Conference Buddies

http://www.adventuresinphotoshop.com

1. How To Wow Presets (900 presets): Software-cinema.com/page/htw
2. Photo Tools Lite (OnOne Software)
3. Pre-Scripts (Dr. Brown Services)

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

• Avoid the abuse of bling effects. Don’t lose sight of the Unique Selling Proposition – The ability to communicate and motivate somebody to action (to buy, to vote, to look, etc.)

Short Cut for Layer Effects

1. Right click choose Scale Layer Effects
2. Change all styles interactively at the same time

Saving a Shape (vector based)

1. Edit > Define Custom Shape
2. Shape is now saved within Custom Shape Tool
3. Good for logo and watermarks
4. Watermarks can create and save custom tool preset for style effects
5. Can save as a tool set to share with other people: Edit > under Preset Manager

Typography

• Kerning: spacing between letters – one letter –– Opt. + left/right arrows
• Tracking: spacing between letters – multiple letters –– highlight all letters & Opt. + left/right arrows

Displacement Map

1. Use the grayscale copy of whatever image/graphic to bend/distort the graphic to follow that grayscale texture.
2. Filter > Distort > Displace

Blending Options

• Layer Mask Hides Effects – Layer style effects does not apply to the layer masked portions

1. Colorizing

• Select the section
• Copy into a separate layer
• Desaturate
• Duplicate layer & Fill shape with color
• Apply Blend Mode Multiply
• Adjust opacity to create the desired look/color
• Duplicate layer
• Apply Blend Mode Overlay
• Adjust opacity to create the desired look/color
• Duplicate layer
• Apply Blend Mode Color
• Adjust opacity to create the desired look/color

2. To Enhance A Subject’s Fitness / Muscles

• Create 2 separate layers
• Layer 1 enhance the highlights
• Layer 2 enhance the shadows
• Adjust the opactity in each layer until it looks natural

Resources:
http://www.jkost.com
http://www.software–cinema.com/jk
http://tv.adobe.com

Blend Mode:
•    Section 1: removes white
•    Section 2: removes black
•    Section 3:
o    Lighter area gets lighter
o    Darker area gets darker
•    Toggle between the blend modes using keyboard shortcuts:
o    Shift + Up/Down Arrows

Tips:
•    Create editable filters (smart filters) by applying filters to smart objects
•    When cropping you can:
o    Choose to “delete” everything outside the area.
o    Choose to “hide” everything outside the area which allows you to keep the original image size intact without throwing away any data.

Keyboard Shortcuts:
•    While in Transform Mode, use Command+O
o    When the transform tool is outside the canvas size, it reduces the full screen size in order to show the all the points within the transform tool.
•    Control + Tab = toggles between document windows
•    F = full screen view
•    Shift + F = document window view

1. Creating polar worlds using the Polar Coordinates filter

• Filter > Distort menu
• This filter can create a panorama landscape into a planet.

2. Adjusting brightness of individual colors within an image

• Option + choose Black & White Adjustment Layer > Change the mode to Luminosity
• Move your mouse over your image, click, and drag horizontally to change the brightness of whatever color your mouse is currently over.

3. Quick composites using blending sliders

• Use the Blending Options within the Layer Style popup menu
• Move upper left blending slider towards the middle = hide the dark sections
• Move the upper right blendling slider towards the middle = hide the bright sections
• Option + drag either side of the slider to split the slider into two pieces for a more gradual transition
• If the subject is different than the background color, consider clicking through the different color channels to find the most dramatic difference between the subject and background.
• Then choose that color channel from the popup menu that appears above the sliders.
• The Underlying Layer slider will cause the underlying layer to break through the active layer based on brightness.

4. Removing the Background on Fire

• Filter > Extract
• Check the Force Foreground box
• The Extract command is only capable of searching for a single color within an image
• If there is more than one color, such as a fire, choose the most prominent or a blend of both
• Use the Eye Dropper tool to choose that color

5. Removing the Background on Glass Objects

• Filter > Extract
• Use the command twice to extract the highlights and shadows on separate layers and you’re done.

6. Selecting a Complex Tree

• Background Eraser tool
• Tolerance at 50% and choose Discontiguous
• Choose a large soft brush
• Click on a color within the background and paint over the entire area to remove that color
• Repeat the process until all the background is removed

Three days of fun and informative Adobe Photoshop, digital imaging, and graphic design training with eight different tracks and more than 80 classes.

Some overall tips:

• 50% gray = neutral which will not show up when blending options are applied
• Always apply filters, blending options, etc. on duplicate layers
• Use opacity settings to adjust the intensity of whatever adjustments applied
• Use smart objects as templates
  • Can easily change the image and text & all smart objects will be updated with the new image and applied filter (only in CS3)
  • You can also turn video into a smart object and have filters applied (only in CS3)