Friday, January 23, 2009

Learning photoshop with Video Tutorials

By David Peters

The spot healing brush made its debut in Photoshop Elements 3, but now an enhanced version of it is available in Photoshop CS2. The spot healing tool is different from the existing patch and healing tools in that it does not require you to make a selection or define a source point before using it.

To begin, open your Photoshop program, then hold down Ctrl-Alt-Shift in Windows or Command-Option-Shift for Mac OS. This restores the default preferences. Click on "Yes," which resets, and then close the screen. Open an image file inside Photoshop, then make a duplicate layer to work on. This is one of the best habits you can develop for working with Photoshop; once you're used to editing only on a copy of the original, you will see that it's easy and worth it.

You can also add new colour stops to an existing gradient by clicking anywhere along the bottom edge of the preview bar. As well as editing colour stops for the gradient to blend between, you can also add different opacity settings to make it fade from solid to transparency. Strike a balance The Gradient Editor automatically places a midpoint between each colour stop to create a smooth linear blend between colours.

Image Adjustments: No doubt you'll need to tweak things such as levels and colour values on occasion. These shortcuts will take you to the heart of the Image - Adjustments menu - Adjust Levels.......[Ctrl]+[L] - Auto Levels.........[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[L] - Auto Contrast.......[Alt]+[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[L] - Auto Color..........[Shift]+[ Ctrl]+[B] - Curves ..............[Ctrl]+[M] - Color Balance.......[Ctrl]+[B] - Hue/Saturation......[Ctrl]+[U] - Desaturate..........[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[U] - Invert..............[Ctrl]+[I] File Management: Browse, open, close and save your files for a variety of formats, all at the touch of a key or three - New File.............[Ctrl]+[N] - Open File............[Ctrl]+[O] - Open File Browser....[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[O] - Save.................[Ctrl]+[S] - Close................[Ctrl]+[W] - Save As..............[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[S] - Save for Web.........[Alt]+[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[S] - Undo last action.....[Ctrl]+[Z] - Step Forward.........[Shift]+[Control]+[Z] - Step Backward........[Alt]+[Ctrl]+[Z] - Page Setup...........[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[P] - Print................[Alt]+[Ctrl]+[P] - Print with Preview...[Ctrl]+[P] - Print One Copy.......[Alt]+[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[P] - Jump to ImageReady...[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[M]

If you drag the "black" slider to the right, the darkest colors disappear and the image below appears. Dragging the underneath layer's black slider will bring out the darkest colors from the bottom image. To merge your blended layers when you're finished, so that any further styling will be applied equally, click Layer in your top menu, then either Merge Down, Merge Group, Merge Visible or Flatten Image. If you're the kind of person who loves to learn and master a subject of interest, try out all the various permutations available in your Layer Style box's Advanced Blending palette, under "knockout." Right away, you'll see how useful the three options in the Knockout menu itself can be: None, Shallow or Deep.

Like Microsoft, Adobe's business is built largely around packaged software, installed locally on users' PCs. Likewise, Adobe's plans to diversify its business with online services mirrors a large-scale effort at Microsoft to introduce a combination of software and services. As online applications become more functional, Adobe is seeking out areas where Web services can fill out its product portfolio, Chizen said. The company intends to offer entirely hosted applications, as well as "hybrids," in which Adobe uses the Web to introduce features to desktop products, such as Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. We recognize there is a customer there--we recognize they are not going to pay us, necessarily, directly. But we could use ad revenue as a model. Google has demonstrated that it works pretty well for certain types of applications.

Just knowing the basics can do wonders. Start with your "Auto Color" command. (Click "Image," "Adjustments," then "Auto Color" from the top menu.) Photoshop has configured the Auto Color tool to transform photos to preset values, affecting the overall tone and levels of the photograph. After that you will probably want to enhance your photo further. Photoshop gives you a cornucopia of options for endlessly fiddling with your pictures. Try your "Levels" button (click "Image," "Adjustments," then "Levels"). A dialog box pops up labeled Levels. In it you can use the top slider bar to control the brightness of shadows, midtones and highlights. The bottom slider bar affects your overall output levels. You should get your levels the way you want them before you move on to directly transform colors. You can also correct your brightness levels using "Curves," in the same menu. Experiment with it and you'll see how it works.

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