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Tip of the Day | Page 31
Where is the Feather command?
Feather is still hidden in the Select menu under the Modify option. More useful is the new keyboard shortcut Shift-F6, which replaces the old shortcut Command-Option-D (PC: Ctrl-Alt-D). Mac users rejoice! you no longer have to give up the keystrokes to hide and show the dock to call up the Feather dialog from your keyboard. (Note: Just don’t forget to select something first!)
Stretch (or shrink) to fit
When the image won’t fit the page, use Content-Aware Scale to resize the background. And if you’re working with a human subject, click the Protect Skin Tones icon in the Options Bar, it will even leave the subject itself untouched. Press-ing Command-Option-Shift-C (PC: Ctrl-Alt-Shift-C) gets you there.
I had panels. Where are they now?
Okay, I’m pressing the F key to cycle through the screen modes. I’m in Full Screen Mode and poof, my panels disap-pear. Where are my panels? Tapping the F key twice changes from Standard Screen Mode to Full Screen Mode (View>Screen Mode). In Photoshop CS4, the panels disap-pear in Full Screen Mode, focusing on the photograph. Press the Tab key to reveal the panels.
More Vibrance Eyes
Choose the Sponge tool (nested under the Dodge tool [O]) from the Toolbox. In the Options Bar (shown below), choose Saturate from the Mode menu, set the Flow to at least 50%, and then click the Vibrance checkbox. Brush over the irises and ta-dah! Brilliant irises. Bonus tip: This works for lips too!
Vibrance Eyes
Bring excitement and pumped up color to your subjectís eyes by adding a Vibrance adjustment layer from the Adjust-ments panel (Window>Adjustments). Move the Saturation slider all the way to the left until it reads ñ100 and every-thing turns grayscale. In the Masks panel (Window>Masks), click the Invert button and the image returns to normal. Grab the Brush tool (B) and paint on the layer mask with white over the irises of the eyes turning them to grayscale. Now drag the Saturation up to 0 then increase the Vibrance until the irises dance.
Get rid of that shapelayer outline
If you’ve worked with a shape layer, you’ve probably noticed the appearance of a thin outline around the shape. The outline you see around a shape layer really doesn’t mean anything. It won’t print or show up on a saved Web image; however, it does look flat-out distracting when you’re trying to work with your images. Just click the mask next to the shape layer it’s on, and that outline will disappear. Click on it again if you ever want to turn it back on.
Cycling through layer blend modes part 2
If you’ve tried the previous tip but have a tool selected that also has blend modes associated with it (like any of the Brush tools), then you’ll find that the keyboard shortcut cycles through the blend modes for the brush in the Options Bar and not the layer. The workaround is this: First select a tool that doesn’t have blend modes (like the Move tool or one of the selection tools), and then use the shortcut from above and it’ll work just fine.
Cycling through layer blend modes part 1
Sometimes it’s useful to quickly cycle through your blend modes to see which one works best. Manually clicking on each one just isn’t quick, so try this: Click on the Blend Mode list in the top left of the Layers panel to select a blend mode. Then press Shift-+ to cycle down the list and Shift-ñ to go back up.
The font-resizing shortcut
Want to make your font size larger or smaller without going to the Size setting in the Options Bar? This one is really easy. Double-click the Type layer thumbnail to select your type. Then press Command-Shift-> (PC: Ctrl-Shift->) to make your font larger or Press Command-Shift-< (PC: Ctrl-Shift-<) to make it smaller. Bonus tip: Add the Option (PC: Alt) key to the mix and the size will change in increments of 10.
Unlink that mask for flexibility
If you want to move a layer around your image, but leave the layer mask exactly where it is, you need to unlink the two. Click the little chain link icon between the layer thumbnail and the layer mask to unlink them. Then you can move the layer around wherever you want to. Click between the layer thumbnail and layer mask again to re-link the two.
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Photoshop Tutorials
Hollywood Touch-Ups
See how you can add some subtle touches to give that green screen studio shot the Hollywood treatment.
3D Christmas Ornaments
Corey shows how to create reflective holiday ornaments using 3D in Photoshop.
Styles & Text
This week Corey has a tutorial using layer styles and text shapes to create energetic effects.
3D Light Beams
This effect was discovered by a 'happy accident' and uses the 3D features inside of Photoshop CS4 Extended.
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Flare Effects
Corey has a cool trick for creating a flare brush and see how one effect can lead to another.
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Hollywood Touch-Ups
See how you can add some subtle touches to give that green screen studio shot the Hollywood treatment.
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3D Christmas Ornaments
Corey shows how to create reflective holiday ornaments using 3D in Photoshop.
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3D Distortions
This week Corey has a cool new trick for using 3D reflections in a rather creative way!
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Photo Retouch
Scott Kelby shows you how to take an overexposed photo into a great photo using Photoshop. Want Great Photoshop & Photography Skills?
Extended Definition Processing
Scott Kelby shares a technique he's been working on, which gives your final image an HDR look using just one photo.
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Smart Object Masking Trick
Dave Cross shares a trick he discovered that will help you remove white from around your subject when using smart objects.
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Light Painting
Dave Cross takes a popular trend - light painting - and shows you how you can paint text recreating this cool trend.
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Create A Composite Layer
If you have a multilayer composition and you
want to apply an effect to all the layers at once, don’t flatten the layers–use a composite layer instead. Hide the layers you want excluded, and press Shift-Command-Option-E (PC: Shift-Ctrl-Alt-E). A new layer will be created at the top containing a merged copy of all the visible layers.
Another option is to create a new layer at the top of the stack and make it active. Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) each layer you want to include to make those layers active, as well. Press Option-Command-E (PC: Alt-Ctrl-E).
by Colin Smith
