By Guru: Web Editor

Is Web Editor your favorite writer? Why not get everything Web Editor publishes, all the tutorials, tips, tricks, articles, news, and reviews, across all sites, delivered directly to you? Choose your method of delivery on the Gurus page.

Below are the latest articles from Web Editor. The results are culled from all sources Gurus Unleashed follows.

  • Zoom in the Color Range preview

    The preview in the Color Range dialog shows the entire image by default, which can make it hard to judge the potential selection mask if you’re trying to select only small areas. The solution is to first create a selection…

  • Remove Lasso tools: control points

    When using either the Polygonal Lasso or the Magnetic Lasso tools (both nested under the Lasso tool [L]), you can remove control points in the order in which they were put down by backtracking along the selection path and pressing…

  • Fine-tuning with the Quick Selection tool

    When adding or subtracting small areas with the Quick Selection tool (W), your results will be more accurate if you use the Zoom tool (Z) for a close view and then use a smaller brush tip combined with shorter strokes.…

  • Change the default Eye-dropper sample setting

    The sample size of the Eyedropper tool (I), found in the Options Bar, controls the size of the area that’s evaluated when it provides color and tonal feedback, but it can also affect how certain selection tools work,e.g., the Magic…

  • Where are my palettes?

    They are still there only their name has changed. Palettes no longer exist in Photoshop CS4. Officially, they are now called panels.

  • Skin smoothing – Camera Raw style

    Flawless skin can be key to successful portraits of ladies. Make their skin creamy soft by tapping the K key in Adobe Camera Raw 5 to call up the Adjustment Brush. Set the Clarity slider to ~40 for starters. Brush…

  • Pre-clipped adjustment layers

    Want to clip your next adjustment layer before you even make it? Open the Adjust-ments panel, click the triple-black-over-white-circle icon to clip the next adjust-ment layer you choose from the panel. Now the adjustment only affects the layer immediately below…

  • One button layer clipping

    Clipping an adjustment layer to affect only the layer below it required remembering to hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key, while hovering the cursor between the layers, until a black-over-white-circle icon appears, and then click. Now all we have…

  • Layer mask love!

    The new Masks panel consolidates working with layer masks by putting most of the functions commonly used in one place. Show this panel by selecting Masks from the Window menu. Want to change the layer mask from its normal white…

  • Where is the Feather command?

    Feather is still hidden in the Select menu under the Modify option. More useful is the new keyboard shortcut Shift-F6, which replaces the old shortcut Command-Option-D (PC: Ctrl-Alt-D). Mac users rejoice! you no longer have to give up the keystrokes…

  • Stretch (or shrink) to fit

    When the image won’t fit the page, use Content-Aware Scale to resize the background. And if you’re working with a human subject, click the Protect Skin Tones icon in the Options Bar, it will even leave the subject itself untouched.…

  • I had panels. Where are they now?

    Okay, I’m pressing the F key to cycle through the screen modes. I’m in Full Screen Mode and poof, my panels disap-pear. Where are my panels? Tapping the F key twice changes from Standard Screen Mode to Full Screen Mode…

  • More Vibrance Eyes

    Choose the Sponge tool (nested under the Dodge tool [O]) from the Toolbox. In the Options Bar (shown below), choose Saturate from the Mode menu, set the Flow to at least 50%, and then click the Vibrance checkbox. Brush over…

  • Vibrance Eyes

    Bring excitement and pumped up color to your subjectís eyes by adding a Vibrance adjustment layer from the Adjust-ments panel (Window>Adjustments). Move the Saturation slider all the way to the left until it reads ñ100 and every-thing turns grayscale. In…

  • Get rid of that shapelayer outline

    If you’ve worked with a shape layer, you’ve probably noticed the appearance of a thin outline around the shape. The outline you see around a shape layer really doesn’t mean anything. It won’t print or show up on a saved…

  • Cycling through layer blend modes part 2

    If you’ve tried the previous tip but have a tool selected that also has blend modes associated with it (like any of the Brush tools), then you’ll find that the keyboard shortcut cycles through the blend modes for the brush…

  • Cycling through layer blend modes part 1

    Sometimes it’s useful to quickly cycle through your blend modes to see which one works best. Manually clicking on each one just isn’t quick, so try this: Click on the Blend Mode list in the top left of the Layers…

  • The font-resizing shortcut

    Want to make your font size larger or smaller without going to the Size setting in the Options Bar? This one is really easy. Double-click the Type layer thumbnail to select your type. Then press Command-Shift-> (PC: Ctrl-Shift->) to make…

  • Unlink that mask for flexibility

    If you want to move a layer around your image, but leave the layer mask exactly where it is, you need to unlink the two. Click the little chain link icon between the layer thumbnail and the layer mask to…

  • Turn off or disable a layer mask

    You can Shift-click on the Layer Mask thumbnail in the layers panel to turn off or disable the mask. You’ll see a red X appear over the mask icon in the Layers panel. The mask is actually still there but…

  • Convert a Background layer to a regular layer

    Double-click on the name ‘Background’ in the Layers panel, and then click OK, or press Return (PC: Enter) in the New Layer dialog to accept the new name. Or, even better, you can hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key,…

  • Blend mode keyboard shortcuts

    I never used to use keyboard shortcuts for blend modes. Then about a year or so ago, I realized that the keyboard shortcuts for blend modes are actually very easy. It always involves the Option-Shift (PC: Alt-Shift) keys and then…

  • Deleting a layer

    Instead of dragging a layer to the Trash icon to delete it, you can quickly delete a layer by pressing the Delete (PC: Backspace) key in Photoshop CS4. In CS3, using that key will only work if you have the…

  • Create a new layer without a dialog

    Pressing Command-Shift-N (PC: Ctrl-Shift-N) creates a new layer but it brings up the New Layer dialog so you can name it. Personally, I find it kind of annoying and it’s not a lot faster for me than just clicking the…

  • Two brushes are better than one

    To rapidly change the Size, Feather, Flow, and Density of a brush, use the A and B preset brushes. To set them up, click one of the brushes (A or B) and change its settings. Make one brush large with…

  • Mask clean up

    If a mask appears splotchy, it’s usually because the Auto Mask checkbox is turned on and the brush didn’t apply the mask to pixels that were too different from the original sample (beginning brush stroke). Simply uncheck the Auto Mask…

  • Adjustment Brush resize tricks

    When using the Adjustment Brush for retouching, you need to change the size of the brush quite often. You can use the Left and Right Bracket keys ([ ]) to make small incremental changes to the brush size, but the…

  • Adjustment Brush masks and pins

    When you paint on a photo using the Adjustment Brush (K), a mask is created that shows where the effects of the Adjustment Brush are applied. By default, the mask isn’t visible, but you can press the O key to…

  • Change adjustment mask colors

    When the color of your subject in a photo-graph is similar to the color of the mask (the default color is red), it’s difficult to see the mask. To change the color of the mask, press Shift-O to cycle through…

  • Dust spot images quickly

    Choose the Spot Removal tool (N) and zoom in to the top-left of the image. Press the Page Down key to move down the left side of the image incrementally. When you reach the bottom, press Page Down again and…


Member Site

Empowering, Informing, Connecting
Creative Professionals™

www.WorkflowNetwork.com

By Pariah S. Burke

Get Empowered

Get Informed

Get Connected

Member Site

Empowering, Informing, Connecting
Creative Professionals™

www.WorkflowNetwork.com

By Pariah S. Burke

Get Empowered

Get Informed

Get Connected