Layers magazine Tip of the Day
Adobe Photoshop CS2
Comment: These tips are written for Photoshop CS2. However most of them will also work very well in Photoshop Elements. I have tested all of the tips in Photoshop Elements 4.0 and have marked those that worked by indicating (Works in PSE). Almost all of those will also work in Elements 3.0 but they were not tested there. Most that did not work were because they involved features not included in Elements -- such as CMYK , Vanishing Point and Smart Objects.Al Crawford
TALKIN’ ’BOUT MY RESOLUTION
Here’s a lingo tip about resolution. Although images can have a resolution from 1 to more than 2,000 ppi, when it comes to talking resolution, there are three basic resolutions that are pretty common. Low-res (short for resolution) is normally 72 ppi, and low-res images are primarily used for onscreen viewing (such as the Web, slide presentations, digital video, etc.). Medium-res is generally 150 ppi and is commonly used for printing to inkjet and laser printers. When people use the term high-res, it’s almost always referring to 300 ppi, which is more than sufficient resolution for printing to a printing press. Anything above 300 ppi is still considered high-res, but you’d say it like this: “I made a 600-ppi high-res scan.” Which resolution is right for you? Nice try. That’s a whole book unto itself. (Note: Resolution is actually not meaningful when an image is displayed on a screen)
The Most Long-Awaited Shortcut Makes Its Debut
If there was a keyboard shortcut that we've been waiting for since Photoshop 1.0, it was one for the Image Size dialog. It's one of the most-used dialogs in all of Photoshop, but there's never been a "factory" shortcut for it until now. Press Command-Option-I (PC: Control-Alt-I) and it pops up. Luckily, while Adobe was at it, they went ahead and gave us one for the Canvas Size dialog as well: Command-Option-C (PC: Control-Alt-C). (In PSE Control-Alt-I works. However Control-Alt-C give a very different result.)
Cursor Too Small? Make It Bigger
At long last, bigger brush cursors are here. Just go to Preferences under the Photoshop menu (or under the Edit menu in Windows), under Display & Cursors, and choose Full Size Brush Tip. You also have the option of adding a crosshair to the center of your cursor by turning on that option (which appears just below Full Size Brush Tip). (Works in PSE)
Side-by-Side Photo Review
Want to compare two photos side-by-side? Just open both in Photoshop CS2, then go under the Window menu, under Arrange, and choose Tile Vertically, which places both photos onscreen, side-by-side, at their maximum "fit-in-window" size.(In PSE use the command Window -- Image -- Tile. It comes close)
Want Some Hints For The Tool You're Currently Using
If you want some tips about the tool you currently have selected, just go to the Window menu and choose Info. This brings up the Info palette and at the bottom of the palette you’ll find a tip or two for the tool you’re using. If you don’t see these tips, go to the Info palette’s flyout menu and choose Palette Options. When the options appear, at the bottom turn on the checkbox for Show Tool Hints.
A Tip For People Who Train New Photoshop Users
If you're responsible for training beginners, especially in a corporate environment where you're trainging people to do specific tasks in specific order (like prepress), you can use this and the previous tip to make your (and their) life easier. First, go to the Menus command (found under the Edit menu) and hide every menu item you don't want them to see or mess with, leaving only the items they'll actually use visible. You can even hide palettes they don't need to see (by double-clicking on the word "Window" in the dialog and turning off the Eye icons to hide palettes). This makes Photoshop appear less cluttered, and therefore less intimidating. As they learn more and get better, you can reveal additional features to them.
Lost Your Cursor? Find It Fast!
Photoshop's cursors can be easy to lose onscreen, especially if you're working on a big screen or with the crosshair cursor (meaning you have the Caps Lock key active). Well, the next time you're working on an image, and you say to yourself, "Hey, where in the heck is my cursor?" (but you use a different word in place of "heck"), try this—just hold the Spacebar down for a moment. This temporarily changes your cursor into the Hand tool, whose icon is larger, white, and easy to see. Once it appears, you'll see right where your cursor is, and you can release the Spacebar. (Works in PSE)
The Hidden Measurement Pop-up Menu
You probably already know the trick about entering values in measurement fields in the Options Bar. You can change your unit of measure by typing the appropriate abbreviation after the value (for example, if you want 100 pixels, you'd type in "100 px"). But there's an even easier way (and you don't have to memorize a bunch of abbreviations). Just type your number, Control-click (PC: Right-click) in the field, and a pop-up menu of measurement units will appear. Just choose the one you want and it'll take care of the rest. (Works in PSE)
Getting A Fresh Histogram In One Click
When you have the Histogram palette open to monitor your tonal adjustments to an image, you may see a tiny warning symbol in the top-right corner of your histogram. That's its way of letting you know that you're looking at a histogram reading from the histogram's memory cache—not a fresh reading. If you want to refresh the histogram and get a new reading (and you should), you can click directly on the tiny warning symbol and it will refresh immediately for you. (Works in PSE)
Using The Lasso Tool? Keep It Straight
We normally use the Lasso tool (L) for drawing freeform selections, but sometimes you'll find that while drawing your selection you'll need to draw a perfectly straight segment, even for just a few pixels. You can do just that by holding the Option key (PC: Alt key), releasing the mouse button, and continuing to draw your selection. You'll notice that your cursor changes to the Polygonal Lasso tool, and that as you move the mouse, a perfectly straight selection will drag out. When you've dragged the straight selection where you want, click-and-hold the mouse button (to add a point), release the Option/Alt key, and you'll be back to the regular Lasso tool again. Drag the mouse to continue drawing your selection. (Works in PSE)
Can't Remember Selection Shortcuts? Look At The Cursor
If you've made a selection and want to add to that selection, just hold the Shift key and you can add more area to it. Of course, we just told you it was the Shift key, but what if you couldn't remember which key it was? Just press a modifier key (such as Shift, Option/Alt, Command/Control, etc.) then look at your cursor. When you hold the Shift key, a little plus sign appears at the bottom right-hand corner of the cursor to tell you that you can add to the selection. Hold Option (PC: Alt) and a minus sign appears to tell you that you can subtract from the selection. Hold Command (PC: Control) and a pair of scissors appears, telling you that if you click-and-drag the selection, it will cut out the image inside the selection and move it right along with the cursor.
How To Tame The Select Similar Command
A popular trick for making selections of large areas (such as backgrounds) is to select part of the background that contains most of the colors that appear within that background. Then you can go under the Select menu and choose Similar. Photoshop will then select all the similar colors in your image. This can really speed up the task of selecting an entire background, especially if the background is limited to just a few colors. Here's the tip: Do you know what determines how many pixels out the Similar command selects? Believe it or not, it's controlled by the Magic Wand's Tolerance setting. The higher the setting, the more pixels it selects. Eerie, ain't it? Soooooo... if you use Similar, and it doesn't select enough colors, go to the Magic Wand tool, increase the Tolerance setting, and then try running Similar again. This all makes perfect sense (at least to an engineer at Adobe). (Works in PSE)
Quick Trick To Reapply That Filter
Want a convenient shortcut that lets you run the last filter you applied, without going to the Filter menu? Too bad (just kidding). Simply press Command-F (PC: Control-F). What if you don't want the same settings (ah, I knew you were going to ask that)? Try pressing Command-Option-F (PC: Control-ALT-F), which brings up the dialog for the last filter you applied with the last settings you used. (Works in PSE)
Escape From The Crop Tool (Or Die!)
Sometimes when you're using the Crop tool (C), you change your mind and decide not to crop. If this happens to you, do you have to crop then press the undo shortcut? Nah, press the Escape key to cancel your crop and remove the cropping border. You can also click on the circle with a slash icon (the international symbol for "NO") on the far right of the Options Bar to cancel a crop. Okay, there's one more way: just switch tools—a dialog will appear asking you if you want to complete the crop or not. Just hit Don't Crop. (Works in PSE)
Scrubby Slider Shift-Click Trick
Adobe borrowed scrubby sliders, a very cool feature from Adobe After Effects, and put it in Photoshop. You use it by clicking on the field's name, rather than in the field itself, and the value in the field changes as you drag (scrub) over the field's name. However, it scrubs in very small increments. That is, unless you hold the Shift key, which is ideal when you need to make big changes in the field (like from 0 to 256). (Works in PSE)
Getting The Startup Window Back
When you first launch Photoshop CS2, it brings up a Welcome Screen that has links to tutorials, a list of what's new, etc. There's also a checkbox at the bottom called Show This Dialog at Startup that you'll probably uncheck before too long, because after a short while the Welcome Screen tends to get on your nerves (that's why Adobe put that checkbox there in the first place). However, if you've turned off that checkbox, and then one day you have some extra time and you'd like to explore what the Welcome Screen has to offer, you can temporarily bring it back by going under the Help menu and choosing Welcome Screen. (in PSE choose Window then Welcome)
Getting Your Warnings Back (Resetting All Dialogs)
One thing I love about Photoshop is that a number of dialogs have a magical checkbox that says "Don't show this dialog again" (or something along those lines). However, if you later decide you want these warning dialogs put back into play (this is especially helpful if you're training someone new on your computer), you can have them become active again. Just go under the Photoshop menu (PC: Edit menu), under Preferences, and choose General. In the General section of the Preferences dialog, click on the button at the bottom of the dialog named Reset All Warning Dialogs. (Works in PSE)
The Smaller Toolbox Trick
Is that Toolbox taking up too much space, but you don't want to close it, because a few seconds later, sure enough, you'll need a tool? Then just double-click on the very top of your Toolbox and it will tuck up out of the way, leaving just that little tab showing. Need it back fast, just double-click the little tab again and it comes right back.
Brushes Palette: That's Not A Header, It's A Button
If you look in the expanded Brushes palette (docked in the Palette Well by default), there's a list of controls on the left side of the dialog. At the top it shows Brush Presets, and you might figure that you can click on that and get some options, but the one that catches just about everyone off guard is just below that. It's the header for Brush Tip Shape. It appears to be a header for a list of brush tip options below it, but in reality, it's a button (I know, it doesn't look like a button, but it is). Click right on the words "Brush Tip Shape" and the Brush Tip Shape options are revealed in the main panel on the right.
Nudging 10 Pixels At A Time
As you know, as long as you have the Move tool (V) selected, you can move (or nudge) your current layer using the Up/Down/Left/Right Arrow keys on your keyboard. For every press of an arrow, it nudges your layer 1 pixel in that direction. However, if you hold the Shift key and use the Arrow keys, it nudges the object 10 pixels at a time. (Works in PSE)
Supersize It
This is a super speed trick for getting your image view up (or down) to size. To instantly view your image at 100% size, double-click on the Zoom tool in the Toolbox. To have your image fit as large as possible on your screen (using the Fit On Screen command), double-click the Hand tool. (Works in PSE)
Steal Color From Anywhere
In previous versions of Photoshop, you could click the Eyedropper tool (I) on any color within your image, and it would steal that color and make it your new Foreground color. The only drawback was you could only steal colors from within an open document window. Back in Photoshop 7.0, Adobe cute the Eyedropper tool loose from the chains that bound it, and now as long as you click within an open image first, you can drag (Left click while in photoshop then hold down mouse and drag to a point outside of photoshop) right out of your image window and sample a color from, well, anywhere. That includes sampling colors from other applications, Photoshop's own Toolbox and menu bars, and even your computer's desktop pattern. Just remember to click in your image first, and then drag the Eyedropper to a new world of color delights that dare not speak its name. (Works in PSE)
Ask Photoshop To Remember More
Photoshop CS2 remembers the last 30 documents that you had open, but by default it only displays the last 10 under the File menu, under Open Recent. However, you're not limited to just 10. Would you rather Photoshop displayed the last 15 instead? Then in Mac OS X, go under the Photoshop menu, under Preferences, and choose File Handling (in Windows, Preferences can be found under the Edit menu). When the dialog appears, under Recent Files List Contains, enter the desired number of files (up to 30) that you want to have quick access to under the Open Recent menu. (Works in PSE)
IMAGE PROCESSOR
Russell Brown introduced an add-on called Image Processor in Photoshop CS. It was a command that let you process multiple images and save them as JPG, PSD, or TIFF. You’ll be pleased to know that it is now part of Photoshop CS2’s default features. You can find it under File>Scripts>Image Processor.
SMART SHARPEN IS SMARTER THAN YOU THINK
If you find you have specific settings in Smart Sharpen that you really like, then go ahead and save them. First, go to Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen. Then, to save your settings, click on the small disk icon next to the Settings pop-up menu. Give your setting a descriptive name and click OK. You can find your newly created settings in the Settings pop-up menu.
VANISHING POINT ON BLANK LAYER
This is an important tip when working with Filter>Vanishing Point. Be sure to create a new blank layer before entering into the filter. Photoshop will store any change you make using the filter on this new layer, separate from the original image. This is a great way to mask, change the blend mode, or otherwise fine-tune any changes outside of Vanishing Point because they’ll be on a separate layer.
VANISHING POINT QUICK ZOOM
When drawing a plane or editing your images in Filter>Vanishing Point, you may need to quickly zoom in on a particular spot. You could always use the shortcut Command (PC: Control) and the Plus (+) or Minus (-) keys to zoom in and out, but what if you just need a quick zoom and don’t want to keep using two hands back at the keyboard. In Vanishing Point, hold down the X key to quickly zoom in on the area your cursor is over. Release the X to return to the original zoom size..
SMART OBJECTS TO THE RESCUE
Sometimes when you transform an image you’ll lose image quality. The effect worsens as you continue working and continue transforming to fine-tune the image. Each time you do this, the image will degrade in quality. However, with Photoshop CS2 and Smart Objects this doesn’t have to be the case. If you find the need to transform an image throughout your work in Photoshop and aren’t sure just how much (or how many times) you’ll need to transform it, try making it a Smart Object first. Do this by targeting the layer and choosing Layer>Smart Objects>Group into New Smart Object. Now you can have at it and transform all you’d like. Just about anything you do, with the exception of enlarging the image beyond what its original size was, will still result in a crisp image.
SMART OBJECTS, TAKE 2
You’ve probably heard that Smart Objects are great to work with Illustrator files in Photoshop. Just place an EPS or .ai file in as a Smart Object and Photoshop will always reference the original file. This works great because you can edit the Smart Object in Illustrator and have the changes updated automatically in Photoshop. But... you can expand this idea even further by placing a RAW file into Photoshop as a Smart Object. If you later realize that your exposure is off or you’d like to adjust any other settings, just double-click on the layer thumbnail in the Layers palette and you’ll be transported back to the Camera Raw dialog. Once there you can make all the adjustments you need. Click Done and your changes will be updated in Photoshop.
SMART OBJECTS, TAKE 3
If you duplicate a Smart Object layer (Mac: Command-K; PC: Control-K) in Photoshop CS2, any changes made to one copy of the Smart Object layer will automatically be reflected in the duplicate Smart Object. But what if you actually want two separate copies of the Smart Object? Instead of duplicating the Smart Object, layer you’ll need to choose Layer>Smart Objects>New Smart Object via Copy. This will create a separate duplicate of the Smart Object that can be edited independently of the original.
SMART OBJECTS, TAKE 4
There are times when you’d like to release a Smart Object to a regular layer. This can be done by choosing Layer>Smart Objects>Convert to Layer. However, no matter how many layers are part of your Smart Object, Photoshop will always convert this to one layer. One way to ensure you have a copy of the layers that were originally in the Smart Object is to first export the Smart Object’s contents. Do this by choosing Layer>Smart Objects>Export Contents. This will allow you to save a PSB file that contains the original layers. You can open this file in Photoshop just as you would a PSD file. Whew! Now that is one long hot tip!
ACCESSING GRAYED OUT FILTERS IN CMYK
If you’re working in CMYK mode, you’ll notice that many of the filters are “grayed out” in the Filter menu, so you cannot access them. Rather than converting to RGB, which could affect colors, try this: Go to the Channels palette and click on the Cyan channel. Now look in the Filter menu and you’ll see that more filters are available. All you have to do is apply the same filter to all four channels, one at a time. To do this quickly, apply the filter to the Cyan channel, then press Command-2 (PC: Control-2) to activate the Magenta channel, and Command-F (PC: Control-F) to reapply the same filter. Press Command-3, Command-F (PC: Control-3, Control-F) for the Yellow channel then Command-4, Command-F (PC: Control-4, Control-F) to apply it to the Black channel. Note: This doesn’t work as well with “random” filters such as Render Clouds
LAYERS ARE NOW CATCHING ON
You duplicate many objects and layers on the canvas in Photoshop by pressing the Option (PC: Alt) key and dragging. Well, now the Layers palette is catching on. You can Option-drag (PC: Alt-drag) a layer in the Layers palette to duplicate it. You’ll know it’s working because you’ll see the cursor change to a double-headed arrow.
MOVING A LAYER MASK
Moving a layer mask from one layer to another layer just got easier in Photoshop CS2. Just click-and-drag the layer mask to whatever layer you’d like in the Layers palette.
ROUND THOSE CORNERS
As you are dragging the Rounded Rectangle tool to create a rounded-corner rectangle (duh), you can change the radius (size) of the rounded corners. Just press the Up or Down Arrow key to increase or decrease the corner radius, or press the Left Arrow key to jump to the minimum radius or the Right Arrow key to change to the maximum radius. (The minimum radius is zero, while the maximum radius depends on the size of the rectangle you are creating. The “max” maximum radius is 8,192 points—ideal for those building-sized rectangles.)
CORRECT IN CMYK OR RGB?
We’ve been asked the question of whether to correct in CMYK or RGB a hundred times. As a general rule, we try to do as much color correction as possible in RGB mode, and if we’re going to use the image on press, we only convert to CMYK at the end of the correction process. The main reason is that CMYK mode throws away data—a lot of data—and why would you want to correct an image with significantly less data than your scanner can capture? We want as much data as possible while correcting images, and when we’re done, then we’ll convert to CMYK (under Image, choose Mode) and toss the data that won’t be used on press.