RSS FeedTip of the Day | Page 10
Making A Smart Object Dumb - Well, Kinda
If you’re using CS2’s Smart Objects (by using the Place command under the File menu to add images to your document rather than opening them and dragging-and-dropping them in with the Move tool [V]), you’ll also want to know how to convert your Smart Object layer into a regular ol’ layer. To do that, click on the Smart Object layer, then go under the Layer menu, under Smart Objects, and choose Convert to Layer.
Think You Might Change Sizes? Make It A Smart Object!
If you’re building a collage, or some other document that has images on different layers, and you think you might wind up resizing some of the images, rather than just dragging-and-dropping opened photos into your main document, make them Smart Objects. That way, when you resize them (especially helpful if you increase their size), it calls upon the original image to make a clean resize (instead of a blurry, pixelated version). To create a Smart Object, you only have to change one thing—instead of opening the photo, go under the File menu and choose Place instead.
Hidden Zoom Feature In Vanishing Point
If you’re using Vanishing Point and need to quickly zoom in on an area, just move your cursor over that area, then press-and-hold the letter X on your keyboard to zoom in on the area where your cursor is. To zoom back out, release the X key.
Turning Your Vanishing Point Grid
Need to wrap your Vanishing Point filter grid around a corner? No sweat—just hold the Command key (PC: Control key), drag a center point, and the grid will bend around the corner.
Getting More Control Over Vanishing Point
When you apply the Vanishing Point filter, by default it applies the effect to your Background layer, which means once Vanishing Point “does its thing,” you don’t have any control over the results. If it’s too light, too dark, you want to change the color, blend mode, etc., you’re out of luck. That’s why, before you run the Vanishing Point filter, you should create a new blank layer first by clicking on the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. That way, the object (text, whatever) to which you apply Vanishing Point winds up on its own separate layer, where you can control everything from color to opacity and more.
Using Camera RAW Images As Smart Objects
You can add any RAW image to your existing document as a Smart Object. Just use the Place command (under the File menu) and navigate your way to the RAW image. When you choose the RAW image, Photoshop will first open Camera Raw so you can process it. When you click Open in the Camera Raw dialog, it will place itself into your document as a Smart Object (and it will have a bounding box around it so you can determine the size you want it to appear within your document). Once you’ve sized the placed image, press Return (PC: Enter) to lock it into position. If you need to make any edits to the RAW photo after it’s placed into your document as a Smart Object, just double-click on the Smart Object’s thumbnail in the Layers palette and your RAW image will reopen in Camera Raw. Make your changes, click OK, and it will automatically update in your main document. Sweeeeeettttt!
Find Things Fast By Color-Coding Them
If there are particular areas of Photoshop you use a lot, you can make finding them in the menus even faster by color-coding your favorite menu items. Here’s how: Go under the Edit menu and choose Menus. When the dialog appears, scroll down to the menu you want and double-click on it. Now scroll down until you find the command you want to color-code, and then click on the word “None” to the far right of that item (under the Color column) and a menu of colors will appear. Choose the color you want for that item, and from now on it will appear highlighted in that color. This is ideal if you’re training new Photoshop users. For example, you could color-code certain items for when they’re doing prepress (maybe make those items appear in red) and choose another color for when they’re designing Web graphics.
Filter Gallery Zoom Quick Tip
If you’re in the Filter Gallery (under the Filter menu) and want to zoom quickly to a particular level of magnification, just Control-click (PC: Right-click) anywhere within the preview window and a contextual menu of zoom views will appear.
Use The Move Tool Anytime
When you’re using just about any of Photoshop’s tools, you can temporarily switch to the Move tool at any time by simply holding the Command key (PC: Control key). It’s temporary, and as soon as you release it, you’re back to the tool you started with.
Showing One Effect In The Filter Gallery
The idea behind the Filter Gallery is the stacking up of one filter on top of the next, but if you want to see any one of the filters by itself, just Option-click (PC: Alt-click) on the Eye icon beside that filter in the filter stack, and all the other filters will be hidden from view. Option-click (PC: Alt-click) on the same Eye icon to bring them all back into view.
See Every Tweak With Bigger Filter Gallery Previews
Once you’ve chosen a filter from the Filter Gallery (under the Filter menu), you’ll probably want to spend some time tweaking the settings. If that’s the case, you’ll also need to see a larger preview of your work so you can really see the effects of each little tweak. You can do that by clicking on the up-facing triangle button, to the left of the OK button. This hides the center column (the list of filters) and expands the Preview pane into its space, giving you the full preview experience.
Don’t Cancel; Reset And Save Time
Most of Photoshop’s dialogs (but not all) will let you use this little tip, which can save you loads of time. When you’re making changes in a dialog (let’s use the Levels dialog as an example) and decide that you don’t like the changes you’ve made, one option is to click the Cancel button to close the dialog, leaving your image unchanged. Then you can reopen the dialog and try again. This is an incredible waste of valuable time, so instead, Photoshop lets you “reset” the dialog—putting the settings back to what they were when you first opened it. Just hold the Option key (PC: Alt key) and look at the Cancel button—it changes into the Reset button. Click it, and it resets the dialog automatically, as if you hadn’t made any changes at all. Big, big time saver.
Stuck In A Field? Here’s How To Escape
This is one of those tips that keeps you from pulling your hair out. Sometimes when you’re editing values in a field (for example, you’re typing numbers in the Opacity field for a layer) and you’ve entered the number you want, Photoshop doesn’t automatically take you out of that field (meaning your cursor is still flashing in the Opacity field). It gets worse if you’ve switched to another layer (besides the Background layer) and you want to use a keyboard shortcut to switch tools. For example, you press the letter T to switch to the Type tool, but instead of getting the Type tool, you get an error sound because your cursor is still in the Opacity field (you can’t type letters in a number field). Here’s how to get around it. Just press the Return (PC: Enter) key on your keyboard to lock in the change in your field and release your keyboard for other tasks.
Copy One Layer, Or Copy ‘Em All
If you’re working on a layered document, and you make a selection and copy that selection, by default Photoshop only copies the information on your currently active layer (and that’s a good thing). However, there may be times when you want to copy your selection as if the image was flattened (in other words, you want to copy everything on all visible layers). If that’s the case, press Command-Shift-C (PC: Control-Shift-C), and you’ll copy as if the image was flattened, not just on the active layer.
Let Photoshop Straighten Your Crooked Scans
That’s right—straightening is totally automated in Photoshop. In fact, try out this ideal situation: Toss two or three photos casually onto your scanner bed, without taking the time to carefully align them, and scan them all with just one pass of your scanner. Then, open the single scan of the three photos in Photoshop, go under the File menu, under Automate, and choose Crop and Straighten Photos. Photoshop will then crop, straighten, and even put each photo into its own separate document. Nice.
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Photoshop Tutorials
-
Wild West Grunge
Corey shows you how to recreate this rugged, weathered look using a couple of filters, blending modes, and layer masks.
-
Wall of Text
Use a clipping group to place an image inside of a background of text, with another layer of text placed in front to create depth.
-
Natural Brushes
In this tutorial Corey shows you how to take an existing image and turn it into it’s own custom brush.
-
Custom Coins
In this tutorial Corey creates a realistic-looking coin effect using the channels palette and the lighting effects filter.
Text Shape Layers
Converting text into shapes allows you to distort the text as you like while retaining straight, clean edges.
Borders Under a Minute
Create really cool borders in under a minute to use on virtually any one of your photos or even video for that matter.- Custom Coins
In this tutorial Corey creates a realistic-looking coin effect using the channels palette and the lighting effects filter. - Natural Brushes
In this tutorial Corey shows you how to take an existing image and turn it into it's own custom brush.
-
Creative Contrast in Photoshop CS3
In this tutorial, we’ll take a look at some interesting techniques for improving contrast using the Shadow/Highlight command, empty adjustment layers, blend modes, and the Blend If sliders in the Layer Style dialog. -
Enhanced Workflow in Lightroom 1.1
In this article, we'll focus on techniques that will strengthen your workflow skills and simultaneously reveal some of the new features in Lightroom 1.1. -
Handlin’ Photoshop and Illustrator Content in Flash
we’ll take a look at how things work across Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash-specifically, some features and techniques for getting rasterized Photoshop content and vector Illustrator content into your Flash movies. -
Understanding Channels in Photoshop CS3
Photographer Chris Alvanas wants to go over Channels, because understanding what they are and what they do is key to understanding what their potential is.
Removing Those Typographically Incorrect Spaces
If you’re trying to set type that looks typographically correct in Photoshop, there’s an old habit you’ll have to break, and that’s the curse of putting two spaces at the end of every sentence. This is a holdover from people who at one time used traditional typewriters, where adding two spaces was necessary, but in typesetting that’s a huge no-no. About 70% of the text I copy-and-paste from text files that people give me has two spaces, but I use this Photoshop tip to fix the problem in just seconds. First, go under the Edit menu and choose Find and Replace Text. In the Find field, press the Spacebar twice (entering two spaces), then in Change To, press the Spacebar just once. Click Change All, and every time Photoshop finds two spaces at the end of a sentence, it will replace it with just one, making you typographically correct.
- Chicago, IL
Photoshop CS3 for Photographers Tour May. 19 - Nashville, TN
Photoshop CS3 for Photographers Tour May. 22 - San Francisco, CA
Photoshop CS3 for Photographers Tour May. 28 - New York, NY
Maximum Photoshop Tour May. 30
