Tips & Tricks for Creative Professionals and Technical Writers using the Adobe Creative Suite & the Adobe Technical Communications Suite

by Barb Binder

Photoshop uses a “sticky state” for the Options Bar. This is good if you have favorite settings that you use all the time, and bad if you randomly pick options and then forget about them. As a longtime Photoshop ACI (Adobe Certified Instructor), I learned quickly that I can waste precious class time troubleshooting my students’ projects if I don’t take the time to reset defaults between lessons. I don’t mean to say that in a production environment you need to reset defaults several times a day, but if you are struggling with misbehaving tools, this one’s for you.

The Options Bar

The Options Bar is the horizontal bar that runs underneath the Menu Bar in Photoshop. You can turn it on and off through the Windows menu, so if you don’t see it on your screen, you definitely want to turn it on. The job of the Options Bar is to set the options of the tool you are about to use. For example, if I want to make a rectangular marquee selection, I would pick the Rectangular Marquee tool and then pick my options (feather, anti-alias, fixed aspect ratio) before I use the tool. Selections from the Options Bar only affect the next use of the tool, they can’t be used to modify the existing selection, for example.

To reset the Options Bar:

1. Pick any tool from the Toolbox (I have the Move tool selected in my example):
   
2. Right-click (Mac: Control+click) the picture of the tool at the far left of the Options Bar to access the reset tool menu:
   
3. Reset this tool or all tools to restore the system defaults:
   
4. Pick OK.
   
5. The tools return to their default settings.

Restoring System Preferences

With the information above, you now have the skills to manually reset the Options Bar defaults for one or all tools. Sometimes, though, you just want to start over with the system defaults that ship with Photoshop. For example, I usually have my students reset their defaults before class, so that I know exactly what their settings are and can keep the troubleshooting time to a minimum. Here’s how:

1. Save and close all Photoshop documents.
2. Close Photoshop.This is the hard part:
   1. Windows: set up the fingers on one hand to hover over Control and Shift and Alt.
   2. Mac: set up the fingers on one hand to hover over Command and Control and Shift and Alt
3. Use the mouse to double click the Photoshop icon and then IMMEDIATELY press down on keys listed above.
4. You can let go of the mouse, but keep the keys down until you get this message:



5. Click Yes and Photoshop will reopen using the original system defaults.
6. Don’t worry about deleting the Settings file. Photoshop will recreate it the next time you exit the program.

By Michael Meyer, Professional Photographer & Former Photoshop Student

This is a technique that’s a little bit advanced but, once you get the hang of it you’ll want to use it a lot because of its flexibility and power.

Here’s the “before” shot of a nice storm rolling in at the beach. (I love storms at the beach, by the way.)

I wanted to add some contrast and darken the clouds to better accent the impending doom, but I don’t want to make any permanent changes to the image. The best way to add non-destructive edits (that can be removed or modified later) is to add an adjustment layer that floats over the original image. Let’s give it a shot:

1. Open up the image you wish to modify.
2. Click on the Background Layer in the Layers panel.
   
3. Select Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Curves. You can give the new adjustment layer a descriptive name, or just accept the default name as shown below. Click OK.
   
4. Take a close look at the panels on the right of your screen (and shown below). You‘ll see the new Curves adjustment layer in the Layers panel, and the Curves Adjustment panel opens up on top.
   
5. A quick way to adjust the overall contrast in an image is to raise the highlights and lower the shadows into a classic “S” curve. Remember, the steeper the curve, the higher the contrast.
   

The bad news is that by the time the clouds and sky look good, the beach and parts of the water are now way too dark.

The good news? It’s a very easy fix. Take a second look at our new adjustment layer.

See that white rectangle on the right? That’s a mask. The white color indicates that our adjustment affects the entire image underneath. If we add a little black paint to the mask we can selectively control where our adjustment is applied. Here we go:

1. Select the Brush tool from the Toolbox.
   
2. Select a large, soft brush from the Options Bar. (Remember that you can tap the [ and ] brackets to easily make any brush larger or smaller.
   
3. Press the letter “D” on the keyboard to reset the default foreground and background colors.
   
4. Click on the mask icon on the Adjustment Layer in the Layers panel.
   
5. Start painting over the beach. The black paint isn’t showing up on the image, it’s showing up on the mask. Memorize this: black hides, white reveals. As you continue to paint black on the mask, you are hiding the Curves Adjustment on the image.
   
6. If you go too far with the black, just tap the “X” key on the keyboard to switch white to the foreground and paint some white back in. In this example, I painted on all of the beach and the left part of the water to brighten those areas up.
   
7. If you want to see a full-size view of the mask, hold the Alt/Opt key as you click on the mask. You can paint on the mask in this view, if you like, in case you missed a corner. To restore the image, just hold the Alt/Opt key as you click on the mask one more time.
   
8. Voila! Much more dramatic, don’t you think?
   

This is a very simple example of painting on a mask, but you can work with multiple adjustment layers and paint on the various masks to limit your adjustment to certain areas. Try doing that with an enlarger in the darkroom. Let me tell you, it would take a considerably larger amount of time.

By Barb Binder

Are you getting great photos out of Photoshop, but your type looks flat and boring? Here’s a quick technique that looks difficult to create, but isn’t.

1. Open a favorite photo.
   
2. Grab the Type tool, pick a contrasting color and click on the page to add a caption over your photo.
   
3. With your new Type Layer selected, choose Layer > Layer Style > Drop Shadow, and while you are still in the dialog box, click on the check mark for  Bevel and Emboss before choosing OK. 
   
4. Try reducing the Layer Opacity to 20% (that’s the slider in the top right corner of the Layers panel). Are you changing the Fill Color of your type, or the Drop Shadow and Bevel Emboss Layer Styles, or both?  
    
5. If you said “both”, you are correct. Drag the Layer Opacity Slider back to 100%.
6. Now, try the same thing with the the Fill Opacity slider (that’s the slider in the under the Opacity slider in the top right corner of the Layers panel). Can you see how you are reducing the fill color of your type, but not the impact of the Layer Styles?
   
7. Drag Fill Opacity all the way to 0%. What a quick and easy way to define type that accentuates your background image! You can even move the type around with the Move tool, and decide where it looks best.
   

By the way, it seems to me that just about all of my advanced Photoshop students walk in the door understanding what the opacity slider does, but only a handful of them—and I’ve been delivering Photoshop training since v 2.5—can tell me what the fill opacity slider does before we talk about it. By keystroking your way through this tutorial, you are now ahead of the curve.

By Barb Binder

Let’s face it, most of us set type over our Photoshop images using a page layout program (i.e., Adobe InDesign) or an illustration program (i.e., Adobe Illustrator). This allows us to easily define and use a spot color, and has the added benefits of crisp edges on the type, allows knock out of the underlying image and the type will be fully editable. But what if you want to create a spot color in Photoshop and apply it to the type or other graphic elements? Can you do it? Sure, but it’s a bit confusing. Let’s see if I can help.

Let’s start with some basic concepts. Spot colors, stored in Color Libraries in Photoshop, are pre-mixed inks that are used in addition to, or instead of, CMYK inks. We typically use spot colors when we need to be sure that we are getting the same color every time (i.e., a corporate color) or to print a color that is outside the CMYK gamut. Spot color is intended for images that will be printed to film, not for images printed on desktop printers or for electronic distribution.

Define a Spot Color Channel

First you need to define one, or more, spot colors in your Photoshop document.

1. Window menu > Channels.
2. Pick New Spot Channel from the panel pop-up menu in the top right corner.
3. Click the color box to open the Color Picker.
   
4. Select the Color Libraries button.
   
5. Pick your custom color system from the Book list. In my example, I choose PANTONE solid coated. Type in your color name, quickly because there is no text box for the number in the dialog box! I typed 152.
   
6. When you see your color appear, click OK.
   
7. Change the Solidity to 100%, click OK. (Solidity lets you simulate on‑screen the density of the printed spot color but has no effect on the printed separations. A value of 100% simulates an ink that completely covers the inks beneath (such as a metallic ink); 0% simulates a transparent ink that completely reveals the inks beneath (such as a clear varnish).).
8. Your spot color channel is added to the Channels panel—don’t worry that it just looks white!

Applying Spot Color

Because spot colors print on top of a fully composited image, you may need to remove the base color so that it doesn’t show through a semi-transparent spot-ink color when printing. We’ll handle that with a cut and paste sequence as we apply the color.

1. Tap the letter D on the keyboard to reset the default colors to Black and White.
2. Select the area where you would like to use a spot color. In my example, I selected a border around the image. Make sure you are on the same layer as the selected pixels, in my case, that’s the Background layer.
   
3. Select the composite channel in the Channels panel. (If you are working in RGB, click the letters RGB in channels panel. For CMYK, click the letters CYMK; for grayscale, click the word Gray.)
   
4. Choose Edit > Cut to cut the selected pixels to the clipboard.
5. Select the Pantone 152 channel in the Channels panel.
   
6. Choose Edit > Paste to paste the selected pixels into the spot color channel.
   
7. Ah ha! Now you know this is working.

Applying Solid and Screened Areas of your Spot Color

If you just need a color block, like the one above, you can also apply your spot by simply filling an area with black, while your color channel is active. Solid black will give you 100% opacity of your spot. Less than 100% black will give you a tint.

1. Tap the letter D on the keyboard to reset the default colors to Black and White.
2. Make a selection (mine is a wave).
3. Click on the Composite channel in the Channels panel. (See step 3 above.)
4. Press Backspace or Delete to remove the pixels within the selection.
   
5. Select the Pantone 152 channel in the Channels panel.
6. Press ALT+Backspace (Mac: Option+Delete) to fill the selection. Because the spot color channel is active, the result is 100% of the spot color.
   
7. Pick Edit > Undo so that we can try adding a tint.
8. Use the Color panel to define a 50% black foreground color.
   
9. Press ALT+Backspace (Mac: Option+Delete) to fill the selection. There’s your tint: filling with 50% black on the spot color channel results in a 50% tint of the spot.
   

Applying your Spot Color to Text

I know we are almost into 2010, and that Photoshop has had editable type layers for years, so you may need to read the next sentence two or three times to fully comprehend it. Spot color channel text is uneditable. Really. So type carefully. Proof carefully. Or go work in Illustrator or InDesign. If you chose to apply spot color to type in Photoshop, you are going to need to use a type mask if you want to apply a spot color to text.

1. Press the letter D on the keyboard to reset the default colors to Black and White.
2. Select the Type tool and click where you want to add text. A red mask appears over the artwork, and you have a blinking insertion point cursor.
   
3. In the Options bar, set your typeface, style and size.
   
4. Type in your text. (I added a warp to match the wave shape.)
5. Move the Type tool off the text to gain temporary access to the Move tool. Drag to position the text. Don’t actually switch to the Move tool, or you will commit the Type edits.
   
6. When you deselect, it’s done, so make sure you are satisfied before you tap Ctrl D (Mac: Cmd D) to drop your selection.
   

Printing your Spot Colors

My best advice on any printing issues is to talk with your commerical printer or print service provider. They can tell you exactly what you need to do to output the job. If you are looking for a good online resource, check out Corey Barker’s excellent post on Planet Photoshop: http://www.planetphotoshop.com/working-with-spot-color-channels.html.

1. Place several of your photos on your scanning bed at one time (make sure they don’t overlap)
2. Choose File > Import and choose your scanner from the list
3. Follow your scanner’s instructions to scan the photos into Photoshop
4. Once you are back in Photoshop, choose File > Automate > Crop and Straighten, and let the software create separate image files from the one multiple-image scan!