Adobe Photoshop CS/CS2 Breakthroughs

Adobe Photoshop CS/CS2 Breakthroughs

Released November 2005
Publisher(s): Peachpit Press
ISBN: 9780321334107

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Book description

Adobe Photoshop is industry standard digital image software and users are hungry for solutions to their myriad concerns--from how best to manage the program's sometimes unwieldy interface to how to use the new Vanishing Point tool. Photoshop guru David Blatner has scoured the online forums, interviewed Adobe engineers, and gathered together answers to over 200 of the most-commonly asked questions. Written in a sassy, fun-to-read style, this book tackles every major Photoshop problem with a lay-it-on-the-line solution. Adobe Photoshop CS/CS2 Breakthroughs is for anyone who has been using Photoshop long enough to realize that the solution to their problems isn't always as obvious as one would expect.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
    1. Dedication
  2. Introduction
    1. How to Read This Book
    2. For More Information
    3. Acknowledgements
  3. 1. Photoshop Essentials
    1. First Things First
      1. Getting To Know You
      2. Teaching Yourself Photoshop
    2. Upgrading Smoothly
      1. Migrating Your Plug-ins
      2. Migrating Actions
      3. Migrating Your Preferences
      4. Migrating Workspaces
    3. Controls and Menus
      1. Make UI Text More Readable
      2. Your Keyboard, Your Way
      3. Search for the Missing Shortcut Card
      4. Roll Your Own Menus
    4. Windows and Palettes
      1. Making Arrangements for Your Palettes
      2. Customize the Status Bar
      3. Navigate the Seas of Photoshop
      4. Organize Multiple Windows
      5. Preserve Windows when Zooming
      6. The Big Screen Experience
      7. Change the Window Background Color
      8. One Document, Two Views
      9. Synchronize Multiple Windows
      10. When Print Size. . . Isn’t
    5. Monitors
      1. Fun with Multiple Monitors
      2. Match Color Across Monitors
    6. Tools
      1. Reveal the Multiple Personalities of a Tool
      2. Keep Your Options Open
      3. Give Tools a Memory
      4. A More Precise Cursor
    7. Editing Objects
      1. Adjust Numbers Easily
      2. Take the Fast Lane through Dialog Boxes
      3. Context Menus are Your Friend
    8. Handling Documents
      1. Open Multiple Documents at Once
      2. Reducing File Size
      3. Renaming Many Files at Once
      4. Backing Up Your Preferences File
      5. Observe and Control Memory Usage
  4. 2. Getting the Picture
    1. Creating and Opening Files
      1. New Document Secrets
      2. Making Your Own Document Presets
      3. Opening Digital Camera Photos
      4. Opening Images That Don’t Want to Open
      5. Become a Screen Shot Gunslinger
    2. Exploring Camera Raw
      1. The Deeper Meaning of Camera Raw
      2. When an Image Isn’t in the Camera Raw Club
      3. Department of Redundancy Dept.?
      4. Cracking the Camera Raw Code
      5. Raw Files Cooked to Order
      6. Mixing Up a Big Batch
      7. Door #1, #2, #3. . . or #4?
      8. Jane, Stop This Crazy Thing!
    3. Scanning
      1. Scanning Essentials
      2. Batch Scan Directly into Photoshop. . . Not!
      3. Turn a Negative into a Positive
      4. Scanning Line Art
      5. Descreening a Scan
      6. Mystery of the Awful Black-and-White Scans
  5. 3. Image Editing Basics
    1. All About Resolution
      1. Don’t Forget Your Resolutions
      2. Finding Out the File Resolution of an Image
      3. Kenneth, What’s the Effective Resolution?
      4. To Resample or Not to Resample. . .
      5. Going Bicubic
      6. Image Size vs. Canvas Size
      7. Resizing a Batch of Variously Sized Images
    2. Cropping
      1. Keeping What You Cropped
      2. Removing Perspective With the Crop Tool
      3. Living on the Edge
      4. Cropping with the Marquee Tool
      5. Cropping in Camera Raw
      6. Changing the Frame Aspect Ratio
      7. Changing the Pixel Aspect Ratio
    3. Selection Strategies
      1. Lasso Like a Cowboy
      2. Selecting with the Magnetic Lasso
      3. Selecting by Color or Tone
      4. Selecting by Threshold
      5. Selecting from a Channel
      6. Remove a Difficult Background
      7. Edit a Selection as a Quick Mask
      8. Convert between Mask, Selections, and Channels
      9. Convert between Selections and Layer Masks
      10. Comparing Channels to Layer Masks
      11. Scaling, Rotating, or Distorting a Selection Marquee
      12. Spreading Out or Pulling In Selections
      13. Using a Selection as a Line Instead of an Area
      14. Blurring the Edge of a Selection
      15. Transferring a Selection to Another Document
      16. Selecting with Pen Tool Paths
      17. Using Selections to Save Multiple Crops
    4. Amazing Transformations
      1. Rotating a Layer vs. the Entire Document
      2. Rotating an Image the Fast, Precise Way
      3. Rotating in Camera Raw or Bridge
      4. Instant, Direct Straightening
      5. Transforming with Total Freedom
      6. Correcting Lens Distortion
    5. Duplicate Anything
      1. Duplicate an Entire Document
      2. Duplicate Layers
      3. Duplicate a Path or Shape
      4. Create a Step-and-Repeat Layout
  6. 4. Correcting Images
    1. Evaluating an Image
      1. Who’s on First?
      2. Checking an Image for Surface Defects
      3. Scrolling with a Laptop Keyboard
      4. Persistent Spots on Digital Camera Images
      5. Reading a Histogram
      6. Checking for Clipping
      7. Using the Info Palette
    2. Making Global Corrections
      1. Removing Defects with Filters
      2. Correct Quickly with Auto Color
      3. Enhance Shadow and Highlight Details
      4. Punch Up an Image with Blending Modes
      5. Change Blending Modes with Shortcuts
    3. Making Local Corrections
      1. Heal, Spot, Heal!
      2. Using Selections to Control Filters
      3. Dodge and Burn with Overlay Mode
      4. The Magic of Layer Masks
      5. Merge Edits by Changing History
    4. Maintaining Image Quality
      1. Keep Your Adjustments Neutral
      2. Don’t Bring the Noise
    5. Productivity Perks
      1. Preserve Options with Adjustment Layers
      2. Why Isn’t the Future Here Yet?
      3. Moving Corrections to Other Images
      4. Using a Batch Action to Copy Corrections
      5. Storing Favorite Adjustment Layers
      6. Make Do with Low-Resolution Images
      7. Preserving a Document’s History
      8. Using the Measure Tool
    6. Sharpening
      1. Basic Sharpening with Unsharp Mask
      2. Better Sharpening with Smart Sharpen
      3. Suppress Digital Noise when Sharpening
    7. Actions and Batches
      1. I’d Like to See the Menu, Please
      2. Run Actions on a Batch of Images
      3. Cropping a Batch of Images
      4. Protect Originals From a Few Bad Actions
      5. Avoiding Batch Processing Errors
  7. 5. Working with Layers
    1. Managing Layers
      1. Choice Selections
      2. The Search for the Missing Link
      3. Total Pixel Lockdown
      4. Keeping Options Open
      5. Conserving History with Layer Comps
    2. Aligning Layers
      1. Smarter than Your Average Guide
      2. Together We Can Rule the Document
      3. We Are All Lined Up
    3. Layer Masks
      1. Making Sense of Masks
      2. Create Transparency with a Layer Mask
      3. Create Transparency with a Vector Mask
      4. When a Layer is a Mask
      5. Masking Adjustment Layers
      6. Softening Mask Edges
      7. One Mask to Rule Them All
    4. Combining Images
      1. Remix Your Images
      2. Stitching Small Images Into One Big Image
      3. Identify Identical Layers
      4. Merging and Flattening Layers
  8. 6. Working with Type
    1. Creating and Editing Type
      1. It’s Not Just Bits
      2. Create Area or Point Type
      3. Getting a Handle on the Handles
      4. Import Text from Other Programs
      5. Moving Text Between Documents
      6. Quickly Select Ranges of Text
      7. Change Type Defaults
      8. Make Your Exit
    2. Get Set with Type
      1. Previewing and Selecting Fonts
      2. Format Type En Masse
      3. Stroking Type Outlines
      4. Smoothing Type for Screen Display
      5. Setting Type for Web Pages
      6. Convert Type to a Selection
      7. Type Along a Path
      8. Warp a Type Layer
      9. Improving Word and Letter Spacing
      10. Preserving Vector Type in Other Programs
      11. Locating Adobe’s Mystery Fonts
  9. 7. Enhancing Creativity
    1. Brushes
      1. Harden or Soften a Brush Edge
      2. Design Your Own Brush
      3. Opacity, Layers, and Brushes
      4. Take a Tablet, You’ll Feel Better
    2. Filter Fun
      1. Add a Drop Shadow
      2. Apply a Filter Again
      3. Create a Halftone Screen Effect
      4. Create an Adjustable Texture
    3. Perspective and Distortion
      1. Rectilinear Distortions
      2. Add Curved or Custom Distortions
      3. Have a Little Perspective
      4. Help New Arrivals Fit In
    4. Darkroom Adventures
      1. Create a Sepia Tone
      2. Create a Duotone
      3. Solid Colors in Duotones
      4. Outsource Your Color
      5. Apply a Traditional Photo Filter
      6. Simulate Infrared Film Images
      7. From Color to Grayscale
      8. Grayscale via Hue/Saturation
      9. Crunch Down Converted Images
      10. Camera Raw Image for Color and Grayscale
    5. Paths and the Pen
      1. Drawing the Path or Shape You Want
      2. Select Shapes and Paths
      3. Save and Name Paths
      4. Hide or Deselect Paths
      5. Paint with Shapes and Paths
      6. Paste Paths from Illustrator
  10. 8. Keeping Color Consistent
    1. Setting Up Color
      1. Your Monitor, Your Profile
      2. Set Up Color Settings
      3. Synchronize Color Across the CS2 Suite
    2. Previewing Color Output
      1. Simulate Printed Color On Screen
      2. Check for Out of Gamut Colors
      3. Before and After, Side by Side
    3. Color Space Conversions
      1. Convert from RGB to CMYK
      2. Boost Shadows for Print
      3. Convert Colors for the Web
      4. Assign Versus Convert to a Profile
      5. Embedding Profiles
      6. Locate and Install Profiles
  11. 9. Organizing and Finding Images
    1. Building Your Bridge
      1. Getting Up to Speed
      2. Express Document Delivery
      3. Bridge Crossings
      4. Use Multiple Bridge Windows
      5. Tile Windows Semi-Automatically
    2. Annotating and Organizing
      1. Organize with Keywords
      2. Remove Keywords for Multiple Images
      3. Metadata vs. Keywords
      4. Annotating IPTC Core Metadata
      5. Apply Metadata in Bulk
      6. Streamline Metadata Templates
      7. Annotate Now, Relax Later
    3. Fast File Finding
      1. Find Files with Bridge
      2. Save Searches as Collections
      3. Find Photos with Spotlight (Mac OS X)
    4. Production Practices
      1. Batch Process Images from Adobe Bridge
      2. Archive Camera Raw Images
      3. Preserve Bridge Settings for Posterity
  12. 10. Printing, Saving, and Exporting
    1. Printing
      1. Preview a Print Job
      2. Centering a Print on Paper
      3. Save Paper on Test Prints
      4. Printing Two Or More Per Page
      5. Preparing Screen Shots for a Press
      6. Color-Managed Printing
      7. Where Do Printer Profiles Come From?
    2. Images for Other Programs
      1. Import Photoshop Documents Directly
      2. Import Photoshop Images into Illustrator
      3. Trace Photoshop Documents in Illustrator
      4. Compress Images Down to Size
      5. Enable Previews for Other Programs
      6. Save to Unavailable File Formats
      7. Saving a Copy of a Document
      8. Make Photoshop Backgrounds Easy to Remove
      9. Around the Office
      10. Make a Multiple-Page Document
    3. Images for the Internet
      1. Prepare Graphics for the Web or E-Mail
      2. Web-Safe Colors: Safe, or Out?
      3. Create Animations for the Web
      4. Create Slices for the Web
      5. Create Web Galleries
      6. Preserve EXIF and Other Metadata in JPEG Files
    4. It’s Showtime!
      1. Make Images Look Good on TV
      2. Present a Live Slide Show
      3. Create a Slide Show to Send Out

Product information

  • Title: Adobe Photoshop CS/CS2 Breakthroughs
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: November 2005
  • Publisher(s): Peachpit Press
  • ISBN: 9780321334107