Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual

Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual

by Lesa Snider
Released June 2013
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9781449342418

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Book description

Photoshop CC is truly amazing, but it can also be overwhelming if you’re just getting started. This book makes learning Photoshop as easy as possible by explaining things in a friendly, conversational style—without technical jargon. After a thorough introduction to the program, you’ll delve deep into Photoshop’s secrets with expert tips and practical editing advice you can use every day.

The important stuff you need to know:

  • Learn your way around. Take a tour of Photoshop’s workspace and learn how to customize it.
  • Unlock the magic. Use layers, masks, and Smart Objects to safely edit your images.
  • Perfect your photos. Learn techniques for cropping, color-correcting, retouching, and combining photos.
  • Master color. Drain, change, and add color; create gorgeous black-and-whites, partial-color effects, and duotones.
  • Be artistic. Create illustrations, paintings, and pro-level text; use filters effectively, edit video, and create 3D art.
  • Share your work. Produce great-looking images for print, presentations, and the Web.
  • Work smarter and faster. Automate common chores and install plug-ins for complex tasks.

Table of contents

  1. Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual
  2. A Note Regarding Supplemental Files
  3. The Missing Credits
    1. About the Author
    2. About the Creative Team
    3. Acknowledgements
    4. The Missing Manual Series
  4. Foreword
  5. 1. Introduction
    1. What’s New in Photoshop CC
    2. About This Book
      1. About the Outline
      2. For Photographers
      3. The Very Basics
      4. About→These→Arrows
      5. About MissingManuals.com
      6. Safari® Books Online
  6. 2. Photoshop CC Guided Tour
    1. Meet the Application Frame
      1. The Almighty Options Bar
      2. Swapping Screen Modes
      3. Changing Photoshop’s Appearance
    2. Working with Panels
      1. Customizing Your Workspace
      2. The Tools Panel
        1. Foreground and Background Color Chips
      3. Common Panels
    3. The Power of Undo
      1. Changing How Far Back You Can Go
      2. Turning Back Time with the History Panel
      3. The History Brush
      4. The Revert Command
    4. Tweaking Photoshop’s Preferences
      1. General
      2. Interface
      3. Sync Settings
      4. File Handling
      5. Performance
      6. Cursors
      7. Transparency and Gamut
      8. Units and Rulers
      9. Guides, Grid, and Slices
      10. Plug-ins
      11. Type
      12. 3D
    5. Working with Presets
      1. Sharing Presets
  7. 3. Opening, Viewing, and Saving Files
    1. Creating a New Document
      1. Photoshop’s Ready-Made Documents
      2. Setting Size and Resolution
      3. Choosing a Color Mode
      4. Choosing a Background
      5. Advanced Options
        1. Saving Your Custom Settings
    2. Saving Files
      1. File Formats
    3. Opening an Existing Document
      1. The Open Dialog Box
      2. Opening Multiple Files within a Single Document
      3. Opening Files as Smart Objects
      4. Opening Recent Files
      5. Working with PDFs
      6. Working with Scanned Images
      7. Working with Raw Files
        1. Opening Raw Files
      8. Duplicating Files
    4. Changing Your View
      1. Zooming In and Out
      2. Moving Around in an Image
      3. Getting Oriented with the Navigator Panel
      4. Rotating Your Canvas
    5. Arranging Open Images
    6. Guides, Grids, and Rulers
      1. Rulers and Guiding Lines
        1. Smart Guides
        2. Using the Document Grid
      2. The Ruler Tool
  8. 4. Layers: The Key to Nondestructive Editing
    1. Layer Basics
      1. The Layers Panel
      2. Activating Layers
        1. Activating Multiple Layers
        2. Filtering Layers
      3. Adding New Layers
      4. Hiding and Showing Layers
      5. Restacking Layers
      6. Duplicating and Deleting Layers
      7. Copying and Pasting Layers
      8. Filling a Layer with Color
        1. Creating Custom Patterns
      9. Tweaking a Layer’s Opacity and Fill
      10. Resizing and Rotating Layers
      11. Moving and Aligning Layers
        1. Aligning Layers
        2. Moving Layers Between Documents
        3. Exporting Layers to Separate Files
    2. Managing Layers
      1. Naming and Color-Coding Layers
      2. Linking and Locking Layers
        1. Linking Layers
        2. Locking ’em Down
      3. Grouping Layers into Folders
      4. Layer Comps: Capturing Different Document Versions
        1. Exporting Layer Comps
      5. Rasterizing Layers
      6. Merging Layers
    3. Layer Blending
    4. Layer Masks: Digital Masking Tape
      1. Adding Layer Masks
      2. Using Layer Masks
        1. Fixing Exposure with an Adjustment Layer and its Mask
      3. Editing a Mask
    5. Using Smart Objects
      1. Creating Smart Objects
      2. Managing Smart Objects
    6. Layer Styles
      1. Managing Layer Styles
      2. The Styles Panel
        1. Exporting and Loading Styles
  9. 5. Selections: Choosing What to Edit
    1. Selection Basics
      1. Meet the Marching Ants
    2. Selecting by Shape
      1. The Rectangular and Elliptical Marquee Tools
        1. Creating a Soft Vignette
      2. The Single Row and Column Marquee Tools
      3. The Vector Shape Tools
    3. Selecting by Color
      1. The Quick Selection Tool
      2. The Magic Wand Tool
        1. Expanding Your Selection
      3. The Color Range Command
      4. The Background and Magic Erasers
        1. The Background Eraser
        2. The Magic Eraser
    4. Selecting Irregular Areas
      1. The Lasso Tools
        1. Lasso Tool
        2. Polygonal Lasso Tool
        3. Magnetic Lasso Tool
      2. Selecting with the Pen Tool
      3. Creating Selections with Channels
      4. Using the Selection Tools Together
    5. Modifying Selections
      1. Refining Edges
        1. Adding a Creative Edge
      2. Fixing Edge Halos
      3. Creating a Border Selection
      4. Transforming a Selection
      5. Using Quick Mask Mode
      6. Moving Selections
      7. Saving a Selection
      8. Filling a Selection with Color
      9. Stroking (Outlining) a Selection
  10. 6. Understanding Channels
    1. How Color Works
      1. RGB Mode vs. CMYK Mode
    2. The Channels Panel and You
    3. Meet the Color Channels
      1. RGB Channels
      2. CMYK Channels
        1. Creating a High-Key Portrait Effect
      3. Spot Channels
      4. Lab Channels
      5. Multichannel Mode
      6. Single-Channel Modes
    4. The Mighty Alpha Channel
      1. Creating an Alpha Channel
      2. Editing Alpha Channels
      3. Loading an Alpha Channel as a Selection
      4. Deleting Alpha Channels
    5. Basic Channel Stunts
      1. Selecting Objects with Channels
      2. Creating a Silhouette Effect
      3. Lightening and Darkening Channels
      4. Combining Channels
      5. Sharpening Individual Channels
  11. 7. Cropping, Resizing, and Rotating
    1. Cropping Images
      1. The Rule of Thirds
      2. Creative Cropping
      3. The Crop Tool
        1. Cropping to a Specific Shape, Size, and Resolution
        2. Cropping with Perspective
        3. Adding Polaroid-Style Photo Frames
      4. Cropping with Selection Tools
      5. Trimming Photos Down to Size
      6. Cropping and Straightening Photos
      7. Cropping and Straightening in Camera Raw
        1. Cropping Images
        2. Straightening Images
    2. Resizing Images
      1. Pixels and Resolution
      2. The Mighty Image Size Dialog Box
        1. Resolution Guidelines for Print
      3. Resizing Images for Print
      4. Resizing for Email and the Web
        1. Using the Save for Web Dialog Box
      5. Resizing Web Images for Print
      6. Resizing Images for Presentations
      7. Resizing Smart Objects
      8. Automated Resizing with the Image Processor
      9. Resizing the Canvas
    3. Content-Aware Scaling
    4. Rotating and Distorting
      1. Simple Rotations
      2. The Transformers
        1. Creating a Reflection
  12. 8. Combining Images
    1. Cut It Out
    2. Pasting into a Selection
      1. Sky Swapping
    3. Fading Images Together
      1. Soft Erasers
      2. Soft Brushes and Layer Masks
      3. Gradient Masks
    4. Layer Blend Modes
      1. Normal and Dissolve Blend Modes
      2. Darken Blend Modes
      3. Lighten Blend Modes
      4. Lighting (Contrast) Blend Modes
      5. Comparative Blend Modes
      6. Composite Blend Modes
    5. Zapping Backgrounds with Blending Sliders
    6. Auto-Aligning Layers and Photomerge
      1. Building Panoramas with Photomerge
    7. Auto-Blending Layers
    8. Cloning Between Documents
    9. Combining Vectors and Rasters
    10. Mapping One Image onto Another
  13. 9. Draining, Changing, and Adding Color
    1. Draining Color
      1. Black & White Adjustment Layers
        1. Warp-Speed Color Tinting
      2. Gradient Map Adjustment Layers
        1. Photographic Toning
      3. The Lightness Channel
      4. Going Grayscale in Camera Raw
      5. Partial-Color Effect
      6. Fading Color to Black and White
      7. High-Contrast Black and White
      8. The High-Key Effect
      9. Delicious Duotones
    2. Changing Color
      1. Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layers
        1. Targeting a Specific Range of Colors
      2. Hue Blend Mode
      3. Replacing Color
      4. Selective Color Adjustment Layers
      5. Matching Colors
      6. Photo Filter Adjustment Layers
      7. Posterizing: Your Ticket to Cartoon Art
      8. Inverting Colors
    3. Adding Color
      1. Colorizing Images
        1. Adding Digital MakeUp to Portraits
      2. Adding Solid Blocks of Color
      3. Building a Better Sunrise (or Sunset)
      4. Adding Color to a Semi-Transparent Layer
  14. 10. Correcting Color and Lighting
    1. Quick Fixer-Uppers
      1. Fixing Color
      2. Fixing Lighting
        1. Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layers
        2. Shadows/Highlights Adjustments
    2. Correcting Images in Camera Raw
      1. Changing White Balance
      2. Fixing Exposure
      3. Making Colors Pop
      4. Camera Raw’s Adjustment Brush
      5. Camera Raw’s Graduated Filters
        1. Using the Radial Filter
      6. More Fun with Camera Raw
    3. Using Levels
      1. Histograms: Mountains of Information
      2. The Levels Sliders
        1. Output Levels
      3. The Levels Eyedroppers
      4. Correcting by the Numbers
      5. Color-Correcting Skin
    4. Working with Curves
      1. Changing Contrast
    5. Creating High Dynamic Range Images
    6. Making Colors Pop
      1. Intensifying Colors
      2. Adjusting Hue/Saturation
      3. Adding Lab Pop
    7. Rescuing the Unfixables
  15. 11. Changing Reality: Removing and Repositioning
    1. The Great Healers
      1. The Spot Healing Brush
      2. Using Content-Aware Fill
      3. The Healing Brush
      4. The Patch Tool
    2. Zapping Shines and Shadows
    3. Whitening Teeth
    4. Super Slimmers
      1. Fixing Flabby Chins
      2. Liquifying Bulges
      3. Slimming with Free Transform
        1. Selective Slimming
    5. Skin Softeners
      1. Selective Blur
      2. Easy Glamour Glow
      3. Softening Wrinkles with Faux Dodge and Burn
    6. Show-Stopping Eyes
      1. Enhancing Eyes
      2. Fixing Red-Eye
        1. The Red Eye Tool
        2. The Color Replacement Tool
        3. Fixing Red-Eye in Camera Raw
      3. Fixing Animal White-Eye
    7. Other Creative Madness
      1. Repositioning and Recomposing with Content-Aware Move
      2. Reshaping Objects with Puppet Warp
  16. 12. The Art of Sharpening
    1. What Is Sharpening?
    2. Basic Sharpening
      1. Sharpening with Unsharp Mask
        1. How Much to Sharpen?
      2. The Smart Sharpen Filter
      3. Sharpening with the High Pass Filter
      4. The Shake Reduction Filter
      5. Sharpening Layered Files
        1. Combining Layers into a New Image Layer
        2. Combining Layers into a Smart Object
      6. Sharpening Part of an Image
    3. Advanced Sharpening Techniques
      1. Creating an Edge Mask
    4. Sharpening in Camera Raw
      1. Global Sharpening
      2. Local Sharpening
  17. 13. Painting in Photoshop
    1. Color Theory: The Basics
    2. Choosing a Color Scheme
      1. Using a Color Wheel
      2. Using the Kuler Panel
      3. Other Color Scheme–Generating Tools
    3. Choosing Individual Colors
      1. The Color Picker
      2. The Eyedropper Tool
      3. Loading Color Libraries
      4. The Swatches Panel
      5. The Color Panel
    4. (Re)Introducing the Brush Tool
      1. Controlling the Brush Cursor’s Appearance
      2. Meet the Mixer Brush
      3. Painting from Scratch
      4. Loading More Built-in Brushes
        1. Making an Object Sparkle
    5. Customizing Brushes
      1. Brush Tip Shape
      2. Shape Dynamics
      3. Scattering
      4. Texture
      5. Dual Brush
      6. Color Dynamics
      7. Transfer
      8. Brush Pose
      9. Noise
      10. Wet Edges
      11. Build-up
      12. Smoothing
      13. Protect Texture
      14. Suggested Brush Customizations
    6. Defining a New Brush
    7. Installing New Brushes
  18. 14. Drawing with the Vector Tools
    1. Photoshop’s Drawing Modes
    2. Drawing Paths with the Pen Tool
      1. Drawing Straight Paths
      2. Drawing Curved Paths
      3. Converting Anchor Points
      4. Path Drawing Tips
    3. Saving Paths
    4. Drawing with the Shape Tools
      1. Using the Shape Tools
        1. Customizing Stroke Options
        2. Using Live Shape Properties
      2. Drawing Multiple Shapes on One Layer
      3. Using Custom Shapes
    5. Editing Paths
      1. Adding, Deleting, and Converting Points
      2. Activating and Moving Paths
      3. Making Paths Intersect
        1. Aligning and Rearranging Paths
      4. Adding a Stroke to a Path
      5. Filling a Path
    6. Making Selections and Masks with Paths
      1. Making a Path from a Selection
      2. Making a Clipping Path
      3. Using Vector Masks
        1. Masking with Paths
  19. 15. Creating Artistic Text
    1. Typography 101
      1. The Face of Type
        1. Common Font Formats
        2. Font Categories
        3. Font Styles
        4. Previewing Fonts
    2. Creating and Editing Text
      1. Point Text vs. Paragraph Text
      2. Moving Text
      3. Highlighting Text
      4. Resizing Text
      5. Creating a Hollow Text Selection
      6. Creating Text on a Path
      7. Filling a Shape with Text
      8. Warping Text
      9. Using Find and Replace
    3. Formatting Text
      1. Formatting with the Options Bar
      2. The Character Panel
        1. A Lesson in Leading
        2. Learning to Kern
        3. Track it Out
        4. Doin’ the Baseline Shift
        5. Other Character Options
      3. The Paragraph Panel
        1. Aligning Text
        2. Hyphenation and Justification
        3. Indenting Text
        4. Space Before and After
    4. Special Text Effects
      1. Faded Text
      2. Stroked Text
        1. The Rare Multi-Stroked Text Effect
      3. Texturizing Text
        1. Texture from a Photo
        2. Texture from a Brush
        3. Texture from Filters
      4. Placing a Photo Inside Text
      5. Converting Text to a Shape
    5. More Typographic Resources
  20. 16. The Wide World of Filters
    1. The Joy of Smart Filters
    2. A Filters Tour
      1. Adaptive Wide Angle
      2. Camera Raw Filter
      3. Lens Correction
      4. Liquify
      5. Oil Paint
      6. Vanishing Point
      7. Artistic
      8. Blur
        1. Fixing Color Fringe
        2. Field Blur
        3. Iris Blur
        4. Tilt-Shift
        5. Lens Blur
      9. Brush Strokes
      10. Distort
      11. Noise
      12. Pixelate
      13. Render
      14. Sharpen
      15. Sketch
      16. Stylize
        1. Emboss
      17. Texture
      18. Video
      19. Other
      20. Digimarc
      21. Browse Filters Online
  21. 17. Photoshop and Print
    1. The Challenge of WYSIWYG Printing
      1. Understanding Color Gamuts and Profiles
        1. Finding and Installing Drivers and Color Profiles
      2. Calibrating Your Display
    2. Resizing and Formatting Files
      1. Printer-Friendly File Formats
      2. Resizing and Saving as a TIFF
      3. Resizing and Saving as a PDF
    3. Printing on an Inkjet Printer
    4. Printing on a Commercial Offset Press
      1. Converting RGB Images to CMYK Using Built-In Profiles
      2. Custom RGB to CMYK Profile Conversions
      3. Using Spot Color
        1. Editing Spot Channels
        2. Saving a Document With Spot Channels
        3. Saving Spot Colors in PDF Format
      4. Printing Duotone (Multitonal) Images
      5. Printing Color Separations
      6. Proofing Images Onscreen
      7. Printing Proofs
    5. Printing on a Digital Press
      1. Printing RGB Images on a Digital Press
      2. Printing CMYK Images on a Digital Press
      3. Printing Spot Colors on a Digital Press
    6. Printing Multiple Images
      1. PDF Presentation
      2. Contact Sheet II
    7. Recap: Stress-Free Printing Tips
  22. 18. Photoshop and the Web
    1. Creating Web- and Email-Friendly Images
      1. Resizing an Image
        1. Resizing Web Images Visually
      2. Choosing the Best File Format
      3. Saving and Compressing Files
    2. Animating a GIF
      1. Editing Your Animation
      2. Saving Your Animation
    3. Designing a Website Favicon
    4. Creating Web Page Mockups and Image Maps
      1. Slicing an Existing Image
      2. Modifying Slices
        1. Slice Options
      3. Saving Slices
    5. Protecting Your Images Online
      1. Embedding Copyright Info
      2. Watermarking Images
    6. Building Online Photo Galleries
  23. 19. Working Smarter with Actions
    1. The Actions Panel
    2. Using Actions
      1. Recording Actions
      2. Running Actions on a Folder
    3. Managing Actions
      1. Editing Actions
    4. Creating Droplets
    5. Sharing Actions
      1. Loading Actions
      2. Saving Actions as a Set
  24. 20. Beyond Photoshop: Plug-Ins
    1. Adding and Removing Plug-Ins
    2. Managing Plug-Ins
    3. Noise Reducers
      1. Noiseware
      2. Dfine
      3. Photo Ninja (previously Noise Ninja)
    4. Making Selections and Masking
      1. Fluid Mask
      2. Perfect Mask
    5. Color Correction and Enhancement
      1. Viveza
      2. Color Efex Pro
      3. Perfect Portrait
    6. Miscellaneous Plug-Ins
      1. Silver Efex Pro
      2. Perfect Resize
      3. HDR Efex Pro
      4. Eye Candy
      5. SiteGrinder
      6. Dashboard Pro
  25. 21. Photoshop and Video
    1. Creating Your First Video Project
      1. Using Video Document Presets
    2. Opening and Importing Video Clips
      1. Meet the Timeline Panel
    3. Editing Video
      1. Changing Clip Length
      2. Adding Transitions
      3. Splitting and Trimming Video Clips
      4. Adding Text, Logos, and Still Images
      5. Adding and Controlling Audio
    4. Animating Objects and Effects
      1. Adding and Deleting Keyframes
      2. Editing and Copying Keyframes
      3. Choosing an Interpolation Method
      4. Warping Text
      5. Animating Masks
      6. Rotoscoping and Onion Skins
    5. Global Lighting
    6. Adding Comments
    7. Adding Fill and Adjustment Layers
      1. Adding a Color Tint
      2. Changing Fill and Adjustment Layers’ Duration
    8. Adding Layer Styles
    9. Using Smart Filters with Video
    10. Cloning and Healing
    11. Exporting Videos
      1. Using Your Project in Other Video Editors
    12. Additional Video Resources
  26. 22. Photoshop and 3D
    1. 3D Basics
    2. Photoshop’s 3D Environment
      1. Creating a 3D Postcard
      2. Moving Objects in 3D Space
        1. Using the HUD to Position an Object
      3. Working with the Camera
    3. Creating Other 3D Objects
      1. Making 3D Text
      2. Making 3D Shapes
      3. Wrapping Art around Basic Shapes
      4. Making a Plane, Cylinder, or Sphere from Scratch
      5. Making a 3D Object from a Medical Scan
      6. Importing a 3D Model
    4. Rendering
    5. Saving and Exporting 3D Objects
    6. Editing 3D Objects
      1. Working with Materials
      2. Painting on a 3D Object
      3. Lighting Your 3D Scene
        1. Positioning Lights
      4. Instances
      5. Combining Objects
      6. Running Filters on a 3D Layer
      7. Changing a 3D Layer’s Blend Mode and Opacity
      8. Rasterizing a 3D Layer
    7. Creating 3D Animations
    8. Additional 3D Resources
  27. 23. Using Adobe Bridge
    1. Installing Bridge
    2. Browsing through Photos
    3. Importing and Managing Photos
      1. Review Mode
      2. Sorting and Filtering Images
      3. Grouping Images into Collections
      4. Grouping Images into Stacks
      5. Opening Images in Camera Raw
    4. Showing Off Your Work
      1. Making a Slideshow
      2. Bridge CS6’s Export Panel
      3. Exporting Images from Bridge CS6 as PDFs
      4. Making a Web Gallery
    5. Using Mini Bridge
  28. Index
  29. About the Author
  30. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual
  • Author(s): Lesa Snider
  • Release date: June 2013
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9781449342418