Tip of the Day | Page 52

Making Your Guide Flip

Just like most page-layout applications, Photoshop has non-printing guides you can pull out anytime you need to align objects or type, but there’s also a trick for flipping the guides. To access the guides, make your rulers visible by pressing Command-R (PC: Control-R), then click-and-hold within one of the rulers and drag out a guide. If you pull out a horizontal guide from the top ruler, but really wanted a vertical guide, just press the Option key (PC: Alt key) as you drag and your guide will flip from horizontal to vertical (pretty slick). You can pull out as many guides as you need (there’s probably a limit to how many you can use, but we’ve never reached it). When you’re done using a guide, just use the Move tool (V) to drag it back to the ruler where it came from. To remove all of your guides at once, choose Clear Guides from the View menu.

September 12th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Instantly Find The Center Of Any Object

This is a great tip for quickly finding the exact center of any object on its own layer. You start by pressing Command-T (PC: Control-T) to bring up the Free Transform bounding box. The bounding box has a handle in the center of both sides and center handles at both the top and bottom. Now all you have to do is make Photoshop’s rulers visible (Command-R [PC: Control-R]), and then drag out a horizontal and a vertical ruler guide to these handles to mark the center. Better still, if you have the Snap command active in the View menu, the guides will snap to the center of your object as you drag.

September 11th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Get More Control Over Your Paint Strokes

Photoshop lets you affect a brush stroke even after you’ve painted it by using Photoshop’s Fade command (found under the Edit menu). Fade works like “undo on a slider,” and dragging the Opacity slider all the way to the left will completely undo your freshly painted brush stroke, but if you stop anywhere before the far-left side, it will instead simply lighten the stroke. You can also use the Mode pop-up menu to alter how your stroke blends with the object below it.

September 7th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Navigating The Brush Picker Like A Pro

Now that you’ve learned how to bring up the Brush Picker right where you want it, it wouldn’t hurt to learn this quick navigation tip to keep you from spending more time there than necessary. Once you’ve selected a brush in the Picker, just use the Arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate up, down, left, or right to other brushes in the Picker. Once you choose a brush and you are no longer in the Brush Picker, you can use the Period and Comma keys to move forward and backward through the different brushes. Shift-Comma and Shift-Period will jump you to the first and last brushes in the Brush Picker, respectively.

September 6th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Brushes Right Where You Want ‘Em

Here’s a tip that gives you a faster and more convenient way to switch to another preset brush without using the Brushes palette—and you might find that you like it even better. Just press the Control key, then click within your image (PC: Right-click) and the Brush Picker will appear directly under your cursor. Plus, you can even change the Master Diameter of the brush that you choose in the Picker. This is one you’ll have to try to appreciate the sheer speed and convenience of putting your brushes at your fingertips anytime.

September 5th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Get Rid Of Unwanted Brushes

You probably already know that you can add a brush to the Brushes palette, but did you know that it’s even easier to delete them? Just hold the Option key (PC: Alt key) and you’ll notice that your cursor changes into a pair of scissors. Click once on the brush you want to delete and that baby’s gone—no warning dialog, no chance to change your mind—it’s gone.

September 4th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Rotate To Any Angle The Fast Way

If you have a specific angle that you’d like to rotate a layer to, it’s easy. Get the Measure tool (it looks like a ruler and is in the Eyedropper tool’s flyout menu in the Toolbox), and click-and-drag out a line at the desired angle. Then go under the Edit menu, under Transform, and choose Rotate. Your layer will instantly rotate to match the angle that you drew with the Measure tool. Note: To rotate the Background layer, you must first select it (Command-A [PC: Control-A]).

September 3rd, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

You Don’t Need The Brushes Palette To Change Brush Size

In Photoshop CS2 you can increase or decrease the size of your brush by 10 pixels by pressing the Left or Right Bracket keys when the Brush tool (B) is selected. Once your brush is more than 100 pixels in size, it then moves in 25-pixel increments; if you go higher than 200 pixels, it moves in 50-pixel increments until you reach 300 pixels, at which point it moves in 100-pixel increments.

August 31st, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Want A Finer Grid? You Got It!

While we’re talking Curves, by default the Curves dialog displays a 25% grid. If you’d like a finer grid, you can Option-click (PC: Alt-click) once within the grid, and it will then display a 10% grid.

August 30th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Let Photoshop Do The Work In Curves

Let’s say you’re using the Curves dialog for correcting images and you have an image where you’re trying to adjust the color of some green plants. How do you know where that particular green “lives” on the curve so you can dial in and adjust it? Photoshop can tell you—in fact, you can have Photoshop automatically plot that color on the curve for you. With the Curves dialog open, just Command-click (PC: Control-click) on that color within your image. Photoshop will then add a point to the curve that represents the spot you sampled, and now you’re ready to tweak it.

August 29th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

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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.