Julieanne Kost's Blog

Editing the Contents of a Smart Object

2009-11-23T13:48:34Z

To Edit the Contents of a Smart Object, double click the Smart Object's thumbnail in the Layer's panel.

Curves Grid Preference

2009-11-20T13:16:53Z

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

Deleting Points on a Curve

2009-11-19T13:15:00Z

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

Selecting Points on a Curve

2009-11-18T14:13:41Z

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.

Adding a Point on a Curve

2009-11-17T14:12:31Z

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.)

Display Options for Curves

2009-11-16T14:08:39Z

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.

Heal and Clone Stamp to Multiple Layers

2009-11-13T14:41:57Z

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.

Heal and Clone Between Documents

2009-11-12T13:38:04Z

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.

Healing Brush and Replace Mode

2009-11-11T14:35:37Z

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.

Sampling Color While Painting

2009-11-10T14:34:34Z

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

The Fade Command

2009-11-09T14:33:14Z

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.

Pass Through

2009-11-06T13:17:14Z

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.

The Count Tool

2009-11-05T13:46:22Z

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

Measurement Scale

2009-11-04T13:15:45Z

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.

Measuring the Angle with the Ruler Tool

2009-11-03T13:15:00Z

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.