Photoshop Creative Collection Vol 07 [2011]

Page 202 Page 224 Page 228 232 Feature: Learn to 244 Marquee tool masterclass Page 238 Give your images a new lease of life use Levels PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 201 246 Content-Aware Scaling Master Photoshop’s ultimate tool for Selectively resize images in a flash banishing washed-out images 248 The Texture filters 238 Remove subjects from Avoid flat and lifeless paintings your images 252 Understanding clipping Pick the parts you want masks 240 The Curves Learn to apply this unappreciated Photoshop feature adjustment tool Transform colour, contrast and tonal range

feature Ultimate guide to selections tUoltismealteecgtuioidnes Your one-stop guide to achieving perfect selections in whatever you do S elections are at the core of Photoshop’s power, the top of the agenda. By working your way through each and are the foundations that have made section you can pick up tips and techniques to translate Photoshop stand out from the competition into your own projects. – it has proven quite a challenge to squeeze the subject into ten pages! We show you the basics of each tool, and break down Selections come in all shapes and sizes, and it’s handy into steps the processes involved in setting and applying to know which ones work best for the task ahead. That’s each one. Take our personal favourite as an example why we’ve split the following feature into sections – the Pen tool – as this has the unique trait of allowing involving composites, creative projects and photo- you to stay in full control as you work your way around retouching, all with selections and their techniques at a subject to form a selection. You can tweak the tool’s path, and edit it at a later stage if it’s not right. But this is 202 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

not the quickest Selection tool out there. For speed and Hopefully you can find the selection technique you’ve accuracy, the winner is the Quick Selection tool, which been looking for all this time! And why not follow our we demonstrate on a complex subject such as our image tutorials using your own images to give your creations a of the Lander. unique spin? It’s amazing just how big a role selections play in “Selections are at the core of Photoshop’s power, Photoshop, and how Photoshop (and digital art for that and are the foundations that have made Photoshop matter) couldn’t exist without them. They are rarely the main focus of a project, but get them wrong and you stand out from the competition” can ruin an otherwise perfect scene. So it’s important to spend some time getting used to their ways. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 203

feature Ultimate guide to selections Composites Compositing two images can present new vistas to the viewer and Before unlimited possibilities to the digital artist Seamlessly combine images “The Pen tool is also handy in Y ou may often have seen two images and the quest for composites: the thought they’d look great together, but trick is making a seamless found the idea of laboriously drawing around a subject enough to burst that bubble. edge between subjects” You can make the task easier to swallow with a handy tool named Quick Selection, a cousin to the Magic Wand. One reason the Quick Selection tool is so helpful is in the way it can spread across a busy area of an image and detect the defining edge between subject and background. This proved perfect for our image of the Lander, where other selections methods would have taken much longer. The Pen tool is also handy in the quest for composites, but does require skill: the trick is making a seamless edge between subject and background. In our example, the Pen tool selected the boundaries of the window in our cockpit. You’ll learn how to manipulate the tool’s anchor points, made as you form a path. The path can then be saved and used to combine multiple selections into one layer. The cockpit image used here was courtesy of Quasi Modo at www.sxc.hu/profile/ easternmar, and the desert image, donated by Julia Starr at www.sxc.hu/profile/night_fate. A change of view 02 Begin the selection Hit the ‘F’ key to give the 03 Manipulatingthepath Work your way canvas a grey background behind your image. around the edges of the window, bending How to set up and apply the Pen tool for As the window of the cockpit is against the edge of the the path as you go using the anchor points. After each making a frame and replacing the contents image, drag the image to one side using the Spacebar. bend, Alt-click on the manipulated anchor point to With the Pen tool, begin your path on the grey canvas. continue laying the outline with straight lines. 01Set to Path Locate the Duplicating paths cockpit image from the website. For When a path has been completed and creating a path to joined together using the Pen tool, select turn into a selection, the Direct Selection tool and hold Alt. Hover select the Pen tool over the path, and a plus symbol should and make sure appear under the tool’s pointer. Click and that the Paths symbol (second drag the path to duplicate and move. box in the Options bar) is ticked. 05 Finished selection When the entire window The selection has been selected, go to Selection>Inverse should appear as (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+I) and add a layer mask, showing a simple outline. only the inside of the cockpit. Click the layer mask’s thumbnail in the Layers palette and go to Filter>Blur> 04Complete Gaussian Blur. Set Radius to 1px. Find a nice landscape the path image and drag onto the canvas to complete. When the path is joined up, Ctrl/right- click in the area and pick Make Selection. Go to Select>Save Selection, and hit OK. This saves it as a new Alpha channel. For every new path, pick Alpha 1 from this menu and tick Add To Channel. 204 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Refine Edge Refine Edge came onto the scene with PS CS3, and it gives more options and control over editing selections. To use it with the Pen tool, after drawing around your subject and completing the path, Ctrl/ right-click in the path and hit Make Selection. Select one of the Marquee Selection tools and the Refine Edge option should appear in the Options bar. Open this menu and you’ll see Radius, Contrast, Feather and Contract/Expand. Adapt these for an even better selection. CS5 has further improved this feature, with new Edge Detection options and a Decontaminate Colors adjustment for fine, crisp selections. Create your own optical illusion quickly and easily using the Quick Selection tool “The Quick Selection tool Inhabiting planets Using the Quick Selection tool, you can can detect the defining edge create composites quickly and effectively between subject/background” Magnetic control 01 Speedytake-off Quick Selection, 02 Easyas found with Magic Wand, offers a fast click and With the Pen tool selected, choose the Freeform way of selecting complex areas. The Options drag! Using an Pen box in the Options bar and tick the Magnetic bar has a brush setup for Quick Selection. The image of a Lander box. This changes the behaviour of the Pen tool bigger the brush, the larger the selection. and a desert, and it attaches itself to the edges of the subject. Try zoom in to 200%. zooming in to 300% and moving slowly around the Set the Size of the edges to ensure a good selection. This method offers tool to 8px with an alternative to the normal use of the Pen tool, where 100% Hardness. you need to click and adjust each point of the path From the outside as you go. This way can also prove quicker than the in, click and drag normal method, although results are slightly harder over the Lander to to control. It’s worth trying both ways if you find make a selection. yourself struggling with a particular one. Depending on how good you are at drawing freehand, you can uncheck the Magnetic option for complete freedom of making a selection. 03 Soften selection If you stray outside the 04 Satellite Download the satellite dish pic object, Alt-click to remove the selection. ‘IMG_0813_s.jpg’ from Morguefile.com. For thinner areas of the Lander, decrease Brush Size Zoom to 25% and use Quick Selection set to 50px to 4px. When the selection is complete, double-click Diameter in the Options bar to select the main area. the layer and add a layer mask. Select the mask, go to Zoom in to 200%, make Diameter 16px and select Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, apply 1px to soften edges. the dish’s support poles. Add a layer mask and drag onto the desert image with the Lander cutout. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 205

feature Ultimate guide to selections Using selections creatively Design a scrapbook with the Marquee and How to use them for those small but important elements Lasso tools W hen it comes to selecting objects for the style you’re after. For our scrapbook design Create the border Using the Rectangular creative uses, you can get away with here, we’ve built up the page furniture using the Marquee tool, draw the outline of your simpler techniques, as the selection will Rectangular and Elliptical Marquee tools, and scrapbook and go to Edit>Fill (F5). Select a often be covered or masked by the creative process placed each new shape on its own layer. This way, colour and hit OK. Now choose the Brush tool being applied. This means you get to enjoy the we could give different layer styles and blend and set it to a Chalk tip. Click on one corner Marquee and Lasso tools. They suit tasks such modes to each one, to add depth and texture. of the background, hold Shift and click on as scrapbooking perfectly due to their ‘sketchy’ another corner. appearance and haphazard results. Follow our step-by-step on creating a custom The Lasso tools can be applied to your image shape using the Marquee tools, which could then “The Magnetic Lasso with very little effort, and their freehand style gives be applied to your scrapbook for a unique design. tool is ideal for making you a selection that may not be exact but could be Find out how to form clouds, and maybe a sky that fast selections around could be used as your scrapbook’s background… your subject” Cloud formations Photo corners Select the Polygonal Lasso tool and set Feather to 0 in the Options bar. Draw a Build up some fluffy shapes small photo corner by holding Shift to create set vertical and diagonal lines. When complete, go One of the many uses of the Elliptical Marquee tool is creating to Edit>Fill and choose black. simple shapes. These could be used as part of a scrapbook, poster, card design or even on a website. To perform this particular task, you need to head to the Options bar to change the setup of the tool. With the Elliptical Marquee tool selected, click on the second option from the left in the Options bar, called Add To Selection. Now, whenever an oval selection is drawn, you can add to it simply by drawing another one overlapping. This enables you to build up oval upon oval, forming the fluffy nature of a cloud. When one cloud is made, hold Shift to continue drawing more. Creating a custom shape 01 The frame Select the Rectangular Marquee tool and draw a rectangle selection on a blank Using the Marquee tools for designing shapes white canvas. Click Add To Selection in the Options bar, and hit the Elliptical Marquee tool. Begin to elaborate There are a vast number of custom shapes in PS, the design of your frame by overlapping oval selections. from arrowheads and signposts to musical notation and outlines of animals. They let you quickly draw simple outlines on the canvas, and can be resized using Edit>Free Transform. They’re also editable once drawn on. Selection tools can be used for creating custom shapes of your own, and using the Marquee tools you can form the shape of nearly anything. Here’s how to use the Rectangular and Elliptical Marquee tools to create a frame for using around an image, which can be saved and used repeatedly. 02 Turn into a path When your frame design is 03 Saveshape Go to Edit>De ne Custom complete, Ctrl/right-click inside the selection and Shape, and in the Shape Name eld give choose Make Work Path from the list. In the pop-up menu your frame a name. Hit OK, select the Custom Shape set Tolerance to 0.5px and hit OK. Your selection should tool (U) and search for your frame in the Options bar. now be a solid path. 206 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Create a scrapbook Selections with the Lasso tools The Magnetic Lasso tool is ideal for making fast selections around your subject. Set a number in the Frequency in the Options bar (a higher number is more accurate), and zoom 300% into your image for a closer inspection of the pixels. Click on the edge of your subject and drag the selection around the area to form points along a path. Left-clicking as you go places points manually. Join up the two ends to complete your selection. Make scrap paper Add decorations The More decorations The With the Lasso, draw a Elliptical Marquee tool is Rectangular Marquee selection of a torn piece great for making perfect tool can also make of paper. Edit>Fill with circles and lling with good page furniture. white and double-click colour. Decorate your On a new layer, draw a its layer to open the scrapbook with circles tall and thin rectangle Layer Style menu. Add a of various sizes (hold across the entire canvas subtle drop shadow and Shift while making a and ll with white. Use a gradient overlay. Set the selection) and set the Edit>Free Transform to gradient to two blue lines blend mode to Screen rotate slightly to use it as in the Gradient Editor. for each one. a banner. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 207

feature Ultimate guide to selections Usingtherighttoolsmeansthistaskisnottoodi cult Masking hair Before Using channels for one of the trickiest jobs in PS Photo-retouching 01 Pickchannel Download ‘1167491.jpg’ 02 AdjustLevels Click on the duplicated from www.sxc.hu. Open the Channels channel (making sure it’s the only one Focus on the crowning glory palette (Window>Channels) and click the Red, visible) and go to Image>Adjustments>Levels. Green and Blue channels. Pick the channel with Slide the midtones point to the right to darken R etouching images is an art in itself, and takes most contrast – blue works well. Ctrl/right-click the hair. Make sure the strands of hair are just as much dedication as is required with the channel, hit Duplicate Channel then OK. completely black, and hit OK. forms such as painting. Depending on the task, some selection methods will 03 Createamask Using the Brush tool 04 Loadtheselection Ctrl/Cmd-click on work better than others. One task is the challenge of set to black with 80% Hardness, paint the thumbnail of the duplicate channel selecting hair accurately – a daunting prospect. Here black over the subject’s face and body. Use to load as a selection. Hit Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+I to we show you how to make the most of the Channels the Eraser tool set to white to remove leftover inverse the selection. Go into your Layers palette palette for making selections around hair, and how background, roughly going around the hair, to and drag the background layer onto the Create choosing the best channel can make all the difference. create your mask. New Layer button and apply a layer mask. The main consideration with selecting hair is asking yourself what its final use will be. A quality cutout lies not just in the selection process but in the touch- up process too. We demonstrate various ways to edit on both a white and a black background, to give you different ways of editing after the selection is made. If using CS5, you can benefit from an improved Refine Edge menu, making selections around hair easier. Selections can help retouch a cityscape with the use of a long-standing member of Photoshop, the Magic Wand tool. With areas of foliage or grey buildings, you can set up the tool to make a selection spreading across your image, to pick out just one colour. 208 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Rescue a cityscape The Magic Wand tool is ideal for retouching 01 Sky Findanicecityscapeimage(we’re Before using one from Charlotte Pickering) and pick the Magic Wand. In Options set Tolerance After to 10, tick Contiguous. Zoom in 100%, click the grey sky. Using Alt- and Shift-click, remove/ add areas. In Select>Modify>Feather enter 1px. In Layer>New>Layer Via Copy place sky on own layer. 02 Select greenery Uncheck the Contiguous box in the 03 Selecttherest To select the 04 Finalselections IntheChannels Options bar and set Tolerance to 50. Click multiple times remaining area, Ctrl/Cmd-click on the palette Ctrl/Cmd-click the thumbnail of on a tree and the selection should select all green parts in the sky layer’s thumbnail and then Ctrl/right-click Alpha 1, then go Select>Inverse. With the selection image. Hit ‘Q’ for Quick Mask mode and use the Brush and Eraser in the selected area with the Magic Wand tool. active, Feather by 1px, click the background layer tools to edit the selection accurately. Select the background layer, Choose Save Selection and hit OK to save it as a and go to Layer>New>Copy Via Layer to complete Feather by 1px and go to Layer>New Layer>Layer Via Copy. new channel. Do the same with the tree layer, the three-way dissection of the cityscape. For each but select Alpha 1 in the dialog box and tick Add segment, use adjustments such as Levels and To Channel. Hit OK. Saturation to boost colour and contrast. Improving your mask set it to white and hit OK. Click back on the layer the edges of the hair. The result is a darker edge – white background mask, and with the Brush tool set to black at with darker strands of hair. Against a white 30% Hardness, tidy the edges of the hair. Some background this stands out, but as we’re using Creating a spotless selection around hair strands may need sacrificing, but using the a black one behind our subject, the effect isn’t depends on the use of the image, and also Eraser tool set to white, errors can be undone noticeable. The way the image is going the background it’s going on. For a white on the layer mask. The model should now be to be used, or the colour background it’s background, after adding the layer mask around against an entirely white background with going to be placed against, will decide the your subject, create a new layer and position it wispy hair. Save a layered copy of the image, touch-up methods. in the middle of the layer stack. Go to Edit>Fill, and then go to Layer>Flatten Image to continue to edit the model in the desired way. If you have a darker background, use the Clone Stamp to tidy up Use the Eraser tool to achieve a precise hair cutout on white Removing ‘halo’ edges If, after making the selection, you place the image on a black background, you may see a halo effect, or a muddy distinction between the background and the hair. These are areas left over from the background. To darken these areas, click on the image’s thumbnail to the left of the layer mask in the Layers palette and zoom in to 100%. Select the Clone Stamp tool and set its mode to Luminosity in the Options bar. Using Alt-click, apply the Clone Stamp along PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 209

feature Ultimate guide to selections Custom shapes can be used to make selections, The best of the rest offering a variety of outlines and cut-out Ten techniques for making and editing selections shapes. With the Custom Custom shape cutouts Shape tool selected, head to the Options bar and Paint a selection pick your shape. Draw the shape over the image, and If you have a steady hand and take the opportunity to in the Layers palette Ctrl/ paint whenever you can, you can use the Brush tool to Cmd-click the layer mask’s make a selection. With your image open, double-click its thumbnail to load as a layer to make it editable. Add a layer mask to the image and selection. Hit Backspace to select the Brush tool set to black. Paint over the areas of remove the layer contents the image you want to hide, and hold Shift while clicking for and the layer itself, leaving just the selection outline. straight edges. Use the Move tool to cut out the shape. Defringe After you’ve made your selection and replaced Selecting colour with Color Range Extract filter what’s behind with a new image, an outline If you’re looking to make a selection of one colour, the Color of one or two pixels can Range command could quite possibly be your best bet. sometimes occur from Select the Magic Wand tool and Ctrl/right-click on your image. the last background. Choose Select>Color Range, and click once on the colour You can remove this to form a mask (in the preview window). Click on the Add To thin strip of colour from Sample eyedropper to add areas that have been missed. the edges by using Photoshop’s Defringe command, found under Layer>Matting>Defringe. Make sure that a layer mask has not been placed on your image about to be defringed. The Extract filter is another method for removing a subject from its background, and is especially helpful for selecting hair in portrait images. For Photoshop CS4 users, the filter is downloadable from www. adobe.com/downloads, and goes straight into the Filter menu. Once loaded up, paint around the edges of your subject and use the filter’s Paint Bucket tool to fill, then hit OK to extract. 210 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Constraining a selection Resizing selections You can set a selection to a certain size using the Options bar Photoshop allows you to transform a selection using the field’s Width and Height. Alternatively, when making a selection, Select>Transform Selection command. You can tweak a selection holding down the Shift key will keep the Rectangular Marquee tool perfectly square and the Elliptical Marquee an exact circle. To draw by rotating or reshaping, depending on the shape and size of a selection from the cursor outward, hold the Alt key. Combining your intended new background. With the Transform controls Shift with Alt creates a perfectly centred square or circle. active, Ctrl/right-click and open a menu of other options such as Perspective, Warp and Skew. This way, you’re only applying transformations to the selection area and not the image. Refine Edge in CS5 If you’re using Photoshop CS5 then you have the Hiding selections blessing of an improved Refine Edge menu, helping One of Photoshop’s helpful shortcut combinations is Ctrl/Cmd+H. to remove subjects with This quickly hides any selections on your canvas in the event that even more precision. they obstruct your view. The important point to always keep in mind In this menu, new is that when a selection is hidden it’s still active and is affected by Edge Detection option any adjustments being made. Smart Radius lets you accurately pick out thin Modify commands edges, with the control of its Radius slider – a big improvement every artist will benefit from. Also, the Decontaminate Colors option removes leftover colours from a removed background. Accessed through Select>Modify, these commands include Feather, Contract, Expand, Smooth and Border. These are selection aids, helping to make your selection cleaner and more accurate. When creating photo- composites, try applying the Feather command with 1px to an active selection before cutting out a subject, to soften the edges of the area. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 211

tutorial Depth of field with Photoshop Depth of field with Ahand-made blur Photoshop Learn how to recreate this classic photographic Use the Blur tool to paint depth of field technique with some swift use of Photoshop You can nely adapt depth of eld with some help from the epth of eld has a big role in digital imaging. In fact, Blur tool. The tool does have its blurring limits, but is great for tweaking speci c areas you want to blur. It lets you paint on the ON THE DISC the idea of blurring subjects is one of the best ways blur, as opposed to using a lter. iStock_ to draw attention to or away from another subject. 01Setupthe 1738640Medium. options Choose jpg (courtesy of Taken from the photographic technique, the Lens theBlurtoolandhead Jen Trenchard, totheOptionsbar.Keep www. Blur lter in Photoshop replicates the e ect to near precision in no themodeonNormal; time at all. setStrengthto100%for maxe ect.Pickalarge, istockphoto.com/ What’s more, Photoshop’s lters can be manipulated to t your soft-edgedbrushwith TriggerPhoto) image. For example, apply one dose of the Lens Blur lter, duplicate Hardness:0%.Duplicate thebackgroundlayerin YOUR EXPERT its layer and then apply another dose to strengthen the e ect. With theLayerspalette. two layers of di erent levels of blurring, you can then erase areas Simon of your image to reveal the slightly less blurred image underneath. 02 Blurthe Skellon This creates a more gradual depth of eld e ect, and gives it an extra background Startingwiththe sense of realism as well. background,usethe Blurtooltothrowit For an accurate and clean depth of eld through your image, completelyoutoffocus. Keepapplyingtheblur make selections around the subjects you wish to control. Adding e ectinacircularmotion, andtrytoavoidblurring these selections to individual layer masks allows you to keep these foregroundelements. areas sharper than the rest of the image. 03 Movingthe foreground The Blur tool is a great aid for ‘painting’ depth of eld. Although not LowertheStrengthofthe Blurtoolto50%,andblur as in-depth as the Lens Blur lter, it works well nonetheless. If you’re theareasinyourimage thatareclosertothe using Photoshop 7 or earlier, the Lens Blur lter isn’t available. For a foreground.It’sagreat waytocreateagradual very similar replacement, try the Gaussian Blur lter. depthof elde ectusing atoolratherthana lter. Blur filters Shallowandextended effects The available options for depth of field Two forms of depth of field Depth of field is created using the Blur Depth of field can be divided into two sub- filters (Filter>Blur), and although there categories: shallow and extended. The are many within the menu, including difference is down to how much of the image Gaussian, Motion and Box Blur, the filter is left in focus. If your subject is close up, of choice here is Lens Blur. This imitates then creating a shallow depth of field is your the real photographic effect made by a best bet. This puts most of your image out of camera’s lens, and does all the work for focus, keeping the main subject the centre you. However, the Gaussian Blur filter is of attention. Using an extended depth of field the next best thing, and throws the entire effect places most of your image in focus. This image out of focus in an even manner. Experiment with the Box Blur option is more suitable when there’s a lot of distance too, as this creates a smooth depth of field effect with square-like blurs. If you between the foreground and background have Photoshop 7 or earlier, Gaussian Blur is the best available option. For elements in your image, making for a more users of versions CS and above, the Lens Blur does just the job. gradual blur. 212 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Tip Visualise effect Before applying depth of Using Channels The Channels palette is Atime-saver eld to your image, assess which elements perfect for saving selections into, and the and subjects you want to keep sharp. Usually initial selection ‘Woman’ was used with the ToapplytheLens they fall within the same area for a realistic Lens Blur lter to make sure she is entirely in Blurfilterinsmall e ect, but there’s nothing stopping you focus. The other black and white channel doses,andtosave mixing in-focus and blurry subjects. relates to the top layer in the layer stack. timegoinginand outofthefilteronce appliedthefirsttime, gotoFilter>Lens Blur(atthetopof theFiltermenu)to quicklyapplythe effectwiththelast settingsused. Editing layer masks To make each layer mask t with the surroundings in your image, the Brush and Eraser tools are used to edit the black and white layer mask in the Layers palette. You can blend in layers and the e ects on them using these tools. Start photo Foreground to background Creating Building layer masks With layer masks levels of blurriness creates a greater sense of on all layers with varying amounts of blur, depth in your image. Apply more blurring you can build up the e ect of depth of to the areas of your image that are further eld in a natural, true-to-life way. Here, in the distance, and also to the subjects that the trees in the background have been are very close in the foreground. blurred more than the foreground. Choosing the subject Utilising selections Position of the blur Choose the right method to select your subject The choice of main subject is Making the most of the Selection important when applying depth tools in Photoshop helps to achieve of field. Commonly the effect is a more precise depth of field around aimed at the main subject to give your main subject. The Magic Wand it the most attention, though tool is one of the most effective this rule can always be broken. tools for our main image here, but Try mixing it up by blurring depending on your subject, try using the prominent subject in your the Pen or Freeform Pen tools to draw image and focus on an object around the subject that you want to further in the background. This keep in focus. The Magnetic Lasso works best if your subject has tool is another great option for this its back to the viewer. Layer masks are really helpful in this scenario, as you purpose, as its slight roughness is can use the Brush and Eraser tools to quickly edit where the blur effect falls. great for the effect we’re going for. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 213

tutorial Depth of field with Photoshop Tip A MULTI-LAYERED DEPTH OF FIELD EFFECT Use filters and layer masks to selectively blur your image lIingthetninsgify 01 Making your selection The Quick 02 Save As Channel With the 03 Feathering channel To add a soft Selection or Magic Wand tools are Selection tool, Ctrl/right-click inside edge to the selection just made, Toaidthedepth useful for making a selection around the the selected area and choose Save Selection in the Channels palette click on the Woman offieldeffect,itis woman. Take the Quick Selection tool, set its from the drop-down menu. In the dialog channel. The image will turn solid black usefultoapplythe Diameter to 9, Hardness to 50% and Spacing box, enter the name ‘Woman’ and hit OK. and white. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur SmartSharpenfilter to 25%. Make the selection around the The selection is now saved in the Channels and enter a Radius value of 1.5px to blur the toyourmainsubject woman, holding Alt to correct any stray areas. palette (Window>Channels) to load at any channel’s edges. that’sinfocus.Once time. Hit Ctrl/Cmd+D to remove the youreachthefinal selection outlines. 05 Set stepinthetutorial Radius opposite,selectthe 04 Apply In the Lens Blur toplayerand goto Lens Blur window, under Filter>Sharpen> In the Layers palette Iris, set Shape to SmartSharpen.Set drag the background Hexagon, Radius to theAmountslider layer onto the Create 8, and both Blade to70%andRadius New Layer button Curvature and to6.5px.HitOK, to duplicate. Go to Rotation to 0. Make andthewomanin Filter>Blur>Lens sure Brightness is theimageshould Blur, tick the Preview set to 0, and that lookbrighterand box and the More Noise is also reduced sharper,toplace Accurate option all the way to 0. Hit moreemphasis at the top of the OK, and your image onthehighlights window. Set Source should update. andshadows. to ‘Woman’ and tick Invert. Only the background should be blurred. Non-destructive blurring Hiding the eyesore With a little help from layer masks Use the effect to hide certain areas of your image Layer masks are ideal for creating Depth of field is not only used to add impact non-destructive selections. They and depth to your image – you can also use can be deleted to reset an image it to hide certain subjects that are a bit of to its normal state, temporarily an eyesore. Whether in the foreground or hidden or layered on top of each background, depth of field can blur a subject other. In this Technique, apply the out of focus to the point where it becomes Lens Blur filter to one layer then unrecognisable. This could be something add a layer mask. You can edit that was too ‘busy’ compared to the rest of the mask using the Gradient tool, the image, or a subject that shouldn’t have or the Brush and Eraser tools make transitions of blurred and non- been there when the picture was taken. It blurred areas. Copy this layer, apply the Lens Blur filter again, and edit can also be used as an alternative method of the layer mask to blend in two blurry layers. Shift-click the layer mask retouching an image – instead of using the to hide and reveal its content. Alt-click to make the mask visible. Clone tool, for example. 214 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

06 More Lens Blur Duplicate the 07 Blend the effect Apply a layer 08 Tidying up We need to blend the join of the eld and layer with the Lens Blur e ect at the mask to the top layer in the Layers trees together. Select the Eraser tool and set its Diameter to top of the Layers palette. Go back into Filter> palette (the one with the most blur). Select 800px, Hardness to 0%, and set to Black. Zoom in 50% to your image Blur>Lens Blur and keep all settings the the Gradient tool and set the foreground and apply the Eraser over the tops of the grass and just at the base of same, apart from the Radius. Slide the Radius colour swatch to Black. With the white layer the trees to make an even depth of eld e ect. adjustment up to 50. This is for the most mask selected, draw a vertical gradient line distant trees in our image. Hit OK to apply. over the point where the eld meets the trees. Don’t worry about rough edges. 09 More tidying up… Apply a 10 Crisp results Duplicate the 11 Smarten up Using the Brush tool set to 8px with 50% layer mask to the middle of the background layer (bottom in the Hardness, zoom in to 200% and touch up the areas around three layers in the Layers palette. Change Layers palette). Drag the copy to the top of the ngers and head to clean up the edges. The Clone tool is also the foreground colour to white from black, the layer stack. In the Channels palette hold handy for retouching edges, using the blurriest layer to sample from. and with the Eraser tool set to 500px, zoom Ctrl/Cmd and click on the thumbnail of the out to 33.3%. On the layer mask, erase the Woman channel to activate the selection. foreground part of the eld in line with the Now add a layer mask in the Layers palette. woman’s body to reveal the clearer area. Highlighting with Lens Blur Warm up your image Accentuate your image’s highlights Why stop at depth of field? The Lens Blur filter has When the depth of field an option for making is added to your image, extreme highlights stand try adding a Photo Filter out, named Specular adjustment layer to the Highlights. This is an Layers palette. For this image aspect of the depth of we added a Warming filter field effect that shows to really bring out the warmth overexposed areas of an in the field and the model’s image. Usually this isn’t skin. Experiment with a great look to have, but different colours and in Photoshop it has its artistic place and is worth experimenting with. tones, and also apply blend Turn the Threshold slider down and increase the Brightness slider to modes such as Overlay apply the effect. This is best suited to fantasy-based art, where the or Soft Light to produce effect shows extremely bright light sources hitting surfaces. different effects. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 215

tutorial Resizing techniques tReecshinziinqgues Options bar In Resizing images is easy in Photoshop – deciding the Options bar the on the best composition is the hard part dimensions of the cropping can be set crucial factor in composing in the toolbar, o ers a quick way to trim depending on print an image is how it has been an image to size, whether it’s changing size, frame size or framed, cropped or resized. orientation or cropping out distracting orientation to suit Photoshop has a variety of subjects from the edge of a frame. your composition. methods for either shrinking or blowing You can set these up to bigger dimensions. The Content-Aware Scale feature with the Crop tool It’s amazing how the slightest change in Photoshop CS4 and Recompose in or Free Transform of framing changes an image’s message Elements 8 rescales your image, leaving and Content-Aware and how that message is perceived by important subjects intact. Subjects such Scale features. the viewer. When you come to print as people or cars are recognised as one your artwork, its size and shape are both object, and only the areas around those are After important visual clues to its message. stretched or squashed. The decision of framing an image mostly comes down to the lines of composition, or Use this Focus On as a guide to picking direction, within it. the best resizing method for your image. Photoshop has a lot on o er for such a It’ll work equally well whether you want to simple job as resizing. The Crop tool, found add more punch with a tightly cropped composition, or enlarge an image and add a Resample method for smooth results. Crop tool Transform menu Remove unwanted areas Tools for different styles The Crop tool is invaluable in Photoshop, and a little cropping can make or break your In the Edit menu PS has a range of composition. Selected from the toolbar, the Crop tool can be set to specific dimensions by resizing methods under the Transform entering values in the Options bar. The resolution of the final image can also be chosen here. option. The Free Transform option To freely play with the dimensions of the cropping frame, leave these fields blank. Once the is a quick way to shrink an image cropping frame is added to your image, you can black out the outer areas with the Shield inside a canvas, whether to throw it command in the Options bar. However, the tool can also be used to straighten a wonky out of proportion or keep the resize image by ticking the constrained by holding Shift and Perspective box. dragging. Other Transform options Then by dragging include Skew, Warp and Distort, the corners of the tweaking an image in multiple ways. cropping frame to You can be specific with the angle, points in your image, height and skew of the Transform using it automatically Before After the Options bar. For a quick way to access Transform options, hit Ctrl/ straightens it up. Cmd+T and then Ctrl/right-click over the image to open the list. 216 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Tip A smoother enlargement Enlarging an image can lead to problems such as loss of quality and distortion. Here are three steps to using the Image Size menu and applying a Resampling option. Content-Aware Scaling Under Editable 01Open up the Edit>Content-Aware Scale, an layers menu Your image can be resized while rst step is to go to keeping each subject the same Beforeyoucanuse Image>Image Size in shape. We’ve kept the building anyoftheTransform order to open up the in this image in one piece but tools,youfirsthaveto dialog box containing stretched the sky and river. makesurethelayeris all of the image’s Edit menu In aneditableone.Ifthe le dimensions and the Edit menu the layerislockedthen Resample methods. group of Transform double-clickonit commands are andhitOKintheNew 02Constrain grouped along with Layerdialogbox. sizes the Free Transform Make sure the and Content-Aware Before resizing Constrain Proportions Scale options. box is ticked, so that dimensions change together. Choose your measurement to work with and then increase the width to your chosen size. 03Resampling method In the Resample Image eld choose Bicubic Smoother, which is best for enlargements. Hit OK, and Photoshop reduces the loss of noticeable quality when you enlarge. Content-Aware scaling Using Image Size Intelligent resizing Controlling pixel dimensions In PS CS4 the Content-Aware Scale For precision, use Image>Image option is available in the Edit menu. Size to resize. Here you can set the The tool works in a similar way to the exact sizes of the pixel dimensions Free Transform tool, as it can shrink or and the document size too. You enlarge your image, but is very clever. choose the measurement, so you The Content-Aware Scale tool considers know what you’re going to get. the subjects in your image when Essential information is given, resizing, and only areas of repetitiveness such as the file size before and (for example a blue sky) are affected. after a change is made. You can Areas of your image such as buildings set the Resample method when or people are kept with the same blowing up proportions to make dimension, and skin tones can also be edges of subjects smoother. protected. The busier an image is, the Methods include Bicubic less effective the tool is. Smoother or Sharper, and Bilinear. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 217

tutorial Photoshop CS5 Bristle Tips BPhriosttolesThioppsCS5 Powerful previews The Bristle Brush Photoshop CS5 has a new collection of truly dynamic Bristle Preview window shows you a virtualised brushes that are as good as the real thing! view of your Bristle brush as you use it. Display this via View>Show>Brush Preview lthough Photoshop has can adjust every single aspect of these (make sure that Extras is checked). Shift-click always featured a wide bristles, leading to remarkably realistic brush on the Brush Preview window to switch variety of brushes, essentially strokes and an incredibly natural feel in use. between view modes and click in the brush they’ve been static brushes These new advanced brushes are also very in order to change your viewpoint. with a limited amount of dynamic sensitive to your stylus, being realistically Make them come alive characteristics. These o er fairly basic a ected by both the angle of your stylus Although you can use these features such as Opacity, Flow and a few and the amount of pressure you apply. This brushes with the conventional Jitter features. means that you can paint with the very tips Brush tool, they’re most e ective of the bristles – or even use their sides. It when used with the new Mixer All that has changed in Photoshop CS5, also means that by applying more pressure, Brush tool. Choose the Mixer the bristles of the brush ex and bend, Brush tool (nested with the Brush thanks to the introduction of the new Bristle actually splaying out on the surface of your tool), and then choose your Mix virtual canvas. Modes from the Options bar. Tip brushes. Bristle Tips not only look very The Bristle Tip brushes are especially di erent to standard Photoshop brushes in e ective and realistic when used in conjunction with the new CS5 Mixer the Brush Picker or the new Brush Presets Brush tool, as we have done here, creating paintings that are barely distinguishable panel, they also perform in an entirely from the real thing! di erent way. Essentially, Bristle Tip brushes are the closest digital equivalent you’ll nd to traditional artists’ brushes. Each of these brushes is made up from many individual virtual bristles, and you Bristling with controls! Tool presets Making adjustments to your Bristle Tips Save all the brush settings To make adjustments to the Bristle The Bristle brushes themselves brushes, access the Brush panel via demand quite a lot of careful the small icon in the Brush Presets adjustment to get them working panel. In the Brush Tip Shape exactly the way you want, section you’ll see a new collection and when you use them in of controls called Bristle Qualities. conjunction with the Mixer From here you can control every Brush tool you’ll also be making aspect of the bristles in the brush adjustments to the various itself. To adjust the density of the settings for that tool. Although bristle, use the Bristles slider and you can save a modified Bristle change the width of each bristle via the Thickness slider. As you make adjustments, the Brush as a brush preset, to save stroke preview will update, but more importantly you’ll see the changes you’re making to the brush along with Mixer Brush tool settings you should save the brush the brush in the Bristle Brush Preview window. Make sure to save changes to the brush with all its settings as a Mixer Brush tool preset. To do this, click in the Tool via the Panel menu (the small arrow in the upper right of the panel). Preset icon at the far left of the Options bar, choosing New Tool Preset. 218 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Brush Presets Brandish those Combine Bristles with texture panel You’ll nd all bristles! To create Just as with the static PS brushes, you can add texture the Bristle Tips in the brush strokes where to the Bristle Tips. A touch or texture in your stroke can all-new Brush Presets the individual bristles make a painting even more effective. panel. These brushes are very obvious, are easily identi ed, as reduce the number 01Choose a they look so di erent of bristles via the brush from the traditional static Brush palette and Choose one of the Photoshop brushes. The reduce the sti ness preset Bristle brushes Brush Presets panel is a little. Increasing the from the new Brush automatically displayed Thickness factor for Presets panel. Having when you choose the the bristles makes chosen your basic Painting workspace, or each bristle fatter brush, hit the small icon you can display it via and broader, which within the Brush Presets Window>Brush Presets. is great when the panel to access the Your flexible brushes are used at Brush panel. friend For a nicely a larger size. supple, very painterly 02 Load the brush, choose the Tip textures Round Pointed Bristle Bristle Adjust your Bristle variety, and reduce Brush Qualities within the the Sti ness and preview Brush Tip Shape increase the Length. section, and then click Use your stylus in a If you can’t see the Texture category. vertical position with the Bristle Brush Click in the texture this brush, applying Preview window, pattern swatch, hit the pressure for wider, activate it via the small palette arrow and more painterly strokes. icons at the base choose Artists’ Surfaces. of the Brush Presets panel, or 03Texture simply go to View> options Extras>Show> You can use any of the Brush Preview. textures with the brush, and increase its visibility by dragging the Depth slider to the left. Adjust the Scale slider to modify the size of the texture. Check Protect Texture to use it for all brushes. Bristle Stiffness Perfect presets Getting the most from those bristles! Choose a preset as a starting point The Stiffness value for the Bristle In the new Brush Presets panel, Tips plays a vital role when it you’ll see a selection of preset comes to making the strokes Bristle brushes. The round from the brush look more natural. brushes are light in colour, and A high Stiffness value will make the flat brushes are shown with the bristles very apparent within darker bristles. All these brushes the stroke, and will also mean have preset bristle settings in that the width of your stroke is the Bristle Qualities section of very constant. For a really flexible the Brush panel. Having chosen brush, reduce the Stiffness one of these presets, you can value and increase the Length modify these settings and save a little. With reduced Stiffness, your own custom Bristle brush each bristle will flex more as you apply pressure, making the brush much more via the small palette arrow in the responsive and natural. Brush Presets panel. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 219

tutorial High Dynamic Range RHaignhgDeynamic Local Adaptation curves Combine several exposures with ON THE DISC Photoshop’s MergeTo HDR feature to Tone-mapping in the Curves palette squeeze every last highlight and shadow HDR source from any possible scene The main advantage of the Local Adaptation method for HDR images imaging is it allows manual intervention in the tone-mapping othing has created as much of a buzz in the digital process. After you’ve set up your end points you can manipulate Tip imaging world as High Dynamic Range imaging. HDR the curve in the usual way to push and pull the tonal range. describes the process of combining several exposures Image to record the full range of highlight and shadow 01Curve capture tips detail in a high contrast scene that’s beyond the capabilities of an manipulation You ordinary camera sensor. can add points on the Use a tripod and Our night-time image is a perfect example. A single exposure curve to manipulate the choose a lens focal would leave us with burnt-out highlights or a near-black sky with zero tonal range in the normal length, then stick detail beneath the pier. Combining exposures is the only e ective way. Add a single point and to it for each image. way of having and guzzling our shadow and highlight cake! push upwards to brighten If you have a zoom, In truth, HDR has been used to produce more cartoon-like e ects or downwards to darken, or this means being by being used in low contrast scenes where it’s not required. Unless add two points to boost or careful to avoid you’re keen on that eye-watering look, it’s far better to use it on scenes reduce contrast. knocking it! like these that truly deserve it. Other examples you can try that are ordinarily beyond the limits of a camera sensor include sunsets where 02 Precision the foreground will usually turn to silhouette, and interiors where plotting You there’s a window in frame that would ordinarily clip to pure white. With can hover anywhere in the HDR technique you can show all the foreground detail in a sunset the image and click to see shot and every outdoor detail through an interior window pane. where that tone sits on the curve before placing a point. You can work points hard without introducing posterisation in 32-bit mode, so can add plenty! 03 Precision adjustments By plotting points to represent the shadow areas, the sky, the white pier areas and the lights, we can shift points on the curve to improve contrast and lighten the sky without burning out any of the lightest tones. HDR fact HDR capture What we end up with isn’t HDR at all Exposing for ordinary scenes Photoshop Merge To HDR can The easiest way to capture several exposures produce a 32-bit HDR image, but a is to switch to Aperture Priority mode, select pic in this format isn’t a lot of use, an aperture and fire a frame. Check the LCD as it can’t be correctly displayed to see if exposure looks correct, then change by current monitor technology. the metering mode and try again if not. Once Instead, our images are usually your exposure is bang on, you can use your converted from HDR back to low- camera’s Exposure Compensation mode to dynamic range using a process take another frame one stop underexposed, called tone-mapping, which cherry and a third two stops under, then one stop over picks and adjusts certain tones so and another two stops over, giving you five there’s detail in the shadows and frames in total. Check the darkest and lightest highlights where none was previously present. So, although our final images frames to see if all detail is recorded. A four-stop additional range is usually enough to may be the product of HDR imaging, our finished images are actually LDR. record most outdoor scenes. 220 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

The finished image The nished Shadow/Highlight adjustment image contains a wealth of detail in all the We can tone down the bright brightest highlight tones on the pier, as well highlights to give a greater as reproducing the lovely blue sky which impression that all the detail is would otherwise have fallen to black. preserved. The Shadow/Highlight adjustment is perfect for this, but it needs to be applied to a merged duplicate of all layers below. Background layer Our image, because we’ve opened it up straight from the Merge To HDR conversion process, isn’t up to scratch. As is often the case, the colours have shifted slightly and saturation has dropped. Contrast needs improving too. Hue/Saturation adjustment If the colours have shifted, Levels adjustment you can usually bring them back up to scratch with a subtle If contrast looks weak, adjustment of the Hue slider. In this case -15 was enough to a Levels adjustment bring back a real-world sky blue. We then push Saturation layer can be used to up to restore some of the lovely colour vibrance. restore some punch to darker tones. By holding Alt as you drag the slider, you re up the Threshold clipping display, so you can make sure not to drag so far as to clip important shadow detail. More on HDR capture Exposure basics Exposing for super high contrast scenes More about aperture and shutter speed If you are capturing an indoor scene If you’re baffled by all this talk with windows showing outdoor light, of exposure stops, just imagine or a scene with a light source in shot stops as the amount of light – be it the sun at sunset or an artificial you let into your camera. In light source like a lamp – a four-stop aperture terms, exposure goes range won’t be enough. You’ll need like this (from more light to two- or three-stop increases rather less): f/1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, than a single stop. To achieve this, 16, 22. In shutter speed terms, switch to Manual mode, dial in the the numbers roughly halve for Aperture and Shutter speed that gave each stop (from more light to you correct exposure, then alter the less). For example: 1 second, shutter speed to give you two more frames either side using two- or three-stop 0.5, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/30, 1/60, increments. This will give you an additional range of either eight or 12 stops. 1/125, 1/250. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 221

tutorial High Dynamic Range TRANSFORM AN IMAGE USING HDR IMAGING Combine several exposures to create a dramatic effect 01 Open the files Go to File>Automate>Merge To HDR and 02 Check the detail Moving the 03 Local Adaptation Change select your les via the Browse dialog by Ctrl/Cmd-clicking White Point preview slider right the Bit-Depth from 32-bit to 16-bit each one (our source les are on the disc). Check the Align box and way across the histogram left and right, gives and click OK. Select Local Adaptation from hit Open. The Merge To HDR preview window appears with all of the you the chance to check that you’ve captured the drop-down menu and click the button images arranged in terms of exposure on the left-hand side. all the detail necessary in the shadows and underneath the sliders to reveal the Curves highlights. If it’s not there, you may have dialog. Note the two points at either ends of missed an image when browsing, or you the curve line. We’ll be working those next. might need to shoot the scene again. 04 Set up shadows The histogram 05 Set up highlights Now we need 06 Sliders Play with the Radius and Threshold settings, which shows the range of information to examine the highlights. We’ve control the tone-mapping. When either is set to 0, the other from shadow to highlight. To guarantee good still got space at the right of the histogram, does nothing. High settings bring more contrast but not much detail. contrast, we need to drag our end points so we click and drag the highlight end Low combinations can look too soft. We used Threshold 1.0, Radius 40px. inwards to meet that information. Click and point inwards until we reach the edge of drag the shadow point on the bottom of the the histogram information. It needs less histogram rst, dragging rightwards to meet movement than the shadows. the edge of the histogram information. Merge To HDR settings 1 MergeToHDRsettings 2 Local Adaptation Exposure and Gamma Local Adaptation uses a blurred version Exposure and Gamma doesn’t really of the RGB channel as a mask to adjust perform tone-mapping of any sort at tonality by calculating the amount of all. It’s identical to the display shown correction needed for local brightness in the Merge To HDR preview dialog regions in the image. The Radius and and simply shows how your HDR data Threshold sliders control this mask. The appears on an LDR output source Radius slider specifies the size of the local without any form of compression. The brightness regions, and the Threshold sliders will perform as you’d expect, slider how far apart two pixels’ tonal values but the highlight and shadow detail must be before they’re not part of the same contained in your HDR image won’t be brightness region. The tonal curve lets you make contrast alterations in the usual condensed as required. It’s only of use way. This is the daddy of all PS’s Merge To HDR options and the only one you if you choose to work in Photoshop in 32-bit mode and then want to convert to 16- should use. Be sure to click the button below to make the Curve dialog visible. bit after the fact, and can be ignored by the vast majority of users. 222 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Tip 07 Manipulate the curve You can 08 Shift the hue Once you’re done, 09 Increase saturation The colour URaswingfiles now work the curve with extra click OK and the 16-bit image will saturation also looks a little weak, points in the usual way. We add a single point open up in Photoshop. You can now apply which is another common by-product of the To get the best and push upwards to brighten a touch. We all your normal edits. If the colour has shifted HDR process. Using the same adjustment possible quality could use a second point to boost or reduce (purple skies, for example) you’ll need to add layer, you can push Saturation up anywhere during the HDR to contrast, pushing down from the shadows a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer using the between +20 and +40. The sky and lighting LDR conversion and up from the highlights, but we leave as is. button at the Layers palette base. Shift Hue to are now enhanced and much more dramatic. process, PS -15 to get a more accurate colour rendition. requires source files to be in the Raw format. The images included on the cover disc are JPEG for copyright reasons, and decent results can be achieved in this way, but if you’re attempting HDR work with your own images, try to capture in Raw where possible. You’ll find that Photoshop will warn you when using JPEGs or TIFFs, that Raw files are the better option. 10 Set black point Despite the fact 11 Merged duplicate The 12 Knock back the highlights Set that we have good detail under the highlights are still a little bright, Shadows to 0% Amount, then pier, the blacks actually look a bit weak. We so we can knock them back a little with Highlights to 35% Amount, 50% Tonal Width, add a Levels adjustment layer, hold down Alt Shadows/Highlights. With the top layer and 100px Radius. Reduce Tonal Width and move the Black Input (top) slider inwards selected, use Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+Shift+E in order and increase Amount if you get banding until black information starts to appear on the to create a merged duplicate. Next, go to in the sky. Press Enter. We nish with some white background: setting 20. The blacks are Image>Adjustments> Shadows/Highlights. sharpening. Go to Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp now punchier yet no detail is clipped. Mask. Set Amount to 300% and Radius to 0.5. Merge To HDR settings 3 MergeToHDRsettings 4 Highlight Compression Equalize Histogram Highlight Compression performs Equalize Histogram is another a crude form of automatic tone- automated tone-mapping option mapping compression, turning with no further controls. It works in the brightest pixels to a value of a vaguely similar vein to Auto Levels, 255 and converting the rest in attempting to maximise visual a logarithmic way. It’s the best contrast. It finds the peaks in the method if preserving highlight histogram and spreads these out detail is an absolute priority, locally, ensuring that the majority of but images usually appear very pixels receive a contrast boost. The dark. If you’re willing to go the effect is striking but tends to crunch semi-automated route with Local the range at both ends together, Adaptation, you can still ensure all producing heavy looking shadows and highlights that often appear a little weak. highlight detail is present. Again, Local Adaptation is a better option. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 223

tutorial Match Color Before Match Color Zap colour casts Use Quickly apply the colour information from one photo to the Neutralize option as a another. It’s the perfect pick-me-up for lacklustre images quick way of getting rid of colour casts in images. dobe introduced the There are various reasons to try the Match Pick the Match Color command in Color command. The most obvious is to source Use Choosing layers Photoshop CS, and it’s one of apply the colour information from one this drop-down This is the menu to those features that got a bit image to another. This is particularly useful menu to pick use if you want to of coverage at the time but has since for landscapes, where maybe you’d like to the image you pick a certain layer faded into the background. Which is a apply the colours of a stunning sunset to want to use to as your source. shame, because it can be a powerful an image that’s a bit lacking in the stunning make the edit. editing tool. skies department. But there are other uses. Save for later Ifyou have an edit that you As names go, the Match Color command If you are creating a photocomposite, you think will be useful in the can use Match Color to make the colours future, click Save Statistics. has a perfect one, as its reason for being is consistent in all the di erent images. You The Load Statistics can also use the command to match the button is the one to click to match colours between images (or even colour of one area to another in the same to, erm, load the settings! image, so it can be used for quick edits. You the same image), between selections or can even use it to get rid of colour casts. between layers. There are sliders to control Over these two pages we will show you how the tool works and give you an insight the e ect, but we should warn you now into how it can be controlled to get the exact e ect you want. – we’d be telling porkies if we said it gives perfect results every time. Sometimes you will need to follow up Match Color with some necessary tweaks, but please don’t be put o . When it works, it can be a pure joy. Target a layer Adjust with selections Precise control for matching colour For targeted edits, make selections Match Color works on a simple principle Make a selection. This can be the – taking colour from one place (the area you want to change or the area source) and applying it somewhere else to use to make a change. If you made (the target). The easiest way is using the a selection in one image to apply to whole of one image to apply to the whole another, go to Image Statistics, select of another image (see the walkthrough), the source image in the Source menu but you can be pickier in its application. If and pick the Use Selection in Source you have a certain layer you want to use to Calculate Colors option. If you want as the target image, make sure this layer to use one area of an image to alter is selected before opening Match Color. another in the same image, ensure If you want to use a certain layer as the this image is selected in the Source source, use the Layer menu in the Image menu of the Image Statistics area, Statistics area of the Source menu to pick and hit Use Selection in Target to the one you want. The Merged option in this menu will use all layers in a source image. Calculate Adjustment. 224 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Source image Use the Match Color command Here we show how to use Match Color to apply colours Pick a target Thisisthestartimage, of one image to another. This is the meat and potatoes which is used by the Match Color of the command… command to edit an existing image. This tool gives a quick result and is great for 01Pick the image compositingdi erentimagesintoone Open the image whole scene. you want to edit and the image you want to Image options Youcanmake Tip use. Click on the image various alterations to the target image to edit and then go to before you commit to an edit. The Image>Adjustments> Luminance, Color Intensity and Fade Match Color to open up sliders all help the quest for perfection! the command. Selective edits Ifyouare After Fadethe 02 The window using selections to make effect When Match youredit,thesetwo elds Color opens up, have will become active for you to Ifyoumakeedits a look at the Target choose the one you want. fromtheImage area to double-check Statisticsareaand it’s the correct image. findthingsareabit Now go to the Source toopowerfulforyour drop-down menu in taste,usetheFade the Image Statistics area slidertocontrolthe and choose the image adjustment.Nudge you want to use. theslidertotheright inordertoreduce 03 Commit to theadjustment. the edit Have another check to make sure the correct images have been used for the target and source, and make any adjustments needed. We used the Fade slider to tone the e ect slightly. Click OK to make the edit. Make some tweaks Remove a colour cast Editing the target image One click does it all There are two options in the Match It is possible to use the Match Color command to alter the target Color command for editing tasks image. You can use these if you that have nothing whatsoever to feel that your edit isn’t going quite do with matching colour between according to plan and you need to images. The Neutralize option will give the image intended for change automatically remove a colour a bit of help. The Luminance slider cast in the target image, which is allows you to increase or decrease great for swift photo edits. With the brightness. Either use the an image open, simply select slider, or if you have a value in mind the Neutralize option, click the just enter it in the Luminance text Preview box to make certain box. If you need to alter the colour you can see what’s going on, and saturation of your target image, use then use the Luminance/Color the Color Intensity slider. Again, you can enter a specific value by hand if you prefer. Intensity options to carry out any tweaks that you think are necessary. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 225

tutorial Resolution Crop tool UsingtheCroptoolremoves important pixels from your image, and as a result lowers an image’s resolution (ppi) and ultimately reduces print size. Resolution Understanding the nature of every pixel in your image he foundation of everything the image size. When you increase the we do digitally is dictated by resolution (ppi) of an image that already has pixels. When we talk about small pixel dimensions, you e ectively make quality, pixels are more often its print size even smaller. than not part of the equation, and this is where resolution comes into play. In this Focus On you’ll learn how to Resolution is the number of pixels per control resolution, whether for print or inch in your image, and for short this is for on-screen purposes. Discover what known as ppi. There are two resolution happens to your image when you resample values which are commonly used: 72 and pixels – and we also uncover what the tick 300ppi. The larger the ppi, the bigger an boxes in the Image Size menu really mean. image can be printed – and for on-screen purposes 72ppi is used, and 300ppi is best Resolution is the di erence between an suited for printing. image with lots of de nition and an image But the factor that decides the nal with a blocky, pixelated appearance. Always quality of an image is its pixel dimensions. look out for high-resolution stock images The lower the pixel dimensions, the smaller to use in your artwork. This enables you to print bigger, zoom in closer and still have good de nition. Resolution for printing On-screen resolution The proof is in the printed picture Setting the right ppi for your monitor Depending on the use, images ideally If you aim to use artwork should be set at specific resolutions. When purely for a website or for you prepare an image for print, the best other on-screen purposes, resolution is 300ppi. However, this can image resolution should be be made smaller for printing draft-quality set at 72ppi. The extra pixels in inkjet prints for example, and in this case 300ppi become redundant for 150ppi is acceptable. When printing with displaying on-screen, as clarity inkjet printers with photographic paper, is still maintained at 72ppi. A 200-300ppi would suffice. The difference monitor only considers the pixel is in the definition and clarity of the result. dimensions of your image, which More definition can be seen in an image changes how big or small it’s printed at 300ppi than at 200ppi using the going to be displayed on-screen. If you know the output of your artwork, for same size paper and dimensions. When an on-screen or for print, before creating it make sure the image’s dimensions image is printed, the term dpi (dots per inch) is then used to describe its resolution. and resolution are set in the New dialog box in Photoshop. 226 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Image definition Image Size Changing image resolution This image has a large menu Under Image resolution is altered using Photoshop’s Image pixel dimension, so at Image>Image Size menu (Image>Image Size). Here we show you the 300ppi its print size is Size, the image’s ins and outs of adjusting the dimensions of your image. close to A3. Image clarity pixel dimensions is good too, and we can are given, as well 01Constrain see closer to the details as document size sizes when we zoom into the and resolution. Open the dialog box image at 100%. The resolution is and make sure the in pixels per inch Constrain Proportions (ppi for short). box is ticked. Keep The resolution of the Scale Styles box 300ppi is used ticked and uncheck the for print. Resample Image box. The pixel dimensions Tip section should grey out. Filesizeand resolution 02 Adjust resolution IntheImage Using the Resolution Sizemenu,ifthe eld, enter a value ResampleImage suited to your purpose. boxistickedthefile For printing enter 300, sizeoftheimage and for on-screen use changesaswell.If enter 72. You’ll notice youneedtoincrease the Width and Height thepixeldimension values change to show ofyourimage,keep the document’s size. aneyeonthebefore andaftervaluesof 03Adjusting thefilesizeatthetop pixels ofthemenu. Tick Resample Image to change the pixel dimensions of your image. PS adds/removes pixels to cater for the change in size. Pick the Resample method for best results, depending on your image. Resample dimensions Cropping resolution Adding and removing pixels from your image Use the Crop tool to alter resolution The option to resample your image Using the Crop tool lowers is located at the bottom of the Image an image’s pixel dimensions, Size dialog box. This option enables and as a result affects its print you to adjust the actual number of size. The Crop tool can be pixels in your image, resulting in set to a certain resolution pixels being either added in or taken for the cropped image. This out by Photoshop. If you choose to feature is ideal for setting to resample your image, a list of options either 300ppi or 72ppi to suit becomes available for methods of the use of the image, whether interpolation – the way PS blends for print or a web-based each pixel. The option to resample an purpose. Drastically cropping image should usually be avoided, as an image will result in a small it affects quality and definition, and is print size, so we recommend that you use the Crop tool for trimming the edges best kept to small amounts. of your image. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 227

tutorial Create animated GIFs in Photoshop essentials CGrIFesatinePanhiomtoastehdop KEY SKILLS COVERED SKILL LEVEL Photoshop CS3 and CS4 Extended come with a newTimeline panel.What does it do and how can you use it to create animations? What you’ll learn Beginner Intermediate THE TIMELINE Expert PANEL ANIMATIONS IN TIME TAKEN PHOTOSHOP CHANNELS 1.5 hours LAYER STYLES YOUR EXPERT n 1999 Adobe started shipping a complementary updated until with CS3 Adobe mothballed it as a standalone app tool with Photoshop 5.5 that helped prepare and transplanted most of the functionality into Photoshop itself. PS Sam Hampton- images for the web. It was called ImageReady, and now has a Timeline panel that allows you to view and change images Smith one of the key functions it o ered was the ability to and movies over many frames. This tutorial examines how to create create animated GIF les. Animated GIFs, if you’re not familiar with simple animations and export using the GIF format, but we’ll also look ON THE DISC the format, are 8-bit images with a timeline. They can only contain at how you can create a more sophisticated animation and export to a 256 colours, but they can have many frames within them, allowing movie format. SXC images: for rudimentary animations. The early web was full of animated 1213118 and GIFs used to represent rotating mailboxes and aming torches. To create our animation we’ll use some straightforward masking 1138973 techniques and create some fun layer styles, giving our subjects a bit of complete.psd Thankfully, today’s web designer has moved on a little – but the glow. We’ve used a couple of images from the Stock Exchange website final.gif (http://sxc.hu) which are free to download. Visit the site and grab humble animated GIF still provides a lot of interesting possibilities images 1213118 and 1138973 to follow along, or get them from the CD. VIDEO TUTORIAL for creativity. With each release of Photoshop, ImageReady was also Animated gif.mov WORKS WITH | PHOTOSHOP CS3 EXTENDED/CS4 EXTENDED TECHNIQUE CAN BE APPLIED TO PHOTOSHOP 5.5+ USING IMAGEREADY 228 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

CREATEYOURENVIRONMENT Set upPhotoshoptobeanimation-friendly,thenanimate! Tip 01 Import your resources If you haven’t already, grab the 02 Change Animation mode We’re going to use the Frame Optimise two SXC images we’re using for this tutorial and open image Animation method here, so we need to swap from a timeline your 1213118 in Photoshop. Be aware that images exported to be viewed animation to a frame-based animation. Click the button at the bottom of animation over the web need to be small in le size, so these images are much bigger than we’ll need for output. Choose Window>Animation to open Photoshopcomes the Animation panel in Photoshop CS3 or CS4. the Animation panel to switch between the two Animation modes. withahelpful functionthat 03 Introduce 04 Create a fairy Puttheimagewe’veworkedontoone reducesfilesize movement side and open 1138973. We’ll isolate one or two bigger whensavingfor One way we can fairy shapes and use them in our main image. Use the Rectangular theweb:Optimise introduce movement Marquee to highlight a shape you like, then go Edit>Copy. Switch AnimationFrames. to our nal animation to the main image and hit Edit>Paste to place the fairy shape. Thisworksbyonly is to animate the includingdatathat levels of the image changesfromframe overall. First we’ll add toframe.Tousethe the adjustment, then feature,firstmake animate it later. Add sureyou’reusing a Curves adjustment FrameAnimation by clicking the modethenchoose Curves Adjustment thePanelcontext icon in the menubutton(top Adjustments panel, rightofthepanel) and give the curve a andselectthe slight S shape. OptimizeAnimation command.Accept thedefaultoptions andhitOK.PSwill removepixels duplicatedbetween frames,andreduce thefinalfilesize. 05 Morefairies Repeat step 4 until you 06 Selectthefairies Turn o the 07 Isolate the fairies Make sure you still have your fairy layer have three or four nice fairy shapes visibility of each layer, apart from one active and a marching ants selection, then press Delete or the in your main image, each on their own layer. of your fairy layers. Open the Channels panel backspace key to delete the pixels within your selection. You should Use the Paintbrush tool and paint with black to and click on the Blue channel to view only have just the fairy left, with the background removed. Repeat this tidy up any bad edges or areas where the fairy that channel’s information. Ctrl/Cmd-click on process for each fairy in turn, using the Eraser tool to tidy up any left- overlapped other fairies in the source image. the Blue channel to load it as a selection, then over unwanted pixels. invert your selection by choosing Select> Inverse. Click on the RGB channel once more to return to normal editing mode. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 229

tutorial Create animated GIFs in Photoshop CREATETHEMAGIC! Everything’s in place to create your animation 08 Simpleanimation Photoshop 09 Createmovement Highlight the 10 Accept the tween Photoshop asks you how many frames to makes it quite easy to create a basic second frame in the Animation panel, use when creating a tween. A tween is an automatic calculation animation. If the Animation panel isn’t already then use the Move tool to reposition your of frames between the rst frame and the last in a selection. The in Frame mode (as opposed to Timeline mode), fairies slightly. Don’t move them too far from intermediate positions of any moved layers are calculated automatically, click the button at the bottom of the Animation their starting point, just enough to suggest life. and the e ect is a smooth animation – as long as you have enough panel to switch. Click on the New Frame button Highlight both frames in the Animation panel frames. Accept the default 5 frames here and click OK. – the icon looks like the New Layer button. and choose Tween in the Panel y-out menu. Layerstructure Creating our animated GIF Add a vignette 11 Repeattotaste Add extra frames 12 Addglowtothefairies The fairies Place more fairies and animations in the same way are looking pretty nice against the Add a glow to the fairy across as many frames as you like. Bear in mind background, but they could stand out more Place the fairy that when uploading to the web, an animated with a little extra glow, so highlight one of Adjust curves GIF gets slower and slower the bigger the le the fairy layers and choose Layer>Layer Forest background is. You can set it to play once or many times by Style>Outer Glow. Accept the default values choosing from the menu at the bottom of the and click OK to add the glow. Animation panel. 13 Exportyour animation There are two ways to export your animation. You can use the Save For Web dialog (File>Save For Web and Devices); this lets you choose the GIF format, and the le will be web-ready as it is. The alternative is to go to File>Export>Render Video. Our source image was very big, so change the image size (Image> Image Size) before saving for web, or your PC will get very slow. 230 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Cropandstraightenphotos5-minute fix Cropand straightenphotos Don’t put up with wonky horizons – crop and straighten your slanted photos essentials ven if you never Before venture out of the SKILL LEVEL Auto mode on your camera, there are Beginner still loads of factors to consider if Intermediate you want to take a perfect photo. Expert Unless you are the human equivalent of a spirit level, TIME TAKEN you probably don’t hold your camera perfectly level every time Five minutes you snap away, meaning you probably have lots of supposedly YOUR EXPERT straight horizons looking more like a slalom. However, with Jo Cole Photoshop on your side, you can straighten your photos and crop KEY SKILLS away any extraneous leftovers. COVERED Quick tip: Try an automated approach After What you’ll learn by going to File>Automate>Crop and Straighten Photos RULERS ROTATE COMMAND CROP STRAIGHTENOUTYOURAFFAIRS Use theRotatetooltogetthingsinline 01 Rotateandstraighten Open up 02 Pointofreference Go to View>Rulers 03 Crop away Once you’re happy with the rotation, your wonky photo and increase the and then drag down from the top ruler. hit Return. You’ll notice that there are empty areas size of the document window by dragging the This gives you a straight reference line. Now go to where the photo has moved. To get rid of these, go to the bottom-right corner out. You need to do this so Edit>Transform>Rotate (Image>Rotate for PE users) and Crop tool and make sure the Width, Height and Resolution there’s a bit of space around the edges. Double- use the curved double-ended arrow to rotate the photo. elds are clear in the Options bar. Now drag the Crop tool click on the photo in the Layers palette to turn it Use the straight line as a reference. over the photo to cut all the extra details away. from a Background into an editable layer. ALL VERSIONS | WORKS WITH PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 231

feature Learn to use Levels Learn to use Levels See how to use Photoshop’s secret weapon in the war against poor exposure and colour casts Before Levels 232 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

A t first glance the Levels feature in image. Learning to read a histogram is essential means the image is overexposed and doesn’t Photoshop appears daunting. If for effective adjustments in Photoshop. This is contain enough shadow data. Conversely, if the you are not familiar with it, even essentially a bar chart of the image luminosity histogram contains a blank area to the far right, the term ‘levels’ can be confusing. (where all the tones site). Imagine if you could the image is underexposed and lacks highlight “Levels of what?” you might ask, perhaps it sort through the individual pixels of the image data. An image that is properly exposed will sounds more like a tool used at a construction and stack them up according to how light or have a histogram that contains a few pixels on site to make certain floors are not uneven. If you dark they were. So you’d put all the pixels each edge of the chart, and the rest dispersed level an image, does that straighten the horizon? that are 100% black in a stack to the left, then throughout the histogram. If we push the Well, no. Here in Photoshop, ‘Levels’ refers to the ability to adjust an image’s tonal range “An image that is properly exposed will have a histogram and histogram. That’s the amount, or level, of that contains few pixels on each edge of the chart” pixels that reside in each luminous value. Still confused? Read on, and plumb the mysteries of 100% white pixels you’d stack up to the right. analogy of stacking pixels by their luminosity this powerful, yet simple feature. In between you’d have 254 different stacks of value even further and imagine each pixel is Begin by opening an image in Photoshop and grey values. Now put all those stacks side by then divided up into its own red, green and blue adding a Levels adjustment layer by going to side and you’d get something that looks just values and then those are stacked up in a similar Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels or using like a histogram. This makes it easy to see if an fashion, we get the histograms per channel. the icon found in the Adjustments Panel. The image is lacking highlight or shadow values. These can be seen by the Channel drop down Adjustments Panel reveals a histogram of the If the left side of the histogram is blank that menu directly over the histogram window. Level up Setofeyedroppers Theseiconsare used to interactively set the black, Exploring the many options of the Levels dialog white and grey points of an image. Channelselection Thisdrop Cancel button down menu allows you to Cancels the make the adjustments to the adjustment, holding composite channel or to the alt/opt turns it into a individual colour channels. Reset button. Histogram Abarchartthat shows how many pixels AutoButton Runs the image has for each of the Auto Contrast the 256 luminosity levels. adjustment that is The shadows, or darkest otherwise found in pixels, are represented on the Image menu. the far left. Highlights, or the Preview Checkbox brightest pixels, are on the Toeasilyseethee ect far right. of the adjustment on the image, toggle the Previewonando . Output Levels handles Sliderhandles Pushingtheblackhandletotheright These sliders adjust the increases the shadows. Pulling the white handle to available tonal range of the the left increases the highlights. The centre handles image. Pulling them inwards adjusts the gamma value of the image. remaps the black and white points to the grey values along the gradient. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 233

feature Learn to use Levels Exposure problems Histograms of poor exposures Fix colour casts You can tell if an image is over or under exposed just by viewing the histogram Use the grey eyedropper from the Levels dialog to easily remove colour casts. But only if you can nd a pixel that should be neutral grey. You could guess or you can use this technique to let Photoshop show you a grey point. 01Begin as so In this image there is a distinct yellow colour cast. There is also no obvious area that should be 50% grey to use as a neutral point. So add a new layer and go to Edit>Fill. Choose 50% grey as the content. 02 What a difference Change the grey layer’s The histogram clearly shows far too many highlights in this washed out bridge blending mode to Di erence. This mode will highlight all the image pixels that are di erent from the 50% grey pixels. You want to nd the ones that are the closest to the same grey, those will be the darkest, or least highlighted. 03 Threshold Add a threshold adjustment The spike at the right shows the dense shadows in this image layer and pull the slider bar all the way to the left rst. Slowly move it to the right until you see Theory into practice accordingly. It may be easier to visualize if you some pixels revealed on the white screen. These think of the process as grabbing the histogram are the pixels closest to 50% grey. Use the count While that is all so very fine and good, and itself and stretching it out to meet the black and tool (behind the eyedropper) to make a marker. marginally interesting, how is it helpful to those white points. The closer the outside handles are of us who just want to lighten a photo? Well, moved toward each other, the more contrast the 04 Herecomesthemagic! Throwawaythe that’s where the true power and convenience image will have. If moved to almost touching the grey layer and the Threshold adjustment of Levels really shines. Unlike Curves, its image becomes stark black and white, much the layer. Add a levels adjustment layer and use the technically more powerful cousin, Levels same way the Threshold adjustment operates. grey eyedropper to pick the point you marked. The makes correcting the contrast of a photo easy The trade-off to drastically increased contrast yellow colour is completely neutralized. and intuitive. Below the histogram window are is clipped pixels. This means that image pixels three small, triangular slider handles. The black that fall outside the area of these handles are slider on the left marks the black point of the flat lined to solid black or solid white, thereby image; the white slider on the right marks the removing details from the image. To see what white point. The grey filled slider in the centre pixels are being clipped, simply hold down the is slightly different in that it is used to adjust the Alt/Opt key while adjusting the slider handles. gamma of the image. The two outside sliders are used to increase the contrast of an image. By That grey handle in the middle is used to repositioning them closer to the stacks of pixels adjust the image gamma. Moving this slider the white and/or black points are remapped to the left reduces the gamma and makes the and the rest of the histogram is remapped overall image lighter because the highlights are 234 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

compressed between the light value and the Boosting contrast new midpoint. The reverse is also true; images are darkened by moving this slider to the right Rescue a bland image by boosting the contrast with Levels and increasing the gamma. Increasing contrast was what the Levels feature the dark and light areas simultaneously in a single The gradient bar beneath the histogram was designed to do. This is achieved by increasing adjustment window. window, labelled the Output Levels, is what sets the available tonal range of the image. 01Greyskies This By default, this is black (value of 0) and white image looks dull (value of 255) adjusting either of these slider and bland, adding a handles redefines the outer limits of the range. Levels adjustment layer So in actuality the black and white histogram reveals that the shadows sliders only set the dark and light points as and highlight areas are defined by these output sliders. If the left most lacking pixels as the output slider is set to a dark grey instead of histogram is blank on black, adjusting the dark histogram slider will both ends of the chart. remap the image tones to start at the grey value instead of black. 02 Darkerdarks Drag the black The ease of eyedroppers slider handle to the right until it rests just below If this whole discussion about tonal range where the left side of the values and adjusting an image by looking at histogram meets the a mathematical chart all makes your head bottom line. This maps spin, then keep the faith, dear reader, for this the darkest pixels of the image to complete black. “The eyedroppers can be used to intuitively set the 03 Lighterlights white and black balance of Drag the white slider handle to the left the image” until it rests just below where the right side of next set of features is for you! To the left of the histogram meets the the histogram window resides three small bottom line. This maps eyedropper icons: a black, grey and white the lightest pixels of eyedropper. These can be used to more the image to complete intuitively set the white and black balance white. The combined of the image. Click first on the white dropper e ect is an image with and then use it to define the point in your much greater contrast image that you wish to define as solid white. and brighter colours. Likewise, the black eyedropper can be used to define the point of the image that should Tip! Adjustment layer Tip! Gradient and selection be 100% black. Holding down the Alt or Opt adjustments key with either of these eyedroppers active Using Levels as an adjustment layer provides several will highlight potential areas of the image to advantages, the primary one being that you can easily The Levels command is most commonly used for consider for the endpoints. correcting exposure in photos and increasing contrast. return to the adjustment layer settings at any time The grey eyedropper is arguable the most to undo or tweak further. The adjustment layer itself But it is equally useful for more creative tasks. Try useful, yet the least usable. The purpose of retains the properties of regular layers. That means using the Levels adjustment on a mask’s gradient. The this eyedropper is to set a perfect 50% grey they can have masks, use blending modes, and even sliders allow you to adjust the width and position of point in the image. This means that the pixel have layer styles! Keep in mind that the adjustment will have equal amounts of ink colour (RGB layer saves the settings too, so you can drag it onto a the gradient more easily than redrawing it with the or CMYK depending on the image mode) set Gradient tool. Likewise if a mask is too soft, use Levels at exactly half value, usually 128, making it di erent image and it retain the settings. perfectly neutral. When used correctly, this to increase the contrast and tighten it up. feature can remove a severe colour cast almost magically. The challenge lies in being able to find a pixel that should be exactly neutral grey. If the image contains something like a road or wall that clearly should be grey, it’s easy. But PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 235

feature Learn to use Levels lacking an obvious grey point, this feature can “Levels is Photoshop’s Feature produce some unexpected results with random mainstay adjustment clicking. Otherwise, there are other techniques for quickly correcting Improve the that can be employed to find the neutral value in contrast problems” tonal range the image. same but the adjustment is directly applied The eyedropper tools in Levels are a more While the interface for this feature already to the image and cannot be readjusted like an intuitive method of establishing black and appears to be remarkably simple to use, adjustment layer can. white points. But sometimes nding the points Photoshop offers something even simpler, the to use can be di cult. Try using this method Auto button. This button triggers the same Ultimately, Levels is Photoshop’s mainstay takes the guesswork out of it. Auto Contrast command found in the Image adjustment for correcting contrast problems menu. We recommend using the auto feature as quickly and easily. By having the histogram 01Drab flowers This shot of lilies has a very a suggested starting point when working with clearly displayed and providing straightforward limited range. The histogram shows hardly contrast, but don’t put too much trust in the slider handles, even beginners can get great any pixels above the midpoint mark. Before algorithm for final work. results from this feature without breaking adjusting the levels, rst grab the Count tool (it’s a sweat. Once explored and mastered, hiding behind the main Eyedropper tool) to easily While we recommend using Levels as an Levels quickly becomes a favourite tool of label the white and dark points in the next step. adjustment layer, it can also be used as a direct photographers and digital artists alike. adjustment through the Image>Adjustments 02 Crossthethreshold AddaThreshold menu. This brings up the Levels adjustment adjustment layer. Slide the Threshold slider options in a dialog box. The controls are the all the way to the right and slowly move it back left to reveal the lightest areas of the image. Use the A warning about Clipping Count tool to mark the spot. Likewise mark the darkest area by using the Threshold slider on the Increased contrast comes at a cost. Often that cost is clipped highlights opposite side. Clipping refers to the loss of detail that can occur when adjusting levels. If the highlights handle is pulled too far in, all the pixels on the histogram that fall to the right of the handle’s position will be changed to at white. This means the details that used to be represented by a variation in tone are now lost. Detailslost Theblownout Heavy highlights The large pile highlights have destroyed of pixels that bump up against the details in areas that are the right edge of the histogram now pure white. are an indicator that highlights have been clipped. 03 Thenextlevel DeletetheThreshold Shadows The shadow end of the adjustment layer and return to the Levels histogram falls to the bottom line settings. Use the white and black eyedroppers to just before the edge of the chart. set the black and white points in the image as you marked them in the last step. Finish by clearing the markers and behold the new improved tone range of your image. Darkerdetails Thedark shadow areas are well detailed, no information has been lost. 236 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Levels to the rescue Check out these other quick fixes in Levels that get big results in just a few mouse clicks Test the limits The limit to where the Levels adjustment can extract detail information has to be seen to be believed. In some photos, the dark areas appear to be completely destroyed, but if the shadows aren’t’ clipped, that means there is detail information still there. We can’t see it, but Levels can. Gritty high contrast Levels can be paired with other adjustments to create a dramatic, gritty high contrast effect. Here the original image has noise added and a Hue/Saturation adjustment to give a Sepia overlay, then Levels was used to purposely clip both shadows and highlights to produce an effect known as ‘crushing.’ Combine with Vibrance When used with a Vibrance adjustment, Levels becomes one half of a powerful one-two punch combination that corrects contrast and boosts colours to turn a drab image into something stunning. Adjust the Levels according to the histogram, then add a Vibrance adjustment on top. One-click wonder The Auto button found in the Levels dialog triggers the Auto Contrast command and can resolve many contrast issues with a single click. It shouldn’t always be relied upon as a final treatment, but can often provide a good starting point. Gamma adjustment Sometimes all an image needs is slight Gamma adjustment. In this image, the highlights and shadows aren’t a problem. It’s the midtones that are a little dark and in need of some help. Pulling the centre grey handle to the left will brighten those areas. Preset adjustments Another ‘one click to fix’ feature of Levels is the preset adjustments found in the drop down menu at the top of the dialog box. The menu contains a simple selection of common adjustments that just might be what your image needs. In this case, the ‘Midtones Brighter’ does the trick. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 237

tutorial The Extract filter EThxetract filter Tools for the job Learn how this lter can be used to remove subjects The Extract lter has – all it takes is a steady hand its own tool set. The Edge Highlighter he Extract lter has been comes into play. The lter requires you to tool is used to paint around in Photoshop since paint around the edges of a subject with around a subject, and version 5.5, making it a what’s called the Edge Highlighter tool, and when an outline is well-established feature. you then ll an area with paint. The lled painted, the Fill tool The lter adds to the existing wide area is what you end up with. lls the area with a choice of selection methods presented faint colour. Now in the toolbar (this is found in the Filters Extracting large complex subjects isn’t you’re ready to go menu). It’s yet another option, and like one of the lter’s stronger points, and back into Photoshop. all selection methods, suits only certain neither is extracting around areas where More tool options The toolbar types of subjects. there’s little contrast. For large subjects, it’s a contains Zoom, Hand, Eyedropper, timely process painting around every edge Edge Touchup and Cleanup However, it’s the Re ne Edge command at a very close magni cation. Where we tools. When creating an outline found the lter most helpful was for picking to extract, try zooming in close to ( rst appearing in CS3) that has pushed out small parts of an image quickly – and it your image for best results. does this very e ectively. the lter out of sight in CS4 and in the After Read on to nd out how to access the latest version, CS5. If you’re using an earlier lter in CS4 and CS5, and how to use it for making quick selections. version than CS3, you won’t be able to use the Quick Selection tool or the Re ne Edge commands. This is where the Extract lter Why the Extract filter? Working non-destructively The pros and cons of the tool How to overcome this destructive obstacle The Extract filter is found at the top of the The Extract filter works Filter menu, and separates itself from by taking a subject out of other Selection tools, as it uses its own one layer and removing the window. When loaded up, inside the filter remaining image. This means you’ll notice a number of adjustments and that when you’ve created your tools specific to the filter. An advantage to mask in the filter’s window using the Extract method is that you paint and hit OK, your image is over the edges of your subject, and the permanently affected by the level of precision is adjusted with the brush filter. The way to get around size. There are touch-up tools too, and an this snag is to create a Eraser tool to smarten up your selection. A duplicate of the layer you wish to work on before going into the filter. Drag disadvantage, however, is that the process the layer onto the Create New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers of selection is very slow on whatever the subject is. We recommend using the filter for palette, and then head to Filter>Extract to begin the selection on this picking out small items in your image for a quick and accurate extraction. duplicate layer. The original image is kept in a perfect state underneath. 238 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Brush setup The Edge Tip Select hair with the Extract filter Highlighter tool has its own Easy Selecting hair in Photoshop has never been an easy Brush Size adjustment, panning task, but the Extract filter does a pretty good job. and the smaller it is the Here’s how to mask hair with the filter and its tool. more accurate (although When working up time-consuming), the close with an image 01Duplicate outline will be. Tick the for an accurate and open Smart Highlighting option selection, in order Duplicate your layer in to create a thin strip that to pan around over the Layers palette to magnetically connects to your image without work non-destructively. pixels as you paint. affecting any of the To open the Extract selection, hold the command, go to Filter> Extract adjustments Spacebar, click and Extract, and you should These options allow you to drag your image be presented with a extract a textured surface, across the screen. large window with your and the Smooth slider image in it. makes sure sharp artefacts are kept rounded. Combine 02 Create these with the Retouch tools outline in the lter and you can have In the Extract menu, a decent outline around zoom into your image a your subject. couple of times and use the Edge Highlighter tool to paint over the edges. When you reach the strands of hair, make sure your brush covers the frizzy areas. 03Make the final adjustments When the outline is complete, hit the Preview button. There may be gaps or rough edges around your subject, so use the Edge Touchup tool to shave layers of pixels from the edges. In newerversionsofPS Precision selections Where to find this for CS4 and CS5 Time-consuming yet worth it If you’re a CS3 or earlier user The Extract filter can be of PS, you can benefit from the applied to a very accurate Extract filter appearing at the degree using the Smart top of the Filter menu. If you’re Highlighting command. In using versions CS4 or CS5, the the filter’s window, under filter has been removed from the Tool Options, make certain menu and planted online at the the Smart Highlighting box is Photoshop Updates section on ticked before painting around www.adobe.com/downloads/ the edges of your subject. This updates. Mac users with CS5 will ensures the brush is pixel- have to go without the Extract sensitive, similar to that of the filter unfortunately, but we can recommend the Refine Edge command to be a Magnetic Lasso tool. Zoom in worthy replacement. Once downloaded, install the filter into your Photoshop plug- close to your image to make an accurate selection to extract. This process will ins folder and it should appear in the Filter menu after a quick restart. take much longer though, so it’s worth doing on smaller objects. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 239

tutorial The Curves adjustment tool TadhjeuCstumrveenst tool The S-curve The Curves tool is a powerful Photoshop YOUR EXPERT feature that when properly applied can The shape of things to come transform contrast, colour and tonal range Charles It’s vital to experiment as much as possible to understand the Goddard he Curves tool in Photoshop is deceptive. workings and limits of PS’s tools and functions. With the Curves To the Photoshop beginner its graph-like tool you may notice that to get the best e ects you often use a Tip appearance can be intimidating, bringing back similar shaped curve. It’s called the S-curve for obvious reasons. memories of early maths lessons. Reset rather However, it’s a powerful tool that can be used to adjust tonal 01Anchor points than cancel ranges, change colour levels, alter exposure, boost contrast Open the Curves and even create some less conventional photo e ects. dialog box – Image> In the Curves Although the Curves tool is not as intuitive as some of the Adjustments>Curves. dialog, to reset to other features in Photoshop, the basic functions are simple and Create three anchor points the original curve dramatic results can be easily achieved. on the curve and use the you can reposition In this tutorial we will demystify the Curves graph, and in grid to help place them at anchor points or doing so show how you can make practical improvements equal distances from each pull them out of the to your images. We’ll look at understanding the graph and at other. Alt-click on the grid graph area. Or, hold exactly what happens as the line changes shape. We’ll reveal to change to a smaller grid Alt and the Cancel tips and tricks to make editing your image quick and easy. We for greater accuracy. button will change will also look at editing the colour channels to recover and to Reset. Hit this and boost lost colour. The Curves tool has many more facets than 02 The dark side the curve reverts to might at rst be obvious, and we’ll introduce you to as many as Using the bottom its original settings. we can on these pages. anchor point, representing This works in most areas of dark pixels, pull PS dialog boxes. it towards the base of the graph. This makes the dark pixels (bottom left of the graph) darker. The middle anchor point (midtone pixels) remains stationary. 03 Let there be light Now make the light pixels lighter by moving the uppermost anchor point up. By making this S-shaped curve, we’ve boosted the contrast and have a more dramatic image. This curve is also useful when editing separate colour channels. Adjustment layers Black and white images Don’t degrade your image A grey place to start Curves can be accessed via If you’re new to Curves, you’ll find Image> Adjustments>Curves, it useful to practise with greyscale but can also be activated as an images. The tool reads the tonal adjustment layer. In the Layers depth of pixels, meaning it deals with palette, hit Create New Fill Or shadows, midtones and highlights. Adjustment Layer and select It’s easier to understand the principle Curves. Adjustment layers let you when using black-and-white images, make changes without degrading as the final image corresponds to the original. It also means you the info that the Curves tool uses: can continue to edit a Curves shadows (black), midtones (grey) adjustments by double-clicking and highlights (white). To change the adjustment layer. If the changes aren’t wanted, you can revert to the an image to greyscale, go to original by deleting the layer. Image>Mode>Greyscale. 240 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Channel This drop-down menu allows Presets Versions of Photoshop from CS3 you to select which channels to edit. You onward o er presets to give you a head can edit the master (labelled RGB or CMYK start. You can also load presets, which etc) or individual colour channels. When can be downloaded from the internet. editing individual colours, the curve a ects Remember, if you nd an e ect you like, you the selected colour and its opposite colour. can save your own presets for future use. Bezier/Pencil tool There are two ways of changing the path of the curve. The Curves window This is common way is to use anchor points to where the action happens. create a smooth Bezier curve; this makes it This window graphically easy to get consistent realistic results. The represents the pixel Pencil tool allows you to be more creative information in your image. and get some interesting e ects, but the The curve runs from the results are hard to reproduce accurately. bottom left, which is where the dark pixels occur in the image, through the midtones up to the top right, which represents the highlights, the light pixels. Moving the curve upwards makes the image lighter; moving it downwards makes it darker. Eyedropper tool Use the left-hand Eyedropper tool to set the dark pixel limit, and the far right Eyedropper tool to set the highlight limit. The middle Eyedropper tool can be used to alter the colour balance. Experiment with these to nd your optimal settings. The beginner however, may wish to leave these and adjust the curve manually. Colour spaces Flat spots and down curves The opposite of colour Keeping it under control Curves allow you to edit separate colour If you are unfamiliar with the Curves tool channels. When a colour channel is and are in the process of experimenting, selected, the curve affects the density of it is easy to get carried away – which can the colour, eg red and its opposite, cyan. result in wild unrecognisable images. If the Red channel is selected, moving There can be occasions when a bizarrely the curve upwards increases the red in distorted image is required, but more the image; moving it down increases often than not this is not the case. To the cyan. It’s important therefore to avoid the worst of these effects, there know the colours and their opposites are two rules to follow. The first is to to get the most from this function. In avoid flat spots. These occur when the Image>Adjustments>Color Balance, the curve follows a horizontal line across sliders illustrate which colours are opposites. Think about how the image will be the graph. The second is to make sure that the curve doesn’t go beyond the reproduced before making changes. If it’s to be printed, make sure it’s in CMYK. horizontal to create a downward curve. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 241

tutorial The Curves adjustment tool Tip CURVES IN ACTION See how they can be used for creative effects Takeiteasy 01 Getting started First open up your 02 Strengthen detail To increase the 03 Curves adjustment layer Create start image. It’s a good idea to begin impact of the foreground owers, a Curves adjustment layer by going It’s easy to get by creating a duplicate layer. This way you can we used the Sharpen tool to paint in some to the bottom of the Layers palette, clicking carried away when always revert to your original image, either detail around the petals of the ower. Be the middle button and selecting Curves. This experimenting for reference or to start a new edit. Go to careful not to set the Strength too high as opens the Curves dialog. Position two anchor with curves, as Layer>Duplicate Layer. you may end up adding noise. Alternatively, points along the curve – one towards the top there are so many go to Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask and alter and one near the bottom of the curve. aspects that can the settings to strengthen detail, again being be edited. Pushing careful not to add too much noise. the curves too far can introduce a lot of noise into your image. Less is most definitely more when dealing with curves! 04 S-curve The next step is to create a 05 Fine- simple S-curve. Begin by selecting tuning the lower anchor point and pulling it directly In the last step we down so it sits halfway down the grid section created an S-curve, as shown in the screengrab. Push the higher but in doing so burnt anchor point upwards by the same amount. out some of the You will notice this has e ectively boosted highlight areas. To the contrast. Don’t click OK just yet. remedy this, pull the top anchor point a little to the right to reduce the curve’s angle and return some detail to the highlight areas. Temperature Hue/Saturation Adding warmth and cooling down A colourful solution It’s easy to When using Curves to affect tonal range and change the contrast, the saturation will often increase. ‘temperature’ of This can help improve the look of a pic, but an image using it’s not always a desired effect. To counter Curves. To add it, instead of the Desaturation tool, try using warmth, select a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. This just the Red keeps the original image intact and lets channel and pull the curve upwards; this adds red to the image at the you toggle the effect on/off later. Go to the same time as removing cyan. Then go to the Blue channel and pull the Layers palette, create a new fill/adjustment curve downwards; this adds yellow (the opposite of blue). For a cooler layer, select Hue/Saturation and reduce the image do exactly the opposite – add more blue by lifting the curve in saturation with the slider. Setting the Hue/ the Blue channel, and remove red by pulling the curve downward in the Saturation layer with a Luminosity blend Red channel. Simple. mode allows more detail to be preserved. 242 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

06 Intensify the shadows We’re going to create a new 07 Merged layer Create a new 08 Rebuilding colour In the Curves shadows limit. Grab the anchor point at the very bottom merged layer by pressing dialog box select the Channel left of the curve and drag it along the bottom of the graph until the Shift+Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+E. This gives you an drop-down menu and open the Blue Input window reads 25. You’ll notice this darkens the shadow areas editable layer but preserves your earlier layers channel. On this adjustment layer we are and in doing so helps frame the main subject. Hit OK to save. and adjustments in case you need to revert going to remove a lot of the blue from the to an earlier version. Create a new Curves image by sliding the corner anchor point 09 More colour To continue to recover colour in the image, adjustment layer as you did in step 3. from left to right along the bottom of the use the same technique as in step 8 in the Red and Green graph until the Input window reads 225. channels. Slide the bottom anchor point to the right until the Input reads 100 for green and 40 for red. The screengrab shows how your 10 Stepping RGB channel curves should look. Click OK to save the changes. back Although we’ve introduced some interesting colour detail to the image, it‘s beginning to look a little forced. We can remedy this by simply selecting a soft black brush on a relatively low Opacity and Flow setting (30%) and painting out some of the more extreme areas of colour on the adjustment layer. Eyedropper tool Pencil tool A quick fix A curve less ordinary You can set white/black points manually. There are two ways of altering the path To set a black point, create an anchor of the curve. The first and most common point at the base of the curve and pull the method is to use the Bezier tool. Setting base to the right along the bottom of the the shape of the curve using anchor graph. Amend the white point in a similar points, this ensures a smooth curve way at the top of the graph. This expands and consequently a realistic transition the tonal range of the image. You can also in the tonal range of the image. The get this effect with the Eyedropper. Click alternative method is to use the Pencil the full Eyedropper on the left and select tool. With this you can create a broken the darkest pixels in the image. With the and erratic curve which, with some empty Eyedropper, select the lightest experimentation, can create nice poster pixels. The Curves tool will remap the channels to give you a wider tonal range. effects. If you find a good effect but want to fine-tune the curve using anchor Experiment also with the middle Eyedropper, which alters the colour balance. points, just click Smooth, and Curves will reintroduce the Bezier curve. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 243

tutorial Marquee tool masterclass mMaarsqteurecelatsosol Marquee options Feathering There are four In the Options Marquee tools in the bar there is toolbar: Rectangular, the choice of Elliptical, Single Row feathering a and Column. They marquee, which are found within softens the the top area of the edges for an toolbar, and their even blend to the shortcut is ‘M’. surrounding area. This has to be changed before you use one of the tools. Use the Marquee tools to give your images an exciting new look and lease of life he Marquee tools are a There are four Marquee Selection tools in group of basic shapes used all, starting with the Rectangular Marquee to make a selection. They are and followed by the Elliptical, Single Row very simple to use but have and Column tools. They are all represented endless possibilities. on your image as dotted lines and can be The Magic Wand or the Quick Selection used to cut out an area, revealing the layer tools introduce marching ants around a underneath. They are like ordinary shapes subject, whereas the Marquee tools have but with no ll colour, so you can customise transformable dimensions, which can be a their contents with whatever you like, for set size, round or a row of pixels, depending example an adjustment or lter. on the intended use. Not only that, but essentially being a selection, a marquee can Have a read through of this Focus have a layer mask attached to it and even On guide to understand the di erence a touch of feathering. Or it can be mixed in between the Marquee tools and what with a stew of marquee selections to create they can o er the creative Photoshop user. interesting and varied shapes. There is lots of fun to be had with just a little experimentation. A rectangular window Carefullyframe an image Top of the stack for marquees Fading out with the Elliptical Marquee The Rectangular Marquee tool is what it says, right? The Elliptical Marquee tool is Not entirely, as there’s a lot more to the tool than perfect for designing albums, as first meets the eye. Draw a rectangular border with you can fade out each picture with this, and you can soften its edges, bend its shape a circular frame. With your image or even make it a mask on a layer. To combine a open, create a new layer and drag layer mask with the Rectangular Marquee tool, it to the bottom of the layer stack. draw your rectangle on an editable layer and click On this new layer go to Edit>Fill and the Add Layer Mask button. This creates a window choose white, then hit OK. Select over your canvas showing only what’s in the layer the Elliptical Marquee tool, go to beneath. You can freely move this window around Feather in the Options bar and enter by deselecting the chain link in the Layers palette a value of 50px. Hold the Shift+Alt found between the image’s thumbnail and the layer keys to draw a perfect circle over mask. With the Move tool you can show different the subject in your image. Now select the original image layer and click parts of the image by dragging it across your image. on the Add Layer Mask button in the Layers palette. 244 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Selections’ behaviour Add, subtract Tip Make a stroke or intersect multiple selections to Remember Use the Marquee tools in order to make a stroke. It’s create a unique shape. They have the toright-click one of the many uses of the Marquee, and also one of shortcut keys Alt, Shift and Alt+Shift, the most useful! and can be used to take o sharp Toopenupalotmore 01Pick your corners of a square or reshape a circle. optionswhenusing tool Choose theMarqueetools, one of the Marquee Ctrl/right-clickdoes tools from the toolbar thetrick.Giveitago and draw the shape andexperimentwith on your canvas. So adjustmentssuchas that the stroke doesn’t Feather,RefineEdge a ect the image (CS3andnewer), underneath, create StrokeandFill. a new layer in the Layers palette Layers palette. In the Layers 02Stroke palette you can options apply a layer mask Ctrl/right-click inside with a selection the selection to to single out an open a list of editing area around a options. Select the subject. This Stroke option, and layer mask can a separate dialog be manipulated window should just like any pop open. other selection. 03 Set up the stroke Work your way through the menu, setting up Width, Color, Location and Blending. The stroke can be placed inside, central or outside the marquee. Quick Maskmode Selecting pixels Adapt a selection As straightforward as they come The best thing about the Marquee tools is that they are just like any other Selection This is really easy to do, and is tool, and can be manipulated using the Quick Mask mode. After drawing the an effective way to select just a marquee over your image, press row of pixels in your image. It’s a the ‘Q’ key on your keyboard (for technique that’s otherwise quite the shortcut). By default a red tricky to achieve. In the Marquee opaque layer coats everything set of tools there are the Single outside the selection. With Row and Single Column tools. the Eraser and Brush tools, With one selected, simply click paint or remove this red layer, anywhere on your image to apply and when you press ‘Q’ again a selection. Try holding the Shift the marquee changes. This is key to add more lines of single especially good for reaching pixels. When the lines are set, difficult areas of a subject that go to Edit>Clear and whatever is you simply want to select. underneath comes right through. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 245

tutorial Content-Aware Scaling CAwonatreenSt-caling An intelligent method of selectively resizing images ontent-Aware Scaling came of people, the areas lying between each Where is it? Content-Aware Scaling A closer r into Photoshop in the most person are resized. However, this isn’t always can be found in the Edit menu just shortened recent version, CS4. It’s perfect every time, as Content-Aware above the other Transform tools such between t grouped with the Transform Scaling can produce rough patches. This is as Free Transform. Its job is the same, to make th tools and acts in the same way, but with where some pixels haven’t been blended but it keeps the dimensions of the and more a bonus. smoothly, so there are limits to the extent of main subjects in your image. none of th Found in the Edit menu, Content-Aware rescaling. It all changes depending on the have been Scaling not only resizes your image but subject you’re dealing with. also keeps the main subject at its original After size. It resizes all the other areas that have Using this technique to resize an image no distinct subject. When you use the Free saves possible hours of painstaking Transform tool in Photoshop to adjust an cropping, copying and cloning. Combine image’s size, the entire contents are a ected. Content-Aware Scaling with selections Content-Aware Scaling recognises areas saved as Alpha channels, and you can of similarity such as sky or grass, and only protect areas against any distortion. resizes these. If an image has more than one main Read through this Focus On to discover subject, for example a portrait of a group a solution to distortion caused by Content- Aware Scaling and how best to use this new feature in Photoshop. Content-Aware Scaling QuickMask mode A fast way to resize Multiple methods of selection Content-Aware Scaling is only available in PS CS4, Select the Magic Wand tool and make and is an alternative to the Free Transform tool. If a selection around your subject. Enter you’re looking to reshape an image to fit a certain Quick Mask mode by clicking on the frame without distorting the main subjects, Content- thumbnail at the bottom of the toolbar, Aware Scaling is made to do just that. It’s located then using the Brush and Eraser tools under Edit>Content-Aware Scale. Your image is given you can make your selection more markers on all four of its corners and sides to show accurate. Experiment with other the boundary. By tweaking the settings in the Options selection methods – for example try bar it can be set to specific dimensions to protect using the Magnetic Lasso tool, which skin tones, and you can even adjust the amount of sticks to the edges of your subject distortion. By making selections around subjects as you run it around the edges. Try you can prevent them being distorted. Practise the the Pen tool to create a smoother three steps on the next page to learn how to use selection by joining points along an edge. You can then resize these Content-Aware Scaling with a new Alpha channel. parts or save the selection (Select>Save Selection). 246 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Protecting skin tones If your image Tip Making Alpha channels contains people, skin can be protected ContentAwareScalingcanworkwithAlphachannelsto from possible distortion. In the Options Combining protectanareafromdistortion.Theysaveaselectionfor bar simply select the button with a selections repeateduse,greatforprotectingmanysubjectsatonce. person on it to activate this. Amount adjustment The level of distortion can IfContent-Aware 01Make a be adjusted using the Amount slider. At 100% the Scalingfailstowork selection main subjects are protected as much as they can onallthesubjects Use the Quick be when applying Content-Aware Scaling. inyourimage,when Selection tool to makinganAlpha select the main race We’ve channelusethe subject. Use a small d the distance MagicWandtool brush for trickier areas, the windsurfers toselectmultiple and use the Magic his race closer subjectsandthen Wand tool to select intense. Notice savetheselectionas multiple subjects in he windsurfers anewchannel.This your image. n a ected. way,youcanprotect manysubjects 02Save your Before resizing fromdistortion. selection When the selection Unlock layer To is complete, head to apply the Content- Select>Save Selection. Aware Scale In the dialog box option, you rst name your selection need to make sure and hit OK. Open that the layer isn’t the Channels palette locked. To unlock a and you’ll see it saved layer, double-click there. Hit Ctrl/Cmd+D. it in the Layers palette and hit OK 03 Locate the in the New Layer selection dialog box. Go to Edit>Content- Aware Scale, and in the Options bar, under Protect, select the name of the channel just made. Now when you resize your image the channel won’t become distorted. Protect skin tones Minimise distortion Designed for portraits Improving the look of resizing Content-Aware Scaling has an option to retain quality and shape in skin tones in To minimise any distortion when you use Content-Aware Scaling, simply adjust portrait images. This is deal if you want to retain the background in a portrait that has the Amount slider in the Options bar at the top of the Photoshop interface. With a landscape orientation and you a value of 100% the adjustment need to change it to portrait. Select is more considerate towards the option from Edit>Content- the main subject in your image. Aware Scale, and in the Options However, if you set this to a bar click on the button shaped lower value such as 10%, the as a person. This protects a main subject and background person’s face from distortion and will both be squashed and looking blocky from overlapping moved out of shape. Try to pixels. It also saves you making experiment with different a selection around a person values to achieve the correct each time you want to resize with level of distortion for your Content-Aware Scaling. particular image. PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 247

tutorial The Texture filters The Texture filters Texturizer and the Text tool Digital paintings and manipulations can sometimes appear a little at and lifeless – this is where theTexture The writing on the wall lters come into their own We don’t have to use photos with these lters to produce good YOUR EXPERT n this Big Technique we will be looking at e ects – we can use them to make standalone pictures. In this Photoshop’s Texture lters and how we can use them tutorial we’ll examine how to make a simple stencil-on-brick Simon Rudd within our projects to add impact. e ect using only the Texturizer lter and the Text tool. In real life, textures are all around us and we use 01Solid colour them to visually distinguish how things would feel to the touch; for In this example example, if we look at tree bark we know it will be rough to the touch. we’re going to create a We can then use this knowledge to our advantage and assess the text-on-a- textured- dangers of a situation. This also means we don’t have to trudge across surface e ect. We start the park to feel the tree in the rst place. by creating a solid colour background (Layer>New In Photoshop art we can use textures to give the impression of Fill Layer>Solid Color). how things should feel, making the picture speak to its audience in We used blue, but you ways beyond just the subject matter. can use whatever colour you wish. Photoshop lters are very handy and can be used to make some great art – although the overuse of them can very easily ruin a picture. 02 Text tool The ‘less is more’ philosophy should always be kept in mind when Select a delving into the Filter menu. The Texture lters come in six di erent contrasting foreground avours: Grain, Craquelure, Mosaic Tiles, Stained Glass, Patchwork and colour and use the Texturizer. Each has its own unique result and set of options. For more Text tool to add some information about the Texture lters, please refer to the boxes at the words. Go to Edit>Free bottom of the page. Transform and change the angle and size of the text using the corner anchors. 03 Texturizer filter Create a merged copy of the text and background by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E. Choose Texturizer in the Filter menu (Filter> Texture>Texturizer), pick Texture Brick, move Scale to 200% and hit OK. Texture filter types Grain texture Different strokes for different folks Down and gritty In real life everything has texture, When we take photos a certain amount not only in the feel of an object but of grain is usually present. This happens also in the look (eg if you look at when we set the ISO to a high number, eg a brick you know how it’ll feel to for night photography. The rule of thumb pick it up). You can add texture to usually is the higher the ISO the greater photos using blend modes and the grain. The Grain texture simulates layer masks, but PS also has six different types of film grain and applies Texture filters (Filters >Texture). it to an image. There are a number of When applied to pics they can add grain types: Regular, Soft, Sprinkles, depth, effects or an organic feel to Clumped, Contrasty, Enlarged, Stippled, projects. The filters available are Horizontal, Vertical and Speckle. The Craquelure, Grain, Mosaic Tiles, Patchwork, Stained Glass and Texturizer. intensity of the grain and contrast of this Each creates a different effect and can be used in combination with the others. filter can also be adjusted. 248 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION

Filter on filter In our example Filter Library Photoshop’s Filter Library allows you Filter Gallery With the introduction of CS1, Adobe here, we have applied multiple lters to cycle through the di erent Photoshop lters with introduced the Filter Gallery which can be used on top of each other. You don’t have ease. With the Texture lters we can easily see the six to access lters and adjust their settings on the y. to use di erent lters on each layer, di erent varieties available to us and have the ability to Filters have also changed from CS4 onwards – where though. Strengthen an e ect by change our minds without having to undo changes. you can now have ‘Smart Filters’ that work like applying it multiple times. Not all lters are available within the Filter Library. adjustment layers. Filter options The Filter layers As Texture lters all have well as being able to di erent options change lters on the which can be adjusted y, the Filter Gallery to suit your needs. also allows you to Within this window we combine di erent can adjust the e ects lters together using by moving the sliders the Filter layers. In or in some cases this window we can selecting options from add more lters, drop-down menus. rearrange them or delete them – very Preview window This window shows you much as you would the e ect the lter is having on your layer. within Photoshop’s We can adjust the zoom so that we can see Layers palette. a close-up preview of the e ect or zoom out and see how it looks overall. Craquelure texture Mosaic Tiles texture This cracks me up Making more of less The Craquelure filter produces Mosaic pictures are made up of a a plaster effect that is mapped number of different coloured chips to the image via a network of or tiles to produce an overall image ‘cracks’ to duplicate the effect – this is a bit like how monitors and time has on oil paintings, where printers work. With the Mosaic the surface will crack slightly. Tiles filter we can produce an Evidence of this can be seen effect that looks like a picture in museums and photos of old has been built out of small chips masterpieces. This filter can or tiles that have been grouted be manipulated to produce together. The filter allows us to different effects. The options customise the tile size, the grout available are Crack Spacing, Crack Depth and Crack Brightness. This filter width and how dark the grout is can also create an interesting cracked skin effect in photomanipulations. (Lighten Grout). PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION 249

tutorial The Texture filters Tip CREATE GREAT TEXTURE IN YOUR PROJECTS Learn to make the most of the Texture filters Hteoxmtueregsrown 01 New project Create a new 02 We rule We now want to divide 03 Set guides We need to make sure Photoshop document with a Width the canvas into ve equal sections, we can see our guidelines. We do With the Texturizer of 1000 pixels and a Height of 768 pixels. If and we do this by rst making sure we have this by going to View>Extra and making sure filter we have you want to print your project then set the PPI the rulers visible (View>Rulers) or by pressing it’s ticked. Next, select the Move tool from four ready-made to 300; if not, 72 is ne. Save this document as Ctrl/Cmd+R together. The top and left of the the Toolbox, and follow this by clicking and textures to make ‘project.psd’. screen will now have visible rulers. Right-click holding the left ruler. Drag a line out and use of, but we can on one of these and select Pixels. drop it at the 200-pixel mark. also create our own within Photoshop to use with this filter, although it would have to be PSD format. An easy copyright symbol can be made by creating a 200 x 200-pixel document, then using a bold font such as Arial, writing the letter ‘C’. Surround this with a stroked elliptical selection and save as a PSD. Set Relief to a high number. 04 Flower power We repeat this for 05 What a drag In the Layers palette 06 Load and lock We can close the the 400, 600 and 800-pixel marks drag the thumbnail of the photo to photo document and go back to to get four guidelines and ve sections. We the New Layer icon (a square within a square) our Project document. Drag it so it occupies want to ll each section with a photograph. while holding the Alt key. A dialog will open the rst section – feel free to move it around We haven’t supplied the start les for this, as asking you where you want to copy the layer until you are happy with it. Next, we want to it works on any image. Open up ve photos to. Select Project from the list and name the draw a selection around this section, but to and load the rst one in Photoshop. layer. Finally, click OK. make sure it snaps to the guides we need to check the Snap To option. Texturizer filter Patchwork texture Quickly add texture Hip to be square This filter instantly adds texture The Patchwork filter works by breaking to PS documents, with depth, up the picture/selection into a series of shadows and highlights. It comes squares. These are filled with that square’s with a number of texture presets main colour. The filter also randomly available from the filter’s drop- reduces or increases the tile depth to down list, namely Brick, Burlap, produce shadows and highlights. You can Canvas and Sandstone. Scaling also change its options – for example, can be adjusted from 50% to adjusting Square Size to a larger number 200%. Relief (darkness of the will produce larger squares but will have lines) and light direction can also be edited within this filter for different the effect of fewer square blocks being effects. We can use these presets to easily change the feel of a picture, produced. If we change the Relief option eg using the canvas texture will give the effect of something printed on we can change the darkness of the lines canvas. We can also add our own textures to create other effects. that make up the picture. 250 PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE COLLECTION