Practical Photoshop - May 2015

LEARN PHOTOSHOP CC & LIGHTROOM THE EASY WAY! Issue50 May2015 www.digitalcameraworld.com Take control of INCLUDES FREE VIDEOS t
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LEARN PHOTOSHOP CC & LIGHTROOM THE EASY WAY! WATCH THE VIDEO Issue50 May2015 http://tiny.cc/28htsx www.digitalcameraworld.com LEARN PHOTOSHOP CC & LIGHTROOM THE EASY WAY! DOWNLOAD THE PROJECT FILES Issue50 May2015 www.digitalcameraworld.com To download this issue's project Take control of INCLUDES files and 50 of our FREE best-ever textures, type the following VIDEOS link into your web browser on your PC Take control of INCLUDES or Mac: FREE http://tiny.cc/zpkbxx VIDEOS t
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Discover hidden tools and tricks PLUS AT LAST! LIGHTROOM 6 IS HERE PLUS AT LAST! LIGHTROOM 6 IS HERE Welcome to issue 50 of Practical Photoshop! FIND US HERE… If you enjoy the issue, why not subscribe and get a whole year for just $19.99 http://bit.ly/practweet http://bit.ly/pracface This issue we show you how to make the most of colours, from giving them a quick boost to changing Also available on: them entirely. There’s also a colour theory piece, an http://tiny.cc/1vlrsx in-depth 3D project, and a first look at Lightroom 6. What’s more, to celebrate our half century, we’re http://tiny.cc/ewlrsx giving away a bumper pack of 50 best-ever textures! http://tiny.cc/9ulrsx James Paterson, Editor t [email protected] www.digitalcameraworld.com HIGHLIGHTS: WHAT’S INSIDE… The World of What’s new in Take control of Perfect prints Blend 3D with Photoshop Lightroom 6? your colours every time real-life images Q Be inspired by Q Find out about the Q Discover the best QLearn how to Q Learn how to the very best top ten features in tips and tricks for optimise Photoshop seamlessly match 3D Photoshop imagery the new release colour enhancement for colour printing shapes with photos

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2 34 Will you find me , My apocalypse, Night, Dreamer II The understated human form creates a By Mika Suutari spellbinding atmosphere Using Photoshop CS6 of mystery 1 2 3 4 I wanted to make the Night picture more James Paterson, Editor harmonious by removing some utility poles from the left side. I did this by copying the right side of the image and duplicated it on the left. I added some stars and copied a shooting star from another picture. I made the colours colder and emphasized the highlights. https://www.behance.net/mikasuutari

5 6 SunFlares,Progression By Patti Schultze Using Photoshop CC 2014 5 6 Acrylic paints and inks are poured onto a small glass dish and manipulated with a toothpick, then photographed with a macro lens. Once the painting and photography are done, I process the images using Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC 2014. In Photoshop I remove any dust or distracting bubbles, then add a Curves adjustment layer to enhance the contrast. http://pattischulze.com http://tinyurl.com/mvbxzxs

Hanger, Giant 7 By Lee Ki-Taek Using PhotoshopCC 7 8 I’m from Korea, and I’m currently a university student in the department of design. I was inspired by Erik Johansson’s works, which are surreal pictures from imagination or dreams. This work is my hobby. I self-study Photoshop. I processed the image in Photoshop CC. I hope everyone enjoys my work. http://rot0708.wix.com/leekitaek 8

WHAT’S NEW IN 02 AUTO WHITE LIGHTROOM 6? AND BLACK POINTS After nearly two years of waiting, If you hold down Shift and Lightroom 6 has arrived! Here are double click the words Whites or our top ten new features… Blacks in the Develop Module’s Basic panel, Lightroom will automatically find the white and black points in your image and shift the tones to use the entire tonal range from white to black. It’s a small improvement, but one that will no doubt prove very useful over time. 01 BETTER PERFORMANCE It’s a vast improvement on 03 UPDATES FOR Much has been the sometimes clunky LIGHTROOM MOBILE improved under the hood, performance of Lightroom 5. with better performance and In particular, slider controls Lightroom Mobile now offers GPU acceleration giving the react more quickly, and support for Android tablets and Lightroom experience a silkily previews update instantly. Once phones. There’s also DNG raw responsive feel all round (as you’ve started using Lightroom support for phones that are long as your graphics processor 6, it’s noticeable how slow compatible with the raw format. is compatible). LIghtroom 5 is by comparison. You can also specify to store data on an SD card.

Click Merge and Lightroom will create a new raw DNG file with the suffix _HDR, and add it to your Library. As most changes made to individual frames will be discarded, it’s worth starting off by merging an HDR before making any changes in the Develop Module. The Basic panel’s Exposure slider goes way beyond the normal range of four stops. With a high dynamic range image, there’s much more tonal data within the image, so you can take Exposure from -10 to +10 stops, then use Shadows and Highlights to reveal detail or make selective adjustments to different areas. 04 HDR PHOTO MERGE sequences. Enabling Auto-tone 05 CHOOSE FROM The new HDR feature will balance out the exposure TWO VERSIONS enables you to merge several for you, and it’s completely OF LIGHTROOM frames taken in alignment at non-destructive. The Deghost different exposures. Best of amount will help to correct There are two versions of all, it then creates a merged any movement within the the new release, Lightroom DNG raw file packed with tonal frame, perhaps from moving CC and Lightroom 6. If you information. To use the feature, grass or clouds, by taking the get Lightroom as part of your select the set of exposures problematic area from a single Creative Cloud subscription you want to merge, then go to frame rather than merging (such as the $9.99 per month Photo>Photo Merge>HDR (or several. Along with four Photographer’s Plan) then press Ctrl+H). There’s even an deghosting strengths, there’s you can download Lightroom Auto-align feature, so as long as also a helpful ‘show deghost CC now. If you prefer to buy there’s not too much movement overlay’ option that enables you a traditional licence you can between frames, you can get to see exactly which areas are get Lightroom 6 instead for away with merging hand-held being corrected. $149 or $79 as an upgrade. The traditional licence version doesn’t have Creative Cloud support or access to the mobile and web workflows, and only Creative Cloud subscribers receive ongoing updates. It’s up to you to decide which is the most appropriate package.

06 MERGE PANORAMAS wide panoramas where there makes two of the best tools in The new Panorama may be bowing between the Lightroom even more useful. feature enables you to stitch frames. Spherical works by Both Radial and Graduated several frames together to mapping the frames as if they filters work by enabling you to make a longer image. Like the were on the inside of a sphere, change the look of areas in your HDR feature, the panorama which is best for 360-degree image to, for example, darken a mode also generates detail- panoramas. Enabling the Auto- sky. The problem is, if anything rich raw files in Adobe’s DNG crop option will get rid of any juts up from the horizon into the format (you can even combine uneven edges (although this sky, then it would be darkened the two new features to crop remains non-destructive). too. The new Lightroom offers create raw HDR panoramas). Once merged, you can take a solution: a brush option for To merge a panorama, select the resulting DNG file into the both Radial and Graduated the range of images, then Develop module and make any filters (found below the sliders go to Photo>Photo Merge> changes you like. Note that for each tool) that enables you Panorama (or press Ctrl+M). there’s an image size limit of to paint to remove or add to the There are three ways of 6,400 pixels along the long side effect of the filter. When using stitching the frames: Spherical, of the image. it, you can hold Alt to switch Cylindrical and Perspective. between add or subtract and Perspective uses the centre 07 FILTER BRUSHES press O to toggle a view of the image in the sequence as a This is something that’s mask overlay on or off, which reference for perspective, been included in Photoshop’s helps you to see the affected then stretches and skews all Camera Raw plugin for a while, areas. Once done, toggle the the other images to match it. but it’s still worth getting Reset Brushes box to check the Cylindrical is better for very excited about, because it results of your painting.

08 FACIAL panel on the right-hand side 10 ISMMPARLOLVEMENTS RECOGNITION TOOLS of the Library module. Among all the big Lightroom’s Library module 09 IMPROVED IMAGE improvements, there are plenty has a new feature that detects SLIDESHOW EFFECTS of minor tweaks. For example, faces within your images and when you quit Lightroom then helps you to put a name The Slideshow module has a you can now choose to set a to the faces. To begin, head to couple of big improvements regular time for backing up the Library’s grid view, then you may find useful. There’s your catalogue, such as every click the People icon in the list a Pan and Zoom option to time LIghtroom quits. No more of view options below the grid. add a gentle Ken Burns-style annoying reminders to back up! Detected faces are divided into random movement to your There’s also a Pet eye removal two categories – named and slideshow images. What’s more, tool, new HTML5 gallery unnamed people. You start by the Music panel now enables templates in the Web module, naming a detected face, and you to add multiple tracks to support for touch computers, then Lightroom will suggest your slideshow, and time your and a handy Auto button in the same name for faces it slideshow transitions to the the Crop tool for fixing wonky recognises as similar. So you beat of a song with the new horizons automatically. can quickly name your friends Sync slides to music option. and family or clients within your photos, either by confirming the name suggestion, or by dragging unnamed faces to the Named People within your library. To detect faces in your entire catalogue, click the top left identity plate, then unpause Face Detection. Naming faces creates a new type of keyword within the image’s metadata, so you can quickly filter your library by people using the Keyword VERDICT It’s more of an evolution than a revolution, but the new features will prove invaluable to many photographers. In particular, those who shoot HDR or make panoramas will love the two new merge tools, and the fact that they produce a raw file is a big draw. The facial recognition tools are also a nice touch, and should prove useful for organising and filtering your family snaps. Elsewhere, there are small but important improvements rather than headline-grabbing new features. The increased performance and support is something we’d expect from a new release, and we’ve already grown to know and love the Filter Brushes in Camera Raw. So there are no big surprises, but why mess with a winning formula? Lightroom continues to lead the way with it’s image-organising and raw-processing tools, and photographers will find a lot to like in the latest version.

Take complete control of Whether you want to supercharge your colours or change them completely, find out how with our guide to the best colour controls in Photoshop

HUE/SATURATION AND VIBRANCE 01 On the face of it, an image, or choose different to invert the layer’s mask, Hue/Saturation and colour ranges from the menu then paint white to reveal Vibrance are two at the top. Click the hand icon, the effect wherever you like. of the easiest colour tools to then drag left or right over Vibrance is another great master, but they have hidden colours to alter Saturation, colour-enhancing tool that depths. Each can be applied or alternatively, hold Cmd/ targets the less-saturated as an adjustment layer. You Ctrl and drag to change Hue colours in an image, so it’s can use Hue/Saturation to instead. Once done, if you great for portraits where you either change the shade and want to apply the changes to can boost clothes without intensity of all the colours in certain areas, hit Cmd/Ctrl+I over-saturating skin tones.

CAMERA RAW’S TARGETED ADJUSTMENT TOOL 02 Found in the Camera for five different parameters. to change it. The tool is ideal Raw plugin toolbar, You can either adjust tones, for boosting specific colour the Targeted convert to mono, or target saturation, in this case to lift a Adjustment tool is a sort of all- colours based on their hue, person’s clothes. It also excels in-one tool for tone and colour. saturation or luminosity. Once when a colour needs to be It works by targeting different you’ve chosen what to adjust, lighter, such as the greens and colour ranges in the image. simply click a colour in your yellows in a dull landscape, or Grab the tool, then right click image and drag up or down the oranges in a person’s skin.

TONE WITH GRADIENT MAPS in the gradient. Once you find a combination you like, experiment with the layer’s 03 A Gradient Map and yellow into the highlights, blending mode and opacity. enables you to with a blend in between. It’s Here we set the mode to Color, apply a blend of very good at giving images a with 40% opacity. two or more colours to the split-tone look, but you can tonal range of an image. For also use Gradient Maps more example, you could introduce subtly to shift colours. Add the blue into the shadow tones Gradient Map as an adjustment layer, then click the gradient preview to enter the Gradient Editor. Double click the colour boxes to change the colours

BOOST COLOURS WITH LAB 04 If colours in an and B channels only affect image are lacking a colour, so you’re free to alter little pop, then Lab colours without affecting the Color mode can supercharge image brightness. Change it them. Go to Image>Mode>Lab to A first. Drag the bottom Color to convert to the Lab left and right sliders inwards colour space. Bring up the by the same amount (so that Layers panel. Click the Create the middle of the line goes adjustment layer icon and over the centre of the box) to choose Curves. Notice at the boost the colours. Switch to top of the Curves settings the B channel and do the same the channel menu displays thing, then go to Image> Lightness, A and B. The A Mode>RGB to convert back.

USE LAB TO CHANGE COLOURS 05 The way in which lines on the A and B channels. Lab Color mode The A channel changes the separates colour and green (left side) and magenta tone (colour being controlled (right side) colours, and the B by the A and B channels, tone channel affects yellows (right by the Lightness channel) side) and blues (left side). To makes it perfect for changing change red to green, as in this the colours in an image. Each image, go to the A channel and colour has an opposite, so drag the bottom left point all we can shift them from one the way up, and the top right to the other with ease. To do point all the way down. Then so, convert to Lab Color mode if you only want the colour and add a Curves adjustment, change to affect a certain as in tip four. But this time area, simply paint black or experiment with the curve white on the layer’s mask.

SELECTIVE COLOUR CHANGES 06 If you want to change a colour range in the menu one specific colour at the top of the Selective in an image, for Color settings. Here we chose example, to alter the colour of Yellows to target the colour clothes or a flower, then one of the rose. Then you simply of the best tools is Selective drag the sliders to alter the Color. To begin, click the Create colour. The positive colours are negative magenta is green, adjustment layer icon in the listed, but it’s worth knowing and negative yellow is blue. Layers panel and choose their negative opposites. The Black slider controls the Selective Color. Next, select Negative cyan adds red, colour’s overall brightness.

ONE-CLICK COLOR LOOKUP EFFECTS 07 The Color Lookup recently added Fuji/Kodak film and combine several Color adjustment gives effects. You can tone down an Lookup layers, as we’ve done you a range of one- effect by lowering the layer here by using Soft Warming click toning and colour effects opacity, or go one step further and Fuji F125. that can either be used as is, or combined with other toning tools. Color Lookup was introduced to aid 3D and video toning, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use them to tone flat images. To add an effect, click the Create adjustment layer icon in the Layers panel, then open the 3DLUT File menu and click through the effects. Our favourites are Soft Warming look, 3Strip, DropBlues and the

WATCH THE VIDEO http://tiny.cc/p8eaxx Manage Photoshop’s colour modes and profiles so that you can reproduce colours more accurately in print or on the web SELECTIVE COLOUR ADJUSTMENTS PROJECT INFO The Vibrance adjustment layer even more control by using a Hue/ You’ll learn enables you to selectively boost Saturation adjustment layer instead. How to set up a the saturation of weaker colours without Change the adjustment layer’s Master over-saturating stronger ones, but this drop-down menu to a specific colour Photoshop colour profile can still lead to unprintable colours that (such as blue). You can then increase the that will help you produce will show up as grey gamut warnings. saturation of the Blues slider until just colours for print or web You can target specific colours in a before the gamut warning patches start picture and boost their saturation with to appear in the blue parts of the image. You’ll need The latest updated version of Photoshop CC – 2014.2.2 It’ll take Five minutes

GET YOUR COLOURS COORDINATED! Create striking wall art with coordinated blocks of colour As anyone who’s ever images balance and appeal. be displayed together as a tried to pair a pink scarf But how do we know which triptych or four-square. We’ll with an orange top will know, colours work? We’ll show also explain how to combine some colours simply don’t work you here by explaining how the images in Photoshop for together. Finding colours that to look for and photograph a great piece of wall art. So complement one another gives a set of colourful images to why not give it a go?

TIP 01 COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS The so-called colour wheel is a really useful reference for finding colours that work together. Complimentary colours sit opposite each other on the colour wheel. So, for example, try a red apple next to a green leaf, or an orange rock face alongside a bright blue sky. If you want to pair three colours, imagine drawing an equilateral triangle between three points on the circle; so you could have green, purple and orange. For more help on colour coordination, download Adobe’s Color CC App (formerly Kuler) to create custom colour themes. TIP 02 SEEK OUT COLOUR BLOCKS Once you start looking for blocks of colour, you’ll find them everywhere. A ten-minute walk around your local neighbourhood should yield plenty of strong colours. Flowers are a good start. Look for groups of flowers, or even entire fields. Get down low and shoot with a wide aperture to create blocks of blurred colour. Iconic coloured objects like British telephone boxes are also perfect for attractive wall art. Get in close and look for dynamic ways to crop into objects so that the colour becomes as important as the object. Another option is to shoot a series of the same things – such as coloured doorways or road signs.

TIP 03 TIP 04 CROP CONSISTENTLY COMBINE IN PHOTOSHOP Once you’ve captured a range of colourful Even if you’re images, you can prepare them planning for presentation as a triptych or on printing the four-square. They should all be images for your cropped to the same ratio, so use triptych or four- the Crop tool in Adobe Camera square separately Raw or Lightroom and crop into (perhaps as separate each image in a similar way. We’ve canvases or block gone for squares in our example, prints), it’s still worth grouping them in Photoshop by right clicking with the Crop tool so you can see how they work together. Begin by and choosing 1-1 for square crops. making a new document (File>New). Set a width Think about how the images will and height large enough to fit all your images with balance with one another when a little room to spare (so for a triptych of 8x8-inch combined together. If, for example, images, we created a 12x32-inch document). Set the the focus point or leading lines in resolution to 300dpi. Open all the images, then drag one image are positioned a certain them to the new document with the Move tool. Use way, look to crop the opposite the Move tool to position the images. image so that it’s symmetrical and balanced. Consider flipping one or more images if appropriate.

MAKE A 3D WATCH THE VIDEO CHESS SET http://tiny.cc/ojgbxx Learn how to make a 3D chess set from scratch and match it perfectly with a photo If you’ve ever wanted to add software. The key here is to make PROJECT INFO 3D objects to a 2D photo, a good cross-section of each piece You’ll learn How to create circular then this month’s big project will with the Pen tool (there are ready- three-dimensional show you how. In keeping with the made paths within the starting chess pieces with the 3D extrusion tool, how election fever currently sweeping image), then extrude and bend the to match 3D objects to a 2D photo with Vanishing the UK, we’ll take you through shape to make a circular object. Point, and how to colour, light and position multiple the process of making a political- Once done, you can colour, light 3D objects themed chess board. We’ve and position lots of similar pieces. You’ll need Photoshop CS6 coloured and ordered the pieces It’s a great introduction to 3D in Extended or CC along party lines, but you can use Photoshop. We’ve created kings, It’ll take the same techniques to create queens and pawns to keep with One hour and manipulate all kinds of 3D the political theme, but you can objects directly within Photoshop make rooks, bishops and knights without any need for dedicated 3D using the same 3D techniques. DOWNLOAD PROJECT FILES HERE http://tiny.cc/zpkbxx ON YOUR PC OR MAC

01MAKE A SHAPE 02ROTATE THE Open chess_board.psd. EXTRUSION We’ll define the cross-section of the first chess piece. To do Click Current View in the 3D this you can draw a path with panel, then grab the Move tool. the Pen tool to create half a Click the Orbit icon in the tool cross-section of the desired options, then drag to see the 3D shape, or use the path supplied shape at an angle from above. within the document. Go to the Highlight the Queen shape in Paths panel (Window>Paths) the 3D panel, then go to the and highlight the Queen path. Properties panel and click the Make a new layer and name it Deform icon at the top. Set Queen, then go to 3D>New 3D Horizontal Angle to -360, then Extrusion from selected Path. drag the Extrusion Depth slider until the shape looks right. 03RESTORE THE PERSPECTIVE Go to the Layers panel and hide the Queen layer, then highlight the background layer and go to Filter>Vanishing Point. Click to make a box shape that follows the lines of the chess board in the image. When you’re happy with the alignment of the box on the board, click OK. Next, you can use the grid to match the perspective in the scene with your 3D objects.

04CHANGE THE 05FIT THE PIECE CURRENT VIEW TO THE SCENE Highlight the Queen layer again, Go to 3D>Move Object to then go to the 3D panel and Ground Plane (you can then click Current View. Go to the go to View>Show>3D Ground Properties panel, then set Plane to hide it), then use the View: Vanishing Point Grid. Move along X or Move along Z The view of the Queen axis arrows to drag the chess piece will alter to match the piece around the image (if perspective of the grid. Next, necessary, rotate it around grab the Move tool, click the the Y axis to make it easier to object and drag the centre cube position). Notice how it now of the axis widget to scale it matches the perspective of down to a suitable size. the chess board. 06COLOUR THE OBJECT Go to the 3D panel and click Queen Extrusion Material. We can use the Properties panel to change the appearance of the object. Click the Diffuse colour box and choose a colour, then set Shine 37%, Reflection 19%, Roughness 5%. To check the results, grab the Rectangular Marquee tool, select a small area of the shape, then do a test render by clicking the Render icon.

07MATCH THE LIGHTING 08ADD THE Grab the Move tool and REFLECTIONS click Infinite Light in the 3D panel. Drag the handle up We can add a subtle reflection so that the light comes from on the board to help ground above, like in the background the shape. Go to the 3D panel image. Go to the Properties and click Environment. Go to panel and increase the Shadow the Properties panel and set softness to 30%. Add a second the Ground Plane reflections to infinite light: click the Light icon about 20%, roughness 40%. in the 3D panel and choose Once again, make a rectangular Infinite Light, then direct it from selection and click the Render the right, lower the intensity button in the Properties panel and increase the Softness. to check the effect, then adjust the settings if necessary. 09MAKE A PAWN Make a new layer and name it Pawn, then go to the Paths panel, click the Pawn path, then extrude it to a 3D shape. Once done, press Cmd/ Ctrl+E to merge the Pawn layer with the Queen. Go to the 3D panel and click Pawn, then go to the Properties panel, click Coordinates and make sure X, Y and Z rotation are all zeroed, then use the Move tool to position the piece on the board.

10MATCH THE MATERIAL 11MAKE A KING Highlight the Queen Make a 3D shape for the Extrusion Material, click the King Body path. Once done, material preset drop-down make a new layer, highlight the menu, then click the flyout King Path (top) path, then again menu and choose New Material go to 3D>New 3D Extrusion to save the green material as a from Path. This time, just use preset. You can then highlight the Extrusion depth without the Pawn Extrusion Material rotation, then position the and apply the green preset. shape on top of the king piece Next, right click Pawn in the (use the coordinates to reset 3D panel, choose Duplicate any rotation). Highlight all the Shapes, then use the Move tool 3D layers and press Cmd/Ctrl+E to reposition the copy. to merge the layers. 12ADD ANOTHER COLOUR Go to the 3D panel, highlight the two King shapes, right click and choose Group Objects. Click parts of the King piece to highlight the Extrusion material, then go to the Properties panel, add the green material preset and change the Diffuse colour to Red. Next, duplicate a few of the Pawn shapes, move them behind the red piece, and change the colour.

13BUILD UP THE REST 14DISTORT OF THE SET THE SHAPES Continue adding more pieces Once you’re happy with the and colouring them in the same position and colouring of your way to build up the pieces on pieces, you could try distorting the chess board. Use the Slide some of them slightly so that Object Move tool to move the they look less uniform. Use the pieces around the board, and axis widget to scale along Y to make sure they all line up with stretch the sizes slightly, then the ground plane. It can be make sure you go to 3D>Move useful to store your chosen to Ground Plane once you’ve colours as swatches in the finished to reset the positions, Swatches panel for easy access else the pieces won’t look and to keep them consistent. quite right. 15APPLY SHALLOW FOCUS TO THE IMAGE Finally, we can add a depth-of- field effect to mimic the shallow focus in the background scene. Go to the 3D panel and click Current View, then set Depth of Field Distance 0.28, Depth 2.2. Click the Render button to render the scene. This may take a while. Once it’s finished, press Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E to merge a 2D layer of your scene, then save it.

WATCH THE VIDEO http://tiny.cc/velbxx This month we show you how to create a spot colour effect with the HSL panel 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 six 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. Four versions of Photoshop with varying capabilities… PHOTOSHOP CC ELEMENTS 13 £8.78/$9.99 per month £66.43/$99.99 20GB online storage Great value, no subscription fees Behance Prosite  Camera Raw doesn’t include any There are constant updates to the program selective or gradient adjustments, and is limited as soon as new features are introduced compared with Lightroom 5 or Photoshop CC Subscription model saves large initial outlay  No Curves adjustments  Monthly subs not everyone’s cup of tea The ideal package for beginners and Perfect for photographers photography enthusiasts LIGHTROOM 6 PHOTOSHOP TOUCH £100.07 £6.99/$9.99 tablet Showcases outstanding £2.99/$4.99 phone image-processing features Ideal for smartphone image editing, especially while you’re out and about  There are no layers or masks, so compositing multiple images isn’t an option Photoshop Touch includes layers and Curves Ideal for professional and enthusiast photographers At these prices, it’s a no brainer who don’t want a monthly subscription Ideal for mobile phone shooters and dabblers

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 organiser 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 images by the star rating to group the ones you want to work on. 2 The next step is to open the images 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 a wider 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 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 use your adjustments in Adobe Camera Raw the most in the Basic panel. THE BASIC SATURATION CONTRAST PANEL IN ACR Controls the overall colour 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 to Controls the brightness correct a colour 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 colours

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 colour channels in an image – greens and blues in landscapes, for instance. Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, click the Master menu and choose the colour 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 Switch the foreground and background colours to black and white colour 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+ALT+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 colour 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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