210 c h a p t e r 5: WORKFLOWS AND FIRST STEPS ■ Straightening Horizons There are several ways to straighten horizons. We cover two of the most useful meth- ods here. Using the Ruler Tool for Straightening The Ruler tool has new functionality in CS5 and offers a fast, easy way to straighten an image because it straightens and crops in a single step. It’s very similar to the Straighten tool in ACR. To use the Ruler tool, do the following: 1. Click on the Ruler tool . It lives with the Eyedropper tools. If it’s not imme- diately visible, click and hold the lower-right corner of the Eyedropper tool in the Toolbar until you see the other tools. Then click on the Ruler tool. 2. Click on the beginning of a line that should be straight but isn’t. Drag the tool along that line. 3. Click Straighten in the tool Options bar. The image will be cropped and straightened in a single step. Note: To straighten an image with a reflection, use the Ruler tool as described, then click the subject’s eyes or other identifiable point and drag to the same point in the reflection. Click Straighten. Using the Crop Tool for Straightening If you want to straighten the image in a way that preserves an important detail that’s near an edge, you’ll need to use a different method to extend the canvas size as you crop. To do so, use the Crop tool as follows: 1. Begin by drawing a crop on the image. Don’t worry about placing it pre- cisely yet. 2. Click the small square box in the middle of the horizontal line closest to the horizon, and drag it so that it is just on top of the horizon. 3. Place your cursor outside the crop area. Notice it changes from an arrowhead to a double-arrowed icon. Click and drag it up or down to rotate the crop, and make the horizontal line follow your horizon, as shown in Figure 5.12. When you are satisfied that the crop line parallels the horizon line, release the cursor. 4. Click the center box on that crop line to drag it back to an appropriate place in your image. The rotation of the crop should remain as you reset all the outside edges, as you can see in Figure 5.13. 5. If you drag the corners of the crop beyond the boundaries of your image, you’ll have empty areas in the cropped version. However, cropping this way can pre- serve details that are close to an edge even though it means that you’ll have to take the time to carefully re-create background. (We cover how to do that later in this chapter.) 607343c05.indd 210 4/13/10 2:44:08 PM 211 ■ CROPPING AND STRAIGHTENING IN PHOTOSHOP Figure 5.12 To straighten the image rotate the crop until the middle box is on the horizon. Ph ot o b y EllE n An o n Figure 5.13 Carefully drag the edges of the crop where you want them while leaving the rotation alone. 6. Now when you press Enter/Return or double-click the image; it crops and straightens it in one step, as illustrated in Figure 5.14. If the crop extends beyond the boundaries of the image, Photoshop adds canvas at the same time. That’s pretty cool and very convenient! 607343c05.indd 211 4/13/10 2:44:09 PM 212 c h ap t e r 5: WORK F LOWS A N D FIR S T ST E PS ■ Figure 5.14 Cropping and rotating the image in one step is easy and saves time. Photo by EllEn Anon Try It! Open the image called Straighten on this book’s companion website, or an image of your own, and use the Crop tool to straighten the horizon. For Photoshop Elements Users: Alternative Straightening Photoshop Elements 8 provides two other ways to straighten an image, one automatic and one manual. To let Elements try to straighten your image automatically, select Image > Rotate > Straighten Image. When you straighten your image, because Elements is rotating the image there will be blank canvas around the corners. Although there is a Straighten and Crop Image option, we recommend doing the crop manually so that you can opt to fill in any blank canvas areas or simply crop them out. The manual way, as you would expect, provides more control. To use it, do the following: 1. Select the Straighten tool from the toolbar. 2. Pick one of the following canvas options. (We prefer Grow or Shrink Canvas to Fit for the same reasons we prefer Straighten rather than Straighten and Crop.) Grow or Shrink Canvas to Fit • —Elements will resize the canvas however large it needs to be to avoid cropping the image. There will be blank canvas for you to fill in or crop out. Continues For Photoshop Elements Users: Alternative Straightening Photoshop Elements 8 provides two other ways to straighten an image, one automatic and one manual. To let Elements try to straighten your image automatically, select Image > Rotate > Straighten Image. When you straighten your image, because Elements is rotating the image there will be blank canvas around the corners. Although there is a Straighten and Crop Image option, we recommend doing the crop manually so that you can opt to fill in any blank canvas areas or simply crop them out. The manual way, as you would expect, provides more control. To use it, do the following: 1. Select the Straighten tool from the toolbar. 2. Pick one of the following canvas options. (We prefer Grow or Shrink Canvas to Fit for the same reasons we prefer Straighten rather than Straighten and Crop.) Grow or Shrink Canvas to Fit • —Elements will resize the canvas however large it needs to be to avoid cropping the image. There will be blank canvas for you to fill in or crop out. Continues 607343c05.indd 212 4/13/10 2:44:10 PM 213 ■ DOI NG C L E A N U P IN P H OTOSHOP For Photoshop Elements Users: Alternative Straightening (Continued) Crop to Remove Background• —Elements will crop the image after rotating so that no blank canvas remains. Crop to Original Size • —Elements will crop the image to the original size, removing some pixels while also leaving some blank canvas. 3. If your image has multiple layers and you wish to straighten all layers, select the Rotate All Layers check box. If you wish to straighten only the current layer, uncheck that option. Note that deselecting the option automatically forces the canvas options to Crop to Origi- nal Size. If your image has only one layer, leave this option checked. 4. Click and drag your cursor on the image to draw a horizontal line matching the horizon (or other straight edge). To straighten an image based on a vertical line, hold down the Ctrl/ Shift key before clicking, and then drag a vertical line. Doing Cleanup in Photoshop Although some recent cameras have automatic sensor cleaning, dirt can still accu- mulate on the sensor and be visible in your image. Therefore, you have to carefully go through your images and remove these blobs. In addition there may be distract- ing objects in the image that you want to remove, or blank areas of canvas that you need to fill. First we’ll describe the tools in Photoshop that you can use, including some impressive new features that Adobe added in CS5, and then we’ll go through the actual steps to use for several tasks. Zooming, Navigating, and Layering for Cleanup To remove dust or scratches, you first need to zoom to a 100% view by double- clicking the Zoom tool or by setting the magnification in the Navigation bar at the top of the user interface. You need to check your image in a systematic way to ensure you don’t miss any areas. We recommend beginning in the upper-right corner. Make sure the blue scroll bars are as far to the right and the top as they go, as shown in Fig- ure 5.15. To navigate through the image, you can drag one of the scroll bars. When you reach the other side, place the cursor in the white area next to the other scroll bar, and click. This advances that scroll bar to the next unit so you don’t miss anything. Continue this process throughout the image. If you’ve set the option in Preferences > General to enable Flick Panning (see Chapter 4, “Foundations”), you can hold down the spacebar, drag the cursor, let go, and the image will continue to pan. The direction and speed of your drag determine the direction and distance that Photoshop will continue to move after you release the cursor. Once you try it, you’re likely to find that not only is it fun, it’s actually an effi- cient way to navigate! For Photoshop Elements Users: Alternative Straightening (Continued) Crop to Remove Background • —Elements will crop the image after rotating so that no blank canvas remains. Crop to Original Size • —Elements will crop the image to the original size, removing some pixels while also leaving some blank canvas. 3. If your image has multiple layers and you wish to straighten all layers, select the Rotate All Layers check box. If you wish to straighten only the current layer, uncheck that option. Note that deselecting the option automatically forces the canvas options to Crop to Origi - nal Size. If your image has only one layer, leave this option checked. 4. Click and drag your cursor on the image to draw a horizontal line matching the horizon (or other straight edge). To straighten an image based on a vertical line, hold down the Ctrl/ Shift key before clicking, and then drag a vertical line. 607343c05.indd 213 4/13/10 2:44:10 PM 214 c h a p t e r 5: WORKFLOWS AND FIRST STEPS ■ Figure 5.15 Begin navigating through your image in a systematic way by placing the blue scroll bars at the top of the vertical axis and to the right on the horizontal axis. Ph o t o b y EllE n An o n Note: Since most people read left to right, top to bottom, it may seem that starting in the upper- left corner is more logical. However, we find that going against the common direction forces people to slow down and proceed carefully, thereby helping them find each little dust spot rather than casually skimming through the image and missing some. Of course, ultimately you should establish a procedure that works for you. Birds-Eye View Birds-Eye View is another effective method of zooming in and out of an image. You begin with an image that’s magnified so that only part of it is visible on the monitor as shown in Figure 5.16. Press and hold the H key, then when you left-click and hold, the image will zoom out so that you can see it in its entirety, thus giving you the oppor- tunity to select a new area for magnification. Drag the white navigation box to a new area to view a different part of the image at the specified magnification. When you release the cursor, the image will snap to the prior level of magnification, centered on the new area. This ability to easily zoom out and return to the magnified view can be quite helpful—particularly when you’re not certain whether something is dirt or dust to be removed, or a part of the image. 607343c05.indd 214 4/13/10 2:44:11 PM 215 ■ DOING CLEANUP IN PHOTOSHOP Figure 5.16 When you are zoomed in to an area at a magnication greater than 100%, press and hold the H key to temporarily view the entire image and choose a new area to view at the same magnication. 607343c05.indd 215 4/13/10 2:44:12 PM 216 c h a p t e r 5: WORKFLOWS AND FIRST STEPS ■ Scrubby Zoom In CS5 there is an option to enable a Scrubby Zoom that is selected by default. The option itself is located in the tool Options bar for the Zoom tool. When the Zoom tool is selected and Scrubby Zoom is enabled, left-click and drag to the right to increase the magnification, and to the left to decrease it. Something we find even more useful is that if you have a different tool selected, such as the Clone Stamp tool, and want to increase or decrease the image magnifica- tion, you can press and hold the Z key while left-clicking and dragging to the right to increase the magnification and to the left to decrease it. When you release the Z key, Photoshop will automatically revert to the tool you were using before. If OpenGL Drawing is enabled in Preferences, then pressing and holding the Z key while left-clicking and holding will cause Photoshop to enter a Smooth Zoom mode where it quickly increases the magnification. In some cases, if you don’t begin to drag to the left or right quickly enough, you may inadvertently enter this Smooth Zoom. Creating a Pixel Layer Rather than doing any cleanup directly on the Background layer, make a new pixel layer for your cloning, healing, and filling. To make a new pixel layer that initially has no pixels in it, click the Create A New Layer icon next to the trash can icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. (In Elements, the New Layer button is on the top of the Layers palette, to the left of the Create Adjustment Layer button.) Notice in the panel that a new layer has appeared. To name this layer—so you know what you were doing in it if you return to the file later—double-click the words Layer One, and then type the new name. You want a short but clearly identifiable name, such as Cleanup or Dust and Scratches, as shown in Figure 5.17. Figure 5.17 Make a new layer to do your cleaning up on, and be sure to label the layer. Note: Naming your layers is a good habit to develop. Initially while you’re working it may seem unnecessary, but the more layers you create, the more likely it is that you’ll forget exactly what you were doing in any one layer. Get into the habit by labeling your cleanup layer. Note: Even if you used ACR, you may prefer to do your cleanup in Photoshop if there are compli- cated areas that need work. The tools in Photoshop are more sophisticated and powerful. 607343c05.indd 216 4/13/10 2:44:12 PM 217 ■ DOING CLEANUP IN PHOTOSHOP The Photoshop Cleanup Tools The Clone Stamp tool, the Healing Brush tool, the Spot Healing Brush tool, the Patch tool, and Content-Aware Fill are all useful in removing dust spots, removing unwanted objects from your image, and even filling in areas when you need to enlarge your can- vas. They’re very similar tools, but they’re also different in some important ways. When using any of these tools except the Patch tool, we begin by creating a new layer for the cleanup. To do so, click the Create A New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel next to the trash can. This creates an empty pixel layer on which you will place new pixels to hide the imperfections in your image. By doing the cleanup on a separate layer, you don’t have to worry about permanently changing any pixels in the file. (You can’t use these tools directly on a Smart Object layer.) Since the Patch tool must be used on pixels, rather than creating an empty pixel layer, we begin by dragging the background layer to the Create New Layer icon to duplicate that layer. The Clone Stamp tool may be the easiest to understand. It simply copies the pixels that you specify from one place to another place. To use it, make certain to check Sample All Layers in the tool Options bar, and do the following: 1. Place the cursor over the area from which you want to sample. 2. Hold down the Alt/Option key, and click. 3. Release the Alt/Option key. 4. Position the cursor over the area that you want to replace, and click. It’s that simple! If you just keep clicking to sample an area and then clicking to put it some- where else, you’re likely to end up with a series of circular replacements that are easy to spot. On the other hand, if you click and drag for long distances, you’re likely to get repeated patterns that are also a telltale sign of a poorly optimized image. The trick is to just drag a smidge around the replacement area and make certain not to have an identifiable repeated pattern. Most of the time you should make sure to use a soft brush and adjust the size of the brush, using the bracket shortcut keys as explained in Chapter 4 so that the brush is just slightly larger than the smaller dimension of the dust you’re trying to remove. If you are cloning out a large area, you’ll have to use a small enough brush to be able to convincingly re-create the background. You need to think like an artist and select pix- els to use to re-create that area of the picture. Note: CS5 includes two new icons for use with pen tablets on the tool Options bar for the Clone Stamp, Healing Brush, and Spot Healing tools. Both override the settings in the Brush panel. makes pen pressure control the effective brush size, whereas makes pen pressure control opacity. You can use one or both. This is a convenient way to quickly and temporarily change the effect of pen pres- sure. We find that using pen pressure to adjust opacity makes it easier to make the cloning we do look natural. 607343c05.indd 217 4/13/10 2:44:12 PM . helpful—particularly when you’re not certain whether something is dirt or dust to be removed, or a part of the image. 607343c05.indd 214 4/13/10 2:44:11 PM 215 ■ DOING CLEANUP IN PHOTOSHOP Figure. cleanup in Photoshop if there are compli- cated areas that need work. The tools in Photoshop are more sophisticated and powerful. 607343c05.indd 216 4/13/10 2:44:12 PM 217 ■ DOING CLEANUP IN PHOTOSHOP The. PHOTOSHOP The Photoshop Cleanup Tools The Clone Stamp tool, the Healing Brush tool, the Spot Healing Brush tool, the Patch tool, and Content-Aware Fill are all useful in removing dust spots, removing