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Tip of the Day | Page 32
Turn off or disable a layer mask
You can Shift-click on the Layer Mask thumbnail in the layers panel to turn off or disable the mask. You’ll see a red X appear over the mask icon in the Layers panel. The mask is actually still there but it’s disabled. Shift-click on it again to enable it.
Convert a Background layer to a regular layer
Double-click on the name ‘Background’ in the Layers panel, and then click OK, or press Return (PC: Enter) in the New Layer dialog to accept the new name. Or, even better, you can hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key, double-click on the Background layer’s name in the Layers panel and that bypasses the New Layer dialog.
Blend mode keyboard shortcuts
I never used to use keyboard shortcuts for blend modes. Then about a year or so ago, I realized that the keyboard shortcuts for blend modes are actually very easy. It always involves the Option-Shift (PC: Alt-Shift) keys and then one letter that’s usually the first letter of the blend mode. For example, Option-Shift-M (PC: Alt-Shift-M) is Multiply. The letter O is Overlay. The letter S gets you Screen and so on. It doesn’t work for all of them (F is actually Soft Light) but it’s pretty darn close and since I’ve started using them I work a lot faster.
Deleting a layer
Instead of dragging a layer to the Trash icon to delete it, you can quickly delete a layer by pressing the Delete (PC: Backspace) key in Photoshop CS4. In CS3, using that key will only work if you have the Move tool (V) selected first, so you could quickly press V and then the Delete (PC: Backspace) key. Hey, it’s still faster then dragging.
Create a new layer without a dialog
Pressing Command-Shift-N (PC: Ctrl-Shift-N) creates a new layer but it brings up the New Layer dialog so you can name it. Personally, I find it kind of annoying and it’s not a lot faster for me than just clicking the new layer icon. However, if you throw the Option (PC: Alt) key into the mix, Command-ShiftOption-N (PC: Ctrl-Shift-Option-N), then it’ll bypass the new layer dialog and just create a new blank layer in the Layers panel.
Two brushes are better than one
To rapidly change the Size, Feather, Flow, and Density of a brush, use the A and B preset brushes. To set them up, click one of the brushes (A or B) and change its settings. Make one brush large with Auto Mask off for painting areas such as back-grounds. Click the other brush and make it small with Auto Mask checked on for ?ner detail and edge work. Press the Forward Slash key (/) to quickly switch between the brushes.
Mask clean up
If a mask appears splotchy, it’s usually because the Auto Mask checkbox is turned on and the brush didn’t apply the mask to pixels that were too different from the original sample (beginning brush stroke). Simply uncheck the Auto Mask feature and repaint the area.
Adjustment Brush resize tricks
When using the Adjustment Brush for retouching, you need to change the size of the brush quite often. You can use the Left and Right Bracket keys ([ ]) to make small incremental changes to the brush size, but the mouse scroll wheel is the quickest way to resize the brush. If you’re using a Wacom tablet (highly recom-mended), you can still use the mouse scroll wheel. Place the mouse where you can reach it with your free nonmouse hand and use both together.
Adjustment Brush masks and pins
When you paint on a photo using the Adjustment Brush (K), a mask is created that shows where the effects of the Adjustment Brush are applied. By default, the mask isn’t visible, but you can press the O key to toggle the visibility. Note that you can’t view the effects of the Adjustment Brush when the mask is visible. If the mask pin is missing, press the H key to show the pin.
Change adjustment mask colors
When the color of your subject in a photo-graph is similar to the color of the mask (the default color is red), it’s difficult to see the mask. To change the color of the mask, press Shift-O to cycle through red, green, white, and black masks.
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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
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Flare Effects
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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!
Premium Video Tutorials From NAPP
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Scott Kelby shows you how to take an overexposed photo into a great photo using Photoshop. Want Great Photoshop & Photography Skills?
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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
