Photoshop Tips #14


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*1. OPENING A DIALOG BOX WITH THE LAST USED SETTINGS

There are many times you may wish to reapply a function using the 
last-used settings. To open a dialog box set to the last-used 
settings, press Alt on the PC or Option on the Mac and choose the 
function from the menu.


*2. CROPPING OUT THAT PESKY EDGE

Many times an image will have one or two pixels along an edge that 
must be cropped out. Instead of using the sometimes-clumsy Crop tool 
to create a crop selection and laboriously resizing the selection to 
exclude the unwanted pixel edge, try this quick fix.

Choose Select, All to select the image. Then press the arrow key to 
move the selection one pixel over to exclude the pixel edge. Next, 
choose Image, Crop to crop out the edge.


*3. EMBEDDING PRODUCTION NOTES IN PHOTOSHOP IMAGE

Have you ever achieved an awesome effect in an image but later forgot 
the steps you followed to create the effect? To prevent this mind-fog, 
use captions in the File Info feature to store production notes about 
your image.

To add a caption to a Photoshop image, choose File, File Info, then 
select Caption in the resulting File Info dialog box. The Caption 
field can hold up to 2,000 characters, so don't be afraid to go into 
detail about your project.


*4. CLEANING UP A WASHED-OUT IMAGE

Washed-out, bland images usually entail a great deal of production 
time attempting to correct the image's tonal range. However, before 
you try to correct a washed-out image through complex contrast and 
tonal adjustments, try the following quick technique.  

Choose Windows, Show Layers to activate the Layers palette. Then 
create a duplicate of the Background layer. To do so, select the 
Background layer and drag it to the New Layer icon. Now, set the Mode 
option of the new layer to Overlay. As you may know, Overlay mode 
increases contrasts but preserves highlights and shadows.


*5. PLACING AN IMAGE FLATTENS LAYERS

The newest versions of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe ImageReady are 
integrated so well that you can copy and paste, open, and place the 
same image into either application. However, keep in mind that if you 
place a layered Photoshop file into a file open in ImageReady, 
ImageReady will merge all visible layers into one as it places the 
Photoshop file. To prevent ImageReady from merging the layers, open 
the Photoshop file instead of placing it.


*6. AUTOMATING PHOTOSHOP

Although Photoshop Actions allows you to automate some Photoshop 
tasks, to truly script Photoshop automation through Applescripting, 
check out PhotoScripter from MainEvent. PhotoScripter allows you to 
create scripts to automate Photoshop and tie Photoshop 5.x together 
with QuarkXPress, FileMaker, Cumulus, Eudora, and the Finder. To find 
out more about PhotoScripter, visit the MainEvent Web site at  

http://www.mainevent.com


*7. FINDING THE RIGHT RESOLUTION

Most beginning designers and production artists simply create images 
at the highest resolutions their machines can handle. However, most 
printing scenarios don't require super-high resolution. To determine 
the optimum image resolution for a Photoshop image, follow this 
general graphics rule: Scan or create color or grayscale images at a 
resolution 1.5 to 2 times the screen frequency of the final output 
printer. For example, if your printer outputs your images at a screen 
frequency of 133 lines per inch, scan or create your Photoshop image 
at (133 x 1.5) 200 dots (pixels) per inch. If you're not sure of the 
final output line screen, contact your printer.


*8. REMOVING AREAS IN AN IMAGE         
     
Photoshop's Rubber Stamp tool (sometimes referred to as the Clone 
tool) allows you to remove unwanted objects from an image by painting 
a portion of the image over another area. To use the Rubber Stamp 
tool, first you must select a source area to paint from. To do so, 
choose the Rubber Stamp tool from the Toolbox, press Alt in Windows or 
Option on the Macintosh, and click a target area to define the cloning 
source. Now, move the Rubber Stamp tool to the area you want to remove 
and begin painting as you would with any Photoshop paint tool. As you 
can see, Photoshop duplicates the source area in the target area with 
each paint stroke.


*9. TIPS FOR USING THE RUBBER STAMP TOOL         
     
In our previous tip, we described how you can use the Rubber Stamp 
tool to define a source area to paint another area in your image. As 
you may have noticed, simply setting a source area and painting can 
create a very pronounced area of modification in your image. One way 
to prevent your image manipulations from being so noticeable is to 
decrease the Rubber Stamp tool's Opacity setting.

To change the Opacity setting of the Rubber Stamp tool, double-click 
that tool to display the Tool Options palette. Then, enter 40 or 50 in 
the Opacity text field. Continue to paint the source area over the 
target area. As you can see, the lower Opacity setting gives you more 
control over the Rubber Stamp tool.


*10. THE BASICS OF RETOUCHING AN IMAGE

Although a technique must be adaptable to every image, it's been my 
experience that most image-retouching jobs in Photoshop include these 
general steps: 
- Be certain the resolution of your source image (scan or electronic 
  photo) is appropriate for how the image will ultimately output 
  (Resolution = Line Per Inch x 2). 
- Crop the image to final canvas size. 
- Use Levels or Curves to adjust the overall contrast or tonal range 
  of the image. 
- Use selections and the Saturate tools to remove any colorcasts. 
- Use selections and the Dodge and Burn tools to bring out highlights, 
  midtones, shadows, and desaturated colors in specific areas of the 
  image. 
- Use the Unsharp Filter to sharpen the overall image.
