Library: Inside Photoshop

by Amy Palermo
Application:
Adobe Photoshop CS6
Operating Systems:
Microsoft Windows, Macintosh

If painting is your passion, then you’re going to love Photoshop CS6’s Oil Paint filter. We’ll show you how to turn your everyday photos into works of art with just this one filter!

To create the perfect oil painting in Photoshop, we’ll:
Tell you how the Oil Paint filter differs from other Photoshop filters—and what makes it so great.
Let you know what to do if your Oil Paint filter doesn’t work.
Explain how to use the Oil Paint filter to create fantastic works of art, and go through the different options that allow you to customize your painting.

While many of Photoshop’s filters are great, they don’t often produce outstanding results on their own. Usually, if you want to create painterly effects, you need to apply a combination of filters in order to achieve the look you’re after. Well, all that’s changed with Photoshop CS6’s Oil Paint filter. You can now create painterly works of art with just one filter, as shown in Figure A.

A

Pixel Bender integration in Photoshop
Adobe’s Pixel Bender Plug-in was available for Photoshop CS5, and it included the Oil Paint filter. In Photoshop CS6, Adobe incorporated this filter directly into the application. If you’

by Renée Dustman
Application:
Adobe Photoshop CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6
Operating Systems:
Macintosh, Microsoft Windows

Even when working with an SLR camera and special filters, it isn’t always possible to capture a photograph exactly as you envision it, especially when you want to achieve a soft look. Instead, you end up with a photo that lacks focus and, as a result, appears flat and unimaginative. What you didn’t capture with your camera, however, you can create in Photoshop.

To enhance an image with a soft focus, we’ll:

1. Blur the image to create an overall soft focus.
2. Focus in on specific image detail with a layer mask.
3. Smooth the transition of being in and out of focus with an opacity adjustment.

In your mind’s eye, you see the picture you’re about to take as ethereal. Once you have a look at it onscreen, though, you wonder where the dream-like qualities are. As with our “Before” image shown in Figure A, your image may look flat and unimaginative. Where’s the soft focus? Where’s the heavenly glow? You may not have captured those qualities with your camera, but we’ll show you how to create them in Photoshop. With our soft focus technique, you can make your image look as dreamy as our “After” image shown in Figure A.

by Renée Dustman
Application:
Adobe Photoshop CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6
Operating Systems:
Macintosh, Microsoft Windows

You’ve got an assignment that requires some graphic relief, but you aren’t sure whether a photograph or an illustration would work best. Perhaps a photograph and an illustration is the answer! In Photoshop, you can edit an image to make it look like it stems from a black and white line drawing.

In creating our image/illustration effect, you’ll learn how to:

1. Be more selective in the way you duplicate layers.
2. Target specific image areas for editing with a layer mask.
3. Edit a layer mask to allow certain detail on underlying layers to show through.

Generally, there’s a vast difference between an illustration and a photograph. In the virtual world, it isn’t likely you’ll see the two mediums meet. There’s photogravure, an etching technique from the late 1880’s, but that’s a whole other ballpark. No, something the likes of what you see in Figure A isn’t likely to happen on an artboard, but we’ll show you how to make it happen on a Photoshop canvas.

A

Natural selection
Any image lends itself to this technique, but an object with an interesting shape or architecture is often the most striking. It also helps if the object is on a contrasting, solid-colored background as this makes it easier to silhouette. The image shown in Figure B is a perfect candidate.

Note: To work along with us, download our example image from the URL given at the beginning of this article. (Images provided by PhotoSpin. Some images modified for educational purposes.)

To open our example image:

1. Launch Photoshop.
2. Choose File > Open or press [command]O ([Ctrl]O in Windo

by Jim Whitcomb
Application:
N/A
Operating System:
N/A
Remove App and OS line for Print

<at_a_glance>
Although product photography appears to be a simple process, the shots you take often just don’t match up to your expectations. However, by applying professional composition techniques to your product shots, you’ll be able to get the results you expect.

To show you how to set-up and properly compose product photos, we’ll:

1. Identify the types of shots so you’ll be familiar with each variety.
2. Discuss how each type is used to understand its purpose and why it's used. 
3. Set up a number of examples to demonstrate the technique for each type.

You see product shots everywhere. You find them in magazines, in newspaper ads, sales brochures, and on billboards to name but a few. Quite often the shots you see look fairly straightforward, as shown in Figure A. But somehow, whenever you try a similar setup the results just don’t seem the same. You may think the reason is due to the equipment you use such as your camera or your lights or your strobes. But most often the reason isn’t your equipment, but how you use it. Let’s examine product photography set-up techniques and how you can use them to get the results you’re after.

A

The many types of product photography
Because we come in contact with so much product photography everyday, the many types might seem overwhelming. Yet when you begin to analyze them, you quickly discover that there are only three basic kinds. Let’s take a look at each so you can recognize them.

Catalog photography
Catalog photography, sometimes known as Set-‘em-up-and-shoot-‘em shots, is done in a studio setting by placing a product on or against a seamless background, as shown in Figure B. The purpose of a catalog shot is to:

1. Show the product so the viewer can easily identify it.
2. Create as few distractions from the product as possible.
3. Be legible

by Michelle Dick
Applications:
Adobe Photoshop CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6
Operating Systems:
Macintosh, Microsoft Windows

I enjoy your quick tips that explain how to adjust images with simple tricks. Do you have a quick fix for adjusting overexposed digital images?

Digital shots often appear overexposed—when

By Amy Palermo
Application:
Photoshop CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6
Operating Systems:
Macintosh, Microsoft Windows

I love filters but sometimes I’d like to tone the results down a bit. Is there a way to modify a filter after you apply it to reduce the effects; I thought I had seen something like this before but can’t figure it out now.

If you’ve ever applied a filte

Teaser: Find out here!

Reader Forum
Do I need to maximize my compatibility?
by Amy Palermo
Application:
Adobe Photoshop CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6
Operating Systems:
Macintosh, Microsoft Windows

Every time I save a Photoshop file I get a warning asking me if I want to maximize my compatibility. Is this something I need to do? Can I turn this warning off or should I leave it on?

The Maximize compatibility option is actually a preference setting, and yes, you can turn it on or off via the Preferences dialog box. To access the preference, choose Photoshop > Preferences > File Handling (Edit > Preferences > File Handling in Windows) and check out the File Compatibility section of the dialog box, where you’ll find

by Jim Whitcomb
Applications:
Adobe Photoshop CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6
Operating Systems:
Macintosh, Microsoft Windows

I have multiple objects on different layers, but I want to give them all one single drop shadow. Is there a way to do this without having to flatten the layers?

Whenever you apply a drop shadow effect to several objects that are each on their own layers, the result is a set of overlapping drop shadows, as shown in Figure A. While this is great if you want to give the objects a stacked appearance, it isn't if you want a single shadow, as shown

Quick Tip

by Amy Palermo
Application:
Adobe Photoshop CS6
Operating Systems:
Microsoft Windows, Macintosh

Not everyone likes change. So even though you might anticipate a new software release, your anticipation can turn to dread in a hurry when you’re faced with major changes right from the start. Take for example, the new dark interface in Photoshop CS6 shown in Figure A

Quick Tip
by Amy Palermo
Application:
Adobe Photoshop CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6
Operating Systems:
Macintosh, M

Quick Tip
by Amy Palermo
Application:
Adobe Photoshop CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6
Operating Systems:
Macintosh, Microsoft Windows

If you want to delete a bunch of colors from your cu

Quick Tip

by Amy Palermo
Application:
Adobe Photoshop CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6
Operating Systems:
Macintosh, Microsoft Windows
Remove byline, ap, os line for print

Have you ever noticed that all of a sudden Photoshop is just acting wacky? Maybe the application is crashing frequently or fonts are missing. If you’re