t arrange your images on screen, as shown here: n standard screen to Full screen Mode with Menu Bar to Full screen Mode.. You can also access the screen modes from the Change screen Mode
Trang 1For Photoshop Elements Users: Setting Preferences (Continued)
Performance
The Memory Usage, History & Cache, and Scratch Disk options are similar between CS5 and Ele-ments 8, but EleEle-ments does not have options for OpenGL drawing or 3D acceleration
Display & Cursors
In addition to CS5-like cursor preferences, the Elements Display & Cursors preference pane has options for the crop shield The crop shield is what hides the part of the image being cropped If Use Shield is checked, Elements will darken that area with whatever color you set in Shield Color and by however much you set with Opacity We recommend using a black color and a 50% opac-ity so that the region to be cropped becomes darker with no color cast
Units & Rulers
Elements has an option called Photo Project Units A photo project includes things like photo calendars and greeting cards Set this option to the unit of measurement you are comfortable working with
The remaining preference panes are quite similar to those in CS5
Views and Zoom
With Photoshop set up just the way you like it, you’re ready to start looking at your images Photoshop provides a variety of ways to do just that, including ways to display images with Photoshop and ways to navigate within your images using various tools
some of these are new to Cs5
Application Bar
the Windows Cs5 application bar, as shown in Figure 4.9, combines the main menu bar as well as features found in the application bar prior to Cs4 the Mac applica-tion bar does not contain the main menu items but shares the other features
The PC Application bar
The Mac Application bar
Figure 4.9 The new Application bars have increased functionality.
Trang 2the application icon is on the far left; it identifies the application (helpful if you’re using more of the Creative suite than just Photoshop) Clicking the
applica-tion icon in Windows displays the standard system menu and follows other expected
Windows behaviors, including having a double-click close the application on a Mac
it doesn’t do anything Windows items previously found in the menu bar are next, but
on a Mac they remain at the top of the monitor
the next set of icons is new in Cs5:
F
n
n
to apply show Grids, show Guides, and show Rulers
t
selected image Click the arrow by it to access options to change to 25%, 50%, 100%, and 200% magnification views
t
arrange your images on screen, as shown here:
n
standard screen to Full screen Mode with Menu Bar to Full screen Mode
We’ll talk more about these modes in the next section
o
the currently selected workspace is highlighted, and other choices are available
L
sign in with your adobe id and password
Windows and Workspaces
although Windows users have always had a gray background for their workspace,
Mac users have not Cs5 offers the option to use an application frame, which provides
a solid background and hides the desktop We find this very helpful so that we aren’t
application Frame and toggle it on (of course, if you prefer to see your desktop
behind your images, toggle it off.)
Trang 3the first thing we recommend doing when you open an image is to size the document window appropriately in general, this means maximizing the document window so you can see as much of the image as possible (as illustrated in Figure 4.10)
to do this, press Ctrl+0/F+0 or double-click the Hand tool icon in the toolbar We’re always a bit surprised at the number of people in our workshops who are working with their images sized so small that the majority of their monitor is filled with blank gray space You can work far more accurately when you can see the image in more detail
Figure 4.10 It’s generally best to maximize your document window so you can see as much of the image as possible while working
in Photoshop
Screen Modes
Photoshop Cs5 offers three screen modes: standard screen, Full screen with Menu Bar, and Full screen these screen modes change the background surrounding your image as well as how you view your image to toggle through the screen modes, press the F key; each time you press it, the mode will change to the next one in the series
You can also access the screen modes from the Change screen Mode icon in the
if you have selected open documents as tabs in Preferences, your images will open in standard screen mode as tabbed images, as shown in Figure 4.10 initially only one image at a time is visible if the magnification renders the image larger than the screen space, scroll bars appear to help navigate through the image You control which image is selected and visible by clicking its tab Click the small X on the right side of the tab to close an image
Trang 4to view more than one image at a time you have several options n-up is the
first option it refers to the option to divide the workspace among as many images (N)
as desired in standard screen mode as shown in Figure 4.11 to view multiple images
simultaneously, first open the images, then click the arrange documents icon and
choose the layout you want
Figure 4.11 By using N-Up, you can view multiple images simultaneously and scroll through them independently.
You can also opt to view one or more images in their own floating windows to float an image, click the tab and drag it down and away from the application bar, or
click the arrange documents icon and choose Float all in Windows to return them
to tabbed documents, click on the section with the document name and drag them
back next to the application bar (note that you must enable this feature in
in Full screen mode with or without the menu bar you can only view a single image at a time Click the Hand tool and drag the image to control its placement in
the window no scroll bars appear, which makes it difficult to accurately pan through
an image For that reason we prefer to use the standard screen mode with the
appli-cation Frame on for most of our work Full screen mode can be useful when showing
your work to others to exit Full screen mode press F again, or press the Escape key
hide the panels but leave the toolbar visible
Trang 5For Photoshop Elements Users: Screen Modes
Photoshop Elements does not have different screen modes; it has only one general workspace
As in Photoshop, the tools and options are on the left and top of the screen, respectively, and the panels are on the right side You can click on the split bar on the right side of the screen, indicated in the image shown here, to hide or show the Panel Bin
Within the Elements workspace are five key areas At the top (1) are the Workspace buttons
On the left (2) is the Toolbox, and on the bottom (3) is the Project Bin The bulk of the screen is taken up by the Workspace area (4), which in this graphic is showing two different images On the far right is the Panel Bin (5), containing panels with information relating to the image, such
as the Navigator and Histogram panels
To have more space for your images, we recommend closing the Project Bin at the bottom of the screen by choosing Window > Project Bin or by clicking the split bar between the bottom of the workspace and top of the Project Bin
Configuring Panels
in versions of Photoshop prior to Cs3, the panels on the right side of the monitor used
a significant amount of monitor real estate if you were working with a dual-monitor setup, it wasn’t as much of an issue, but with a single monitor it was frustrating and distracting to have so much space devoted to the panels rather than your image now the panels are not only completely flexible as to their arrangement, but they are also collapsible
Trang 6You can customize the arrangement of the various panels within Photoshop to suit your own needs the default arrangement that adobe created for photographers in
Cs5 is called Photography (it displays the panels that adobe considers to be of most
use for photographers to find this workspace, click and drag the double-line icon
before the word Essentials in the application bar or click the workspace drop-down
menu We find this workspace to be a good starting place for our work; however, you
can modify the arrangement if you choose Keep in mind that your ideal configuration
may vary depending on whether you are using a one- or two-monitor setup.
group and choose Close tab Group to make a different panel group visible, select
Window in the application or main menu bar and toggle on the desired item You’ll
see new collapsed iconic panel groups appear, as shown here to remove an individual
tab, click it, go to the fly-out menu, and choose Close to make it visible again, select
Windows from the main Menu bar or the application bar, and toggle the tab back on
since we don’t regularly use paths, we close that tab
Hovering the cursor over the icon will reveal the name of the panel if you click
one of the icons, the individual panel expands, as shown in Figure 4.12 Clicking a
hidden tab in a panel will bring it forward double-clicking a tab in a panel will
col-lapse the panel Click and drag the bottom of a panel to shrink or enlarge that panel
Figure 4.12 Hovering the cursor over a panel
icon reveals the name of the panel
Trang 7You can click the double arrow at the top of the iconic panel groups to expand them However, most of the time we prefer to either move them or keep them collapsed
to move an icon tab group into the panel group on the right, click the thin dou-ble line at the top of the group and drag it to the desired location a blue line appears where the group will be inserted, and the panel is automatically expanded in keep-ing with the others in that column You can opt to drag the entire tab group or just
an individual icon in addition, you can group the panels any way that you want by clicking an individual tab and dragging it to the new location, regardless of whether the panel is expanded or collapsed We find it convenient to have access to the Brush panel, so we add it
When you have rearranged the panels precisely the way you want them, go to
in case you want to create more than one Ellen uses “Ellen’s Basic.” notice in Fig-ure 4.10, shown earlier, that’s what appears as the workspace name in the applica-tion bar While working you might drag out a tab to be able to view two items in a particular group simultaneously, or you might add other panels anytime you want
to return to your saved arrangement or a default workspace, click in the Workspace Chooser and select that workspace throughout this book you’ll become familiar with many of the panels you can use, and you’ll start to develop a preference for which panels you want to have visible and how you want them arranged You may even find that you prefer to establish different configurations for different tasks or for different types of images Fortunately, it’s easy to switch between various panel arrangements
by using the Workspace switcher
the adjustments and Masks panels provide quick access to adjustment tools that automatically create adjustment layers it’s the same as clicking the adjust-ment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, but it’s a bit easier to access and has options for creating masks, clipping layers, and previews that we’ll talk about in Chapter 6, “Exposure adjustments.” since the adjustments work in a nonmodal fash-ion in Cs5, you can modify various parameters, such as blending modes and zoom, or even alter the mask, while the adjustment dialog is open the Masks panel contains numerous options for both creating and refining a mask We cover this in more detail
in Chapter 6
access them by hovering the cursor over the dark translucent stripe at the right edge of your monitor
The panels will magically appear, and when you move your cursor away from that area they’ll disappear again
the tools panel is presented in a single column by default, which we pre-fer However, if you’re more comfortable with the double-column setup that earlier
Trang 8versions of Photoshop used, click the gray area by the two triangles at the top of the
tools panel, just above the Ps icon Like any of the panels, you can float the tools
panel by clicking in the dark bar at the top and dragging it wherever you’d like to
redock the tools panel, drag the floating panel to the left or right side of the screen
until a blue bar appears
For Photoshop Elements Users: Configuring Panels
Although the default configuration in Elements 8 has only the Effects and Layers panels visible, with a bit of tweaking, it is possible to create a layout very similar to Photoshop CS5’s, as shown earlier in the sidebar “For Photoshop Elements Users: Screen Modes.” Begin by choosing Edit Full
in the upper-right part of the interface We recommend you follow these steps:
1. Choose Window > Histogram
2. Wherever the panel appears, be it within another tab group or as a floating panel, click
the title bar where you see the text Histogram and drag the panel to wherever you want it
Like in Photoshop, you can drag the panels next to each other in the same group or above/
below other panels, making new groups
3. Repeat these steps for whatever panels you wish to add to the Panel Bin We recommend adding the Histogram, Navigator, Undo History, Adjustments, and Layers panels
To remove a panel, such as Effects, follow these steps:
1. Make the panel you wish to remove active
2. Click the fly-out menu button
3. Choose Close
To collapse or expand a panel, click the disclosure triangle next to the panel’s name
Although there is no way to explicitly save your Elements setup as a named workspace, Ele-ments will remember your settings each time you quit and will reopen the program configured the same way
Zoom Tool
the zoom tool is the most basic of navigation tools, but it does include some hidden
features that can be helpful to select the zoom tool, click its icon on the tools panel
or in the application bar, or press z on your keyboard
F+spacebar When you release the spacebar, your tool switches back
For Photoshop Elements Users: Configuring Panels
Although the default configuration in Elements 8 has only the Effects and Layers panels visible, with a bit of tweaking, it is possible to create a layout very similar to Photoshop CS5’s, as shown earlier in the sidebar “For Photoshop Elements Users: Screen Modes.” Begin by choosing Edit Full
in the upper-right part of the interface We recommend you follow these steps:
1. Choose Window > Histogram
2. Wherever the panel appears, be it within another tab group or as a floating panel, click
the title bar where you see the text Histogram and drag the panel to wherever you want it
Like in Photoshop, you can drag the panels next to each other in the same group or above/
below other panels, making new groups
3. Repeat these steps for whatever panels you wish to add to the Panel Bin We recommend adding the Histogram, Navigator, Undo History, Adjustments, and Layers panels
To remove a panel, such as Effects, follow these steps:
1. Make the panel you wish to remove active
2. Click the fly-out menu button
3. Choose Close
To collapse or expand a panel, click the disclosure triangle next to the panel’s name
Although there is no way to explicitly save your Elements setup as a named workspace, Ele-ments will remember your settings each time you quit and will reopen the program configured the same way