Photoshop Tips #10


----------------------------------------------

TipWorld - http://www.tipworld.com
The Internet's #1 Source for Computer Tips, News, and Gossip

Proudly presents:
Photoshop

----------------------------------------------


*1. WHEN TYPE ISN'T TYPE

A tip subscriber recently wrote:  
"I use Photoshop to build my image and then open it in Adobe 
ImageReady to finalize and export portions of the image for 
the Web. However, ImageReady doesn't allow me to edit the type 
I set in Photoshop. Shouldn't these two applications 
be compatible?"

Why, yes, they should. And they are . . . sort of. You can 
certainly use ImageReady to edit type set in Photoshop. 
However, the ImageReady interface is slightly different.

For example, to edit type in Photoshop, you can double-click 
the type layer to open the Type Tool dialog box. However, the 
same trick doesn't work in ImageReady. To edit type in 
ImageReady, choose the Type tool and select the text in the 
image document window. To modify the font, size, or local 
formatting (bold, italic, etc.), use the Type palette. To 
display the Type palette, choose Window, Show Type.


*2. UNSHARP MASK--PART 1 OF 5: AMOUNT

Although the name is something of an oxymoron, the Unsharp Mask 
filter is the best method for sharpening images. Unlike the 
other Photoshop sharpen filters, the Unsharp Mask filter has 
three settings you must configure--Amount, Radius, 
and Threshold.

For the uninitiated, these settings can be daunting. However, 
once you understand the settings, the Unsharp Mask filter will 
be a powerful tool in your Photoshop arsenal. Over the next few 
tips, I'll explain each setting and offer some guidelines for 
its use.

To begin, the Amount value determines how much to increase the 
contrast of pixels. Adobe recommends 150 percent to 200 percent 
for high-resolution images.


*3. UNSHARP MASK--PART 2 OF 5: RADIUS

As we mentioned in our previous tip, the Unsharp Mask filter is 
the best tool for sharpening an image in Photoshop. As you may 
recall, the Unsharp Mask filter has three settings--Amount, 
Radius, and Threshold. We mentioned that Amount increases the 
contrast of pixels in your images.

Radius specifies the number of pixels surrounding the edge 
pixels that the Unsharp Mask will affect. In general, a Radius 
setting of 1 or 2 produces optimum results. However, for 
high-resolution print images, divide the final output 
resolution by 200.


*4. UNSHARP MASK--PART 3 OF 5: THRESHOLD

We've been discussing the Unsharp Mask filter and the Amount, 
Radius, and Threshold settings. So far we've mentioned that you 
should use an Amount setting of 150 percent to 200 percent and 
a Radius setting of 1 or 2. (For high-resolution print images, 
divide the final output resolution by 200.)

The Threshold setting specifies the edge pixels that the Radius 
setting affects. To identify edge pixels in your image, a pixel 
must vary from a neighbor pixel by at least the Threshold 
setting value. A Threshold value of 0 sharpens every pixel in 
your image. To prevent introducing noise, experiment with 
values from 2 to 20.


*5. UNSHARP MASK--PART 4 OF 5: THE NUMBER ONE GUIDELINE

In the last few tips, I've explained the Amount, Radius, and 
Threshold settings in the Unsharp Mask filter. I've also given 
you some guidelines for using the Unsharp Mask filter. However, 
the absolute best guideline for properly using the Unsharp Mask 
filter is to apply the filter in small increments--that is, use 
small values in the Amount, Radius, and Threshold settings. 
Then, apply the filter several times. This way, you can see 
subtle changes, and you can easily undo a change if the filter 
modifies the image too much.


*6. UNSHARP MASK--PART 5 OF 5

Before you become absolutely sick of hearing about the Unsharp 
Mask filter, let's talk about one more Unsharp Mask tip. If 
while applying the Unsharp Mask filter you notice the bright 
colors of your image become overly saturated, undo the Filter 
application, convert the image to Lab mode, and apply the 
filter to the L channel.

To do so, first choose Edit, Undo to remove the Unsharp Mask 
filter application. Next, choose Image, Mode, Lab to convert 
the image. Choose Window, Show Channels to display the Channels 
palette. Then, select the Lightness channel and apply the 
Unsharp Mask filter. Finally, choose Image, Mode, RGB to return 
your image to the correct color mode.


*7. CREATING A LINE DRAWING FROM AN IMAGE

Although Photoshop doesn't have a trace feature per se, you can 
easily convert an image into a line drawing using the Smart 
Blur filter. To do so, open your image and choose Filter, Blur, 
Smart Blur.

The resulting Smart Blur dialog box has four settings: Radius, 
Threshold, Quality, and Mode. Set Quality to High and Mode to 
Edge Only. Then, set Radius to 2 and Threshold to 50. Use the 
Preview window to examine the filter effects and change the 
Radius or Threshold setting to optimize the result. Then, 
click OK. 

As you'll notice, the filter creates white lines on a black 
background. To set the image to black lines on a white 
background, choose Image, Adjust, Invert.


*8. CREATING THE WOOD BLOCK EFFECT

In our previous tip, we explained how you can use the Smart 
Blur filter to transform an image into a line drawing. To do 
so, choose Filter, Blur, Smart Blur and set Quality to High and 
Mode to Edge Only. Then, using the Preview window to view the 
filter effects, adjust the Radius and Threshold settings. 
Finally, click OK and invert the image.

In today's tip, we'll show you how to use the line drawing to 
create a wood block stamp effect. To do so, after transforming 
an image into a line drawing, choose Filter, Other, Minimum.

In the Minimum dialog box, enter 2 or 3 in the text field and 
click OK. The Minimum filter will thicken each line, resulting 
in an effect much like a wood block stamp.


*9. CREATING A COLORED PENCIL SKETCH

In today's tip, we'll build on the previous Convert An Image To 
A Line Drawing tip and transform an image into a colored pencil 
sketch. (In that tip, we told you that you can turn a 
transformed image into a line drawing by choosing Filter, 
Other, Minimum. Then, you enter 2 or 3 in the text field and 
click OK. The Minimum filter will thicken each line, resulting 
in an effect much like a wood block stamp.)

First, open your image and duplicate the background layer. To 
do so, drag the background layer to the New Layer icon in the 
layers. Then, select the new layer and use the Smart Blur 
filter to create a line drawing of the layer image.

As you may recall, the Line Drawing tip directs you to choose 
Filter, Blur, Smart Blur and set Quality to High and Mode to 
Edge Only. Then, using the Preview window to view the filter 
effects, you adjust the Radius and Threshold settings. Finally, 
you click OK and invert the image.

Next, you need to posterize the colors of the background layer 
image. Select the background layer and choose Image, Adjust, 
Posterize. In the resulting dialog box, enter

4

in the text field and click OK.

Finally, select the line drawing layer and choose Multiply from 
the Mode list box in the Layers palette. As you can see, 
Multiply removes the whites and overlays the line drawing on 
the posterized image--creating an effect very similar to a 
colored pencil drawing.


*10. AVOID THE MENU AND TOOLBAR

As incredible as it sounds, the few seconds it takes to move 
your mouse cursor from the image to Photoshop's menu or 
toolbar, choose a item, and move the cursor back to the image 
is extremely inefficient. Believe us, those precious seconds 
add up quickly.

To increase your Photoshop efficiency, avoid trips to the menu 
bar. The easiest way to do so is to make use of the contextual 
menus. In almost every scenario, a right-click in Windows or an 
Option-click on the Macintosh presents you with a pop-up menu 
of choices targeted to the current selected object.
