Erasing history
If you want to use the Eraser as an "undo" tool, you can make it work just like the history brush. Normally the Eraser erases to the Background color, but by checking the Erase to History it does just that. It erases back beyond any saves you may have done to the state when the file was first opened. Each time you open a file, Photoshop takes a snapshot of the file, which is used for this kind of erasure. This is similar to the History Brush, which works with Difference Modes such as Lighten, Overlay, or Saturation, while the Eraser only can adjust its shape.
Checking on filter adjustments
When you are in the Filter Gallery, you can still use the Zoom In and Zoom Out controls (Command/Ctrl and “+” and Command/Ctrl and “-”). This will allow you to adjust the size of the image to see whatever detail is important. The Hand tool is available by pressing the spacebar. This allows you to move the image around while within the Filter Gallery. If this does not give you enough of a view, click on the small triangle to the small filter previews. This will make the previews disappear, making the image larger.
Color settings
When converting from Lab to CMYK, have your color conversion intent set to Absolute Colorimetric, rather than to the default Relative Colorimetric (Color Settings > More Options). Absolute maps colors as close as possible, while Relative adjusts source white to destination white and lets the other colors fall in relation. Generally, Absolute Colorimetric ignores white and leaves colors that fall within the gamut unchanged. It is used to asses how paper color affects printed colors. Once the conversion has been done, change the setting back to Relative or Perceptual Colorimetric.
Centered placement
If you drag one image onto another while holding down the Shift key, the image will be perfectly centered in the new layer, regardless of where you drop it.
Check conversions
You can always see how your RGB image colors will change when converted to CMYK by using Ctrl/Command Y. If you want to see what colors are out of gamut, add the Shift key. Don't forget to change back before doing any editing. The name at the top of the image will say (RGB/8/CMYK), if you have the CMYK preview on.
Histogram information
The Histogram shows information for the whole image, but if you expand the window, you have a drop down that will show information for the selected layer only. Additionally you can select any part of an image and the Histogram will be made up of the pixels within the selection. Be aware that as you make changes, the histogram actually guesses what shape it should draw. It does this by caching the previous shapes. You can force it to start from scratch, not use the cache, by clicking on the small revolving arrow circle in the top right corner. If you have the statistics panel open, it will tell you if the histogram is cached. Level 1 means it is using what is on the screen.
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Layer Comps to the Web
After you've created Layer Comps, you can show them to clients as a Web Photo Gallery. Select Layer Comps to WPG (File>Scripts> Layer Comps to WPG ). In the dialog, choose a location, and enter the name for the gallery layout, which must be the same as the WPG. Finally click Run, and Photoshop automatically creates a Website based on your layer comps.
Stroke with a pattern
You have probably often filled a shape with a pattern (Edit>Fill then select Use Pattern), but you can also stroke a path with a pattern, which can lead to some interesting effects. To do this you must first create a path. It's best to do it on a new layer, so the pattern/stroke is on a separate layer to the shape, allowing for variations of opacity and blend modes. Click on the Pattern Stamp tool and choose the pattern you want, then adjust the brush size from the Options Bar. In the Paths palette, hold down the Alt key and click on the Stroke Path with the Brush icon at the bottom of the Paths palette. Then, from the Tool pop-up list, select Pattern Stamp, and the pattern will be applied to the path.
Reset Character
Photoshop CS remembers whatever settings you last used to format type. To quickly reset Photoshop's type to its “default” standard settings, select the Text tool, and in the Control palette, go to the Character palette, click on the drop down menu, and then the new flyout menu and choose Reset Tool. This will work for all the tools.
Previous levels
If you open the Levels command with the addition of the Alt key (Comman/Ctrl+Option/Alt+L), you will bring up the previously used Levels settings. The same is true for the curves dialog (Command/Ctrl+Option/Alt+M).
Un-backgrounding
To apply layer styles or place a layer below the background, you must first change the name from Background to something else. Do this by double-clicking, which brings up a box renaming the layer (Layer 0) or giving you the opportunity to name it anything you like. Or you can Option/Alt+double-click the name Background in the layer palette; this will change the name to Layer 0 without having to access another dialog.
Soften faces
A nice way to soften images, especially close up of faces is to duplicate the image in a new layer, load luminosity (Ctrl_Alt+~) as a selection, and inverse the selection (Selection>Inverse) then apply a Gaussian Blur (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) to the layer. Finally use the fade Gaussian Blur (Edit>Fade Gaussian Blur) control to lessen the effect.
Photomerge to blends or layers
When using the Photomerge tool in Photoshop CS, if you choose to save as Layers, the blends don't work quite as well as when you choose to flatten the image.
Pixel accurate
If you want to find the exact same place on several images, create an action that changes the ruler measurements to percentages and Eyedropper tool to sample 3x3 average. Place a color sampler in the first image and stop recording. Select the second image and run the action. It should place the sampler in the same place, down to the pixel.
Moving through the modes
To cycle through the various layer modes, use the Shift - or Shift + to go through the list and see the results as you go.
Back to Background
On occasion, you may want to turn a layer back into a Background layer. If you have no other layer called Background, this can be done using Background From Layer (Layers>Background From Layer). It will be moved, of course, to the lowest position in the Layers palette. As Background layers can't contain any transparency, all transparency will be replaced by the currently set background color. If you do this when there is already a Background layer, it will merely change the name of the current Background to layer 0, or to the next numerical value available.
Assign or convert
There's a big difference between assigning a color space to an image and converting the image into the color space. If you assign the color space, it will not change the color-value numbers at all but will change the colors to the given values in the color space. If you convert the image into a color space, it will retain the colors and alter the numbers„a significant difference. So when changing an existing image from one space to another, convert rather than change color space, and of course do it on a copy.
Photoshop Favorites
You can add any folder to the Photoshop Favorites folder. This will make it available from within the Open dialog with the small icon in the top right-hand corner, or from the drop-down menu at the top of the File Browser's File menu. To add a folder to this list, with the folder open, go to Add to Favorites Menu (File Browser>File>Add to Favorites), or from any Open dialog, select the icon in the top right corner and select Add Favorite.
ICC
ICC profiles are used to define how a particular device such as a monitor has displays color as compared with established norms. Adobe and other color management systems use these standards to convert from one color space to another. There are now many devices available for individuals to create their won profiles which will match how their particular device strays from the norm. When reading about ICC profiles, which are used to define color spaces, it should be borne in mind that .icc is the extension used by Macintosh computers. On the Windows side this is .icm, as icc had already been allocated when ICC profiles were invented.
Better placement
All too often, we forget to use the grids and guides in Photoshop . Just make them visible (View>Show>Grids and Guides) and then you can also turn on the Snap to (View>Snap to>and select your choice), and lining up objects becomes easy.
If you find the grids and guides too hard to see against your image, you can change the colors of either from their rather anemic defaults (Edit> Preferences>Guides, Grids & Slices). In addition, one other useful control is that you can also set your objects to snap to the outside edge of an image (View>Snap to>Document Bounds.) The downside of using grids and guides is that it slows down the application considerably. So turn them on only when you will find them useful, and turn them off when finished.
Enhance shadow detail
With an image that has very dense shadows, examine each channel to find the one with the most contrast. Duplicate this and apply a Gaussian blur to it. Start with a setting high enough to obscure details yet leave you able to see basic shapes. You can always apply more or less later. Ctrl/Command-click on the name of the duplicated layer to load its transparency mask, and then invert the mask (Select>Inverse). Then in the Layers palette make a new layer above the image and fill it with 50% grey (Edit>Fill). Change the Blend mode of this new layer to Linear Dodge and adjust the transparency level to tweak the shadow detail. You may get a more subtle effect using the Color Dodge blend mode.
Contracting edges that touch borders
One annoying little quirk in Photoshop is its inability to contract a selection that touches the canvas boundaries„even though its co-installed sibling, ImageReady, does it just fine. In fact, if the entire canvas is selected, the Contract command isn't even available. To fix this, Trevor Morris has written a script called Contract Canvas Selection, which emulates Photoshop 's native Contract command but properly contracts a selection, even when one or more sides touch the canvas boundaries. You can even bind the script to a keyboard shortcut or include it as part of an action. Download and installation instructions are available at http://tinyurl.com/379ln.
Printing bits
If you want to print only a portion of an image, select the portion that you want to print with the Marquee tool. Then select Print with Preview. In the resulting box, make sure you check Print Selected Area, and that is all that will print.
Curve like before
If you want to bring up previous Levels or Curves settings, hold down the Alt/Option key when selecting either dialog. This will load the settings you used previously.
Subtle sharpening
Sometimes the Unsharp Mask is difficult to adjust. Sharpening the edges can affect the borders of pixels in areas that do not need sharpening. An alternative and more subtle tool is the High Pass filter in combination with the Overlay or Soft Light blend modes. An easy way to experiment is to duplicate the image layer several times and then apply the High Pass filter with different settings to each new layer. Start small, at about two, and increase the setting slider by one for each layer. It is a good idea to name the layers with the amount, as you cannot go back to the filter settings. This will turn each layer gray. For each of the new layers, apply the Overlay blend mode. Then turn them off and on, one layer at a time, always leaving the original visible. You'll see that sharpening has applied only to the edges, and the one with the lowest setting will probably be too subtle. If you want a setting in between, try changing the blend mode to Soft Light. For more refinements, reduce the Opacity of the new layer.
Masking multiple layers
If you have several masks on multiple layers, you can mask them all with yet another mask by placing the originals within a Layer Set, and the applying a mask to the set. To do this, first include the existing masks in a layer set, select them and choose New Layer Set from the flyout menu and then click on the new layer icon.
Smooth edges
Sometimes the edge of a selection can end up being very jagged, especially when made with the Magic Wand. To make these edges smoother, after making the selection, use the Quick Mask (press the Q key) and use the Median filter (Filter>Noise>Median). Use the slider to smooth the edge and then press the Q key to get out of Quick Mask.
Bruce RGB (Image: Photoshop Bruce)
Color expert Bruce Fraser created his own color space, BruceRGB, a couple of years ago to help people get a safe RGB working space for use with Photoshop. It was designed for getting optimal output, rather than retaining the maximum color information. It's a compromise between ColorMatch RGB and Adobe RGB (1998). Fraser says, "BruceRGB is not the be-all and end-all of RGB working spaces. Rather, it's a useful, safe space for the purpose for which it was designed_generating hardcopy." (www.creativepro.com/story/feature/6541.html) To create the BruceRGB profile, open the Color settings (Edit> Color Settings), and in the Working Spaces section select RGB, scroll to the top, and select Custom RGB. Name the space BruceRGB, set the Gamma to 2.2, the White Point to 6500Å K (D65).
Red x = 0.640 y = 0.3300
Green x = 0.2800 y = 0.6500
Blue x = 0.1500 y = 0.0600
Sign you work (Image photoshop custom shapes)
To create a logo, signature, or copyright message that you can place in various Photoshop files, first create it in Illustrator, then copy and paste it onto a new layer in Photoshop. Select the logo by Crtl+clicking in the layer name. Then open the Path palette and from the flyout menu select Make Work Path. Choose a Tolerance of 0.5 pixels, and then with the Path selected choose Define Custom Shape (Edit>Define Custom Shape). Now the logo will be available whenever you want it by selecting the Custom shapes tool and picking your new shape from the drop-down menu in the Toolbar by the word Shape. The shape is resolution-independent, so the same logo can be placed and sized regardless of resolution.
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