Twitter
RSS
Sponsored by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Learn More
Tip of the Day | Page 6
THE NEW REFINE EDGE
This feature isn’t necessarily new but you could say it has been overhauled. With the new edge detection feature you can just make a very loose selection and then use this feature to tweak and fine-tune the selection. Then return it as a selection or even a layer mask. Bottom line: This feature takes most of the labor out of creating even the most complex selections.
WHERE DID LIGHTING EFFECTS GO?
Well you may notice that in the Filter menu under Render there used to be a filter called Lighting Effects. Unfortunately in CS5 this filter will not work in 64-bit mode. You need to go to the application folder and locate the Adobe Photoshop folder. Click on the application icon and press Command-I to get info. Then check on Open in 32-bit mode. Quit Photoshop then re-launch. The filter should be available now.
BYPASS CAMERA RAW AND GO STRAIGHT TO PHOTOSHOP
If you’re in Bridge and you want to open a RAW photo without going through the Camera Raw dialog, just press-and-hold the Shift key and double-click on the image. It’ll bypass the Camera Raw dialog, apply the current settings to the photo, and open it in Photoshop.
OPENING A JPEG IN RAW
Did you know that you could open and process JPEG photos in the Adobe Camera Raw dialog? If you’re in Bridge, select a JPEG photo that you want to edit. Then go to the File menu and choose Open in Camera Raw. You can also just press Command-R (PC: Ctrl-R) instead of going through the menu.
SHARPENING WITH ALT/OPTION KEY
Camera Raw has some killer new sharpening sliders that let you get a lot more sharpening work done before you ever even get into Photoshop. One cool trick when using the sliders is to press-and-hold the Alt (PC: Option) key when you drag them. This lets you see a grayscale image preview of that specific sharpening setting.
GO WITH THE FLOW
The Adjustment Brush in Camera Raw has a few settings that can change the way you brush. For example, there’s a Size setting which is pretty obvious. There’s also a Feather setting which softens the edges of your brush. And finally there’s a Flow setting that affects how much of the effect is applied in each brush stroke. Well folks, right below that is a Density setting and we’ve gotten more questions about this little setting then anything. Wanna know why? Because when people try adjusting it nothing really happens. That’s because the Flow setting really does it all and Density barely does anything. So stay clear of the Density setting. Leave it at 100 and be done with it. If you want to adjust the characteristics of your brush then go with the other 3 settings.
CHANGING THE ADJUSTMENT BRUSH COLOR OVERLAY
After you paint with the Adjustment Brush you can hover your mouse over the pin (that’s the little dot the Adjustment Brush creates on your photo) and Camera Raw will show you a white overlay indicating where you’ve brushed on the photo. I find it helpful to see if I’ve missed any spots while painting. But what if you’re painting over something that’s white? It’ll be pretty hard to see the overlay and tell if you did miss any areas. Well, all the way toward the bottom of the panel right next to the Show Mask checkbox you’ll see a little rectangular swatch. If you click on it, you’ll open a Color Picker dialog and you’re free to change that overlay to any color you want.
TURN OFF AUTO MASKING IN CAMERA RAW
The Adjustment Brush in Camera Raw is absolutely amazing. However, if you’re painting a lot with it you may notice a slight slow-down in its responsiveness. If that happens, try this. You’ll see an Auto Mask button at the bottom of the Adjustment Brush panel. Make sure it’s turned off (unless you absolutely need it turned on). That cuts down on the burden the tool puts on your processor and speeds the painting up a little.
APPLYING A LAYER STYLE TO A LAYER GROUP
You can apply a layer style to a layer group. Simply convert the layer group to a smart object by clicking on the group, then choosing Convert to Smart Object from the Layers panel’s flyout menu, and all of the layer styles will be available to you.
GROUPING MULTIPLE LAYERS IN A LAYER GROUP
Layer groups are a great way to collect multiple layers into one set and manipulate them. Rather than creating one set and dragging all of the layers into the set, select all of the layers first. Once the layers are selected, press-and-hold the Shift key and click on the Create a New Group icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120
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.
-
Flare Effects
Corey has a cool trick for creating a flare brush and see how one effect can lead to another.
-
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.
-
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.
Join NAPP & Get a Free DVD.
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
