November 20, 2009

Curves Grid Preference

In the Adjustments Panel, Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click in the grid area to toggle more/less grid lines. (10% vs quarter-tone increment)

November 19, 2009

Deleting Points on a Curve

To delete a point on a curve, select the point and do any of the following:
• Press Delete/Backspace
• Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + click on point (on the panel or from the image area)
• Click and drag the point off of the grid

November 18, 2009

Selecting Points on a Curve

With the On-image tool selected on the Curves Adjustments panel (that's the one that looks like the hand with the up/down arrow - otherwise known as the "scrubby slider", as oppose to any of the eyedropper tools), Shift + (plus) will select the next point on the curve and Shift + (minus) will select the previous point.  Shift -click multiple points on the curve to select more than one and move them all at once. Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + D will deselect all selected points.

November 17, 2009

Adding a Point on a Curve

With the On-image tool selected on the Curves Adjustments panel (that's the one that looks like the hand with the up/down arrow - otherwise known as the "scrubby slider", as oppose to any of the eyedropper tools), hovering the cursor in the image area will display a preview circle (bouncing ball) over the corresponding value on the curve.
• Click in the image area to add a point to the curve.
• Click and drag up/down in the image area to add a point on the curve to lighten/darken the targeted value or
• Use the up / down or left/right arrows to move the selected point. (Add the shift key to move it in larger increments.)

November 16, 2009

Display Options for Curves

If a Curves Adjustment layer is targeted in the Layers panel, selecting the flyout on the Adjustments panel reveals the "Curves Display Options". Here, you can choose to show your numeric values on a scale from 0-255 (light) or 0-100% (ink), Channel Overlays, Histogram, Baseline and Intersection Line.

November 13, 2009

Heal and Clone Stamp to Multiple Layers

For added flexibility, use the Healing Brush and Clone Stamp tools to clone to blank layers by checking Sample "All Layers" in the Options bar. In addition, you can choose to Sample the "Current & Below" layers. This can be extremely helpful when cloning image layers and adjustment layer information simultaneously.

November 12, 2009

Heal and Clone Between Documents

You can use the Healing brush and Clone Stamp tools between two open documents: Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click in the source document and then clone in the destination document.

November 11, 2009

Healing Brush and Replace Mode

Using the Healing brush with the blending mode set to Replace makes it behave like the Clone Stamp tool (in that it doesn't automatically try to blend color or tonality of the source and destination), with one advantage: if you're trying to clone high frequency image information, the edges of the cloned area will not appear soft as they do with the Clone Stamp tool.

November 10, 2009

Sampling Color While Painting

Holding the Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) samples a color with the Eyedropper while using the painting tools.

November 9, 2009

The Fade Command

You can fade the opacity and change the blend mode of the painting tools by immediately selecting Edit > Fade Brush after painting with them. This shortcut also works for a variety of additional commands including image adjustments, strokes, fills and filters.

November 6, 2009

Pass Through

Layer Groups have their own blend mode called Pass Through which allows blending and transparency options to "pass through" the group and effect any layers below the group. To isolate the blending of layers within a group, change the Group's blend mode to Normal.

November 5, 2009

The Count Tool

With the Count tool selected (in the Extended version of Photoshop), Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click on the number to delete.

November 4, 2009

Measurement Scale

In the Extended version of Photoshop, select Analysis > Set Measurement Scale> Custom to customize the Measurement scale To display this scale in the Info panel use the flyout to select Panel Options and check the Measurement Scale option.

November 3, 2009

Measuring the Angle with the Ruler Tool

The Ruler tool can be used to measure an angle like a protractor. Drag the first line and then Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click on the either endpoint and drag out the second line. The angle can be viewed in either the Options bar or the Info panel.

November 2, 2009

Rotate Image

Taking a measurement with the Ruler tool and then selecting Image > Image Rotation> Arbitrary will automatically enter the measurement in the Rotate Canvas dialog box.

>> See also JKost.com

Powered by
Movable Type 4.261