The Double-Ringed Cursor

*Adobe Bridge CS4 and Adobe Camera Raw 5 Tip*

When you use the Adjustment Brush in Camera Raw, you’ll notice that there are two brush cursors displayed at the same time, one inside the other.  The smaller one shows the size of the brush you’ve selected; the larger (dotted-line circle) shows the size of the feathering.  Increase the Feather value to widen the distance between the rings; decrease the value to 0 and you’ll see that there’s no space.

August 5th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

Make It Look Like You Thought It Would

*Adobe Bridge CS4 and Adobe Camera Raw 5 Tip*

Want your RAW images to look more like what you saw in your camera’s LCD display?  Then check out the new Camera Matching Profiles in the Camera Calibration tab of Camera Raw.  They approximate the “looks” you can apply in camera.  Camera Raw looks at your image’s embedded EXIF data to determine whether you took the shot with a Nikon or Canon (so far, those are the only two camera brands it supports), and then it gives you a corresponding list of looks you can apply (these can help you get closer to the JPEG look).  Just choose from the pop-up menu to begin (I recommend starting with the Adobe Standard Profile).

August 4th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (3)

Resetting Photoshop’s Preferences

Here’s a quick way to reset your preferences in Photoshop: Press-and-hold Command-Option-Shift (PC: Ctrl-Alt-Shift) while you start Photoshop.  As you start the program you will get a pop-up dialog asking you if you would like to delete the settings file.  Deleting the file will create a new set of preferences from scratch.

August 4th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Turn the Font Off and On

Often, I echo Matt Kloskowski’s feeling that font preview is either loved or hated.  I find myself usually turning it off, and here’s why: I love fonts—lots of them.  I install fonts like there’s no tomorrow. I’m assuming that this is going to catch up to me at one point or another, but I continue to troll sites to find more and more fonts.
As you install more and more fonts on your machine, you might notice that there could be a performance problem. Because of this, we should go to Photoshop>Preferences>General (PC: Edit>Preferences>General) and turn off the Font Preview Size checkbox in the Type preferences.  You can also turn on the Font Preview Size there too, if you happen to like it.  I’ll stay away from that argument now.

August 4th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Those Pins Distracting You?

*Adobe Bridge CS4 and Adobe Camera Raw 5 Tip*

To hide the pins that appear when you use the Adjustment Brush, just press V on your keyboard or uncheck the Show Pins check-box at the bottom of the adjustment sliders when the brush is active (it toggles the pin visibility on/off).  More pins are added if you click the New button at the top of the adjustment sliders, make an adjustment, and then click on the image.

August 3rd, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Cropped Areas Truly Cropped!

*Adobe Bridge CS4 and Adobe Camera Raw 5 Tip*

When you grab the Crop tool ( C ) and crop a photo in Camera Raw, you can now see the final cropped image without having to open the image in Photoshop.  Once your cropping border is in place, just change tools (or double-click the Crop tool icon at the top of the window), and you’ll see the cropped version (in previous versions, the cropped-away area was still visible; it was just dimmed).  If you need to adjust the crop, simply switch back to the Crop tool and the cropping border reappears.

July 31st, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

A Useful Auto Setting…No, Really!

*Adobe Bridge CS4 and Adobe Camera Raw 5 Tip*

It’s now safe to use the Auto setting in Camera Raw (just click the Auto button above the Exposure slider to see).  Adobe has changed the algorithm used by the auto-correction feature and now it’s actually usable (the old version used to overexpose your photos most of the time).  It makes a nice starting place in many cases, so give it  a quick click and see what you think.

July 30th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (2)

Digital Botox Brush

*Adobe Bridge CS4 and Adobe Camera Raw 5 Tip*

Want to soften your subject’s skin?  Then use “negative clarity” (just drag the Clarity slider to the left, to a negative number) and paint over her skin (but avoid any detail areas, such as eyes, eye-brows, lips, etc).

July 29th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (2)

Brush Away Distractions

*Adobe Bridge CS4 and Adobe Camera Raw 5 Tip*

Want to focus the viewer’s eye on a particular area?  Get the Adjustment Brush,  set your Saturation to 0, and then paint over everything in your photo except where you want the viewer to look.  This makes everything grayscale except the area where you don’t paint.

July 28th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

Don’t Touch That Button!

*Adobe Bridge CS4 and Adobe Camera Raw 5 Tip*

When using the Adjustment Brush ( K ) in Camera Raw, if you click the + (plus sign) or – (minus sign) button beside an adjustment slider, you’ll notice it resets all the other sliders back to their default settings.  So, if you want to apply multiple effects at the same time, click-and-drag the sliders instead of using the + and – buttons; that way the others don’t reset.

July 27th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (2)