Adobe Photoshop CS6 Essentials

Scott Onstott is a consultant, former university lecturer, author, and independent video producer with more than 14 years of experience teaching and writing about design visualization and image-manipulation software. He is the author of eight books, including Enhancing CAD Drawings with Photoshop and Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD LT 2013 Essentials. In addition, Scott has been writing a column in Photoshop User magazine for the past six years.

Introduction xix Chapter 1 Design Basics 1 Understanding the Design Process 1 Understanding Project Fundamentals 1 Collaborating with Others 3 Presenting Images 3 Participating in the Design Process 4 Learning Composition Principles 4 Framing Compositions 5 Employing Composition Themes 7 Understanding Your Rights to Use Images 18 Using Your Own Images 18 Using Others' Images 19 Photography and Scanning Primer 21 Understanding Pixels 21 Selecting a Digital Camera 22 Lens Focal Length 24 Lens Aperture 25 Adjusting Exposure 26 Focusing 28 Selecting Light Sensitivity 29 Scanning Tips 30 The Essentials and Beyond 32 Chapter 2 Get ting Acquainted with Photoshop's User Interface 33 User Interface Overview 33 Setting Application Preferences 36 Accessing Commands 38 Working with Documents 40 Using Tools 42 Understanding Tool Groups and Flyout Menus 42 Selecting Tool Options and Entering Numerical Values 45 Creating Tool Presets 46 Arranging Panels 48 Recalling Workspaces 52 The Essentials and Beyond 54 Chapter 3 Digital Imaging Fundamentals 55 Working with Pixels 55 Maximizing Megapixels 55 Selecting the Pixel Aspect Ratio 57 Dealing with Aliasing 58 Navigating Pixels 59 Understanding Color 60 Using Primary Colors 60 Storing Color in Channels 63 Selecting Image Modes 65 Picking Color 68 Storing Data 73 Bits and Bit Depth 73 Data versus Detail 74 Compressing Data 75 Setting Document Size and Resolution 76 Setting Resolution 77 Resampling Images 78 Changing the Canvas Size and Trimming 79 Cropping 81 The Essentials and Beyond 82 Chapter 4 Painting 83 Creating Gradients 83 Selecting Paint Colors 87 Using Painting Tools 90 Sketching with a Pencil 90 Painting with a Brush 92 Pouring Paint from a Bucket 94 Using Eraser Tools 95 Exploring Brushes 98 Opacity and Flow 99 Brush Panel 100 Painting With a Tablet 102 Taking Advantage of Pressure Sensitivity 103 Controlling Bristle Tip Brushes with Tilt Sensitivity 104 Painting from History 105 Understanding the History Panel 105 Using the History Brush 106 Painting with the Art History Brush 108 Using the Mixer Brush 110 The Essentials and Beyond 112 Chapter 5 Drawing 113 Comparing Vector with Raster Data 113 Drawing with Vector Tools 116 Manipulating Shapes 119 Working With Drawing Tool Modes 123 Shape Tool Mode 123 Path Tool Mode 126 Pixels Tool Mode 129 The Essentials and Beyond 131 Chapter 6 Writing 133 Typography Primer 133 Creating Point Text 136 Creating Mask Text 138 Fine-Tuning Type 142 Creating Paragraph Text 146 The Essentials and Beyond 149 Chapter 7 Selecting Pixels 151 Selecting with Marquees 151 Using the Rectangular Marquee 151 Using the Elliptical Marquee 153 Selecting with Lassos 156 Using the Lasso 156 Using the Polygonal Lasso 158 Using the Magnetic Lasso 160 Drawing Selections 162 Painting Selections 165 Selecting by Color 167 Quick Selecting and Refining 171 The Essentials and Beyond 175 Chapter 8 Working with Layers and Masks 177 Understanding Layers 177 Managing Layers 181 Blending Layers 184 Using Masks 191 The Essentials and Beyond 195 Chapter 9 Using Layer Styles and Comps 197 Applying Layer Effects 197 Octagram Layer 198 Rays Layer 202 Outer and Circle Layers 205 Circled Dot Layer Group 208 Dividers Layer 212 Working with Layer Styles 216 Using Layer Comps 218 The Essentials and Beyond 219 Chapter 10 Transforming Paths, Layers, and Smart Objects 221 Using Rulers and Guides 221 Moving, Aligning, and Distributing 224 Free Transforming 227 Deforming 231 Transforming Smart Objects 234 The Essentials and Beyond 237 Chapter 11 Adjusting and Filtering 239 Applying Adjustments and Filters 239 Working with Smart Filters 243 Creating Fill and Adjustment Layers 247 The Essentials and Beyond 252 Chapter 12 Developing Photos 253 Using Adobe Bridge 253 Making Development Decisions in ACR 255 Basic Parameters 256 Advanced Parameters 260 Making Local Adjustments in ACR 266 The Essentials and Beyond 270 Chapter 13 Retouching Photos 271 Using Retouching Tools 271 Developing the Photo 271 Removing the Telephone Pole and Wires 273 Replacing Textures In Perspective 278 Mapping Perspective Grids 278 Copying a Texture onto Surfaces in Perspective 282 Changing Focus 286 The Essentials and Beyond 289 Chapter 14 Merging Photos 291 Making High Dynamic Range Imagery 291 Using Merge to HDR Pro 291 Applying HDR Toning To A Single Image 295 Working with Panoramas 297 Using Photomerge 297 Making A Seamless 360-Degree Panorama 300 Processing Images in Stacks 304 The Essentials and Beyond 308 Chapter 15 Working with Color 309 Managing Color 309 Configuring Color Settings 312 Assigning and Converting Color Profiles 315 Correcting Color 318 Using Curves to Set Black, Gray, and White Points 318 Creating a Color Cast with the Photo Filter 321 Adjusting Color 323 Proofing Color 326 The Essentials and Beyond 328 Chapter 16 Creating Output 329 Printing 329 Saving for the Web 333 Rendering Images to Video 337 The Essentials and Beyond 339 Appendix Adobe Visual Communication Using Photoshop CS6 Objectives 341 Index 345