Photoshop Tips #16


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*1. USING THE RETOUCHING TOOLS--PART 1 OF 4: THE SMUDGE TOOL

Most image-modification techniques center on image-wide changes using 
layers, levels, and curves. However, there comes a time when you must 
focus your efforts on one portion of an image. When this occurs, 
Photoshop has a suite of retouching tools created specifically for 
this purpose: the Smudge tool, the Focus tools, and the Toning tools. 
Over the next few tips, we'll discuss each retouching tool. Let's 
begin with the Smudge tool.

The Smudge tool allows you to grab a bit of color in your image and 
drag or push it in a direction, similar to dragging your finger across 
a wet painting. When you use the Smudge tool, always begin subtly. Set 
the tool options to a very low opacity and begin with a small brush.


*2. USING THE RETOUCHING TOOLS--PART 2 OF 4: THE FOCUS TOOLS

In our previous tip, we mentioned that some retouching jobs require a 
finer focus than the image-wide approach of most Photoshop retouching 
techniques. When this occurs, you should use the suite of Photoshop 
retouching tools. Last time, we discussed the Smudge tool. Today, 
let's focus (ha!) on the Focus tools--Blur and Sharpen.

As you can guess, you should use the Blur tool to soften hard edges. 
However, you can also use the Blur tool to reduce the detail or 
obvious pattern in an image area. Use the Sharpen tool to bring areas 
of your image into the foreground and focus more of the viewer's 
attention. As with the Smudge tool, you should use the Blur or Sharpen 
tool gradually build an effect. To do so, set the tool pressure very 
lower and be sure to use an anti-aliased (soft-edged) brush.


*3. USING THE RETOUCHING TOOLS--PART 3 OF 4: THE TONING TOOLS

In this series of tips, we've been discussing the Photoshop retouching 
tools and how to use them to make isolated modifications to your 
image. So far, we've discussed the Smudge, Blur, and Sharpen tools. 
Today, we'll examine the Dodge and Burn toning tools.


The Dodge and Burn tools mimic photographic techniques of under- or 
over-exposing a portion of an image to achieve an effect. Typically, 
you would use the Dodge tool to lighten an area and the Burn tool to 
darken an area. Both tools can affect only isolated tonal ranges of an 
image, highlights, midtones, and shadows. This allows you to adjust 
specific areas of tonal range without selecting or manipulating the 
entire image. Again, use these tools subtly. Set them to a very low 
exposure and apply the tool again and again until you achieve the 
desired effect.


*4. USING THE RETOUCHING TOOLS--PART 4 OF 4: THE SATURATION TOOLS

In this series of tips, we've explained the purpose of the Smudge 
tool, the Blur and Sharpen tools, and the Dodge and Burn tools. The 
last tool in our discussion of Photoshop retouching tools is the 
Sponge tool.

The Sponge tool is actually two tools in one. You can set the Sponge 
tool to saturate or desaturate the color in an image. Typically, you 
would use the Saturate tool to increase the intensity of color, 
possibly to focus more attention toward an area in the image. You 
would use the Desaturate tool to decrease color intensity, decreasing 
the amount of attention toward an area. As with all of the retouching 
tools, you should set the pressure to a very low value and slowly 
build your saturation or desaturation effect through several 
applications.


*5. PAINTING A 3D CYLINDER

Although 3-dimensional objects aren't Photoshop's forte, you can 
certainly paint the illusion. In today's tip, we'll show you how to 
use the Smudge tool to paint a 3-dimensional tube.

To begin, launch Photoshop and create a two-layer image document. Fill 
the bottom layer with black. (Although not completely necessary, the 
effect does look better on a black background.) Now, choose the Smudge 
tool and select a brush size from the Brushes palette. Take note of 
the brush size.

Next, choose the Rectangle Marquee tool and click and drag a square 
selection roughly the size of the brush size. Now, choose the Linear 
Gradient tool and click and drag a black-to-white gradient inside the 
square selection. Now choose Select, Deselect to deselect the 
selection.

Here's the fun part. Select the Smudge tool again. Position the brush 
in the middle of the black-to-white gradient. Click and drag the tool 
around your document. The Smudge tool pulls the gradient tones around 
the image, creating a 3-dimensional tube wherever you drag the tool.


*6. THE MARQUEE TOOLS

Some of the most often used tools in Photoshop are the Marquee tools. 
The Marquee tools allow you to select areas of your image in a variety 
of shapes, such as rectangles, ovals, and free-form polygons. But have 
you ever wondered why the selection tools are called Marquee tools? 
Marquee refers to the moving dashes or dots that appear as you select 
an area, which looks like an old movie marquee. This marquee is also 
referred to as "marching ants" or "crawling ants."


*7. IMPORTING TEXT INTO A PHOTOSHOP IMAGE

All right, we're fibbing. Photoshop doesn't currently have a function 
that you can use to import text into an image. However, there's an 
easy workaround.

To begin, launch Photoshop and open a new document. Then choose the 
Type tool and click in the image. Once the Type dialog box appears, 
switch to a word processing application, open your text document, 
select all, and copy. Then switch back to Photoshop, insert your 
cursor into the text area of the Type dialog box, and paste the copied 
text. We know, kind of cheesy. But until the text import version of 
Photoshop comes along, this technique is faster and more accurate than 
typing.


*8. APPLYING A TRULY RANDOM PATTERN GENERATION

As you may know, you add detail to blurred or under- or over-exposed 
areas of an image by applying a slight noise texture. However, the Add 
Noise filter often generates too even of a texture fill. For better 
control over the noise pattern, use a selection tool to select the 
area of the image you want to add detail to. Then use a Paint tool 
with a brush set to a very wide spacing value to paint a texture into 
the selection.

To demonstrate, choose the Pencil tool and double-click a small brush 
size. When you double-click a brush, Photoshop selects that brush and 
opens the Brush Options dialog box. Set the Spacing option to 400 and 
click OK.

Now, place the Pencil tool inside the selection, click and press the 
mouse button, and quickly move the mouse around the selection. As you 
can see, as Photoshop tries to keep up with the mouse path, it 
randomly paints bits of color here and there. Continue to paint until 
you're satisfied with the texture.


*9. CUSTOM-CONVERTING A COLOR IMAGE TO GRAYSCALE

As you probably know, you can easily convert a color image to a 
grayscale image using the Image, Mode, Grayscale command. However, 
this command is pretty much a sledgehammer approach. There are no 
conversion controls to adjust, so you have no control over the tonal 
adjustment Photoshop decides to make to convert the color image into a 
grayscale image.

If you want more control over the color-to-grayscale image conversion 
(and what designer doesn't?), we suggest using the Channel Mixer 
command. The Channel Mixer lets you create a monochrome version of a 
color image using a mix of the current color channels. This allows you 
to dynamically pick and choose how much of each color channel 
influences the final monochrome image. To use the Channel Mixer, open 
a color image in Photoshop and choose Image, Adjust, Channel Mixer. 
Then, in the Channel Mixer dialog box, select the Monochrome check box 
and adjust the channel sliders until you're satisfied with the preview 
image. Then click OK.


*10. DRAWING AND SELECTING FROM THE CENTER

You know that in order to create perfect squares and circle 
selections, you press the Shift key as you drag the Rectangle Marquee 
or Oval Marquee Selection tool. You may also know that to cause a 
selection to originate from the center, you press the Alt or Option 
key. Likewise, pressing the Spacebar as you create a selection allows 
you to move the selection around the screen.

What you may not know is that any of these selection modifier tricks 
complements the others. For example, press the Alt or Option key and 
the Shift key to draw a perfect circle with the Oval Marquee Selection 
tool. As you create the selection, press the Spacebar and move the 
selection an inch to the right. Release the Spacebar and continue 
creating the selection. The ability to use these modifier keys in 
conjunction with each other really comes in handy when you're creating 
a complex selection.
