Helen Bradley – Photoshop and Lightroom tips and techniques

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

Kawaii Panda Shape – free download

I’ve been messing around today making shapes in Photoshop. This is my final Panda Kawaii shape which I’m offering as a free downloadable shape that you can import into Photoshop and use yourself.

I find shapes are easiest to build up from pieces so I make each piece then build them up bit by bit into the final shape by combining the paths. It’s painstaking work but ultimately rewarding to have a custom shape you can use anytime and scale to any size.

Here is the link to download the shape file – you can use the shape for your own designs but you aren’t permitted to sell the shape or offer it for download from your own site.

Labels: custom shape, download, free, kawaii panda, Photoshop

posted by Helen Bradley @ 1:26 pm0 Comments - links to this post

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

Photoshop: Grunge Portrait Effect

To create a high contrast grunge portrait effect, first duplicate the image background layer, then choose Filter > Other > High Pass, select a Radius that shows lines on the image but not a lot of colour – typically a value of around 5 is sufficient – and click Ok. Set this layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay.

Duplicate the background layer again, moving the duplicate to the top of the layer stack and convert the layer to black and white by choosing Image > Adjustments > Black & White. Adjust the sliders to create an interesting black and white image – dragging the red slider to the left often to darken the reds often works well. Set the blend mode of the layer to Hard Light.

Select the top layer and press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E to create a flattened version of the image and set this layer’s blend mode to Overlay, Soft Light or Hard Light as desired. Adjust the opacity to suit.

Make a new flattened layer by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E and use the same process as before to fix the eyes. Choose Image > Adjustments > Curves and adjust to brighten the eyes only. Add a black filled layer mask by pressing Alt as you click on the Add Layer Mask icon. Paint with white on the layer mask to bring details back in the eyes and adjust the opacity of the layer to suit.

Labels: grunge portrait, High Pass filter, Photoshop

posted by Helen Bradley @ 7:04 pm2 Comments - links to this post

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

Photoshop Creative: A Simple Composite

In this post, I’ll show you how to create a simple composite by placing one image in another. Along the way, I’ll not only bend one image to fit its new position but I’ll also show you a layer style trick that overcomes the problem that you’ll see if you scroll down to step 6 and take a look at what happens when I mask the image to make the fingertip show.

1 To create this composite, open the images to use. We’ll assemble the composite in the image of the plaster hand. Start by dragging the background layer from the photograph into the hand image. It will appear on its own layer and you can now close that image as it is no longer needed.

2 Size the imported image to fit where it needs to go. In this case the border will be added inside the image so I’ll make the image almost as large as the cardboard it will be ‘attached’ to.

Size the image in proportion so you don’t skew it. To get it to fit on in dimension it will probably be either too tall or too wide in the other dimension and that’s fine.

3 Once you’ve applied the transformation, select the rectangular marquee tool and drag over the area of the photo that you want to retain. Choose Select > Inverse to invert the section and press Delete to delete the excess image.

4 To warp the image to fit the shape of the card, select the image and choose Edit > Transform > Warp. This adds a series of warp handles to the image. Drag on these to bend the image so it fits over the area you want to cover.

When you’re done, confirm the transformation.

5 To add a white border around the image as if it were a photo stuck to the card, select the image layer, click the Add a Layer Style button at the foot of the Layers palette and choose Stroke.

Set the color to white and the size to a size appropriate for your image. Set the position to Inside so you get square corners on the image (if you choose Center or Outside the corners will be rounded).

When you are done, click Ok.

6 With this image layer still selected, click the Add Layer Mask icon at the foot of the Layers palette.

Select a medium hard brush, set the foreground color to black and paint on the mask to reveal the finger on the underlying layer. This makes the finger look like it is above the image and not behind it.

One simple way to do this is to hide the photo layer and use a tool like the Quick Selection tool to select over the finger on the background layer. Then, with the selection in place, display the top layer and select its mask. With black as the foreground color, press Alt + Backspace (Option + Delete on the Mac), to fill the selected area on the mask with black.

You’ll see that we have some problems with the mask because it distorts the stroke around the picture. We want the stroke applied to the image and we don’t want the mask to have any effect on it – right now it is having an unwanted effect.

7 To solve the problem, double click the Effects entry in the Layers palette to open the Layer Styles dialog. In the Blending Options area of the dialog, select the check box for Layer Mask Hides Effects.

This configures the mask on the layer to hide not only the image content on that layer but also a style applied to that layer.

Labels: Collage, collage techniques, composite, layer styles, Photoshop, Photoshop CS3, Photoshop CS4, Photoshop CS5

posted by Helen Bradley @ 5:26 pm0 Comments - links to this post

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010

Lightroom: Embracing Brightness

In previous posts I’ve advocated using the Exposure slider to lighten an image but lately I’ve added the Brightness slider to my workflow. I’d encourage you, if you haven’t already done so, to experiment with it on your images.

However, before we begin a word of warning about Brightness/Contrast in general. Brightness adjustments in some programs aren’t as good as in others. If you’re using Photoshop CS2 or earlier, for example, use Curves or Levels to lighten an image not Brightness. In Photoshop CS3 the Brightness/Contrast tool was re-engineered and instead of adjusting all pixels equally as it used to do with the result that highlight areas were routinely destroyed in the process, it now protects the lightest pixels as it lightens the image. Before trusting your image to a program’s Brightness and Contrast tool, check your histogram before and after using it and make sure you aren’t blowing out highlights in your quest for a lighter/brighter image.

Now, back to Lightroom.

Take a look at the image shown here. If I leave Brightness at the default value – which for my camera is +50 but which may be different for yours, and if I crank up the Exposure to the maximum value, a lot of the lighter pixels in the image get blown out.

Of course I would never adjust an image to this value but it’s a useful exercise to see how Exposure works.

When I do the same thing in reverse and leave Exposure at its default value of 0 and crank Brightness up to its highest value only a small number of pixels are blown out.

Using the Brightness slider lightens the image while at the same time protecting the lightest pixels in the image from being blown out as a consequence.

So what does this knowledge mean to you in a typical Lightroom workflow? Well, my new Lightroom workflow for lightening and brightening an image involves using the Exposure slider first of all to adjust the overall exposure of the image but I stop short of where too many highlights get blown out.

Next I test the Recovery tool on the image. Hold the Alt key as you drag on the Recovery slider to check to see if there are blown out highlights (they show as varying colors on the black background). Drag to the right to see if they can be recovered . If they can’t be recovered ease off on the Exposure and check again.

If I have shadow areas in the image that are still overly dark I’ll adjust these using the Fill Light slider. This tool helps recover detail hidden in shadows, but it’s not a tool I’d use for an overall brightening effect.

Finally, I use the Brightness slider to increase the overall image brightness. Somewhere between the Exposure slider and the Brightness slider is the sweet spot for lightening an image.

From there, I’ll adjust Vibrance and Clarity and sharpen the image.

While we’re on the topic of the Brightness slider, check out the default value on an unedited image so you know where your starting point is. For most raw images, Lightroom defaults to a Brightness of +50 and Contrast of +25 as its starting point.

Also take care when working with images you had processed in Lightroom 2 with Lightroom 2 settings. When you upgrade to Lightroom 3, you’ll have a choice of Updating your images to the new Lightroom 2010 Process. My experience is that this can result in a significant lightening of images which were processed in Lightroom 2 so I apply this update on an image by image basis so I can reverse it or adjust for it as I go if necessary.

Labels: Brightness, exposure, exposure adjustment, Lightroom, Lightroom 3, Photo-editing workflow

posted by Helen Bradley @ 5:06 pm4 Comments - links to this post

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Using Lightroom Compare View

In an earlier post, I showed you how to use Lightroom’s Survey View to choose one image from a selection of images. In this post I’ll show you how to use another of Lightroom’s specialty views – Compare View which has a similar purpose but which operates very differently.

Start in the Library module, select an image and then click Compare View or press C. When you do, Lightroom shows two images, the one you had selected and the one you most recently selected before this one in this same folder.

If you didn’t previously select an image, for example if you selected Compare View immediately after you selected a folder, the first image in that folder will be the only one selected so Compare View will show the first image and the one immediately to its right in the Filmstrip.

The two images you see are labeled Select and Candidate. The Select image is fixed and the Candidate image can be changed. To do this, click the left or right arrows underneath the Candidate image to move in the direction of the arrow through the folder. This replaces the Candidate image each time you click an arrow with the next image in the Filmstrip.

When you find an image that you want to use as your new select image, click the X<Y (Make Select) button and the Candidate image moves to become the Select image and the next image in the filmstrip in the direction that you had been moving will be the new Candidate.

To simply swap the two images, click the Swap button to swap the two images. The current Select image becomes the new Candidate and vice versa.

Continue to work through the images on the filmstrip comparing them until you have the Select image that you want to use.

In Compare View, unlike Survey View, you can zoom the images. The lock icon on the toolbar, when locked, lets you scale both images at the one time using the Zoom slider.

If you unlock the padlock icon by clicking it, just the currently selected image (which can be either the Select or Candidate image) will zoom when you click the Zoom button.

You can also use Compare View with just one image by deselecting one of the images in the Compare View. Each image has a small X under its bottom right hand corner, which you can click to remove it. If you remove the Select image this way, you can work through images as Candidate images until you find a Candidate worthy of being a Select image and, when you do, click the Make Select button and the Candidate will become the Select image and the next image in the sequence will become the Candidate.

Click Done to exit Compare View with the Select image selected.

How Compare View and Survey View compare

While Survey View allows you to compare multiple images with each other and to remove images you do not want until you get the one that you do what, Compare View works a little differently in allowing you to view only two images. The Select image always remains in place, but you can scroll through multiple images very quickly to determine if any of them are a better candidate for your needs than the select image. If it is, you can replace them and continue your comparison.

While Compare View allows comparison between only two images, it is more complex to use and understand than Survey View. However it’s a useful way to make a choice from two images as to which is the better and then continue to compare your current ‘best’ pick with others in a sequence.

Labels: Compare View, Lightroom, Photo-editing workflow, survey view

posted by Helen Bradley @ 4:50 pm1 Comment - links to this post

Sunday, December 12th, 2010

Choosing images using Survey view in Lightroom

Lightroom’s Survey view is a tool that makes choosing one image from a group of images a simpler process. In this post I’ll show you how to use Survey View and some tricks for working with it.

Step 1

To see it at work, in the Library module, select a series of images on the filmstrip by clicking on one and Shift + Click on the last. Alternatively hold the Control key (Command on the Mac) as you click on each image that you want to make a choice from.

Step 2

To enter Survey View, choose View > Survey, click the Survey button on the toolbar or press the letter N.

Once in Survey view, you will see only the images that you had selected. You can add more images by Control + Clicking (Command + Clicking) on them to select them in the Filmstrip.

Step 3

In Survey View, you can rate your images with a star rating, flag them and label them or simply use the view to narrow down your choices to a single image.

To rate an image, click the star value beneath the image – this appears when your mouse hovers the image.

You can pick an image by selecting it and press P to flag it, U to unpick or remove the flag setting from it and X to reject it.

Click the label indicator under the far right of the image to select a label to apply to the image.

Step 4

Press Shift + Tab to hide all the panels to maximize the viewing area. When an image is selected notice the X in its bottom right corner. Click that and the image will be removed from Survey View. Note that it is only removed from this view not from Lightroom and not from your disk – Survey View is simply a method you use to pick the best image from a sequence and has no other purpose.

Start removing those images you do not want by clicking their X buttons or Control + Click (Command + Click on the Mac) to remove them.

Step 5

Provided you are working with a Folder of images or a Collection (but not a Smart Collection, All Photographs or Previous Import), you can reorder images in Survey View. To do this, drag and drop an image into the position you want it to appear in the group.

Files in a Smart Collection, All Photographs and Previous Imports can be selected and viewed in Survey View but you cannot reorder your images if they are selected from any of these collections..

Step 6

At any time you can exit Survey View by clicking G for Grid or E for Loupe.

The advantage of using Survey Mode is that you can quickly identify the image that you want from a series of images eliminating all the other images from the view as you do so.

You can open Survey View in a separate window if desired. Press F11 to open the new window and select Survey as what should display in this window.

Using this secondary display window you can move Survey View to a second screen if you’re using two monitors or position Survey View in one area of your screen and work on one of the images in, for example, the Develop module at the same time.

Step 7

When you have only the image or images you want to use remaining selected, press E or G to exit Survey View. These images will remain selected so you can now do something with them such as adding them to a collection, export them or take them to Photoshop for editing.

Labels: Lightroom, Lightroom 2, survey view

posted by Helen Bradley @ 8:30 pm1 Comment - links to this post

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

DIY Photoshop Panels using Adobe Configurator

Most users don’t realize that you can create your own custom panels for Photoshop CS4 and for the new CS5. You do this using a free download called Adobe Configurator. In this post, I’ll show you how to get started making your first Photoshop CS4 panel using Configurator 1.0.

To make your panel you need to make sure that you have AIR installed. If not, visit http://get.adobe.com/air/, download and install it.

You then need to download the version of Configurator compatible with your operating system and your Photoshop version. Find your version at http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/configurator.html and install it.

Launch Configurator if it does not start automatically once installed.

If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7 you must run the program as administrator – if you do not do so, you will have difficulty saving your panels in the correct location. So, if you are using either of these operating systems, close Configurator, return to your Programs menu, locate Configurator, right click it and choose Run as Administrator. Of course, you’ll need to be using an administrator account to do this.

Inside Configurator, choose File > New Panel to create your new panel. The panel doesn’t have a title and it is the default size. On the right of the screen, type a title for the panel and either type a new size or alter its size by dragging on the sizing marker in the bottom right corner of the panel.

On the left are lists of tools and commands as well as action scripts and widgets that you can add to your panel.

For now go to the Tools list, and drag and drop the tools that you want to include on your panel onto it. For example, if you do a lot of collage work, you can add tools such as the Rectangular Marquee, Lasso Tool, Brush, Clone Stamp, Gradient Tool and all the other tools you regularly use. If you use both the Lasso Tool and the Magnetic Lasso Tool, drag both into your panel as each tool is separate and not stacked as a group as they appear on the regular tool panel.

To align them, click the Auto Layout button on the toolbar.

You can also add menu items to the panel by selecting them from the Commands panel. Open up each menu name in turn to view the commands available. Drag and drop those you want access to onto your panel. Each of these installs as a button.

Change the size of the button by dragging on its sizing handles or adjust its height and width in the panel on the right. You can also change the button caption and tool tip.

Add those commands that make sense for the panel that you’re creating.

For now, we’ll ignore Action/Scripts and all Widgets except Simple Text. Open the Widgets panel, select Simple Text and drag and drop it into your panel.

Use this control to add some descriptive text to your panel. To do this, click the pencil icon in the right hand panel to open the text editor and type your text into it.

Size and place the text in position. Arrange your panel items by clicking the Auto Layout button.

If you have two or more items selected you can use the other alignment tools on the toolbar to align their edges, centers and so on.

When you are done, select Edit > Preferences > Export and make sure Generate MXI is selected. If you choose Generate CSXS Extension Manifest, you can create your panel as a file that you can share with others. For now, Generate MXI is all you need.

Choose File > Save Panel as and save your panel layout as a .gpc file. You will need this if you want to come back later and edit your panel as you cannot edit the exported panel files.

To export your panel in a format that is compatible with Photoshop, choose File > Export Panel and select the your Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4\Plug-ins\Panels folder (or the equivalent folder on your Mac).

This is where you’ll strike problems if you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7 and if you do not have administrator privileges because you won’t be allowed to save the files in that folder.

Click Ok and your panel files will be saved to the Panels folder and you’ll see a message confirming this.

Close Photoshop and then reopen it. You’ll find your panel by selecting Window > Extensions and your panel will be listed in the extensions list. Select the panel and it will open and appear as a Photoshop panel.

You can create multiple panels, each for a different purpose. For example, one panel may have all the tools you need for creating collages and another for making vector selections

In a future post, I’ll go into more detail about some of the other elements that you can add to custom Photoshop panels and how you can create panels that support typical workflows and that you can share with others as teaching tools. In the meantime, have fun creating your first panel.

Labels: Configurator, panel, Photoshop

posted by Helen Bradley @ 8:22 pm1 Comment - links to this post

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

Lightroom: Back up images on import

You know how important it is to back up images but the actual task of doing so can be a real pain. Luckily Lightroom makes it a breeze.

When you’re importing images into Lightroom in the Import dialog open the File Handling Panel on the right. Here you can select to make a duplicate of the images on import to a second location. That is provided you’ve chosen Copy to DNG, Copy or Move as your import preference. If you choose Add the option isn’t enabled and you can’t choose it.

By selecting to make a duplicate of your files you can then select the folder or drive and folder to place the copies in. If you’re converting to DNG as you import the copies will be raw files not DNG but you’ll still have copies. If you choose Add or Move then the copies will be the same format as the original files.

Now there’s no excuse not to back up – is there?

Labels: add, backup, copy, copy as dng, duplicate images, Import, Lightroom 3, move

posted by Helen Bradley @ 8:40 pm0 Comments - links to this post

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

Create a Root Folder in Lightroom

If you store your photo collection on an external drive and switch between two or more computers, you can run into trouble when the Lightroom catalog does not recognize the current drive letter assigned to your portable drive. In this case, you may find that all of the folders in your Lightroom collection are “missing” requiring you to individually locate each folder in turn on the disk so that Lightroom can find the images.

If you have a large number of folders in Lightroom this can take a lot of time to fix and it’s a major nuisance. The solution is to create a folder in which all the other folders on your removable drive are located. Then add this folder to Lightroom so that it becomes your root folder. Then if the folders are ever reported as being missing you can quickly locate this root folder and Lightroom will automatically find all the other missing folders that are contained within this one.

To create a root folder, first make sure that you locate all the folders of images in your Lightroom catalog in a single folder on your external drive. Then make sure that there is, at the very least, one image in your root folder – if needed, simply copy an image there so you can continue.

Now return to Lightroom and import the root folder into Lightroom. You need at least one image in the root folder because Lightroom requires there to be at least one image in a folder before it will import it and its contents into Lightroom.

Once you’ve imported your root folder and its single image you can remove the image from Lightroom and from the disk if desired. Once the root folder appears in the Lightroom catalog it will stay there even if it doesn’t contain any images.

Now, in future, if you move your external drive to another computer and if it is not recognized by your Lightroom catalog, select the root folder in Lightroom and locate it on the disk. All the other folders below this in the hierarchy will then be automatically found.

Labels: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Lightroom, missing folder, root folder

posted by Helen Bradley @ 6:04 pm6 Comments - links to this post

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

Run out of canvas using Photoshop’s Pen tool?

I’m sure this has happened to you – you’re zooming along drawing a path around an object using the Photoshop pen tool and all of a sudden you’re running out of room – the image is off the screen. The solution is simple, press and hold the Spacebar and the cursor turns into the Hand tool so you can move the canvas around to get the next bit of the image in view. Let go the Spacebar and you’re back to working on your path.

And, while you’re there – wanna rotate the canvas so you can draw your path more easily? Easy! Press and hold R (R for rotate) then drag the canvas to rotate it.

Labels: move, pen tool, Photoshop, Rotate, tip, trick

posted by Helen Bradley @ 6:21 am4 Comments - links to this post

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Photoshop: Applying Fixes using Adjustment Layers and Masks

Sometimes a photo need two opposing fixes applied to different areas of the image. This poses a dilemma – if you fix one area you’ll make the other areas far worse than they started out being and vice versa. The solution is to apply both fixes but to do this using adjustment layers and to blend the results together using a mask. Here’s how to do it:

To fix the background of the image, choose Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Levels and adjust the levels to improve the contrast in the lighter areas of the image. Ignore the darker areas of the image as they are not part of this fix.

If desired, you can also adjust the saturation using Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation.

To bring detail out of the darker area in the sign you will use an additional adjustment layer. In the original blog post I used the Shadow/Highlights tool but this is one fix you cannot apply using an Adjustment Layer so you will have to use a different adjustment for this image. I will use a Curves adjustment layer here.

To do this choose Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Curves and adjust the darker end of the curve –on the left side. Drag upwards on the curve line to lighten the shadows.

If you prefer to use another tool, you can do so. However, the important thing is to fix the shadows and ignore any changes to the highlights.

The top adjustment layer contains the adjustment for the darker areas of the image and the bottom adjustment layer(s) contain the adjustment for the lighter areas of the image. To blend these layers, you will use the layer masks attached to the adjustment layers to selectively add the fixes to the image.

Unlike the adjustment layer’s Opacity slider which sets every pixel to the same opacity value, a layer mask lets you adjust the opacity selectively so one area can be 100% opaque and others can be partially or fully transparent.

For this image, as I want to lighten the sign but not anything else, it will be quickest if I start by selecting the sign on the background layer.

Select the mask on the Curves layer. When you are working with masks remember that “black conceals and white reveals” so painting with white on the mask reveals the adjustment on this layer and painting with black on the mask hides the adjustment.

Press Control + Shift + I (Command + Shift + I on the Mac) to invert the selection so now we have everything except the sign selected. Set the foreground color to black and press Alt + Backspace (Option + Delete on the Mac) to fill the mask except where the sign is with black.

Press Control + D (Command + D) to deselect the selection.

If the fix looks too intense, you can adjust the opacity of the top Curves layer down a little.

When adjusting opacity you may find it easier to judge an ideal value if you drag the Opacity slider to zero and then increase the value until you find a good fix rather than dragging it down from 100% looking for the ideal setting.

If you want to remove the sign from the Levels adjustment you can do so using an inverse of the layer mask you have already created.

To copy and invert the mask, press Alt + Shift (Option + Shift on the Mac) as you drag the mask from one adjustment layer and drop it on top of the mask on another layer. When prompted to replace the mask, answer Yes. (If you simply want to copy a mask use Control + Alt or Command + Option instead).

If you do this, you’re removing the Levels fix from the pole and you may need to adjust the Opacity of the Curves adjustment layer to compensate for this.

You can also adjust masks by painting on them in black, white or a shade of grey. Painting in black hides the fix on this layer, painting in white reveals the fix on this layer and painting in grey partially hides the fix.

Here I have Control + Clicked on the mask on the top Curves adjustment layer to select the white areas of the mask, then painted in grey on the mask to hide some of the lightening effect on the pole. By selecting the white area of the mask before painting I limit the paint to only the selected area which lets me work quickly.

If you go too far, switch colors and paint back the effect back.

To finish, I rotated the image to straighten the sign and cropped it to remove the distracting elements on the left side of the image.

Labels: adjustment layers, fixes, masks, Photoshop

posted by Helen Bradley @ 9:55 am0 Comments - links to this post

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Get creative with Photoshop Actions

Actions are a feature of Photoshop that allow you to automate tasks. So you can record your steps as you work as an action and then play them back to make repetitive tasks more simple to perform. You can also find actions on the web that others have created and download them to use yourself. In this post I’ll explain how to find, download, install and play an action.

To find actions on the web, search for “Photoshop Actions” in your favorite search engine. You can also go to Adobe Marketplace and Exchange site at: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/ where you can find a lot of actions for downloading. These are rated by other users so it is a good place to find good actions.

The action I will show you how to install and use is a filmstrip action for the PC that you will find at http://www.photoshop-action.no/specialfxgallery.htm. Download the filmstrip action to your computer and then unzip the file to expand the contents. Although this action states that it’s suitable for Photoshop 6, 7 or CS, it works in versions up to CS4. As a rule of thumb, most older actions work just fine in later versions of Photoshop.

The zip file contains a .doc documentation file, a .atn action file and a .psd Photoshop file. Always read the documentation as it often contains an explanation of what you need to do to make the action work correctly.

In this case you must create a folder called \PStemp in the root directly of drive C and copy the file pstemp_3pics.psd from the zip file into that location. Do this now and leave the folder of extracted files open on your screen.

The instructions go on to tell you to close all open images and to open the three images to use for the filmstrip. It says these will be resized to approximately 730 x 530, (in reality they are resized to approx 735 x 575 pixels). The developer suggests that the finished filmstrip looks best when you use landscape images. The order of the images as you open them is the left to right order of images in the filmstrip.

Launch Photoshop and make sure there are no open images. Make duplicates of the images you plan to use in the filmstrip and open the three duplicate images.

You must now load the filmstrip action and the smart way to do this is to place the file in your Presets\Actions folder so you can always find it easily. To do this, view the Actions palette by selecting Window > Actions. Open the fly-out menu and choose Load Actions.

The folder that opens is the Presets\Actions folder so drag and drop the .atn file from the dialog containing the unzipped files into this dialog to copy it into place. Click the filmstrip!1.atn file and click Load to load it into your Actions palette.

I find it best to crop the three images ahead of time to 735 x 575 pixels in size. To do this, select the Crop tool, set the Width to 735 px, the Height to 575 px and drag over the image to create the crop rectangle at the desired size. Double click to crop the image to that size. Repeat this for the other two images.

Now run the action by opening the Actions palette, locate the Filmstrip Action 1 action and click either Filmstrip [normal], Filmstrip [wavy] or Filmstrip [perspective] to run one of the three actions.

The action will stop and prompt you with a dialog telling you it is running. Click Continue and wait as the filmstrip is created for you. The action closes each of your images as it is finished with them. When you’re done, you can save the filmstrip image.

There are a few things to be aware of when you run an action. Always work with duplicate files and never with your originals, as you cannot be sure that an action will not crop or resize a file to a smaller size or change its resolution and then save it. Working with duplicate images ensures your originals won’t be damaged.

Always close all open files except those that are required by the action to be open. This will prevent you from losing unsaved work or having changes be applied to files you did not mean to be altered.

Always read the instructions for running an action before using it and make sure that any files required by the action are located in the correct place before running it.

Labels: filmstrip, Photoshop Actions

posted by Helen Bradley @ 9:34 am3 Comments - links to this post

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

5 (More) Lightroom Panel Tricks

When you spend a lot of your editing time in Lightroom it makes sense to learn how to work the interface so it behaves as you need it to. In a previous post (http://digital-photography-school.com/my-5-coolest-lightroom-commands) I listed some of my favourite Lightroom interface features. Here are my next favourite five, most of which have earned a place in my repertoire courtesy of spending far too much time editing on a 12″ laptop where screen space is at a premium:

Learn the F keys

The function keys F5, F6, F7 and F8 can clean up the Lightroom screen very quickly. F5 controls the top panel, F6 the bottom, F7 the left and F8 the right panel. Pressing any one of these keys will hide or display the appropriate panel. It’s an easy way to get rid of a panel you don’t want to see without having to reach for the mouse.

It is T for toolbar

At some time you may have toggled your toolbar off by mistake. When it goes, it takes with it handy tools such as Flag, Rate, Color Labels, the rotation tools, zoom tool and your Loupe and Grid buttons. In short, one accidental press of the T key can wipe out a lot of Lightroom functionality. When these tools go missing, press T and they’ll all come back again.

More panel magic – Tab key

When you need to instantly remove the side panels from the screen, hit the Tab key. Shift Tab will toggle all panels on and off, Tab toggles just the side panels.

Open a second window – Yep – how cool is that?

If you want to see the Grid, Loupe, Compare or Survey View in a new second window, press F11. Once the second window is open, you can select what to view in it.

In Loupe view you can Lock the second window so that you see a single image in it regardless of what is visible on the main screen or choose Normal to view the currently selected image or Live to see the image under the mouse pointer.

To get rid of this window, press F11 again or click its Close button.

Lights out and screen modes

The L key toggles through the various lights out mode. The first is lights down, the second lights out and then press it again to return to the regular mode. This is handy when you want to see one image or the entire grid without any screen distractions. Similarly the F key scrolls around various screen modes including Normal, Full Screen with Menu bar, Full Screen and Full Screen and Hide Panels.

More info for Mac users:

Thanks to Facebook user Victor Cincola for this additional information for Mac users. You will need to use Command + F11 to open a second window on the Mac. In addition if your function keys F5, F6 etc do not work as described above you have Apple shortcuts enabled so you will need to use Fn + F5, Fn + F6 and so on – check your keyboard for the Fn key.

Labels: Function keys, Lighroom, Lights, panel, toolbar

posted by Helen Bradley @ 9:04 am4 Comments - links to this post

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

Photoshop – invert a path

When you use a Vector Mask in Photoshop you can use the pen tool to create your path. All you need to do is to close the path and you will have a custom editable vector mask. However, if your mask is white where it should be not be selected and you need to invert it you need to invert the path.

To do this, click the Path Selection tool and target the Vector Mask and click on your path. On the tool options bar you will see an icon called Subtract From Shape Area – click it and the path will be inverted so anything which was masked before will not be now and vice versa.

Labels: invert, mask, path, Photoshop

posted by Helen Bradley @ 10:01 am0 Comments - links to this post

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Photoshop: Pen tool trick

Ok, I am first to admit it, when I stumbled across this trick I went “Wow! I didn’t know you could do that!” I was designing a small heart using the pen tool and I dragged near one side of the shape with the Direct Selection tool and woah! The entire side of the heart moved. Amazing what you find when you get some time to play – well I was going over some notes for a Photoshop presentation I was doing but all the same – it was a lightbulb moment and I just love them when they happen.

So, here’s how to do it. Make a shape with the pen tool or choose the Custom Shapes tool and the Paths option and draw a path in an image. Click the Direct Selection tool (it shares a toolbar position with the Path Selection tool). Drag over one of the nodes to select it and now drag near the path either side of that node. When you do, the path moves with you. It’s yet another way of reforming your paths and it’s not what I would call intuitive but it is very handy when you know how it works.

Labels: direct selection tool, paths, Pen, Photoshop

posted by Helen Bradley @ 3:08 pm2 Comments - links to this post

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Helen Bradley - Photoshop and Lightroom tips and techniques

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