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Tip of the Day | Page 33
Dust spot images quickly
Choose the Spot Removal tool (N) and zoom in to the top-left of the image. Press the Page Down key to move down the left side of the image incrementally. When you reach the bottom, press Page Down again and it will go to the top of the image next to your starting point. Do this for the entire image. You can also begin at the bottom right and press Page Up to dust spot in reverse.
Rotate View tool
A long-desired feature from other leading digital painting tools is the Rotate View tool, which allows you to rotate the document canvas to make otherwise uncomfortable strokes with a digitized art tablet perfectly natural. Press the R key or click-and-hold the Hand tool at the bottom of the Toolbox and select the Rotate View tool. Click-and-drag on the document until you reach your desired placement. For precision and consistency, you can also enter rotation numerically in the Rotation Angle field in the Options Bar. Click Reset View in the Options Bar, or double-click the Rotate View tool in the Toolbox, to return to normal orientation.
Pre-pro prep
If my experience with develop-ing rich media in a collaborative environment has taught me anything, it’s to keep project assets as organized as possible. Even though the layers’ paradigm in Photoshop provides an inherent organizational approach, it can quickly become unwieldy and bloated. A well-structured file folder hierarchy allows for easy access to core project assets like source and reference imagery as well as Photoshop-centric elements such as presets, masks, and displacement maps.Here’s a Photoshop CS4 tip for the road:
Transform selection
That selection not exactly how you want it? Don’t want to go all the way back into the path and modify it? No problem. Just go to the Select menu and choose Transform Selection and you can manipulate the selection just as you would with the Free Transform tool.
Speedy clipping mask
Sometimes a masked layer is just an Option-click (PC: Alt-click) away. Simply click-and-drag the layer to be used as a mask directly above the layer to be masked. Press-and-hold Option (PC: Alt) and hover your cursor over the horizontal line separating the layers. The cursor (hand) becomes a Clipping Mask icon; just click on it to convert the layer above into a mask.
Invert to alpha
When working with vector- created art and the source art is unavailable, modifying the art to create a logo can be a pain, to say the least particularly when it’s flattened and the background needs to be knocked out. A careful combination of Invert (Command-I [PC: Ctrl-I]), Color Bal-ance (Command-B [PC: Ctrl-B]), and layer Blending Options (Control-click [PC: Right-click] the layer name) can yield simple background knockouts of one- or two-color logos without making a mess.
Glow/Bloom effect
In the same composition, use Select>Color Range to select the high-lights of the base image. Be generous with the Fuzziness, as detail won’t be an issue. Copy the selection to a new layer (Command-J [PC: Ctrl-J]) and set its blend mode to Screen, which works kind of inversely from Multiply blacks become invisible and whites are added. The result is a simple bloom or glow effect.
Get into Dodge
Anyone who’s used Photoshop CS3 (or prior) versions and tried to com-posite a human subject into an existing light setup knows that they eventually hit a wall with Levels, Curves, Color Balance andóeven in desperate situationsóBrightness/Contrast adjustments to match the environment. Careful use of the Dodge tool (O) in the right tone range can allow you to simulate key- and fill-light spill on your superimposed objects. [The Dodge and Burn tools are more darkroom-like in Photoshop CS4 Ed.]
Only shades of gray
A simple tip to creating believable retro imagery is never to use 100% black or white tones in the artwork. The retro look often relies on distressed or faded artifacts, and a foundation of grays in a subtle tonal spectrum can enhance the vintage believability. Unlike using Desaturate (Image>Adjustments>Desaturate), Image>Adjustments>Black & White gives you control over speci?c color values, tinting, hue and saturation as well as some presets with which to experiment.
Light depth with layer blending
Studio lighting can be quickly and easily dramatized by blending multiple layers. Duplicate a layer with a subject by press- ing Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J). Desaturate the new layer, then adjust the Levels dialog (Command-L [PC: Ctrl-L]) to create a strong contrast. Now, apply a Gaussian Blur (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) to the new layer and set its blend mode to Overlay, which ampli?es the saturation of the base colors, while retaining the tonal contrast of the new layer. This effect can provide a strikingly more provocative sense of depth with very little effort.
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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.
-
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
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.
Want More?
Light Painting
Dave Cross takes a popular trend - light painting - and shows you how you can paint text recreating this cool trend.
You Don't Need to be a Pro to Join NAPP.
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
