Tip of the Day | Page 32

How To Read Four Areas At Once

Photoshop’s Color Sampler tool lets you sample up to four different color readings from within your image at the same time. The cool thing is, anytime you have one of Photoshop’s paint tools (Brush, Pencil, etc.), you can instantly access the Color Sampler by holding Shift-Option (PC: Shift-Alt). Click to add a color sampler and the Info palette immediately pops up to show you the reading. Each time you add a sampler, the Info palette expands to show that reading (leaving your earlier readings still visible). To delete any sampler, press Shift-Option (PC: Shift-Alt) again and just move the cursor back over the sampler and it will change into a pair of scissors. Click right on the sampler in your image to delete it. (Hint: You have to click directly on the sampler or it won’t work, and this doesn’t work for all painting tools.)

July 22nd, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

How To Sharpen Flesh Tones In CMYK

When you’re sharpening CMYK images, one of the toughest areas to sharpen are the flesh tones. Oftentimes, because of the soft nature of skin, you’ll need a lot of sharpening, which can introduce noise and color shifts, particularly in flesh tone areas. One tip that’s often used to combat this is to apply your sharpening to just the Cyan channel in the Channels palette in images where flesh tone is the focal point (such as in portraits).

July 21st, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

RGB Flesh Tones: Getting The “Red” Out

If you’re working on an RGB image and you’ve done your basic color correction but the flesh tone in your image still seems too red (a common problem), here’s a tip to fix it fast. First, select the flesh tone areas in your image (using the Lasso tool, etc.). Add a slight feather by going under the Select menu and choosing Feather. Enter a 1-pixel feather for low-res images; 3-5 pixels for high-res images. Go under the Image menu, under Adjustments, and choose Hue/Saturation. From the Edit pop-up menu, choose Reds. Now lower the Saturation slider until your skin tones look more natural and click OK.

July 17th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

Apply Unsharp Mask To CMYK Images

If you’ve already converted your image to CMYK mode and you want to quickly sharpen your image without introducing color shifts or halos, go to the Channels palette (under the Window menu), click on the Black channel, and apply your Unsharp Mask there. Applying the filter just to the Black channel will enable you to apply a higher level of sharpening without damaging the image.

July 16th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Adjusting Curve Points With Precision

Once you’ve plotted a point on a curve in the Curves dialog (Command-M [PC: Control-M]), you can adjust these points by clicking-and-dragging them, but many people find it easier to plot the point by using the Up/Down Arrow keys on their keyboard. This adjusts the Output of the point in increments of 2. To adjust the Input, use the Left/Right Arrow keys. To make larger moves, hold the Shift key while using the Arrow keys and your points will move in increments of 15.

July 15th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Are You Really Seeing Your Sharpening?

When you apply sharpening to your image using the Unsharp Mask filter (under Filter, choose Sharpen), make certain that when you apply it, you’re viewing the image at 100% size. Most other views won’t give you an accurate view of how the sharpening is really affecting the image. To make sure you’re viewing at 100%, just double-click the Zoom tool in the Toolbox.

July 14th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Talkin’ ‘Bout My Resolution

Here’s a lingo tip about resolution. Although images can have a resolution from 1 to more than 2,000 ppi, when it comes to talking resolution, there are three basic resolutions that are pretty common. Low-res (short for resolution) is normally 72 ppi, and low-res images are primarily used for onscreen viewing (such as the Web, slide presentations, digital video, etc.). Medium-res is generally 150 ppi and is commonly used for printing to inkjet and laser printers. When people use the term high-res, it’s almost always referring to 300 ppi, which is more than sufficient resolution for printing to a printing press. Anything above 300 ppi is still considered high-res, but you’d say it like this: “I made a 600-ppi high-res scan.” Which resolution is right for you? Nice try. That’s a whole book unto itself.

July 11th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Have Photoshop Help Find Your Highlights/Shadows

Not sure where the highlight or shadow points in your image are located? Let Photoshop help. Go under the Window menu and choose Info. In the RGB readout, click on the tiny Eyedropper icon to the left of the readout. A pop-up menu will appear with a list of values you can measure. Choose Total Ink from this pop-up menu. Next, press I to switch to the Eyedropper tool and move it over your image in the areas you think might be the darkest. Now, in the Info palette, look for the highest number. When you find the area in your image with the highest number (the highest amount of total ink), you’ve found the shadow point. Do the same to find the highlight—just look for the lowest number. When you locate that number, you’ve found the highlight.

July 10th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Try Not To Correct More Than Once

When correcting images in Curves, Levels, etc., it’s best to try to do all your corrections at one time rather than changing each setting individually (by that I mean, don’t set a highlight in Curves, then close and reopen it to set a shadow). The reason is, each time you apply a tonal correction, it puts some strain on the quality of the image. So to keep your image from having unnecessary data loss, when you open Curves or Levels, make your shadow, highlight, and midtone adjustments, and then click OK to apply all three adjustments at once.

July 9th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (2)

Making Sure Your Whites Are Really White

If you have an image that appears to have solid white areas (maybe the background surrounding a logo), but when you put the Eyedropper on that area, it gives you a 1% or 2% reading in one of the CMYK values in your Info palette, you can use Levels to gets those areas back down to 0% so they don’t print with a dot. Here’s how: Go under the Image menu, under Adjustments, and choose Levels. The third field from the left (at the top of the dialog) shows your current highlight value (your white point setting). The default value will be 255. Enter 252 or 250, then move your cursor over the white area in question and look in the Info palette to see if the readings are now all 0% (that change should be enough to remove the stray colors). When it’s right, click OK, and you’ll have solid white in your white areas.

July 8th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

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Photoshop Tutorials

2012 Text Effect

Recreate the text effect from the title to the new blockbuster movie.
More Fun with 3D

Continue exploring the possibilities with Photoshop’s new 3D tools.
Reverse Restoration

Corey shows you how to make a new photo look damaged by blending in some unusual textures.
3D Background Effects

Use Photoshop’s new 3D tools to create some dazzling background effects.

Premium Video Tutorials From NAPP

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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Viewing and Basking in your Image

When I’m done working with an image, I like to sit and admire it (hey, I spent six hours working on it, I should). To do that, I hit the Tab key, then hit the F key three times. This hides all of the panels and toolbars and lets you see the image by itself surrounded by black. To get back to regular mode, press the F key and the Tab key one more time.