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T H E A D O B E ® P H O T O S H O P® “ H O W- T O ” M A G A Z I N E
illustration techniques
using
Photoshop Rethink your usual tools and feature combinations to create unique and distinctive artwork
Jack is Back
Jack Davis puts his mark back in The WOW! Factor
PLUS: Photoshop World Recap u Lightroom News: What’s up, what’s hot, and what’s new with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom u
THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PHOTOSHOP PROFESSIONALS VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.PHOTOSHOPUSER.COM
DISPLAY UNTIL JULY 15, 2008
iStockphoto.com | The world’s leading stock destination
Once upon a
time. . .
Features 40 | Illustrating with Photoshop
Creating a unique piece of artwork in Photoshop requires more than simply grabbing the Brush tool and stroking away. Derek shows us how we can take seemingly unrelated tools, combine their functions, and create something totally new.—Derek Lea
84 | Photoshop World Orlando
Did you miss the east coast Photoshop World Conference & Expo? No worries! Live vicariously through the eyes of our live-blogging reporter.—Jennifer Bontempi
86 | Guru Awards
Revisit the best submissions, or behold for the first time, the artwork and winners of the Guru Awards. Plus, find out who placed in the Finalist column.
Departments 8 | About Photoshop User Magazine 10 | From the Editor 14 | Contributing Writers 18 | Photoshop News 22 | NAPP Member News 80 | From the Help Desk 116 | Photoshop Q&A
Reviews 104 | Epson Stylus Photo R1900 105 | Exhibition Fiber Paper 105 | DiscPainter 106 | ArtixScan M1 108 | Freeway 5 Pro 109 | Tiffen Dfx Complete 109 | Shutter Hat 110 | Primatte Chromakey 3 111 | Viveza 112 | ewa-marine U-BXP100 114 | Photoshop Book Reviews
June 2008 | www.photoshopuser.com
Contents
Columns 26 | Down & Dirty Tricks Animate light like you see in the Sprint commercials; create that ultra-trendy, gritty look made popular by photographers such as Dave Hill; and explore the latest in pop-art design.—Scott Kelby, Felix Nelson, Corey Barker
51 | Photoshop Mastery Your latest work of art tells a story, but if you want your audience to get it, you must direct their attention accordingly.—Ben Willmore
52 | From Bert’s Studio
82 | Beyond Photoshop ★NEW★ Are you bewildered by the Art History Brush tool? Learn about its proper function by using it to beautify a 3D model.—Scott Onstott
118 | Photoshop Quick Tips Crop nondestructively; learn about your Brush tool’s Flow, Opacity, and Airbrush control; and color your artboard.—Sherry London
138 | Photoshop Beginners’ Tips Color code your layers export Layer Comps to files, scale your layer styles, and use your canvas size to add a bleed.—Colin Smith
Bert shows us an example illustration he did for a friend’s book and tells us a little about what went on behind the scenes!—Bert Monroy
54 | Photoshop Speed Clinic Wasting time trying to do your full editing workflow in the field? Forget about that! Here’s the plug ‘n’ play way!—Matt Kloskowski
58 | The Fine Art of Printing If you wish to create better prints, it’s essential that you experience other works of art and articulate what you see.—John Paul Caponigro
62 | Deke Space This issue, Deke caps off his exploration of how Photoshop uses blurring to sharpen with something practical.—Deke McClelland
66 | Beginners’ Workshop If you’ve ever asked the question, “How do I blend a couple of photos together?” then this article’s for you.—Dave Cross
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70 | Digital Camera Workshop Hands feel tough as bricks at the end of a long day? Here’s a great way to make them look the way they feel!—Jim DiVitale
72 | The WOW! Factor Jack’s back and he shows us a four-step method for a nearly instantaneous hand-tinted look in Camera Raw.—Jack Davis
74 | Mastering Photoshop with Video Now that we’ve got the basics of using Photoshop for video, Glen pushes the envelope with the “Color Wheel Effect.”—Glen Stephens
76 | Digital Photographer’s Notebook Driving your models and makeup artists insane with your capricious color preferences? This one’s for them...and you.—Kevin Ames
78 | Classic Photoshop Effects Use a displacement map to get realistic-looking effects; even when blending vector-based artwork with photos.—Corey Barker
86 But Wait—There’s More: Wherever you see the symbol at the end of an article, it means there’s additional material for NAPP members at www.photoshopuser.com.
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Photoshop Lightroom Section
Feature
Contents
90 | Creative Organization
Clear organization allows you more time and energy to be more creative. This two-part article addresses how to organize your files with forethought, rather than worrying about where your files are.—Katrin Eismann
92 | Lightroom News 94 | Featured Photographer Joe Pulcinella shares his artistic wedding photography.
97 | Under the Loupe Managing your files properly lets you complete important tasks and keep the Lightroom database up to date.—Rob Sylvan
98 | Under the Hood This issue, Matt shows us how to create and manage multiple catalogs for maximum organization.—Matt Kloskowski
100 | Working Creatively in Lightroom Learn how to create sepia-toned images using the Camera Calibration panel controls.—Angela Drury
102 | Lightroom Tips & Tricks 103 | Lightroom Q&A 94
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about p h ot o s h o p u s e r Photoshop User magazine is the official publication of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). It is for members, by members, and is not available to the general public by subscription. As a NAPP member, you automatically receive Photoshop User delivered right to your door eight times a year. Each issue features in-depth Photoshop tutorials written by the most talented designers, photographers, and leading authors in the industry.
n at i o n a l a s s o c i at i o n o f p h ot o s h o p p r o f e s s i o n a l s The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) is a dynamic trade association and the world’s leading resource for Adobe® Photoshop® training, news, and education. Founded in 1998, NAPP has become the largest graphics and digital imaging association in the world with more than 70,000 members worldwide. NAPP is open to any individual using Photoshop in a casual or professional environment. There’s no faster, easier, and more affordable way to get really good at Photoshop. Join today for only $99 U.S., $129 Canada, and $99 International (digital delivery). NAPP also offers special educational memberships. Go to www.photoshopuser.com to get more info. Cover artwork: ©Derek Lea
› › p h ot o s h o p u s e r › j u n e 2 0 0 8
www.dereklea.com
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NAPP Membership Benefits: rAnnual subscription to Photoshop User magazine (eight issues annually) rMembers-only website with time- and money-saving content, including: Weekly Tips and Tutorials from world-class instructors
Advice Desk to get straight, unbiased advice on products
Vendor discounts on hardware, software, services, plug-ins, and travel
Bookstore of latest educational books and DVDs, plus huge discounts
NAPP Perks for complimentary images, actions, shapes, and plug-ins
National schedule of Adobe Photoshop training seminars
Help Desk to get your Photoshop questions answered fast
NAPP Gallery for creating your online portfolio
rRegistration discount to Photoshop World Conference & Expo—the annual NAPP convention and the largest Photoshop event in the world rMonthly e-newsletter produced just for members NAPP membership details at www.photoshopuser.com or call 800-738-8513 Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. EST.
“A cast of great performers go to work when the ‘lights, camera, action’ ends.”
—Jeff Killian Videographer
The WD Family of External Hard Drives for Mac® To bring his vision to life, Jeff relies on some outstanding performers after every shoot -- the WD family of Mac-formatted external drives. To secure his raw data, they provide convenient backup for his SxS,TM P2 or Compact Flash cards. And when he turns to editing, post production and archiving, each task is easier with My Book Studio’s huge capacity and killer transfer speeds. Designed for Mac enthusiasts and creative pros, WD’s family of Mac-formatted drives can make even the most complex process seem simple.
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Western Digital, WD, the WD logo, My Book and Put Your Life On It are registered trademarks in the U.S. and other countries; Studio Edition is a trademark of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. Other marks may be mentioned herein that belong to other companies. Product specifications subject to change without notice. © 2008 Western Digital Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. One gigabyte (GB) = one billion bytes. One terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.
From the Editor A few words from our E.I.C. …
The More Things Change… The faster NAPP moves
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› › p h ot o s h o p u s e r › j u n e 2 0 0 8
“…NAPP gets to play a role on the education side of all these new changes and developments in our industry.”
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hings are sure different now. In the short time since our last issue, take a look at what’s taken place in our industry: First, during the Photoshop World Conference & Expo opening keynote in September, Adobe pulled a rabbit out of the hat by announcing Lightroom 2, making it available as a free public beta version. And they brought the Photoshop Lightroom Product Manager, Tom Hogarty, onstage to show off some of the new features. Of course we were thrilled, but thanks to Adobe, we were also prepared. NAPP simultaneously launched a Lightroom 2 Public Beta Learning Center (you can find the link on the NAPP member site), where we posted a host of new video tutorials, FAQs, an in-depth feature list, and more, to make sure you get the first look at all the new features in the beta. Additionally, in the Lightroom section of this issue, we’ve introduced a news column, written by our own Matt Kloskowski (page 92) and a special tips column on some new features in Lightroom 2 beta (page 102) from Photoshop World instructor Chris Orwig. During that same keynote, the Senior Vice President of the Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe, John Loiacono—better known to NAPP members as “Johnny L”—gave the crowd a sneak peek at some of the new technology being developed for Photoshop CS4 (which, he noted, is still a ways off; but it was still cool to get a look at what’s coming down the road). Another great thing that happens at our Photoshop World conference: A lot of developers use it as a platform to launch new products. In Orlando, a host of new Photoshop-related products were announced during the Tech Expo, and since we’ve now expanded the expo floor to run all three days, more members than ever got to see, and play with, all the new goodies. As for the rest of our east coast Photoshop World conference, it was just a blast. I heard from alumni again and again that this was the best Photoshop World yet. If you haven’t been to a Photoshop World, it’s hard to explain. But it’s not just a bunch of training classes—ask anyone who’s attended—it’s an event, a community learning experience like no other. I hope you’ll make it to the west coast Photoshop World Conference & Expo to be held in Las Vegas on September 4–6, 2008, so you can see for yourself. Yet another big announcement is the launch of the new NAPP member website, which has been totally redesigned, reengineered, and reworked to make it easier and faster for you to get to the info you need most. If you haven’t been by the site in a week or so, make sure you stop by and check out the sleek new look and brand-new features. Here in the magazine, we’ve added a new “Beyond Photoshop” column from Scott Onstott (it combines our former “Photoshop CS3 Extended for Research” and “Photoshop CS3 Extended for Engineering” columns), and in this issue Scott has a very slick tutorial on how to apply the Art History Brush to a 3D rendering. If you have Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended, take two minutes and check it out (it starts on page 82). Our feature story (starting on page 40) is from Derek Lea, author of the book, Creative Photoshop: Digital Illustration and Art Techniques. Derek shows us how to use Photoshop as an illustration tool, and I think you’ll be surprised at what you can do. Lastly, I’m very gratified that NAPP gets to play a role on the education side of all these new changes and developments in our industry. But I’m even more delighted that you’re here along with us to be a part of it all. All my best,
Scott Kelby Editor and Publisher
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Scott Kelby, Editor-in-Chief Issac Stolzenbach, Managing Editor Mike Mackenzie, Lightroom Editor Barbara Thompson, Senior Technical Editor Chris Main, Technical Editor Kim Gabriel, Traffic Director Felix Nelson, Creative Director Dave Damstra, Production Manager Taffy Orlowski, Associate Designer Christy Winter, Associate Designer Dave Korman, Production Designer
Scott Kelby, Publisher %BWJE.PTFS Executive Publisher Kalebra Kelby, Executive V.P. +FBO",FOESB Business Manager Larry Becker, Executive Director of the NAPP 1BVM1BSSZ Chief Financial Officer
"%7&35*4*/( ,FWJO"HSFO V.P., Sales 813-433-2370 .FMJOEB(PUFMMJ Advertising Director 916-929-8200 Jeanne Jilleba, Advertising Coordinator 800-738-8513 ext.115 .BSHJF3PTFOTUFJOrNicole Wolfe, Advertising Designers 7FSPOJDB(Ronni) O’Neil, Director of Circulation/Distribution 800-738-8513 ext. 135 )0850$0/5"$55)&/"11 64.BJM%PVHMBT3PBE&BTUr0METNBS '- 7PJDFrFax: 813-433-5015 $VTUPNFS4FSWJDFGFFECBDL!QIPUPTIPQVTFSDPN -FUUFSTUPUIF&EJUPSMFUUFST!QIPUPTIPQVTFSDPN Membership Info:JOGP!QIPUPTIPQVTFSDPN .FNCFSTIJQ4VHHFTUJPOTMCFDLFS!QIPUPTIPQVTFSDPN 8PSME8JEF8FC*ODMVEJOHUIF1IPUPTIPQ)FMQ%FTL 1IPUP(FBS%FTL BOE"EWJDF%FTLXXXQIPUPTIPQVTFSDPN
$0-01)0/ Photoshop UserXBTQSPEVDFEVTJOH"EPCF1IPUPTIPQ$4 "EPCF*O%FTJHO$4 BOE"EPCF*MMVTUSBUPS$4"EPCF.ZSJBE1SP XBTVTFEGPSIFBEMJOFTBOEUFYU This seal indicates that all content provided herein is produced by Kelby Training, Inc. and follows the most stringent standards for educational resources. Kelby Training is the premier source for instructional books, DVDs, online classes, and live seminars for creative professionals.
All contents ©COPYRIGHT 2008 National Association of Photoshop Professionals. All rights reserved. Any use of the contents of this publication without the written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. Photoshop User is an independent journal, not affiliated in any way with Adobe Systems, Inc. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom, and Photoshop are registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks mentioned belong to their respective owners. Some of the views expressed by contributors may not be the representative views of the publisher. ISSN 1535-4687
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Contributing Writers Photoshop’s most wanted
› › p h ot o s h o p u s e r › j u n e 2 0 0 8
Kevin Ames creates evocative photo-
014
Daniel East is an author, freelance
Scott Onstott,
author of Enhancing CAD Drawings with Photoshop, has written and edited dozens of books and videos on AutoCAD, Revit, 3ds Max, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver. Subscribe to his Digital Architect video podcast on iTunes and check out his website at www.scottonstott.com.
graphs for clients such as Westin Hotels, AT&T, and Coca-Cola. His fourth book, recently published by Peachpit Press, is The Digital Photographer’s Notebook: A Pro’s Guide to Photoshop CS3, Lightroom and Bridge. He teaches the digital arts worldwide.
writer, presenter/trainer, and consultant with more than 20 years’ experience in professional photography, pro-audio, and marketing. Daniel is also founder and president of The Apple Groups Team support network for user groups.
Steve Baczewski is a freelance writer, professional photographer, graphic designer, and consultant. He also teaches classes in traditional and digital fine arts photography. His company, Sore Tooth Productions, is based in Albany, California. Steve can be reached at
[email protected].
Chris Orwig, a photographer and author, is on the faculty at the Brooks shop Restoration & Retouching and PhotoInstitute of Photography in Santa Barbara. shop Masking & Compositing. Katrin is His publications include Photoshop CS3 the co-founder and present Chair of the MPS for Photographers, Photoshop Lighroom in Digital Photography Department at the School of Visual Arts in NYC (www.sva.edu/digitalphoto). She Essentials, and more. Check out his website at www .chrisorwig.com. was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame in 2005.
Peter Bauer is the Director of the NAPP Help Desk and a featured columnist at Planet Photoshop. As an Adobe Certified Expert, Pete does computer graphics consulting for a select group of corporate clients. His latest book is Photoshop CS3 for Dummies.
Laurie Excell has 28 years of photography and photographic equipment sales experience. Her images have been showcased in galleries, Audubon calendars, Camping Life Magazine, Amtrak publications, and BT Journal. Check out her website at www.excellnaturephotography.com.
Katrin Eismann is author of Photo-
John Paul Caponigro, an inductee to the Photoshop Hall of Fame and author of Adobe Photoshop Master Class, is an internationally renowned fine artist and authority on digital printing. Visit www.johnpaulcaponigro.com and receive a free subscription to his enews Insights.
Dave Huss, with more than 25 years’ experience as a photographer, has authored more than 18 books on digital photography and photo editing. His latest book is Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.1 for the Professional Photographer. Dave is a popular conference speaker in the U.S. and Europe.
Jack Davis, Photoshop Hall-ofFamer and award-winning designer, photographer, and writer, has contributed to more than 30 how-to books for creative professionals including his latest, How to Wow: Photoshop CS3 for Photography, published by Peachpit Press.
Sherry London is author of Photoshop CS2 Gone Wild and has written a number of other books on Photoshop, Illustrator, and Painter. Sherry also writes tips and product reviews for Photoshop User and Layers magazines, as well as tutorials for Planet Photoshop.
Colin Smith, an award-winning designer, lecturer, and writer, has authored or co-authored 12 books on Photoshop and has created a series of Photoshop training videos available from PhotoshopCD.com. Colin is also the founder of the online resource PhotoshopCAFE.com.
Glen Stephens, developer of the Tools for Television, Photoshop Toolbox (www.toolsfortelevision.com), has more than 10 years’ experience in the broadcast video industry. His company, Pixel Post Studios, provides training and design services for the broadcast video industry.
Rob Sylvan is a trainer, instructional designer, writer, Web developer, and photographer. In addition to being a NAPP Help Desk Specialist, he’s a Senior Image Inspector for iStockphoto.com. Check out his Lightroom tips, tutorials, and presets at www.sylvanworks.com.
Jim DiVitale is an Atlanta-based
Deke McClelland is recipient of
Ben Willmore is the author of Adobe
photographer and instructor specializing in digital photography. His clients include IBM, Carter’s, Mizuno USA, Genuine Parts Company, Scientific Atlanta, TEC America, and Coca-Cola. Check out his website at www .divitalephotography.com.
the Videographer Award for Excellence, the Omni Award (both 2007), and author of the full-color Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-onOne (Deke Press/O’Reilly Media). He also hosts the online series, Photoshop Channels & Masks and Photoshop CS3 One-on-One (www.lynda.com/deke).
Photoshop CS3 Studio Techniques and Up to Speed: Photoshop CS3, as well as co-author of How to Wow: Photoshop for Photography. Currently, Ben is on tour with his hit seminar “Photoshop for Photographers.” Check out the free tips and tutorials at his website, www.digitalmastery.com.
Angela Drury is an award-winning
Bert Monroy is considered one of
photographer with 18 years’ experience shooting film and digital. She has received numerous awards and has been featured in several group and solo shows. Angela lives in San Francisco and works at Adobe Systems Inc. To see her photography, visit www.angeladrury.com.
the pioneers of digital art. His work has been seen in countless magazines and scores of books. He has served on the faculty of many well-known institutions, written dozens of books, and appeared on hundreds of TV shows around the world.
Behind every great canvas print is a great canvas printer. Dramatic sophistication. Awe-inspiring color. A luxurious depth and texture that begs to be admired, touched, and brought home. Your photography and digital artwork will exude these remarkably saleable qualities when meticulously reproduced on the world’s finest inkjet canvas by the imaging experts at Artistic Photo Canvas. We combine the most advanced, earth-friendly materials with image-handling skills and customer service unmatched by our imitators. This level of quality and care has never been so affordable, with pricing that enables you to profit handsomely from your work.
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Yeah…it’s kinda like that ®
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Simply put, the Adobe Photoshop Seminar Tour offers the very best real-world training available anywhere. With over 40,000 professional and amateur photographers, graphic designers, and others attending our events each year, it’s easy to see why we are the most popular seminar tour in the world! Each seminar is taught in a casual, easy-tounderstand style that makes learning the latest tips, tricks, and techniques for Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom, and more, easy, affordable, and fun. ®
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Choose any of our incredible one-day seminars…
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Your one-day seminar also includes a detailed seminar workbook, keyboard shortcut guide, issue of Photoshop User and Layers magazines, and a bonus Kelby Training DVD ($29.95 value).
To register visit www.Kelbytraining.com/seminars
Coming to a City Near You!
Scott Kelby
Boston, MA Calgary, Canada
Dave Cross
Vancouver, Canada Ottawa, Canada
Bert Monroy
Toronto, Canada San Francisco, CA
Ben Willmore
Seattle, WA New York, NY
For more locations, dates, and information about these in-depth and inspiring one-day training seminars call 800-201-7323 or visit www.kelbytraining.com/seminars
Adobe, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop Lightroom are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
A new option for working directly on screen STARTING AT $999
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For more information, visit: www.Cintiq.com/PSU
Photoshop News
Special Edition
By Daniel M. East
Adobe launches Photoshop Express free online services Photoshop News | Special Edition
On March 27, 2008, Adobe launched Photoshop Express, a free, RIA (rich Internet application), online service with integration into multiple social networking websites (including Facebook, Photobucket, etc.). This Web-based image editing and hosting software will prove especially useful for those who like to post their images, as well as adjust them, online. The slogan, “amplify your image,” is multilayered because this new venture is geared toward helping consumers present themselves online by allowing them not only to improve the look of their images once they’re uploaded, but also to dramatically enhance the presentation itself. Every aspect of Photoshop Express is tuned to make both the editing and viewing experiences something fresh, novel, and memorable. “This is also about looking your best online and creating ways to ‘up-level’ your images to attract people into your network,” reports Jennifer Stern, Principal Product MarketPhotoshop Express ing Manager for Adobe Systems Incorporated. “This is not just an editor or an organizer alone; this is the complete solution for organizing, compiling, creating slide shows, editing, and applying corrections or effects to your images.” There’s a high “fun factor” here as well, and the best part is that you only need Adobe Flash installed and an Internet connection to enjoy this new offering.
What’s different?
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My Photos
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My Gallery
When you initially visit the Photoshop Express website (www .photoshop.com/express), you’re greeted by a stunning, interactive, animated image array with a cleverly designed interface that makes navigation simple. One significant difference between Photoshop Express and other similar services is that Adobe offers up to 2 GB of space free of charge. There’s no additional space—fee or free— available at this time, but Adobe reports they’ll be looking into this as they track the progress of the new service. As Adobe learns from their customers what they want and need, the company anticipates that they’ll introduce more features based on those needs. Also, Adobe’s sharing aspect of the service is not the same old way via traditional slide shows. According to Stern, “Photoshop Express allows you to customize images in a wide variety of new ways well beyond using grids, circles, 3D, 2D, captions, page adjustments, and image-size changes from within the slide show. Plus, the images are presented in a black backdrop with a gorgeous, spacious floating effect that allows the images to be the focal point for the viewers.” The organizer is called My Photos, the central location/collection of your images where you can create a custom gallery with several types of slide shows, presentations, etc. At first launch, you’ll see the upload option center screen where you can begin to store content online. A sidebar displays your library options plus log-in links to online communities directly from the interface. Move to My Gallery and you can make your own personal museum, which can feature any background you wish from your own images. “That aspect is all based on the user’s own images so that you can apply them to your gallery for the most personal look possible,” adds Stern.
Sign up You can sign up for a free account by visiting www.photoshop.com/express or simply go to www.adobe.com for more information on the entire Photoshop family. As Adobe introduces its products to a new online marketplace, Photoshop Express may allow the company’s more advanced products to seem more attainable and approachable. The ease of user experience combined with a clean interface, which takes the nod from their more advanced software titles, invites the consumer and design professional with something that allows for nearly instant accessibility to their images—corrected and beautifully presented.
Photoshop News
About the online editing tools You can use the editing tools on images in your library or images stored on your other online services (such as Facebook) directly from within Photoshop Express without eliminating the original (see “Editing Tools”). Once you provide the necessary log-in information and authorization, your edited images can appear right from where they started so there’s no need to “re-upload” images that you may have already stored elsewhere—something that Adobe refers to as “roundtrip” editing. Stern clarifies: “When we say ‘roundtrip,’ we basically imply that you can upload content from your Facebook account into Photoshop Express and you can download newly edited content from Photoshop Express into your Facebook account.”
Editing Tools
According to Adobe, there will be many more Editing tools to come; however, these are the ones in place at the launch of Photoshop Express: Basics—Crop & Rotate, AutoCorrect, Exposure, Red-Eye Removal, Saturation, and a Touch Up tool (brought from Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom for not only fixing blemishes but also for stamping, swapping, etc.) Tuning Adjustments—Highlight, White Balance, Fill Light, Sharpen, and Soft Focus
Browse Galleries
Effects—Pop Color, Hue, Black & White conversion, Tint, Sketch, and Distort
Adobe | Photoshop Express
The service and its effects are completely browser-universal and platform-independent so you can access them from any system with Adobe Flash v.9 (or later) installed. Because Adobe is using their Flex technology within Flash to achieve much of the functionality, this is the only major requirement. In other words, the user must meet the requirements for Adobe Flash to meet the requirements for Adobe Photoshop Express, but that’s it. The interface may seem familiar and, although not directed at professionals, it will work well for those pros who wish to showcase, display, and present their images 24/7. Professionals may appreciate the ability to clean up, organize, edit, and select enhancement options for the images in their library from a pull-down menu directly in each thumbnail. There’s a lot of control here allowing the user to designate images as covers, send links, email images, embed images with code, download to a hard drive, and of course, post to other online communities as well. Even if you use a service other than those listed, the codes generated may be used by most services to embed your images. This can be a great, quick-anddirty way to post client images from a shoot directly from the job site/venue or to show a client instant proofs. Do you want to check out what others might be posting on Photoshop Express? Just click Browse and have a look at the thousands of albums and galleries already in the service. You can change the way each slide show is presented by clicking on the Settings box, and then sit back and enjoy the show. ■ Landing Source: Phone interview with Jennifer Stern, Principal Product Marketing Manager at Adobe Systems Incorporated. ALL IMAGES COURTESY ADOBE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED
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So how does this all work?
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NAPP Member News
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Guru Award Winners Once again, the National Association of Photoshop Professionals is pleased to announce the winners of the prestigious and coveted Guru Awards for Excellence in Photoshop Design. Peruse pages 86–87 and enjoy the best of the best in Photoshop design. Created in 1999, these semi-annual awards recognize the design, photography, retouching, and creativity of attendees at our Photoshop World Conference & Expo. At the east coast Photoshop World Keynote in Orlando, Executive Director of the NAPP, Larry Becker, presented the Best of Show trophy to Mark Fleming for his entry, “Hang Time.” In addition, Mark won a 32-GB Apple iPod touch, courtesy of CDW, the contest’s sponsor. The winners in each category received a trophy, a 250-GB Iomega eGo portable hard drive, and an 8-GB Apple iPod nano. The winner of the Vincent Versace Award for Photographic Excellence received a signed Versace original print, a Nikon D60 digital camera outfit, an Epson Stylus Pro 3800 printer, X-Rite’s ColorMunki Photo, an ExpoDisc prize pack from ExpoImaging, software suites from Nik Software and onOne Software, and all DVD titles from Acme Education. If you’d like to enter the west coast Guru Awards (and perhaps win similar prizes), go to www.photoshopworld.com. THE GURU WINNERS ARTISTIC: LINDSAY ABBOTT COMMERCIAL: CLAUDINE SLATER ILLUSTRATION: DAVID BOWLING PHOTOGRAPHY: MARK FLEMING PHOTO MONTAGE: NICK SAGLIMBENI PHOTO RESTORATION: PHIL SCARSBROOK PHOTO RETOUCHING: NICK SAGLIMBENI THE VINCENT VERSACE AWARD: LESLIE ALSHEIMER THE FINALISTS ARTISTIC: Alexander Fisher, Ricardo Rodriguez COMMERCIAL: Matt Stockenberg (bis) ILLUSTRATION: Lisa Sage, Fred Tower PHOTOGRAPHY: Rod Ostoski, Nick Saglimbeni PHOTO MONTAGE: Laura Kurtenbach, Brad Willey PHOTO RESTORATION: Diana Davidson, Dan Lanneau PHOTO RETOUCHING: Scott Johnson, Linda Spiess Sponsored by
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By Bryce Smith
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NAPP extreme makeover: homepage edition If you’ve gone to the NAPP member website since “Tax Day,” you’ve probably noticed a few tweaks here and there…actually, you should read “a few tweaks” as “a complete makeover.” On April 15th, the all-new, all-different NAPP website went live, and so far the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The redesigned site now has a slick, clean look that highlights all the perks and benefits of NAPP membership (e.g., tutorials, discounts, and insider news) and a super-simple design that makes navigation of the site easy—even for new members. Also, keep an eye out for a collection of new video walkthroughs of the site hosted by NAPP Executive Director, Larry Becker. These tours will ensure you can find everything on the site, and that you take advantage of everything your membership offers. If you haven’t checked it out yet, shame on you! Go to www.photoshopuser.com to log in and check out the new look.
BEST OF SHOW: MARK FLEMING
Learning Centers launched Here at NAPP, we pride ourselves on being able to bring you the inside scoop on new and upcoming technologies that affect the graphic design, photography, and multimedia design industries. So when Adobe’s Senior Vice President John Loiacono introduced the Photoshop Lightroom 2 Beta and Photoshop Express during the opening ceremony of Photoshop World earlier this month, we immediately launched two new learning centers (no joke, it was immediate as in, the moment that he made the announcement, both sites were live) to provide exclusive tips, tricks, and techniques for Adobe’s two latest offerings. The Photoshop Lightroom 2 Beta Learning Center (www.photoshopuser.com/lightroom2), hosted by NAPP President Scott Kelby and Curriculum Developer Matt Kloskowski, features video tutorials, a Q&A session, and a link to the Adobe download site for digital photographers who’d like to test the upgrade for themselves. The new Lightroom Learning Center has other information and content of interest, including interviews with the Lightroom team at Adobe, a video of the official Lightroom 2 Beta announcement at Photoshop World, technical specifications, and more. Additionally, Matt has launched Adobe Photoshop Express: Getting Started (www.photoshopexpresstechniques.com), an online learning center dedicated to Photoshop Express, Adobe’s new online photo-touchup and -sharing application. For those of you who haven’t heard about Photoshop Express yet, here’s the skinny: It’s a free Web-based photo manager and hosting service with limited editing capability that’s designed to be easily accessible and usable by anyone with an Internet connection. It’s not meant to replace—or even augment—Photoshop, Photoshop Extended, Photoshop Elements, or Lightroom. In a way, Photoshop Express is a companion to the Premiere Express online video-editing and -sharing program launched last year. The learning center features video tutorials, a Q&A session, and other valuable information for those looking to make the most from Photoshop Express.
Recent NAPP Discounts To take advantage of these discounts, NAPP members should go to the Discounts section at www.photoshopuser.com. MisterRetro.com—Create professional quality distress effects with these Machine Wash Image Filters. Each volume contains 60 image filters to texturize, age, and weather layered artwork in Photoshop, and NAPP members can enjoy a 10% discount on all individual Machine Wash volumes. Adobe Systems Inc.—As a proud partner of NAPP, Adobe has extended a 15% discount on most products from Adobe.com. As you shop in the Adobe Online Store, you’ll see the discount instantly, which also applies to third-party plug-ins, training, and books that are available for sale directly from Adobe through the Online Store or by phone. Nik Software Inc.—NAPP members get a 10% discount plus a free training video for all Nik Software products. Visit the NAPP member site for more details.
Visit the NAPP member website (www.photoshopuser.com) for more info regarding any item on these pages or anything concerning your membership. If you have suggestions or ideas for enhancing your NAPP membership, please send them to the NAPP Executive Director, Larry Becker, at
[email protected].
Digital Landscape Workshop Series—If you have a yearning to learn more about digital photography or want to master it, then you should attend the Digital Landscape Workshop Series (DLWS). Learn with world-renowned digital photographers and Nikon legends, Moose Peterson, Joe McNally, Laurie Excell, and Kevin Dobler. Moose and the other instructors are the heart and soul of DLWS and present at every event. Workshop details are at www.digitallandscape.org. ■
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Lightroom version 2 available for pre-order As we already noted, our friends at Adobe announced the new Photoshop Lightroom 2 Beta at Photoshop World. Well, being the prolific author that he is, Scott Kelby is working on The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 Book for Digital Photographers, an update to his 2007 award-winning Lightroom book. The new book will introduce you to the basics of using Lightroom and then walk you through a brilliantly devised and super-efficient digital photography workflow that will dramatically improve your productivity and allow you to spend less time processing photos and more time shooting. And, as you’d expect, the book is written in Scott’s trademark, step-by-step, plain-English style that lets photographers of any skill level jump right in using Lightroom like a pro from the very start. The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 Book for Digital Photographers is currently available for pre-order at www.kelbytraining.com and will be available in most bookstores, as well as on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, later this summer.
PhotoshopCAFE—NAPP members get 25% off the Photoshop and Dreamweaver Integration DVD by Colin Smith. For more information and the special NAPP discount, log onto www.photoshopcafe.com/napp.
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NAPP-Sponsored Photoshop Training Learn the latest Photoshop techniques from the hottest Photoshop educators
Upcoming Seminars The following conferences and seminars are sponsored or produced by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and provide special discounts to NAPP members. Visit www.kelbytraining.com for all the latest seminar information.
Maximum Photoshop CS3 featuring Dave Cross
OTTAWA, ON June 4, 2008 Ottawa Congress Centre
Boost your creativity, productivity, and skills, and discover how to truly utilize Photoshop’s most powerful tools and features. This seminar will teach you the hottest tips, tricks, and techniques to maximize your creative talents!
VANCOUVER, BC
featuring Scott Kelby
June 9, 2008 Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre
Upcoming Dates:
June 10, 2008 Calgary TELUS Convention Centre
Take your photography to a whole new level of productivity, efficiency, and fun with real-world insider techniques that make your life easier and free your time so you can do what you really want with your photography—rather than boring, repetitive production tasks.
CALGARY, AB
NEW YORK, NY May 30, 2008 Jacob K. Javits Conv. Center
Photoshop CS3 for Photographers featuring Ben Willmore Enrich your images with valuable tips for everything from setup to printing your masterpiece. Photoshop Hall of Fame guru Ben Willmore reveals key digital photography concepts, powerful adjustment tools in Photoshop, and remarkable restoration and manipulation techniques.
Upcoming Dates:
Registration Info: Regular admission is $99. NAPP members pay $79. Call 800-201-7323, or register online at www.kelbytraining.com.
Photoshop CS3 Creativity Tour featuring Bert Monroy While you may not be able to draw like Bert (he’s truly the master), in this seminar you’ll learn the Photoshop techniques he’s developed to create realistic images that boggle the imagination! It’s the perfect seminar for Photoshop users, photographers, and illustrators alike! For registration and dates, call 800-201-7323
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CHICAGO, IL
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The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Live Tour
May 19, 2008 Donald E. Stephens Conv. Center
NASHVILLE, TN May 22, 2008 Nashville Conv. Center
SAN FRANCISCO, CA May 28, 2008 South San Francisco Conf. Center
TORONTO, ON June 2, 2008 Metro Toronto Convention Centre Instructors subject to change without notice
Photoshop CS3 Power Tour featuring Scott Kelby Amplify the impact of your work with high-voltage, hair-raising techniques for Photoshop CS3. This seminar, created by the #1 best-selling computer book author, Scott Kelby, will boost your already impressive Photoshop skills with awe-generating effects used by today’s industry pros. For registration and dates, call 800-201-7323
For registration and dates, call 800-201-7323
Photoshop World Conference & Expo LAS VEGAS, NV September 4–6, 2008 Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino You’ll learn the most up-to-date techniques and hottest tips for Adobe Photoshop CS3, Photoshop Lightroom, and Photoshop CS3 Extended from a team of the industry’s most talented and creative instructors. And don’t forget the Tech Expo where you can get an insider’s look at the latest products and technologies.
Registration Info: Advance Registration Before August 1, 2008 Advance admission is $599 NAPP members pay $499 General admission is $699. NAPP members pay $599. Students (with ID) pay $149. Call 800-201-7323, or register online at www.photoshopworld.com. ■
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Down & Dirty Tricks The hottest new Photoshop tricks and coolest special effects ■ BY CO R E Y B A R K E R
Painted Light You may have seen the cool animated lights in Sprint TV ads recently that are actually created by moving a flashlight around during a prolonged exposure, resulting in animated light trails. Here we’ll mimic this effect using Photoshop CS3 Extended and a process called rotoscoping.
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STEP TWO: Create a new file (File>New) at approximately 800x500 pixels at 100 ppi, press the D key to set your Foreground and Background colors to their defaults, and then press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the background with black. Use the Move tool (V) to click-and-drag your object onto the background. Or if you downloaded the associated work file open it now. [NAPP members may download the file to follow along with this tutorial as well as the final video at www.photoshopuser.com/members/jun08downloads.html. All files are for personal use only.] Create a new video layer: Go under the Layer menu to Video Layers and select New Blank Video Layer. The new video layer will appear in the Layers panel with a small film icon designating it as a video layer.
©ISTOCKPHOTO/RANPLETT
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STEP ONE: First we need to create a brush that will act as our “flashlight.” Select the Brush tool (B) from the Toolbox and then open the Brushes panel (Windows>Brushes). Highlight the Brush Tip Shape and choose the 14-px Spatter brush. Set the brush Diameter to 15 and the Spacing to 1%. Then click on the words “Shape Dynamics” in the Brush Presets list on the left. Click the Control menu (under Size Jitter), choose Fade, and set the Fade amount to 200. Click the Create New Brush icon at the bottom of the panel, name this brush, and click OK.
STEP THREE: Now to get the glowing light effect, we’ll apply a layer style to this video layer. Just as you would with a normal layer, click the Add a Layer Style (ƒx) icon, and choose Outer Glow. Set the Blend Mode to Screen and the Opacity to 100%. Click the color swatch to open the Color Picker, set it to a bright yellow, and click OK. (Note: Remember your color choice because you’ll need it again.) Then go down to the Elements section and set the Size to 10 px. Don’t click OK yet.
STEP FOUR: Click the words “Inner Glow” in the Styles list on the left, then set the Blend Mode to Soft Light and the Opacity to 75%. Use the same color as you did in the previous step and, in the Elements section, ensure the Size is set to 5 px. Now click OK to close the Layer Style dialog.
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STEP FIVE: We’re ready to animate our light trail so open the Animation panel by selecting it from the Window menu. Move the Current Time Indicator (a.k.a. the playhead) to the 1-second mark (this way the animation won’t start until it reaches this point). Next, simply choose a point on the image to begin animating. For this example, we started near the upper-right corner, and painted a stroke from inside the document until it went out of view. This is our first frame of animation.
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STEP SIX: At the bottom of the Animation panel click the Selects Next Frame icon. When you do this, the stroke you just made will disappear because we’ve advanced to the next frame, which is blank. We must be able to see the previous frame, however, to get accurate placement of the stroke on the following frame. To do this, click the Toggle Onion Skins icon at the bottom of the Animation panel, then click the Animation panel flyout menu icon (located at the top right of the panel), and choose Onion Skin Settings.
Selects Next Frame icon
Onion Skins icon
STEP SEVEN: In the dialog that appears, you can choose how many Frames Before and Frames After the current frame you can see (we chose 1 each, respectively). You can also adjust the Frame Spacing and Opacity values but we’ll change only the Blend Mode—to Screen—for this exercise. By setting the Blend Mode to Screen, the onion skinning will be more visible on the dark background. Click OK to close the Onion Skin Options dialog.
STEP EIGHT: Now you can faintly see the previous frame containing your first stroke. Start the next brush stroke just a slight distance ahead of this one (as shown). This is the next frame of the animation. Repeat this process by clicking the Selects Next Frame icon to move to the next frame and draw another stroke slightly ahead of the previous one. Continue at a down angle, then make the streak bounce off the surface and dance around the phone then leave the frame. Note: Refer to the download to see what this technique looks like when it’s completed.
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STEP NINE: Using a similar process as outlined above, we’ll liven up some text. First, create a new blank video layer as we did in Step Two. We’ll need the layer styles from the last layer, so press-and-hold the Option (PC: Alt) key, click-and-drag the word Effects, and drop it on this new layer. With the same Spatter brush we’ve been using selected, open the Brushes panel, and uncheck Shape Dynamics from the list on the left so the size is not affected as we paint.
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STEP TEN: Select the Horizontal Type tool (T), click in the document, enter the number 30 using a basic font (we used Myriad Pro), and press Return (PC: Enter) to commit the text. Then, in the Layers panel, clickand-drag this text layer beneath the video layer we just created. Lower this layer’s Opacity to 50% so it can act as a guide for what we need to animate. continued on p. 30
STEP ELEVEN: In the Animation panel, drag your playhead to the 0-second position, make sure the onion skinning is still turned on, select your Brush tool again, and trace the numbers using that same yellow you used in Step Three. You don’t necessarily want to trace the numbers perfectly; in fact, for each succeeding frame, the numbers should be drawn a little differently so when it’s played back it will have the jaggedness that’s characteristic of the light painting effect we see in the Sprint commercials.
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STEP TWELVE: Click the Selects Next Frame button in the Animation panel and trace the number again. Repeat this process over and over for as long as you want this effect to last, but make sure it’s at least long enough to cover the time it takes the light streak to make its way through the animation. Be patient. This is the wonderful world of rotoscoping. To enhance the effect a bit, let’s create reflections of these animations by converting both video layers into Smart Objects (Layer>Smart Objects>Convert to Smart Object). Rename your layers (as shown) to keep things organized.
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STEP THIRTEEN: Click-anddrag each smart object to the Create a New Layer icon to make a copy of each layer. We need to flip each of the copied layers, so go under the Edit menu, to Transform, and choose Flip Vertical. Then use the Move tool to position this layer to where it appears to be a reflection of the original. Then just drop the Opacity down a bit to complete the effect. You might need to add a layer mask (Layer>Layer Mask) and use the Gradient tool (G) to apply a Black, White Linear gradient on the mask, which will make the edge of the reflection fade away as it gets further from its subject. Add some text to complete the effect. ■
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Down & Dirty Tricks The hottest new Photoshop tricks and coolest special effects ■ BY SCOT T KELBY AND FELI X NELSO N
That Trendy Gritty Portrait Look
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STEP ONE: This effect doesn’t work on every photo; it works best with very contrasty photos, especially those with hard-edged side lighting. For this photo (of NAPP’s own boy wonder, Tommy Maloney), I put two flash units behind Tommy (on either side of him) with 20° grid spots—to concentrate the beams and keep them from spreading too much. I used a fill flash with an Elinchrom softbox to the camera’s left to fill in the area between the two white hard-edged flashes lighting him from behind. (There are no softboxes on these two flashes in the rear—just a reflector with a grid spot in each, so it’s bright direct flash.) Let’s start by opening the original image in Adobe Camera Raw. Note: It doesn’t matter whether it’s a RAW, TIFF, or JPEG file, just click on it in Bridge, and choose Open in Camera Raw from the File menu (or use the shortcut, Command-R [PC: Ctrl-R]).
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STEP TWO: In Camera Raw, drag the sliders to the right to increase the Recovery, Fill Light, Contrast, Clarity, and Vibrance amounts all to 100. The image looks pretty bad now—mostly because there are no shadows (Blacks) in the image (setting the Fill Light to 100 pretty much opens all your shadow areas up)— but we’ll fix that in the next step.
SCOTT KELBY
The hyper-sharpened, hyper-contrast, gritty-portrait look (made famous by photographers like Dave Hill) is really hot now and I wrote a little about it on my blog (www.scottkelby.com). It was one of the most talked-about posts in a while so I thought I’d dig in deeper here and show you how to get a similar look using just Photoshop CS3 (and no special plug-ins).
STEP THREE: Now take the Blacks slider (which controls the darkest shadow areas in your photo) and drag it to the right until the photo doesn’t look all washed out anymore (as shown). Of course, the colors are going to look really oversaturated, but we’ll deal with that next.
STEP FIVE: Now we’re going to open the processed photo in Photoshop as a Smart Object (so we can reprocess the photo again for the final tweaks): Hold the Shift key and the Open Image button changes to Open Object. Just click on the Open Object button to open it in Photoshop as a smart object. (Look at the layer’s thumbnail in the Layers panel and you’ll see a tiny page icon in the lower-right corner, which tells you that it’s a smart object.) We want to make a copy of this Smart Object layer, but if we just duplicate the layer, any changes we make to the duplicate will also be applied to the original—and we want to edit the copy layer separately. To do that, Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the layer in the Layers panel and choose New Smart Object Via Copy from the pop-up menu.
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STEP FOUR: Here’s where you not only remove all those oversaturated colors, you’re going to desaturate the photo a bit, so drag the Saturation way over to the left (as shown). Make sure you drag farther to the left than just getting the colors back to normal—we’re looking for just a hint of color. Tip: I usually drag it all the way to the left (to 0) so the photo becomes black-and-white, then drag it slowly to the right until just enough color comes back into the photo.
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STEP SIX: Double-click directly on the thumbnail for your copy layer and it reopens the image in Camera Raw. We want to set the image back to its original look, so go under Camera Raw’s popout menu (it’s on the far right of the word “Basic” at the top of the panel), and choose Camera Raw Defaults. Now the photo is back to its original look, and you can click the OK button. With the copy layer still active, hold the Option key (PC: Alt key) and click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel (shown here) to hide this “clean” layer behind a black layer mask. Now you just see the “grungy” version of the photo.
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STEP SEVEN: The reason why we’re doing all this is that when you apply this effect, it looks great along the sides of the person’s face and in their hair and clothes, but because we’re applying all that Clarity and Contrast, it makes every single pore and blemish stand out big time! While on some subjects that actually looks okay, sometimes we need to bring some of their original facial texture back so the effect is still flattering. To do that, get the Brush tool (B), lower the Opacity (up in the Options Bar) to around 40%, and then paint over your subject’s forehead, nose, inside cheeks, etc. with white. Avoid the sides of the face, hair, eyes, eyebrows, and lips—any detail areas—until their skin is smoothed out for the effect you see. ■
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www.onOnesoftware.com
Down & Dirty Tricks The hottest new Photoshop tricks and coolest special effects ■ BY SCOT T KELBY AND FELI X NELSON
Pop Art The promotional graphics for the FX series dirt use a very Lichtenstein-looking effect. The halftone, comicbook look is very reminiscent of the ‘60s pop-artist style, which can easily be replicated using some basic Photoshop techniques.
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STEP ONE: Create a new 7x5", 72-ppi RGB document. Click on the Foreground color swatch, choose a pink color (C:27, M:82, Y:0, K:0 in our example), and click OK. Press OptionDelete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the Background layer with pink. Add a new layer by clicking on the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. Choose the Elliptical Marquee tool, hold down the Shift key (to constrain the selection), and draw a small circle in the top-left corner of the document. Choose a lighter pink as the Foreground color and fill the selection. Now press Command-Option-T (PC: Ctrl-Alt-T) to bring up the Free Transform box while also duplicating the selection. Using the Right Arrow key, move the new selection toward the right (as shown). Press Return (PC: Enter) to apply the transformation.
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STEP TWO: Press Command-Option-Shift-T (PC: Ctrl-Alt-Shift-T) to duplicate and move the selection completely across the top of the document. Now, Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) directly on the Layer 1 thumbnail to select all of the circles, then press Command-Option-T (PC: Control-Alt-T) to bring up Free Transform again. This time, use the Down Arrow key to move the selection down, then use the Right Arrow key to move the selection toward the right (see example). Press Return or Enter to commit the transformation. Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) on the Layer 1 thumbnail to select all of the circles again. Press Command-Option-T (PC: Ctrl-Alt-T) to bring up Free Transform one more time. Use the Down Arrow key to move the selection down, then press Return (PC: Enter) to apply the transformation. Now, press CommandOption-Shift-T (PC: Ctrl-Alt-Shift-T) to fill the entire layer with the light-pink circles, then press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect. Press Command-T (Ctrl-T) to bring up the Free Transform bounding box and resize the selection (the circles) so they bleed off the left side and top of the layer. Press Return (PC: Enter).
STEP THREE: Create a new layer (Layer 2). Choose the Rounded Rectangle tool from the Toolbox. In the Options Bar, click on the Paths icon, enter 20 pixels for Radius, then draw a rectangular shape in the center of the document. In the Paths panel (Window>Paths), click on the Load Path As a Selection icon (circled) to make the rectangle shape an active selection. Choose a dark red as the Foreground color and fill the selection.
STEP FOUR: In the Layers panel, click on the Add a Layer Style icon (ƒx), and choose Stroke. Enter 6 for Size and choose Center for Position. Now click on the red Color swatch, choose a white color, and click OK. Click on the words Drop Shadow from the Styles list on the left side of the Layer Style dialog. Change the Opacity to 12%, Angle to 108°, Distance to 22, Size to 0, and click OK. Don’t deselect yet.
STEP SIX: Go under Image and choose Mode>Bitmap. You can use the default settings (as shown here) for the output, so just click OK. When the Halftone Screen dialog appears, enter 8 for Frequency, 45 for Angle, and choose Round for Shape. Click OK. Press Command-A (PC: Ctrl-A) then Command-C (PC: Ctrl-C) to select and copy the bitmapped image.
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STEP FIVE: Now let’s create a new 6x3", 72-ppi, Grayscale document. Choose the Gradient tool (G) from the Toolbox. Press D to reset the Foreground/Background colors to the default black/white, respectively. Now, while holding down the Shift key, draw a gradient from the bottom toward the top of the document (see example).
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STEP SEVEN: Let’s go back now to our original document, go under the Select menu, and choose Modify>Contract. Enter 3 pixels and click OK. Press Command-Shift-V (PC: Ctrl-Shift-V) to paste the bitmapped image we copied in Step Six into the selection. Photoshop will automatically create a new layer (Layer 3) with an unlinked layer mask. Change this layer’s blend mode to Multiply and lower the Opacity to 40%. Press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect.
STEP EIGHT: Click on the space between the Layer 3 thumbnail and the Layer 3 Mask thumbnail to link the two. Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) on Layer 2 to make both layers active. Press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to bring up the Free Transform bounding box. Rotate both layers slightly counterclockwise (see example) then press Return (PC: Enter) to apply the transformation.
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STEP NINE: Set the Foreground color to white. Choose the Type tool (T) from the Toolbox, and enter some text (we typed “flirt” using Helvetica Black Oblique at 228 points). Now, Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the Type layer and choose Rasterize Type. Use the selection tool of your choice to make a selection of the square above the “i” (as shown), then press Delete (PC: Backspace) and Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect.
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STEP TEN: Now use the Elliptical Marquee tool to re-create a dot selection below the “i” (see our example). Press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the circular selection with white. Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) on the Layer 3 Mask thumbnail, then click on the Add Layer Mask icon (the gray square with the white circle) at the bottom of the Layers panel to mask the dot and complete the effect. Here’s our finished copy where we’ve included some comic-book style bubbles to add to the pop-art effect. ■
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DIALECTIC THINKING FOR sensational artwork The secret to successful illustration is a willingness to approach things differently. Don’t be afraid to combine tools, functions, and artistic styles that aren’t commonly associated with each other. For instance, many would question the wisdom of combining ancient etchings with something as contemporary as vector shapes; some may question the appropriateness of combining a highly textured painting with areas of sharp, flat color; and others may question the use of alpha channels alongside shape layers. But as is evident here, it all works out in the end. The result is a powerful and provocative image that’s constructed in a way that lends itself to improvisation as you work, and nondestructive editing long after you’re finished.
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STEP ONE: Starting with a highly textured background is essential to the process, as it lends a tactile feeling to the finished illustration— less cold and computer-generated. Our illustration begins with a scan of a watercolor painting. The color’s hue is not overly important (as you’ll see later on) but some areas need to be lightened now. Click the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a new layer and then select the Gradient tool (G). In the Options Bar, click the Gradient Picker icon and choose the Foreground to Transparent gradient. Select the Radial Gradient, set the gradient Opacity rather low, around 25%, and ensure that the Dither and Transparency checkboxes are clicked on. Now, lightening areas of the background is as easy as clicking-anddragging on this new layer. Click-and-drag more than once on areas you wish to make significantly lighter. We concentrated on the lower right area of the canvas.
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STEP TWO: The next step is to introduce the juxtaposition between tactile and digital. We’ll add carefully constructed shape layers and then blend them into the watercolor background. Select the Ellipse tool (nested under the Rectangle tool [U] in the Toolbox) and to ensure you’re creating a shape layer, click the Shape Layers icon in the Option Bar. (Check this each time you create a shape for the rest of this tutorial.) Now click-and-drag while pressing the Shift
key to draw a large circle extending far beyond the canvas edge (as shown). (Note: If you don’t see the canvas area around your image, click-and-drag the bottom-right corner of the window, or press the F key to cycle through Screen Modes.) Click the Subtract From Shape Area (–) icon in the Options Bar and the color on the layer will invert. With the Path Selection tool (A), click on the circle and Option-drag (PC: Alt-drag) it to another area of the canvas so that the two overlap. While your duplicate circle remains selected, click the Exclude Overlapping Shape Areas icon in the Options Bar.
STEP THREE: Select the Ellipse tool again, hold down the Shift key, and create another circle within the shape layer that overlaps the current filled area. While the new circle is selected, click on the Subtract From Shape Area (–) icon in the Options Bar to create a knockout effect. Repeat this process a number of times to punch a series of small holes through the filled area. You can also Optiondrag (PC: Alt-drag) with the Path Selection tool to copy the circles within the shape layer. To increase or decrease a selected shape, simply press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to access Free Transform, then drag the bounding-box corner points to increase/decrease the shape (add the Shift key to preserve the proportions). In the Layers panel, change the shape layer’s blend mode to Linear Burn and decrease the Fill to 29%.
STEP FOUR: You can change the color of a shape layer at any point by simply double-clicking the shape layer thumbnail in the Layers panel, which will open the color picker, allowing you to choose a different color any time you like. Click the Add a Layer Style icon (fx) at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Stroke. The default settings are fine because we’ve already altered the way the layer blends into the background; however, you’ll want to change the Color to something other than the default red. Here we used a very dark blue. The stroke effect is subtle—exactly what we want so we don’t have individual components in this complicated illustration “fighting.” Click-and-drag this layer to the Create a New Layer icon to duplicate it. Choose Edit>Transform Path>Flip Horizontal to flip this layer sideways and then with the Move tool (V), Shift-drag the flipped layer into position on the background.
STEP FIVE: Use the Ellipse tool again to create a new shape layer (don’t forget to make sure you have the Create New Shape Layer icon turned on). In the Options Bar, click the swatch next to Style and select None, then choose a light green for Color. Create a smaller circle than we did in Step One and then use the Option-drag (PC: Alt-drag) method with the Path Selection tool to duplicate it and make the circles overlap (as shown, top right). Create a few more duplicates using the same method. Change the layer’s Fill to 60%. Option-click (PC: Alt-click) the Effect from the layer below to copy the Stroke, then drag it onto the active layer. Using the same technique, create another shape layer. Now add a pink circle with another circle subtracted from it and drag the stroke effect to this layer from one of the other layers. Duplicate the layer and use Free Transform Path to reduce and reposition it inside the previous layer. Experiment with different blend modes, opacity, and fill settings for these layers to blend them into the background. Also note that you can edit any stroke effect applied to any layer by simply double-clicking on the effect in the Layers panel and then editing the options in the dialog.
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STEP SIX: Now create a shape layer to one side of the light green shapes. Subtract a smaller circle from a larger circle within the layer and also copy the previous stroke effect to it. Duplicate the layer and use Free Transform to reduce the size of the shape layer while altering its position on the background. Lower this copy layer’s Opacity and change its blend mode to Screen. Press Shift and click both layers to select them, then press Command-G (PC: Ctrl-G) to group them together. Reduce the Opacity of the group to around 75% and click the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. Use the Gradient tool with the same settings as in Step One, set your Foreground color to black, and add a series of black-to-transparent gradients into the group’s layer mask to gently fade the shapes into the background.
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STEP SEVEN: Duplicate the group and choose Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal, then use the Move tool to Shift-drag it to the left, preserving its vertical placement on the canvas. This forms a nesting place for what will be the subject of the illustration, which we’ll create using channels…but before we do that, let’s embellish things a little. Using the techniques we’ve learned thus far: adding new shape layers, creating and altering duplicate layers, and altering how these new shapes blend into the background.
STEP NINE: Return to the Layers panel, create a new layer by pressing Command-Shift-N (PC: Ctrl-Shift-N), and click OK. Change your Foreground color to purple and fill the active selection on the new layer (Option-Delete [PC: Alt-Backspace]). Press Command-D (Ctrl-D) to deselect and change the layer blend mode to Screen. Now let’s have a bit of fun by creating duplicates of this layer, adjusting size and position on the canvas, and altering blend modes and opacity. Tip: A quick way to change the color of the contents is to click the Lock Transparent Pixels icon (toward the top of the Layers panel) and then fill the layer with a new Foreground color. The final duplicate is filled with a red color and positioned near the bottom of our image (as shown below).
Add primary elements
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Now that the background is complete, it’s time to add our primary visual elements to the composition by incorporating numerous scanned and inverted drawings into alpha channels. We then load the channels as selections and fill the selections with various colors on a series of layers.
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STEP EIGHT: Scan the first drawing, invert it (Command-I [PC: Ctrl-I]), then select (Command-A [PC: Ctrl-A]), and copy it (Command-C [PC: Ctrl-C]). In the Channels panel (Window>Channels) of the working file, click on the Create New Channel icon at the bottom of the panel to create a new channel. Press Command-V (Ctrl-V) to paste the artwork into the Alpha 1 channel, then click in the column to its left so the composite CMYK (or RGB) channel is visible. The Eye icon will appear and the channel shows up as a red overlay against the background (as shown, top right). After positioning the pasted art with the Move tool, load the channel as a selection by Command-clicking (PC: Ctrl-clicking) on it in the Channels panel.
STEP TEN: Select the Magic Wand tool and in the Options Bar, click the Contiguous checkbox on and Sample All Layers off. Then click on the transparent surrounding area. Hold down the Shift key and click on any other missed areas that lie
outside the shape. When you’re finished, press Shift-Command-I (PC: Shift-Ctrl-I) to invert the selection and then create a new layer. In the Layers panel, drag the new layer beneath the layer you just used to generate your selection. With your new layer targeted, choose a light pink Foreground color from the Picker and fill the active selection with it on the new layer. Deselect. Use this technique repeatedly to add the skeletons and brain drawings to the composition: Paste the drawings into new channels, fill the channel-based selections with color on new layers. Then select the outer areas with the Magic Wand tool, invert the selection, and fill it with color on new, underlying layers.
STEP TWELVE: We created the eyes of the scarab/brain creature using a similar method: Create a shape layer and then create other shapes with subtraction attributes, resulting in an entirely new shape that looks like part of the creature’s exoskeleton. The creature’s leg is actually a series of different shape layers working together. Again, working with different shape area operations within a variety of shape layers allows us to create separate layers that together resemble a leg. Edit the Stroke and Color attributes from layer to layer to integrate the result into the artwork. Select all of the layers in the Layers panel that make up the leg and add them to a group (Command-G ([PC: Ctrl-G]), then drag the group below the brain layers in the Layers panel.
Add uniqueness
STEP ELEVEN: Select the Pen tool (P) and in the Options Bar, click the Shape Layers icon and specify white for Color. Draw a closed wing shape over one side of the brain. Add a red Stroke effect layer style and decrease this layer’s Fill and Opacity. Then click on the Pen tool’s Subtract From Shape Area (–) icon in the Options Bar and draw a series of closed shapes inside the wing shape to create holes in it. Duplicate the layer, flip it horizontally, and move it to the other side of the brain. Create a duplicate of this layer and move it beneath the brain layers in the Layers panel. Rotate the shape and then duplicate this layer. Flip the new duplicate layer horizontally and move it to the other side of the brain (as shown, top right).
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Now that our primary elements are in place, it’s time to add a unique quality to certain components so that this composition transcends that of mere collage.
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STEP THIRTEEN: Duplicate this leg group and flip it horizontally, then use the Move tool to reposition the group to the other side of the brain. Repeat the group several times, flipping, rotating, and repositioning the groups until the legs surround the brain. Change some of the group blend modes and opacity settings as well to help blend the new components into the existing composition.
Use the same shape layer techniques to create a wing, which is made up of several different shape layers that use various components and a variety of shape area operations. After that, group the layers and duplicate, flip horizontally, and move them to the opposite side. STEP FOURTEEN: At this point, the illustration is essentially complete. Because it’s built in such a modular way, you can tweak individual layers and components at any point, such as altering the opacity and blend modes of individual layers, and you can edit fill colors and stroke effects. If you feel the need for additional elements, you can also create new shape layers and place them between other layers. One great advantage to building something that’s constructed via bold divisions of different colored areas is that it lends itself to experimentation in terms of overall hue adjustments. Try creating a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer at the top of the stack in the Layers panel (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation). By altering the hue, you may discover a new color theme that works better than your original intent. You may also want to add adjustment layers to edit the color balance and tonal range. Remember that just like shape layers, adjustment layers are distinctly nonlinear, allowing you to tweak and edit them at any point. ■
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ALL IMAGES BY DEREK LEA
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Ben Willmore
Photoshop Mastery Directing the Viewer’s Eye Photographing a complex scene is an invitation to let viewers explore every area of the photograph. To make their experience more meaningful, draw their attention to the elements that attracted you emotionally to the scene and direct them away from any distractions.
BEN WILLMORE
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Bright moves forward When you want something to stand out in a photograph, it needs to look different from its surroundings. Brightening objects will usually cause them to appear closer to you, while darkening areas will push them away. In this example, we’ve brightened areas of the steering wheel, gauges, a wire, and a few springs, while darkening their surroundings. By doing this, we were able to draw attention to the brightened areas, while detracting from exploring those that were darkened.
Original image
Color pulls you in Another technique for controlling where a viewer looks is to adjust the saturation in the Hue/Saturation dialog. The viewer’s eye is drawn to colorful areas more so than areas that lack color. In an attempt to keep the viewer’s attention inside the truck, we made the area outside the windshield of the truck almost black and white, and at the same time selectively increased the saturation on the dash near the gauges to pull attention to that area before the eyes move on to explore the rest of the dashboard. Contrast causes you to pause Increasing the contrast—or sharpening an area—will often cause the eyes to linger and explore the area longer than its surroundings. To accomplish this, we increased the contrast in the steering wheel (by making a Curves adjustment steeper) and sharpened the door panel to make the viewer pause before leaving those areas too quickly.
Areas in the photograph are selectively brightened, darkened, and contrast adjusted to direct the viewer’s attention.
The more complex the scene, the more necessary it is to direct the viewer to the areas that emotionally drew you to the scene and away from any possible distractions. ■
Ben Willmore is the best-selling author of Adobe Photoshop CS3 Studio Techniques and Up to Speed: Photoshop CS3, as well as co-author of How to Wow: Photoshop for Photography. Ben spends many of his days on the open highway, a digital nomad in his 40' motorcoach. Learn about his latest adventure at www.WhereIsBen.com and view his photography at www.TheBestofBen.com.
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hree main principles guide you when directing a viewer to particular areas of a photograph: Bright moves forward; color pulls you in; and contrast causes you to pause.
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Bert Monroy
From Bert’s Studio The Eyes Have It! When I found out that the focus of this issue was on Photoshop as a tool for illustration, I was delighted. Due to the need to pay the bills—and have the occasional meal—illustration is my job. Don’t ask me to talk about f-stops, depth of field, and all that photography stuff. But illustration…that we can talk about! ere we’ll cover some of the details in an illustration that I recently did for my close friend Stephen Johnson, who is one of the most knowledgeable and talented photographers that I know, and a Photoshop Hall of Famer. He recently released a book that explains everything about digital photography, Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography (O’Reilly Press). Stephen asked me to do many of the illustrations that appear throughout the book and I’d like to share how I created the one used to explain how the human eye captures light. One of the more complex parts of this illustration was creating the iris. Although it’s not labeled this way in the illustration, it is the part that gives our eyes their color.
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STEP ONE: Start in Photoshop CS3 by changing the Foreground color to a bright blue and the Background to black, then create a new RGB file (File>New) that’s 10x10" at 300 ppi; choose Background Color for Background Contents, and click OK to create a black canvas. Adding a Fibers filter (Filter>Render>Fibers) with the Variance set to 12 and the Strength Blue iris set to 2 produces the blue texture. Then apply another filter to spin everything out from the center: Filter>Distort>Polar Coordinates. In the dialog, choose Rectangular to Polar, and click OK. We need one more filter to complete the texture: Radial Blur (Filter>Blur>Radial Blur). The
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filter has two methods of applying its effect: Spin, which spins the image in a circular fashion around the center; and Zoom, which we’ll use to push the image outward from the center. STEP TWO: With our texture complete, it’s now time to carve the iris out of the canvas. With the Elliptical Marquee tool, hold ShiftOption (PC: Shift-Alt), click in the center of the texture and drag to make a circular selection from the center outward. Send it to a new layer by pressing Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J). Click the Eye icon next to the Background layer to hide it. To get the angled view that we need for the illustration, scale the circular shape (Edit>Transform>Scale and drag one of the side’s center control points toward the middle), and click Enter. STEP THREE: In the main document containing the overall illustration, use the Elliptical Marquee tool to “draw” a shape representing your iris on its own layer. Start by drawing the main oval of the iris, then hold the Option (PC: Alt) key and draw a second oval up and to the right to remove that area from your original selection. Press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the shape with your bright blue Foreground color. Press Command-D (Ctrl-D) to deselect. Click on the Add a Layer Style icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Inner Shadow to apply a dark tone to the left edge (try a Distance of 50, a Size of 25, and adjust the Angle as needed). Click OK.
From Bert’s Studio
STEP FOUR: Using the Move tool (V) back in your texture document, click on the iris texture layer and drag it onto your main document. In the Layers panel, drag the texture layer below the black pupil layer. This will make the texture layer part of the clipping mask, as well. Reposition and scale the texture as needed. Make an elliptical selection at the center of the texture about the same size as the pupil but offset to the left. Go to Select>Modify>Feather, type in a Feather Radius of 10, and click OK. Press Delete to remove the texture to the left of the pupil (as shown), then deselect. STEP FIVE: To create a second texture representing the texture of the iris as it travels downward into the cavity of the pupil, first create a new layer and drag it below the iris texture layer (this new layer should also be part of the clipping mask). Then, use the Rectangular Marquee tool to draw a rectangular selection around the pupil area and fill it with the bright blue color (you’ll only see the change in the Layers panel). Go under Filter and choose Noise>Add Noise. In the dialog, choose 200 for Amount and click the Monochromatic checkbox to ensure that the noise stays in the blue values. Apply a Motion Blur filter (Filter> Blur>Motion Blur) using a horizontal Angle and a Distance large enough to produce long streaks. Click OK. Deselect, then hold Shift-Command (PC: Shift-Ctrl) and click on the iris texture thumbnail, and then click
on the black pupil thumbnail in the Layers panel. Feather the selection by 5 pixels and press Delete. Add a 1-pixel Gaussian Blur (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) and change the layer blend mode to Multiply. STEP SIX: The veins and arteries inside the eye started out as simple shapes that I created with the Pen tool (P). The shape for the arteries was filled with a bright red color, then it was simply a matter of applying a Bevel and Emboss layer style to add dimension to the arteries and make them appear rounded.
3D-looking arteries
STEP SEVEN: The last part of the illustration is the reflections that are visible on the cornea of the eye that give it the shiny, wet look. I created the reflections as a series of abstract shapes with the Pen tool and put them on a separate layer. Then I applied a layer mask and softened the edges here and there with the Brush tool. The window reflection on the top of the eye in the first figure on page 52 was eliminated from the final illustration. Stephen said it made the eye look like it was out of its socket, whereas I just thought it looked cool. Illustration work is far different than personal work in that (1) you’re restricted by what the client wants; and (2) you have deadlines. And talking about deadlines let me add one last note about this illustration that you might find interesting and humorous: The final touches of the last illustrations for the book were done on Ben Willmore’s bus during one of the Photoshop World conferences to meet the tight press dates! ■
The reflections layer (black added behind so the shapes can be seen)
Bert Monroy is considered one of the pioneers of digital art. His work has been seen in many magazines and scores of books. He has served on the faculty of many well-known institutions, written many books, and appeared on hundreds of TV shows around the world. ALL IMAGES BY BERT MONROY
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Click the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. Use the Elliptical Marquee tool again to make an elliptical selection in the center of the iris to represent the pupil of the eye. Press-and-hold the Option (PC: Alt) key to make the oval spread from the center; once the oval is in place, press Command-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill it with black. Press Command-Option-G (PC: Ctrl-Alt-G) to make this shape into a clipping mask with the overall shape of the iris, and then deselect.
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Matt Kloskowski
Photoshop Speed Clinic Plug ’n’ Play with Camera Raw Sometimes you just want to bypass your usual workflow—sorting, ranking, adding copyright info, etc.—and get right down to working with your photos. Here’s one possible solution if you’re trying to access your images quickly so you can start experimenting. kay, here’s the backstory to help frame this tutorial. A few weeks ago, I did a quick photo shoot of the interior of a car—just to see what kind of shots I wanted to create, and test out the lighting before going to the trouble of grabbing the tripod, lights, and setup for the full shoot. When I was done, I plugged my card reader into the computer and quickly processed some of the photos. Nope, I didn’t do the whole copyright, sorting, ranking thing (by the way, I wholeheartedly believe in that process). This was quick and dirty, just to see what the images would look like. What you’re about to read is the process that allowed me to go through this whole shoot in about 2–3 minutes from the time I connected the card reader to the computer.
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STEP ONE: Immediately following the shoot, connect your card reader to your computer. Then fire up Adobe Bridge (just choose File>Browse from within Photoshop) and navigate to the card reader’s folder that has the photos you just took. This took me about 20 seconds for 60 photos.
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Note: You don’t have to shoot in RAW to be able to follow along; this will work for JPEG photos as well. STEP TWO: Now pick a photo that looks like a keeper. If it’s a RAW photo, go ahead and double-click it to open it in Adobe Camera Raw. If it’s a JPEG, click once on the photo to select it, and then choose File>Open in Camera Raw. Either way, you’ll have the photo open in the Camera Raw dialog. Between finding a photo and opening it, this part took me about 30 seconds (see image upper right). STEP THREE: The next thing we need to do is process the photo. We quickly adjusted the Exposure, Blacks, and Clarity in the
Basic panel. We could even add a little vignette by clicking the Lens Corrections panel and dragging the Lens Vignetting slider. Again, quick and dirty here—we’re just trying to get a feel for the potential of the photo without spending serious time on it. When you’re done, just click the Done button to save your changes and exit Camera Raw. I only spent around 30 seconds on this part. Now comes the fun part: applying these changes to other photos. Yep, I know you can synchronize changes to multiple photos at once in Camera Raw but that hinges on your first knowing which photos you want to change before ever going into the Camera Raw dialog. This method we’re about to show you will work better (especially if you’re impatient). STEP FOUR: After clicking the Done button, you’ll be back in Bridge where you can see all of your photos. Click the Edit menu and choose Develop Settings>Copy Camera Raw Settings. Now the settings you just applied to the photo are copied into your computer’s memory. That took about 5 seconds. continued on p. 56
Photoshop Speed Clinic
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STEP FIVE: Look through your other photos for potential keepers. Scroll through until you come upon another photo you want to process. Instead of double-clicking the image to open it in Camera Raw, just Control-click (PC: Right-click) the photo instead. Go about halfway down the pop-up menu to Develop Settings>Paste Settings—or you can use the shortcut, Shift-Command-V (PC: Shift-Ctrl-C). The Paste Camera Raw settings dialog opens. For the most part, I check everything except Crop and then click OK. This took about 20 seconds to find a photo and paste the settings.
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Open a photo in Camera Raw and add an edge-darkening vignette to it in the Lens Corrections panel. Just drag the Amount slider to the left, click on the Presets tab, then click the Save Preset icon (the little curled page icon) at the bottom right of the panel. When the New Preset dialog opens, uncheck everything but Lens Corrections, give it a descriptive name, and click OK. Now it’s saved as a Camera Raw preset.
©ISTOCKPHOTO/SKIP O’DONNELL
Oh yeah, it’ll help to memorize the keyboard shortcut for this, which is Shift-Command-C (PC: Shift-Ctrl-C).
STEP EIGHT: Now go back to Bridge and Control-click (PC: Right-click) on a photo. Go under Develop Settings and you’ll see any saved presets toward the bottom of the pop-up menu. The sky’s the limit here. I used the Edge Darkening preset but you could make one for creating black-and-white images or any other effect you can create in Camera Raw.
STEP SIX: The same settings you applied to the first photo will then be applied to the selected photo— right inside Bridge. Yep, no need to open Camera Raw again. It happens almost instantly and you’ll know a photo has been edited because it’ll have a little icon in the top right of its thumbnail in Bridge. This didn’t take any seconds because it’s just a filler step to let you know what’s going on.
In the end, we’ve barely spent any time on this—literally just plug ’n’ play (plug in the card and play with the photos). I took about five photos that I liked and applied edits to them in less than 2 minutes. Now I have something that’ll help me either (a) show the client some quick proof-of-concept images without spending a ton of time importing and sorting; or (b) better decide the outcome and possibilities of this job in-camera and in Photoshop. Also, you’ll notice that we still haven’t imported the photos into the computer. So, if you’re happy with the shoot, you can start that whole process. If not, just delete and you’re ready to move on. Have fun and work fast! ■
STEP SEVEN: These last two steps aren’t really part of this “trybefore-you-buy” process we’ve been explaining. This is just to show you another way to use this copy-and-paste feature in Bridge and Camera Raw.
If you have an idea for an action that you’d like to see in the “Speed Clinic,” please send it to
[email protected]. ALL IMAGES BY MATT KLOSKOWSKI, EXCEPT WHERE NOTED
John Paul Caponigro
The Fine Art of Printing Aesthetics of Print Half the battle is knowing how to do something; the other half is knowing what to do. When making fine photographic prints, the road has been well mapped by our predecessors but there’s always something more to learn. Education, or enrichment, is a dynamic, evolving, lifelong process. ne of the best ways to educate yourself about great print quality is to look at a number of great prints (directly rather than through reproduction)...and to keep on looking. Every time you look, sensitively with awareness, your vision grows. Although there’s a clearly defined set of objectives within the medium, there’s plenty of room for creative decision making. That’s never been more true than today; as the medium continues to evolve at an ever-increasing rate, the number of craftsmen working with it increases, and diversity is increasingly embraced. The great dancer/choreographer Twyla Tharp once said, “In order to think outside the box, you first have to have a box.” So what makes a great photographic print? It helps to know what to look for. And it helps to articulate what you find.
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Reproducing detail A combination of elements (and their relationships to one another) is often evaluated when assessing print quality. Speaking very broadly, you could say that it’s all about reproducing detail. Focus and extended depth of field go hand in hand to successfully represent the subject of an image and its context. There are accepted deviations from this norm, for example: Soft focus may be used to reduce distracting detail; selective focus may be used to direct attention away from less important elements and toward more important elements; and motion blur may be used to enhance gesture. Sharpening (analog and digital) can be used to enhance the descriptive qualities of an image by making line and texture more pronounced. Push sharpening too far, however, and an image begins to look graphic rather than Classic prints exhibit extended depth of field photographic; noise and dynamic range with high-contrast, idealized color. may become apparent;
contours (bright halos and dark lines) may be accentuated unnaturally; and texture may become overly crisp or even brittle. Noise (introduced by capture, editing, or output) is typically minimized. While the presence of noise is often overlooked; accentuate noise and subjects are deemphasized as atmosphere and medium are emphasized. Gradation, or the ability to reproduce smooth tonal transitions continuously without posterization, is prized. Harsh tonal transitions quickly make an image appear graphic or even abstract, reducing the illusion of volume/space and calling attention to contours. Perhaps most prized is the ability to produce images that appear filled with light…but which qualities of light? Brightness? Hue? Saturation? Yes! More! More! More! In general when considering brightness, high-dynamicrange, high-contrast images are favored, for example: Dark blacks and bright whites; shadow and highlight detail; contrast providing maximum separation between adjacent tones, but not to the point of reducing the number of tonal values. There’s a bias toward idealized hue (where the local hue of objects is reproduced “accurately,” such as the redness of a rose uninfluenced by environmental considerations), moving next to ambient hue (where temporal and atmospheric effects modify local hue—the rose may turn orange in yellow light), and lastly to synthetic hue (hue that’s invented and may not be representational—the rose may be changed from red to blue). Saturation is preferred at high levels, but not if it exceeds the limits of believability. (Or, we’ll have none of it, in the case of black-and-white images.) Appropriateness Again, the overall tendency is to deliver more information that’s believable, for example: Appropriate materials: Materials either reproduce a maximum amount of the information noted above, or the materials used seem most similar to the subject, or they’re used to draw attention to the artist’s subjective decisions. Appropriate scale: Typically, subjects in photographs are presented at reduced scale (below a certain size—roughly 8x10"—images become miniatures, drawing the viewer closer to be seen, imparting a sense of intimacy); sometimes at life size (the most representational scale); and occasionally, at very large scale (immersing the viewer’s entire field of vision, often creating an overwhelming effect).
The Fine Art of Printing
Appropriate presentation: Certain images seem most appropriate in certain contexts. You don’t expect to see Mickey Mouse in a fine art museum, just as you don’t expect to see the latest conceptual art in an amusement park. Similarly, different presentations (finishing touches such as lighting, framing, and installation) seem appropriate for different types of images. We’re used to seeing comic books exposed in bundles on spinning wire racks and paintings in frames hung isolated on well-lit walls. Deviations Not every great photograph is successful on every one of these fronts. Small deviations are often accommodated, particularly if the message is strong and if a majority of the elements are well executed. Major deviations draw a great deal of attention and may overshadow the primary content of an image for no reason. If none of the elements display good craft, work is often considered unprofessional. Deviations from norms are often used to enhance expression or impart a mood. As you reduce detail and depart from convention, you move images away from the descriptive and literal to the suggestive or symbolic. Exceptions may prove the rule and you can break the rules for effect—successfully. Doing this may help give your images a unique look. Many others have done so successfully: Edward Steichen and Keith Carter employ highly selective, focusaccentuating, emotional, and nostalgic responses to their images. Both Michael Kenna and Sheila Metzner have used pronounced noise in their images to impart unique expressive qualities to their prints, which enhances them rather than detracting from them. Josef Koudelka and Matt Mahurin deliberately eliminate detail in shadows to create an evocative mood in their images. For these breaches in protocol to be successful, there has to be a compelling reason (an external or internal logic) to depart from tradition. Your choices communicate your intention.
Reduced dynamic range, often with greatly reduced saturation, sometimes with reduced sharpness, occasionally with vignetting and material process artifacts (scratching and staining), printed on matte surfaces at small scales, classically connotes historic photographic processes.
Ultimately, what makes a photograph great is the depth you invest in it. The quality and kind of depth you invest in your work can vary from intellectual to emotional to visceral and beyond. You’re an individual! Celebrate that! Show us the world as you truly see it. Craft and aesthetics are useful vehicles that enable you to communicate with others. If you master them, you can enhance your voice with more power, complexity, subtlety, and versatility. Put them to use appropriately in the service of delivering your message effectively. ■
John Paul Caponigro is an internationally respected fine artist, a member of the Photoshop Hall of Fame, author of Adobe Photoshop Master Class and the DVD series R/Evolution. Get more than 100 free downloads and a free subscription to his newsletter, Insights, at www.johnpaulcaponigro.com. ALL IMAGES BY JOHN PAUL CAPONIGRO
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Synthetic color is a deviation that makes representation challenging to support but may generate additional impact.
Evolving aesthetics Using digital technology in the 21st century, we have an unprecedented degree of control over all of the criteria used to assess print quality. So much so that it begs the question whether our inherited preferences are still as valid today as they were yesterday. Our aesthetics may need to evolve along with technology. (Our language certainly does.) Reconsideration, individually and by society as a whole, is useful. Despite the difficulties of disseminating rapidly changing information and addressing reactionary tendencies, the burgeoning diversity and inclusiveness of today’s contemporary art market is both encouraging and exciting. Ansel Adams remarked, “There’s nothing worse than a sharp picture of a fuzzy concept.” If you only correctly execute technique, you may only produce images that are well crafted but not necessarily artful. When evaluating works of art, consider three essential components: content, form, and feeling. A work of art may be considered exceptional because of results in one or more of these criteria.
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Deke McClelland
Deke Space The Conventional Approach to Sharpening In my last couple of columns, I shared some highly theoretical (but if you ask me, exceedingly interesting) recipes for duplicating the effects of Unsharp Mask and Smart Sharpen using such filters as Gaussian Blur, Lens Blur, and Motion Blur.
T
he upshot: The image sharpening abilities in Photoshop are actually parlor tricks that invoke selective applications of blur filters. The selective blurring produces soft halos that, strange as it may sound, accentuate edges and simulate more sharply focused detail.
THE CONVENTIONAL SHARPENING WORKFLOW The four phases of the conventional sharpening workflow are: Edit—Perform any and all edits to the image in its native color space, most likely RGB. Assuming best practices, your composition will contain nondestructive edits applied as independent layers.
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STEP ONE: For purposes of this exercise, we’ll assume you’re working with a layered composition, presumably one with as few destructive modifications as possible. (If your workflow typically involves flat images, you can skip to Step Four.) Here’s one such layered composition, which takes the form of a holiday postcard. It comprises 17 layers, 5 alpha channels, and an assortment of paths and editable text. (I snapped this pic of my lovely sons on an extremely cold November day, which explains why Sammy, on left, is caught in the midst of screaming, “My butt is cold!” Models are sometimes called upon to endure great hardship for great photography.)
Flatten—Save all layers, alpha channels, and paths in the PSD file format. (Turn off Maximize File Compatibility to minimize file size). Then choose Layer>Flatten Image. Save the flattened image as a separate TIFF file. Resample—Use Image>Image Size with Resample Image checked to adjust the dimensions and resolution of the printed image. Downsample (reduce) only! There’s no benefit to upsampling for print. Sharpen and Convert—Apply the desired amount of sharpening to counteract the softness introduced by resampling and anticipate print resolution. If the image is bound for commercial reproduction, convert it to CMYK.
STEP TWO: Once you finish editing the composition, be sure you save your latest and greatest changes to the native PSD file format. This is an obvious step, but it needs to be done. STEP THREE: Flatten the composition by choosing Layer> Flatten Image. Also delete any alpha channels, paths, layer comps, or other sundry stuff that adds size to the flat file without doing any good. Tip: Note that this assumes you want to sharpen the entire composition in a single pass, which is typically the case. If your composition contains text, shapes, or other vector layers—as our example does—you might consider flattening the vector layers independently of the photographic ones, and then sharpen just the photographic elements. But to keep things simple, we’re going to sharpen everything in one fell swoop.
DEKE McCLELLAND
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Practical applications Now we’ll look at a few practical applications of this parlor trick, beginning with the most conventional use for sharpening: output enhancement. Here’s the idea: An image that looks crisply focused onscreen is almost guaranteed to look softer in print. The byproducts of printing—resizing and color-space conversion—invariably result in interpolation and anti-aliasing, both of which are low-level blurring functions. Sharpening helps to offset this blurring by fortifying vague edges with selective halos. Therefore, every image that you print requires sharpening. The sidebar entitled “The Conventional Sharpening Workflow” documents the four phases of the conventional sharpening workflow: Edit; Flatten; Resample; and Sharpen and Convert. All things being equal (meaning that some images require more TLC than others), this approach will satisfy each and every image you print, regardless of your specific brand of output device. In the following steps, we’ll demonstrate how to apply the conventional workflow to a real-world—if somewhat unconventional—composition.
STEP FOUR: Choose File>Save As and save the image as a TIFF or JPEG file. (Be sure to choose Save As because you don’t want to save over your unsharpened, layered, output-neutral original!) Our image contains lots of high-contrast graphical elements, so TIFF is the better choice. STEP FIVE: The next step is to resize the image to the desired output size and resolution. The original image measured 8x14" at 240 pixels per inch (ppi). We want to print it at 4x7", with a
Deke Space
resolution of 360 ppi (just right for inkjet output). To do that, choose Image>Image Size, check that the Resample Image and Constrain Proportions checkboxes are on, and enter 4, 7, and 360 into the Document Size options. Warning: If the image is bound for inclusion in a document, it’s tempting to scale it inside InDesign or some other layout program; but such an approach is reckless. When scaling an image in a page-layout application, you also scale the halos that produce the sharpening effect. If the halos are too thick, they look gummy; if they’re too thin, they disappear and the sharpening effect is lost. Hence, output size and resolution should be determined in Photoshop before sharpening.
it looks too crunchy onscreen, it should print sharp as a tack (see final image). But don’t take my word; print it. Assuming you like what you get, save your changes. If your image is bound for commercial reproduction, convert it to CMYK. When printing to a local inkjet device—whether high-end or low—RGB is the better color space. Unsharp Mask and other sharpening filters can’t produce sharp detail where there’s none, but it can ensure that the detail you see onscreen is the detail you get in print. ■
STEP SIX: Now to sharpen the image: Choose Filter> Sharpen>Unsharp Mask. For the moment, reduce the Radius value to 0.6, which will produce crisp halos onscreen. Also set the Threshold value to 0. Set the Amount value to taste, typically something in the 100% range. After you arrive at an Amount value you like, raise it by 50%. This helps to offset the additional interpolation that occurs during the printing process. For this image, we liked an Amount of 90%, so we raised the value to 140%.
white edges along the bottom of the teeth and below the eyes), these halos will survive the print process. Click OK to apply the sharpening effect. Even though Deke McClelland is author of the full-color book, Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-on-One (Deke Press/O’Reilly Media), as well as the 10-hour video series, Photoshop CS3 Sharpening Images (www.lynda.com/deke).
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STEP SEVEN: As you may recall from previous articles, the Radius value is responsible for the halos. Sharpening works best when the halos are barely visible. A typical screen resolution is 100–120 ppi, compared with a print resolution of 300–360 ppi. Assuming a screen resolution of 120 ppi, a Radius of 0.6 pixels translates to a halo of 0.36 point, which equates to a very fine hairline. Print that same image at 360 ppi, and the halo drops to 0.12 point, which is invisible. The solution is to scale the Radius value by a factor of three (360/120 ppi), which gives us a Radius value of 1.8 pixels. Although such a high Radius value produces undesirable halos onscreen (witness the
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HIGH-END INDUSTRY RETOUCHING TECHNIQUES DVD As you already know, the high end retouching industry has been very tight lipped about the techniques they use to produce world class results for magazines, advertising campaigns, displays and billboards throughout the world. The only techniques that have been readily available to the public have been the so called “smooth or soft skin” methods that simply blur or smudge the skin texture into an unrealistic plastic doll mess. This DVD-ROM contains the information you have been seeking but could not find. Your host Vitaly Druchinin, high end photographer and retoucher reveals all, first by thoroughly explaining to you how to apply Photoshop tools and functions specifically for retouching. Then hold on to your chair as Vitaly puts you front and center in front of his monitor as he retouches a beauty image captured with the Hasselblad H3D 39 Megapixel camera from start to finish, explaining every step and decision along the way. You will see first hand how to masterfully manipulate your images without destroying even a single pore of your model’s skin. The following original RAW files and complete Photoshop PSD files are included on the DVD-ROM for you to explore and experiment with.
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Dave Cross
Beginners’ Workshop Blending Images Together A common question we get from people just starting with Photoshop is, “How do I blend together two photos?” To which we typically respond, “What exactly do you mean?” Given the different ways that question can be answered, here are a few suggestions for blending together two photos. efore we can blend two images together, they have to be in the same document. Part of the decision at this early stage is which photo you want to have as the “floating” layer that you’ll blend in. There’s no easy answer to this, and sometimes you may end up changing your mind and rearranging the order of the layers. Regardless, the first step is to use the Move tool (V) to drag one photo onto the other photo. For our example, we chose a photo with some extra space on the right side to provide some room to position the second photo.
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[NAPP members may download the files used in this tutorial at www.photoshopuser.com/members/jun08-downloads.html. All files are for personal use only.] Dragging-and-dropping the second photo onto our original photo creates a new layer that we renamed “headshot.” Note how the photo partially covers up the Background layer. You may need to use Free Transform (Command-T [PC: Ctrl-T]) on the new layer to size it to fit.
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Now we can move on to experimenting with different methods of “blending.” Blend modes The first thing I’d recommend you try using is different blend modes from the drop-down menu at the top of the Layers panel. Depending on the colors in the layer you’re blending and those of the underlying layer, you’ll get very different results with different blend modes. In this case, because both photos had a whitish background, the Darken mode did a pretty good job (although we’ll need to do a little cleanup in one area to make the blend less obvious). In many cases, you won’t find a blend mode that does the trick completely, but when it does work, this can be the quickest and easy method of all. Opacity Chances are that changing the opacity alone won’t get the look you want, but it’s certainly worth a try. Here, we lowered the headshot layer’s Opacity to 19% and that made enough of the image transparent so it looks pretty good. Again, well worth a try since it’s so quick.
Blend if sliders In the March 2008 issue of Photoshop User (page 68) , we covered advanced blending options, in particular the Blend If sliders. As our layer has a mostly white background, it’s a good candidate for trying these sliders. continued on p. 68
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Beginners’ Workshop
Simply double-click on the layer to open the Layer Style dialog. Then in the Blend If section, drag the white triangle under the This Layer slider to the left. Even moving it a small amount will blend the white background. The problem is that the further you move the slider, the more white and lightly colored areas will be removed. Remember, you can hold down Option (PC: Alt) and split the triangle to create a more gradual fade.
STEP THREE: To fine-tune the mask (if necessary), click on the mask thumbnail and use the Brush tool (B) to paint with black on any areas of the top layer that you want to mask or paint with white over areas that should be visible. Variations Here’s a slight variation: painting with the Gradient tool on the layer mask. First, move the top photo to the left slightly so the photos overlap. Now we’ll use the Gradient tool (G) to create a gradual blend, or fade. Set your Foreground color to black and Background to white and click on the layer mask thumbnail to make it active. Using the Gradient tool (G), click on the dancer on the Background layer and drag to the right. This creates a gradient on the layer mask that causes the top layer to be gradually hidden (as shown).
Layer mask While the previous methods may or may not work depending on your photos, a layer mask will “always” work, as it doesn’t rely on the colors of the layers—it’s all based on what area you hide, or mask. Here’s how: STEP ONE: (First change the headshot layer’s Opacity back to 100%.) Hide the headshot layer (click on its Eye icon in the Layers panel) and then use the Lasso tool (L) to make a rough selection around the dancer in the bottom layer (the area you want to hide on the top layer). Add a slight Feather (up in the Options Bar) to soften the edge.
Part of the fun, of course, is trying all the many other possibilities. This time, I kept the gradual mask but changed the blend mode of the headshot layer to Hard Light. The effect was a little too subtle for my liking, so I pressed Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate the layer and “double-up” the effect.
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STEP TWO: Click on the headshot layer’s Eye icon to show it again, then click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. Initially the mask will be hiding the wrong area, so press Command-I (PC: Ctrl-I) to invert the mask.
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So how do we blend together two photos? By using one or more of these methods and experimenting until you see what you like. ■ ALL IMAGES BY DAVE CROSS
Jim DiVitale
Digital Camera Workshop Hands of Brick You can make some interesting images by combining just two images with a blend mode change—it doesn’t always have to be dozens of elements to create a great effect. Keep it simple, work from the bottom up with layers, and save every version with all layers and masks. or this tutorial, we’ll be using the Displacement Map filter to bend and wrap a wall of bricks over a pair of hands and then use a combination of blend modes to blend the brick wall into the hands and make them look as if they’re made out of bricks. The trick is to get a very natural balance of both the original skin texture of the hands and the rough texture of the bricks to work together. First things first, gather all your working elements together into one folder to view in Adobe Bridge: hands, bricks, rusty gears, and some fire will all blend together to create our montage.
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Mode>8 Bits/Channel from the Image menu. The light and dark tones of this black-and-white image will “bend” the bricks to follow the curves of the hands. Save this image as a PSD file (File>Save As) and we’ll use it as the source image to tell the bricks how to bend around the hands. (Note: It’s important to save it as a PSD file as any other format will stop the process.) In Photoshop, use the Burn and Dodge tools on this image to create more contrast around the edges and increase the bending effect. STEP TWO: Using the Move tool (V), drag the image of the bricks onto the original hands image and change this new layer’s Opacity to 50% so you can see the hands. Press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to bring up Free Transform, then Control-click (PC: Right-click) in the image, choose Perspective, and drag to reposition and give it the correct perspective. Press Return (PC: Enter).
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[NAPP members may download the images used in this tutorial at www.photoshopuser.com/members/jun08-downloads.html. All files are for personal use only.]
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STEP ONE: Open the image of the hands and duplicate it (Image>Duplicate). Then convert the copy image to black and white (Image>Adjustments>Desaturate) and add a slight Gaussian blur (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur). This blur is an important step in the process, because if we didn’t blur the image, the Displacement Map filter would break up the bricks instead of bending them. Note: The Displace filter only works with 8-bit images, so if any of the images you plan to use are in 16-bit mode, convert them by choosing
STEP THREE: With the bricks layer active, go to Filter>Distort> Displace and in the dialog that appears, type in 30 for Horizontal and Vertical Scales. The edge treatment at the bottom of this dialog has no bearing on this technique, so leave it alone. Click OK. STEP FOUR: The next step in the filter application asks what image to use as a displacement map—it’s looking for an image to tell the bricks how to bend. Pick the black-and-white hands PSD image we saved earlier. The way this works is that the image is distorted by using the black and white tones of the source PSD image to bend the target layer. Middle gray tones stay as they are; lighter tones bend the image up and to the right; and darker tones are bent down and to the left. This gives the target image a 3D look and appears to wrap the image around the underlying image.
Digital Camera Workshop
STEP EIGHT: Add the fire image using the same methods we used in Step Seven. Press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T), stretch it across the bottom of the composite, and press Return (PC: Enter) to commit the changes. Choose the Screen blend mode and the black background drops out, letting only the fire show through.
STEP SIX: Press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate the Multiply layer and name the new layer “Overlay.” Change the blend mode of this layer to Overlay at 50% Opacity. Repeat the process, naming the layer “Color,” and changing its blend mode to Color (of course) at 50% Opacity. The combination of the three blend modes Color, Overlay, and Multiply blend the bricks and the hands together to make the hands look as if they’re made of brick. Experiment with different amounts of opacity in combination with these three blend modes to give different effects. There’s no set amount, but 50% for each is a good starting place. It will always depend on the actual images used.
Flatten the image, and then increase the Canvas size (Image> Canvas Size) a little. We also added an artist edge using onOne’s PhotoFrame plug-in.
This type of composite could be a good stock image to represent labor or industry for many future uses. More importantly, by practicing these types of composites, you’ll be ready to create quick illustrations like this for your clients when the need arises. Think of the montage as a work in progress that never ends. What looks good to you today might change in the future, and your art can change with you. ■
STEP SEVEN: Save the image and its layers as a PSD file with a new name. Then flatten the image (Layer>Flatten Image), open the image of the rusty machinery, and drag it onto the composite image with the Move tool. Change the layer’s Opacity to around 50% to start. Then with the Move tool still active, try different blend modes by pressing Shift–+ to cycle through the modes and see which looks better. Press the Option (PC: Alt) key and click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a black layer mask. Paint, where needed, with a soft white Brush (B) on this black layer mask. Jim DiVitale is an Atlanta-based photographer and instructor specializing in digital photography. His clients include Mizuno USA, Carter’s, Genuine Parts Company, IBM, TEC America, Scientific-Atlanta, and Coca-Cola. Check out his website at www.divitalephotography.com. ALL IMAGES BY JIM DIVITALE
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STEP FIVE: The real secret to making this work is multiple blend modes. Double-click the layer name, rename this layer “Multiply,” change its blend mode from Normal to Multiply, and leave the Opacity set to 50%. Notice that the image only shows up on the hands (they’re not visible on the black background) and the bricks start to blend in with the hands. (If the background were a different color than black, the displaced image would have to be cut out with a selection tool to remove the excess areas.)
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Jack Davis
The WOW! Factor Instant “Hand Tinting” in Adobe Camera Raw We all know Adobe Camera Raw is phenomenal at optimizing the quality of a photograph, but can it enhance a shot and even add special effects to targeted areas? Surely you jest! Compared to Photoshop, however, it’s actually faster, easier, and nondestructive (and please...don’t call me Shirley!).
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s is always the case, get the tone right before enhancing your image. You can spend time tweaking all the settings later if you like, but for most images, this “four-step tango” process works well.
under the Luminance tab. Or leave the Oranges slider alone to retain the skin tone as is.
STEP ONE: To optimize the image, first, crop out any distractions. Then with your image open in Camera Raw, click Auto in the Basic menu to set your black and white points, adjust the Brightness and Contrast sliders to taste, then adjust the Clarity and Vibrance sliders to enhance. Remember to use Clarity sparingly if you’re working on a portrait, as it can emphasize circles under the eyes and other minor flaws.
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STEP TWO: Let’s move to the HSL/Grayscale tab and select the Saturation tab. Drag all the sliders to –100 to desaturate all the colors. The image appears to be grayscale, but it really isn’t.
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STEP THREE: Now, decide which colors you want to restore. For an image such as this, we’ll color only the flowers—both petals and stems—by resaturating the Greens, Aquas, and Blues (which are reflected from the sky). Which colors you saturate depends entirely on the subject of your image and the story you’re telling. For even more control, you can adjust the Hue and the Luminance for each color. Keep in mind that skin tones are mainly orange for any ethnicity, so to lighten the skin tone, adjust the Oranges slider
STEP FOUR: Let’s help the antiqued look of our image by adding a dark vignette: Select the Lens Corrections tab and then adjust the Amount. Use a shallow Midpoint setting to create a vignette close to the edge. And here’s our finished image.
After
The WOW! Factor
Note: If you’d like to apply this effect to other similar images, simply create a preset in Camera Raw by going to the Presets tab (it’s the last icon in line) and clicking the New Preset icon in the lower right of the panel. In the dialog, you can choose all of the settings or just a few and click OK. Fine-tune in Photoshop If you couldn’t completely isolate the colors that you wanted desaturated by using the sliders in Camera Raw because the colors are throughout the image, there’s nothing wrong with opening the image in Photoshop to further target the areas you want “de-colored.” The great thing about starting (if not completely finishing) in Camera Raw is that most of the work will be done with nondestructive sliders, not painstaking brush strokes. Here’s an example where we desaturated in Camera Raw and decided to desaturate further in Photoshop.
PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: LOW CONTRAST IN RAW IMAGES If you want the most accurate previews on the back of your camera of what you’re actually capturing when shooting in RAW format—especially an accurate histogram and blinking highlights option—set your camera’s preferences to the lowest contrast settings.
STEP TWO: Lastly, to restore saturation locally, we’ll use the Brush tool (B) to paint with black on the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer’s layer mask to bring back the color in just the areas you want. For the most part, you may be able to get away with a large brush using quick strokes because Camera Raw did most of the hard work.
This concept of selectively desaturating/recoloring parts of a photo has almost unlimited applications for anything—from portraits to product shots to landscapes. Just remember, whenever possible let the software (in this case Camera Raw) do most of the work quickly and nondestructively using the adjustable sliders and leave the handwork (in this case painting on the layer mask) to those times when your photo’s story needs that special selective human touch. ■ Jack Davis, Photoshop Hall-of-Famer and award-winning designer, photographer and author, has contributed to more than 30 how-to books for creative professionals, including his latest, How to Wow: Photoshop CS3 for Photography (Peachpit Press), from which this article is excerpted. ALL IMAGES BY JHDAVIS PHOTOGRAPHY/HOW TO WOW
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STEP ONE: When you’re done with desaturating in Camera Raw, open your image as a smart object in Photoshop by holding down the Shift key and clicking the Open Object button (it changes from Open Image when you press the Shift key). (This allows you to go back to Camera Raw and fine-tune the adjustments at any time in the future by just double-clicking on the Smart Object icon in the Layers panel.) In Photoshop, go under the Layer menu, choose New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation to add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer above your image. When the New Layer dialog appears, name it if you like, and click OK. In the Hue/Saturation dialog, move the Master Saturation slider all the way to the left.
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Glen Stephens
Mastering Photoshop with Video Color Wheel Effect Now that we have animations in Photoshop under our belt, let’s focus on some of the core tools in Photoshop to create a very interesting effect. This technique will incorporate animations; however, the essence of the article is the effect of image manipulation.
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STEP ONE: Open the image that you want to work with and duplicate the Background layer (Command-J [PC: Ctrl-J]) three times so that you preserve three copies of a color version of the image to work with. Label each duplicate layer “Color Image.” (Tip: You may want to click on the Eye icons for the color image layers to hide them temporarily.) Select the Background layer and under the Image menu, choose Adjustments>Black & White. Pick a preset that gives you the look you want for the black-andwhite version (we opted for Maximum White for our example). Click OK. Rename this layer Black and White. We also applied a Gaussian Blur (Filter> Blur>Gaussian Blur) with a 2.5-pixel Radius to our black-andwhite layer. With the blur, the spotlights will not only add color to the image, but also bring it into focus. STEP TWO: Now let’s create the spotlights. Using the Ellipse tool (nested under the Rectangle tool [U]), we’ll create a shape layer. In the Options Bar, click the Shape Layers icon and choose None for Style (we’ll set the color later). Hold down the Shift key (to constrain the proportions) and create a perfect circle. Create two copies of this custom shape layer and label them Red Circle, Green Circle, and Blue Circle, respectively.
To set the color of each, double-click on the appropriate layer thumbnail, select the appropriate color when the Color Picker opens, and then click OK. Note: Make sure you set the colors to pure red, green, and blue. Red should be R:255, G:0, B:0; green should be R:0, G:255, B:0; and blue should be R:0, G:0, B:255. Now set the blend mode for all three shape layers to Linear Dodge (Add). Use the Move tool (V) to drag the circles around onscreen so that they partially overlap each other (as shown). The circles should colorize the photo based on the overlapping colors.
©ISTOCKPHOTO/CLAUDIA DEWALD
ere’s the project: We’ll start with a color photo and make it black and white, then playing off the color wheel, we’ll add red, green, and blue circles to the image that act as color spotlights. Similar to spotlights, we wanted the circles to colorize the black-and-white image below it, and to take it a step further, when the color circles overlap, the color applied to the image has to be the sum of the mixed colors. The really cool part is that when the red, green, and blue spotlights all overlap, the original color of the image will be revealed. Let’s get started. [NAPP members may download the image used in this tutorial and a movie of the final project at www.photoshopuser.com/members/jun08-downloads.html. All files are for personal use only.]
Where all three overlap, you’ll see white. We don’t want that: We actually want the white to go away, leaving the original image. To do this, we’ll add the three color circles to a Group: Press Shift and select all three layers, then choose Layer>Group Layers (or use the shortcut, Command-G [PC: Ctrl-G]). Rename the group “Spotlights,” set the group’s blend mode to Darken, and then click-and-drag it to the top of the layer stack. This will preserve the color effects, but remove white from the effect.
Mastering Photoshop with Video
STEP THREE: Next we need to create the effect of the image coming into focus where the spotlights are and returning the original color of the image in the center where the three spotlights overlap. Click the right-facing arrow next to the group to reveal the layers. Copy all three circle layers (Command-J [PC: Ctrl-J]) and name them Red Mask, Blue Mask, and Green Mask, respectively. Move these Mask layers out of the group and place them below the Spotlights group, then change the blend mode of these mask layers back to Normal. Now place one copy of the color image layers that we created earlier directly above each of the three mask layers. To make these color image layers into clipping masks, click on one of them and select Layer>Create Clipping Mask. Note that it indents the layer with a little down-facing arrow. Do the same for each of the color image layers. Here’s how your Layers panel should look.
Note: Creating clipping masks makes the circles bring the image into focus and restores the original color where the three circles all overlap. By creating these clipping masks, Photoshop will only show the color version of the image where the mask layer is visible. We need three of these so that this happens where the red, green, and blue circles converge. STEP FOUR: We now have everything we need to create the effect. The key to this, however, is to keep the Red Circle layer linked to the Red Mask layer, the Green Circle layer linked to the Green Mask layer, and the Blue Circle layer linked to the Blue Mask layer. Then if one red layer moves, the other red layer moves with it, and so on. Hold down the Command (PC: Ctrl) key, click on (select) the two red shape layers, and link them by clicking the Link Layers icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. (You’ll see a link icon to the right of the Red Mask and Red Circle layers.) Repeat this for the two green layers and the two blue layers. At this point, you can select the Red Circle layer and drag it with the Move tool and the Red Mask layer will follow it. The same is true for the blue and the green circles.
STEP FIVE: To finish things up, we can animate the circle layers to emulate spotlights. When you animate the circles, you need to create keyframes for both the mask and the spotlight layers (e.g., the Red Mask and Red Circle layers must have the same keyframes). Also, because these are shape layers, we’ll need to animate the Vector Mask Position property of the shape layers to put them in motion. As long as the keyframes for the respective mask and circle layers stay in sync, the effect is flawless. You can spend a lot of time making the animation resemble searchlights, but for this example, I just set things up so you can see how the effect works. ■ If you have a suggestion for a video topic that you’d like us to cover in this column, or an idea for using Photoshop with video, please send it to
[email protected]. Glen Stephens, developer of the Photoshop plug-in Tools for Television PRO (www.toolsfortelevision.com), has more than 10 years’ experience in the broadcast video industry. His company, Pixel Post Studios, provides training and design services for the industry.
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If the color is too intense, you can fix this by adjusting the Opacity of the layer group. Do not change the colors applied to the layers and don’t change the opacity of the individual layers, as this will change how the colors interact with each other. We set the group Opacity to 50%.
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Kevin Ames
Digital Photographer’s Notebook Changing Makeup After the Shoot Any store cosmetic counter reveals a seemingly unending variety of lipstick colors—how’s a photographer to choose? What if you’ve finished the shoot and the color is just plain wrong? In this issue, we’ll explain how to change the color of lips or anything else, for that matter. hanging a model’s lipstick color on set is easy: Just pick the lipstick, hand it to the makeup artist, and a few minutes later, the lips sport exactly the color you chose. Color change in Photoshop, however, seems to be somewhat of a holy-grail-like quest. Photoshop tools that change color range from Hue/Saturation to Color Replace and Color Match; all offering less than stellar results. Once you master this Photoshop technique, changing color on a photograph is easier, faster, and offers much more control than makeup does. Let’s give huge kudos to Jim DiVitale, my friend, commercial photographer, and fellow Photoshop User columnist for developing it. Here we go.
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STEP ONE: We start by opening the photograph of our model, Tracy Setzer, in Photoshop CS3. Click on the Paths tab (or choose Window>Paths) to show the Paths panel. Hold down the Command (PC: Ctrl) key then click on the path named Lips to make it a selection. [NAPP members may download the file for this project from www.photoshopuser.com/members/jun08-downloads.html. All files are for personal use only.] Now press CommandOption-R (PC: Ctrl-Alt-R) to open the Refine Edge dialog. Click the Description triangle at the bottom of the dialog then hold your mouse over each of the icons just above it to read what they do. (With custom settings, I like to use the Quick Mask view.) Double-click the second icon from the left and in the Quick Mask Options dialog that opens, click the Selected Areas button, set the Opacity to 100%, and click OK. Notice how Tracy’s lips turn “Quick Mask” red. Back in the Refine Edge dialog, enter 1.8 in the Feather field and 0 for the other fields. Our selection indicated by Quick Mask now has a slightly soft edge similar to the one left by applying lipstick. Press Return (PC: Enter) or click OK to show the selection’s marching ants.
STEP TWO: Press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to make the selection of Tracy’s lips into its own layer. Press Command-Shift-U (PC: CtrlShift-U) to desaturate the layer containing the lips. Double-click on the layer’s name and type “Grayscale Base” to rename it. Tracy now has black-and-white lips. Attractive? Not so much, yet…. STEP THREE: Let’s go for some dramatic lip color. Click on the Foreground color in the Toolbox to open the Color Picker; enter R:134, G:19, B: 22; then click OK.
STEP FOUR: Press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate the Grayscale Base layer and rename this layer “Multiply.” Change its blend mode to Multiply. Click the first icon to the right of the Lock menu in the Layers panel to Lock the Transparent Pixels. Lower this layer’s Opacity to 50%. Press OptionDelete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the grayscale pixels with the Foreground color. Tracy now has “mauve-y” lips. STEP FIVE: Duplicate the Multiply layer and rename it “Overlay.” Change its blend mode to (you got it!) Overlay. Duplicate the Overlay layer, rename this copy “Color,” and change its blend mode to Color. Now Tracy’s lips are red—okay, they’re screamin’ red and kind of lifeless with most of the highlights gone.
Digital Photographer’s Notebook
STEP SEVEN: The Grayscale Base layer controls the lightness of the effect; therefore, brightening this layer makes the effect of the colors more pastel. It’s the equivalent of adding white to a color. Click the Grayscale Base layer to highlight it. Hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key, then click the Create New Adjustment Layer icon (the half-black, half-white circle) at the bottom of the Layers panel, and choose Curves. In the New Layer dialog that appears, name the layer “Lightness,” then click the Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask checkbox, and click OK. When the Curves dialog opens, click OK without making any changes. (Notice that the Curves layer named Lightness is indented in the layers stack.) Now change the blend mode of the Lightness layer to Screen and Tracy’s lips turn pink.
STEP EIGHT: Press V to choose the Move tool then tap the 1 key to see the effect at 10% Opacity, then press 2 for 20%, 3 for 30%, and so on until you see a lighter shade you like. Tap two numbers quickly to set the Opacity between the tens; for example, press 2 then 5 for 25%, which is my choice for this setting. There you have it, new lip color without a trip to the cosmetics counter. It’s fast, controllable, and easy. The best part is that any color you select in Photoshop can be changed to the color of your choice! You now have the power of the rainbow at your fingertips! (Okay, that was hokey!) Until next time, keep shooting! ■
Kevin Ames creates evocative photographs for clients such as Westin Hotels, AT&T, and Coca-Cola. His fourth book, recently published by Peachpit Press, is The Digital Photographer’s Notebook: A Pro’s Guide to Photoshop CS3, Lightroom and Bridge. He teaches the digital arts worldwide. ALL IMAGES BY KEVIN AMES
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STEP SIX: We’ll tone down those lips starting with the Multiply layer, which controls the darkness of the color. Click on the Multiply layer to make it active and lower its Opacity to 12%. Overlay and Color control the shade, so we’ll set the Overlay layer’s Opacity to 70% and the Color layer’s Opacity to 40%. Tracy’s lips are now a very close match to the Foreground color.
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Classic Photoshop Effects The oldies but goodies that never seem to go out of style ■ BY COREY BARKER
Realistic Graphic Displacement
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et’s start by opening the images we’ll use for this effect: a guy in a T-shirt and a shark logo. [NAPP members may download these two images for personal use only, courtesy of iStockphoto, at www.photoshopuser.com/members/jun08downloads.html.] STEP ONE: Duplicate the shirt image (Image>Duplicate) to keep the original intact. With the duplicate image active, press ShiftCommand-U (PC: Shift-Ctrl-U) to remove all color information.
©ISTOCKPHOTO/PALI RAO
Although the displacement map is an often-overlooked feature in Adobe Photoshop, it’s extremely powerful and useful in making images conform to the shape of another image. For our effect this time, we’ll use displacement to make a graphic appear as though it’s printed directly onto a T-shirt.
STEP TWO: Now we’ll invert the values of the image by pressing Command-I (PC: Ctrl-I). This is because of the way the displacement works: White areas are distorted up and to the left and black areas are distorted down and to the right. By inverting the values, we’re basically reversing the process, which in this case, will result in a more realistic distortion. Note: Different graphics will behave differently so if you use your own images, try using both a regular version and an inverted version and see which gives the best result.
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STEP FOUR: Now click on the shark logo file to make it active and using the Move tool (V), drag-and-drop it onto the original T-shirt image. Holding the Shift key while dragging will center the graphic in the image. This automatically places the graphic on its own layer.
©ISTOCKPHOTO/DAVID TURTON
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STEP THREE: Next, go under the Filter menu and choose Blur> Surface Blur. In the dialog, enter 5 for Radius and 25 for Threshold—this will remove any fine detail in the image that might result in messy edges in the final image. Click OK. Save this file as a PSD file (and close it) to apply later as a displacement map. Be sure to give the file a name that you can easily identify—we named ours displace_shirt.psd—and save it to the Desktop.
STEP FIVE: We need to make the logo fit on the shirt, so press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to activate Free Transform, then hold the Shift key, grab a corner handle, and scale it down. (Tip: If you add the Option (PC: Alt) key to the Shift key, the object will scale proportionately from the center.) If necessary, move just outside the bounding box until you see the bent arrow, then rotate the graphic a little so it’s not perfectly symmetrical. When you’re done, press Return (PC: Enter) to commit the change. STEP SIX: With this layer highlighted (active) in the Layers panel, go to the Filter menu and choose Distort>Displace. (Note: If the Displace filter is grayed out, check to ensure you’re working in 8-bit mode by going to the Image menu and selecting Mode> 8 Bits/Channel as needed.) In this dialog, we need to decide how much distortion we want the graphic to have. Because the shirt has more folds going vertical, we’ll set the vertical scale a little higher than the horizontal—we used 5 for Horizontal and 10 for Vertical. Click on the Stretch to Fit radio button in the Displacement Map section to activate it. For this example, it doesn’t matter what the Undefined Areas option is set to because the graphic goes to the edge of the document. Click OK. STEP SEVEN: In the Open window, navigate to the displacement map we created in Step Three. Simply highlight the file and click the Open button. This will distort the graphic based on the inverted image.
STEP EIGHT: Now to finish the effect, just change the blend mode of the graphic layer; which blend mode will depend on the nature of your graphic so you should experiment with a few and see what you like. (For our image, Linear Burn seemed to give the best result.)
If you have an idea for a “Classic Photoshop Effects” topic, please send it to
[email protected].
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There you have it. Not only does the logo realistically conform to the T-shirt, but it also appears to have the lighting characteristics of the image as well. ■
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Peter Bauer
From the Help Desk
To: Francesca From: NAPP Help Desk While there are sets of shapes available for download and purchase, why not make your own? Use the Pen tool (P) to define any shape, then use Photoshop’s Edit>Define Custom Shape command to add that shape to the Custom Shape Picker. It will usually appear as the last icon in the picker.
You can also define a custom shape from any existing artwork or image. Simply make a selection of the object, convert the selection to a path using the fourth button at the bottom of the Paths panel (Window>Paths) and then define the custom shape from that work path.
©ISTOCKPHOTO/ANGELIKA SCHWARZ
To: NAPP Help Desk From: Francesca I’ve fallen in love with the convenience of shape layers and the Custom Shape tool. I opened the Custom Shape Picker in the Options Bar and selected All from the menu to load all of Photoshop’s shapes, but that just made me hungry for more! Where can I find some additional shapes?
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In addition to the custom shapes that come with Photoshop, the Type tool is your ticket to hundreds of free custom shapes already on your computer. Select the Type tool, choose one of the “dingbat” or Symbol fonts in the Options Bar or Character panel (Window>Character), and type a single character. Deactivate the Type tool to end the typing session (Command-Return [PC: Ctrl-Enter], click the Commit checkmark at the right end of the Options Bar, or switch tools in the Toolbox). Now, convert the typed glyph to a work path (Layer>Type>Create Work Path) and define the new custom shape through the Edit menu.
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Want more? Delete that type layer or overtype the character with another character, then convert and define another custom shape. You can repeat this for every key on the keyboard, and then repeat using the Shift key, the Option (PC: Alt) key, and the Shift key in combination with the Option/Alt key. Shown below left are custom shapes made using the Webdings font, typing only the top two rows of keys on the keyboard, followed by those same keys in conjunction with the Shift, Option/ Alt, and Shift-Option/Alt. (Some keys produce four different glyphs with the various combinations of modifier keys, while others produce only two or three variations.) That’s 74 free custom shapes from only 26 of the 47 basic keys on the keyboard—this particular font offers about 140 different glyphs.
After defining your custom shapes, you still have one more step to take. Once defined, your new custom shapes exist only in Photoshop’s Preferences and so could be lost if Photoshop crashes, if you need to restore the default settings, or if you re-install. To preserve your custom shapes, use the Edit>Preset Manager to create sets of shapes. And don’t forget to make copies of the CSH files for backup! Store the copies on CD or DVD, or on a separate hard drive. ■
Peter Bauer is Director of the NAPP Help Desk and a featured columnist at PlanetPhotoshop.com. His latest book is Photoshop CS3 for Dummies.
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Scott Onstott
Beyond Photoshop Art History 101 The Art History Brush is one of the most mysterious and misunderstood tools in Photoshop. Logically, it must have something to do with history and art, or maybe the history of art, but how to use it remains an enigma for most Photoshop users. [Photoshop, in the hands of a few pioneers, is used in more disciplines than design and photography. In this new column, we’ll shed light on how Photoshop CS3 standard and Photoshop CS3 Extended are used in communities such as architecture, engineering, medical research, and more.—Ed.] he Art History Brush is an amazing tool for transforming 3D computer renderings into artistic illustrations. Almost all modeling programs render scenes quickly, but a disproportionate amount of time and effort is required to render photorealistic presentation imagery. An increasingly popular approach is to take a different tack entirely and produce nonphotorealistic illustrations from 3D models. With the Art History Brush, you can quickly turn lower-quality 3D renderings into attractive illustrations.
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Setting up a rendering for painting Let’s start by opening our illustration in Photoshop. Observe that the sky is 50% gray, which determines the canvas color for the illustration. [NAPP members may download the image used in this tutorial from www.photoshopuser.com/members/jun08-downloads.html.]
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the color you use to fill the sky because you’ll need to match the canvas color to the sky color to avoid illustrating the sky. STEP ONE: Create a new layer by pressing Command-Shift-N (PC: Ctrl-Shift-N), name it “Canvas,” and click OK. Then press Shift-F5 to bring up the Fill dialog. Select 50% Gray (or your chosen sky color) from the Use menu and click OK. The Canvas layer now obscures the Background layer. STEP TWO: Create another new layer and name it “Painting.” Playing with the Art History Brush When you open any document, a snapshot of the initial state is displayed at the top of the History panel (Window>History). This initial state is targeted by default as the history state from which you can paint using the History and Art History Brushes. Another way to think about this is to consider the Background layer as the “paint” that the Art History Brush uses. Warning: If you paint, save, close, and reopen the document, your initial history state will be different from when you first opened the rendering. For this reason, try to do all your art history painting in one session. STEP THREE: Select the Art History Brush from under the History Brush in the Toolbox (or press Shift-Y). Open the Brush Preset Picker in the Options Bar, then select Airbrush Soft Round 17 pixels from the default brush library. (If you don’t see this brush, click on the right-facing arrow and choose Reset Brushes.) In the Options Bar, set Style to Tight Medium and Area to 50 px.
Note: If you’d prefer to use another sky/canvas color, you can do so by using the Alpha channel to select the buildings and then inverting the selection to get the sky. Make a note of
Beyond Photoshop
Tight Short
Tight Medium
Tight Long
Loose Medium
Loose Long
Dab
Tight Curl
Tight Curl Long
Loose Curl
Loose Curl Long
Illustrating with the Art History Brush There are many different ways to use the Art History Brush, and no two illustrations will ever be the same. I recommend building up an illustration in two stages. Start with a sketchy, loweredopacity stage and then build up detail in stage two to bring the viewer’s attention into your area of interest. STEP ONE: Choose a 10-pixel Soft Round Art History Brush then in the Options Bar, choose the following settings: Normal (blend) Mode; 25% Opacity; Tight Long Style; 100-px Area; and 0% Tolerance.
A Wacom pressure-sensitive tablet is extremely helpful when using any brush engine tool, and the Art History Brush is no exception. If you’re using a tablet, pressing harder deposits more paint as the airbrush preset has flow controlled by pen pressure. If you’re not a tablet user, then vary the Opacity manually in the Options Bar. The idea here is to fade out the regions that are farther away from your composition’s focal point. STEP TWO: In the final stage, you’ll build up detail by using a tighter style and by varying the brush size. Smaller brush tips bring in fine detail with little paint, and larger brush tips deposit more paint and less detail. With a 10-pixel Soft Round Brush, enter the following settings in the Options Bar: Normal Mode; 50% Opacity; Tight Short Style; 50-px Area; and 0% Tolerance. Open the Brushes panel by pressing F5. If you’re using a tablet, uncheck Other Dynamics to disable pen pressure flow control, and check Shape Dynamics to Control brush tip size with Pen Pressure. Paint detail into the area where you want to draw your viewer’s attention—in our example, we’ll focus on the plaza. Start with a larger brush to build up paint opacity and then gradually transition to smaller brush tips (press lightly with a tablet) as you paint over any fine detail you want to capture from the targeted history state. In the end, you’ll have transformed a static 3D rendering into a vibrant artistic illustration. ■
Scott Onstott authors books and video tutorials for architects, engineers, and builders. Check out his Photoshop for Architects DVD and The Digital Architect video podcast at ScottOnstott.com. ALL IMAGES BY SCOTT ONSTOTT
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Target the Painting layer (if it’s not already selected) and make a brush stroke in the document window. You’ll see lots of brush strokes appear all at once as the Art History Brush samples a 50-pixel area on the Background layer and delivers that paint in tight, medium strokes on the Painting layer. Select All and then hide the selection by pressing Command-A (PC: Ctrl-A) and then Command-H (PC: Ctrl-H) to hide the “marching ants” so you’re not distracted while looking at the illustration. Then press Delete (PC: Backspace) whenever you want to wipe the slate clean and start over. Try each one of the Styles in the Options Bar. Vary the area setting and paint over different portions of the document window to get a feel for the brush.
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Photoshop User magazine
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ORGANIZATION
Databases, keywords, grouping, ranking, and rating your files may not seem very creative; but clear organization allows you more time and energy to be more creative. This two-part article addresses how to organize your files with forethought, rather than worrying about where your files are. By Katrin Eismann
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he classically romantic description of an artist is one of a tortured soul working with a desperate glint in her eye as she seeks to connect with her elusive muse. On a more contemporary note, digital photographers often seek their muse with new equipment purchases, journeys to faraway places, or workshops in beautiful locations. On a much less expensive note, developing an organizational strategy with some patience allows you to find your muse on your own hard drive. Organizing your images allows you to interact, interpret, and create with your images well into the future. The following is not a complete treatise on file management; however, I’ve learned from experience that with a modicum of consistency, this frazzled, stretched-too-thin, always-want-to-do-more person has discovered more about my photography by organizing my files with Photoshop Lightroom than any exotic trip or new lens could ever teach me.
BREAK THE PROJECT INTO SMALLER PARTS If the idea of organizing your files gives you the chills and shakes, break up the project. Start with the most recent camera files that are still on your camera cards or the most recent shoot. Be honest: If your files are all over the place—on CDs, DVDs, and a smattering of hard drives—and you start to import these scattered files into Lightroom, all you’re going to import is utter chaos. For the best result, before launching Lightroom (or the imagemanagement software of your choice), consider the following issues:
1. How are you going to organize the files on your hard drive? One straightforward approach to organizing many files is by date— it’s impossible to time travel and take a different picture on the same day in the past. Start by creating an overall folder for a year—say 2008_DigitalPhotos—and within that folder, create a folder named “YearMonthDay_topic,” for example: “20080125_TampaPanos.”
Folder structure
Copy all of the photos from that day into this folder. As shown here, the files are imported, converted to DNG, and organized identically in Lightroom.
and study the keywords that other photographers have used. To create a basic keyword list, use any wordprocessing application and start with five basic parameters (in alphabetical order): Description, Event, People, Place, and Subject. Then continue by adding subcategories, as shown in the “Basic Keyword List” on the right. (To separate subcategories, indent them by pressing Return, then Tab.) Import this text document into Lightroom via the Metadata>Import Keywords command to import the keywords as seen in the Keyword Tags panel shown here.
Lightroom structure
Copy or back up the main folder onto a second hard drive. Anytime you have a few spare hours, continue working your way backward through your image collection by creating a main folder for each year and copying the different shoots into subfolders. Always make sure to copy or back up the primary folder onto a separate hard drive.
Import keywords
Warning: Never tap the Return key twice to separate keyword categories and make sure you save the document as a TXT file. For basic keywording, this simple five-topic/ subcategory method works well, as most photographers can describe their images by where they were when they took the picture and what it was a picture of. Additional useful information, such as camera type and body and lens choice is automatically embedded in the file. Note: If you’re interested in more sophisticated keywording strategies, refer to The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers by Peter Krogh (O’Reilly Media, Inc.) or visit www.thedambook.com and www.controlledvocabulary.com.
Organizing past years
2. How are you going to keyword your files? Keywords are descriptive terms that you add to a file either when importing a folder of images into Lightroom or when the files are already in Lightroom. More importantly, a keyword is a piece of information that any search engine can find very quickly. Rather than wasting time and energy by scrolling through hundreds and thousands of images in search of a specific photo, you can search for the keyword description and the desired photo or photos will pop up. When working on keywords, I use Microsoft Word for its spell-check feature and I also have my Web browser open to Google images or a stock photo site so I can search for similar images
If the thought of pecking away on a keyboard seems like something to battle insomnia, I’ve recently learned that taking the time to organize and keyword your files will help you see your photography more clearly, find new relationships, and hear your Photoshop muse to better improve and enhance your images. There’s nothing worse than knowing you took a great shot and not being able to find it! The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. The key word is the bite and the image collection is your muse. Take the time to organize your files and you’ll appreciate your own photography more deeply. Next time, in Part 2, we’ll delve into ranking files and using Lightroom collections and virtual copies to create new projects and develop meaningful bodies of work. ■
Katrin Eismann is the author of Photoshop Restoration & Retouching and Photoshop Masking & Compositing. In 2005, she was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame and in 2006 was named Chair of the MPS in Digital Photography Department at the School of Visual Arts in NYC (www.sva.edu/digitalphoto). IMAGES BY KATRIN EISMANN AND ISTOCKPHOTO
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ONE BITE AT A TIME
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Matt Kloskowski
LIGHTROOM News . . . .
Adobe Inc. announced the immediate availability of the Lightroom 2 public beta at the opening keynote of Photoshop World, Orlando, on April 2, 2008. Keep in mind, this isn’t the official version of Lightroom 2; instead, it’s a public beta, which means that it’s free to download and try out, and it’s not a totally complete version of the software. At this point, the features are close to locked but Adobe can (and most likely will) change a few things before shipping the full version 2. As for features, I think you’re going to like what you see right off the bat. My favorite new feature is the ability to make localized corrections. Essentially, this is the dodging-and-burning feature that everyone has been asking for. But there’s so much more. Editing in Photoshop also got a lot easier, and the Print module now has its own picture packages. Adobe has also added multiple monitor support, so you can finally take advantage of that second screen. To see all of the new features and videos that explain them, check out NAPP’s Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 Learning Center at www.photoshopuser.com/lightroom2. It’s your one-stop shop for everything you’ll need to get up and running with the new beta.
MIKE MACKENZIE
▼ ADOBE RELEASES LIGHTROOM 2 BETA
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The folks at SlideShowPro have been busy updating their Web module plug-in for Lightroom. If you haven’t seen it yet, then you owe it to yourself to take a look. SlideShowPro is an award-winning, Flash-based Web photo gallery. It’s been around for a few years but recently, they’ve released the same award-winning software as a plug-in for Lightroom. It works seamlessly with the Web module, so you don’t have to worry about coding HTML, XML, or any of those something-ML acronyms. But the real power is in the interface. You can control everything about the way your gallery looks right inside the Lightroom interface. It’s all there and, in the end, you get one killer-looking Web gallery/online slideshow.
MATT KLOSKOWSKI
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▼ SLIDESHOWPRO UPDATES WEB MODULE PLUG-IN
It’s not free, but it might as well be at only $25. If you’ve never seen it in action, go to their website and check out some of the samples at http://slideshowpro.net.
Make sure you stop by www.lightroomkillertips.com for updated news, free presets, Lightroom how-to videos, and tips. ■
JN0711053E © 2008 B&H Photo, Video, Pro Audio, Inc.
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By Mike Mackenzie
FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER
Joe Pulcinella Starting in the late 1980s, I did 15 years as a commercial photographer shooting large- and medium-format chromes. When digital came within reach, I noticed that wedding photography had started to gain credibility as an art. Wedding photographers from California and Australia were changing the image of the wedding photographer away from the guy in the tux with the banged-up 6x6 camera trying to conserve film to the creative artist that we see today. In 2004, I started shooting weddings and never looked back. It allows me to be both photographer and art director all at once. Q. Can you give us a short list of the equipment you use? I use Canon equipment. My newest body is the Mark III and my lenses are all f/2.8 or faster. I don’t use direct, on-camera flash but often need to shoot in low light, so the investment in top-notch equipment is critical.
Q. When did you know you wanted to be a photographer? Who influenced you? When I was young, I’d try to duplicate things I saw in magazines, such as double exposures, pans, and street photography. After a short stint in photography school, I was able to work steadily shooting product and architecture for local clients. But it was the real heavyweights of fashion photography, such as Ritts and Scavullo, who impressed me the most. When I saw that wedding photography was moving more toward a fashion and editorial style, I decided to switch.
Q. What’s your favorite feature in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom? I come home from a wedding with about 2,000 images, so Lightroom’s ability to handle batch corrections of color and exposure for large numbers of files is paramount. The controls are powerful yet intuitive. It’s as though Adobe developed Lightroom specifically for me!
Q. What’s the biggest challenge you face as a wedding photographer? The biggest challenge is the fact that you really don’t know what you’ll be handed on the day of a wedding. Unlike in the studio, there are no test shots beforehand and no reshoots afterward. You have to go in prepared and know how to adjust on the fly if pitched a curveball.
Q. How important is it for you to know the bride and groom’s personalities leading up to the wedding? With my fashion-shoot type of photography, it’s important to get to know them before the wedding. I do engagement shoots of every couple as a way to get to know them and for them to get used to me and the way I shoot. We’re all good friends by the time the wedding comes along. I show up that day and we share hugs and laughs. They’re able to feel comfortable being photographed and the results are clear when they see the album.
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Q. How do you position yourself so you blend into the background and not become part of the moment?
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Although I like to interact with the bride and groom, a large part of my day is photojournalism where I’ve got to be ready for whatever happens. My 50mm f/1.2 lens is indispensable in dimly lit churches. For instance, during a wedding at the Cathedral Basilica in Philadelphia where flash is strictly off-limits, the bride stopped during the recessional to hug her grandfather. He had been ill and was not expected to show up at the wedding. As it turns out, the bride was very close to her grandfather and this shot was an extremely important one for her and her family.
Contact Joe Pulcinella at www.joepulcinella.com Folders/Joe Pulcinella
Canon EOS-1D Mark II N, Canon 50mm, 1/100 at f/1.2, 50mm, CR2
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Section
Canon EOS-1D Mark II N, Canon 24–70mm, 1/50 at f/2.8, 70mm, CR2
Canon EOS-1D Mark II, Canon 50mm, 1/250 at f/1.4, 50mm, CR2
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Canon EOS-1D Mark II N, Canon 24–70mm, 1/125 at f/2.8, 64mm, CR2
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Canon EOS-1D Mark II N, Canon 24–70mm, 1/80 at f/2.8, 48mm, CR2
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Canon EOS-1D Mark II N, Canon 24–70mm, 1/60 at f/4, 24mm, CR2
Canon EOS-1D Mark III, Canon 24–70mm, 1/100 at f/4, 45mm, CR2
Canon EOS-1D Mark II N, Canon 16–35mm, 1/640 at f/4, 30mm, CR2
Lightroom users, if you’d like to be considered for the “Featured Photographer,” email
[email protected].
UNDER THE LOUPE
Exciting Export Options Rob Sylvan
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Making the decision to process your photos in the Develop module requires a commitment to perform important file-management tasks, such as moving, renaming, and deleting, in Lightroom as well. This allows for both completing the tasks and keeping the Lightroom database up to date. . . . .
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sers regularly encounter problems caused by moving or renaming imported photos outside Lightroom. Here’s why: The location of each photo is stored inside the catalog during import and Lightroom relies on this information to access your photos when rendering previews, working in Develop, and during export. If anything about a photo’s location changes (from the drive letter to the filename) outside Lightroom, then the information inside the catalog will be incorrect and Lightroom will consider that photo missing. Photos that Lightroom considers missing will display a question mark icon on the thumbnail in Grid view. If an entire folder is considered missing, Lightroom will display its name in red in the Folders panel. Lightroom also creates a special Missing Files collection in the Library panel. When these photos are no longer “missing,” that collection will go away. Photos stored on offline media (such as disconnected external or network drives and DVDs) will also be considered missing, but Lightroom will automatically reconnect to them when they’re back online—this isn’t a problem. Finding missing photos and folders Lightroom needs your help to find missing photos so it can update the catalog accordingly. Here are the steps: STEP ONE: Click the question mark icon on the photo’s thumbnail. This will open a dialog displaying the location stored in the catalog.
Tip: It’s good practice to keep your photos in a single parent folder and then import this parent folder so that it appears in your Folders panel. Then, if the entire folder structure is moved to another drive, or if the drive letter changes (as can happen on Windows when using external drives), you’ll only need to direct Lightroom to this single parent folder and it will automatically update all the folders and photos within. Moving photos and folders Although you know how to correct the missing photo/folder problem, it’s even better if you can avoid it! Moving photos and folders within Grid view is as easy as drag-and-drop. To move a photo from one folder to another, just click the center of the photo and drag it to the destination folder in the Folders panel. As soon as you release the photo, a confirmation dialog appears. Just click the Move button to continue. Moving a folder works the same way. Click the folder and drag it to the destination folder. Lightroom does the “heavy lifting” and updates the catalog. What if your destination folder isn’t in the Folders panel? No problem; you just need to add it to the Folders panel. STEP ONE: Go to Library>New Folder. STEP TWO: Navigate to the destination folder (or create it) and click the Choose (PC: OK) button. This folder will be imported into Lightroom and appear in the Folders panel. Renaming Changing an imported photo’s name outside Lightroom has the same effect as moving the photo to a new location: It comes up missing. Renaming inside Lightroom is easy and it keeps the catalog up to date.
STEP TWO: Click the Locate button and in the resulting Locate dialog, navigate to the photo and select it. Click the Select (PC: Open) button. If an entire folder is missing, you can help Lightroom find it in a similar fashion. Control-click (PC: Right-click) the red folder. Choose Locate Missing Folder and in the dialog that appears, navigate to that folder and select it. Click the Choose (PC: OK) button and Lightroom will update the catalog to reflect this new location. It will also update the location information for all the subfolders and photos contained within that folder.
STEP TWO: Click the File Naming drop-down menu, choose a naming template or click Edit to create a custom template, and then click OK. (See Photoshop User, July/Aug 2007, p. 80 for more on creating custom filename templates.) Deleting Photos deleted outside Lightroom will still need to be removed from the catalog, so it’s more efficient to delete them from within Lightroom and perform both tasks at once. You just need to be working within a folder (not a collection), select the photos, and press Delete. Choose Delete from Disk to remove them from both the catalog and the disk. ■
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STEP ONE: Select the photos, then go to Library>Rename Photo (or press F2).
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UNDER THE HOOD
Working with Multiple Catalogs Matt Kloskowski
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A catalog in Lightroom is essentially your photo library. Keeping your catalog organized will enable you to work smarter and faster. To that end, Lightroom allows you to create multiple catalogs to keep photos separated and maximize your organization. . . . .
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hy would you want multiple catalogs? There are a few reasons. First, let’s say your catalog is getting too big. As of this writing, Lightroom has an upper limit of around 30,000 photos. When your catalog reaches this point, the response times will become sluggish. Another reason to have multiple catalogs is to separate photographic styles or maybe even business from personal work. I know a lot of photographers who put their family and personal photos into one catalog and the business stuff into another one. If you share your computer with a spouse or business partner and you don’t want to get your photos mixed up, then you should use multiple catalogs. If this is the case, then create a catalog for each person who uses the computer. Whatever the reason, if you decide you want to start another catalog, we’ll show you how to do it, as well as show you how to switch between them.
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Creating a new catalog Let’s begin by describing how to make a new catalog. STEP ONE: You may not know that when you launch Lightroom, it automatically opens your default catalog. All of the photos you see when you’re in Lightroom are in a catalog (many people refer to this as the library, but officially it’s called a catalog). In fact, if you look up in the title bar, you’ll see the name of your catalog—ours is the default Lightroom Catalog.lrcat.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Section STEP TWO: To make a new catalog, click the File menu and choose New Catalog. In the Create Folder with New Catalog dialog that appears, give the catalog a descriptive name (such as Family Photos) and choose where you want this catalog to live on your computer.
Switching between catalogs The next part to all of this catalog stuff is how do you get back to your other catalog. Let’s take a look:
STEP THREE: Now click the Create button. As soon as you do this, Lightroom will close and then relaunch. When it opens again, it will be in the new catalog, which is totally empty at this point. If you look at the location on your computer where you chose to save your new catalog in Step Two, you’ll see that Lightroom created a new folder for the catalog.
STEP TWO: When you find the catalog, click Open, then click Relaunch. Lightroom will close itself again and relaunch. When it opens, it will be in the catalog you just selected.
STEP ONE: Let’s assume you’re in your new catalog (ours is the Family Photos catalog) and you want to get back to your work catalog. Go ahead and click on the File menu and choose Open Catalog. In the Open dialog, navigate to your other catalog. Ours was located in the Pictures>Lightroom folder (which is the default location).
Tip: If you’re using two catalogs, click the File menu and choose Open Recent. Your other catalog should always be there because it’s the only other one you have. ALTERNATE SWITCHING METHOD
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STEP FOUR: Now you simply click the File menu and choose one of the Import options to bring your photos into the new catalog. Whenever you add photos, they’ll be imported into this catalog only and not to your default catalog.
You can also load a specific catalog when you launch Lightroom. To do this, press-and-hold the Option key (PC: Alt key) and click the Lightroom icon to launch the application. After a couple of seconds, you’ll see the Select Catalog dialog where you can choose a catalog from the list or click the Choose button to navigate to a catalog. You can also tell Lightroom that you want to automatically load a specific catalog when it launches by turning on the Always Load This Catalog on Startup checkbox below the catalog list. ■
ALL IMAGES BY MATT KLOSKOWSKI
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WORKING CREATIVELY IN LIGHTROOM
More Camera Calibration Creativity Angela Drury
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The Camera Calibration panel is a fun way to add creativity to your images. It takes only a few steps to produce dramatic results, and when combined with the White Balance Temp slider, you have an extremely versatile and effective creative tool. . . . .
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ast issue, we discussed using the Camera Calibration panel to achieve creative effects and illustrated the point using a floral photograph. Floral images illustrate Lightroom creative techniques well because they’re graphic and usually very colorful. But you can also get amazing effects with other types of images, such as landscapes. The right image can benefit from Camera Calibration creative processing, and you can produce beautiful tones with a little experimentation.
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What’s old is new again One of my favorite treatments is sepia toning. I don’t think I’m alone in my love for the muted browns of sepia-toned images. In this second article about working creatively with the Camera Calibration panel, we’ll go through the steps to create a sepia-toned antique treatment. This treatment is one of my absolute favorite presets and I use it regularly as a starting point for creatively processing images that I want to have an aged or muted look. To briefly recap, the Camera Calibration panel is traditionally used to adjust and compensate for color variances in camera sensors. If a camera produces images with a noticeable color shift, the Camera Calibration panel can make color adjustments for that particular camera. You can then create a preset of that calibration and apply it to any images shot with that camera to compensate for the shift in tint.
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How it works Note that the Camera Calibration panel works well in conjunction with the White Balance Temp slider, and you’ll usually make adjustments to both controls to achieve the best results. As with any adjustments made in the Develop module, the final effect can be a vivid, highly processed treatment or a subtle, soft effect depending how far the controls are pushed. For this image, we’re using three elements of the Develop module: the Camera Calibration panel, Temp and Saturation sliders, and the Tone Curve panel. With only these areas of adjustment, we can create a beautiful sepia-tone treatment that can be added to the preset library and used with an endless array of images.
STEP ONE: As you can see, the original image doesn’t look very good. The exposure is way off and the image is flat with little detail showing in the dark areas. The first thing to do is adjust the Exposure slider to bring the image to a suitable exposure. STEP TWO: Because the final image will have a subtle sepia tone with an antique look, the next step is to bring down the saturation. For this image, we moved the Saturation slider to –74, which is not completely monochromatic. There’s just enough color in the image to add the sepia tone. STEP THREE: Next, adjust the White Balance Temp slider to add warmth to the image. We made a random adjustment to 10,888 on the slider. (Note: We’re using a RAW file, which uses an absolute [Kelvin] scale. JPEGs, TIFFs, and PSDs use an incremental scale that ranges from –100 to +100.) The image becomes much lighter, but still doesn’t look that great. When we adjust the sliders in
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Section
STEP FOUR: Now let’s move to the Camera Calibration panel to begin adding the brown tones into the image. Most of the tonal adjustment comes from the Shadows Tint slider, which adds a tint to darker areas. Because the focal point of this image is very dark, this is the slider that colors the tone. An adjustment of +34 adds magenta to the dark areas and creates the brownish sepia tone. STEP FIVE: We need to adjust the Red Primary Hue and Saturation sliders to warm up the tint a bit. This controls the hue and amount of red present in the sepia tone, and making adjustments here warms up the image. The more Red Primary Saturation we add, the deeper the color of the church becomes. We’ll also bump up the Green Primary Saturation slider to +13 and the Blue Primary Saturation slider to +34. This deepens the sepia color slightly and adds a touch of luminosity to the overall image. This is where the experimentation comes in because it’s not an exact science and you have to try different slider settings to see what works best with each image. It’s important to try every slider, pushing the limits up and down to see what looks good and what doesn’t.
STEP SIX: To increase drama in the sky, we’ll go to the Tone Curve panel and adjust the Lights setting to –77. This is a fairly dramatic adjustment that brings out the cloud detail, but it also darkens the image too much, especially in the dark wood. This is easily resolved by increasing the Darks slider to lighten the building detail.
STEP SEVEN: The last step in creating this sepia-tone treatment is to adjust Lens Vignetting in the Lens Corrections panel. In my opinion, this should be the final step for almost any image. It gives images a finished look and draws the eye to the center of the photograph. Here’s where you can fine-tune the settings for your image. As a final adjustment, we set the White Balance Temp slider to 12,500, which adds extra warmth to the sepia tone. If necessary, you can also fine-tune the settings in the Camera Calibration panel.
Even with all the available settings in the Develop module, the Camera Calibration panel is still a very creative tool and an effective way to work with images. This sepia-tone treatment is a great place to start with your own images. From here, you can create a sepia preset, apply it to a variety of images, and experiment by adding and removing various settings to come up with a new set of sepia and antique treatments. ■
Angela Drury is an award-winning photographer with 18 years’ experience shooting film and digital. She has received numerous awards and has been featured in several group and solo shows. Angela lives in San Francisco and works at Adobe Systems Inc. To see her photography, visit www.angeladrury.com. ALL IMAGES BY ANGELA DRURY
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the Camera Calibration panel, the image will start to take on the sepia tone. We can always come back to the Temp slider and fine-tune the adjustments if needed.
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Chris Orwig
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LIGHTROOM Tips & Tricks
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Crop and frame The Lens Corrections panel was introduced in Lightroom (and Adobe Camera Raw) to help photographers deal with specific problems when shooting with wide-angle lenses. While this definitely helped photographers, many used this feature for creative purposes, such as darkening the corners to keep the focus in the middle of the frame. The only problem was that it didn’t work when the images were cropped. This problem was solved in Lightroom 2 beta with the Post-Crop sliders located in the Vignettes panel. Here’s how it works: Press the R key to select the Crop Overlay tool. Drag the control handles to set your crop, then double-click inside the crop area to apply the crop. Press Command-6 (PC: Ctrl-6) to open the Vignettes panel. Drag the Post-Crop Amount slider to a negative number to darken the corners; use a positive number to brighten the corners. Finally, move the Midpoint slider to a negative number to bring the effect toward the middle of the cropped area; move to a positive number to push the effect out toward the edge of the cropped area.
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Take the guesswork out of split toning In photography, what sets many images apart is the subtlety of well-defined color and tone. One phenomenal way to improve the color and visual interest of your images is with the Split Toning panel. Use this for both color and grayscale images. New to Lightroom 2 beta is the ability to see a color picker for choosing what color and level of color saturation you’re going to apply to the image. To access the color picker, go to the Develop module and press Command-4 (PC: Ctrl-4) to open the Split Toning panel. Next, click in either of the color chips located to the right of the words Highlights or Shadows. Click-and-drag your cursor over the different colors to choose a color, then click off the color picker to apply the selection. Here’s an advanced tip that will help you get even more out of the Split Toning panel: If you’d like to sample a color from the
image, simply click-and-drag in the color selector area and then keep dragging your cursor over the color in your image (your cursor turns into an eyedropper tool).
Get smart with collections New to Lightroom 2 beta is the ability to create smart collections to filter or sort your images. Go to the Library module and open the Collections panel. Next, click on one of the default Smart Collections categories to sort your images. You can also click on the New Collection icon (+) to create your own custom smart collections based on your particular workflow.
Tack sharp Photographers want to create images that are tack sharp, and now the sharpening process just got easier. Go to the Develop module and press Command-5 (PC: Ctrl-5) to open the Detail panel. At the top of the panel you’ll notice a new preview window. Click on the preview to zoom in or out. You can click-anddrag the image in the preview to change what portion of the image is viewed, or click on the Target Adjustment tool (the little circle icon located to the left of the preview area) and drag over the image to update the preview window. When you view the preview window at 100%, you can modify the sliders and better determine the amounts of Noise Reduction and Sharpening. ■
CHRIS ORWIG
The release of Lightroom version 1 swept through the photographic community like a gust of spring air. It was seen as a viable and refreshing solution that counteracted many of the problems photographers faced in their day-to-day tasks. Well, it just got better. Lightroom 2 beta is now here and it’s faster, stronger, and more functional. Enjoy these tips that will get you up to speed with a few of the new Lightroom 2 beta features.
Digital Camera Workshop X Y
Rafael “RC” Concepcion
LIGHTROOM Q & A Lightroom. Click on the icon to bring up the warning dialog. Now you can choose to import the original settings from the disk or overwrite the information. In the Metadata panel, sometimes you’ll see Metadata Status that reads Conflict Detected. Click here and you can also update the changes. If you see a status of Has Been Changed in the Metadata panel, this tells you that the information has been changed but not saved to the XMP file. Click on the status to save it.
Q. I want to get to the collection/folder that I just worked on without having to use the left-side panels area in the Library module. Is there a way to do this? Just above the Filmstrip on the left-hand side, you’ll see that Lightroom lists the folder location, number of pictures, and picture name information for you. To the right of that is a drop-down arrow. Click on the arrow and you’ll see a menu that lets you choose from previously accessed folders, All Photographs, Quick Collection, and Previous Import. Many times, this is the best way to navigate your folders because you can use it in any module, but it does get filled. Click on the Clear Recent Sources option at the bottom to remove the entries and keep it fresh.
Q. I used to be able to see star ratings and other information on my images, and now I can’t. How do I get this information back? In the Library module, choose View>Grid View Style>Show Extras and you’ll be able to see expanded information on the thumbnails. Press the J key to cycle through the view options. If you Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the file info area above the thumbnail, you’ll see a menu of information that you can select to view. Badges appear at the bottom right of the image in Grid view and the Filmstrip, letting you know what changes have been made. If you don’t see the badges, choose View>Grid View Style>Show Badges. N
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Q. When I was working with an image, an exclamation point appeared in the top-right corner. How do I get rid of this? The exclamation point icon is the Error Writing Metadata warning that deals with how Lightroom is keeping the metadata (XMP) information on the file. When you make changes to your file in Lightroom, those changes are stored in the metadata for the image. When you edit a copy of an image in Photoshop, you might make changes that are out of sync with the information in
RAFAEL “RC” CONCEPCION
CARL COX
Q. Can you move images between folders in Lightroom? Absolutely. In the Library module, go to the Folders panel on the left-hand side. Navigate to the folder that contains the image or images you want to move. Shift-click or Commandclick (PC: Ctrl-click) the images that you’d like to move in the Preview area or Filmstrip and drag them onto the new folder. If you’re moving images into a folder that contains subfolders, hover the images over the main folder and that folder will open, revealing the subfolders. If you’re working with a smaller screen and you can’t see all of the folders in the Folders panel, drag the files to an area near the top (but don’t let go). This will automatically scroll you up the list.
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reviews Get the inside scoop on all the latest Photoshop gear
Epson Stylus Photo R1900
Review by Steve Baczewski
Wide-format photo printer
PRICE: FOR: FROM: PHONE: WEB:
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RATING:
104
$549.99 Mac or Windows Epson America, Inc. 800-463-7766 www.epson.com
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The Epson Stylus Photo R1900 replaces and technologically surpasses Epson’s R1800, and the bottom line is impressive, vibrant, professional-quality prints. The R1900 uses a new pigment inkset called UltraChrome Hi-Gloss 2. The set has eight cartridges: five colors including a new orange color cartridge for improved flesh tones, and improved magenta and yellow cartridges for enhanced blues and greens. In my tests, the improved gloss optimizer cartridge eliminated bronzing and gloss differential on glossy paper. The inkset includes both matte and photo black inks, so there’s no wasted time and expensive ink while swapping cartridges, as with Epson’s R2400. Your choice of paper profiles determines which black ink will be
used. Best of all is the inkset’s very wide color gamut. Side by side, prints of the same file printed on the R1900 matched up to prints made on Epson’s high-end UltraChrome K3 wide-body printers. A new ink-repelling coating on the print head provides increased precision of ink placement and minimizes clogged ink nozzles. The R1900 also includes automatic nozzle checks and print head alignment. The R1900 is solidly built and feels and looks more like the Epson R3800 than the R1800. The plastic telescoping paper feed and output trays are less flimsy than past models. On the front of the printer, above the paper output tray, is a tray for printing on CDs and DVDs. There’s also a PictBridge port on the front to print directly from cameras, and on the rear are two USB 2 ports to connect with your computer(s). The main sheet feeder is on top. Adapters on the back of the printer support roll paper and the rear single-sheet feeder for printing on thicker papers, such as Velvet Fine Art. The rear singlesheet paper feed system is a weak spot in an otherwise dependable printer. I found it quirky and several times it was necessary to feed the paper again before the printer took it. The manual
doesn’t mention that for the rear feeder to run, you must select Roll Paper and not Sheet Feeder in the Page Setup dialog. Print quality is excellent, as prints were filled with rich, vibrant colors; deep blacks; and smooth transitions and color gradients. Difficult colors, such as blues, reproduced faithfully. Unlike Epson’s K3 printers that use three neutral cartridges, the R1900 uses only one black cartridge (determined by the paper profile you select) that combines with color cartridges to produce black-and-white prints. Despite this, black-andwhite prints were impressive and surprisingly neutral. The canned profiles that shipped with the printer are high quality, and soft proofing in Photoshop was very reliable. All prints were done using the Best Photo or RPM mode, with a maximum resolution of 5760x1440 and a variable ink droplet size as small as 1.5 picoliters. In a speed trial, an 8.5x11" print took 90 seconds on the R1900 and 3 minutes on an R1800. Print life is from 50–200 years, depending on paper used and storage conditions. One caveat: I wish Epson would make a tabloid printer with large-capacity ink cartridges. The R1900 cartridges hold about 12cc of ink and necessitate frequent and expensive changes. I love the 13x19" print size and find it a shame that the R1900 is really for more casual use and not for professionals doing high-volume production. This is an otherwise remarkable printer. ■
reviews Get the inside scoop on all the latest Photoshop gear
Exhibition Fiber Paper
Review by Steve Baczewski
Glossy, fiber-based photo paper
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Varies by size and quantity Epson printers Epson America, Inc. 800-463-7766 www.epson.com
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Epson’s new Exhibition Fiber Paper is a soft, glossy, inkjet paper with a slightly textured surface. For those who have worked in a darkroom, it’s a deliberate and successful re-creation of the look and feel of F-type, air-dried, silverhalide paper. With Exhibition Fiber Paper, you have a creative license to roam because of its wide dynamic range, color gamut, and impressive Dmax of 2.6 for deep, rich blacks. Exhibition Fiber Paper accurately reproduces rich, saturated colors with smooth transitions and lots of shadow and highlight detail. In short, prints snap. I was equally impressed printing black and white and seeing prints that
DiscPainter
had bright whites and luminosity from deep blacks that set off the long tonal range. Matching your style with the right paper is subjective. Although I use matte papers, I’ve used more glossy papers lately because they generally have greater latitude with their higher Dmax and a wider dynamic range (contrast range). When I soft-proofed the paper in Photoshop, I was impressed with how little changed and how few adjustments were necessary. Exhibition Fiber Paper is only for printers using Epson’s UltraChrome K3 inks. PixelGenius has created excellent custom profiles that are avail-
able at http://pixelgenius.com/ epson. Then in Epson’s print driver, under the Media Type, choose Premium Luster Photo Paper for maximum quality. Caveats: The surface white might be too bright for some. Epson uses Optical Brightener Agents in the paper to make it appear whiter, and they could deteriorate over time and affect the image and print permanence. Also, it’s not available in rolls, only in these sheet sizes: 8.5x11", 13x19", 17x22", and 24x30". A box of 25 sheets of 17x22" paper costs about $200, so it’s relatively expensive; however, it’s remarkable and worth trying to see how nice prints can look. ■
Review by Daniel M. East
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$279.95 Mac and Windows DYMO 800-426-7827 www.dymo.com
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Printing images onto your recordable media is gaining momentum, but most options are too slow or too large for most workspaces, shy of purchasing a new inkjet printer that reasonably supports on-disc printing. The people at DYMO, makers of professional label printers for everything from IDs to postage stamps and beyond, have introduced the DiscPainter. This is a drop-in media inkjet printer for printable discs that can provide quality results for a great first impression, or just some fun.
One of the most impressive things about the DiscPainter is the performance. It’s fast, quiet, and produces full-color output that’s limited only by the design you choose to put on your discs. The DYMO RadialPrint technology reminds me of making “spin art” as a kid, only without the splatter. There’s no more fumbling to load discs into a printer because the DiscPainter’s load tray is similar to an older portable CD audio player. Just lay out your template, drop in the CD or DVD, and print it at 600 dpi. For this purpose, the slightly saturated and punchy contrast looks great.
Using layout templates in your favorite design software may be preferable, given that the included OEM software is a bit primitive and dated looking (especially for Mac OS X); and as it’s not a reflection on the actual printer quality, you don’t need to use what’s provided. The printer’s driver installs like any other printer and all controls appear in your print dialog as well. The DYMO DiscPainter is a great small-sized disc printer that puts a good spin on your CDs and DVDs to wow your clients, boss, friends, and family. ■
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Color printer for CDs, DVDs, and mini discs
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reviews Get the inside scoop on all the latest Photoshop gear
ArtixScan M1
Review by Daniel M. East
DANIEL M. EAST
48-bit, dual-media scanner
PRICE: FOR: FROM: PHONE: WEB:
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RATING:
106
$649.99 Mac and Windows Microtek International, Inc. 310-687-5800 www.microtekusa.com
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Scanners can be frustrating because the duplicate of an original image may not be as perfect as you’d like. A little tweaking here and there, some Photoshop time, and crossing your fingers are the most common approaches to fixing scanned images, no matter how good your scanner might be. Microtek has heard the cry for a better scanner and they’ve raised the bar (as they have in the past) for advanced users and for their competitors, who now need to step up in a big way. The initial setup and calibration can take up to 40 minutes, but that time is well spent, as the results show. An excellent feature of the M1 is the autofocus function so, unlike
other products in this class, each image is sharp, clean, and clear. The ScanWizard Pro interface is very thorough and offers plenty of control when scanning. Microtek includes a huge bundle of software with the M1, providing everything necessary to get started right out of the box. In addition to their ScanWizard Pro, they’ve included their ICC profiler, LaserSoft SilverFast SE Plus, Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 and 4, ABBYY FineReader Sprint OCR, and Adobe Reader; however, downloading the latest updates to these titles is preferable for best results. You’ll find all of the accessories needed for film scanning up to 4x5" in a separate glassless and glare-free scan bed. Using Microtek’s Emulsion Direct Imaging Technology, or E.D.I.T., you can scan directly from the emulsion side of the transparency or negative. The 4800-dpi color accuracy is very high and produces minimal image noise, although a few trial runs will help you tweak your prescans for best results. In sample images ranging from Kodachrome 35mm transparencies of night skylines to 4x5" color negatives and copies from old black-andwhite prints, the M1 produces very good images. Photo restoration is also easier by capturing more depth and details from the original image without the need to go with more
expensive, larger drum scans. If you were to get hypercritical, the noise level when scanning at higher resolutions is a bit grinding, but it’s well worth it when you see the results. One truly impressive scan was a 25-yearold, 120mm, black-and-white portrait image that could easily have turned out with too much contrast, but it didn’t. The tones were balanced with appropriate black levels and neutrals without color-casting issues. The ArtixScan M1 impressed me enough that I wanted to challenge it, so I scanned a 15-year-old Polaroid instant print (you know, the ones that have far too much yellow and that mysterious hazy quality that seemed worth it in the days before digital cameras). It was impressive how well the balance of software and hardware improved this weathered old image—something that wasn’t possible during the days of mail-order reproductions from such images. When you look at the $500– 1,000 scanner category for image quality, value, software bundle, and function, the ArtixScan M1 is the next generation of scanners for creative professionals that’s worthy of some attention. Again, not only will it give competitors a run for their money, it does a better job than some higher-priced models. Microtek continues to respond to the needs of its target audience and create products that are well thought out and cost effective. Full-featured, excellent performance, and great results bring scanning into focus.■
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reviews Get the inside scoop on all the latest Photoshop gear
Freeway 5 Pro
Review by Daniel M. East
Web-authoring software PRICE: FOR: FROM: PHONE: WEB:
› › p h ot o s h o p u s e r › j u n e 2 0 0 8
RATING:
108
$249 (Upgrades from $99) Mac Softpress Systems Limited 800-853-6454 www.softpress.com
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Softpress has come a long way with its release of Freeway 5 Pro. My introduction to their software goes back to the days of Claris Homepage and when GoLive was still a company with a product called CyberStudio. Freeway has always offered graphics-rich authoring and an interface that works well for those used to pagelayout applications. This latest version brings some wish-list items on board, as well as enhancements to some favorite features to bring Freeway 5 Pro into today’s world of search engine optimization and homebased e-commerce.
One of the major changes in Freeway 5 Pro is the addition of precise CSS control in an otherwise graphical approach, but with little change in the learning curve for Softpress’ faithful client base. If you’re not familiar with the clean interface, it takes only a few clicks to find your bearings and you’ll be on your way. More advanced designers will enjoy how Freeway 5 Pro now supports layered transparency from Photoshop and Illustrator (with overlapping) using anti-alias blending directly in the site layout. It looks great and you can export those images into a huge range of file types. It also supports essentially code-free creation of dynamic effects with actions for fade, pulse, or blind; new blogger templates that can be customized for the individual style; plus sliceable background images and onboard inclusion of actions for Google Maps and AdSense. Softpress has always offered a huge surplus of design templates, lots of tutorials, and third-party add-ons to further enhance the user experience, and this new version is no exception. Freeway’s loyal fan base seems to have the company listening, as is evident by how Softpress added so many features that people were asking for in their user forums and
client requests. One example is the new email address encryption that reduces email “spiders” that virtually harvest addresses from webpages and, most likely, end up as spam. There are two things that some may consider obstacles. First, there’s no full source view for hand coding and editing. As a code generator, not a code editor, getting used to this difference doesn’t take very long. Second, onboard JavaScript effects allow the use of impressive visual and audio effects within each page. But with today’s mobile Web browsing, not every viewer will appreciate these effects, so you might want to either employ some code that recognizes the browser type and platform or simply create additional versions for multiple devices. One particularly nice addition is the Freeway Shop set of actions to create simple shopping carts and setup your payment processing. Softpress also offers support and pricing with Mal’s e-commerce that provides free shopping cart services. Somewhere between GoLive, iWeb, and Dreamweaver, a little patience and some open-minded thinking can bring your websites into the next generation of the Internet interface design game. Sites can really come to life with beautiful and seamless motion that carries the content without overpowering it. With only a modest learning curve, Softpress plays hardball with a serious Web-authoring application. ■
reviews Get the inside scoop on all the latest Photoshop gear
Tiffen Dfx Complete
Review by Rod Harlan
Digital filters plug-in that simulates optical glass
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$299.95 Mac and Windows The Tiffen Company LLC 631-273-2500 www.tiffen.com
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I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first downloaded the Tiffen Dfx Complete digital filter suite for Photoshop. Software that simulates the characteristics of Tiffen’s optical glass and matches Kodak Wratten filters is a seriously lofty goal. I’m happy to report Tiffen achieves this remarkably well with more than 1,000 traditional and special effects filters and gels. The software is well designed with a very intuitive interface that doesn’t interfere with your creative workflow. Filters, effects, and presets (with parameter settings) are easily accessible in the main viewer. Various categories
Shutter Hat
of filters include: gels, gradients and tints, film lab processes, and diffusion filters, among others. The Presets panel shows prebuilt variations of any filter that you select, allowing you to try and match Tiffen’s optical filters. The software is also capable of working directly on 16-bit images (support that’s lacking in many other plug-in sets) that ultimately gives you more accurate color representation and smoother gradations. The Tiffen Dfx Complete software is also available as a standalone application with masking, painting, and imaging tools not available in the
Photoshop plug-in version. This is because Photoshop already has its own toolset for performing these tasks. Oddly enough, the Photoshop plug-in version costs $100 more than the standalone version. The Tiffen Dfx Complete Photoshop Plug-in comes with a thorough PDF manual with more than 500 pages of examples and before-and-after shots. The software is fun to use and if you can get over the fact that it’s priced about $100 more than it should be, it’s an easy recommendation for photographers wanting to enhance their images. ■
Review by Laurie Excell
PRICE: FOR: FROM: PHONE: WEB: RATING:
$39.95 N/A FM Photography 301-497-9099 www.fmphotography.us
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April showers bring…well, lots of rain which brings those May flowers. Some of my favorite images have been captured during inclement weather. Enter Shutter Hat, a compact, lightweight cover that keeps your camera dry in the midst of a rain shower. It’s like a rain poncho for your camera. It folds into a small pouch and can easily fit in a camera bag: I never go anywhere without it. When the weather turns nasty,
I don’t run for the car; instead, I pull out the Shutter Hat and keep on shooting. The Shutter Hat has a rubber tab that slips into the hot shoe of an SLR camera to help hold it in place. It will cover lenses up to 8" long…that’s a 70–200mm f/2.8, no problem. There are Velcro closures to snug the Shutter Hat around the lens shade, and another set to keep it wrapped around the camera, while still providing easy access to the back controls of the camera and to the lens. Zooming and focusing using the Shutter Hat is a breeze.
The Shutter Hat works equally well when handheld or when the camera is mounted on a tripod. There are two slits in the top for the camera strap, so you can still carry your camera around your neck and wander around in a rain shower. When not in use, it folds down to the size of a deck of cards and slips into the pouch that’s included. Also included is a microfiber cloth. Don’t let the weather drive you indoors; grab a Shutter Hat and keep on clicking. ■
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LAURIE EXCELL
Wet weather camera protection
109
reviews Get the inside scoop on all the latest Photoshop gear
Primatte Chromakey 3
Review by Dave Huss
Cutout plug-in for Photoshop
PRICE: FOR: FROM:
$299 (Upgrade $149) Mac and Windows Digital Anarchy
PHONE: WEB:
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RATING:
110
www.digitalanarchy.com
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Mention chromakey (a.k.a. blue screen) and most readers think of video or special effects used in the movies. As a digital photographer, I’ve been photographing subjects in front of blue screens for several years now, mainly for the purpose of background replacement with bridal shots and putting families in a field of bluebonnets—a must for all Texas families. Every year a new tool appears that promises to make the process of background replacement easier, and this year is no exception. Digital Anarchy recently released Primatte Chromakey 3 and made several significant improvements to what was already an excellent tool for removing blue/green backgrounds from an image. I should point out that it’s not limited to blue and green; just about any solid-color background that’s different from the colors in the subject works great. After processing, the background is gone with any color spill removed (that’s color cast produced by the blue/green background), and the subject remains intact against a transparent background. What separates Primatte Chromakey 3 from other cutout applications I’ve tested is how well it preserves details, such as hair that points in multiple
Before
directions. It also does a fine job of maintaining the semitransparency of fine, slightly translucent fabrics. It’s this preservation of transparency that’s necessary to create a cutout that can be placed on a replacement background without requiring the viewer to exercise a willing suspension of disbelief. If you’ve used previous versions of Primatte Chromakey, you’ll discover that version 3 has added some cool new features, such as a one-click AutoMask button (my personal favorite), support for batch processing, improved blending between subject and backdrop, and it can now run on Intel Macs and Photoshop CS3. The new AutoMask feature analyzes an image, automatically identifies the background, and removes it. In my testing, I rarely needed to manually correct the keying done with the AutoMask. If you set up your background lighting properly, it’s possible to batch process a large number of photos using the AutoMask. I was able to process more than
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80 Halloween photos in less than 10 minutes and the only problem I experienced was with people who wore costumes that were the same color green as the background. Even then I was able to manually correct the image. Light Wrap features a new control panel that results in better spill suppression and produces a smoother blend of the foreground and background. If you’re not familiar with chromakey photography, its lighting setups, etc., Digital Anarchy offers an excellent selection of tutorials that covers the gamut of topics, including dos and don’ts of backdrop lighting and subject placement, plus the standard product tutorials. Primatte Chromakey 3 supports smart objects in Photoshop CS3 and Timeline functions in Photoshop CS3 Extended, making it possible to use the plug-in on video, as well as still images. Digital Anarchy offers a free, fully functional (watermarked) version of the software at their website. ■
reviews Get the inside scoop on all the latest Photoshop gear
Viveza
Review by Dave Huss
PRICE: FOR: FROM: PHONE: WEB: RATING:
$249.95 Mac and Windows Nik Software, Inc. 619-725-3150 www.niksoftware.com
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Let’s get right to the point: I can make the most outlandish claims for this latest plug-in from Nik Software and still be understating what it can do. Nik has fashioned a plug-in for Photoshop (and Photoshop Elements) that exceeds all of the hype it has generated. I’ve been working with Viveza for some time and I have only one complaint—the name. What were they thinking? What is Viveza and why is everyone so excited about it? In short, it’s a plug-in that uses Nik Software’s U Pointpowered Color Control Points to enable you to selectively control the light and color throughout an image without resorting to selections or layer masks. Is the sky too bright and washed-out in a beach scene? Put a Color Control Point on it
and adjust the appearance of the sky—and only the sky. After adjusting the control point to include what’s to be selected, the U Point technology is smart enough to isolate the sky and apply changes only to it. We can look at an image and recognize objects in a photo, and previously we needed to create some form of selection to isolate the object. Not anymore. With Viveza, you can add control points to lighten faces, brighten shadows, darken washed-out areas, correct individual colors, and much more. I need to point out that all of this can be done using existing tools in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, but it’s going to take you a lot more time. How much more? I recently went back through a batch of 20 keepers from a wedding that I had spent the better part of three hours cleaning up. Using Viveza, it took less than 30 minutes and I was able to apply more corrections. And it gets better… Viveza is compatible with Photoshop smart objects, which means you can go back and fine-tune the corrections and enhancements after the client sees the photos and wants additional changes. On top of this, you can also use it as a smart filter, so you can make changes to the Color Control Points later without degrading image quality or
maintaining multiple copies of the same image. The U Point interface is easy to use. Just click where you want to add a Color Control Point and adjust the size to define the area that you want included. Then all you need to do is move the sliders on the control point and the changes in the image appear in real time. The basic settings include Hue, Saturation, and Brightness. If that cramps your artistic explorations, open the other settings and you’ll have more sliders than you know what to do with. In short, you can take a peek at the Quick Start Guide, use Viveza at its basic default settings, and be up and running in a few minutes. I’d guess that you could do more than 90% of all your images using only these settings. If you then take the time to read through the excellent documentation and really begin to explore what can be done with this jewel, you’ll soon find yourself going back through your photo collection looking for images that you always wanted to fix but didn’t have the time. You still don’t have the time, but now with Viveza you don’t need so much time. Before you make the plunge, I recommend that you download the free 15-day, fully functional trial version from the company’s website. Warning: Using Viveza can be habit forming. ■
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Photoshop plug-in to control color and light
111
reviews Get the inside scoop on all the latest Photoshop gear
ewa-marine U-BXP100
Review by Laurie Excell
Underwater housing for digital SLRs
FOR: FROM:
$439.95 Digital SLRs ewa-marine GmbH
PHONE: WEB:
www.ewamarine.com
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LAURIE EXCELL
RATING:
112
A recent opportunity to snorkel and photograph manatees in Florida sent me in search of an underwater housing to protect my camera and allow me to capture these gentle giants. In many instances, underwater housings can cost as much or more than the camera inside. I needed something dependable yet affordable because this wasn’t going to become a regular event. My search led me to ewamarine and their extensive selection of underwater housings. I began by selecting the type of camera and lens I planned on using (Nikon D300 with AF-S NIKKOR 14–24mm f/2.8G ED lens). This brought me to the ewa-marine U-BXP100, which is capable of handling pro-sized digital cameras with a variety of wide-angle lenses and a shoe-mount flash. (The one caveat is that the lens must be internal focus.) When my new underwater housing arrived, I have to say
that I was a bit skeptical. Could this ziplock bag on steroids really protect my expensive camera from getting soaked? But since ewa-marine has been manufacturing underwater housings since 1971 and has a good reputation, I figured they knew what they were doing. And, sure enough, the ewa-marine housing performed like a champ, allowing me to concentrate on capturing manatees and not worry about my camera. The housing is constructed of double-laminated PVC with an optically neutral, flat glass port. The opening is sealed between a pair of noncorrosive, seawater-resistant rails that clamp together via three screws. There’s a valve that allows you to squeeze out any excess air. (Deep divers would actually add air because the deeper you go, the more air is squeezed out of the housing. This special design prevents the housing from imploding at lower depths.) An optional weight helps to keep
JOAN MILLER
PRICE:
the bag less buoyant, making diving below the surface easier. There are external straps for attaching the weight, handles for carrying the housing, a hand strap, and a finger pocket for firing the shutter. While a bit clumsy at first, I quickly adapted to the housing and was even able to adjust my focus points, zoom the lens a little bit at a time, and dial in exposure compensation as desired. While the camera controls were not as easy to manipulate through the PVC as some of the more expensive rigid housings with buttons and dials, I was able to make any needed adjustments without having to open the housing to do so. The housing includes a 77mm threaded ring (a variety of sizes are available) for mounting the lens to the front port, but with my 14–24mm and its scalloped shade, I was unable to attach it. That wasn’t a problem as the shade helped hold the lens in place. The port is designed to allow lenses as wide as 16mm (on a full-frame sensor). Focusing was no problem—I just left the D300 in the Auto-area AF mode and let it do its thing. ewa-marine makes housings that can accommodate just about any camera, from point-and-shoots to pro-type bodies with lenses to video cameras. With a depth rating from 60–150', the ewa-marine U-BXP100 is great for snorkeling as well as diving. ■
books Get the inside scoop on all the latest Photoshop books
› › p h ot o s h o p u s e r › j u n e 2 0 0 8
Reviews by Peter Bauer
114
Photoshop CS3 RAW
The HDRI Handbook
Photoshop CS3 for Nature Photographers
by Mikkel Aaland
by Christian Bloch
by Ellen Anon and Tim Grey
Here’s a comprehensive look at working with Adobe Camera Raw, step-by-step, front-to-back, and top-to-bottom. Written in an easy and comfortable style, with clear explanations of all the important jargon and terminology, it’s a great way to truly learn all you need to know about working with your RAW files. In addition to Camera Raw, you’ll find valuable information about using Adobe Bridge and DNG Converter. Many of the book’s sample images are available via download. Whether you’re just starting to or you already shoot RAW but do only minimal processing in Camera Raw, this is an excellent resource!
Based on and expanded from the author’s German university diploma thesis (with the help of several contributors), this book explores high-dynamic range (HDR) imaging for both photographers and computer-generated effects artists (think TV and Hollywood). A bit heavy-handed in places (and with more than a touch of “I” in the writing), it does contain a wealth of information about HDR, working with HDR images in Photoshop, and other HDR programs available that may or may not suit your needs. The DVD contains sample images and some interesting software. If you’re starting to explore HDR imaging, this book is worth the price.
Make no mistake: This book is Photoshop CS3 for Nature Photographers, not “Nature Photography for Photoshop Users.” It’s a lot about Photoshop and a little about nature photography. What sets it apart from most other beginning Photoshop books are the images used within the book—they’re almost exclusively “nature” photos. As a Photoshop book, it’s pretty solid, covering most of the bases clearly, and a fine book for Photoshop newbies. If you’re a landscape/flora/fauna photographer who’s just now transitioning to Photoshop, you’ll perhaps be more comfortable with this book than with most other basic Photoshop books.
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Photoshop Q & A In the Adobe Camera Raw dialog, what’s the difference between Open Image, Done, and Save Image? When you open a RAW file in Camera Raw, the first step is to make exposure and tone changes in the Camera Raw dialog. Now if you just want to make an adjustment and don’t want to take the image into Photoshop, click Done. It will apply your changes and close the dialog without opening the image. If you want to tweak the image further in Photoshop, click the Open Image button, the adjustments you made are applied, and the image opens in Photoshop. If you click on Save Image, Camera Raw takes the settings, applies them, and saves a copy of the image in the location/ format you choose.
Q A
Everyone knows about red eye but what about the “green eye” you get in photos of a dog or a cat? Instead of seeing the red eye (as we sometimes do in photos of people), you get green flashes, blue flashes, even white when dogs and cats are photographed. That’s because of the pigments in their eyes. So how do we correct this? There’s a variety of ways and here’s “AJ” to help demonstrate a couple. With your image open in Photoshop, create a selection around the pupils and then press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to place a copy of the selection on a new layer. Now Commandclick (PC: Ctrl-click) the new layer thumbnail to load the pupils as a selection. Hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key, click on the Create New Adjustment Layer icon (at the bottom of the Layers panel), and select Hue/Saturation from the menu. In the New Layer dialog, check the Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask box (circled) to link this adjustment to the pupils layer, then click OK.
116
MICHAEL MCCARTHY
› › p h ot o s h o p u s e r › j u n e 2 0 0 8
Q A
In the Hue/Saturation dialog, drag the Saturation slider left to –100 to remove the color from the pupils—this may make them a little gray—and click OK. Now go to Layer>Duplicate Layer to copy this adjustment layer, set the layer blend mode to Multiply, and you’ll get the darkness just right. Matt Kloskowski does a similar technique but instead of creating a selection on a new layer, you create a Hue/Saturation layer with the pupils as a mask. After desaturating the adjustment layer, you load the mask from the adjustment layer and create a second adjustment layer using Levels. Then, in the Levels dialog, just drag the Shadow slider, giving you great control of the darkness of the eyes.
Photoshop Q & A
I’m trying to erase a small line around a layer and as much as I try, I can’t seem to erase straight. What am I doing wrong? Try adding the Shift key like this: With the Eraser tool (E) active, click-and-release at one end of the line, then hold down the Shift key and click-and-release at the other end of the line. This will erase clear across, and perfectly straight.
Q A
If you have a Photoshop question you’d like to see published in this column, please send it to
[email protected]. If, however, you’d like your question answered immediately, go to the Help Desk at www.photoshopuser.com.
› › w w w. p h ot o s h o p u s e r . c o m
MATTHEW A. DAVIS
Q A
A
STACY SPILKEVITZ-O’CONNOR
I just created a Photoshop file with a lot of layers. Is there a way that I can quickly see a “before” picture? Say we worked on this image of a stream on a piece-by-piece basis, chances are we’ll have a bunch of layers. Hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key, click on the Eye icon of the Background layer, and all of the other layers will hide, showing your beginning image. Here’s another way to do this: Choose File>Revert to bring you back to the original image (or last saved version). After reverting, if you press Command-Z (PC: Ctrl-Z), you can toggle between your original and the finished version.
When I do a radial blur, it’s a guessing game because there’s no preview of the image. If my photo’s a perfect square and I want to blur from dead center, then I’m good, but in the real world…. Is there a way to get a preview in the blur box? This is one of those scenarios where this quote comes to mind: “If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, Mohammed will go to the mountain.” Let’s try this. Open an image and drag a horizontal and vertical guide to meet at the image center. Select the entire image (Command-A [PC: Ctrl-A]) and copy it to a new layer by pressing Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J). Using the Crop tool (C), drag over the entire image—don’t commit the Crop yet. Hold down the Option (PC: Alt) and Shift keys and drag a corner handle, which will automatically add more canvas to your image. Press Return (PC: Enter). Because the default of the Radial Blur filter is the center, use the Move tool (V) to drag the image in the new layer around instead. Press Filter>Blur>Radial Blur, do your blur, and click OK. Then you can just crop the image back. ■
Q
117
Sherry London
Photoshop Quick Tips
Opacity, Flow, and the Airbrush control When using the Brush tool (B), the Options Bar contains both an Opacity and a Flow control. Flow was originally only an option for the Airbrush but can now be used on a regular brush. Because both Opacity and Flow look as if they reduce the stroke opacity, it’s hard to know what Flow does. Adobe describes it as “turning down the faucet” but it’s more than that. If you set your Brush Opacity to 20% and paint back and forth over an area without releasing the mouse button, your stroke never gets darker than 20% on that single mouse press. If you specify a Flow of 20%, however, your stroke can darken the area back to 100%, based on how often you stroke over the same pixels during a single
Opacity, Flow, and the Airbrush Control
› › p h ot o s h o p u s e r › j u n e 2 0 0 8
200-pixel brush, 20% Opacity; brushed four times on one stroke
118
200-pixel brush, 20% Flow; brushed four times on one stroke
Flow 20%; one click held for 5 seconds; Airbrush control Off
Flow 20%; one click held for 5 seconds; Airbrush control On
©ISTOCKPHOTO/EMRE OGAN
Color your artboard By default, the “artboard” around an image is 50% gray in all views other than Full Screen mode. (The artboard is the part of the Photoshop image window that appears when you make the viewing window larger than the image itself or that surrounds your image if you use any screen mode other than Standard.) You can alter the color if you wish: Just Control-click (PC: Right-click) on any area of the artboard. A menu drops down that lets you fill the artboard with white, black, gray, or a custom color.
mouse press. The Airbrush control allows the brush to keep spreading paint even while it’s not being moved (which Flow alone won’t do). Crop in Camera Raw Adobe Camera Raw gives you some flexible crop options that you may not be aware of. The Crop tool (C) in Camera Raw has a drop-down menu if you click-andhold its icon at the top of the window so you can pick the ratio you want. Cameras rarely take images sized to a 5x7" ratio, but you can choose 5 to 7 (see capture above), or 3 to 4 for a 6x8", and so on. Click-and-drag with the Crop tool in the image where you want to crop; choose as much of the image that will fit the proportions or, if you prefer, don’t use all of the available pixels. Press Return (PC: Enter) to commit the crop, then press the Shift key when you click the Open Image icon (it changes to Open Object when you press Shift) to open the image as a smart object, which lets you adjust or even remove the crop at any time. If you need to resample the number of pixels in the image to get to your desired output size, you can do that nondestructively to the Smart Object file.
QUICK KEYSTROKES Here are some commands that use all the modifier keys: 1. Shift-Command-Option-E (PC: Shift-Ctrl-Alt-E) is the Stamp Visible command that stamps your layers together into one layer while leaving the other layers intact. The new layer appears above the layer you had selected when you used the command. 2. Shift-Command-Option-P (PC: ShiftCtrl-Alt-P) prints a single copy of the image at the settings last used— with no print dialog. 3. Shift-Command-Option-K (PC: ShiftCtrl-Alt-K) opens the Keyboard Options and Menus (in Preferences) so you can change the keyboard shortcuts or add new ones. 4. Shift-Command-Option-M (PC: Shift-Ctrl-Alt-M) lets you customize Application Menus (also in Preferences) and hide commands that you don’t use. 5. Shift-Command-Option-X (PC: ShiftCtrl-Alt-X) opens the Pattern Maker filter (Filter>Pattern Maker). ■
Photoshop user
June 2008
I N D E X
O F
A D V E R T I S E R S
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t o o r d e r c a l l 8 0 0 - 2 0 1 -7 3 2 3 o r g o t o w w w. k e l b y t r a i n i n g . c o m
Colin Smith
Photoshop Beginners’ Tips Color code layers Do you ever have multiple people working on one document and isn’t it always difficult to remember who did what? It doesn’t have to be that way. Just apply color coding to the layers. Press Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the layer thumbnail and choose Layer Properties. In the dialog that appears, choose a new color from the Color drop-down menu and click OK. Go ahead and use your imagination. I’m sure you can think of tons of uses for this tip.
Save ink when test printing Why waste expensive ink when test printing images. It’s very easy to print, make adjustments, print again, and waste a ton of ink and paper. Try this instead: Make a selection around a portion of the image with the Rectangular Marquee tool (M). Choose File>Print. Check the Print Selected Area box. Now when you print, only the area within the selection will be printed.
COLIN SMITH
Use Canvas Size to add a bleed When creating a print project, it’s an accepted practice to create a 1/8" bleed around the image so that the final piece can be trimmed without any white paper showing. The only problem is doing the math and creating crop marks. No more worries about math: Just create your document in the final trim size and add guides on the four sides. Now select Image>Canvas Size and in the dialog, add 0.25 inches for the Width and Height, and check the Relative box. Click OK and your bleed areas are added to your document size.
Scale layer styles Because layer styles are resolution-independent (they don’t change to match the resolution), a style that’s created for a 72-ppi image will look tiny when copied to a 300-ppi image. To fix the one-size-fits-all mismatch, press Control-click (PC: Rightclick) on the word, “Effects,” in the Layers panel and choose Scale Effects from the drop-down menu. In the dialog, adjust the Scale size to look just right and click OK. I recommend using this option for every layer style you reuse, as it’s very rare that the same style will work perfectly on two different images.
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Hide layer mask Have you ever wanted to temporarily hide a layer mask so that you can take a quick peek at the layer without the mask? Easy as pie: Hold down the Shift key and click right in the middle of the layer mask, and you’ll see a big red X telling you that the mask is off. And yep, that’s Shift-click to turn it back on again.
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Layer Comps to files Do you send several design ideas to a client as separate JPEGs? Want to take all the pain out of the process? Then create your document and save each composition as a new layer comp from the Layer Comps panel (Window>Layer Comps). Here’s how: Choose File>Scripts>Layer Comps to Files and in the dialog, choose a Destination folder, select your File Type from the dropdown menu, and click Run. Other options include layered PSDs as springboards for experimentation. You could even choose Layer Comps to PDF to create a multipage document or slideshow.
Multiple layer masks for a single layer? This tip is great if you’re applying gradient blends to a layer mask. As you may know, when you’ve applied a gradient, you need to merge the mask before applying another gradient. Here’s a “cheating” way of creating another layer mask. Just click on the Create a New Group icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, then drag the layer into the new group. Click on the group to select it, click the Add a Layer Mask icon, and you’ve got a layer mask for the group. What’s more you can keep nesting the groups and applying more layer masks. ■
Colin Smith, an award-winning designer, lecturer, and writer, has authored or co-authored several books on Photoshop, and has created a series of Photoshop training videos available from PhotoshopCD.com. Colin is also the founder of PhotoshopCAFE.com.
