Practical Photoshop

LEARN PHOTOSHOP CC & LIGHTROOM TODAY! Issue122 May2021 COMPOSITING 10 EXPERT TRICKS MASTER VIDEO BLEND MODES AMAZING SOAP LESSONS BUBBLES PLUS SUPERB SELECTIONS Learn to select just about anything

Editor James Paterson Art Editor Rosie Webber Production Editor Richard Hill Content Director Chris George Senior Art Editor Warren Brown Welcome to issue 121 of Practical Photoshop! DOWNLOAD THE If you enjoy the issue, why not subscribe and get PROJECT FILES a whole year for just $19.99? To download this No matter what kind of images you like to create, issue's files, type a sound knowledge of selections can be of huge the following link benefit. From crafting composites to targeted tonal boosts, selections are an indispensible part of the into your web Photoshop workflow. This issue we take a look at browser on your the very best tools and techniques for selections. PC or Mac: James Paterson, Editor • [email protected] http://bit.ly/pho_122 www.digitalcameraworld.com FIND US HERE… http://bit.ly/practweet http://bit.ly/pracface Also available on: http://bit.ly/pp_pocketmags http://bit.ly/pp_app_store http://bit.ly/zinio_pp HIGHLIGHTS: WHAT’S INSIDE… SUPERB PORTRAIT BLENDING MODE SPECTACULAR LIGHTROOM SELECTIONS COMPOSITES TRICKS SOAP BUBBLES SKILLS QOur top selection QCraft moody QOur favourite QShoot and edit QGet to grips tools and tricks portrait composites Blending Modes for stunning soap with vignettes explained with simple skills instant effects bubble planets in your photos

Get to grips with the best selection tools in Photoshop and learn how to cut out just about anything DOWNLOAD THE PROJECT FILES HERE http://bit.ly/pho_122 ON YOUR PC OR MAC

SELECT SKY Automatically isolate and enhance skies in moments One of the best still be a useful starting point things to happen to for further selection tricks. Photoshop in recent years is its pair of automated Here we’ve used Select selection tools, which use Sky to give the impression artificial intelligence to of a long exposure in the recognize and isolate either clouds. To do this, first go the subject or sky in your to Select > Sky then press images. The two tools are so Cmd/Ctrl+J to copy to a new good that often you won’t layer. Cmd/Ctrl-click the need to use any of the other layer thumbnail to load it selection tricks mentioned as a selection then go to over the next few pages; Filter> Blur > Radial Blur. even if sometimes they don’t Check Zoom, set a strength get the job done, they can and choose the centre point of the blur, then click OK.

SELECT SUBJECT Make precise portrait selections with this amazing automated tool If you need to select Simply go to Select > a person, it’s always Subject, or click the Select worth starting off with the Subject button at the top Select Subject command. of the screen when any It’s incredibly good at selection tool is active. recognizing and isolating people – it can even select fine details like hair with impressive precision.

WATCH THE VIDEO https://bit.ly/3sxoNfW THE OBJECT SELECTION TOOL Use this semi-automated tool to target objects in your images with ease The Object Selection an object. Simply drag a box tool is very similar to over the area and let the the Select Subject command machine learning do the on the previous page – but work for you. If it doesn’t instead of the command pick up the entire area on searching image-wide for the first pass, hold down the subject, you start by Shift and drag a second box drawing a box around the to add to the area. If it picks part of the image you’d like up unwanted details, hold it to search. It’s helpful when down Alt and drag a box to you need to quickly select subtract the details.

THE SELECT AND MASK DIALOG Improve your selections with this invaluable command This is Photoshop’s most powerful selection tool – a one-stop shop for all your selection needs. At first, selections are usually hard-edged, but real-world objects rarely have such jagged edges. The tools here let you improve your selections to make them more precise and hone in on the details you want to isolate. WATCH THE VIDEO https://bit.ly/3gnBKa4

1 4 7 5 6 3 2 8 10 9 11 12 13 1 SELECT SUBJECT 5 REFINE EDGE BRUSH TOOL 9 CONTRAST Select Subject uses machine Use this to paint along the If the edges of the selection learning to select the subject edge to expand the radius, are fuzzy, this allows you to in your photo. If it’s a person it’s ideal for fuzzy edges, make it more defined. or animal, you could try the fine details and stray hair. Refine Hair button. 10 FEATHER 6 RADIUS 2 OBJECT SELECTION TOOL This softens the edges of This tool lets you improve the selection, much like Drag a box over part of the the selection edge by blurring them. Useful for image with this tool, and expanding the area of creating a gentler transition Photoshop will select the refinement along it. along the edge. object within. 7 REFINE MODE 11 SHIFT EDGE 3 BRUSH TOOL Color Aware is best Push the edges inwards This lets you paint freehand for simple objects on or outwards, useful for to make a selection, or contrasting backgrounds, tightening up around you can hold down Alt and while Object Aware is better stray hairs and removing paint to erase parts of an for fine details like hair. unwanted fringes. existing selection. 8 SMOOTH 12 DECONTAMINATE COLORS 4 QUICK SELECTION TOOL Smooths out jagged corners Fills in the edges of the Paint over an object or area and angles along the selection with colors from and the tool will seek out selection edge; useful for inside it, which helps to get edges for you. rounding out simple shapes. rid of fringes.

UNDERSTANDING RADIUS The Radius controls are the key to time, it recognizes the details outside improving selections. By increasing the selection edge – in this case the the radius, we make the Select And Mask surrounding blue sky – and seeks out command seek similar pixels along the similar blues within the selection to edge of the selection, to either include or subtract them. We end up with a selection exclude them. of the tree without the hard work. Say you’re trying to select a tree. The command analyzes the pixels within There are a few ways to control the the selection edge, noting the colors radius: use the Radius Slider for a universal of the branches and leaves; when you expansion along the selection edge; paint expand the radius, the tool seeks out along the edge with the Refine Radius those similar green and brown pixels tool; or check Smart Radius. You can see outside the selection edge. At the same where the radius refinement is operating by checking the Show Radius box.

WATCH THE VIDEO https://bit.ly/3aFAyLB SELECT LUMINOSITY Use Channels to select pixels based on their brightness values This trick lets you the tonal range. Here, after select pixels based selecting the luminosity, on luminosity. Go to the we’ve added a Levels Channels Panel (Window > Adjustment Layer. When Channels) then hold Cmd/Ctrl you add an Adjustment and click on the RGB channel Layer while a selection is to load the luminosity of active, the selection will the image as a selection automatically be converted (alternatively, Cmd/Ctrl- into a Layer Mask, so you can click on any other channel selectively adjust the tones to load it). By selecting the in the isolated area. We’ve brighter parts of an image, used the Levels layer here you can make precise to enhance the details in tonal adjustments that are the moon’s surface and add tailored to different parts of a touch of yellow.

COLOR RANGE SELECTIONS The best way to target specific colors in your images and make landscape-boosting color edits WATCH THE VIDEO https://bit.ly/2P65Jbg The Color Range command is a bit like which automatically isolates them for you. the Magic Wand, but better. It lets you If you want to isolate an area that is uniform seek out and select similar colors in your in color, it’s a great tool to try. In this photo, image. The dropdown at the top also offers we can use it to boost the red leaves so that a range of handy presets like Skin Tones, they really pop. 01 SELECT THE COLORS 02 BOOST THE LEAVES Go to Select > Color Range then grab Once you’re happy with the settings, the Plus Eyedropper from the tools in the click OK. Click the Create Adjustment Layer box and drag over the colors in the leaves icon in the Layers Panel and choose Hue/ to include them. Uncheck Localized Color Saturation. The selection is converted into Clusters. Click around the image to include all a mask so that it works in combination with the colors you want, then adjust Fuzziness. the new layer. Increase Saturation to make This determines how similar the colors must the leaves more intense, then try shifting be to the target colors to be included. Hue slightly to make them more red.

FOCUS AREA Make selections based on sharpness This brilliant tool It can be very handy when the image noise in these works by seeking you want to do some areas. By first isolating out areas of sharpness, so sharpening: there’s no point then sharpening just the in- if your subject is against an in sharpening the blurry focus areas, you can zero in out-of-focus backdrop, the areas of an image because all and crisp up the detail that tool can select it in seconds. you’d be doing is amplifying matters most. WATCH THE VIDEO https://bit.ly/3suF8lJ

QUICK SELECTION TOOL Paint over objects to select them in seconds This is one of the over an area, the tool will wrong and pick up unwanted most useful selection seek out edges and similar details, but you can hold Alt tools on offer in Photoshop. pixels, so as long as the area and paint to subtract them It works like a paintbrush, or object contrasts with from the selection. As you do so – like any brush-based it’s surroundings, making a this, the tool remembers the tool in Photoshop – you can selection is a cinch. kind of pixels you don’t want use the ] and [ bracket keys and gets smarter as the to resize it. As you paint Like all semi-automated selection progresses. tools it can occasionally go

QUICK MASK Paint new selections or improve existing selections with this handy feature Quick Mask is a handy can paint with white to add to select an area but some feature that shows to the selection or black to small details have been your selection against a subtract. It’s also very useful missed – simply enter Quick pink overlay. When entering for adjusting a selection Mask mode and paint over Quick Mask mode (press Q made with other tools. Say the details with white to to toggle it on or off) you you’ve used the Magic Wand include them.

DON’T MAKE A SELECTION A selection may not be the quickest route to complete your task Sometimes a selection for tasks like knocking out hold Alt and drag half of the might not be the a white background when slider to split it up and create quickest way around a task: you want to place an object more of a gentler transition there are other ways to get onto a different image. to the effect. the job done. The Blend Simply copy the image If command is a marvel. It across, double-click the works by letting us blend layer to enter the Blend If the pixels on one layer with command, then drag the those below, so effectively This Layer white point slider we can choose to hide inwards to remove the or reveal pixels based on white background from the their color or luminosity. image. If the blend looks In practice, it’s very useful jagged around the edges, WATCH THE VIDEO https://bit.ly/32oSTYG

BEFORE WATCH THE VIDEO AFTER https://bit.ly/3v5T9YC AI-POWERED PORTRAITTRICKS James Paterson creates a moody portrait effect and shows how to get to grips with three of Photoshop’s powerful new AI tools If you’ve always while crafting a moody use the Select Subject found Photoshop composite portrait. command, which helps us to be a tricky program to cut out our subject, and add master, here’s some good We’ll kick things off by a new backdrop. news for you: it’s getting using Skin Smoothing, easier. Over the past couple one of Photoshop’s new Finally, we’ll use the of years, we’ve seen a raft Neural Filter commands. new Sky Replacement Tool of new tools powered by When subjects are lit to add in a starry sky. We artificial intelligence (AI). strongly from the side, like can load in any sky image They employ machine our example above, the we like (we used one from learning to analyze image light tends to reveal the www.pixabay.com), then content and can carry out texture of the skin – and use the settings to match it a lot of the heavy lifting draw attention to rough with the rest of the scene. for you. Here we’ll explore areas. Skin Smoothing With these new tools, even three helpful commands can improve things with a a Photoshop novice can couple of clicks. We’ll then craft compelling scenes. DOWNLOAD THE PROJECT FILES HERE http://bit.ly/pho_122 ON YOUR PC OR MAC

01SMOOTH THE SKIN Open the portrait into Photoshop and go to Filters > Neural Filters. Toggle on the Skin Smoothing Filter (you may need to download it from Creative Cloud). Experiment with the Blur and Smoothness sliders to address any rough areas of skin, then, once you’re happy, set Output to Duplicate Layer and click OK. 02 CUT OUT THE SUBJECT Go to Select > Subject. Photoshop immediately analyzes the image and makes a selection for you. Press Q to enter Quick Mask mode, then grab the Brush Tool and paint with white to add to the selected area, or black to subtract from it. Once done, press Q again to exit Quick Mask mode. 03 DROP IN A BACKGROUND Click the Add Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers Panel to convert the selection to a mask. Highlight the bottom layer, then go to File > Place Embedded. Navigate to the background image (search www.pixabay.com for 1767540). Once open, position the image to fit in the background.

04 REPLACE THE SKY Next, we’ll add in a new sky. To tie in with our dark cityscape backdrop, we’ve used a free star image, again sourced from www.pixabay.com (search for 1868560). Go to Edit > Sky Replacement. Click the dropdown to choose a sky, then click the plus icon to load in an image, then navigate to the image file. 05 TWEAK THE SKY Adjust the sky Brightness, Temperature and Scale sliders, as shown, to match it with the perspective and tone of the scene. Drag to change position. Once happy, set Output to New Layer and click OK. Go to the Layers Panel to check the sky; we’ve lowered the layer opacity to 80% to tone it down. 06 CHOOSE A PROFILE Highlight the top layer and press Cmd/ Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E to merge a copy of all the layers, which appears as a new layer. Go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter. Click the Profile Browser in the Basic Panel and choose a profile – we’ve opted for the Vintage05 profile. Make any other tonal changes you want to finish off.

WATCH THE VIDEO https://bit.ly/3edYdDx BEFORE GET CREATIVE WITH BLENDING MODES Learn how to make incredible effects and transform your photos in seconds Photoshop’s Blending Blending Modes can be used Beyond this, Blending Modes Modes have long for all kinds of projects, and can be used for lots of been one of its most useful allow you to create a near- creative projects like multiple features. Each Blending Mode limitless range of effects. exposures (try changing uses a distinct algorithm Here we’ll look at how to give the top layer to Screen) to blend a selected layer a car a vibrant psychedelic and blending textures with the layers below. If treatment by blending (Soft Light). They can also this sounds complicated, images of colors and smoke. be invaluable for more in practice using Blending This involves two of the practical tasks, like dodging Modes is simple. All you most useful Blending Modes: and burning (a gray layer set need to do is copy one Screen and Multiply. We’ll also to Overlay), hand-tinting old image on top of another, make use of brush Blending photos (Color) and dark frame then experiment. Modes to color our smoke. subtraction (Subtract). DOWNLOAD THE PROJECT FILES HERE https://bit.ly/pho_122 ON YOUR PC OR MAC

1 2 3 1 2 3 PAINT WITH LAYER BLENDING MODES SCREEN BLENDING MODES There are 27 Blending The Screen Blending Mode When the Brush Tool Modes in the list at the top multiplies the brightness is selected, you’ll find a of the Layers Panel. To get values of pixels, so that Blending Mode dropdown started, open two or more areas in the image can only menu in the tool options. images, then use the Move get brighter, never darker. This dropdown applies Tool to drag one image onto As such, it can be used to the Blending Mode to your the other to copy it over until create compelling double- individual brush strokes, you’ve got all the images as exposure effects. Here we’ve so it affects how the brush layers. It’s not always clear used it to blend several colors interact with what is which Blending Mode will smoke images in with the car. being painted over. Here, by work best for your image, so The pure black areas in the setting the brush Blending try hovering over each in the smoke image are effectively Mode to Color, we can paint list to see how they affect canceled out, so only the anywhere we like to colorize things (or press Shift and brighter swirls of smoke will the different smoke layers. + or - to cycle through them). show up in the blend.

4 56 4 5 6 OTHER USEFUL MODES MASKING THE BLEND MULTIPLY Some Blending Modes After using Blending The Multiply Blending tend to be more useful than Modes, you may find that Mode works by multiplying others. (To be honest, we’ve some parts of the blend work the darkness of the blend yet to find a decent use for better than others. If so, you can add a Layer Mask then layer with the combined Hard Mix.) Aside from the grab the Brush Tool and paint layers below. As such, areas Blending Modes used in this with black to hide the parts project, our favorites include of the layer you don’t want. can only ever get darker, Overlay, Soft Light, Darken, Here Layer Masks allow us never brighter. Here our to hide the psychedelic color original image of the car Lighten and Luminosity. change in the car headlights has a black background, and Darken and Lighten are and wheels, as well as control we’ve blended a psychedelic similar to Multiply and Screen, which parts of the smoke picture of a soap bubble using but instead of combining images we want to include Multiply. As the background the brightness or darkness is black, the colors in the values, the stronger value in the mix. bubble only show up over cancels out the other. the paintwork on the car.

WATCH THE VIDEO https://bit.ly/3x9wn4c TO BUBBLY GO... Forever blowing bubbles, James Paterson shows you how to capture otherworldly displays of color in close-up photos of soap When seen close-up, and a homemade bubble a cylindrical light tent soap bubbles are a mixture. With a little care, for our shot. sight to behold. Vivid colors it’s possible to blow up the swirl across the surface in bubble and let it dangle When we point a an elegant dance that has from the end of the straw flashgun at the paper to be seen to be believed. to form a glowing orb of tube, the light will diffuse The play of colors and color. Then the lighting and spread along the textures make them look is key. We need a flash to whole length, resulting like planets. As such, a freeze the motion of the in 360 degrees of even bubble makes a fantastic swirls and pick out fine illumination. The only subject for a vibrant details. The challenge area we can’t properly abstract photography is that bubbles reflect illuminate is the opening project. What’s more, you’ll their surroundings, so in the tube for our lens, probably have everything any distracting objects or which results in the black you need for this already lights will ruin the shot. hole at the center of our around the house. To get around this, we can bubble planet. We can make our use a couple of sheets of bubbles using a straw plain white paper to form This is the perfect project to try at home on a rainy afternoon. DOWNLOAD THE PROJECT FILES HERE http://bit.ly/pho_122 ON YOUR PC OR MAC

5 4 23 6 1 THE SET-UP HOME-MADE BUBBLE PLANETS Get your camera and lighting right to capture colorful soap bubbles 1 STILL CAMERA 2 OFF-CAMERA FLASH 3 PAPER TUBE A tripod will help to keep We used two flashguns here, This tube is made from two the camera steady and free but if you only have one, sheets of paper. The paper your hands to hold the straw. acts as a diffuser, spreading Alternatively, you could place that’ll do, as long as you can trigger it off-camera. Use a the flash out around the the camera on the table wireless trigger, or set the surface and bouncing it along instead and use a book to flashgun to optical remote prop the lens up. It also lets mode, then use the pop- the tube. This lights the you keep the focus in the up flash to trigger the off- bubble from all angles, which gives it a halo effect around right place. camera flash. the edges like a planet. 4 STRAW 5 STRAW HOLDER 6 BLACK BACKDROP We used a metal straw. We This mini tripod with a peg A black backdrop is essential, dipped it into the bubble mix taped to the end lets us hold as it allows the colors and then placed it in the hole in the straw in place once the reflections in the bubble the paper tube, and gently to show up. We used the bubble is blown. You could black surface of a five-in- blew a bubble so that it just hold the straw with one reflector, but any black dangled on the end of the your hand, but it’s handy surface will do. Don’t let the straw. We pressed a piece of for keeping the bubbles in sticky tack on the end of the position, and it frees your flash spill onto the backdrop, straw to stop it deflating. as it needs to stay dark. hands to work the camera.

STEP BY STEP AVOID ANY BUBBLE TROUBLE! 01 FASHION A LIGHT-TENT Either use a piece of A3 (approx 12 x 16.5 inches) or tape together two sheets of plain A4 paper (8 x 12 inches), then roll it to make a long cylinder. Cut a small hole in the top of the paper tube large enough to poke a straw through. Place the tube on a table and tape it to the table to stop it rolling around. 02MAKE BUBBLE MIXTURE Making bubble mixture is simple. In a small bowl or dish, combine two parts water with one part washing- up liquid. Ideally, you should add a splash of glycerin or corn syrup, as this will make the bubbles more durable and longer lasting. Keep the bowl beside the tube as you shoot. 03SET THE EXPOSURE Set your camera to its Manual exposure mode, then set ISO to 100, the aperture to around f/16 (to get a decent depth of field) and the shutter speed the 1/200 sec (or whatever is your maximum flash sync speed – check your camera manual). Take a test shot and adjust the flash power if necessary to suit your exposure.

04 LIGHT THE PAPER TUBE Place the flashgun on a sturdy stand to one side of the paper tube you made earlier. Here our hotshoe- mounted flashgun is set to 1/4 power and angled to bounce off the ceiling, while the off-camera flash is set to optical remote mode at 1/16 power and aimed directly at the tube. 05 BLOW A BUBBLE Dip the end of the straw into the bubble solution in your bowl, then carefully place the straw in the hole in the tube, and blow gently to make a bubble. Quickly put a piece of sticky tack over the end of the straw to help maintain the bubble. Hold the straw in place with the peg and clamp, then start shooting! 06 DISTURB THE SURFACE Once the bubble is formed, try gently blowing on it. This disturbs the surface and swirls the colors and textures into new patterns. As the colors fade, you’ll see textured patterns like this appear and slowly slip downwards. Blow gently to swirl the textures into shapes as you shoot.

STEP BY STEP ENHANCE YOUR BUBBLE PLANETS 01 REMOVE THE STRAW Removing the straw from the photo will make your bubbles look more planet- like. Open the images into Photoshop, then grab the Content-Aware Move Tool. Set Mode to Extend in the options, then drag a selection over part of the bubble next to the straw. Move and rotate the area so that it’s covering the straw. 02 HEAL THE HOLES The bubble will reflect anything nearby, so it’ll show the holes in the front of the tube and the opening where we poke the straw. If you want to remove these form your photo, you can either paint over those areas with the Spot Healing Brush, or make a selection with the Lasso Tool then go to Edit > Content-Aware Fill. 03 BOOST THE COLORS We can use the tonal tools in Camera Raw or Lightroom to enhance the colors and textures of the bubble. First, set the white and black points to boost the contrast, then try increasing Clarity and Texture to enhance the bubble surface. Increase Vibrance to make the duller colors more vivid.

LEARN LIGHTROOM TODAY! WATCH THE VIDEO https://bit.ly/3v1cXfV This month, learn how to add moody vignettes to your photos with ease If you’d like to watch the complete course now, get the app from the Apple App Store BUYLIKE THIS? NOW AVAILABLE ON NOW!THE APPLE APP STORE BIT.LY/TYLRAPP

Your quick-start guide and reference to image editing in Photoshop If you’re relatively new to editing in typical image-editing workflow in Photoshop; Photoshop, or you just don’t know an overview of raw file editing; a guide to the where to begin, then this section is the best six most useful layers; and a glossary of the place to get started. Over the next 10 pages, most useful shortcuts. This guide condenses you’ll find an overview of the different versions most of the tools and techniques you’ll use of Photoshop available; a breakdown of the every time you import a new roll of pictures.

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LIGHTROOM CC FROM £9.98/$9.99 PER MONTH WINDOWS, macOS Lightroom CC combines professional image- processing tools with asset organizing. It keeps all its images online in the Creative Cloud, with advanced image search capabilities. PHOTOSHOP CC LIGHTROOM CLASSIC FROM £9.98/$9.99 PER MONTH WINDOWS, macOS FROM £9.98/$9.99 PER MONTH WINDOWS, macOS Photoshop is the software of choice for most professional and non-professional photographers. Beyond the standard Lightroom Classic photo-editing features, it boasts a vast array of more offers editing and creative tools and filters. Layers are one of the key differences organizing tools, but between Photoshop and Lightroom. They enable you to mask you can only store images on out selected parts to build up increasingly sophisticated images. your computer. LIGHTROOM MOBILE FREE (PREMIUM: £4.49/$6.49 PER MONTH) IPHONE, IPAD, ANDROID ELEMENTS 15 £79.99/$99.99 WINDOWS, macOS Lightroom Mobile is the lightweight iPad, Elements is the consumer variant of Photoshop, and iPhone and Android contains many of its key tools and features within a version of the application, simplified interface. It’s limited, but it does provide access integrated with Lightroom to layers for those who have switched to a Lightroom workflow. CC. You can use Lightroom Mobile on its own for free, or use the Premium In-App Purchase to access the Adobe Creative Cloud. This enables you to create a collection of photos on your desktop copy of Lightroom, and sync them via the Creative Cloud to Lightroom Mobile on your portable devices. You can also get Lightroom Mobile via any Photography Plan.

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP MIX ADOBE SHAPE FREE IPAD, ANDROID FREE IPHONE, IPAD, ANDROID Mix enables you to merge two photos together to create a composite image. It offers a simplified Adobe Shape enables compositing process that makes it easy for beginners you to turn photos and to start combining an object from one image with a background sketches into beautiful from another. You can then send the composite to Photoshop vector shapes for use in your for further edits. If you like, you can also use Mix to edit a single designs or artwork. The app image. It offers a few simple tonal adjustments and more smooths out jagged edges in complex edits such as Content-Aware Fill. images, resulting in gorgeous vectors that are endlessly ADOBE COLOR scalable, just as if you’d drawn them by hand with the Pen tool. FREE IPHONE, IPAD, ANDROID Make a shape with the mobile app and the next time you open If you ever need help Photoshop on your desktop, the selecting coordinated colors shape will sync to your Library. for your designs, try using Drag it in to any document to Adobe Color. It enables you to create add color and make further color themes from photos taken on adjustments. your mobile device. This could be anything from a scene in your local ADOBE BRUSH park to a famous painting. So if you come across an inspirational scene, FREE capture the colors and save them. IPHONE, IPAD, ANDROID Adobe Brush enables you to make your own custom brushes from photos or sketches for use in Photoshop, Illustrator or the Sketch app. The most successful subjects are usually those that can be easily isolated, such as a splash against white, or a leaf against the sky. You can capture objects for your brush tips using your device’s camera, choose from your camera roll, or use your Creative Cloud library. Once captured, you can then fine- tune the look of the tip and apply brush settings.

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP SKETCH ADOBE COMP CC FREE IPAD FREE IPAD As the name suggests, this app enables you to paint If you’re a designer freehand using a selection of brushes, colors and other who wants to build tools. However, Sketch is more than just a painting a quick layout for a app. It also enables you to connect with like-minded creatives, web or print page, then Comp is so you can follow artists and see their work updating. Once the ideal place to start piecing you’re done sketching the image on your iPad, you can upload ideas, images and text together. to the Sketch community, or continue working on the image You can draw common design in Photoshop CC. You can also bring in brushes made with elements such as text or image Adobe Brush, and for those who can’t paint, there’s an option boxes with quick gestures. For to overlay images so you can trace over a photo. Sketch is example, a couple of squiggly compatible with Adobe’s pen and ruler hardware, Ink and lines with a dot makes a Slide, but you can get great results with your finger. header, and a cross makes an image box. It makes it easy to PHOTOSHOP FIX mock up a layout in seconds. You can then add words and FREE IPAD graphics. The app even spits out a Photoshop, Illustrator or Fix is a retouching app InDesign document. for altering portraits and fixing marks or blemishes BEHANCE in your photos. Intelligent facial CREATIVE PORTFOLIO recognition locks onto eyes, lips noses and chins, making it easy to FREE IPAD, IPHONE tweak a smile, tuck in a jawline or enlarge eyes, should you wish. Behance is the online social space for creatives to share and showcase their portfolios, connect with one another, and find work. With work from the best photographers, digital artists and designers out there, it’s also a great place to find inspiration for a new project. If you’re a Creative Cloud subscriber you can set up a Behance page in minutes. The Behance app for iOS devices enables you to manage your page, while the Creative Portfolio app provides a polished portfolio.

Manage your photos from capture to output in three stages The image-editing process begins as 1 soon as you’ve transferred your photos 2 from your memory card to your computer. 3 1 The first stage is to begin sifting through your pictures to discover which are the keepers. The image organizer that comes with Photoshop is ideal for this task. Adobe Bridge has controls for keywording, rating and filtering your images, and there are handy tools for batch renaming files, creating panoramic stitches, making contact sheets and more. Launch Adobe Bridge and navigate to a folder containing new images. Use the cursor keys to quickly flick through the images and click below a thumbnail to add a star rating, or use the keyboard shortcut Cmd/Ctrl+1-5. You can then filter your photos by the star rating to group the ones you want to work on. 2 The next step is to open the shots from Bridge into Adobe Camera Raw. ACR is the best place to make initial changes to your images to boost tones and correct any problems with exposure and so on. It doesn’t enable you to combine images – you’ll use Photoshop for that – but it does enable you to make the kind of edits photographers need. 3 In Photoshop, you can further refine the image with layers and adjustment layers, which offer a much more flexible way of working than ACR. Once you’ve finished, it’s time to share it with an audience. Go to File>Save, and your image will be saved as a Photoshop document (PSD). This keeps all the layers intact, which means you can go back and retweak the image at a later date. However, PSD files are large and can take up lots of hard drive space. If you want to share your images online or via email or social media, save them as JPEGs.

Discover how to process your raw files to perfection The latest version of the raw file rather than in Photoshop, you’ll ensure the processor included with Photoshop is so best possible image quality, because raw files powerful that most photos can be processed contain more picture information than bitmap entirely in the raw processor, with no need for images such as un-layered PSDs and JPEGs. further editing in Photoshop. And by making Here’s our reference to the features you’ll your adjustments in Adobe Camera Raw, use the most in the Basic panel. THE BASIC SATURATION CONTRAST PANEL IN ACR Controls the overall color Makes light pixels brighter TEMPERATURE intensity of the image and dark pixels darker Use this slider to warm HIGHLIGHTS or cool an image if the White Balance tool fails Controls the brightness to correct a color cast of the lightest pixels TINT SHADOWS This slider enables you to Controls the brightness correct a green or magenta of the darkest pixels cast, again, if the White Balance tool fails WHITES EXPOSURE Sets a point on the tonal range at which pixels Controls the overall should be pure white brightness of the image CLARITY BLACKS Controls the amount Sets a point on the tonal of midtone contrast range at which pixels should be pure black VIBRANCE Adjusts the intensity of the less-saturated colors

The six most frequently used Photoshop layers for image editing, and how to use them to improve almost any photo Photoshop has many types of layers used may seem a little daunting for beginners, and adjustment layers available, but but once you’ve got to grips with them, you’ll there are six that you’ll find you need to use find they play a part in the creative process of again and again. Learning how they should be almost every image you make. 01 LEVELSThis should be the first layer you add to an image, because it fundamentally alters the tonal range of the entire image. Create a Levels Adjustment Layer, drag the Black point slider inwards until it touches the left- hand edge of the histogram, and drag the White point slider inwards to the right-hand edge. This remaps the tones of the image to make more of the available tonal range. 02 CURVESCurvesisoneofthemostpowerful adjustment layers. An S-shaped curve brightens the highlights and darkens the shadows, resulting in extra contrast. Create a Curves Adjustment Layer and click the middle of the diagonal line to add a central control point. Drag down on the lower part of the line and drag up on the upper part of the line to improve image contrast. 03 HUE/SATURATION This adjustment layer is best used for altering the intensity and brightness of individual color channels in an image – greens and blues in landscapes, for instance. Create a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer, click the Master menu and choose the color channel you’d like to adjust. Small changes are usually the most effective.

04 HEALING LAYER AFTER BEFORE Most photos contain unwanted marks or blemishes. The Spot Healing Brush tool is effective at removing these. The best way to apply the healing is on a new blank layer, so that you can easily tone down or remove selected healing work later without having to start from scratch because you healed directly on the background layer. To do this, create a new blank layer, choose the Spot Healing Brush tool from the Tools panel and tick Sample All Layers on the Options bar, then continue as normal. 05 DODGE AND BURN One of the best ways to enhance a photo is by lightening or darkening selected areas of the image. This can be done with the Dodge and Burn tools, but rather than use them directly on the image, a separate grey layer gives you greater control. To create a Dodge and Burn layer, hold down Alt and click the Create a new layer icon in the Layers panel. Give the layer a name, then choose Mode: Overlay. Check Fill with Overlay-neutral color and click OK. Now use the Dodge and Burn tools (with Range set to Midtones) to work on the new layer. 06 SELECTIVE SHARPENING Once all other adjustments have been made, you need to sharpen the image for output. The traditional way is to create a merged layer at the top of the stack, apply Unsharp Mask, then paint on the mask to remove the sharpening from those parts of the image you want to remain soft. However, the Sharpen tool enables more control over the process by enabling you to build up the effect by brushing repeatedly with a low opacity brush. Create a new blank layer, select the Sharpen tool, tick Sample All Layers and set a Strength of 50% or lower.

14 keyboard shortcuts that will massively improve your speed and efficiency while working in Photoshop D X Reset the foreground and background colors Switch the foreground and background to black and white color swatches ALT+[SCROLL WHEEL] [ OR ] Zoom in or out of the image Resize the brush tip CMD/CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+E SHIFT+[ OR ] Create a merged copy of all the layers in the Cycle backwards or forwards through the layer stack layer blend modes SPACE BAR CMD/CTRL+Z Temporarily switch the current tool to the Hand Undo the last change made to the document. tool, for moving around the image while zoomed in Works multiple times ALT+[EYE ICON] CMD/CTRL+[LAYER MASK] Switch off the visibility of all other layers in the Load the currently active layer mask as layer stack, for before-and-after comparisons a new selection CMD/CTRL+I CMD/CTRL+T Invert the color of a layer mask to black Activate the Free Transform tool SHIFT+[LAYER MASK] CMD/CTRL+J Disable the effects of a layer mask Duplicate the current layer

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