-:- PhotoShop CS2 -:- Learning -:-

How To Use Photos For Online Dating Profiles

2009-08-31T16:29:00.000-07:00

When aggravating to acquisition a date online, the a lot of important aspect is represented by your image. Your angel consists of your description about yourself and, of course, your angel aswell includes your photo. All the data that attention your angel accept to be in absolute shape, in adjustment to abode you on the adapted way of award an Internet romance.

For sure, if you accommodated a new getting (especially a woman), you attending in her eyes, you acquire the actualization of her face, you apprehension her hair color, accepted aspect and so on. After all this, you can actualize your consequence apropos the woman's attractiveness. So, the capital abstraction is that appearances matter, abnormally if affair somebody for the aboriginal time. And as online dating is as absolute as the acceptable blazon of dating, the photo is the one which represents your appearance. This is the capital acumen why you charge to be actual accurate if you baddest the photo that you wish to display.

Your online contour is awfully bent by your pics - If you are absorbed in online dating, again you accept to accept noticed by now that not all humans accept to affectation a photo of them. Pictures of cine stars, celebrities, animals, or models generally alter the angel of the members. But the actuality is that this is not accessible at all, if absent to acquisition a date online. As a amount of fact, it is useless. So, if you are aggravating to adumbrate your image, overlook about getting successful.

When selecting your picture, you should anticipate about one detail: if aggregate goes well, you will in fact get to accommodated one of the changeable associates of the sites. So then, anticipate that your account has to reflect the reality. It has to be flattering, sure, but it has to attending like you. So, overlook about photoshop or about added photo alteration programs.

There is one affair that makes all humans attending well: smiling. This agency that you should baddest a photo area you are smiling. Furthermore, animated is the affair that says about you that you are fun, amusing and communicative. And these qualities are accepted by a lot of women out there.

It is bigger to column added than one photo of yourself. You can accept a close-up photo and others from a best distance. In any case, you accept to appearance both your face and your physique figure. Regardless of the way you look, you will assume an accessible and honest getting if you accept to do so.

There is addition detail that you shouldn't overlook if selecting the photos: they shouldn't be earlier than one year. Just like it is not a acceptable abstraction to adumbrate your image, it is not a acceptable abstraction to adumbrate your age.

All the photos that you baddest accept to be bright and of top quality. Make abiding that the eyewitness can analyze you acutely from the picture. It ability not be such a bad abstraction to ask some of your changeable accompany about the called pictures - they will action you a woman's angle aloft your photo. And this is what you need, right?

Finding affair on the Internet ability not be as hard, if you are allotment a adulatory and adapted photo of yourself. So, from now on, you apperceive what to do in adjustment to acquisition a date online!

CG What: Offering Video Effects Tutorials

2009-08-31T16:28:00.002-07:00

Films can be actual fascinating, abnormally those which accept amazing video effects. Not alone do these furnishings accompany you to the bend of your seat, it aswell gives you the appetite to wish to apprentice how to do it yourself. As you watch Hollywood box-office hits, the films assume absolutely harder to create. As abundant as movies assume appealing complicated to make, you can apprentice how to accomplish your own video; forth with the furnishings that you would like to add. You can do this by logging on to cgwhat.com and account what the website has to action to cine admirers like you.

CG provides a lot of admirable opportunities to its members. But the best befalling that you can get from the website is its video tutorials. Through its tutorials, you will apperceive how creating videos is done through the able way. You can apprentice through Blender Video Tutorials, 3DS Max Video Tutorials, and Blender Video Tutorials. You can accept to apprentice by accepting chargeless tutorials on the site; or downloading DVD’s. Whichever way you wish to be taught, you can do it at your own acceptable time.

There are a lot of action films which use amazing beheld and complete effects. If you are absorbed with activated movies, CG can advise you how to do it. All you accept to do is bang on the hotlink for video training. You will be directed to the tutorials page; with choices like animation, modeling, effects, lighting, texturing, and clay through blender. If you would like to accept the tutorial on animation, you just bang on it. You will be guided to the page of animation. You can apprentice how to accord the movement of the arch and the lips. Or else, you can apprentice how to accomplish activated altar move.

On the added hand, apprehension lighting will advise you how to actualize a video with the advice of the appropriate lighting effects. Tutorials on furnishings will appearance you how to accomplish cars backfire afterwards affliction added people; or actualize huge fires. If you would like to become accomplished at arrangement painting, CG will acquaint you how to do it through ZBrush Video Tutorials. Anything that is accompanying to authoritative a video, you will apprentice it at CG. You can just download the tutorials in adjustment for you to get started appropriate away.

When you go to the chargeless video tutorials of CG, you will be provided with choices like Dreamweave, Maya, Adobe photoshop, MudBox, and several added video tutorials. Through these tutorials, you will apperceive how to accommodate effects, rigging, modeling, and rendering. You will aswell apprentice how to use ZBrush and apperceive added about MudBox’s basics. Or else, CG will advise you how to actualize atom apparition or afterwards effects. When you accept to accretion ability at CG, you will be provided with endless advice that you will never acquisition for free. Take this adventitious to apprentice afterwards accepting to pay for it. Who knows you will become one of the best filmmakers in the abreast future.

Photography as a Fun and Interesting Hobby

2009-08-31T16:28:00.001-07:00

Photography is a fun amusement that interests abounding altered humans beyond a ample ambit of ages. Enthusiasts of all types accept begin a artistic recreational aperture in the amusement of photography and with the advances in technology that accept occurred in contempo years (especially with the appearance and all-over acceptance of agenda imaging technologies such as agenda cameras, scanners, agenda angel alteration software and photo printers).

There was a time if an alone who was absorbed in accepting into the amusement of photography had absolutely an antecedent investment to make. To get a austere alpha in the craft, one would charge to acquirement an SLR (single lens reflex) camera ($400-$1000+), darkroom accessories ($300+) and actual big-ticket accessible food (35mm film, developing chemicals, photo paper, etc).

With agenda photography, the hobbyist has a abundant lower amount to pay to get into the amusement in a austere way. Once the antecedent acquirement of a superior agenda camera and able imaging software (such as Adobe photoshop) are fabricated there is little to no amount appropriate to participate. Aside from the casual prints, there are few added all-important hidden costs to the amusement if approached from the agenda ancillary of things.

If you are absorbed in accepting into the hobby, you should analysis out some of the photography communities on the web.. There are actually bags of enthusiast's sites out there and hundreds of chargeless accoutrement to accomplish the a lot of out of the agenda photography technology. From online angel repositories with the adeptness to meta-organize agenda photos like Flickr to web arcade software like Coppermine to chargeless angel alteration accoutrement like the Gimp, there are abounding accoutrement and assets out there for the demography online. These chargeless tools, calm with a actual alive and able-bodied online agenda photography association accomplish for an accomplished amusement that can accommodate hours of amusement to those who are accommodating to put in the time and effort.

Web Design - Leads you to the World of Web Technology

2009-08-30T17:04:00.001-07:00

Sir Tim Berners-Lee was the aboriginal Web artist and the artist of the Apple Wide Web. He launched the aboriginal online website in 6 August 1991. He summed up the Internet advice (compiled with emails) with hypertext alteration protocols.

Initially the Web designing was based aloft the simple markup languages, functionality of these languages was actual limited. At that time alone the aggressive bond amid the pages and blueprint casework were available; it became added adaptable and affluent in ambience with the advance of Web technology and Web design.

As the time progressed the Web designing languages afflicted their faces, one of the capital desperate change was the dynamicity of the pages forth with the database applications. This accurate change circumscribed up some new languages like VBscript, JavaScript, ASP, ASP.Net, Cold admixture etc. These languages are acclimated to actualize server-side scripting technology.

CSS and Tables:

Tales were badly acclimated in the time of Netscape Navigator, which even supports the nested tables. But as the Internet Explorer took over the browser bazaar the able abstraction was adapted by implementing CSS (Cascading Style Sheet). CSS emphasized on the semantic markup of HTML, not on the lay out in the table; by which it helps the seek engine spiders to accept what is traveling on central the page.

Flash and the web applications:

With the apparatus of Flash, the web applications became added advantageous and popular, while the technology became added complex. Flash was alien by Macromedia in 1996 to advance a TV-like appliance in the apple of Web. It was fabricated by Jonathan Gay; it has fabricated its mark aural a actual abbreviate aeon of time in the Apple of Web.

The activated figures, movies, amateur can be fabricated by Flash, so it is actual advantageous for developing adorable web applications. Flash has already beyond its fifth adaptation and contains a ample bulk of codes for developing graphical interfaces. Today it has over 500,000 developers and runs in over 250 actor computers.

Photoshop and Web Applications:

Photoshop was invented by the Knoll brothers- Thomas and John Knoll. The development started in 1987 if they both were alive on a agenda angel action project.

Initially they invented a baby subroutine for computer cartoon and activated it into a affairs alleged Display. In 1990 Adobe appear the aboriginal official adaptation - Photoshop1.0 which was the bigger adaptation of that subroutine.

After its absolution Photoshop captured the top position in the Cartoon market. Now Photoshop 7.0 is in the bazaar and has agape down all its competitors.
Photoshop is accordant with both the Windows and Mac O.S.

Dynamic web design:

The Web pages can be advised dynamically by two means - Server-side and Client-side methods.

Server-side scripting is based on the Web server technology area a user's claim is able by active a Software anon in the server. This address is acclimated to actualize the user-interactive pages area the third-party interferences like databases or activated movies are required.

This technology provides added ascendancy over the Software and added functionalities of script. Examples of Server-side scripting languages are ASP, ASP, .NET, JavaScript, Cold Admixture etc.

Client-side scripting is based on the modules of Web programs that are run in the user's browser on client-side. These programs are not accomplished in the Web Server. These applications are about implemented for adorning the pages and for calling some ecology variables etc. Example of Client-side scripting accent is JavaScript.
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Business ethics of Web Development:

People alive with web designing are uncountable. Most of the ample and average companies accept already answer their business through the web. Now there are abounding absolute sites which are appropriate to be re-designed and re-generated, as well.

Moreover the companies which accept not yet appear their sites will barrage it in actual abreast future. So the ambit of business in Web development area is actual high. Online business is gradually acceptable the best average for advertising, abnormally for the baby companies.

Frequently Asked Questions About Digital Cameras

2009-08-30T17:03:00.000-07:00

Many college end agenda cameras accept some appealing amazing features. It is a lot of acceptable that these will absolutely alone be of use to austere photographers who wish to agreement with their agenda cameras and wish to apprentice and use all that their camera has to offer. Even again a lot of agenda cameras appear with a absolutely automated approach that will acquiesce you to use it like an simple to use point and shoot camera.

The important point to bethink actuality is that affection affluent agenda cameras aswell amount a lot of money. If you are not planning to accomplish use of all the accessible appearance again it is bigger to buy a archetypal with a abate affection set and save yourself a boodle of money. You will acquisition that agenda cameras that are added basal in the functionality that they action are aswell added simple to use generally.

Most cameras appear arranged with software that allows you to adapt your pictures. The blazon of software varies with anniversary camera. This should be a application if authoritative your purchase. If you wish something added sophisticated, you can try Adobe Photoshop. This arresting section of software will let you do about annihilation with an image.

Before you blitz off and buy Adobe Photoshop there are two things that you charge to know. First it is aimed at able agenda photographers. This gives Adobe Photoshop a abrupt acquirements curve. Secondly it does not appear cheap.

If you are traveling to book from home, the a lot of accepted blazon of printer for home use is the inkjet. You can buy an inkjet printer calmly for beneath than $200. Press has become a above advance breadth in agenda photography and there are now affluence of able casework that you can baddest from at a actual reasonable price. You can bead into your bounded photo boutique for development or you can yield advantage of online press services. They are bargain as well.

There are abounding altered types of anamnesis agenda around. Normally a agenda camera is accordant with just one blazon of card. Sometimes a agenda camera can use a array of altered types of cards. The important point is to accomplish abiding that the agenda you buy is the appropriate blazon for your camera.

All agenda cameras use batteries quickly. Turn the LCD awning off if it is not in use. The LCD awning is a big ability user and accordingly can run your batteries down actual quickly. Overuse of cine approach on agenda cameras can aswell cesspool the activity out of a array quickly.

If you apperceive actual little about agenda cameras again the Internet is acutely a abundant abode to awning the research. It may aswell be account your while to buy a annual also. Boutique about on the Internet and yield advantage of the agenda cameras amount allegory account to accomplish abiding that you get the best deal.

A Few Cool Photoshop Tips and Tricks

2009-08-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

When it comes to entering the clear architecture world, creating absorbing pieces for a job or administration artwork with ancestors and friends, there are affluence of air-conditioned Photoshop tips and tricks to consider. Whether you are just experimenting with the accoutrement or already apperceive how to blueprint a annual spread, there will consistently be a new adjustment or ambush to accomplish activity abundant easier. Below, you will acquisition a few tips to add to your repertoire or allotment with others:

Easy Photoshop Tips and Tricks

Have you anytime capital to calmly actualize the angel of Earth and alarming application the amphitheater tool? There is an simple way to architecture the apple in six steps, which should yield beneath than a minute to complete. First, you should baddest File/New from the card bar and actualize a book admeasurement that measures about 200 pixels by 200 pixels. The RGB approach should be called for this trick. Next, accept a ablaze dejected adumbration for the beginning blush and a darker dejected for the accomplishments color.

Under the Filters tab, baddest Render, and again accept Clouds. The arena that will accost you should attending a lot like the sky. It is the clouds clarify that utilizes the beginning and accomplishments colors bare to assemble this angel in your file. If you admiration a altered look, you can columnist Ctrl + F on Windows or Command + F for a Mac to reapply the filter. Each time this key aggregate is pressed, you will accept a somewhat altered outcome.

Now, acknowledgment to the Clarify card and baddest Render, and again accept Lighting Effects. Already you access the Ablaze Effects menu, you are able to adapt the actualization of the ambit to a amphitheater that becomes centered on your file. Changing the Narrow ambience to 39 next follows allotment the Default Spotlight setting.

Sometimes a Photoshop activity calls for texture. There are bags of backgrounds to actualize that ambit from a chapped agreement to a multi-faceted blend (depending on the attending you are traveling for). To actualize a cardboard arrangement in Photoshop, you should alpha a new book that measures 60 x 60 pixels. The blush should be in RGB. Next, baddest the afterward commands in this aforementioned order: Filter, Noise, Add Noise. Already completed, accept Gaussian, which is set to 80%.

The next footfall to actualize a cardboard arrangement is to baddest Filter, again Stylize, followed by Emboss. The bend should be set to -50, the Height to 2 pixels, and the Amount to 70%. The accomplishments will now resemble a gray arresting selection. To change the color, accept Image, again Adjust, followed by Hue-Saturation-Brightness. Already you baddest the Colorize checkbox, you should set the Hue to a altered setting. To accretion your claimed preference, you can acclimatize the contrast.

To actualize the actualization that altar are aglow after application any filters, accept an article to plan with that will be bifold as a layer. First, baddest the blush you'd like your afterglow to be. After allotment the lower duplicate, bang on Edit from the menu, again Stroke. If the Stroke Options appear, the pixel amplitude should be set amid 1 and 16. It is important to bethink that the beyond amount you choose, the thicker the afterglow will appear.

Before exiting, you should glance beneath Location to accomplish abiding that the Outside advantage is selected. The next footfall involves applying a Gaussian Blur to the layer, which can be begin beneath the Blur advantage in Filters. This will abate the afterglow activated to the layer. Some individuals even echo the action to actualize a bifold glow, which is some cases, can absolutely accomplish an angel angle out.

What Can You Do With Avant-garde Photoshop Tips and Tricks?

Advanced Photoshop users are generally accustomed with all accoutrement and accept baffled a lot of of the axiological tutorials, tips, and tricks, such as creating a blurred background. Some humans are blind of all of the air-conditioned tricks that Photoshop has to offer, abnormally if you've upgraded your adaptation to CS. The ability to actualize some of the a lot of absorbing works of agenda art are alone a few clicks abroad already you get a adhere of avant-garde Photoshop shortcuts and tricks.

Some Photoshop tricks on the avant-garde akin can advice a added annoying activity assume easier. The added you apprentice the tips and tricks of the trade, the bigger your all-embracing creations will about-face out. To get an abstraction of some of the avant-garde tricks associated with Photoshop, a few examples are mentioned below:

Photoshop allows avant-garde users to actualize agenda banana actualization that looks just like the animal duke bound it. The tricks and tips associated with this array of higher-level architecture deals with the abetment of assorted besom sets to accomplish the attending you desire. Photoshop aswell lets users actualize photomontages that can transform an aboriginal photograph into something abundant different.

There are aswell tips and tricks that can yield your a lot of unfavorite account and adapt it in any way you wish. Let's say you wish to change a approved photograph into something dazzling. Avant-garde Photoshop tricks can adorn a face that displays a accustomed appearance. In commendations to a photo, derma can be fixed, blemishes and wrinkles erased, teeth anchored and whitened, as able-bodied as changes fabricated to the eyebrows, hair, and eyes.

When one is able to adept avant-garde Photoshop techniques, the artistic possibilities assume never-ending, including 3D bottle balls, planet and star-studded skies, matte paintings, and airbrushed illustrations.

Graphic Designing ... How Do I Do It?

2009-08-30T03:21:00.000-07:00

One of the a lot of important accoutrement a website needs to be acknowledged is eye communicable graphics, with the use of these any run of the comminute website will accomplish in capturing a customer. Fantastic searching cartoon are abiding to affect any website visitor, clashing paragraphs aloft paragraphs of addictive argument cartoon are there appropriate in foreground of you, as said before, a account paints a thousand words, able-bodied now a attack angel can acquaint a company about your product/service possibly bigger than 10 paragraphs of block text. So how can I actualize these images?

Back in September 2005 I started my online adventure by affairs eBooks on eBay, annihilation above but it helped put petrol in my car at the end of every week. Afterwards a ages I capital to expand, I bare added sales to alpha accoutrement my eBay fees that were every growing! I looked about at the top seller's sales pages to see how they were affairs their appurtenances and authoritative a accumulation from them. There were two things anniversary 'top seller' had in common, these were a acceptable acknowledgment appraisement and alarming sales page graphics, these absolutely blew you away, and I was amazed!

Since acknowledgment on eBay was something that bare to be congenital over time I absitively to set myself a ambition of getting able to actualize myself some pleasant, simple on the eye sales page cartoon for my listings. I did a bit of analysis and begin out that all the top designers acclimated a affairs alleged Adobe Photoshop. So on I went and downloaded a 30 day balloon from the Adobe website. Afterwards downloading Photoshop and accepting a baby play with some of the appearance I could calmly see why it was professionally acclimated by a baby minority, there were endless of appearance that I just artlessly couldn't grasp.

I did a quick seek on Google and begin some abundant tutorial websites, two of my best finds getting Pixel2Life.com and Good-Tutorials.com. I advised anniversary and bound started to adept the fundamentals of Adobe Photoshop. I bound began to realise that it was not all that hard. I aswell apparent (after some time) that Pixel2Life had its actual own appointment area Photoshop beginners could ask experts any problems or queries they may accept had, this was a actual able apparatus and bound adapted me from a abecedarian to an intermediate!

Now, 1 and a bisected years later, I accept my actual own clear architecture business and I am demography orders every individual day. It absolutely shows what microburst assiduous can do. I set myself a ambition and I accomplished it. From just a little bit of research, and practising, I became an able in my acreage of clear design, and you can too!

Adobe Photoshop Software: The Latest and Greatest Version 7

2009-08-30T03:17:00.000-07:00

As an ambitious agenda photographer, I've consistently enjoyed uploading my photos to my computer and arena about with them in photo alteration software. I've begin that I can accomplish my acceptable photos even better, and generally times I can deliver a boring, hum-drum photo into something that's absolutely worthwhile. There are a lot of adapted photo alteration software suites out there, from the ultra-basic programs arranged with Microsoft Windows to professional-level software programs active hundreds or even bags of dollars. Though there are a lot of options, Adobe Photoshop software has become the accepted for abounding photographers, both abecedarian and professional, for acceptable reason.

Though it's sometimes boxy to accumulate clue of all of the adapted versions of Adobe Photoshop software (there accept been added than ten), all of them allotment some of the aforementioned characteristics. This is abnormally accurate afterwards Photoshop 7, back a lot of afterwards ancestors of the software accept focused mainly on fine-tuning the software apartment afterwards introducing any major, all-important changes. One of the key aspects of Adobe Photoshop software is that Photoshop makes it quick and simple to yield affliction of a lot of of the accepted tasks humans wish their photo alteration software to do. Cropping a photo takes a brace seconds, as does adjusting the ablaze levels, brightness, or adverse aural a photo. Even my parents, who call themselves as getting inept with computer software on the whole, administer to crop and acclimatize their photos bound and easily. They're aswell addicted of the adapted filters or furnishings Photoshop can administer to photos, from bite furnishings to embossing to solarization, about any beheld aftereffect is alone a brace clicks away.

Though abounding added photo alteration programs accomplish simple photo abetment easy, what absolutely sets Adobe Photoshop software afar from added photo alteration programs is the affluence of application its added avant-garde features. Selective blush allows the user to home in on one accurate blush range, be it blues, greens, yellows, etc., and acclimatize its about intensity. Alteration levels, saturation, and even blush curves is aswell a snap, and Photoshop renders the colors of photos so able-bodied it's generally about absurd to acquaint that the photo has been adapted if comparing shots afore and afterwards editing, abreast from the actuality that the "after" photo is usually sharper, bigger balanced, and added colorful.

Though Adobe Photoshop software is usually expensive, abnormally for the a lot of contempo version, accomplished versions of the software can usually be tracked down for a reasonable price. Whatever it costs, Photoshop's amount can be calmly justified if searching at the abundant photos it eventually produces.

Enhance Your Images With Photoshop

2009-08-30T03:16:00.000-07:00

Photoshop is a computer affairs that can abundantly enhance the images in your life. You can dispense photos or home videos with photoshop to attending or complete a assertive way. You can do abounding things with this program; you can change images, backgrounds and graphics- all in the abundance of your own home. With a affairs like photoshop, who needs professionals anymore? You can become the able and save yourself time and money by accomplishing the plan on your pictures and videos yourself.

You don't accept to be absolutely computer adeptness to use photoshop either. You can consistently advise yourself how to use it by just practicing with it. But, if you acquisition that this adjustment doesn't plan for you, because demography a tutorial or affairs a book that can explain it to you. You can yield a tutorial in a chic or yield one online. If you're absolutely new to the apple of computers, I would advance that you yield a photoshop tutorial in a classroom so you will accept a abecedary there to advice you. You will apparently charge the blazon of "hands on" apprenticeship that you can alone get from a classroom tutorial. Also, you will be able to ask questions if there is something you don't understand. You can assurance up for photoshop classroom tutorials by blockage with your bounded academy or maybe even a library. The classes will apparently amount beneath $100 and will endure alone a brace of weeks.

If you accept the basal ability about computers, you ability be able to yield an online tutorial of photoshop. You can assurance up for a tutorial like this by analysis photoshop classes through seek engines. Once you accept begin the tutorial you'd like to take, access your acclaim agenda advice in and get started. The abundant affair about these types of tutorials is that you can apprentice the advice on your own time. So, adjudge which avenue would plan best for you and alpha acquirements today!

How to Optimize Color Files for Printing

2007-09-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

Preparing a file for printing means a lot of different things. It could mean a complicated offset professional color project with film and plates, or it could refer to an inkjet proof or a laser print. For the sake of argument, this task refers to color printing on a press or proofing device. It is important that you check with your printer before prepping files and setting things up because all printers do things a bit differently. What follows are general guidelines for how to optimize a file for printing.

1. Determine Output Resolution
In most cases, you will print at 300ppi for high-quality images. You can reduce this number slightly for some offset presses (inkjet and color laser printers and copiers are even more forgiving). Open the Image Size dialog box by selecting Image, Image Size. If you know the resolution requirements of your printer, type them in the Resolution field; if you don't, type 300 as a baseline and select pixels/inch. Make sure the Resample Image check box is not selected to avoid degradation of image quality.

2. Set the Color Settings
Select Edit, Color Settings to open the Color Settings dialog box. Select US Prepress Defaults from the Settings menu (in OS X, select Photoshop, Color Settings). In the Working Spaces section, select the various profiles and parameters specified by your printer or leave the defaults. In the Color Management Policies section, select Preserve Embed ded Profiles whenever a match or near match is available; otherwise, experiment with converting to the appropriate working spaces. See Part 1, Task 8, "How to Specify Photoshop Color Models."

3. Set Page Layout
Select File, Print with Preview to launch the Print dialog box. In the Scaled Print Size area, set the scale percentage as necessary to fit the image on the page size. Use the thumbnail image as a guide for entering the proper new value. If necessary, go to the Position area, deselect the Center Image check box, and drag the thumbnail image to reposition it on the page.

4. Check for Out-of-Gamut Colors
To print in color, you have to convert the color mode for your image to CMYK. Because the CMYK color format allows fewer colors than, say, the RGB format, you could lose some of the colors in your image during the color conversion. Select View, Gamut Warning. The gamut mask points out the areas where colors could be lost in the image so you can address the problems before the image goes to the printer.

5. Correct Problem Colors
After you identify where the problem colors lie, select View, Gamut Warning again to turn off the gamut mask and then select View, Proof Setup, Working CMYK. Photoshop displays a preview of how the colors will look when they are converted. These color shifts are often subtle, and you might decide you can live with them. If not, edit the colors in your image using any of the color tools. (Hint: The Sponge tool can soften some saturated colors.)

6. Convert File to CMYK Color Mode
After you correct any color problems, convert the file to CMYK format. Select Image, Mode, CMYK Color to convert the file.

7. Save File in Proper Format
Now save the file in the proper format as specified by your printer: Select File, Save As and then select the desired format from the Format menu. If in doubt, save the image as a TIFF file.

How to Set Up Batch Processing Options

2007-09-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

As described in the preceding tasks, actions enable you to apply multiple commands to one image with a single mouse click. But what do you do if you have a folder of 200 image files that all need the same action? Although you could open each image file and apply the action, it would be much better to process all 200 images with just a single command. This is what the Photoshop Batch command does. The process involves specifying a target folder that contains all the images to be processed and then detailing how and where Photoshop saves the images created by the action.

1. Open the Actions Palette
If the Actions palette is not currently displayed on your desktop, select Window, Actions to display the palette. If necessary, exit Button mode and return the palette to List mode (see step 2 in Task 5, "How to Use the Preset Actions").

2. Highlight the Action to Be Applied
In the Actions palette, click the action to be applied to all the images. The action is highlighted in the list. Ideally, you'll create the action first (refer to Task 6, "How to Create Custom Actions"); then select that action for the Batch command to use when it processes the files.

3. Open the Batch Dialog Box
From the menu bar, select File, Automate, Batch. The Batch dialog box opens. The action you highlighted in step 2 appears in the Play section.

4. Select the Source Folder
From the Source drop-down list, select the Folder option and then click the Select button. In the Browse for Folder dialog box that appears, navigate to highlight the folder containing the images you want to process and click the OK button (the Select button for Macs). Back in the Source section, select options if you want to process images in subfolders. (For Macs, note that the file-selection dialog box is different from the Windows version shown here; use standard navigation techniques to select a source folder.)

5. Select the Destination Folder
Now specify where you want the changed images to be stored. From the Destination drop-down list, select None (the changed images remain open onscreen), Save and Close (the changed images are saved and stored in their original location), or Folder (you then click the Select button and navigate to the folder in which you want copies of the changed images to be stored). You can also specify a desired naming convention using the pop-up menus in the File Naming section of the Batch dialog box.

6. Specify Error Handling
From the Errors drop-down list, select Stop for Errors (the process stops until errors are resolved) or Log Errors to File (the process continues and a list of errors is generated for later review). Click OK to begin running the selected action on the selected folders and subfolders.

How to Create Custom Actions

2007-09-24T13:06:00.001-07:00

Although the preset actions that ship with Photoshop are useful, it won't be long before you'll feel the need to build your own. An action should be generic enough to work in a number of situations and on multiple images. Some editing tasks might not translate into actions. Keep trying, though, because building a clean action can give you a great deal of satisfaction, as well as save you a lot of time.

1. Open the Actions Palette
If the Actions palette is not currently displayed on your desktop, select Window, Actions to display the palette. If necessary, exit Button mode and return the palette to List mode (see step 2 in Task 5, "How to Use the Preset Actions").

2. Create a New Action
From the palette menu, select New Action to open the New Action dialog box. Type a name for the action you're going to record, and select the Set to which it will be added. You can create multiple sets of actions, which you can then select from the Set menu. If no other sets of actions are created, select from the Default Actions set that appears.

3. Execute the Action
Click the Record button in the dialog box to begin recording the action. The New Action dialog box disappears to give you free access to the Photoshop application. In this example, I converted a file to grayscale, inverted it to create a negative image, and tweaked the tonal range with Shadow/Highlight.

4. Select Stop Recording
After you perform all the steps of the action you want to record, select Stop Recording from the Actions palette menu to end the recording process.

5. Check the Action Sequence
Go to the Actions palette and find your newly created action in the list. Click the right-facing arrow to display the list of steps you recorded for that action.

6. Add Any Missing Steps
If necessary, you can add steps to the action sequence by selecting a step as an insertion point (here I selected Shadow/Highlight) and then selecting Insert Menu Item from the palette menu. Then type the name of the command as desired; Photoshop automatically records it and adds it to the action sequence after the selection. You also can select Start Recording and execute the commands to add steps after the selected command.

How to Use the Preset Actions

2007-09-17T16:43:00.000-07:00

Photoshop uses preset scripts called actions to automate repetitive tasks. For example, creating a drop shadow can involve inverting a selection, deleting a background, inverting the selection again, offsetting it, feathering it, and filling it with a transparent fill. Actions enable you to apply multiple steps such as these with a single mouse click. This can save you timeespecially when you're processing multiple images in the same way. You can view actions in a simplified button mode (which allows for one-click application) and in a more detailed mode (in which you can examine each step in the action). In this task, you'll work in Button mode. You'll get more detailed information in the following tasks.

1. Open the Actions Palette
Select Window, Actions to open the Actions palette.

2. Set Palette to Button Mode
Click and hold the arrow in the upper-right corner of the palette and drag to select Button Mode. The Actions palette changes to display all the actions as clickable buttons. Select this option again to disable Button mode and return the palette to the simple List mode.

3. Select an Area of the Image
Actions can be applied to a selected area of the image in many cases, actions can be applied to the entire image. Click the Marquee tool and drag to select the area of the image you want to modify with an action.

4. Click the Action Button
Click the desired action button in the Actions palette to execute the effect. You can apply multiple actions to the same selectionjust click another action button.

How to Create Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

2007-09-17T16:33:00.000-07:00

Photoshop enables you to create and modify keyboard shortcuts for all application menus, palette menus, and tools. You can also remove any existing keyboard shortcuts and reassign them to another command or tool. Photoshop enables you to save multiple commands in shortcut sets that can correspond to workflow, tasks, or users. Thus, the same keystroke can generate different results, depending on which shortcut set you load.

1. Select or Create New Shortcut Set
Select Edit, Keyboard Shortcuts to launch the Keyboard Shortcuts and Menus dialog box. Select a target shortcut set from the Set pull-down menu at the top of the dialog box, or click the New Set button to the right of the menu to create a copy of the set that is currently loaded. The Photoshop Defaults keystroke set is automatically loaded if no other sets have been created.

2. Select Shortcut Type
Select a shortcut category from the Shortcuts for pull-down menu. The category options are Application Menus, Palette Menus, and Tools. When you select a shortcut category, the command list changes to reflect the options associated with that type.

3. Enter Keystroke
Select the tool or menu command you want to assign to a keyboard shortcut. Expand the list of menu commands by clicking the arrow to the left of each command, revealing subgroupings of individual commands. Enter the keystroke combination for the shortcut you want to assign to the tool or command, being sure to include the Ctrl key or a function key in addition to an alphanumeric key.

4. Resolve Any Conflicts
If the desired keystroke is already in use by another command, a prompt identifies the conflict and asks whether you want to remove the keyboard shortcut from the previous command. Click Accept and Go to Conflict or cancel the request by clicking Undo Changes. Clicking Accept and Go to Conflict opens the previous command and allows you to select an alternative keystroke for that command.

5. Accept Changes
After you have entered all keyboard shortcuts, click OK to save changes to the set. Now whenever you press one of the assigned keyboard combinations, the associated command or tool is selected.

6. About Menus
The Menus tab provides options for hiding seldom-used menu items or highlighting menu items with any color-coding system you might devise. Select Application Menus or Palette Menus from the Menu for drop-down list. Select the menu you want to affect and then select the specific menu command. Click the Eye icon to toggle visibility of that menu item, or select a highlight color from the drop-down list.

How to Create Custom Tool Presets

2007-09-17T16:24:00.000-07:00

The custom tool preset options in Photoshop allow you to save all the variable settings associated with that tool. Specific brush sizes, feathering, blending modes, transparency, and other settings can be customized and loaded with a single click of the mouse. With custom tool presets, you can create customized brushes for specific tasks and store them in a floating palette or in toolsets for easy access.

1. Select the Tool
Tool presets can be created for any Photoshop tool. Select the desired tool from the toolbox. In this example, the Brush tool is selected.

2. Set the Tool Parameters
Modify the tool settings in the Options bar. You can save in the preset any settings you specify in the Options bar, along with the foreground color, if desired.

3. Open the Tool Preset Palette
Select Window, Tool Presets to open the Tool Presets palette. The palette allows the option of showing all presets in the system or only the presets for the currently selected tool. Enable the Current Tool Only check box at the bottom of the palette to restrict the selection to only the presets for the current tool.

4. Save the Preset
Select New Tool Preset from the palette menu, or click the New Tool Preset icon at the bottom of the palette. Name the preset in the New Tool Preset window that appears. If desired, enable the Include Color check box to preserve the current foreground color selection as part of the preset.

5. Load the Preset
Click the desired preset bar in the Tool Presets palette to load the preset options for the selected tool.

How to Undo with the History Palette

2007-09-14T00:16:00.001-07:00

The History palette is the control center for Photoshop's multiple undo capability. It allows you to revert an image back beyond what the simple Edit, Undo command can do. The History palette records each edit or command as a layer tile. Click a tile to revert the image to that earlier state. You can set features and options to optimize how the History palette works.

1. Open the History Palette
Select Window, History to open the History palette. The palette shows a snapshot at the top, representing the original state of the file as it was opened. As you make changes to the file, those changes are displayed as tiles running in descending order in the palette.

2. Set the Number of History States
Select Edit, Preferences, General to open the General Preferences dialog box. Set the number of states you want to record, with the understanding that any states that exceed this limit will be lost. If you set History States to 20, for example, you cannot go back to what you did 21 steps ago. On the other hand, having more states is memory-intensive, so you must strike a happy medium between a History palette safety net and efficient allocation of memory and disk space. Click OK to save the history states and close the dialog box.

3. Take Snapshots
Another way to preserve a specific image state is to take a snapshot. Snapshots are independent of the standard image states mentioned in step 2 and remain available until you close or save the file. To take a snapshot, display the History palette menu and select New Snapshot. Give the snapshot a name in the dialog box that appears and click OK. A thumbnail of the snapshot appears in the upper part of the palette.

4. Revert to a Previous State
To revert to a previous state or snapshot, select the corresponding tile in the History palette. The image in the active window reverts to the point in the editing process you selected. All tiles below the active tile are dimmed, but you can still revert to them by clicking them.

5. Create Duplicate Files
The History palette also lets you create a duplicate image file. After you create a duplicate, you can continue editing that duplicate, leaving the original in its previous state. To make a duplicate, select New Document from the History palette menu. Photoshop copies the image in a new window (with-out keeping track of any of the previous history states), which you can modify further or rename and save.

How to Use Multiple Views

2007-09-13T23:57:00.000-07:00

People are working with larger images than ever before. One challenge is being able to zoom in on work at a pixel level while still monitoring the overall look of the piece. The best way to address this issue is by using multiple views. Just open two separate windows of the same file, specify a high rate of magnification for editing in one window, and leave the other at full screen size to check your progress as you work.

1. Open the Main File
Select File, Open to display the Open dialog box. Select the file you want to work on and click OK.

2. Set Desired Magnification
Click the Zoom tool in the toolbox and click the image. Watch the zoom percentage numbers in the lower-left corner of the screen. Continue clicking to zoom in to the magnification level that lets you see the area clearly. To zoom in on a particular area of the image, click the Zoom tool and drag to draw a marquee around the area you want to magnify.

3. Open a New View
To create a second window on this same image, select Window, Arrange, New Window for . You now have two windows with the same image on your desktop: One shows the full image, and the other shows a detailed zoom of a single area. You can create additional views for as many areas as necessary. (Don't worry about using up system resources when using multiple views. Your computer can handle it!)

4. Drag Windows into Position
Because the active window automatically appears on top of any other open windows, you should arrange the image windows so they're side by side. This arrangement allows you to see both the zoomed screen and the full screen at the same time. Drag the active window's title bar to arrange it where you want it.

5. Edit the Image
Make any local edits to the image in either window. For example, you can paint, erase, or silhouette. (These and other tasks are explained later in this book.) As you work in one window, notice that the image is updated in real time in the other window.

6. Close Window to Reduce Number of Views
When you finish editing the image, close either of the view windows (click the Close box in the title bar) to revert to a single view and reduce onscreen clutter.

How to Set Camera Raw Preferences

2007-09-12T08:43:00.000-07:00

In Bridge, select Edit, Camera Raw Preferences to open the Preferences window (in Mac OS X, select Photoshop, Camera Raw Preferences). You can also access the Preferences window from within the Camera Raw application by clicking the arrow at the upper right of the Settings area.

1. Save Image Settings in drop-down menu: Camera Raw never adjusts the actual Raw image fileadjustment settings are stored separately. Select whether to save adjustment settings in a central database or as individual Sidecar files in the same folder as the Raw image. Sidecar files have a .xmp extension.

2. Apply Sharpening to drop-down menu: If set to Preview Images Only, adjusting the sharpness from within Camera Raw doesn't actually sharpen the imageit sharpens just the preview of the image. Select All Images to actually apply sharpening to the image.

3. Maximum Size field: Camera Raw uses a cache to speed loading and recalculation of previews. Here you can change the maximum size of the Camera Raw cache.

4. Select Location button: Click to browse to a new location for the Camera Raw cache.

5. Purge Cache button: Should the cache get too large or corrupted, you can click this button to empty it.

How to Set Bridge Preferences

2007-09-12T08:18:00.000-07:00

General Controls

Select Edit, Preferences to open the Bridge Preferences window (in Mac OS X, select Bridge, Preferences). Then select General from the list on the left. This page controls the appearance of Bridge and the basic information it displays.

1. Thumbnails Background slider: A slider control ranging from black to white controls the darkness of the background behind the thumbnails.

2. Show Tooltips check box: If enabled, hovering the mouse pointer over a thumbnail or control pops up a brief description or help information.

3. Additional Lines of Thumbnail Metadata check boxes and menus: Select the file information to be displayed under each thumbnail. You can display up to three lines of information, and each line can display 1 of 17 types of metadata.

4. My Computer check box: When enabled, the My Computer folder appears on the Favorites tab in the Bridge window.

5. Version Cue check box: When enabled, a Version Cue icon appears on the Favorites tab in the Bridge window.

6. Desktop check box: When enabled, the Desktop folder appears on the Favorites tab in the Bridge window.

7. My Pictures check box: When enabled, the My Pictures folder appears on the Favorites tab in the Bridge window.

8. Adobe Stock Photos check box: When enabled, an icon for Adobe Stock Photos appears on the Favorites tab in the Bridge window.

9. Collections check box: When enabled, a Collections icon appears on the Favorites tab in the Bridge window.

10. My Documents check box: When enabled, the My Documents folder appears on the Favorites tab in the Bridge window.

11. Reveal Scripts in Explorer/Finder: Opens the folder that contains the scripts Bridge uses.

12. Reset All Warning Dialogs: Resets all warning dialog boxes back to their original installation defaults.

Metadata

Select Edit, Preferences to open the Bridge Preferences window (in Mac OS X, select Bridge, Preferences). Then select Metadata from the list on the left. This page controls which metadata sections and fields are displayed in the Metadata panel in the Bridge window. In the Metadata list in the Preferences window, you can expand or collapse the main categories by clicking the arrow to the left of the main category headings. If you enable the check box next to a main category heading, all the options in that category are automatically enabled, but you can enable and disable individual fields.

1. File Properties check boxes: These options describe the actual file, such as the date it was created, its size, and so on.

2. IPTC check boxes: These options provide editable text fields where information such as the photographer's name, the copyright date, where the image was taken, and any assigned keywords can be stored. IPTC Core is the current standard; IPTC IIM has been replaced by IPTC Core but is included for older files.

3. Fonts check boxes: Lists fonts used in InDesign files.

4. Swatches check boxes: Lists swatches used in InDesign files.

5. Camera Data (Exif) check boxes: These options show information recorded by the digital camera, including exposure information, camera model, lens used, and so on.

6. GPS check boxes: These options display navigational information recorded by cameras with global positioning systems.

7. Camera Raw check boxes: These options display the Camera Raw adjustment settings.

8. Edit History check boxes: This option displays the edit history if the History Log option is enabled in Photoshop preferences and set to Metadata.

9. Version Cue check boxes: These options lists information from Version Cue.

10. Comment check box: If enabled, this option allows you to enter a text comment about the image.

11. Adobe Stock Photos check boxes: These options list the data embedded in stock photos purchased from Adobe.

12. Hide Empty Fields check box: If enabled, fields with no data don't display in the Metadata panel.

Labels

Select Edit, Preferences to open the Bridge Preferences window (in Mac OS X, select Bridge, Preferences). Then select Labels from the list on the left. This page controls label naming and shortcuts.

1. Require the Control Key to Apply Labels and Ratings check box: Adds the Control key to the shortcuts used to apply labels and ratings to files.

2. Color Name: Five label colors are available (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple), but each label can have any name you like. Just click in the field next to the color dot and type your new label name.

3. Shortcut combination: Displays the keystroke combination used to assign the adjacent label. You cannot change the information here; your only option is whether to use the Ctrl key in combination with the assigned shortcut key by using the Require the Control Key to Apply Labels and Ratings check box. The purple label has no shortcut key available.

File Type Associations

Select Edit, Preferences to open the Bridge Preferences window (in Mac OS X, select Bridge, Preferences). Then select File Type Associations from the list on the left. This page controls which application Bridge will use to open different file types, overriding any operating system associations.

1. File Type: Displays the name of the file type, along with its associated two-, three-, or four-letter extension.

2. Associated Program: Displays the application Bridge will use to open a specific file type, or it displays None if no association is set. To add or change an association, click the program name (or the word None) to access the Browse tab, from which you can navigate to the desired application using your operating system's file browser.

3. Hide Undefined File Associations check box: Hides all file types with no associated application.

4. Reset to Default Associations button: Restores file type associations to their installation default settings.

Advanced Controls

Select Edit, Preferences to open the Preferences window (in Mac OS X, select Bridge, Preferences). Then select Advanced from the list on the left. This page controls Bridge performance.

1. Do Not Process Files Larger than X MB Field: Creating thumbnails for large files can take some time, so you can set the maximum file size for which Bridge will display a thumbnail.

2. Number of Recently Visited Folders to Display in the Look in Popup field: The Find dialog box has a Look in pop-up menu that lists recently visited folders. This option sets the number of most recently visited folders to display in that pop-up menu.

3. Double-click Edits Camera Raw Settings in Bridge check box: If enabled, double-clicking a Raw file thumbnail opens the file directly in Camera Raw. If disabled, Photoshop launches and then the file opens in Camera Raw.

4. Language menu: Sets the language used for the Bridge interface. The options available here depend on the language of the Creative Suite applications installed.

5. When Saving the Cache options: Set to Use a Centralized Cache File to save thumbnails in a single large database. Set to Use Distributed Cache Files when Possible to store thumbnails in a small database in the same folder as the images.

6. Centralized Cache Location and Choose button: If a centralized cache is used, you can change the location for the cache by clicking the Choose button.

Adobe Stock Photos

Select Edit, Preferences to open the Preferences window (in Mac OS X, select Bridge, Preferences). Then select Adobe Stock Photos from the list on the left. This page controls all the options for Adobe Stock Photos.

1. Thumbnails per Search Group menu: Searches can have thousands of matches. This option limits the number of thumbnails displayed per results page.

2. Search Language menu: This option sets the language to search in, without changing the Bridge interface language.

3. Change Location button: Click to select a new location for the Adobe Stock Photos folder.

4. Reset button: Click to restore the Adobe Stock Photos folder to its default location (the My Documents folder for Windows users, in the , Documents folder for Mac users).

5. Billing Country or Region menu: Select the default country or region from which you'll be paying for photos. The currency Adobe accepts from that country displays next to the country name.

6. Display Message After Downloading Comp check box: If enabled, it sends an alert message whenever your comp is finished downloading.

7. Display Message After Adding Image to Shopping Cart check box: If enabled, it sends an alert message whenever you add an image to your shopping cart.

8. Auto-download Images After Purchasing Them check box: If enabled, it automatically saves photos to the default folder after purchase.

9. Resume Interrupted Downloads when Bridge Starts check box: If enabled, it automatically resumes an interrupted download (for example, after a lost connection) the next time Bridge is launched.

10. Clear Now button: Clears purchased images from the Download Status display.

How to Set ImageReady Preferences

2007-09-10T00:43:00.000-07:00

General Controls

Select Edit, Preferences, General to open the Preferences window to the General page (in Mac OS X, select ImageReady, Preferences, General). You use this page to control interpolation, the Color Picker option, and a number of other general application parameters.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences window; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to General to view the options discussed here.

2. Color Picker pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display the list of options; then select the Adobe or System option.

3. Interpolation pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of interpolation options. Select Nearest Neighbor (Faster), Bilinear, Bicubic (Better), Bicubic Smoother, or Bicubic Sharper. In most cases, use Bicubic Smoother when enlarging an image and use Bicubic Sharper when reducing or downsampling. Each image is different, however, so experiment for best results.

4. Redo Key pop-up menu: Click the arrow to select the key combination that redoes an undone command.

5. Undo Levels field: Determines the number of undo states supported by the History palette. Type a value in the field to change the setting. The higher you set this number, the more memory ImageReady uses to store the changes.

6. Recent Files field: Type the number of recent files you want to appear in the Recent Files submenu.

7. Anti-alias PostScript check box: Select this option to achieve smooth results when placing or importing PDF or EPS images.

8. Save Palette Locations check box: Reopens palettes in the same place and at the same size as when they were closed or when ImageReady was closed.

9. Show Font Names in English check box: Displays all font names in English.

10. Notify when Done check box: Enable this check box to produce a notification when tasks are completed.

11. Show Tooltips check box: Activates the pop-up tool descriptions when you hover the mouse pointer over the interface elements.

12. Auto-Update Open Documents check box: Updates open files automatically.

13. Use System Shortcuts check box (Mac only): Enable this check box if you want to use shortcut commands that are Mac OS X specific.

14. Reset All Tools button: Resets all tools to their default configurations specified at the initial installation.

15. Reset All Warning Dialogs button: Resets all warning dialog boxes to their default configurations specified at the initial installation.

Slices

Click the Next button to go to the Slices Preferences window or select Edit, Preferences, Slices to open the Preferences window to the Slices page (in Mac OS X, select ImageReady, Preferences, Slices). You use this page to specify how ImageReady generates slices, including naming conventions, colors, and slice lines. A slice is the portion of the image when ImageReady divides an image into smaller pieces for optimization and display in an HTML table.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences window; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to Slices to view the options discussed here.

2. Show Lines Only check box: Shows only the slice lines when you view slices, omitting the transparent coloring.

3. Line Color pop-up menu: Specifies the color of the slice lines. Choices include 24 color options.

4. Color Adjustments User Slices box and slider: Determine the opacity for the color shading of the user slices (slices created manually by the user). Click the arrow and drag the slider or type a number value to change the setting.

5. Color Adjustments Auto Slices box and slider: Determine the opacity for the color shading of the auto slices (slices created automatically based on guide lines). Click the arrow and drag the slider or type a number value to change the setting.

6. Numbers and Symbols radio buttons: Control the size of slice numbers and icons. Select None or the small or large icon button.

7. Numbers and Symbols Opacity box and slider: Click the arrow and drag the slider or type a number value to control the opacity of the slice numbers and symbols.

Image Maps

Click the Next button to go to the Image Maps Preferences window or select Edit, Preferences, Image Maps to open the Preferences window to the Image Maps page (in Mac OS X, select ImageReady, Preferences, Image Maps). You use this page to specify how ImageReady displays image map information. An image map refers to the process of creating hot spots in web images that serve as links or triggers for other actions.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences window; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to Image Maps to view the options discussed here.

2. Show Lines Only check box: Uses an outline only with no overlay to designate an image map.

3. Show Bounding Box check box: Creates a rectangular bounding box around an image map.

4. Line Color pop-up menu: Allows you to select the line color for outlining image maps from a list of 24 line colors.

5. Image Map Overlay box and slider: Designate an image map with a white fill to separate it from the rest of the image. The slider value determines the fill opacity.

Guides and Grid

Click the Next button to go to the Guides and Grid Preferences window or select Edit, Preferences, Guides and Grid to open the Preferences window to the Guides and Grid page (in Mac OS X, select ImageReady, Preferences, Guides and Grid). You use this page to control guide and grid parameters.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences window; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to Guides and Grid to view the options discussed here.

2. Guide Color pop-up menu: Select the color of the guide lines. Choices are Gray, Light Blue, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, Light Gray, and Black.

3. Smart Guide Color pop-up menu: Smart guides automatically appear near the edges of objects as they're being dragged into alignment. This setting determines the color of the smart guides. Choices are Gray, Light Blue, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, Light Gray, and Black.

4. Horizontal Space field: Enter a pixel value to determine horizontal padding around an object for the snap-to guides feature.

5. Vertical Space field: Enter a pixel value to determine vertical padding around an object for the snap-to guides feature.

6. Grid Color pop-up menu: Select the color of the grid. Choices are Gray, Light Blue, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, Light Gray, and Black.

7. Grid Style pop-up menu: Determines the format of the grid. Options are solid Lines, Dots, and Dashed Lines.

8. Gridline Every X Pixels field: Enter a pixel value to determine the pixel spacing between gridlines.

9. Subdivisions field: Determines how many subdivisions fall between each main gridline. Enter the desired value in the field.

Optimization

Click the Next button to go to the Optimization Preferences window or select Edit, Preferences, Optimization to open the Preferences window to the Optimization page (in Mac OS X, select ImageReady, Preferences, Optimization). You use this page to specify how optimization settings are calculated and displayed.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences window; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to Optimization to view the options discussed below.

2. Default Optimization radio buttons: Select how you want to generate optimization defaults for an image. Choices are Previous Settings, Auto Selected GIF or JPEG, and Named Setting. The Named Setting option allows you to select from a list of standard optimization defaults.

3. 2-Up Settings pop-up menus: Determine which iterations of the image are displayed in the 2-Up window. Defaults for the first menu are Original and Current, but the second menu allows you to select from a long list of optimized presets.

4. 4-Up Settings pop-up menus: Determine which iterations of the image are displayed in the 4-Up window. Defaults are Original and Current, but you also can select from a long list of optimized presets, including Auto, which uses the next logical level of compression.

Cursors

Click the Next button to go to the Cursors Preferences window or select Edit, Preferences, Cursors to open the Preferences window to the Cursors page (in Mac OS X, select ImageReady, Preferences, Cursors). You use this page to specify brush and cursor shapes and sizes.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences window; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to Cursors to view the options discussed here.

2. Painting Cursors radio buttons: Select Standard (icon), Precise (cross hairs), or Brush Size (actual sized outline) as the shape of the painting cursor.

3. Other Cursors radio buttons: Select Standard (icon) or Precise (cross hairs) for the cursor shape.

Transparency

Click the Next button to go to the Transparency Preferences window or select Edit, Preferences, Transparency to open the Preferences window to the Transparency page (in Mac OS X, select ImageReady, Preferences, Transparency). You use this page to specify how transparency is depicted in a file.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences box; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to Transparency to view the options discussed here.

2. Grid Size pop-up menu: Controls the size of the checkerboard used to indicate transparency. Options are None, Small, Medium, and Large.

3. Grid Colors pop-up menu: Controls the color of the checkerboard used to indicate transparency. Options are Light, Medium, Dark, Red, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, and Custom.

4. Custom color swatches: Click one or both of the swatches to select specific colors for the transparency checkerboard.

5. Transparency preview window: Shows the current transparency checkerboard pattern.

Plug-ins

Click the Next button to go to the Plug-ins Preferences window or select Edit, Preferences, Plug-ins to open the Preferences window to the Plug-ins page (in Mac OS X, select ImageReady, Preferences, Plug-ins). You use this page to tell ImageReady where to look for plug-ins. Plug-ins are utilities and filters that extend ImageReady's core functionality. The default plug-ins folder is located under the main Photoshop directory; install any plug-ins there. However, for sharing with other applications or housekeeping purposes, you might want to use a separate folder for any third-party plug-ins. This page of the Preferences window allows you to specify an additional folder for ImageReady to access.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences window; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to Plug-ins to view the options discussed here.

2. Additional Plug-ins Folder check box and Choose button: Enable the check box and click Choose to navigate to an additional plug-ins folder.

How to Set Photoshop Preferences

2007-09-08T17:17:00.001-07:00

General Controls

Select Edit, Preferences, General to open the Preferences box to the General page (in Mac OS X, select Photoshop, Preferences, General). You use this page of the Preferences box to control interpolation, the Color Picker option, and a number of other general application parameters.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences box; select an option to open that page. Also, the Next and Prev buttons jump forward or backward to the choices in this list.

2. Color Picker pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of Color Picker options; select the Adobe or Apple/Windows Color Picker.

3. Image Interpolation pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of interpolation options. Select Nearest Neighbor, Bilinear, Bicubic, Bicubic Smoother, or Bicubic Sharper. In most cases, use Bicubic Smoother when enlarging an image and use Bicubic Sharper when reducing or downsampling. Each image is different, however, so experiment for best results.

4. UI Font Size: This option allows control over the size of text for user interface items such as the text that appears on the tabs of palettes. By default it is set to Small.

5. History States: By default this number is set to 20, which means Photoshop stores (via the History palette) the last 20 steps performed on an image. A larger number gives you greater control in how many steps you can go back (if needed), but the tradeoff is that it also requires more memory to store that information in the History palette.

6. Export Clipboard check box: This option attempts to export the current Clipboard contents when Photoshop is closed. Leave this option disabled because it slows the shutdown process and because the exported format is almost always incompatible.

7. Show Tool Tips check box: Activatesthe pop-up tool descriptions when you hover the cursor over the interface elements.

8. Zoom Resizes Windows check box: Resizes image windows when zooming in and out of the image from the keyboard.

9. Auto-Update Open Documents check box: Updates open documents automatically.

10. Show Menu Colors check box: Enables the color display for custom menus.

11. Resize Image During Paste/Place check box: Determines whether to resize pasted or placed images that are larger than the Photoshop document.

12. Beep when Done check box: Emits an audible beep when a task is complete.

13. Dynamic Color Sliders check box: Updates the current color selections in the Color palette in real time as the sliders are adjusted. Disable this check box for a slight performance increase.

14. Save Palette Locations check box: Reopens palettes in the same place and at the same size as they were when they were closed, or when Photoshop is closed.

15. Use Shift Key for Tool Switch check box: Enables the use of the Shift key along with the letter key assigned to the tool to toggle tool selections within a group of tools. When unchecked, simply repeatedly press the letter key assigned to the tool to toggle between the grouped tool selections.

16. Automatically Launch Bridge check box: Automatically launches Bridge in the background whenever Photoshop is opened.

17. Zoom with Scroll Wheel check box: This determines whether scrolling or zooming is the default action for a mouse with a scroll wheel option.

18. History Log check box: Enable this check box to generate an ongoing log of activities executed within each session of Photoshop.

19. Save Log Items to Metadata: Saves the history log in XML-base metadata format within the file.

20. Save Log Items to Text File: Saves the history log as a generic text file. Click the Choose button to designate the save location for the history log text file. Click and navigate to the desired destination folder.

21. Save Log Items to Both: Creates a history log record in both metadata and generic text formats.

22. Edit Log Items pop-up menu: Select from Concise, Detailed, and Sessions Only history log formats. Concise shows the opening and closing of files and of the application itself, plus the edits recorded in the History palette. Detailed shows everything Concise does, plus every edit used and the file paths. Sessions Only records only the start date and time, with no editing data stored.

23. Reset All Warning Dialogs button: Resets all warning messages to their defaults.

File Handling

Click the Next button to go to the File Handling preferences dialog box or select Edit, Preferences, File Handling to launch the File Handling Preferences box (in Mac OS X, select Photoshop, Preferences, File Handling). You use this page to specify how a file is saved (including previews and thumbnails) and for compatibility issues for files that might need to be opened or viewed in older versions of Photoshop.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences window; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to File Handling to view the options discussed here.

2. Image Previews pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of save options and then select one of these options: Always Save, Never Save, or Ask when Saving.

3. Icon check box (Mac only): Saves an icon preview for viewing within windows on the desktop.

4. Full Size check box (Mac only): Saves a 72dpi file version for applications that can open only low-resolution Photoshop files.

5. Macintosh Thumbnail check box (Mac only): Creates a thumbnail that is displayed in Macintosh systems in the Open dialog box.

6. Windows Thumbnail check box (Mac only): Creates a thumbnail that is displayed in Windows systems.

7. Append File Extension pop-up menu (Mac only): Adds file extensions as a file is saved, based on the file format. Click the arrow to display a list including Always, Never, and Ask when Saving.

8. Use Lower Case check box: Adds the file extension using lowercase letters. In Windows, the File Extension pop-up menu offers the choice between automatically adding extensions to filenames in Use Upper Case or Use Lower Case letters.

9. Ignore EXIF Profile Tag check box: Does not apply the color tag when contained within Exchangeable Image File information. EXIF information is typically saved from digital camera settings, and some photographers prefer to disable the wide-gamut tags.

10. Ask Before Saving Layered TIFF Files check box: Prompts to include additional save options when saving TIFF files after adding layers.

11. Enable Large Document Format (.psb) check box: Enables Photoshop to recognize Large Document Format files, extending the maximum file dimensions to 300,000 X 300,000 pixels. If this check box is disabled, Photoshop defaults to a limit of 30,000 X 30,000 pixels.

12. Maximize PSD and PSB File Compatibility pop-up menu: Determines when and how Photoshop embeds a flattened version of the image within the file for compatibility with other software. Options in the pop-up menu are Ask, Always, and Never.

13. Enable Version Cue Workgroup File Management check box: Turns on version-control capabilities for workgroup-based development.

14. Recent File List Contains field: Type a number in the box to set the number of recent files to be displayed in the Recent Files pop-up menu that appears when you select File, Open Recent.

Display & Cursors

Click the Next button to go to the Display & Cursors Preferences window or select Edit, Preferences, Display & Cursors to open the Preferences window to the Display & Cursors page (in Mac OS X, select Photoshop, Preferences, Display & Cursors). You use this page to specify brush and cursor shapes and sizes.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences box; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to Display & Cursors to view the options discussed below.

2. Color Channels in Color check box: Displays the color channels in color rather than in grayscale.

3. Use Pixel Doubling check box: Enables faster previews by temporarily reducing the resolution of the preview (it does not affect the actual file, only the preview).

4. Painting Cursors radio buttons: You can select Standard (icon), Precise (cross hairs), Normal Brush Tip (actual shape and size of the brush tip), or Full Size Brush Tip (actual shape with visual indications of a soft or hard edge) for the painting cursor. In addition, a Show Crosshair in Brush Tip check box can be enabled along with either the Normal Brush Tip or Full Size Brush Tip options to see a crosshair inside the brush tip.

5. Other Cursors radio buttons: Enable you to select between a Standard (icon) and Precise (cross hairs) cursor for the nonpainting tools.

Transparency & Gamut

Click the Next button to go to the Transparency & Gamut Preferences window or select Edit, Preferences, Transparency & Gamut to open the Preferences window to the Transparency & Gamut page (in Mac OS X, select Photoshop, Preferences, Transparency & Gamut). You use this page to specify how transparency is shown in a file, as well as to select the gamut warning color format.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences window; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to Transparency & Gamut to view the options discussed here.

2. Grid Size pop-up menu: Controls the size of the checkerboard used to indicate transparency. Options are None, Small, Medium, and Large.

3. Grid Colors pop-up menu: Controls the color of the checkerboard used to indicate trans parency. Options are Light, Medium, Dark, Red, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, and Custom.

4. Custom color swatches: Click one or both of the swatches to select custom colors for the transparency checkerboard.

5. Use Video Alpha check box: Enables video alpha capability (a special effect transparency technique available with certain video boards).

6. Transparency preview window: Shows the current checkerboard pattern.

7. Gamut Warning Color swatch: Click to display the Color Picker so you can select the color that will show in place of the out-of-gamut color.

8. Gamut Warning Opacity slider: Click and drag the slider to control the transparency of the color you've chosen to replace the out-of-gamut color.

Units & Rulers

Select Edit, Preferences, Units & Rulers to open the Preferences window to the Units & Rulers page (in Mac OS X, select Photoshop, Preferences, Units & Rulers). You use this page to specify the format and measurements for rulers and columns.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences window; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to Units & Rulers to view the options discussed here.

2. Rulers Units pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of the units of measurement for Photoshop rulers. Options include Pixels, Inches, Centimeters, Millimeters, Points, Picas, and Percent.

3. Type Units pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of the units of measurement for type (text) specifications. Options include Pixels, Points, and Millimeters.

4. Column Size Width and Gutter pop-up menus: Enter the width of a target column and the width of the gutter (the space between columns) for layout purposes. When resizing an image or a canvas, the units you specify here are the ones you see when you select Columns in the New, Image Size, or Canvas Size dialog box.

5. New Document Preset Resolutions fields: Pop-up menus control pixels per inch or centimeters. Enter default new document resolutions for print or screen in the fields.

6. Point/Pica Size radio buttons: Select either the PostScript or the Traditional measurement system.

Guides, Grid & Slices

Click the Next button to go to the Guides, Grid & Slices Preferences window or select Edit, Preferences, Guides, Grid & Slices to open the Preferences window to the Guides, Grid & Slices page (in Mac OS X, select Photoshop, Preferences, Guides, Grids & Slices). You use this page to control interpolation and a number of other general application parameters.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences window; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to Guides, Grid & Slices to view the options discussed here.

2. Guides Color pop-up menu: Select the color of the guide lines. Choices are Light Blue, Light Red, Green, Medium Blue, Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, Light Gray, Black, and Custom.

3. Guides Style pop-up menu: Determines the format of the guides. Options are solid Lines and Dashed Lines.

4. Guides color swatch: Click to open the Color Picker so you can select a custom guide color.

5. Smart Guides Color pop-menu: Select the color of the smart guide lines. Choices are Light Blue, Light Red, Green, Medium Blue, Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, Light Gray, Black, and Custom.

6. Smart Guides color swatch: Click to open the Color Picker so you can select a custom smart guide color.

7. Grid Color pop-up menu: Select the color of the grid. Choices are Light Blue, Light Red, Green, Medium Blue, Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, Light Gray, Black, and Custom.

8. Grid Style pop-up menu: Determines the format of the grid. Options are solid Lines, Dots, and Dashed Lines.

9. Gridline controls: Select the unit of measurement from the pop-up menu for the main grid divisions. Choices are Pixels, Inches, Centimeters, Points, Picas, and Percent. After you select a unit, type the number of units between gridlines.

10. Subdivisions: Determines how many subdivisions fall between each main gridline. Enter the desired value in the field.

11. Grid color swatch: Click to open the Color Picker so you can select a custom grid color.

12. Slices options: Select slices line color from the Line Color pop-up menu. Choices are Light Blue, Light Red, Green, Medium Blue, Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, Light Gray, and Black. To show slice numbers, enable the Show Slice Numbers check box.

Plug-ins & Scratch Disks

Click the Next button to go to the Plug-ins & Scratch Disks Preferences window box or select Edit, Preferences, Plug-Ins & Scratch Disks to open the Preferences window to the Plug-Ins & Scratch Disks page (in Mac OS X, select Photoshop, Preferences, Plug-ins & Scratch Disks). You use this page to tell Photoshop where to look for plug-ins and scratch disks.

Plug-ins are utilities and filters that extend Photoshop's core functionality. The default Photoshop plug-ins folder is located under the main Photoshop directory; install any plug-ins there. However, for sharing with other applications or housekeeping purposes, you might want to use a separate folder for any third-party plug-ins. This page of the Preferences window enables you to specify an additional folder for Photoshop to access.

As Photoshop manipulates files, it temporarily appropriates hard disk space to free up RAM memory. When you work with larger files, it's even more important to have free disk space for the scratch disk. This page of the Preferences box is also the place for you to tell Photoshop which drives to use for the scratch disk.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences window; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to Plug-Ins & Scratch Disks to view the options discussed here.

2. Additional Plug-ins Folder check box and Choose button: Enable the check box and click Choose to navigate to an additional plug-ins folder.

3. Legacy Photoshop Serial Number field: Enter the old-style Photoshop serial number in the field as required by certain plug-ins.

4. Scratch Disks pop-up menus: Click to select up to four disks that will serve as scratch disks. All mounted disks are listed as scratch disk options. You might need more than one scratch disk if you work with particularly large image files.

Memory & Image Cache

Click the Next button to go to the Memory & Image Cache Preferences window or select Edit, Preferences, Memory & Image Cache to open the Preferences window to the Memory & Image Cache page (in Mac OS X, select Photoshop, Preferences, Memory & Image Cache). You use this page to allocate RAM to the application and to set the number of caching levelsa Photoshop method for speeding screen redraw.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences window; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to Memory & Image Cache to view the options discussed here.

2. Cache Levels field: Enter the number of cache levels you want to use. A higher number speeds redraws but requires more RAM and can increase the time it takes to open an image.

3. Memory Usage/Maximum Used by Photoshop: Allocates the percentage of available memory (shown as available RAM) to be used by Photoshop. The slider control allocates from 36MB to 100% of available memory.

Type

Click the Next button to go to the Type Preferences window or select Edit, Preferences, Type to open the Preferences window to the Type page (in Mac OS X, select Photoshop, Preferences, Type). You use this page to turn on smart quotes and customize how the type options look.

1. Preferences Title pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of other pages in the Preferences window; select an option to open that page. Currently it should be set to Type to view the options discussed here.

2. Use Smart Quotes check box: Uses curly quotes (quotation marks that curl in on both ends of a sentence) instead of straight quotes.

3. Show Asian Text Options check box: Displays text options for installed Asian character sets in the character and paragraph text palettes.

4. Show Font Names in English check box: Displays Asian font names in English.

5. Font Preview Size check box and pop-up menu: Determine the size of the font preview on the Type tool Options bar and the Character palette. Select from Small, Medium (the default), or Large.

How to Use Color Management

2007-09-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

It is important to specify how Photoshop will display the color characteristics for each image file you open. These characteristics are divided among the RGB color model (for screen viewing and inkjet printing) and CMYK or grayscale color models (for offset printing). Each model allows for a different range of color, which can dramatically impact the final design.

Select Edit, Color Settings to open the Color Settings dialog box. You use this dialog box to set the default color spaces and color management options for all the files you open in Photoshop.

It is impossible to accurately display the entirety of any color model (such as RGB or CMYK) on a monitor. A color space profile determines how color values appear on your monitor when viewed in Photoshop. The profile includes a gamut (the range of colors the profile can represent) and mapping details that tell the monitor which color to display for a particular pixel's color value. A working space is the default color space profile assigned to new documents.

1. Settings pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of color management presets designed for specific tasks. Use the Settings presets if you are unsure how to proceed, provided that your objective fits with the predefined settings. Options are Monitor Color (essentially turns off color management), Colorsync Workflow (Mac only), North America General Purpose 2, North America Prepress 2, and North America Web/Internet. Changing any of the menu listings that follow converts this setting to Custom.

2. More/Fewer Options button: Expands or contracts the window to show or hide advanced controls.

Working Spaces Section

3. RGB pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of RGB working space profiles:

Adobe RGB (1998): Presents a wide range of colors and is therefore a good choice for general work in RGB. All RGB profiles include a large range in colors that will cause many colors to fall outside the CMYK color range (something to consider for RGB-to-CMYK color conversions).

Apple RGB: Based on the original Apple RGB monitor (gamma 1.8, Trinitron primaries, 6500K white point). It works well for legacy graphic files because this was the standard for older versions of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

ColorMatch RGB: Matches the color space of Radius Pressview monitors. This option should be used when working within that workflow environment.

sRGB IEC61966-2.1: Matches the native color range for most PC monitors and is becoming standard for many cameras, scanners, printers, and software applications. This option is ideal for web work, but its smaller color range can cause problems for print production.

Monitor Profiles: If you have loaded a monitor profile for your current monitor, you might see a profile option for it in the RGB list. If you select your monitor's profile, Photoshop acts as though all color management were turned off. This option is the same as selecting Monitor Color from the Settings pop-up menu.

Color Management Profiles: If other color management options are loaded on your system (such as ColorSync RGB), you might see profiles for them listed in the RGB list. The profiles you see listed usually reflect the current settings for each option.

Device Profiles: Color space profiles are different from device profiles. However, because of the way operating systems store profiles, you might find profiles listed here for cameras, scanners, printers, and other devices. This is not the correct place to select one of these device profiles.

4. CMYK pop-up menu: Click the arrow to display a list of CMYK color space profilesfrom generic to industry-standard and custom settings. Select from the Custom, Load, or Save CMYK, Euroscale, Japan, and U.S. prepress options. Check with your printing specialist, but if you're unsure which setting to use, the default option U.S. Web Coated (SWOP)v2 is the recommended setting and is standard for most CMYK work.

5. Gray pop-up menu: This option specifies how grayscale images are displayed. Options simulate Dot Gain percentages (10%30%), 1.8 Gamma (Mac), and 2.2 Gamma (PC). Use Dot Gain percentages if you're going to send the image to offset printing, as dictated by your printing specialist. If unknown, leave the default setting of Dot Gain 20%.

6. Spot pop-up menu: This option specifies how spot color channels and duotones are displayed. Options simulate Dot Gain percentages (10%30%). If unknown, leave the default setting of Dot Gain 20%.

Color Management Policies Section

7. RGB pop-up menu: Specifies mapping between different RGB color space profiles, as can occur with embedded profile conflicts and the moving of profiles between multiple documents. Options include the following:

Off: Ignores and discards profiles when you are opening files and doesn't assign a color space profile when creating new files.

Preserve Embedded Profiles: Preserves embedded profiles when you are opening files. In the case of mismatches between the working space and the embedded profile, the embedded profile is used.

Convert to Working RGB: Converts to the current RGB working space when you are opening files with no embedded profile. In the case of mismatches between the working space and embedded profile, the working space color model is used.

8. CMYK pop-up menu: Specifies mapping between different CMYK color space profiles, as can occur with embedded profile conflicts and when moving profiles between multiple documents. Options include the following:

Off: Ignores and discards profiles when you are opening files and doesn't assign a color space profile when creating new files.

Preserve Embedded Profiles: Preserves embedded profiles when you are opening files. In the case of mismatches between the working space and the embedded profile, the embedded profile is used.

Convert to Working CMYK: Converts to the current CMYK working space when you are opening files with no embedded profile. In the case of mismatches between the working space and the embedded profile, the working space color model is used.

9. Gray pop-up menu: Specifies mapping between different grayscale image profiles, as can occur with embedded profile conflicts and the moving of profiles between multiple documents. Options include the following:

Off: Ignores and discards profiles when you are opening files and doesn't assign a color space profile when creating new files.

Preserve Embedded Profiles: Preserves embedded profiles when you are opening files. In the case of mismatches between the working space and the embedded profile, the embedded profile is used.

Convert to Working Gray: Converts to the current grayscale working space when you are opening files with no embedded profile. In the case of mismatches between the working space and the embedded profile, the working space color model is used.

10. Profile Mismatches check boxes: Specify when you should be notified about profile conflicts. The Ask when Opening check box notifies you of mismatches as a file is opened and offers the option of overriding the embedded profile in favor of the current working space. The Ask when Pasting check box notifies you of mismatches when image data is brought into an existing file, as would occur through pasting, drag-and-drop, or importing.

11. Missing Profiles Ask when Opening check box: When you are opening a file, this option notifies you that there are no associated profiles and allows you to select one. This requires the related profile option to be turned on.

Conversion Options Section

12. Engine pop-up menu: Specifies the color management system or method to be used when converting between color spaces. Options include the following:

Adobe (ACE): The Adobe Color Management System and Color Engine. Adobe recommends this option for most users.

Apple ColorSync (Mac only): Uses the Apple ColorSync color management and matching system, including associated hardware or software profiles.

Apple CMM (Mac only): Uses the Apple ColorSync color management system and the CMM color matching system.

Microsoft ICM (Windows only): Uses the Microsoft Windows color matching system.

13. Intent pop-up menu: Controls the method for mapping one color space into another. Options include the following:

Perceptual: Attempts to preserve the relative visual relationships between colors. This option works well with wide gamut images in which exact color matching is not critical but a natural color space is desired.

Saturation: Requests high color saturation and bright colors. This option is good for business graphics and dynamic color effects.

Relative Colorimetric: Attempts to replicate the white point of the source file to the white point of the destination image. This option works well when the color ranges of both images are within the working color space. Adobe recommends this for most conversions.

Absolute Colorimetric: Does a direct match of source and destination images, without adjusting the white point. This option should be used when the exact match of a specific color is required (as with a logo). Colors outside the working color space are flattened, and all contrast within these areas are lost.

14. Use Black Point Compensation check box: Adjusts the black point when converting colors between color spaces. Enabling this check box ensures that the full color range of the working space is optimized.

15. Use Dither (8-Bit/Channel Images) check box: Uses a color dithering method to specify colors when converting between color spaces. This option reduces banding but increases file size.

Advanced Controls Section

16. Desaturate Monitor Colors by check box and field: Allows you to desaturate colors by a prescribed percentage. This is a good option to use if you're trying to view an image with a color range that's larger than that of the current monitor. Because this is a rare occurrence, Adobe recommends this option for expert users only.

17. Blend RGB Colors Using Gamma check box and field: Provides control over how painted colors or layers blend in Normal blending mode. Enables image colors to be combined using a specified gamma value. Gamma 1.0 is considered to be the most accurate with the fewest artifacts. This option overrides any existing color spaces for the combined colors. The only reason I can think of for using this option is to match Photoshop to another application's color-conversion process.

18. Description field: When you drag the mouse pointer over any of the sections and menus in the Color Settings dialog box, a short description of the item appears in this field.

How to Use Rulers, Grids, and Guides

2007-09-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

The importance of rulers and guides has grown considerably in the last few revisions of Photoshop. Guides are user-defined alignment lines. New for CS2 are Smart Guides that appear automatically anytime two objects are aligned. The grid is an underlying matrix of lines you can use for the general alignment of all the items on a page. The enhanced text (type) features have made text-alignment issues much easier to address. In addition, designers are creating complete web pages in Photoshop and ImageReady, which necessitates using guides and grids to maintain spacing and alignment.

1. Set Ruler Preferences
Select Edit, Preferences, Units & Rulers to open the Preferences window to the Units & Rulers page. From the Rulers drop-down list in the Units section, select the desired unit of measurement (select from Pixels, Inches, Centimeters, Millimeters, Points, Picas, and Percent) and then click OK. In this instance, you do not have to restart Photoshop for the preference change to take effect.

2. Activate Rulers
Select View, Rulers to make the rulers visible around the top and left edges of the image area.

3. Set Guides Preferences
Select Edit, Preferences, Guides, Grid & Slices to open the Preferences window to the Guides, Grid & Slices page. Here you can specify the color and format of the guide and gridlines, as well as the spacing for the grid. Click the color swatches to select a custom color, or use the Color drop-down lists to select from preset colors. You can also select slice colors and toggle slice numbers on and off.

4. Create and Activate Guides
To create a guide, click in the ruler area and drag into the image area. A vertical or horizontal guide follows the tool, depending on which ruler you started with. You can drag out as many guides as you need. You can also place a guide in a specific place by selecting View, New Guide and entering the orientation and pixel position in the dialog box that appears. To move a guide, use the Move tool to drag the guide into a new position.

5. Set Snap-to Parameters
To precisely align elements to guides and grids as you drag the elements, select View, Snap to, Guides or View, Snap to, Grid. Select these commands again to turn them off.

6. Lock Guides As Needed
To lock the guides in place, select View, Lock Guides. When you lock the guide lines, you prevent them from moving accidentally, especially when you are using numerous guides.

How to Browse Files in Bridge

2007-09-05T00:41:00.001-07:00

Adobe Bridge is the new replacement for the file browser. Because it is a separate application from Photoshop, it offers many advantages over the file browser, including the capability to be run on its own. It also offers many advantages over the system file browser (Explorer or Selectr) including the capability to preview Raw files and file data. If you have other Adobe Creative Suite applications, they can also use Bridge, and they will add their own set of features.

1. Launch Bridge
Bridge can be launched in several ways. It has its own entry under in the Windows Programs menu (double-click the Bridge icon in the Adobe Bridge folder on the Mac), or you can launch it by selecting File, Browse in Photoshop. The easiest way is to click the Go to Bridge button located on the Photoshop Options bar next to the Palette Well.

2. Resize the Panels
The default Bridge layout has four panels you can resize by dragging the divider bars. When you have a layout you prefer, Bridge uses that layout each time it is launched until you drag the divider bars into new positions.

3. Navigate to the Folder
Click the Folders tab and navigate the directory tree until you can highlight your desired folder. A plus sign next to a folder name indicates that it has subfolders. Click the plus sign to expand a folder, or click the minus sign to collapse it.

4. Locate Your File
Using the scrollbar along the right edge of the content area, scroll through the thumbnails until you find the image you're looking for. The default view in the content area shows the filename and creation date. Click an image thumbnail once to load the image in the Preview panel on the left side of the Bridge window.

5. Manage Your File
If your image needs to be rotated, click either the clockwise or counterclockwise rotation button located on the toolbar above the thumbnails. You can also delete the file from the hard disk (click to select it and then click the trash can icon) or drag the thumbnail to a different folder.

6. Open Your File
If the file you're looking at is the one you want to load, double-click its thumbnail to open it. If it is a Raw file, it opens in Camera Rawmost image file formats open in Photoshop. Nonimage files open in their associated applications. You can change which applications to use when opening specific file types in the Preferences window (select Edit, Preferences in Windows or Bridge, Preferences on the Mac).

How to Select a Color

2007-09-02T11:25:00.001-07:00

Task 5 explained how to use the Color Picker to select a color. This task looks at the ways you can specify a color in Photoshop. The methods described in this task use a combination of working with the Color Picker, sampling colors from images, and using preset swatches. Use the method that best suits the task at hand.

1. Select a Foreground Color
Click the Foreground color swatch in the toolbox to launch the Color Picker. Follow the steps in Task 5, "How to Use the Color Picker," to select a color.

2. Select a Background Color
Click the Background color swatch in the toolbox to launch the Color Picker. Follow the steps in Task 5 to select a color.

3. Sample a Color
Click the Eyedropper tool in the toolbox. Move the tool in the image over the color you want to sample and click to select the desired color. The color you select becomes the foreground color (check the color swatch in the toolbox). Alt+click the color (Windows) or Option+click the color (Mac) to sample a background color.

4. Use the Color Palette
Select Window, Color to open the Color palette. Click either its foreground or background swatch. Move the RGB sliders as necessary to mix the desired color; watch the color you are creating in the swatch on the left side of the palette or in the toolbox. You can select additional color models and options from the Color palette menu.

5. Use the Color Swatches
Select Window, Swatches to open the Swatches palette, which contains an array of preset color swatches. Click the desired color to select it (it becomes the foreground color in the toolbox; Alt/Option+click for the background color). To add the current foreground color as a swatch on this palette, move the pointer to an empty space on the palette until the pointer changes to the Paint Bucket; click to add the color as a swatch on the palette.

How to Use the Color Picker

2007-09-02T02:04:00.001-07:00

The Color Picker is the standard interface for selecting a color in Photoshop or ImageReady. It allows fast and intuitive color selection from millions of colors. The Color Picker also offers PANTONE color matching and web-safe color choices.

1. Set Color Picker Preferences
Select File, Preferences, General to open the Preferences window to the General page (in OS X, select Photoshop/ImageReady, Preferences, General). Select Adobe from the Color Picker drop-down list. Although you could select the Windows or Apple color picker from this list, the Adobe version is the recommended choice. Click OK to close the dialog box.

2. Launch the Color Picker
In the toolbox, click the Foreground color swatch to launch the Color Picker dialog box.

3. Set the Hue
Click and drag the white triangles on the Hue slider to select the desired hue. As you drag, notice that the range of colors displayed in the large Select Foreground Color window changes.

4. Select a Value
Move the mouse pointer into the Select Foreground Color window. Notice that the pointer changes into a sample dot as you do so. Click in the color window to select a color; that color selection is reflected in the color swatch in the upper right of the dialog box.

5. Check the Gamut Warnings
If the color you selected falls outside the printable CMYK color gamut, a triangle with an exclamation point appears next to the selected color. The color box that appears below the triangle is the nearest in-gamut color based on the current conversion settings. If the color you selected does not fall within the web browser-safe color palette, a cube appears just below the triangle, with another color box that indicates the nearest web-safe color. Click in either box to select that color.

6. Select PANTONE-Type Colors
In the Color Picker, click the Color Libraries button to open the Color Libraries dialog box. Select a color-matching system from the Book drop-down list and type the color number (if you know it). Otherwise, drag the white triangles into the approximate area, and then click a swatch to select a color. Click the Picker button to go back to the Photoshop Color Picker, or click OK to select the color and close the color-selection dialog boxes.

How to Use Photoshop and ImageReady Palettes

2007-08-31T17:03:00.000-07:00

Photoshop and ImageReady use a system of 25 floating palettes to group items and controls such as brushes and tool options. You can open and close palettes on demand and easily compress or expand them to optimize your workspace.
1. Examine a Group of Palettes
To open a palette in ImageReady or Photoshop, open the Window menu and then select the palette you want to launch. To optimize your workspace, the application groups multiple palettes in a single window and separates them with tabs. If the palette you want is hidden, click its tab to bring it to the front of the window.

2. Collapse and Expand a Palette
To collapse or expand a palette in Windows, click the Minimize/Maximize button. On a Mac, click the green Resize button. To collapse a palette all the way down to only the tab names, double-click the tab. Double-click again to fully expand the palette.

3. Resize a Palette
To resize most palettes (some cannot be resized), click and drag the lower-right corner of the window. To return a palette to its default size, click the Minimize/Maximize button (Windows) or the green Resize button (Mac).

4. Tools and the Options Bar

The Options bars in ImageReady and Photoshop vary depending on the tool selected in the toolbox. By default, the Options bar runs across the top of the screen, docked just below the menu bar. Should you close it, you can reopen it by selecting Window, Options or by double-clicking a tool in the toolbox.

5. The Palette Menu
A palette menu lists options related to the functionality of the associated palette. To open any palette menu, click the black triangle in the upper-right corner of the palette; click again to make a selection from the list of options.

6. Use the Palette Shortcut Buttons
At the bottom of some palettes are shortcut buttons for easy access to common tasks. To find out what each button does, first make sure that the Show Tool Tips option is selected in the Options section of the General Preferences box (select Edit, Preferences, General). With this option turned on, you can then simply position your mouse pointer over a button to read the description. See Task 10, "How to Set Photoshop Preferences," for more information.

How to Use the Menu Bars

2007-08-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

The menu bars in Photoshop and ImageReady operate like the menu bars in any other application. Click the menu name so that the menu drops down; then click any option to select it. Select an option that has a solid right-facing arrowhead, and a submenu pops out. Select an option that has a three-dot ellipsis (…) following it, and a dialog box opens. This task looks at the grouping of the various menus to help you understand the functionality associated with each one.

1. The Photoshop File Menu
You use the Photoshop File menu to address the basic opening, closing, and saving of files. This menu covers the import/export of files, workflow management and automated tasks, as well as page setup and print options. It also contains the Exit command (Quit on the Mac) for closing the application. Note: Photoshop for Mac OS X features a Photoshop menu that includes the Preferences, Hide, and Quit commands.

2. The Photoshop Edit and Image Menus
You use the Photoshop Edit and Image menus to specify most of the standard global changes to an open image. You'll find controls for cut and paste, transformations, fill, stroke, pattern, preferences (Windows users only; Mac users find preferences in the Photoshop menu), and color settings on the Edit menu. On the Image menu, you'll find options for color mode, adjustment options, crop, canvas size, and image size.

3. The Photoshop Layer Menu
The Photoshop Layer menu covers all the layer optionscreating and deleting layers, merging layers, applying layer effects, and clipping masks. You can find most of these same controls on the Layers palette menu.

4. The Photoshop Select Menu
You use the Photoshop Select menu to control selection options within the program. These options include inverting selections, feathering, selection modifiers, and saving and loading selections.

5. The Photoshop Filter Menu
Simply put, the Photoshop Filter menu contains all the native Photoshop filters, divided into four filter interface groups and 14 subheadings. The Filter menu also can include any third-party filters you might have loaded in the Photoshop plug-ins folder.

6. The Photoshop View and Window Menus

You use the View menu to control zooming and previews, as well as the visibility of rulers and guides. The Window menu lets you launch and close any of the 19 palettes. In addition, the Window menu lists all open file windows so you can move a file to the front of the screen simply by choosing it from this menu.

7. The Photoshop and ImageReady Help Menus

The ImageReady and Photoshop Help menus let you launch Adobe's Help Center. The Photoshop version provides access to the two file wizards as well as the Adobe Online and Adobe Updates services. Both versions also have several How-to tips.

Photoshop Help menu

ImageReady Help menu

8. The ImageReady File Menu
You use the ImageReady File menu to open, close, and save files, as well as to save files optimized as GIFs or JPEGs. This menu also covers the import and export of files, HTML browser previews, and recent files. The File menu also contains the Exit command (Quit on the Mac) for closing the application.

9. The ImageReady Edit and Image Menus
You use the ImageReady Edit and Image menus to control most of the standard global changes to an open image. Controls for cutting and pasting image data and HTML, as well as options for transformations, fill, stroke, pattern, and setting preferences are located on the Edit menu. The Image menu is more limited than its Photoshop counterpart; it offers canvas and image size controls, as well as a few adjustment options.

10. The ImageReady Layer Menu
The ImageReady Layer menu covers all the layer optionscreating and deleting layers, merging, applying layer styles, and grouping. It also offers control over layer-to-imagemap conversion, slice and image map layer creation, and precise layer placement and locking. You can find many of these same controls in the Layers palette menu.

11. The ImageReady Slices Menu
The Slices menu specifies the handling of image slices. A slice is the portion of the image when ImageReady divides an image into smaller pieces for optimization and display in an HTML table. This menu specifies how image slices are created, modified, linked, and deleted. You can also preview JavaScript rollovers and link slices and slice selections. If it has to do with slices, you'll find that option on this menu.

12. The ImageReady Select Menu
You use the ImageReady Select menu to control selection options within the program. These options include inverting selections, feathering, selection modifiers, and saving and loading selections.

13. The ImageReady Filter Menu
The ImageReady Filter menu contains 101 filters divided into 14 subheadings. This menu also includes Liquify, the Filter Gallery, and any third-party filters you might have loaded into the plug-ins folder.

14. The ImageReady View and Window Menus
You use the View menu to control zooming and previews as well as the visibility of rulers and guides. The Window menu lets you launch and close any of the 19 ImageReady palettes. In addition, it also lists all open file windows and all the window arrangement commands.

How to Use the Toolbox

2006-12-13T21:40:00.001-08:00

Each time you launch Photoshop or ImageReady, the toolbox appears on the screen, usually in the upper-left corner. In the process of editing an image, you will go to the toolbox frequently to select various selection, painting, and specialty tools. This task outlines what you'll find in the toolbox and how to access it.

1. Open the Photoshop Toolbox
The toolbox should appear automatically on the desktop, but it can be closed, which means you have to reopen it. To open the toolbox, select Window, Tools.

2. Select a Photoshop Tool
Click a tool to select it. If the tool button contains a small triangle in the lower-right corner, that tool offers additional tool options in a pop-out menu. Click and hold the tool button to view the pop-out menu; drag through the pop-out menu to select one of the additional tools.

3. Open the ImageReady Toolbox
The ImageReady toolbox should appear on the desktop as soon as ImageReady opens. Like its Photoshop counterpart, the ImageReady toolbox also can be closed, requiring you to reopen it. To open the toolbox in ImageReady, select Window, Tools.

4. Select an ImageReady Tool
Click a tool to select it. If the tool button contains a small triangle in the lower-right corner, that tool offers additional tool options in a pop-out menu. Click and hold the tool button to view the pop-out menu; drag through the pop-out menu to select one of the additional tools.

5. Jump Between ImageReady and Photoshop
Click the Edit in button at the bottom of either the Photoshop or the ImageReady toolbox to move between Photoshop and ImageReady. This technique is especially useful when you have a file open and want to use features from both applications. You can also perform this command from a menu by selecting File, Edit in Photoshop/ImageReady or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+M (Windows) or -Shift-M (Mac).

Welcome to Photoshop, Bridge, Camera Raw, and ImageReady

2006-12-13T07:07:00.000-08:00

This task is a basic introduction to Photoshop, ImageReady, Camera Raw, and Bridge. In this task, you launch each program and evaluate the general workspace.

1. Launch Photoshop
In Windows, click the Start button and select All Programs, Adobe Photoshop CS2. On a Mac, open the folder labeled Adobe Photoshop CS2 and double-click the Adobe Photoshop CS2 icon. Click items on the Welcome Screen to gain easy access to tutorials and documentation of new features; click the Close button to launch Photoshop's main screen areas.

2. The Basic Photoshop Screen Areas

After closing the Welcome Screen, you'll see the full range of Photoshop controls. The toolbox is on the left side of the screen and contains all the Photoshop tools. The most commonly used Photoshop palettes appear on the right, and the menu bar appears across the top of the screen. The Options bar runs under the menu bar and contains the modifiers for each tool you select, the Go to Bridge button, and the Palette Well.

3. Launch ImageReady
In Windows, click the Start button and select Programs, Adobe ImageReady CS2. On a Mac, open the folder labeled Adobe Photoshop CS2 and double-click the Adobe ImageReady CS2 icon. The ImageReady desktop looks very similar to the Photoshop desktop. Closer examination, however, reveals that some of the tool icons and palettes are different and that the Slice, Table, and Image Map palettes appear in the lower-right corner of the screen.

4. The Basic Bridge Screen Areas
In Windows, click the Start button and select Programs, Adobe Bridge. On a Mac, open the Adobe Bridge folder and double-click the Bridge icon. If Photoshop is already open, click the Go to Bridge button located on the Options bar. Along the top are the menu commands. The large content area contains thumbnails of the images in the current folder; at the very bottom are the status information and display buttons.

5. The Basic Camera Raw Screen Areas
Camera Raw isn't a standalone application, but whenever you open a Raw file in Photoshop or Bridge, you are presented with the Camera Raw interface. The title shows some basic file information. Below that are the tools, view options, and RGB values display. To the right of the image area are the Histogram display and adjustment sliders. Under the image area are the Zoom controls and Workflow options. At the bottom right are buttons for Save (saves the adjusted image as a file), Open (opens the adjusted image in Photoshop), Done (saves just the adjustments), and Cancel (discards any changes and closes Camera Raw).

6. Adobe Help Center Screen Areas

The Help command in all CS2 applications now launches the Adobe Help Center. Beneath the top row of buttons are the Navigation and Commands buttons, along with the Search box. On the left side are the Help Topics titles, and along the bottom are the Previous Topic and Next Topic buttons