Photoshop cs5 cho nhiếp ảnh gia part 63 doc

393 ■ OUTPUT 10 Ph o t o by Jo s h An o n Output Spending time outdoors in nature capturing beautiful images is a driving force for many of us, but creating lasting output to share with others and to view time and time again is also important. In earlier chapters we focused on optimizing images, and in this chapter we’ll take a look at how to produce the best output. We’ll talk about printing your images, creating slide shows, and creating a web gallery to share your images with an even broader audience. Chapter Contents Output Workflow Printing Your Images Creating Business Cards and Greeting Cards Using Adobe Output Module 607343c10.indd 393 4/12/10 11:53:18 PM 394 c h a p t e r 10: OUTPUT ■ Output Workow The output workflow actually starts very early in the process of optimizing your pho- tographic images in Photoshop. Of course, we could go so far as to say that every opti- mization step is part of the output workflow, since you’re generally trying to make the image look its best in order to produce the best output. However, what we’re referring to here is saving the image. Although we tend to talk about saving the image near the end of the workflow, in reality you should be saving from early in the workflow. As a general rule, every time you perform any significant optimization step on your image, you should resave so you won’t lose any changes should something go wrong. The idea is to save a master image (in addition to archiving your original capture) that contains all of the image and adjustment layers in a single file, which becomes your master image, to be used as the basis for all future output (see Figure 10.1). After you’ve saved the final result safely, you’re ready to move on to preparing that image for output. Figure 10.1 Your master image le should contain all of the image and adjustment layers used to create the optimal output. Ph o t o by Jo s h An o n Note: Save your master file as either a TIFF or PSD file. Both formats support layers. Try It! To get a feel for the best output workflow, open the image PrintWorkflow on this book’s companion website, www.sybex.com/go/photoshopnature, and follow the steps in the next few sections to prepare that image for an 8″ × 10″ print. 607343c10.indd 394 4/12/10 11:53:21 PM 395 ■ OUTPUT WORKFLOW Duplicating the Image By this time, you can well imagine how important your master image is. As you’ll see in the next few sections, the process of preparing your image for output can result in changes to the number of pixels in your image as well as to the actual color and tonal values for the image. Therefore, if you are using our traditional workflow (see Chapter 5, “Workflows and First Steps”), we recommend using a working copy of your image while preparing it for output. This ensures that the original master image remains safely saved without risking a permanent loss of pixels. Note: Although technically using our traditional workflow you could use your master image to prepare for output and then do a Save As, it’s risky because it’s far too easy to accidentally do a Save on the image and override your master file. That’s why in our standard workflow we recommend getting in the habit of working on a duplicate copy. As a result, the first step in the traditional output workflow is to create a dupli- cate copy of the image by choosing Image > Duplicate (File > Duplicate in Elements). The Duplicate Image dialog box (shown in Figure 10.2) appears, allowing you to enter a name for the new image document. The name in the text box is simply the name of the document you are duplicating with the word copy appended to it. You can enter a different name if you want, which becomes the filename if you save this duplicate image later. Figure 10.2 The Duplicate Image dialog box allows you to specify a name for the image, as well as to specify whether you want to atten the image by enabling the Duplicate Merged Layers Only check box. The Duplicate Image dialog box also contains a check box labeled Duplicate Merged Layers Only. This check box is enabled only if the image you’re duplicating contains multiple layers. If you check it, the duplicate image is a flattened version of the original image. We recommend checking this box for two main reasons. First, it flattens the image into a single layer, thus reducing the amount of memory required by the image. (Remember, the master image with all layers intact has already been saved, and you’re working on a duplicate copy.) This can speed up the process of preparing the image for output and sending the data to the printer. Second, sharpening can be applied only to a single layer, so if you have multiple image layers in the image, this streamlines the sharpening process. When you have established the desired settings, click OK to create the working copy of your image file, and then close the original master image. If you are using our flexible workflow and you don’t have a separate Clone/ Healing brush layer with significant changes, you don’t need to duplicate your master file. You can apply sharpening and other output adjustments as Smart Filters directly Output Workow The output workflow actually starts very early in the process of optimizing your pho- tographic images in Photoshop. Of course, we could go so far as to say that every opti- mization step is part of the output workflow, since you’re generally trying to make the image look its best in order to produce the best output. However, what we’re referring to here is saving the image. Although we tend to talk about saving the image near the end of the workflow, in reality you should be saving from early in the workflow. As a general rule, every time you perform any significant optimization step on your image, you should resave so you won’t lose any changes should something go wrong. The idea is to save a master image (in addition to archiving your original capture) that contains all of the image and adjustment layers in a single file, which becomes your master image, to be used as the basis for all future output (see Figure 10.1). After you’ve saved the final result safely, you’re ready to move on to preparing that image for output. Figure 10.1 Your master image le should contain all of the image and adjustment layers used to create the optimal output. Ph o t o by Jo s h An o n 607343c10.indd 395 4/12/10 11:53:21 PM 396 c h a p t e r 10: OUTPUT ■ on the background Smart Object layer. Since the Smart Object layer references the original file, you won’t lose quality as you repeatedly resize the image for each dif- ferent type of output (see Chapter 4, “Foundations”). However, you will still need to adjust the sharpening settings each time you resize the image, because the amount of sharpening necessary will vary according to the file size, resolution, and amount of detail. The advantages to applying the sharpening as a Smart Filter are that you will have one master file with all the layers and adjustments, including the sharpening, and that you can readjust the amount of sharpening at any time. However, if you do have a clone layer where you’ve done more than just dust cleanup, you will need to dupli- cate the master file and follow the steps for the standard output workflow. Note: If you are using our traditional workflow, we also recommend applying sharpening and noise reduction as Smart Filters so that you can adjust the settings as necessary. Sometimes after you see the final output, you’ll realize your settings need tweaking. By using Smart Filters, that’s easy to do. Resizing Chances are the native size of your image doesn’t match the final output size you’re targeting, so you need to resize it. This involves setting both the resolution and the actual output size. To change the size of the image, choose Image > Image Size, which opens the Image Size dialog box shown in Figure 10.3. (In Elements, choose Image > Resize > Image Size.) Figure 10.3 The Image Size dialog box allows you to resize your image for the nal output. Although you would normally start at the top of a dialog box and work your way down, in the case of the Image Size dialog box, it makes more sense to start at the bottom and work your way up. At the bottom, be sure the Resample Image check box is checked, which enables Photoshop to resize the image using interpolation, changing the number of pixels within the image. The drop-down list under the Resample Image check box provides options for the algorithm to use for interpolating the data in your image, as shown in Figure 10.4. 607343c10.indd 396 4/12/10 11:53:21 PM 397 ■ OUTPUT WORKFLOW Figure 10.4 You can choose from ve options for the interpolation algorithm in the Image Size dialog box, but you generally use only Bicubic or Bicubic Smoother. Bicubic is an all-purpose option. If you’re creating a particularly large enlarge- ment from your original, the Bicubic Smoother option is a better choice, and you can use it any time you’re enlarging. Bicubic Sharper is designed to maintain sharpness when reducing the size of an image, but we prefer to control the sharpening ourselves and therefore don’t usually use this option, although some people use it to save time when preparing images for display on the Web. The other two options—Nearest Neighbor and Bilinear—are not appropriate for producing high-quality photographic output and should not be used. The Constrain Proportions check box on the Image Size dialog ensures that you maintain the aspect ratio for the image. If you clear this check box, it’s possible to stretch the image in one direction or the other. Although this might not be a problem when done to a very small degree, it can produce a distorted result if taken too far, and we recommend eliminating the possibility altogether by keeping this check box selected. The Scale Styles check box determines whether layer styles are scaled when you resize the image or whether they are kept at their same size. We recommend keeping this box checked. The Resolution box in the Document Size section determines how the pixels are distributed when the image is output, and it plays a role in determining how many pixels are required in the final image. For digital display (monitors and digital projec- tors, for example), this number is irrelevant. However, because some software appli- cations that you might use for a slideshow do look at this number, we recommend setting it to about 96 pixels per inch (ppi). For printing, the best resolution depends on the output method being used, but 300 ppi is a good standard value. Note: If you’re working with film scans, it’s particularly important to keep an eye on the Reso- lution setting. If you’ve scanned at 4000 dpi, you don’t want to resize to a 20″ × 30″ print without changing the resolution to a more appropriate value, or you’ll produce an absolutely huge file that takes forever to resize and likely crashes your computer. The next step is to set the output size. For images that will be printed, this should be done in the Document Size section, setting either the Width or the Height. You can change the unit of measure with the drop-down list to the right, and if you have the Constrain Proportions check box selected (as we recommend), setting the Width or the Height causes the other to be adjusted automatically. 607343c10.indd 397 4/12/10 11:53:21 PM 398 c h a p t e r 10: OUTPUT ■ Note: When you make adjustments that affect the actual pixel dimensions of the image in the Image Size dialog box, the current size is displayed after the Pixel Dimensions label, with the starting size shown in parentheses. For images that will be displayed digitally on a monitor or digital projector, the size should be adjusted using the Width or Height text boxes in the Pixel Dimensions section. This allows you to set the specific pixel sizing for your intended purpose. For a digital slide show, for example, you might set these dimensions to fit within the reso- lution of your digital projector. For a website, you might set them to a standard output size you deem appropriate for your specific site design. Note: Check the resolution of your projector, and use those values to set the height or width to resize images that you’ll use in a slide show. Many projectors have a native resolution of 1024 × 768, while others may be 1400 × 1050, and so on. Your images must fit within those specifications. Once you’ve established the sizing parameters in the Image Size dialog box, click OK, and Photoshop resizes the image accordingly. Note: Some people are tempted to wait and resize in the Print dialog box. We don’t recommend that, because for best results you need to sharpen your image based on its final size. If you wait to resize in the Print dialog box, you have to do the sharpening before resizing. You’d be surprised how different the results can be. Reducing Noise Although you could insert steps to reduce noise earlier in your workflow, noise often becomes more apparent as you are preparing your image for output. Whether you opt to apply it at the beginning of your workflow or after optimizing the image, we rec- ommend applying any noise reduction before you apply sharpening to make sure the process of sharpening won’t exaggerate the noise. Note: Some people may opt to apply noise reduction on the master image in the traditional workflow. Others prefer to wait until they’ve duplicated and resized the image for output, since noise reduction can soften details. That way they can better determine the best amount of noise reduction to apply based on the final image size. Either way, by applying noise reduction as a smart filter you can readjust the settings based on the appearance of the image at its output size. 607343c10.indd 398 4/12/10 11:53:21 PM . the process of optimizing your pho- tographic images in Photoshop. Of course, we could go so far as to say that every opti- mization step is part of the output workflow, since you’re generally trying. image by choosing Image > Duplicate (File > Duplicate in Elements). The Duplicate Image dialog box (shown in Figure 10.2) appears, allowing you to enter a name for the new image document the process of optimizing your pho- tographic images in Photoshop. Of course, we could go so far as to say that every opti- mization step is part of the output workflow, since you’re generally trying