and dark areas, such as shadows. Noise is a byproduct of a number of factors. It can be attributed to heat generated by sensors, the proximity of photosites small sensors crammed with too...
Creating, Moving, and Deleting Color Samplers
Creating color samplers is very easy. All you need to do is select the Color Sampler tool and click in the image. You can embed up to four color samplers per document. However, deleting single samplers is not so obvious and, as usual, there are several ways of going about it Make sure that the Color Sampler tool is active, grab the color sampler that you want to delete, and drag it out of the document window. A bit more elegant method is to right-click Windows , Ctrl-click Mac OS the color...
Clipping Masks from Layer Transparency
The concept of creating clipping masks from layer transparency sounds like something straight out of a science journal. In fact, it s nothing more than the transparency of the bottommost layer in a group being used to mask the content of the upper layers. Layer clipping masks are used, for example, whenever you need to place an image inside text or the outline of image content most notably in posters advertising films or exotic holiday places. You can clip as many layers as you like to create...