Innehållsförteckning för Issue 3 från Photoshop User

The complexities of Photoshop will eventually seem less daunting as you become more familiar and confident with the large array of tools available. There is also no doubt that over time, you will default to a certain number of core tools and techniques that matches your workflow. It is always good form to step out of your comfort zone now and again and try something new. Let’s continue the learning process in this issue. While you’re at it, say hello to Photoshop Elements too.…

Photoshop’s standard selection tools: the Marquee, Lasso and Magic Wand, are fine for making basic selections of regular, well defined shapes, but they’re not so good at picking out soft-edged or very fine shapes. One thing in particular, that has always been a problem, is the edge of fine or untidy hair. Take this photo for example: This model has been photographed in a typical studio setting, with good lighting and against a plain background. Photos like this are used all the time for catalogues, advertising posters and the like. However, in order to fit these needs the model will have to be separated from the background. With a plain background like this, it would be tempting to use a normal selection tool such as the Magic Wand. However if…

Many digital cameras have a feature known as “Panorama Stitching” or “Panorama Assist” mode. It’s there to help with a particular type of photograph, or rather series of photographs, in which successive shots are taken as the camera is panned across a scene. After you take the first shot, the camera shows the edge of that shot superimposed on the monitor so you can match up the position of features in successive shots, producing a long continuous photo showing an entire panoramic scene. You can also shoot your pan sequence manually, especially if you have a tripod handy to keep the camera level. When it’s done well the results can be breathtaking, but getting a satisfactory result isn’t as easy as it looks. 01 Having downloaded our panorama pictures from…

When you take a digital photo of a scene, you are relying on your camera to be able to capture all the colours and tones that you see. Unfortunately most digital cameras simply aren’t capable of recording the full range of colours and shades that the human eye can see, so your photo of what was a bright and colourful scene may prove to be a bit of a disappointment when you see it on your monitor. Fortunately there are many different ways to improve both contrast and colour saturation, which might help to restore some of the sparkle to your photos. Let’s take a look at some of the alternatives. 01 As an example we’ll use this snapshot of a lizard. In reality the colour of the scene is…

Retouching skin effectively can be a challenge. Photoshop’s Spot Healing Tool is very effective at removing blemishes, but it can still introduce more issues than it eradicates. Here is a way of ensuring better results. 01 We have an example image of a teenager with some acne on her face. We want to be able to remove the blemishes without having too many obvious indications that retouching has been used. Because there are many areas of clean, natural-looking skin, the Spot Healing Tool is a good choice here. 02 For non-destructive retouching, create a new layer above the main image and name it ‘retouch’. Any work done will appear on this layer. Choose the Spot Healing Tool from the toolbar and use a medium hardness brush of about 70 pixels.…

Like the Library module, the Develop module window is divided into three main areas, the left sidebar, the main viewing area and the right sidebar. The filmstrip view is also available at the bottom of the screen. The filmstrip and both sidebars can be permanently in view or set to auto-hide by clicking on the arrow symbols on the edge of the screen. The left sidebar holds the Navigator thumbnail, a list of available Presets, the Snapshot and History views and the Collections. The right-hand sidebar holds all the actual editing and enhancement tools, as well as the Histogram. 1 Navigator This shows you a view of the whole image, useful if you zoom in when using the spot correction tool and need to navigate around the frame. 2 Presets This…

1 You’ll find the Basic panel in the right-hand sidebar of the Develop module. Click on the title bar to open the panel and you’ll see an array of sliders for things like colour temperature, tint, exposure and contrast; also a panel of Tone controls and another one for Presence controls that adjust Clarity, Vibrance and Saturation. 2 Near the top of the Basic panel you’ll find the White Balance controls. This will usually show As Shot by default, indicating that Lightroom is using the white balance setting determined by your camera. If you click on this, you’ll see a context menu with more options. We’ll look more closely at correcting white balance elsewhere. 3 To the left of the White Balance selector you’ll see another tool with an icon shaped like…

One-click Power Although this mode is designed to be quick and simple to use, it is still a powerful method to rapidly improve your photos with easy one-click presets that give you instant feedback on how your image will look with the new adjustments applied. There are many filters to choose from and many ways you can adjust your image to make it perfect, so you can share it with the world. 1 The File Menu Although a number of file menu option will not be accessible, the main ones that you need will be available. All the Enhance options are there as well as the Filter Gallery presets. 2 Mode Selector Here can you can exit the current mode and choose to enter the Guided or Expert modes. 3 The Open Button…

One of the many benefits of layer-based editing is how you can manage and organise more complicated projects that consist of many layers and adjustments. This means you can work nondestructively by duplicating image elements in order to retain the original source materials and stacking adjustment layers rather than destroying the original pixel data, colour and size of each element. Take a look at our example over the page. It ends up with nine layers to create the final sci-fi image.…

One very useful facility that Photoshop provides is the Gradient tool. It can fill an area of a layer with a gradual blend between multiple colours. You can choose from a selection of pre-set gradient fills or create your own. It’s a great way to add gradient filters for enhancing photographs, or to create effects such as vignettes and centre-spot soft-focus. Let’s take a closer look at how it works. You’ll find the Gradient tool about halfway down the Tool Palette. It has its own unique set of options in the Tool Options bar, the main one being the Gradient Picker, which lets you choose from a list of pre-set gradients. Next to this is a row of buttons that create different gradient shapes. The default setting is a straight…

Soft focus is an effect used widely in television and in the movies, as well as in many commercial and advertising photographs, for producing a dreamy romantic look. It’s also a big favourite with wedding photographers. In traditional photography the effect is achieved with a special filter fitted over the camera lens. Many digital cameras now include soft focus as a digital effect, but we can produce the same results in Photoshop with ease, using blur and layer transparency. 01 The first step is to turn the picture into two identical layers. To do this, go to the Layer menu, and select Duplicate Layer. Don’t worry about naming this layer, it’s the only one we’re going to make. 02 Next, go to the Filter menu, move down to Blur, and…

01 Part of what can set you apart as an artist or image manipulator is creating images that are simple yet effective. Take this example. It only uses a couple of elements but is surreal and spooky and can be put together in 30 minutes.…

Yes, you did read that title correctly. This is not going to revolutionise your workflow, but with a little luck, these Easter eggs, hidden in Photoshop, might make you and your work colleagues smile. 01 If you go to Photoshop CC > Preferences > Interface, you can change the Color Theme under the Appearance section by clicking on one of the four colour chips, ranging from dark grey to light grey, to alter the workspace appearance. Not terribly exciting, but you can inject a little humour. 02 If you hold the Shift + Alt keys and then click on one of the colour chips, you won’t change the Color Theme effects, but the colour chips themselves are replaced by pieces of toast, ranging from very dark toast up to white…

Adobe Photoshop Elements is a great option for those who want an extensive toolset that can take on most of their image editing needs, without the requirement of highly advanced features such as you would find in Photoshop CC. It is also a great choice for those who only need oneclick solutions to their image editing needs, or perhaps want to start to learn how to take on the more involved techniques and tools that Elements has to offer. Another big plus point in its favour is that it is one of the very few remaining Adobe products that can be purchased outright, without the need for subscription. A Worthy Alternative There was a time when, in certain quarters, Elements was considered a dumbed-down version of Photoshop with a limited…

The Clone Stamp tool (also known as the Clone Brush in some programs) is one of the most useful items in your image editing tool kit. Despite recent developments such as Photoshop’s Spot Healing tool and Content-aware fill, it is still the most precise and reliable way to retouch photographs, allowing you to remove unwanted elements such as dust spots, skin blemishes, lens flare, telephone lines and other intrusive objects from your pictures. Because the process is entirely manual it can be somewhat time-consuming, but the results are often superior to the output of the more modern automatic tools. The Clone Stamp works by copying (“cloning”) pixels from a selected target area and placing them over the unwanted objects. Using the Clone Stamp, it is relatively straightforward to remove even…

The quickest and most common way to make selections is to use the Polygonal Lasso Tool but since that only draws straight lines from point to point it isn’t ideal for making accurate selections around curved edges. Photoshop does have a tool for making smooth curves though, and it’s called the Pen Tool (keyboard shortcut P). Rather than creating a selection directly like the Lasso Tool, the Pen Tool is used to create a Work Path. A Work Path in Photoshop is a vector graphic outline which can be used for several functions, including shaped text, outline strokes and of course selections. A path consists of straight and curved lines segments connected with points. You can leave a path open to form a straight or curved line, or close a…

02 A few simple photographic and illustrative components from image sharing sites like Pixabay or Deviant Art and a little imagination can lead to eye-opening art. Let us show you how Photoshop can unlock your creative power.…

There is a Crop Tool option that has a very useful function, but you might not have seen it. If you need to match a series of images with the same, cropped sizes and dimensions, then Front Image cropping is for you. 01 We have our example target image cropped and sized, to our preference, in the shape of a peacock. This is the first image document opened and we want all subsequent images cropped to the same proportions and the same pixel dimensions, to match this one. 02 The peacock photo is 2000 pixels wide by 1125 pixels high. By comparison, the next image of a barn owl is 3544 pixels wide by 3132 pixels high and the third image of a parrot is 2019 pixels wide by 2694…

Blend modes can help you achieve a number of effects by controlling how one layer’s colours interact with another. Take Blend Modes even further with handy tips on adding transparency to the blend you’ve created. 01 In this example, we have a grungy, peeling paint texture that we would like to blend into some text. However, we only want to use the darker cracks in the paint and add that to our text so it takes on a more weathered feel. Fortunately, Blend Modes can help us here. 02 We’ve added some large bold text, which is currently on a layer above the background texture. We need to start by clicking on the Background layer’s lock icon to convert it to a layer as well. This allows us to click…

1 If you scan film photos or use an older DSLR, you may have problems with dust and blemishes on your images. Fortunately, Lightroom includes a handy tool to get rid of them. It’s the Spot Removal tool and you use it by clicking on the icon in the editing tools panel or by using the keyboard shortcut Q. Note the icon change in the 2022 update. 2 The Lightroom Spot Removal tool operates in the same way as the matching tool in Photoshop. You can adjust the brush size by using the slider in the control panel or by using the square brackets keys [and]. Simply click on a spot and it will be replaced by a matching background colour sampled from elsewhere on the image. 3 As you…

Welcome Home When you open Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019, you are presented with a Home screen. This simple screen is your gateway to the Photo Editor program or the Organiser. The third option available is to activate the Adobe Premiere Elements Video Editor, if you have purchased that as well. If not, it will ask if you want to download a trial version. You also have the option at the top of the Home screen to search for help on things you want to achieve in the programs or to click on any of the featured Try This guides and What’s New items and Inspiration articles ranged across the screen. On the extreme top right of the page are buttons for Facebook and Twitter and a Help button that takes…