PHOTOSHOP CS4 QuickSteps- P4 docx

52 PC QuickSteps Getting to Know Your PC 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 4. In the New Filenames area, it’s best to rename the files using text, and not numerically (the other option in the first drop- down list). Type the new name prefix for your selected photos in the entry field to the right of Text. 5. The Date Time is probably best left at its default, unless you want to sort by month or other criteria in the future. 6. You can remove other fields if you have no use for them by clicking the minus (–) button at the right of a row. 7. The Sequence Number is usually the best option for file renaming; in Figure 3-7 you can see that the text for a group of images is labeled with the location, Sackett’s Harbor, and by starting at 1, and allowing four digits as the suffix for the “Sackett’s Harbor” prefix, 9999 images can have the same prefix in the name. 8. Click the Rename button. The files are renamed, and you’re returned to the folder in Bridge’s Content panel, with your newly renamed—and much easier to review—photos. Use Image Stacks Creating stacks of images not only enables you to see more of a collection, but is also terrific for thumbing through to see, for example, which photo out of a series has the best exposure or camera angle. To make a stack: 1. CTRL/CMD+click several image thumbnails in the Content panel. 2. Right-click and choose Stack | Group As Stack from the context menu. To unstack a stack, Choose Ungroup from Stack from the right-click context menu or choose Stack | Ungroup From Stack. An image stack is readily identified by the unique number tag at the top left of an image thumbnail. You’ll note that in this section, the main menu in Bridge has not been thoroughly documented; this is for a good reason. Almost all the commands you use and features at your disposal in Bridge can be accessed from the right-click context menu, or can be performed by dragging on an interface element or a thumbnail. Figure 3-7: Batch rename photos to make your time sorting images much easier. 3 52 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor PC QuickSteps Getting to Know Your PC 53 10 9 87 6 54 32 1 You’ve just learned the smart way to work in Adobe Bridge and will be hard- pressed to find a significant item on the menu (except for Help) that cannot be accessed through the methods you’ve just learned in this chapter. Travel from Bridge to Photoshop It’s easy to open an image—or a number of selected images—in Photoshop from Bridge: right-click over the image(s) and choose Open With | Adobe Photoshop CS4 (Default). In seconds you have your selected images in a tabbed window in PS CS4. As you can see next, the Open With submenu includes other applications you can launch; which programs are listed depends on the programs you own, and the operating system’s associations with the file type, such as JPEG, TIF, and others. You can also use the Open command on the context menu to launch Photoshop with your selected image(s), but only if CS4 is the default application; an application you’ve installed after you install CS4 might have made the association, for example, for PNG file types, so to be sure you’re launching Photoshop, use Open With instead of Open. Raw file types have many different extensions because no two camera manufacturers can agree on a common file format. A Raw image is an unprocessed image and therefore needs to pass through Adobe Camera Raw Editor before it can be edited in Photoshop. There are two ways to spot a camera Raw image in the Content panel: • The Metadata File Properties area states that the selected image is a Raw file in the Document Type field. • For Windows users and others who use file extensions, a camera Raw file has an unusual file extension such as CRW (Canon), NEF, NRW (Nikon), MRW (Minolta), or any of more than 15 other popular ones. Additionally, Adobe has an omnibus file exchange format for Raw files with the extension DNG. 3 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor 53 54 PC QuickSteps Getting to Know Your PC 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 As a rule, when you right-click a thumbnail in Bridge and choose Open, JPEG, TIFF, and Camera Raw file types are sent to the Camera Raw Editor before you can open them in Photoshop; Adobe specifies these files types as ones that can retain camera metadata internally. Process Camera Raw Images Chances are good that any digital camera model from 2002 and later will take camera raw images (in addition to JPEGs and TIFFs). Camera raw images produce the highest-quality images to date, but unlike JPEG and other file formats, you can define a raw image’s exposure, color temperature, and other properties, very much like the traditional darkroom enhancing you can perform on a film negative when printing a photo. Open the Camera Raw Editor A camera raw image isn’t developed: you need to create a processed image based on the raw “negative” file—which also makes it less likely you’ll accidentally alter your negatives. To open one or more raw images for processing: • In Bridge, select the images, right-click, and click Open In Camera Raw from the context menu. Camera raw files as well as file formats saved to your camera’s memory card, such as JPEG and TIFF, will open in the Camera Raw Editor. –Or– • In Photoshop, click File | Open, select the image (alternatively, Marquee-select several images or press CTRL/CMD and click nonsequential images), and then click Open. Note that Camera Raw will only open if you choose one or more raw files—JPEGs and TIFFs will not trigger the Camera Raw Editor. The “darkroom” for raw film processing is the Camera Raw Editor, shown in Figure 3-8. The elements in the interface are as follows: • Tools panel Here you can find the tools for removing Red Eye, adding a graduated tint, and many other features you can also use directly in Photoshop. The tools are a convenience if you’re in a hurry and don’t have time to launch Photoshop for a minor correction or enhancement. No EXIF data Type of fileNo ISO or other camera data 3 54 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor PC QuickSteps Getting to Know Your PC 55 10 9 87 6 54 32 1 • Filmstrip To the left of the interface you’ll find one or more images you’ve chosen for processing. Click one to edit it and preview it in the main window. • Toggle Full Screen Mode This button offers alternative views between a normal and a maximized interface onscreen. • Camera name and/or file format On the title bar (hidden when in Full Screen mode) you’ll see the name of the camera when a camera raw file is loaded. When a JPEG or other image file format is loaded, you’ll see the file format here. Figure 3-8: The Camera Raw interface Navigation arrows Click to display Workflow Options Zoom levels Histogram Toggle Full Screen Mode Tools panel Camera name and/or file type Camera Raw Settings menu Image adjustment tabs Filmstrip Adjustment sliders 3 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor 55 56 PC QuickSteps Getting to Know Your PC 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 • Image adjustment tabs By default, you can process images using the Basic adjustment tab sliders and settings. There are additional adjustment settings on the other tabs, described in the following section. • Histogram Here you can see how many pixels are at various brightness levels in the selected image: the red, green, and blue channels are overlaid with a white composite channel. You can adjust the distribution of pixels at different brightness levels using the Tone Curve tab in the adjustment tabs section. See Chapter 4 for details on working with Levels, Curves, and other Photoshop adjustments for correcting and enhancing the shadows, midtones, and highlights in your photos. SAVE OR RESET YOUR PROCESSING WORK Before you get too far into Camera Raw image processing, it’s good to understand what the buttons along the bottom of the interface do and mean: • Save Image Click to save an image—with or without any adjustments. The Save Options dialog box opens. If you want to save a copy of a camera raw image, choose Digital Negative (DNG) from the Format drop-down list. You can also save to TIFF, JPEG, and Photoshop’s native file format. To save with the most future editing options, choose Digital Negative Or PSD—saving a JPEG as a JPEG only allows further degradation of the file because JPEG is a lossy file format. • Open Image Click to open the file as a Smart Object in Photoshop. The image will need to be saved in Photoshop using File | Save or File | Save As; Smart Objects do not have a file format and they are not saved to hard disk. • Cancel Click to return to Bridge. Alternatively, press ALT/OPT and the Cancel button becomes the Reset button, which, when clicked, discards all your editing of the image in the Camera Raw Editor. • Done Click to apply the edits. You’re returned to Bridge. Note that a small icon appears to the upper right of an edited image. Because edits are nondestructive in the Camera Raw Editor, you can elect to remove all edits at any time within Bridge. Here you can see an image that has been cropped. To remove the crop, right- click the thumbnail in Bridge’s Content panel and then choose Develop Settings | Clear Settings from the context menu. Image has Develop settings 3 56 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor PC QuickSteps Getting to Know Your PC 57 10 9 87 6 54 32 1 UNDERSTAND THE CAMERA RAW SETTINGS MENU Say you’ve taken several raw images at about the same time, and they’re all consistently running colder than you’d like. The Camera Raw Settings menu is invaluable for saving processing settings you perform on one image, and then applying the setting to several photos: 1. Make your corrections using the adjustment sliders and/or other controls on the image adjustment tabs. 2. Choose Save Settings from the menu, check the boxes that you want to apply to other images, and then click Save. 3. Load an image to which you want to apply the saved settings. 4. Choose Load Settings from the menu and choose the file you saved in Step 3. Other options on the menu can be used to reset the defaults to a raw image (thus removing any custom processing settings), load the conversion you used previously, and write an external XMP file for an image you’ve processed that cannot store metadata internally, such as PNG images. USE ZOOM LEVELS Choose from the drop-down list to increase and/or decrease your view in the main image window. Also, to the left are + and – buttons; if you want to zoom in or out by predefined multiples, you click either of these buttons. WORKFLOW OPTIONS Eventually you’ll want to perform a little advanced editing in Photoshop, even with the best of photos. When you click the blue underscored label beneath the current image, the Workflow Options dialog box appears, in which you can define the color space, color depth, size, and resolution of the image as it will open in Photoshop. Checking the Open In Photoshop As Smart Objects check box sends your processed image to Photoshop as a Smart Object. Smart Object layers display a unique identifier in the corner of their thumbnail on the Layers panel. You can also click Open Object to open the raw image in Photoshop as a Smart Object. UICKSTEPS DEFINING THE PROPERTIES OF A PROCESSED RAW FILE To get the most out of your Photoshop editing work, it’s important to save a copy of your Raw image in a color space and color depth that allows high-fidelity corrections with the least loss of original camera data. Here are the steps to ensure that every pixel of your photo arrives in Photoshop with as much editing potential as you need: 1. Click the Workflow Options text label below the current image. 2. Choose Adobe (1998) RGB for the color space. This is the largest color space available; the larger the color space, the more freedom you have to create dramatic changes to image areas in Photoshop—such as burning and dodging— without creating flat, super-saturated areas that look unnatural. 3. Choose 16 Bits/Channel as the depth. A 16-bit image contains a broader range of tones than standard 8-bit-per-pixel photos, enabling you to play with exposure without introducing banding or other artifacts. The trick is to create smooth areas when you edit in Photoshop; 16-bit-per-pixel images provide the capability. 4. It’s best to leave the Size setting of your image at the size at which it was taken; when an image is resized, pixel color values are reassigned and this sometimes leads to blurring the photo. 5. It’s also best to leave the Resolution setting at its current value. Changing resolution can create the same image softening as changing the image’s size. Size and resolution are both best changed using Photoshop’s advanced features. 3 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor 57 58 PC QuickSteps Getting to Know Your PC 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 Smart Objects are in a special “wrapper”; some but not all edits can be performed on Smart Objects. The purpose of a Smart Object is to retain all the original properties of the file, to make edits nondestructive. Figure 3-9 shows an example of the Workflow Options dialog box and the identifier for a Smart Object as displayed on Photoshop’s Layers panel. NAVIGATION ARROWS These arrows take you from the current image to the previous and next ones only if you’ve loaded several images in the Camera Raw editor for editing—a single loaded image doesn’t call these arrows and, in this case, they’re hidden. You can manually navigate through your images by clicking their thumbnails in the Filmstrip panel. ADJUSTMENT SLIDERS This is the area where the most significant global changes are made while you process your images in the Camera Raw editor. It’s often best to make adjustments starting at the top of the panel, working down. • Use the White Balance drop-down list to make a baseline correction to the image. Then use the sliders to refine the color and tone corrections. • Use the Temperature slider to change the color casting of the photo. Drag left to cool the image, and drag right to warm up a cold image. • Use the Tint slider to compensate for Temperature corrections. Add a green tint by dragging the slider left, and add magenta by dragging to the right. • Click the Auto button to allow the Editor to estimate the parameters for the sliders below; click the Default button to reset the sliders. Figure 3-9: Use the Workflow Options dialog box to save the raw image for editing at custom resolutions and depth. Click to open image in Photoshop as a Smart Object Photoshop Layers panel Smart Object tag Click to set depth and other properties 3 58 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor PC QuickSteps Getting to Know Your PC 59 10 9 87 6 54 32 1 • Drag the Exposure slider to the right to increase the global brightness of the image (most noticeably in the lighter areas). Drag to the left to darken the image. Use the number box to enter precise values: every whole value you type in is equivalent to a camera’s f-stop. • Drag the Recovery slider to the right if your Exposure setting is making white areas too brilliant (called “clipping to white” or “whiter than white”). Drag the slider to the left to diminish the effect of Recovery. • Drag the Fill Light slider to the right to add detail to shadow areas of your photo without brightening the absolute blacks in the image. Drag left to lessen the effect. • Drag the Blacks slider to the right to add overall contrast and punch to the photograph; doing this expands the areas in the photo that are mapped to absolute black. Drag to the left to contract the areas in the photo that are mapped to absolute black (0,0,0). • Drag the Brightness slider to the right to compress the highlight range and expand the shadow range in the photo. • Drag the Contrast slider to the right to narrow the range of midtones in the image. Drag left to lessen the effect, broadening the midtones primarily, with secondary, less impact on the shadow and highlight tone regions. • Drag the Clarity slider to the right to apply sharpening to the midtone region of objects in the scene. You might see an improved sense of depth in photos where fine details are bunched together, for example foliage or a plate of pasta. If objects visibly begin to display a halo effect while you’re viewing the main preview at 100% viewing resolution, back the slider to the left a little. • Drag the Vibrance slider to the right to add saturation to dull image areas without oversaturating areas that already are quite “juicy.” • Drag the Saturation slider to the right to add saturation; drag the slider to the left to eventually create a black and white photo at –100. Work with Camera Raw Editor’s Tools Many of the tools you’ll find in the Camera Raw Editor are also available within Photoshop, and in several cases you have more options for performing tasks with precision within Photoshop. However, the Editor’s tools, shown TIP If after adjusting Brightness the image still isn’t exactly the way you envision it, readjust Exposure and Blacks. Tonal controls in the Camera Raw editor are interrelated. 3 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor 59 60 PC QuickSteps Getting to Know Your PC 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 1 2 34 5 6 78 9 10 in Figure 3-10, are an excellent starting point for photographers; learn these tools and you’ll feel more at home in Photoshop. The tools offered in Camera Raw are quite similar to those in Photoshop. Here is what they perform: • Zoom into the current image by clicking it with the Zoom tool. Press ALT/OPT and click to zoom your view out; you can also Marquee-drag to zoom into a specific area of the image. • Shift your view of a magnified image by dragging in the image window with the Hand tool. Hold the spacebar to temporarily toggle to the Hand tool from other tools such as the Zoom tool. • Change the color temperature and tint of an image by clicking with the White Balance tool an image area you think should be a completely neutral color. • Mark specific image areas for future reference using the Color Sampler tool. This is a terrific feature to see the true value of a color pixel so you can better evaluate the white balance of an image. Click the Clear Samples button to get rid of the markers. You can drag a marker anywhere in the image by click-dragging. To remove only one marker, hold ALT/OPT and click over it. • Crop an image using the Crop tool: • By default, the aspect ratio of the Crop tool is unconstrained; click-drag to create a crop. • To choose a preset crop aspect ratio, drag on the Crop Tool button to reveal a menu. • To create a custom aspect ratio, choose Custom from the drop-down list, and then type the ratio numbers you want. • To rotate the crop area you’ve defined, hover the cursor around a corner until it turns into a bent double-arrow, and then click-drag any of the four handles bounding the crop area. Figure 3-10: The adjustment tools available in the Camera Raw Editor Take new sample Move color sample Color Sampler toolColor value Hand tool Zoom tool White Balance tool Crop tool Spot Removal tool Adjustment Brush Preferences Click the Rotate Image 90° Counter Clockwise button (or press L) Click the Rotate Image 90° Clockwise button (or press R) Color Sampler tool Straighten tool Red-eye Removal tool Graduated Filter tool Rotate 90 degrees Delete adjustments 3 60 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor PC QuickSteps Getting to Know Your PC 61 10 9 87 6 54 32 1 • To scale the area you propose to crop, hover the cursor around a corner until it turns into a straight diagonal double-arrow, and then click-drag any of the four handles bounding the crop area. • To move the crop area, drag inside of the crop area. As shown in Figure 3-11, you can perform significant editing through cropping, but the beauty of Camera Raw is that these are nondestructive edits; you can undo a crop or a rotation at any time in the future. The following list offers practical uses for the other tools: • Straighten the horizon of a photo by click-dragging with the Straighten tool. After performing the correction, the tool changes to the Crop tool—the image needs to be cropped after straightening; see the previous section. • To repair noise, unwanted spots, or other visual debris in a photo, use the Spot Removal tool. Beginning at the unwanted area, click-drag to create a circle, which appears as a dashed red outline (see Figure 3-12). A dashed green outline of the same size appears—this is the sample area for replacing the damaged area. Figure 3-11: Adjust the angle, size, and position of your crop after you’ve defined it by click-dragging with the Crop tool. Scale cropMove crop Rotate cropCrop area Figure 3-12: Use the Spot Removal tool to repair image areas. Sample area Area to be healed 3 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor 61 [...]... saturation, or luminance of any of the ROYGBIV spectrum that makes up a color image Here, you can Photoshop CS4 QuickStepsto Know Your PC Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor PC QuickSteps Getting 1 9 10 65 65 8 Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor PC QuickSteps Getting to Know Your PC 7 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps 6 Lens Corrections tab Because even moderately expensive cameras may have charge-coupled... use with the Adjustment Brush using the Graduated Filter tool, to visually Photoshop CS4 QuickStepsto Know Your PC Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor PC QuickSteps Getting 1 Click the Preferences button to specify defaults when loading images (or press CTRL/ CMD+K) Some of the options are better performed manually in Photoshop, such as sharpening and tone adjustments Clicking this icon opens... able to read a Photoshop histogram, discussed later in this chapter 5 Unless you’ve looked up your hardware’s white point in its manual, you’re best off leaving the current Hardware White Point setting at its default Click Measure; a dialog box advises you that Adobe Gamma is going Adjusting Tone and Color in Your Photographs PC QuickSteps Getting to Know Your PC 69 69 10 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps 9... recommend that you choose Same As Hardware 70 70 Photoshop CS4 QuickStepsto Know Your PC and Color in Your Photographs Adjusting Tone PC QuickSteps Getting 1 8 organization that first developed a device-independent scheme for creating and saving color information 9 After clicking Finish, you’re prompted to save the ICC profile with a name This file is then used by Photoshop and other well-engineered graphics... XMP settings from the Presets menu To apply the settings you’ve saved to new images, load the images in the Camera Raw Editor and then choose Load Settings from the Presets menu 10 9 8 7 • 66 66 Photoshop CS4 QuickStepsto Know Your PC Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor PC QuickSteps Getting 1 How to… Use Adobe Gamma Control Panel 2 • Understanding Gamma Calibrating Your Hardware Set Up Working... Saturation • Change a Specific Hue in a Photo • Create a Vintage Photo Using Hue/Saturation • Use Replace Color • Work with the Color Replacement Tool Adjusting Tone and Color in Your Photographs 67 10 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps 9 Use Exposure 8 • 7 Use Input or Output Levels When we evaluate photos, we usually look at the overall color and brightness of different areas However, digital photographs we see onscreen... Manage Color Calibration is necessary at three stages of digital photography work: When you view, the onscreen editing stage you perform in Photoshop, and when you’ve saved to file • When you print (covered in Chapter 12) When your input corresponds to what you see in Photoshop, and that work prints with corresponding colors, it’s because your equipment is calibrated properly, which is the topic of this... Upon launch, Adobe Gamma asks you whether you want the Step By Step (Wizard) interface or the Control Panel—choose the Step By Step (Wizard) button, enter a Description (or load a profile), and then Photoshop CS4 QuickStepsto Know Your PC and Color in Your Photographs Adjusting Tone PC QuickSteps Getting 1 2 click Next You’ll see how to work with the Control Panel mode of calibration later in this section... brightness—the tone quality—of your image 10 9 8 7 6 • • 64 64 Detail tab Use to sharpen image detail and to lessen image noise As you grow more experienced with Photoshop, you’ll probably use the Camera Raw Sharpening sliders less often, because Photoshop s Sharpen filters are more complete, sophisticated, and robust than Camera Raw’s However, the Noise Reduction features on this tab are quite good and... operates in two modes: Parametric and Point Drag the sliders in Parametric mode to emphasize or reduce Using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw Editor PC QuickSteps Getting to Know Your PC 63 63 10 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps 1 5 4 3 3 2 specific brightness ranges such as Highlights and Darks The graph displays adjustments as a line that takes on several curves, depending on what you do with the sliders: . from Bridge to Photoshop It’s easy to open an image—or a number of selected images—in Photoshop from Bridge: right-click over the image(s) and choose Open With | Adobe Photoshop CS4 (Default) and depth. Click to open image in Photoshop as a Smart Object Photoshop Layers panel Smart Object tag Click to set depth and other properties 3 58 Photoshop CS4 QuickSteps Using Adobe Bridge. and resolution of the image as it will open in Photoshop. Checking the Open In Photoshop As Smart Objects check box sends your processed image to Photoshop as a Smart Object. Smart Object layers