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.
Option (Mac)/ Alt (Win) -click on the Quick Mask icon to invert the selection when entering Quick Mask mode.
Double click on the quick mask icon to access the Quick Mask Options dialog box to change color, transparency and opacity options.
With the Hand tool selected, checking Scroll All Windows (in the Option bar) will scroll (or pan) all open documents at once. Shift -drag (or pan) with the Hand tool to temporarily turn on the Scroll All Windows.
Shift-double clicking on a RAW image in the Bridge will bypass the Camera Raw dialog, applying either settings that have been saved with the file, or if there are no setting applied, opening the file with the camera defaults.
When launching Photoshop, Option-Command (Mac) / Alt-Control (Win) prompts you to choose an additional scratch disk folder. Note: there is a very short window between clicking the PS icon to launch it and needing to hold down the keyboard shortcut, so get your fingers ready ahead of time!
When launching Photoshop, Option-Command (Mac) / Alt-Control (Win) + Shift prompts you to delete the Adobe Photoshop settings file (which stores your preferences). Note: there is a very short window between clicking the PS icon to launch it and needing to hold down the keyboard shortcut, so get your fingers ready ahead of time!
Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) while in the Save for Web dialog box will change the Cancel button to Reset and the Done button to Remember (click Remember to save the current setting as your default).
When on a layer, tap the "/" key to toggle the Lock (Transparency, Pixels, Position, or All) option on and off.
Shift-click on the link icon to temporarily disable linking of a given layer.
Although the basic rules from previous versions of Photoshop still apply, now that multiple layers can be selected at one time in Photoshop, the rules for linking layers have become a bit more complex. They are as follows:
• Selecting a layer that is linked will show the link icon on all the other layers to which it is linked.
• To unlink a single layer from a link set, simply select the layer and click the link icon. If there were other linked layers, they remain linked.
• If none of the layers selected contain linked and you click the link icon, all layers become linked - creating a new link set.
• If the layers selected contain only linked layers, regardless of whether they're all in the same link sets, clicking the link icon unlinks everything selected.
• If the layers selected contain at least some linked layers within the selection, plus any number of unlinked layers, clicking the link icon extends the link set to include the unlinked layers in the selection.
• If the layers selected contains linked layers from two or more link sets plus at least one unlinked layer, everything in the selection gets put into a "new" linked set.
• Layers can only belong to one link set at a time.
To link two or more layers, select them in the Layer's panel and click the Link icon. You can also assign a custom keyboard shortcut using the Keyboard Shortcut Editor to ass a shortcut to Link/Unlink layers. When layers are linked together, commands applied to one layer will also be applied to linked layers (when possible). This includes, moving, transforming, aligning, distributing, apply styles, etc.
Note: before Photoshop had the ability to select multiple layers, linking was more heavily utilized. Now, it is used with complex documents when multiple layers require identical changes thereby eliminating the need to have to reselect multiple layers again and again.
For most people, the fact that Camera Raw is a plug in that works in both Bridge and Photoshop is completely transparent. The most common workflow is to find the desired image in Bridge, double click to open it in the Camera Raw dialog box and start editing edits. When you're finished, you click Open Image (or Open Object if the "Open in Photoshop as Smart Objects" is checked) to open in Photoshop.
But there is a subtle difference when you use one of the other methods (ie not double clicking in Bridge) to open a raw file For example, when in Bridge, if you choose File > Open in Camera Raw, click the Open in Camera Raw icon, or Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + R to open Camera Raw files, Bridge launches the Camera Raw plug in so that it runs within Bridge. The advantage to this workflow is that you can make edits without having Photoshop open. Another small change that you will notice if you choose one of the previously mentioned methods for opening raw files-when you are finished making edits, the default button is "Done" and by clicking it, you will be returned to Bridge.
Note if, when in Bridge, you choose to double click on a raw file (thus launching the camera raw plug-in in Photoshop) clicking the Done button will close the raw plug in and leave you in Photoshop.
In order to change the default rendering of your raw files, open an image in Camera Raw, then change any necessary sliders or options and choose "Save New Camera Raw Defaults". From that point on, every time you open raw file from that camera you're settings will be the way that you want them. Note: using the Camera Raw Preferences, you can make the Camera defaults specific to Camera Serial Number and ISO setting. Setting new Camera Raw defaults is most commonly used for selecting an alternate default profile under the Calibration tab. For more information check out the movie on tv.adobe.com - Working with DNG Camera Profiles.
Holding down the Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) key changes the Save, Open and Cancel options:
• "Save Image..." changes to "Save Image" (with out the ellipse) which saves the image bypassing the Save Options dialog (it automatically uses the last settings).
• "Open Image" changes to "Open Copy" which opens a copy of the image. This would be useful for opening multiple copies of the same file processed in different ways.
"Cancel" changes to "Reset" which reverts the image settings to the beginning of the session (not the camera defaults, the image settings - although this might be the same if it's the first time the image is opened in Camera Raw).
When using the Point curve (in the Tone Curve panel) many of the shortcuts that work in Photoshop also work in Camera Raw. For example, Command (Mac) / Control (Win) -click in the preview are to set a point on the curve. Then, use the arrow key (up and down, left and right) to reposition the curve (add the shift key to move in larger increments). To select multiple points in the Curves panel, Shift click the points on the curve. In addition, Control + Tab will move to the next point on the curve (yes, it's the same shortcut on both Mac and Win).
While in Camera Raw, several of the same keyboard shortcuts apply as in Bridge for adding star ratings and color labels.
• Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + 1, 2-5 for 1-5 stars.
• Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + 6, 7-9 for color labels.
• Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + "." or "," to increase/decrease star ratings.
Note that Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + 0 will "Fit in View" so you'll need to use "." to decrease star ratings to zero (or, if you have more than one image opened in Camera Raw, click on the "no-rating" icon in the filmstrip on the left hand side.
In Camera Raw, Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + U sets new black and white points.
In order to see if any highlights or shadows in an image are clipped to pure black/white, tap the "O" / "U" key to turn on the clipping warning. Clipped highlights will be displayed in red, shadows in blue. I think Over/Under exposure to remember these shortcuts for viewing clipping warnings in shadow / highlights.
Clicking on the Full Screen Mode icon (to the right of the Preview option) will display Camera Raw in Full Screen Mode. Better yet, pressing "F" will also toggle Normal / Full Screen Modes in Camera Raw!
"P" toggles the Preview on/off (to quickly compare before and after). However, it only toggles on and off the preview for the active panel (Basic, Tone Curve etc). In order to toggle all changes made in all panels, select the Presets or Snapshot's panel and tap "P".
"V" toggles Hide/Show Adjustment Brush pins and/or the tool Overlay for Graduated Filter, Spot Removal and Red Eye Removal tools.
To make a document the same size as another open document, while in the Image Size or Canvas Size dialog box, select the other open document from the bottom of the Window menu (PS will automatically fill in the values).
When working with the Adjustments panel, holding the backslash key, displays a temporary preview of the unadjusted state of a document. (It's like unchecking the Preview check box temporarily - so you have to have made a change to the adjustment for this to work.) Because of the need to distinguish a tap from a hold, there's a slight delay before the results of the hold behavior become visible.
To hide the text (or any image information on a layer) but keep the layer style effects visible (a drop shadow for example), decrease the Fill amount on the Layers panel. Note: decreasing the Opacity amount will decrease the layer information as well as any Layer Styles applied.
To change the default Angle and Altitude for the Global Light feature (which several of the styles use), close all documents, then select Layer > Layer Style > Global Light and make your desired changes. These new setting will become your new defaults.
When working with complex layers with multiple layer styles applied, select Layer > Layer Styles > Hide All Effects to speed up performance. This option is also available via Control Mac) / right mouse (Win) -click the "fx" icon on the layer with the style (in the Layers panel).
There are several ways to copy and paste Layer Styles from one layer to another, but my favorite is to copy and paste via the context sensitive menu. Control (Mac) / right mouse (Win) -click the "fx" icon on the layer with the style (in the Layers panel) and select Copy Layer Style from the context sensitive menu. Then, select the layer(s) that need the layer style applied (in the Layers panel) and control (Mac) / right mouse (Win) -click in the layer (to the right of the name area will work just fine) and select Paste Layer Style. Control (Mac) / right mouse (Win) -click the "fx" icon to use the context sensitive menu to delete a layer style (select Clear Layer Style).
To move an effect (Layer Style) to another layer, drag the "fx" icon from one layer to another. Or, click the disclosure icon to reveal the individual effects and drag a single effect (by clicking on the name of the effect) or the entire effect (by dragging the word "Effects").
To copy an effect (Layer Style) to another layer, Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -drag the "fx" icon from one layer to another. Or, click the disclosure icon to reveal the effects and drag a single effect (by clicking on the name of the effect) or the entire effect (by dragging the word "Effects").
When layer styles are applied to a layer, the "effects" icon (fx) appears "collapsed" saving room in the Layers panel. To reveal the individual effects, click on the disclosure triangle next to the "fx" icon. To choose to expand/collapse Layer Styles as they're added, from the Layers panel flyout menu, select Panel Options and choose to/not to Expand New Effects.
When using the Graduated filter Shift -dragging constrains the Graduated Filter to 15 degree angles. When finished refining the controls for one graduated Filter, tapping "N" commits the current Graduated Filter adjustment and targets the New option (as oppose to Editing the current adjustment). The "N" key also works with the Adjustment Brush.
When using the Adjustment brush, tap "M" to toggle on/off the Auto Mask option (Auto Mask automatically detect edges based on contrast and color to help selectively apply adjustments to a desired area. To view the Mask Overlay tap "Y" to toggle the Overlay on /off. To choose a different color to display as the mask overlay, click the color swatch to the right of the Show Mask option.
Parallel to Photoshop, Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) + "[" or "]" increases/decreases brush size. Adding the Shift key increases/decreases Feather. Adjusting the Flow is even easier, simply tap the "+ " (plus) or "-" (minus) to increase/decrease. Note: the Flow sets the amount and speed at which an adjustment is applies , the Density caps the amount of change that can be made (even with multiple strokes).
In addition, Shift -drag constrains the Adjustment Brush to a straight line and Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) toggles the Adjustment Brush and Eraser tool.
• Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -drag the Exposure, Recovery or Blacks sliders to display any clipped areas in the preview.
• Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -drag the Hue slider in the Split Toning panel to display the color at 100% saturation.
• Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -drag Detail and Masking slider to display a B/W preview of the mask.
• Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -drag Red/Cyan or Blue/Yellow slider in the Lens Correction panel to display a single color shift correction.
To delete a single Color Sampler in Camera Raw, position the cursor over the Color Sampler while holding the Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) key. When the icon changes to a pair of scissors, click to "cut" (delete) the Color Sampler. Holding down the Shift key temporarily toggles the Color Sampler tool to the White Balance Eyedropper.
Option-Command (Mac) / Alt-Control (Win) + 1, 2, 3-9 will display the corresponding panel (Basic, Tone Curve, Detail etc.). Note: Mac Users, must disable Universal Access in the OS in order to display the Preset's panel (Option-Command (Mac) / Alt-Control (Win) + 8).
The Crop tool in Camera Raw works similar Photoshop, however there are a few differences.
• Position the curser outside of the crop marquee (the icon will change to the double headed arrow), and drag to rotate/straighten.
• Escape will remove or cancel the crop.
• In order to set an aspect ratio for the Crop tool, click and hold the Crop tool icon and select Custom from the drop down. Changing the Crop options to Inches will enable the option to open at a specific size (when used in combination with the resolution in the Workflow Settings).
Some of these your might recognize from Photoshop, however Camera Raw adds some great additions.
• Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + "+" (plus) zooms in and "-"(minus) zooms out.
Some of these your might recognize from Photoshop, however Camera Raw adds some great additions.
• Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + 0 (zero) will "Fit In View".
Some of these your might recognize from Photoshop, however Camera Raw adds some great additions.
• Option-Command (Mac) / Alt-Control (Win) + "0" (zero) views the image at 100% .
Some of these your might recognize from Photoshop, however Camera Raw adds some great additions.
• Holding down the Command (Mac) / Control (Win) will temporarily switch to the Zoom In tool. Note: this shortcut will not work when the Crop tool is selected as the Command (Mac) / Control (Win) temporarily switches the Crop to the Straighten tool.
Some of these your might recognize from Photoshop, however Camera Raw adds some great additions.
• Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) will temporarily switch to the Zoom Out tool.
Yesterday's post noted that "T" was the shortcut for the Targeted Adjustment Tool. More specifically, "T" will select the "last used" Targeted Adjustment tool. There are however, more specific shortcuts to select the individual tools:
Option-Command (Mac) / Alt-Control (Win) Shift + T Parametric Curve
Option-Command (Mac) / Alt-Control (Win) Shift + H Hue
Option-Command (Mac) / Alt-Control (Win) Shift + S Saturation
Option-Command (Mac) / Alt-Control (Win) Shift + L Luminance
Option-Command (Mac) / Alt-Control (Win) Shift + G Grayscale Mix
Camera Raw shares many of the shortcut keys used to select tools as Photoshop does. There are a few deferences however, as you can see below. (Don't worry, if you can't remember them all, you can always position your cursor over the desired tool to display the tooltip.)
Z Zoom Tool
H Hand Tool (or press the Spacebar to temporarily access the tool)
I White Balance Tool (or use Shift to temporarily access the tool)
S Color Sample
T Targeted Adjustment Tool
C Crop
A Straighten
B Spot Removal
E Red Eye Removal
K Adjustment Brush
G Graduated Filter
L/R Rotate Left (CCW) / Right (CW) or Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + "[" or "]"
Finally, Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + K will launch the Camera Raw Preferences.
To improve batch processing performance, in the History panel,select History Options from the fly-out menu and deselect Automatically Create First Snapshot. Depending on the length of your action, you might also want to reduce the number History States in the Preferences > Performance panel. Just don't forget to increase the number of states when you finished batch processing!
The Batch command can be recorded as part of an action to perform multiple batches in sequence. In addition, you can batch process multiple folders without reorganizing them on the hard drive - simply create aliases within a folder to the other folders you want to process, and select the Include All Subfolders option in the Batch command dialog box (or use a droplet).
You can save the steps in an Actions as a text file by pressing Control +Alt (Windows) or Command + Option (Mac) while selecting Save Actions from the Actions panel fly out menu. This is handy for reviewing or printing the contents of an Action (however, you can't reload the text file back into Photoshop). Note that ALL of the Actions in ALL sets are printed out, so you may want to limit the number of actions you have loaded to eliminate a lot of deleting of unnecessary information.
In order to save an action, you must select the Set that the action is in (using the Actions panel). If there are multiple actions in the set, they will ALL be saved (this is a feature). If you only want to save a single action, drag it into it's own lonely little set. If you have received an action from someone or want to load a saved action from one computer to another, navigate to the action using Bridge, and double click on it to load.
Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click the disclosure triangle next to an action to collapse or expand all components of that action. Viewing the components (or recorded setting of a command) can be especially helpful when trouble shooting actions. Another way to trouble shoot is to select the Playback Options from the Actions panel's fly-out menu and choose Step by Step or even Pause For xx Seconds in order to watch the action play more slowly.
When recording actions that will be played back on files of various size, it might help to record the action with the Ruler Units set to Percentage However, resolution-dependent commands such as type size, feather amount, sharpening settings etc, may not work as expected when the file size changes.
Double clicking on a single command in the Actions panel will play the command if there are no options associated with the command (Select> All or Edit > Copy for example). If, however there are options associated with the command (such as Image Size), Photoshop will display the necessary dialog box. This is an excellent feature if you want to make changes to that command - but beware, whatever you enter in the dialog box will now become the recorded value in the action). To bypass this option, and simply play a command using it's recorded options, (without a dialog box appearing), add the Command (Mac) / Control (Win) key when double clicking the name of the command.
Since I am rarely able to record an entire action without making a mistake, it's good to know that Actions can be modified in a number of ways. For example, individual commands can be repositioned by dragging them (in the Actions panel) within an action or, they can be moved by dragging them to another Action. Add the Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -drag to copy a command within an action or copy it to another action.
If a command is not needed, simply select it and click the Trash icon at the bottom of the panel or, to bypass the confirmation dialog box, drag the command to the trash icon. As you create more and more actions, it becomes easy to "harvest" commands from other actions. You can even play and action while recording!
Use the Action Options flyout (from the Actions Panel) to assign a Function key in order to quickly run an action. You can simply choose F1- F12 (the number of F-keys will vary depending on platform and keyboard layout) or add a keyboard modifier (Shift, for example). If you assign a F-key that is already in use by Photoshop (F5 for example, is assigned by default to show and hide the Brush panel), Photoshoop will remove it from the default (the Brushes panel in this example) and assign it to your action. Some F-keys may not be available if the operating system is using them. In this case, you will need to change or remove the F-key via the operating system).
In addition, you can color code your actions (red for image size changes, blue for different sharpening amounts etc.). This color coding is only displayed in Button Mode (see yesterday's post)
In the Actions Panel, use the fly-out menu to access Button Mode to view your actions as clickable buttons. If you're working with several actions (in a production environment for example), you might want to rearrange the panel so that it fits horizontally along the bottom of your screen, making more actions accessible without scrolling. Clicking the button runs the action. Note: new actions and changes to existing actions can not be made in Button Mode, you will need to return to Normal Mode (uncheck the Button Mode option using the fly-out) to make changes.
Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) + Shift + O (or double clicking on an image with the keyboard modifiers) will open a flattened version of a file (instead of a layered one) if the file was saved with the Maximize (PSD and PSB) File Compatibility preference turned on. Note: in PSCS4, a dialog will as if you want to "Read the composite data instead?" - click yes to confirm.
Control (Mac) / right mouse -clicking on the tool icon in the Options bar (officially called the Tool Preset Picker) allows you to choose to Reset Tool or Reset All Tools. Although this option doesn't reset which tool occupies the top (visible) slot in the Tool panel, it will reset all of the tool's options (found in the Options bar) to their default state(s).
You have probably discovered by now that you can use the Application Bar to choose to display images in Standard Screen Mode, Full Screen Mode with Menu Bar or Full Screen Mode. One of the slick new features of PSCS4 that I had previously mentioned is it's default setting which will automatically hide the panels and tools in Full Screen Mode. What I forgot to mention is that if you are working with multiple documents, holding down the Shift key when selecting one of the screen modes will display ALL open documents into whichever screen mode is chosen.
Tap the "X" key to exchange the foreground and background colors.
Tap the "D" key to set the background/foreground colors to black/white.
To select similar colors throughout the image with the Magic Want tool (as opposed to being restricted to those similar pixels that are touching) uncheck the "Contiguous" option in the Options bar.
Also, while using the Magic Wand tool, tapping the return/enter key will automatically highlight the Tolerance option for the tool in the Options bar and allow you to enter a numeric value.
Both the Quick Selection and Magic Wand tools make selections based on the color sampled. When using the Quick Selection tool, checking Auto-Enhance can help reduce rough edges of the selection in transitional areas. For more control after making a selection, (when using either Quick Selection or the Magic Wand tool), select Refine Edge from the Options bar and use the dialog box to further fine tune your selection.
Both tools will also sample similar colors on multiple layers - simply check the "Sample All Layers" feature in the Options bar.
When using either the magnetic Lasso or the Magnetic Pen, the following shortcuts can help to quickly change tool options:
[ or ] decreases/increases the lasso width
[ or ] + Shift goes to the minimum/maximum lasso width
',' (comma) or '.' (period) decreases/increases the edge contrast
',' (comma) or '.' (period) + Shift goes to the minimum/maximum edge contrast
';' (semicolon) or ''' (apostrophe) decreases/increases the frequency
';' (semicolon) or ''' (apostrophe) + Shift goes to the minimum/maximum frequency
While using the Lasso tool, tapping the return/enter key will automatically highlight the Feather amount in the Options bar. This feather is applied to the NEXT selection that you draw with the Lasso tool.
Holding the Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) key while dragging the Lasso tool will toggle to the Polygonal Lasso tool and vice versa. When starting with the Lasso tool, this previous shortcut might take a few tries to master as you have to be careful to release the Option key (to return from the Polygonal Lasso tool to the regular Lasso) while holding the mouse down.
In addition, holding the Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) key while dragging the Magnetic Lasso will toggle to the regular Lasso if you drag with the cursor and the Polygonal Lasso if you click with the cursor.
When using the Custom Shape tool, ‘[‘ or ‘]’ goes to previous or next shape in Custom Shape Picker (in the Options bar). Adding the Shift key selects the first or last shape in the Custom Shape Picker.
When using the Line tool‘[‘ or ‘]’ decreases or increases the line width by one pixel. Adding the Shift key will increase/decrease the line width in increments of 10.
When using the Polygon tool, ‘[‘ or ]’ decreases or increases the number of sides by one. Adding the Shift key will increase/decrease the number of sides in increments of 10.
For the rounded rectangle tool: ‘[‘ or ‘]’ decreases or increases the corner radius by one pixel. Adding the Shift key will increase/decrease the radius in increments of 10.
With the Line tool selected, click on the downward facing triangle to the right of the Custom Shape tool icon the Options bar to access arrowhead options.
Regardless of which Shape tool is selected, (Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, Line and/or Custom Shape), when creating a shape layer ‘,’ (comma) or ‘.’ (period) goes to previous or next Layer style in the Style Picker (in the Options bar). Adding the Shift key selects the first or last style in the Style Picker.
In order to create a more even stroke of paint than you might be able to accomplish when painting “freehand”, first create a path in the shape of the stroke (with the Pen tool). Next, select the desired options for the Brush (to be used to paint the path), and, from the Paths panel fly-out menu, select Stroke Path. Choose Brush from the drop down menu and Voila, your path is strokes perfectly! You can even choose to check the Simulate Pressure option to simulate pressure sensitivity of the tool.
You can see from the tools listed in the Stroke Path dialog that you can use this technique to stroke with a variety of painting tools making this technique equally useful for dodging and burning, cloning objects etc.
When recording actions, this method enables a workaround for painting as brush strokes can’t be recorded, but stroking paths can be.
When the Freeform Pen tool is selected, try checking the Magnetic option (in the Option bar) to have the Pen tool analyze edge areas in images. To customize the Magnetic settings, in the Options bar click the downward facing triangle to the right of the Custom Shape tool icon and customize the “Width” (how many pixels to look at), “Contrast” (what determines an edge) and “Frequency” (how often to lay down anchor points).
With the Pen tool selected, in the Options bar click the downward facing triangle to the right of the Custom shape tool icon, and select Rubber Band. This option will preview the direction of the path that will be drawn as you move your cursor in the image area. (This is a great learning tool!)
To quickly find the center of a path or shape layer, select the path and choose the Move tool. In the Options bar, check the “Show Transform Controls” option. The transform controls can also be used to transform your path - simply drag the anchor points (shift -drag to constrain proportions). Don’t forget to apply the transformation (tap Return (Mac) or Enter (Win), click the check icon in the Option bar or double click within the transform controls.
Note: if the selected path is a vector mask, the transform controls will be displayed around the layer contents (not the path). Select the path, and then choose Edit > Transform Path.
It’s also worth mentioning that you can transform paths (and therefore shapes) outside of the visible image area and Photoshop will keep track of them.
After drawing a path with the Pen tool, Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + Return (Mac) / Enter (Win) crates a selection from the path. Note: this shortcut works with any selected path (shape layer, vector mask etc.).
With a path selected, Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -drag the path in the image area to duplicate it.
To select multiple paths (or delete them from the selection if they are already selected), shift-click the path with the Path Selection tool. Click and drag in the image area to select multiple paths with the Path Select tool, or click and drag to select multiple line segments with the Direct Selection tool.
To select an entire path, use the Path Selection tool. To select segments of a path (including anchor points, direction lines etc.), use the Direct Selection tool. Instead of switching tools, adding the Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) + click on a path/anchor point with the Direct Selection tool will select the entire path.
When using the Vector tools in Photoshop, keep the following in mind. First, The Pen and Shape tools can be used to create Shape Layers, Paths, or Filled Pixel regions. Be sure to select the correct icon (in the Options bar) before starting to work, or you might have to backtrack or go through extra steps to correct it. Also, the Pen and Shape tools can have Styles applied, so if you’re not achieving your expected results, make sure that the Style icon (in the Options Bar) is set to “No Style”.
When compositing several images into one document I often find that a portion of a layer will end up being positioned outside of the visible image area. Photoshop, of course, is still keeping track of this information (in case I choose to reposition the layer), but when I’m certain that I will no longer need it, I will choose Select > All and then Image > Crop. This eliminates unnecessary information outside or beyond the visible image area and will typically help to keep my file size more manageable
One can always select Image > Canvas Size in order to numerically add or subtract to the width or height of your image. But if you would rather eyeball it, try using the Crop tool. Drag out a crop marquee and release the mouse. Then, grab one of the anchor points and drag it beyond the visible image area. When the crop is applied,the area outside of the image and within the crop marquee will be added to the image canvas.
Note: If you can't drag the crop outside of the image because the image windows is in the way, try zooming out or using full screen mode.
To add transparency around the image (instead of filling the added space with the background color) convert the Background into a layer by dragging the Lock icon to the trash before cropping.
Layer Groups are, by default, set to display blending effects (such as opacity, blend modes etc.) just like any other layer in Photoshop. For example, if a layer in a Group has it’s blend mode is set to “Multiply”, it will be multiplied (blended) with all other layers below it. In this default state, clicking on the Group in the Layers panel displays “Pass Through” as the Group’s blend mode (i.e: any blending applied to layers within the group is “passing through” the group to be applied to the layers below it).
To change this default behavior to limit the blending between layers to only those layers within the Groups, target the Group in the Layers panel and set the Groups blend mode to “Normal” . For even more advanced blending of channels within Groups, choose Layer >Group Properties (or Control (Mac)/ right mouse (Win) -click the Group icon in the Layers panel and select Group Properties) to specify which channels to use for special effect blending of layers.
Not only are Layer Groups great for organizing your layers, you can also use them to mask the contents of multiple layers at a time. With the Group targeted in the Layers panel, click the Add Pixel (or Vector) Mask icon from the Masks panel. This mask will control the visibility of all layers within the Group.
Copying Merged Layers (and Groups)
Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + Shift + C (with a selection) copies a merged view of all visible layers onto the clipboard.
Option-Command (Mac) / Alt-Control (Win) + Shift +E, pastes a merged copy of all visible layers on a (single) new layer above the topmost currently selected layer.
Command (Mac) / Control (Win) -click the disclosure triangle next to a layer Group to expand or collapse all layer Groups in the document.
Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click the disclosure triangle to expand collapse all groups nested within the current group.
Option-Command (Mac) / Alt-Control (Win) -cick the disclosure triangle to expand and collapse all groups (nested or not).
Or, if you prefer, Control (Mac)/ right mouse (Win) -click the Group’s disclosure triangle and choose “Close/Open this Group” or “Close/Open all Other Groups”.
To automatically select Layer Groups (as oppose to selecting individual layers), with the Move tool selected, check the Auto-Select box in the Options bar and choose Group from the pull-down menu.
To delete a Group, select Layer > Delete > Group or, with the Group selected on the Layers panel, click the trash can icon. Either method displays a dialog with the options to delete the “Group and Contents” (which deletes both), “Group Only” (which removes any groups but leaves the layers), or “Cancel”.
To delete the Group and all of it’s contents while bypassing the dialog select the Group on the Layers panel and either drag the Group to the trash can icon or, Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click the trash can icon.
Command (Mac) / Control (Win) -drag a Group to the trash can icon to delete a Group without deleting it’s contents.
With a Group targeted in the layers panel, Select Layer > Duplicate Group or Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -drag the Group in the Layers panel (until you see a heavy black line between the layers) and release.
Note this shortcut will not work if the Group is at the top of the Layers panel - in this case, I use the context sensitive menu (Control -click (Mac) or right mouse click) on the Group and select Duplicate Group.
Layer Groups are an excellent way to organize a complex multi layered document. To create an empty Layer Group, click the Create Layer Group (the folder) icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. The Group will be added above the currently targeted layer. If no layers are targeted, Photoshop adds the group to the top of the layer stack.
To create a new Layer Group while simultaneously placing targeted layers into that group Group select Layer > Group Layers or drag the targeted layers (in the Layers panel) to the New Group icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, or use the keyboard shortcut Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + G. The group will be added above the topmost currently targeted layer.
To ungroup layers select Layer > Ungroup Layers or use the keyboard shortcut Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + Shift + G.
Select Layer > Arrange > Reverse to reverse the stacking order of the selected layers. Note: if the layers are in different groups this option is not available.
Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + “[“ or “]” moves the layer up or down. This is a very useful shortcut when recording actions as the specific name of the layer is not recorded.
• Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) + “[“ or “]” targets the layer above or below the currently targeted layer.
• Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) +Shift + “] “or + “[“ adds the next layer up or down to the targeted layer(s) (note when you get to the top or bottom of the layer stack, Photoshop will “wrap around” to continue adding/subtracting layers).
• Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) + “,“ or “.” targets the bottom/top -most layer.
• Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) + Shift + “,“ or “.” targets all layers that fall between the currently targeted layer to the top or bottom of the layer stack.
Note: these shortcuts are essential when recording actions as they help to select layers, but do not record the specific “name” of the layer in the action.
To make a document the same size as another open document, while in the Image Size and Canvas Size dialog boxes, select the other open document from the bottom of the Window menu and Photoshop will automatically fill in the values.
Holding the Shift key while dragging and dropping a layer(s) between two documents will place the “dropped” layer(s) into the center of the destination document. If there is a selection in the destination document, holding the Shift key while dragging and dropping an image will drop it into the center of the selection.
When working with tabbed documents in Photoshop CS4, moving a layer(s) from one document to another can be accomplished by dragging the layers (with the Move tool) from the image area, on top of the “destination” document’s tab. When the “destination” document pops forward, position the cursor over the image area and release to “drop” the layers.
I know that some of you prefer to drag and drop layers from one image to another by dragging them from the Layers panel, however you can not drag and drop from the Layer’s panel to the tab of another open document. If you like the tabbed panels, but feel that you must drag and drop between documents from the Layer’s panel, try using the Arrange Document Icon in the new Application Bar to “Tile All in Grid” all of the open images — then drag and drop from the Layer’s panel to the other tiled images.
I have set a custom keyboard shortcut (Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts) for Window > Arrange > Tile and Window > Arrange > Consolidate to Tabs in order to streamline up the process of toggling between the two display views.
If you’re constantly creating the same size document, don’t forget that you can create your own custom presets, by entering your preferred values in the New Dialog box and clicking the “Save Preset” button. In addition, you can change the defaults for Photoshop’s “New Document Preset Resolution” in Preferences > Units & Rulers for both your Print and Screen work.
Option-Command (Mac) / Alt-Control (Win) + N will enter the last numeric entry in to the “New” dialog box (instead of whatever dimensions were last copied).
Clipping masks are most commonly used when an adjustment needs to be applied to a single layer in a multi-layer document. For example, if you have a triptych of images (each on their own layer) within a single document and need to brighten only one of the images, you can add an adjustment layer and “clip” it so that it only effects that single layer.
The easiest way to “clip” an adjustment layer to the layer below it is to target the layer that needs the adjustment in the Layers panel, then click the clipping icon at the bottom of the Adjustment panel before adding the adjustment, (or, if you forget, you can click the clipping the icon after adding the adjustment at the bottom of the Adjustment panel). As you make the adjustment, you will notice that the modification is only effecting the layer that the adjustment is “clipped" to.
Another use of clipping masks is to clip content suce as a photo to a shape such as type. In order to do this, put the type layer under the photo layer on the Layer's panel, target the type layer (by clicking in it in the Layer's panel) and select Command-Opt (Mac) / Control-Alt (Win) + G to create a Clipping Mask.
Or, on the Layers panel, hold the Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) key and position the cursor over the line that separates the two layers in the Layer's panel. When you see the icon switch to a triangle with two overlapping circles -click to create a Clipping Mask.
You can have multiple layers clipped to a base layer. Visually, you will know that the layers are clipped because the bottom most layer’s name will be underlined in the Layers panel, and the clipped layer(s) will be indented with an arrow pointing downwards towards the base layer.
To paste content (from the clipboard) into a Layer mask, Option (Mac)/ Alt (Win) -click the Layer mask icon on the Layers panel and then select Edit > Paste.
If you have an active selection in your document (marching ants) and have content on the clipboard, selecting “Paste Into” will paste the content from the clipboard into your selection - and automatically convert the selection into a Layer mask.
Clicking on the Link icon (between the layer and the mask icons in the Layers panel) will unlink the mask from the layer (allowing either to move independently of the other). Click in the empty are to relink the layer with the mask.
To temporarily disable a layer or vector mask, Shift-click the mask icon in the Layers panel. For a Layer mask, simply clicking on the mask thumbnail in the Layers panel will enable it. For a Vector mask, you must shift -click the thumbnail again to enable it. You can also Control (Mac) / Right mouse (Win) -click on the mask in the Layers panel and choose to Enable or Disable the mask.
Clicking on the Vector mask icon in the Layers Panel will toggle the path’s visibility. When the path is hidden, drawing with the Pen or Shape tool(s) creates a new path/shape - as oppose to adding to the mask.
To view a layer mask, Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click on the mask thumbnail in the Layers panel. Tapping the “\”(backslash) toggles the display of a layer mask on and off (as a red rubylith overlay). (Looking at the Channels panel, you can see that this shortcut toggles the channels visibility.)
Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + “\” (backslash) targets the layer mask in the Layers panel. Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + 2 targets the layer.
Drag a layer or vector mask thumbnail in the Layers panel to move it from one layer to another.
Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -drag a layer or vector mask thumbnail in the Layers panel to create a copy of the mask.
Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) + Shift -drag to create copy of a layer mask while simultaneously inverting the mask. (Note: this shortcut does not work with a vector mask - in order to invert a vector mask, select the path with the Direct Selection tool and click the “Subtract From Shapes Area” icon in the Options bar.)
To delete a mask, target it on the Layers panel and click the Trash icon on the Masks panel. If you prefer to click the Trash icon on the Layers panel, or drag the mask thumbnail to the Trash icon at the bottom of Layers panel, adding the Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) key will bypass the option dialog box. You can also Control -click (Mac) or right mouse click on the layer mask and choose discard from the context sensitive menu to bypass the dialog.
To add a mask to a layer, click on the layer or vector mask icon in the Masks panel. If you prefer to use the Layers panel “Add Layer Mask” icon, click once to add a layer mask, click again to add a vector mask, or if you want only the vector mask, Command (Mac) / Control (Win) -click the mask icon. To add a layer mask which automatically hides the selection (as oppose to reveals it as it does by default), Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click the icon. Of course with Photoshop CS4, you can always invert a layer mask using the new Invert button on the Masks panel!
Control (Mac)/ right mouse (Win) -click on the eye icon next to a layer (on the Layers panel) to color code a layer. Note: the Background layer will have to be converted to a layer (in the Layers panel, drag the Lock icon to the trash) before color coding.
Thanks for correcting me on this, Mike!
In the Histogram panel, use the fly-out menu to select either Expanded View or All Channels View. Then, click and drag in the histogram to view the Levels, Count and Percentile of the range selected.
Many Panels have unique options accessible via the panel’s flyout menu. For example, selecting Panel Options from the History panel’s flyout menu provides several customizable preferences for history behavior. Several Panels also share shortcuts/behaviors - so if you use one option with one panel, try it with another. For example, for all panels that have the ability to discard something from the panel, Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click the trash can icon to delete the selected item (layers/multiple states/channels etc.) while bypassing the dialog box.
Select Preferences > Cursors to control the look of your painting tool icons. Choose between Standard, Precise, Normal Brush Tip (which displays the brush size based on those pixels in the brush that are painting with 50% or greater opacity), and Full Size Brush Tip (which displays the cursor size around any pixel that is painted regardless of opacity). With any of the above options, you can also chose to Show Crosshair in Brush Tip to display a center point in a brush. Personally, I use set the painting Cursors to Normal Brush Tip and then use the “caps lock” key to display precise cross hairs for brushes as needed.
For Other Cursors, choose to see the Standard Photoshop icon, or choose Precise to display the cursor as a target with crosshairs. Note: clicking on any of the radial buttons will show a preview in the preferences.
A few shortcuts changed in Photoshop CS4 when we simplified the way that adjustments worked by taking them out of modal dialog boxes and putting them into panels. Because a modal dialog box is it’s own little world, it can use shortcuts that are already used in Photoshop “proper”. However, when we put adjustments like Curves, Levels, etc. in the Adjustment panel, we no longer have that isolated context. As a result:
• The shortcut to display an individual channel in a Photoshop file was previously assigned to Cmd (Mac) / Ctrl (Win) +1, 2, 3, etc. Cmd+1 would show Red, Cmd+2 would show Green, etc. Those shortcuts, have now shifted two places to the right. Therefore Cmd+3 shows Red, Cmd=4 shows Green, etc. (Cmd + 2 shows the composite).
• Previously, when targeting a channel in a modal dialog box (such as Curves, Levels, etc.), you used Cmd (Mac) / Ctrl (Win) +1, 2, 3, etc. Cmd+1 would target Red, Cmd+2 would show Green, etc. Just like the shortcuts for displaying channels, those shortcuts have all shifted two places to the right. When using the panel-based adjustments, the shortcuts have changed to Opt (Mac) / Alt (Win) +1, 2, 3, etc.
• The Hue/Saturation and Selective Color commands are slightly different as they don’t map to just RGB/CMYK, but the same general rules apply: Opt+2 selects the Master channel, and Opt+3, 4, etc. select the subsequent items in the list.
If you prefer to return to the shortcuts found in Photoshop CS3, you can download a ZIP file containing a plug-in (Mac)/registry entries (Windows) that remap the channel keys to CS3 behaviors courtesy of Adobe’s John Nack.
Having read all this, you might reasonably say, “Fine, but Photoshop offers a keyboard shortcut editor, so let me switch things back if I’d like.” That’s not possible, for a couple of reasons. One, the change from modal dialogs to non-modal panel simply means that some commands would now conflict (e.g. hitting Cmd-1 can’t both display a channel & target a channel), so just restoring the old behavior isn’t an option. Two, the shortcut editor frankly isn’t robust enough to handle certain special-purpose keys (numbers, tilde, etc.), and we didn’t have time to enhance it for CS4.
We have, however, created a solution: you can download a file containing a plug-in (Mac)/registry entries (Windows) that remap the channel keys (http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/files/Use_Old_Shortcuts.zip). That is, you give up using Cmd-~ to switch among open documents, and you lose Cmd-1 for zooming to 100%, but tilde will go back to selecting the composite channel and 1, 2, 3, etc. will go back to selecting/targeting the first, second, third, etc. channels. The Mac plug-in just needs to be dropped into your Photoshop plug-ins directory, and on Windows you can enable/disable the behavior by double-clicking the reg entries.
Thanks to John Nack for this detailed shortcut information! (blogs.adobe.com/jnack)
In Photoshop CS4, we’ve changed the way that you close Panels - right mouse click (Ctrl-click on Mac with a single-button mouse) on the tab and select Close or Close Tab Group. If you pull a panel out of it’s tabbed group and float it freely, then a close button (x) appear - simply click to close.
If you tap the Tab key (to hide the panels), they will be automatically revealed when positioning the cursor at the edge of the monitor (similar to a roll-over effect). To toggle off this feature, choose Preferences / Interface / Auto-Show Hidden Panels.
To free up more screen real estate in Photoshop CS3, we introduced collapsible “iconic” panels. However, they remained open after clicking on them. Now, in Photoshop CS4, you can choose to collapse the panels automatically by right clicking on the panel tab, or by selecting the Preferences > Interface > Auto-Collapse Iconic Panels. Basically, you show the panel (by clicking on the icon), pick you options, and when you click anywhere outside of the panel, it will automatically collapse.
And one last tip: the Tool bar can be relocated and even “docked” to the panels on the right side of the screen. Click-drag the grabber handle at the top of the the tools, and when you see the solid blue line next to your panels on the right, release the cursor to “dock” the panel. Or, if you prefer, you can move any of the panels to the left side and dock then with the tool box. You can also relocate the Options bar for example you may want it at the bottom of the monitor or on a secondary monitor.
If you’re upgrading for PS CS3, you will notice that we are now back to only 3 screen modes. Toggle between them using the Application Bar or by taping the F key. Add the Shift key to reverse direction. In PSCS4, when you enter full screen mode, your panels are automatically hidden so that you don’t have to remember to tap the tab key if you want to present your image on a black screen.
To change the background color in any of the Standard and Full screen modes (the area displayed around your image) and/or to turn off any drop shadow or stroked borders around you image, select Preferences / Interface and customize Color, Line and Drop Shadow. FYI - the old “secret shortcut” to change the color in the Full Screen modes still works - select your desired color as the foreground swatch and Shift-click in the background area with the Paint Bucket.
The Arrange Documents feature (in the Application Bar) is a fast and flexible way to display multiple documents at once. The first row of icons will “Consolidate All” open documents in Tabs and “Tile all Images in Grid” or “Tile All Images Horizontally or Vertically”. The second set of icons become available as multiple images are opened to provide a variety of layouts (from 1-6 images). In addition, instead of having to go to the Window / Arrange menu to search for display options, you can use the Arrange Document icon to choose to Float all Windows, Create a New Window (not a new file, but a secondary view of a single file), zoom to Actual Pixels and Fit on Screen and choose to Match Zoom, Mach Location and Match Zoom and Location. Note: when working with multiple images, use the Zoom All Windows or Scroll All Windows (in the Options bar) to zoom and pan all images in tandem (holding the Shift key temporarily toggles these options).
So great, we have all of these options for navigating multiple documents. However as I started working, I found that I primarily needed to toggle between seeing one image and seeing all images (tiled in my workspace). To eliminate wasting valuable time looking through menus or trying to find icons, I made my own Keyboard shortcuts! I choose Window / Workspace / Keyboard Shortcut & Menus. Under the “Shortcuts for Application Menus” I selected Window and found “Tile” and “Consolidate to Tabs” I added my own shortcuts that made sense to me (Shift + Command + T for Tabs and Shift + Command + R for Consolidate to Tabs - or, in my mind, “Return to primary image”).
In PSCS4, we added an Application bar- designed to help you quickly display images in a variety of ways. For example, you can choose to view “Extras” such as Guides, Grids and Rules with the click of a button (no more going through the menus) as well as change Zoom levels by entering a value or by selecting a percentage from the list. The Hand, Zoom and new Rotate View tools are also available as are the Arrange Documents and Screen Views icons (more on those features in a later post). Toggle the Application Bar by choosing Window / Application Bar. Note: the Application Frame must be off to toggle off the Application bar.
If you decide to turn off the Application Frame, the Application Bar can be repositioned by dragging the grabber handle (on the left of the Application Bar) to the bottom of the monitor, a secondary monitor. To save screen real estate, the Application Bar will automatically reduce in size if moved.
For those of you on Windows, this feature is not new concept, but for our Mac customers, in Photoshop CS4, we added the Application frame. This is an excellent feature for those of you that need Photoshop to only take up a part of the screen - perhaps you have treated yourself to one of those 30 inch monitors and also want to see Bridge or Lightroom at the same time. Or, perhaps you want to move the entire Photoshop application onto a secondary monitor.
To invoke the Application Frame, select Window / Application Frame. Then, either resize Photoshop by dragging the grabber bar in the lower right corner (most likely the lower right corner will be the Layer’s panel) and/or reposition by dragging the Application Bar (at the top) to your secondary monitor.
When retouching images (especially when checking for dust or imperfections), I like to systematically move through the document starting at the upper right, moving down screen by screen, then, at the bottom, I move over one screen and start moving up again. In order to do this, the following shortcuts can be truly lifesavers.