Photoshop CS4 Studio Techniques- P5 doc

Some of the same options are available under the Layer Style pop-up menu at the bottom of the Layers panel it’s the leftmost icon.. Figure 3.28 Adding a drop shadow to a text layer make

Layer Styles

Choose Layer > Layer Style to access a bunch of really neat options Some of the same options are available under the Layer Style pop-up menu at the bottom of the Layers panel (it’s the leftmost icon) To experiment with these options, create a new, empty layer, and paint on it with any of the painting tools Then apply one of the effects found in the Layer Style menu: Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Outer

Glow, Inner Glow, Bevel and Emboss, and so on (Figures 3.26 to 3.28) You can use the default settings for now After

applying an effect, use the Eraser tool to remove some of the paint on that layer Did you notice that the layer effect updates to refl ect the changes you make to the layer? In one simple step, layer styles create results that would usually require multiple layers and a lot of memory

Figure 3.27 A text layer is ordinary and flat, sometimes needing a little more punch.

Figure 3.28 Adding a drop shadow

to a text layer makes the font much clearer and adds to the overall image.When you have at least one layer style applied to a layer,

a small fx appears next to the layer’s name in the Layers

panel That’s the only indication that a layer has a layer style attached to it Click the triangle that appears next to that symbol to see a list of the layer styles that are applied

to that layer (Figure 3.29) If you drag one of the layer

styles from that list and release the mouse button when the cursor is over another layer, that layer style moves to the

Figure 3.26 One of the most popular layer styles is

the drop shadow.

Figure 3.29 Applied layer styles

appear under the fx symbol in

the layer.

selected layer Holding down Option/Alt when dragging

a style copies the style instead of moving it Dragging the

word Effects from the top of the list moves all of the layer

styles attached to that layer To remove a layer style, click its

name in the list and drag it to the Trash icon at the bottom

of the Layers panel

You can lower the Fill setting at the top of Photoshop’s

Layers panel to reduce the opacity of the layer contents

while keeping the layer style at full strength (Figure 3.30).

Alternatively, hold down Shift and type a number while

the Move tool is active Choose Layer > Layer Style > Create

Layer to have Photoshop create the layers that would

usu-ally be needed to create the effect For example, you might

want to choose Create Layer if you want to distort the

effect separately from the layer to which it was attached

Figures 3.31 to 3.34 show what a few of the layer styles can

Adjustment Layers

The Adjustment Layer pop-up menu at the bottom of the Layers panel (it’s the half-black and half-white circle) allows you to apply adjustments that will affect multiple layers But CS4 goes one step further with a new Adjustments panel, making the use of this key Photoshop feature even easier This is the most versatile method for applying adjustments, and it’s such a powerful feature that we’ve devoted an entire chapter to it (Chapter 5, “Adjustment Layers”)

Fill Layers

The options in the New Fill Layer menu (Layer > New Fill Layer) add solid color, gradient, and pattern content to a layer This feature is especially useful when combined with vector masks, as described in Chapter 10 If you don’t want

a fi ll layer to fi ll your entire document, make a selection before creating the fi ll layer, which will create a layer mask After a fi ll layer has been created, you can reset your fore-ground and background colors to black/white by press-ing D Then you can use the Eraser tool to hide the area and the Paintbrush tool to make areas visible again

Solid Color Layer

Choosing Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color brings up

a dialog that asks you to name the layer you’re creating After you click OK, it opens the color picker, where you can specify the color that will be used for the solid color layer When you’ve created one of these layers, you can double-click the leftmost thumbnail of the layer in the Layers panel to edit the color

Gradient Layer

Choosing Layer > New Fill Layer > Gradient brings up a dialog that asks you to name the layer; this creates a new

layer that contains a gradient (Figure 3.35) The gradient

is always editable by double-clicking the leftmost nail in the Layers panel If the Align with Layer check box

thumb-is turned on, the start and end points of the gradient are determined by the contents of the selected layer rather than by the document’s overall size You can change the

Figure 3.35 The Gradient Fill dialog

is useful for creating a new layer that

contains a gradient.

gradient content by clicking the Gradient selection in the

dialog

Pattern Layer

Choosing Layer > New Fill Layer > Pattern allows you

to create a new layer that contains a repeating pattern

(Figure 3.36) Use this type of layer to add a

brushed-aluminum look to a background Then, if you ever decide

to change the pattern, it’s as simple as double-clicking the

thumbnail in the Layers panel and choosing New Pattern

from the drop-down menu

The Blending Mode Menu

The Blending Mode menu at the upper left of the Layers

panel allows the information on a layer to blend with the

underlying image in interesting and useful ways Using this

menu, you can quickly change the color of objects, colorize

grayscale images, add refl ections to metallic objects, and

much more This is an advanced feature, so you’ll have to

wait until you get to Chapter 9 to fi nd out more about it

Automatic Selections

To select everything on a particular layer, just Command/

Ctrl-click the thumbnail image of the layer in the Layers

panel If the layer fi lls the entire screen, it will select all

because this trick looks for transparent areas You can hold

down the Shift key to add to a selection that already exists

or use the Option/Alt key to take away from the current

selection

Layer Via Copy

The Layers menu offers a wide variety of options for

copy-ing, mergcopy-ing, and manipulating layers Let’s look at one of

these choices If you select an area of an image and then

choose Layer > New > Layer Via Copy, the selected area

is moved from the active layer to a new layer in the same

position (Figures 3.37 to 3.39) This feature is particularly

handy when you want to move just a portion of a layer so

that you can place it on top of another layer, or remove a

portion of a layer and add layer styles Very handy, but keep

in mind that this won’t work with vector shape or fi ll layers

Figure 3.36 A new fill layer with a pattern makes it easy to repeat a small image throughout a larger document.

Figure 3.37 Making a selection is the first step to using the Layer Via Copy option.

Figure 3.39 Layer Via Copy is also useful for adding various layer styles.

Use All Layers

When you’re editing on a layer, some of the editing tools might not work as expected Most of the tools act as if each layer is a separate document; they ignore all layers except the active one—unless the tool has the Use All Layers check box (labeled All Layers in the Paint Bucket tool) turned on in the options bar of the tool you’re using This check box makes the tools act as if all the layers have been combined into one layer This possibility can work in your favor or not, depending on what you’re trying to accom-

plish (Figures 3.40 and 3.41).

Figure 3.40 Using the Paint Bucket tool without the Use All Layers option checked fills the selected layer.

Figure 3.41 Using the Paint Bucket tool with the Use All Layers option checked attempts to fill all layers.

Figure 3.38 Selecting the Layer Via

Copy option moves the selection from

one layer into a new layer.

Layer Shortcuts

You’ll be doing a lot of switching between layers, which can

get a bit tedious Here are some quick shortcuts:

Command/Ctrl-click anywhere in the image window

when using the Move tool to activate the layer directly

below your cursor To fi nd out which layer is active,

glance at the Layers panel

You won’t always need the layer directly below your

cur-sor Control-clicking/right-clicking brings up a menu

of all the layers that contain pixels below your cursor

Choose the name of the layer you want, and Photoshop

switches to that layer

To get the Move tool temporarily at any time, hold

down the Command/Ctrl key If you press

Command-Control (Mac) or hold down Ctrl and right-click

(Win-dows), no matter what tool you’re using, Photoshop

presents the pop-up menu

Grouping Layers

Have you ever had a complicated images with dozens of

layers? If so, you’re probably familiar with the agony of

fumbling through an endless sea of layers to fi nd the right

one You’ll be ecstatic to learn that you can group layers

together A group of layers looks like a folder in the Layers

panel You can view all the layers in the group or just the

group name

To group multiple layers, select the layers and then either

Shift-click the folder icon at the bottom of the Layers panel

or choose Layer > Group Layers You can also click the

folder icon (without holding down any keys) to create an

empty folder You can move any number of layers into the

folder by dragging and dropping them onto the folder The

folder will have a small triangle just to its left that allows

you to collapse the group down to its name or expand the

group to show all the layers it contains (Figures 3.42 and

3.43) You can even drag one folder onto another to create

a hierarchy of up to fi ve levels of folders) This approach

can greatly simplify the Layers panel, making a document

of 100+ layers look as if it’s made of only a few layers

Figure 3.42 A typical project can have a full Layers panel.

Figure 3.43 By grouping layers, you can stay organized.

Option/Alt-clicking the arrow next to a group expands

or collapses all the groups and layer style lists within that group Adding the Command/Ctrl key expands or col-lapses all the groups in the entire document

Groups can also be useful when you want to reorganize the layers in an image If one of the layers within a group

is active, using the Move tool affects only that layer (unless it’s linked to other layers) If the group is active, using the Move tool moves all the layers within that group

Smart Guides

When you choose View > Show > Smart Guides, Photoshop displays pink guides to indicate how the active layer aligns

with the surrounding layers These Smart Guides appear

only when you’re actively dragging a layer Smart Guides pay attention to the top, bottom, left, right, and center of each layer, and extend the pink guides across all the layers that are aligned The layers also snap to these alignment points, making it especially easy to get your layers in align-ment You can toggle the snapping behavior off or on by choosing View > Snap To > Layers

Smart Guides ignore layer styles that are applied to a layer

In Figure 3.44, the outer ring of each object was created

using the Stroke and Bevel & Emboss layer styles, so it wasn’t used when determining where the edge of the layer

is located The Smart Guides also ignore any areas that have

an opacity of less than 50%, which also affects any layers that have soft edges, causing the snapping behavior to treat the halfway point of the fadeout as the edge of the layer

To get rid of a group without

throw-ing away the layers that are inside

it, click the group to make it active,

click the Trash icon at the bottom of

the Layers panel, and then choose

Group Only when prompted.

Figure 3.44 Smart Guides help you

to align images and graphics as you

move them.

Figure 3.45 Panel options for the Layers panel are

found by clicking the side menu button.

Figure 3.46 You can choose larger or smaller thumbnails for the Layers panel—or none at all.

Hiding Layer Thumbnails

If you’ve organized an image into layer groups, but the

Layers panel is still a mess, you might want to simplify

the way Photoshop displays layers Choose Panel Options

from the side menu of the Layers panel and click None in

the Thumbnail Size section of the dialog to turn off the

layer thumbnails Once you’ve done that, the list of layers

takes up a lot less space, but you still have the full

func-tionality of all of Photoshop’s features (Figures 3.45 and

3.46) This feature also speeds up the screen redraw of the

Layers panel

Displaying Layer Bounds

If you have many small elements on individual layers, the

Layers panel might look like a sea of checkerboard

Photo-shop allows you to crop the layer thumbnails so that they

show the contents of a layer while ignoring any empty area

surrounding the content To get to this view, choose Panel

Options from the side menu of the Layers panel and turn

on the Layer Bounds setting (Figure 3.47).

Figure 3.47 Select Layer Bounds in the Thumbnail Contents section to remove transparent areas from your thumbnails.

Color-Coding Layers

If you work within a large group of Photoshop users, it can

be useful to assign colors to layers to indicate their current status Maybe some text needs to be proofed, or the client approved a certain part of the image, or an area needs

to be sent off for color correction All you have to do is Control/right-click the name of a layer and choose Layer Properties In the resulting dialog, you can color-code a

layer or a group (Figure 3.48) Even easier,

Control/right-click the Eyeball column to bring up color choices for that layer or group

Figure 3.54 Change the color of a selected layer to help stay organized.

Merging Layers

When you create a complicated image containing dozens

of layers, the project can start hogging memory, which in turn makes it diffi cult to manage all the layers Every time you create a new layer and add something to it, Photoshop gobbles up more memory Photoshop not only has to remember what’s on that layer, but what’s below it (even if that information is completely covered by the information

on the layers above)

Whenever possible, try to simplify your images by merging layers This action combines the layers into a single layer, which saves memory The Layer menu and the side menu

on the Layers panel provide several ways to merge layers:

Merge Down: Merges the active layer into the layer

directly below it

Merge Visible: Merges all the layers that are currently

visible in the main image window

Merge Layers: Merges all the selected layers.

Merge Group: Merges all the layers that are within the

active group

Flatten Image: Merges all visible layers into the

Back-ground image, discards hidden layers, and fi lls empty

areas with white

If you want to know how much extra memory the layers

take as you’re modifying an image, choose Document

Sizes from the menu that appears at the bottom center

of the document (Figure 3.49) The number on the left

should stay relatively constant (unless you scale or crop the

image); it indicates how much memory the image would

use if all the layers were merged The number on the right

indicates how much memory the image is using with all

the layers included This number changes as you add and

modify layers Keep an eye on it so that you can see how

memory-intensive the different layers are

Figure 3.49 View the document’s memory usage at

the bottom of the document window.

The number on the right might get huge if you’re using a

lot of layers; however, keep in mind that by glancing at the

left number you’ll know exactly how large the image will

be when you fl atten the layers

Layers play such a huge role in Photoshop that to deny

yourself any crucial information about them is asking for

trouble With every new release, Adobe likes to pack more

and more functions into the Layers panel So, as time goes

on, understanding layers will become even more essential

You should feel comfortable with them before you move

on to more advanced areas of Photoshop

The Power of Curves

Curves can be used for just about anything; in fact, it’s

probably the one adjustment tool you should use all the

time By mastering the Curves dialog, you’ll have more

control over your images than you thought possible We’re

not talking about a simple bell curve here, but rather a

robust adjustment system that can make ordinary images

Let’s consider some of the things you can do with the Curves dialog:

Use the Sharpening fi lters to pull out far more detail

than you can see (Figures 3.50 to 3.52).

Lighten or darken areas without making selections

Figure 3.50 An ordinary image can

be improved with the help of Curves

Figure 3.55 Original text with some layer styles applied. Figure 3.56 The text from Figure 3.55 after a simple Curves

adjustment.

Figure 3.57 The original image (©2008 Dan Ablan.) Figure 3.58 The image from Figure 3.57 after simple Curves

adjustments.

None of these changes could be made by using Levels or Brightness/Contrast (that is, not without making compli-cated selections or losing control over the result) Now you can see why you’ll want to master Curves!

Using Curves, you can perform all the adjustments able in the Levels, Brightness/Contrast, and Threshold dialogs—and much, much more In fact, you can adjust each of the 256 shades of gray in your image indepen-

avail-dently (Figure 3.59).

Figure 3.59 Photoshop’s adjustment hierarchy.

The Concept of Curves

Before we delve deeply into Curves, let’s test your present knowledge of the Curves dialog (The lower your score, the more you should enjoy this section.)

All the techniques mentioned

in this chapter apply equally to

images prepared for Web pages and

those prepared for print You might

notice that we concentrate on ink

settings throughout this chapter

Most users are more comfortable

thinking about the effect of ink on

an image, rather than the effect of

light Ink is the exact opposite of

light, so Photoshop can easily

trans-late what you’re attempting to do,

even if your image will be displayed

using light.

Look at the curve shown in Figure 3.60 and see if you can

answer the following questions:

Which shades will lose detail from this adjustment?

Which shades will become brighter?

What happened to 62% gray?

What happened to the image’s contrast?

If you truly understand the Curves dialog, these questions

should be extremely easy to answer However, if you

hesi-tated before answering any of them or couldn’t answer at

all, this section was designed for you

Because the Curves dialog allows you to adjust every shade

of gray in an image independently of the others (256 in

all), it works quite a bit differently from the other

adjust-ment tools To get a clearer picture of what Curves does,

let’s construct our own Curves dialog from scratch, using

something that’s already familiar: a stylish bar graph (also

called a bar chart).

Suppose you create a bar graph that indicates how much

light your monitor uses to display each color in an image

This graph would be just like any other that you’ve seen,

where taller bars mean more light and shorter bars mean

less You could show the shade of gray you’re using below

each bar, and then draw a line from the top of each bar

over to the left so you could label how much light is being

used for each shade You’d end up with something that

looks like Figure 3.61 Or you could just as easily change

the graph to indicate how much ink your inkjet printer

would use to reproduce the image Now that we’re talking

about ink, short bars would mean less ink, which would

produce a light shade of gray, and tall bars would mean

a lot of ink and would produce a dark shade of gray To

make the change, all we’d have to do is fl ip all the shades

at the bottom of the graph so the dark ones are below the

tall bars and the bright ones are below the short bars The

result would look like Figure 3.62, right?

Now that you’ve got the concept, let’s expand on it to

accommodate the real world Our basic bar graph might

work for a simple logo with just a few shades of gray (one

Figure 3.60 Can you figure out what this curve adjustment will do to an image?

Figure 3.61 This bar graph indicates the amount of light used to display the shades of gray shown at the bottom.

Figure 3.62 Flip the shades at the bottom, and you have a graph that represents ink usage.

bar representing each shade), but most of your images will contain many more shades So, we just increase the num-

ber of bars (Figure 3.63), right? Well, sort of The image

can contain up to 256 shades of gray But if we jam 256 bars (one for each shade) into the graph, they won’t look

like bars anymore; they’ll just turn into a big mass (Figure 3.64) You can’t see the individual bars because there’s no

space between them

All the same, images contain up to 256 shades of gray,

so we really need that many bars in our graph Now that they’re all smashed together, we don’t have room to label

each bar, so why don’t we just overlay a grid (Figure 3.65)

and label that instead? If that grid isn’t detailed enough for you, we could add a more detailed grid, such as the one

Figure 3.66 A more detailed grid allows you to be even more accurate.