Tip of the Day | Page 40

Measure Twice, Look Once

If you need to measure more than one side of an object (for example, if you’re measuring a box, and you need the height and width), you can measure both at the same time. First, open the Info palette under the Window menu (so you can see the measurements that the Measure tool generates), then get the Measure tool (Shift-I until it comes up) and click-and-drag it along the first edge. Release the mouse when you reach the end of the edge. Then hold the Option key (PC: Alt key), click on the end of the first line, and continue on in a different direction. You’ll notice that another measurement line appears. Now, look in the Info palette and you’ll see your two measurements listed under D1 and D2.

July 28th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

Getting Before And After Previews

If you’re applying a correction filter, such as the Unsharp Mask filter, you can get a before and after view of your image even before you click the OK button (and then press Command-Z [PC: Control-Z] to undo/redo the filter). Instead, click-and-hold on the preview box inside the Unsharp Mask filter. When you click-and-hold, you get the before preview in the window; when you release the mouse button, it shows you how the image will look with the filter applied. Pretty handy. If you need to see the full preview onscreen, you can toggle the Preview checkbox on or off. Another tip is to hold the Command or Option (PC: Control or Alt) button while in a filter dialog, and then your cursor changes into the Zoom tool. You can then zoom in or out in your preview window by clicking within it.

July 25th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

More Curve Point Quick Tips

When you’re working in Curves (Command-M [PC: Control-M]), once you’ve plotted a curve point, you can rotate over to the next point in your curve by pressing Control-Tab (PC: Right-click-Tab). To rotate back to the previous point, add the Shift key to make it Shift-Control-Tab (PC: Shift–Right-click-Tab). If you’ve got one or more points selected and want to deselect all your points, just press Command-D (PC: Control-D) to release all your points.

July 24th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Once You’re In CMYK Mode, Stay There

You’ve read some techniques in this chapter that require you to be in either RGB mode or Lab Color mode; however, if for any reason your image is already in CMYK mode, do not (I repeat, do not) convert to RGB or Lab mode for any reason. Once you’ve converted to CMYK mode, the data loss from the conversion has already occurred, and switching back to RGB mode won’t bring back those lost colors. What’s worse is, if you switch from CMYK to RGB (or Lab), when you convert back to CMYK mode, you’ll go through another CMYK conversion and damage your image even more. The moral of this story is-once you’re in CMYK mode, stay there.

July 23rd, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (2)

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)

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Photoshop Tutorials

3D Light Beams
This effect was discovered by a 'happy accident' and uses the 3D features inside of Photoshop CS4 Extended.
More Texture Effects
Further experiments into what you can do with texture images in Photoshop.
Reverse Restoration
Corey shows you how to make a new photo look damaged by blending in some unusual textures.
Rain Drops
In this tutorial, Corey not only creates the raindrops, but also the splashes that are formed with the raindrops hit the hands.

Light From 3D Shapes

Corey shares another way to get a cool 3D light beam effect.
Olympic Graphics, Part 2

Corey finishes up the Olympic-inspired design that he began last week in Part 1.
Olympic Graphics, Part 1

The Olympic-inspired tutorial will be coming in two parts. Stop by next week for the conclusion to this video.
Masking with Channels

This week’s tutorial deals with creating masks for complicated images by using channels.

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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Open in Camera Raw from Bridge

You can open RAW images in Camera Raw right from Bridge in Photoshop CS3. This frees up Photoshop to continue working on your files while they’re being processed in Camera Raw. Just select one or more images in Bridge, Control-click (PC: Right-click) on them, and choose Open in Camera Raw. This will open the image(s) in Bridge’s Camera Raw rather than Photoshop. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Command-R (PC: Ctrl-R).