Photoshop CS5: Production, Student Manual

ADOBE ® Photoshop CS5 ® PRODUC T ION 4.9/5.0 rating from ProCert Labs Level 3 of 3 L E A R N HOW TO: ÂŽ Manage ...

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ADOBE

®

Photoshop CS5 ®

PRODUC T ION

4.9/5.0

rating from ProCert Labs

Level 3 of 3

L E A R N HOW TO: ÂŽ

Manage design projects

ÂŽ

Understand color management

ÂŽ

Apply photographic techniques

ÂŽ

Create panoramas and HDR images

ÂŽ

Make CYMK separations for print

ÂŽ

Work with grayscale and spot colors

ÂŽ

Optimize images for Web use

ÂŽ

Prepare images for video

Prepares you for the Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) exam

CS5_Photoshop_Pro.indd 1

1/27/11 3:28 PM

Photoshop CS5: Production Student Manual ACA Edition

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition President, Axzo Press:

Jon Winder

Vice President, Product Development:

Charles G. Blum

Vice President, Operations:

Josh Pincus

Director of Publishing Systems Development:

Dan Quackenbush

Writer:

Chris Hale

Copyeditor:

Catherine Oliver

Keytester:

Cliff Coryea

COPYRIGHT © 2011 Axzo Press. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, transcribed, or used in any form or by any meansgraphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, Web distribution, or information storage and retrieval systemswithout the prior written permission of the publisher. For more information, go to www.axzopress.com.

Trademarks ILT Series is a trademark of Axzo Press. Some of the product names and company names used in this book have been used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers and sellers.

Disclaimers We reserve the right to revise this publication and make changes from time to time in its content without notice. The Adobe Approved Certification Courseware logo is either a registered trademark or trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. The Adobe Approved Certification Courseware logo is a proprietary trademark of Adobe. All rights reserved. The ILT Series is independent from ProCert Labs, LLC and Adobe Systems Incorporated, and are not affiliated with ProCert Labs and Adobe in any manner. This publication may assist students to prepare for an Adobe Certified Expert exam, however, neither ProCert Labs nor Adobe warrant that use of this material will ensure success in connection with any exam. Student Manual ISBN 10: 1-4260-2078-3 ISBN 13: 978-1-4260-2078-0 Student Manual with Disc ISBN-10: 1-4260-2080-5 ISBN-13: 978-1-4260-2080-3 Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 GL 06 05 04 03

Contents Introduction

iii

Topic A: About the manual............................................................................... iv Topic B: Setting your expectations...................................................................vii Topic C: Re-keying the course ......................................................................... xi

Project management

1-1

Topic A: Project plans ..................................................................................... 1-2 Topic B: Layer comps ..................................................................................... 1-7 Topic C: Design principles ............................................................................. 1-12 Unit summary: Project management ............................................................... 1-14

Color management

2-1

Topic A: Color management basics ................................................................. 2-2 Topic B: Color space conversion..................................................................... 2-9 Topic C: Printing with color management...................................................... 2-14 Unit summary: Color management ................................................................. 2-21

Photographic techniques

3-1

Topic A: The camera raw format..................................................................... 3-2 Topic B: Photographic adjustments................................................................ 3-12 Topic C: Lens adjustments ............................................................................. 3-17 Topic D: Merging images ............................................................................... 3-26 Unit summary: Photographic techniques ........................................................ 3-35

RGB image adjustments

4-1

Topic A: Color correction principles ............................................................... 4-2 Topic B: Measuring color ................................................................................ 4-5 Topic C: Automatic adjustments .................................................................... 4-11 Topic D: Curves adjustments.......................................................................... 4-20 Topic E: Hand-retouching color ..................................................................... 4-32 Topic F: Color replacement............................................................................ 4-34 Unit summary: RGB image adjustments......................................................... 4-41

CMYK separations

5-1

Topic A: Prepress color settings ...................................................................... 5-2 Topic B: CMYK image adjustments .............................................................. 5-14 Topic C: Sharpening ....................................................................................... 5-18 Unit summary: CMYK separations................................................................. 5-22

Grayscale and spot colors

6-1

Topic A: Grayscale conversion........................................................................ 6-2 Topic B: Spot-color images ............................................................................. 6-7 Topic C: Duotones.......................................................................................... 6-14 Unit summary: Grayscale and spot colors....................................................... 6-18

Web and video images

7-1

Topic A: Web image size................................................................................. 7-2

ii

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition Topic B: Optimizing images for the Web ...................................................... 7-12 Topic C: Fine-tuning quality .......................................................................... 7-20 Topic D: Creating transparency...................................................................... 7-23 Topic E: Preparing images for video ............................................................. 7-30 Unit summary: Web and video images ........................................................... 7-38

Course summary

S-1

Topic A: Course summary............................................................................... S-2 Topic B: Continued learning after class .......................................................... S-4

Glossary

G-1

Index

I-1

iii

Introduction

After reading this introduction, you will know how to: A Use ILT Series manuals in general. B Use prerequisites, a target student

description, course objectives, and a skills inventory to properly set your expectations for the course. C Re-key this course after class.

iv

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition

Topic A: About the manual ILT Series philosophy Our manuals facilitate your learning by providing structured interaction with the software itself. While we provide text to explain difficult concepts, the hands-on activities are the focus of our courses. By paying close attention as your instructor leads you through these activities, you will learn the skills and concepts effectively. We believe strongly in the instructor-led class. During class, focus on your instructor. Our manuals are designed and written to facilitate your interaction with your instructor, and not to call attention to manuals themselves. We believe in the basic approach of setting expectations, delivering instruction, and providing summary and review afterwards. For this reason, lessons begin with objectives and end with summaries. We also provide overall course objectives and a course summary to provide both an introduction to and closure on the entire course.

Manual components The manuals contain these major components:  Table of contents  Introduction  Units  Course summary  Glossary  Index Each element is described below. Table of contents The table of contents acts as a learning roadmap. Introduction The introduction contains information about our training philosophy and our manual components, features, and conventions. It contains target student, prerequisite, objective, and setup information for the specific course. Units Units are the largest structural component of the course content. A unit begins with a title page that lists objectives for each major subdivision, or topic, within the unit. Within each topic, conceptual and explanatory information alternates with hands-on activities. Units conclude with a summary comprising one paragraph for each topic, and an independent practice activity that gives you an opportunity to practice the skills you’ve learned. The conceptual information takes the form of text paragraphs, exhibits, lists, and tables. The activities are structured in two columns, one telling you what to do, the other providing explanations, descriptions, and graphics.

Introduction

v

Course summary This section provides a text summary of the entire course. It is useful for providing closure at the end of the course. The course summary also indicates the next course in this series, if there is one, and lists additional resources you might find useful as you continue to learn about the software. Glossary The glossary provides definitions for all of the key terms used in this course. Index The index at the end of this manual makes it easy for you to find information about a particular software component, feature, or concept.

Manual conventions We’ve tried to keep the number of elements and the types of formatting to a minimum in the manuals. This aids in clarity and makes the manuals more classically elegant looking. But there are some conventions and icons you should know about. Item

Description

Italic text

In conceptual text, indicates a new term or feature.

Bold text

In unit summaries, indicates a key term or concept. In an independent practice activity, indicates an explicit item that you select, choose, or type.

Code font

Indicates code or syntax.

Longer strings of ► code will look ► like this.

In the hands-on activities, any code that’s too long to fit on a single line is divided into segments by one or more continuation characters (►). This code should be entered as a continuous string of text.

Select bold item

In the left column of hands-on activities, bold sans-serif text indicates an explicit item that you select, choose, or type.

Keycaps like e

Indicate a key on the keyboard you must press.

vi


Hands-on activities The hands-on activities are the most important parts of our manuals. They are divided into two primary columns. The “Here’s how” column gives short instructions to you about what to do. The “Here’s why” column provides explanations, graphics, and clarifications. Here’s a sample: Do it!

A-1:

Creating a commission formula

Here’s how 1 Open Sales

Here’s why This is an oversimplified sales compensation worksheet. It shows sales totals, commissions, and incentives for five sales reps.

2 Observe the contents of cell F4 The commission rate formulas use the name “C_Rate” instead of a value for the commission rate.

For these activities, we have provided a collection of data files designed to help you learn each skill in a real-world business context. As you work through the activities, you will modify and update these files. Of course, you might make a mistake and therefore want to re-key the activity starting from scratch. To make it easy to start over, you will rename each data file at the end of the first activity in which the file is modified. Our convention for renaming files is to add the word “My” to the beginning of the file name. In the above activity, for example, a file called “Sales” is being used for the first time. At the end of this activity, you would save the file as “My sales,” thus leaving the “Sales” file unchanged. If you make a mistake, you can start over using the original “Sales” file. In some activities, however, it might not be practical to rename the data file. If you want to retry one of these activities, ask your instructor for a fresh copy of the original data file.

Introduction

vii

Topic B: Setting your expectations Properly setting your expectations is essential to your success. This topic will help you do that by providing:  Prerequisites for this course  A description of the target student  A list of the objectives for the course  A skills assessment for the course

Course prerequisites Before taking this course, you should be familiar with personal computers and the use of a keyboard and a mouse. Furthermore, this course assumes that you’ve completed the following courses or have equivalent experience:  Windows 7: Basic  Photoshop CS5: Basic, ACA Edition  Photoshop CS5: Advanced, ACA Edition

Target student The target student for this course is familiar with the basics of using Adobe Photoshop to create and modify digital images. You now want to learn techniques for preparing consistent, high-quality images for both print and electronic media.

viii


Course objectives These overall course objectives will give you an idea about what to expect from the course. It is also possible that they will help you see that this course is not the right one for you. If you think you either lack the prerequisite knowledge or already know most of the subject matter to be covered, you should let your instructor know that you think you are misplaced in the class. Note: In addition to the general objectives listed below, specific ACA exam objectives are listed at the beginning of each topic (where applicable). After completing this course, you will know how to:  Review project management basics and discuss effective communications management, create and export layer comps, and understand basic principles of design.  Examine color models’ different gamuts and color space differences, specify how to handle images when their color profiles are different from the current color space, and proof image colors onscreen.  Specify settings for camera raw images, use photo filters and the Match Colors command to adjust image colors, apply filters to counteract lens distortions or simulate lens effects, merge side-by-side images to create panoramas, and merge images to create High Dynamic Range images.  Understand color correction principles, locate image shadows and highlights and identify their color values, use automatic adjustments to maximize image contrast, use curves to adjust image contrast, use the toning tools to retouch image color and contrast by hand, and replace a single color throughout an image or in specific areas.  Specify color settings for print images and separate images into CMYK components, correct image colors by adjusting CMYK curves, and use the Unsharp Mask filter to sharpen an image.  Use the Black & White options to convert an image to grayscale, use spot channels to specify spot colors in an image, and convert a grayscale image to a duotone.  Downsample and trim Web images to decrease file size, use Zoomify to export high-definition images, use the Save for Web & Devices command to optimize images, optimize a Web image to a target file size, apply lossy compression, optimize images with transparency or simulated transparency, and optimize images for video.

ix

Introduction

Skills inventory Use the following form to gauge your skill level entering the class. For each skill listed, rate your familiarity from 1 to 5, with five being the most familiar. This is not a test. Rather, it is intended to provide you with an idea of where you’re starting from at the beginning of class. If you’re wholly unfamiliar with all the skills, you might not be ready for the class. If you think you already understand all of the skills, you might need to move on to the next course in the series. In either case, you should let your instructor know as soon as possible. Skill Discussing the elements and phases of project management Creating and exporting layer comps Opening images with mismatched profiles Proofing colors onscreen Printing with a color management profile Proofing by using a simulated device Adjusting settings for camera raw images Applying camera raw settings in Adobe Bridge Applying photo filters Matching colors in multiple images Correcting lens distortions Simulating depth-of-field effects Counteracting focus blur Creating a panorama with Photomerge Creating an HDR image Locating shadows and highlights Setting target points with eyedroppers Correcting shadow and highlight problems Adjusting contrast with curves Using toning tools to retouch image color and contrast Replacing color in an image Choosing RGB and CMYK color spaces for prepress

1

2

3

4

5

x

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition Skill Choosing custom CMYK ink options Setting color-separation options Adjusting CMYK curves Applying the Unsharp Mask filter Converting an image to black and white Adding a spot-color channel Saving a file in DCS format Creating a duotone Adjusting duotone curves Downsampling images Trimming images Optimizing with the JPEG format Export images by using Zoomify Optimizing with the GIF format Optimizing to a target file size Changing lossiness settings Creating transparent GIF images Choosing matte colors for GIF and JPEG images Simulating partially transparent areas Viewing pixel aspect ratios Creating an image for video Scaling a square-pixel image for video

1

2

3

4

5

Introduction

xi

Topic C: Re-keying the course If you have the proper hardware and software, you can re-key this course after class. This section explains what you’ll need in order to do so, and how to do it.

Hardware requirements Your personal computer should have:  A keyboard and a mouse  Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 64 Processor (or faster)  1GB RAM (or higher)  1 GB of available hard drive space after the operating system is installed  A monitor with at least 1280 × 960 resolution

Software requirements You will also need the following software:  Microsoft Windows 7 (You can also use Windows Vista or Windows XP, but the screen shots in this course were taken in Windows 7, so your screens might look somewhat different.)  Adobe Photoshop CS5  Adobe Flash Player  Adobe Reader  A printer driver (An actual printer is not required, but you will not be able to complete the “Proofing colors onscreen,” “Printing with a color management profile,” or “Proofing by using a simulated device” activities in the unit titled “Color management” unless a driver is installed.)

Network requirements The following network components and connectivity are also required for re-keying this course:  Internet access, for the following purposes: – Downloading the latest critical updates and Service Packs – Downloading the Student Data files (if necessary)

xii


Setup instructions to re-key the course Before you re-key the course, you will need to perform the following steps. 1 Use Windows Update to install all available critical updates and Service Packs. 2 With flat-panel displays, we recommend using the panel’s native resolution for best results. Color depth/quality should be set to High (24 bit) or higher. Please note that your display settings or resolution may differ from the author’s, so your screens might not exactly match the screen shots in this manual. 3 If necessary, reset any Photoshop defaults that you have changed: a When starting Photoshop, hold down Shift+Ctrl+Alt until the dialog box appears, asking if you want to delete the settings file; click Yes. (If you do not wish to reset the defaults, you can still re-key the course, but some activities might not work exactly as documented.) b Choose Window, Workspace, Delete Workspace to open the Delete Workspace dialog box. From the Workspace list, select Color correction. Click Delete and then click Yes. c Choose Edit, Preferences, File Handling. Under File Compatibility, set Maximize PSD and PSB Compatibility to Always. Click OK. d Close Photoshop. 4 Download and install the Stylus Photo 1400 printer profile from http://www.epson.com. (Because Web sites are updated regularly, the following steps might not work exactly as described.) a Connect to www.epson.com. b Click the link for North America, and then click the link for USA. c Click the link for Drivers & Support, and click Printers & All-in-Ones. d Click Single-function Ink Jet. In the list of printers, select Epson Stylus Photo 1400. e Under Drivers & Downloads, click Windows. f Click Printer Driver v6.61 or the most recent driver for your operating system. g Click Download Now and follow the instructions to download the printer driver. Unzip the downloaded files to the default location. The EPSON Printer Utility Setup dialog box appears. h In the EPSON Printer Utility Setup dialog box, click OK; the EPSON Printer Utilities Setup dialog box opens. i Click Manual. Select a printer port (for example, LPT1) and click OK. j After setup is complete, click OK. 5 Install the latest version of Adobe Flash Player by browsing to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and following the onscreen instructions. Do not install any bundled applications. 6 Install the latest version of Adobe Reader by browsing to http://get.adobe.com/reader/ and following the onscreen instructions. Do not install any bundled applications.

Introduction

xiii

7 If you have the data disc that came with this manual, locate the Student Data folder on it and copy it to your Windows desktop. If you don’t have the data disc, you can download the Student Data files for the course: a Connect to www.axzopress.com. b Under Downloads, click Instructor-Led Training. c Browse the subject categories to locate your course. Then click the course title to display a list of available downloads. (You can also access these downloads through our Catalog listings.) d Click the link(s) for downloading the Student Data files. e Create a folder named Student Data on your Windows desktop. f Double-click the downloaded zip file(s) and drag the contents into the Student Data folder.

CertBlaster software CertBlaster pre- and post-assessment software is available for this course. To download and install this free software, complete the following steps: 1 Go to www.axzopress.com. 2 Under Downloads, click CertBlaster. 3 Click the link for Photoshop CS5. 4 Save the .EXE file to a folder on your hard drive. (Note: If you skip this step, the CertBlaster software will not install correctly.) 5 Click Start and choose Run. 6 Click Browse and navigate to the folder that contains the .EXE file. 7 Select the .EXE file and click Open. 8 Click OK and follow the on-screen instructions. When prompted for the password, enter c_photocs5.

xiv


1–1

Unit 1 Project management Unit time: 30 minutes Complete this unit, and you’ll know how to: A Review project management basics and

discuss effective communications management. B Create and export layer comps. C Discuss design elements and principles.

1–2


Topic A: Project plans This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

1.1a

Identify information that determines the purpose, audience, and audience needs for image production.

1.3a

Identify items that might appear on a project plan.

1.3b

Identify phases that might appear on a project plan.

1.3d

Identify common problems and issues in project management.

1.4

Communicate with others (such as peers and clients) about design plans.

Planning a project Explanation

A project is an organized effort to achieve a goal that has a deliverable. A project is a temporary endeavor, with a defined purpose, scope, and end. The images you produce in Photoshop will often be part of a project intended for publication. When you produce images for publication, it’s important to keep in mind the publication’s purpose and intended audience. In addition, having a project plan will help you deal with any unexpected issues that might arise. Purpose and audience Effective written communication often presents an argument, or a combination of rhetorical techniques intended to persuade an audience to accept some idea or position. The same is true for many images, which often are intended to accompany writing or to stand alone as an argument. For example, images in advertising are carefully chosen to communicate a specific message or feeling. For an argument to be effective, it must address its intended audience, or the group of people for whom the argument is most relevant and who are most likely to respond to it. As you plan a project in Photoshop, consider the following questions as part of a comprehensive (and ongoing) audience analysis:  Who are the viewers—what is their education level, socioeconomic status, age group, race, gender, or religious affiliation?  What does the intended audience already know about the topic?  What values or experiences might viewers have in common?  What are your client’s goals?

Project management

1–3

Project phases Project management is an iterative process that involves five major phases, as shown in Exhibit 1-1: initiating; planning; executing; monitoring and controlling; and closing. Each phase demands careful planning and monitoring to ensure a successful project. Approaching any of the phases haphazardly might doom the project to failure. Collectively, these phases are called the project life-cycle. During each phase, one or more outputs are completed. Outputs have to be realistic and measurable; otherwise, they have no meaning. Only when outputs are measurable can you determine whether the project is moving along on time and within budget.

Exhibit 1-1: The five phases of project management The following table describes each phase of the project life-cycle. Phase

Description

Outputs

Initiating

Formalize the beginning of the project. You define and authorize the project, name the project manager, and define the scope, deliverable, duration, and resources.

Project charter

Planning

Identify the project’s scope and resource requirements. You identify stakeholders, define objectives and requirements, define the scope, develop the schedule, define the budget, identify risks, identify resources, and plan procurement.

Project management plan

Executing

Implement the project management plan, complete the work, and coordinate staff.

Deliverable

Monitoring/ Controlling

Ensure that objectives are met by monitoring and tracking the project’s progress. You monitor performance against the project management plan, identify variances, undertake corrective actions, and implement approved changes.

Corrective action

Closing

Formalize the acceptance of the project and ensure an orderly end. You gather project information, review the project’s time and cost performance, compile the lessons learned, and close contracts.

Sign-off from the customer or sponsor

1–4

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition The initiating and planning phases are essential to a successful project. During these phases, project needs are identified and the outcomes of the project are defined. After the scope of a project is defined, the project manager must put together a plan for delivering the project. The initiating and planning phases require the project manager to perform the following tasks:  Identify the goal clearly.  Identify the project’s scope.  Translate business requirements into functional and technical requirements.  Estimate time and cost requirements.  Link activities to performance and deliverables.  Establish priorities and ground rules.  Identify risks.  Negotiate, for example, for funding or resources.

Addressing problems You can avoid some of the common causes of failure by being aware of what has caused other projects to fail. Although there are a multitude of reasons that projects fail, some reasons are more common than others. A successful project manager attempts to anticipate and address these potential problems while planning the project. Research has identified the following items as major contributors to project failure:  Sponsor not involved — A sponsor who isn’t actively involved in setting the project’s strategy and direction can quickly doom a project. Without the support of a sponsor, a project can lose its funding and support from senior management.  Poor project planning — A project plan that’s nonexistent, out-of-date, incomplete, or poorly constructed means that a project will fail—it’s impossible to manage a project without a well-written plan.  Frequent project manager changes — The project team can’t be cohesive without a good leader. Trust and leadership are essential to the project and can only be built over time.  Responsibilities not clear — Often, projects use external contractors to accomplish a project. When the responsibilities of the external service providers and in-house staff are not clearly defined, critical tasks often fall through the cracks. In addition, this issue can create a situation in which everyone claims that a particular activity or task isn’t his or her job.  Unclear benefits and deliverables — If the benefits of the project and the way they will be delivered aren’t well defined for the affected parties, you won’t have buy-in for the project.  Poor or no change control — If changes in the project are not carefully controlled, the project will quickly get out of hand. The project’s scope can balloon, and the project manager won’t be able to deliver on time.  Changes in technology — Changes in technology during a project can cause it to fail because the technology that was planned for is no longer utilized.  Inappropriate or insufficient skills — If the project team members don’t have the required expertise, the deliverables will be late or the project will fail completely.

Project management

1–5

 Scope creep — Scope creep is an ongoing problem. It refers to the addition of project requirements while the project is in process. Often, scope creep occurs because the project sponsors or business unit managers don’t really understand their needs and business requirements. It also occurs because new technologies, which aren’t part of the project plan, become available and are suddenly added to the project as requirements. Finally, scope creep can occur because business unit managers outside the original project definition suddenly understand the benefits of a project’s deliverables and want their departments added to the project. A good project manager must handle scope creep in a diplomatic and productive manner to keep the project on track.  Poor project manager — Poor project managers are either not trained in project management best practices or are a poor fit from a personality point of view (or at worst, both). Poor project managers include micromanagers and those who look the other way when problems crop up.

Project communication A communications management plan is needed for the smooth flow of information to the stakeholders involved in a project—including the project sponsor, upper management, the project team, end-users, and sellers—so that they can make informed decisions throughout the project. The plan describes who needs to receive information, what information they need, when they need it, and how it is disseminated. You can use either informal or formal methods of communicating. The first purpose of a communication management plan is to ensure that communication does occur. The best intentions to have good communications might fall by the wayside as project managers are faced with requests from all sides. If communications are planned from the outset, the project manager can allocate time to perform this critical function. A communications management plan must also ensure that communication is done right. Too many status reports and meetings end up wasting the time of both the sender and the receiver. When information is unnecessarily communicated, the receiver might become desensitized. A good communication plan determines who needs what, when. For creative professionals, communication often involves review and revision as ongoing and recursive processes. Valuable time can be wasted if quick and efficient communication isn’t available. To make the review process more efficient, you might consider using CS Live, a service available with any Adobe CS5 application. For example, by using CS Review, a service of CS Live, you can initiate a review of an image from within Photoshop and invite colleagues or clients to leave feedback by using their Web browsers. To begin using CS Live, click the CS Live button on the application bar and select an option.

1–6 Do it!


A-1:

Discussing project management

Here’s how 1 What is a project?

2 What kinds of information would help you determine the purpose and audience for a project?

3 What are the five phases of a project?

4 During the planning phase, a project plan is produced. What items might appear in the project plan?

5 Why is planning necessary for a project?

6 What are some common problems that contribute to a project’s failure?

7 What are some ways you could ensure effective communication when working on a design project?

Project management

1–7

Topic B: Layer comps This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

1.3c

Identify deliverables that might be produced during the project.

3.1d

Demonstrate knowledge of the functions of various panels.

Comps as project deliverables Explanation

When you’re preparing an image that other people will review and approve, you’ll probably want to create several versions of it. Multiple versions of a design or layout are typically called comps, which is short for compositions. You can use Photoshop to generate multiple comps in a single image file.

The Layer Comps panel You can use the Layer Comps panel to store comps of an image. Each layer comp is a snapshot of the Layers panel in a specified state. A layer comp stores three types of layer data for each layer:  Layer visibility  The position of layer content in the image  The layer’s appearance (style and blending mode) If you have created layer groups for an image, each layer comp can contain some, all, or none of those layer groups. Creating layer comps To create a layer comp: 1 Specify layer options for the appearance of the image in a given comp. 2 Choose Window, Layer Comps, or click the Layer Comps tab in the panel well, to open the Layer Comps panel. 3 At the bottom of the panel, click the Create New Layer Comp button to open the New Layer Comp dialog box. 4 Enter a name for the comp, specify the Layers panel settings you want the comp to use, and click OK.

1–8

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition Viewing layer comps To view your layer comps, click to the left of each layer comp’s name in the Layer Comps panel, as shown in Exhibit 1-2. You can also click the Apply Next and Apply Previous buttons to cycle through the layer comps.

Click to view layer comp

Delete Layer Comp Create New Layer Comp Update Layer Comp Apply Next Selected Layer Comp Apply Previous Selected Layer Comp

Exhibit 1-2: The Layer Comps panel Modifying layer comps Changes you make in an image while viewing a layer comp do not automatically update the layer comp itself. To modify a layer comp: 1 In the Layer Comps panel, select the layer comp you want to change. 2 Make your changes in the image. 3 In the Layer Comps panel, click the Update Layer Comp button.

Project management Do it!

B-1:

1–9

Creating layer comps

The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 1\Topic B.

Here’s how 1 Start Photoshop

Here’s why From the Start menu, select All Programs, Adobe Photoshop CS5.

2 Open Zesty Save the image as My zesty 3 Choose Window,

In the current topic folder. To open the Layer Comps panel.

Layer Comps

4 Click

(The Create New Layer Comp icon.) To open the New Layer Comp dialog box.

Edit the Name box to read Zesty top, red bg

Check Visibility, Position, and Appearance (Layer Style)

Click OK

To close the dialog box.

5 Switch the positions of the vegetables and Zesty! objects in the image, as shown

Create a layer comp called Zesty bottom, red bg

6 Double-click the Pattern Fill 1 layer

In the Layer Comps panel, click the Create New Layer Comp icon. Enter the comp name and click OK. To open the Layer Style dialog box.

Click Color Overlay

To display the Color Overlay settings.

Click the color swatch to the right of the Blend Mode list

To open the Color Picker dialog box.

Set the R, G, and B values to 255, 255, and 0

To specify a bright yellow color.

Close the Color Picker and the Layer Style dialog box

1–10

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 7 Double-click the Zesty layer Click Gradient Overlay

To open the Layer Style dialog box. To display the Gradient Overlay settings.

From the Gradient list, select the indicated gradient

Violet, Orange.

Click OK

To return to the image.

8 Create a layer comp named Zesty bottom, yellow bg

9 In the Layer Comps panel, click the box to the left of each layer comp 10 In the “Zesty top, red bg” layer comp, move Zesty! slightly to the right View another layer comp, and then return to the “Zesty top, red bg” layer comp 11 Again, move Zesty! slightly to the right In the Layer Comps panel, click

To switch between the comps.

Make sure the layer comp is selected first.

The word “Zesty” is back in its original position.

In the “Zesty top, red bg” layer comp.

(The Update Layer Comp icon.) To update the “Zesty top, red bg” layer comp with the change.

Close the Layer Comps panel 12 Update the image

Next, you’ll make PDF files to give to a client, with each comp in a separate file.

Project management

1–11

Exporting comps Explanation

You can export layer comps as separate files. This is useful when you want to show the layer comps to a client. To export layer comps: 1 Choose File, Scripts, Layer Comps to Files. 2 Select a destination folder for the files. 3 Edit the file name prefix, if desired. The entire file name will consist of this prefix, followed by an incrementing four-digit number, followed by the name of the layer comp as it is listed in the Layer Comps panel. 4 From the File Type list, select a file type, such as PDF. 5 Click Run. When the script finishes, click OK.

Do it!

B-2:

Exporting layer comps

Here’s how 1 Choose File, Scripts, Layer Comps to Files…

From the File Type list, select PDF

Here’s why To open the Layer Comps To Files dialog box. The image file name appears in the File Name Prefix box by default. By default, the file name for each PDF file has three parts: the Photoshop image file name, followed by an incrementing four-digit numeral, followed by the comp name as it appears in the Layer Comps panel.

Click Browse

To open the Choose Folder dialog box.

Navigate to the current topic folder

Student Data folder Unit 1\Topic B.

Click OK

To return to the Layer Comps To Files dialog box.

2 Click Run

When the conversion process is finished, the Script Alert dialog box will appear.

Click OK 3 In Windows Explorer, navigate to the current topic folder Open each of the Zesty comps 4 Close Adobe Reader 5 Update and close the image

In Photoshop.

1–12


Topic C: Design principles This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objective for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.2b

Demonstrate knowledge of design elements and principles, such as line, shape, form, texture, color, emphasis/contrast (focal point), proximity/groupings, alignment, balance, repetition, harmony, and white space.

Elements of design Explanation

Designs vary widely in purpose and involve subjective and artistic decisions. However, there are some basic principles of good design that hold true for most images. Though in-depth graphic design is outside the scope of this course, you should be familiar with principles of good design and composition. Emphasis When viewers first see an image, their eyes are drawn to a focal point. A focal point typically is the largest element in a design and can be set off with white space to give it emphasis. Because the image itself might end up being the focal point in a larger design, you might not think that focus is an important consideration when working on an image. However, many images contain several components, and having a clear focal point helps viewers know where to place their attention. White space between image elements is an important part of most designs. It has its own shape and contributes to the appeal and readability of an image. Balance People tend to notice symmetry, and it can be pleasing. Consider using symmetry (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or radial) to distribute the weight of various elements in an image. Symmetrical design places equal weight throughout the parts of an image, but even asymmetrical design can achieve balance. One method of achieving balance, for example, is to repeat the same element on two sides of an image, creating symmetrical balance. Another method is to have one element in one area and a different element in a corresponding area—despite being different, the elements should have equal weight (size, shape, density, color), giving the image an asymmetrical balance. Color and contrast You might need to produce images that are easy on the eyes and easy to understand at a glance. To do so, you’ll need to ensure that contrasting colors don’t produce ugly or distracting effects. High contrast can help viewers understand how to interpret an image, so a lack of contrast could be confusing. Likewise, color is a powerful tool for creating focus and for communicating a particular feeling. Just because Photoshop gives you an unlimited color palette doesn’t mean you always need to use it. Choosing the one perfect color to express your idea is often more powerful that overwhelming your viewer with bright flashes of color used without purpose.

Project management

1–13

Consistency It is important to keep a consistent look within a design. Viewers should have no doubt that they are viewing the same message even though a layout might contain multiple images. A consistent use of color, balance, and proportion gives viewers a sense that everything is working together to express the same idea. All of these concepts are, of course, general guidelines. The purpose and content of your image might dictate that you ignore some or all of them completely. Do it!

C-1:

Discussing design principles

Here’s how 1 What are some aspects of visual design that you should think about?

2 What are some important things to keep in mind when thinking about emphasis?

3 What are some important things to keep in mind when thinking about balance?

4 What are some important things to keep in mind when thinking about color and contrast?

5 What are some important things to keep in mind when thinking about consistency?

1–14


Unit summary: Project management Topic A

In this topic, you learned about project management concepts. You also learned about the importance of a communications management plan.

Topic B

In this topic, you used the Layer Comps panel to create layer comps. You also viewed and modified layer comps. Finally, you exported layer comps.

Topic C

In this topic, you learned about some design principles that help form the basis of effective images.

Independent practice activity In this activity, you’ll create layer comps and export them as PDFs. The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 1\Unit summary. 1 Open Granular spices and save the image as My granular spices. 2 Save a layer comp named Logo top left. 3 Move the Outlander logo to the bottom-right corner of the image, and save a layer comp named Logo bottom right. 4 Export the layer comps as PDF files. 5 Update and close the image.

Review questions 1 Which types of layer data can vary among layer comps for a single layer? [Choose all that apply.] A Layer visibility B Pixel content C The position of layer content in the image D The layer blending mode 2 From which submenu can you export layer comps? A File, Automate B File, Scripts C File, Export D File, Place

2–1

Unit 2 Color management Unit time: 40 minutes Complete this unit, and you’ll know how to: A Examine color models’ different gamuts

and color space differences. B Specify how to handle images when their

color profiles are different from the current color space. C Proof image colors onscreen.

2–2


Topic A: Color management basics This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.1e

Demonstrate knowledge of image optimization with regard to preparing images for web, video, or print.

2.4a

Identify the differences between RGB and CMYK.

2.4f

Demonstrate knowledge of how to select the appropriate color modes for web, print, and video.

3.1c

Demonstrate knowledge of the functions of tools on the Tools panel.

3.1d

Demonstrate knowledge of the functions of various panels.

3.3c

Demonstrate knowledge of how to optimize images for print and web.

3.5a

Given a term associated with color management, explain the meaning of that term.

3.5c

Explain the differences between, and how choosing either the Edit > Assign Profile or Edit > Convert Profile command affects an image.

5.1c

Demonstrate knowledge of the elements of images that need to be checked or confirmed prior to print publishing.

Color mismatches Explanation

When you prepare an image for print use, it’s crucial to ensure that the colors in the printed version appear precisely as you expect. Photoshop’s color management tools can ensure that the colors you see onscreen match the colors in the final output. For example, you might view an image with several devices. Each device’s output might have slight color differences, making it difficult to anticipate how to adjust the image in Photoshop to get the final color you want in the printed version. Colors don’t match perfectly across devices because of differences in their characteristics. For example, colors you specified in an image you’re viewing on an LCD monitor might look different on a colleague’s traditional CRT monitor. This shift is caused by differences in how the monitors display colors. Color models and modes RGB and CMYK are color models—methods of assigning color values to represent an actual color. One cause of color shifts is that colors are sometimes converted to another color model, and each model works differently. The RGB model assigns each pixel an intensity value for each color component, so higher-numbered values represent brighter colors. In contrast, the CMYK model assigns each pixel a percentage value for each ink, and higher-numbered values represent darker colors. When you choose an option from the Image, Mode menu in Photoshop, you’re assigning a color mode—Photoshop’s term for the model specified for this specific image. RGB Color and CMYK Color, as they appear in Photoshop, are color modes. Photoshop does some behind-the-scenes conversions between color models, even when you don’t change an image’s color mode.

Color management

2–3

For example, if you print an RGB Color mode image on a printer that uses CMYK inks, Photoshop (or the printer driver) converts the colors from RGB to CMYK without your having to change the color mode. Photoshop’s Info panel can display an image’s colors as they would be defined in an alternate color model, as shown in Exhibit 2-1, without your changing the image’s color mode.

Exhibit 2-1: Photoshop can display CMYK-model colors for images created in RGB Color mode Printing inks Images you prepare for professional printing are typically output using the CMYK color model, which combines cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks to re-create all the colors in an image. It’s better to use RGB Color mode when working with an image in Photoshop because RGB offers a wider color gamut, or range of reproducible colors. In addition, you often don’t need to explicitly change from RGB Color mode to CMYK Color mode; most printer drivers automatically convert colors. If you’re working with images that will be commercially printed on a press, however, you’ll sometimes get the best results if you use Photoshop’s CMYK Color mode to adjust the images. Exhibit 2-2 shows a document that uses CMYK color, along with separations that are combined to create the composite image. The document is separated into four plates: one for each ink used. The plates appear here in grayscale, with darker areas indicating areas of heavier ink coverage. For example, the cyan and yellow plates will apply ink more heavily than the other plates. Color page

Cyan plate

Magenta plate

Yellow plate

Black plate

Exhibit 2-2: A newsletter cover shown with the four separations that divide its colors into ink components

2–4

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition Because RGB mode displays a wider color gamut than CMYK mode, image colors might shift when you convert from RGB to CMYK. If you want to preview how an RGB image might look in CMYK colors, choose View, Proof Colors or press Ctrl+Y.

Do it!

A-1:

Examining RGB and CMYK gamuts

The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 2\Topic A.

Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Bin of balls 1 Save the image as My bin of balls 1

(In the current topic folder.) You will observe how colors shift when displayed in different color spaces, such as those for print or for wider-gamut devices.

2 Choose View, Proof Colors

To display the image in CMYK Color mode, roughly as it would appear when printed on a typical printing press.

3 Press c + Y several times

To switch between RGB and CMYK displays. CMYK has a smaller gamut than RGB, so the colors in CMYK mode appear more muted.

4 Return to RGB mode (If necessary.) You can look at the document tab to see whether you are viewing the image in Proof Colors mode. In Proof Colors mode, “/CMYK” appears in the document’s title bar.

Color management

2–5

Color models, spaces, and profiles Explanation

A color’s appearance is separate from the color value that represents it. This is true when you’re defining a color in different color modes, such as the RGB and CMYK modes. For example, a red color might have an RGB value of R200 G50 B80 and a CMYK value of C16 M94 Y62 K3. A color’s value can vary within one color model as well, depending on the specific color space in use. A color space is a theoretical definition of a set of color characteristics that include specifications such as the gamut of available colors. A color space maps color appearances to values within a certain color model. You can think of a color space as a specific “flavor” or “variant” within a color model. Some color spaces represent physical devices, imitating their display characteristics. For example, to get the same shade of red on two different monitors, one monitor might require the RGB value of R200 G50 B80, while the other requires R182 G28 B63. Although both use the RGB color model, each monitor has its own color space, as does each printer (or more accurately, each combination of printer, inks, and paper). Color management and profiles Color management works by defining each device’s color space and writing it to a file called a color profile. Photoshop then reads the profile and uses it for color display. You can think of color management as a way of compensating for the “filter” each device applies when processing colors. Just as your eyes compensate for the way you perceive colors when you wear sunglasses, color management interprets the effect of each color space and adjusts the display and/or color values to create color matches from one device to another. By default, Photoshop embeds a file’s color space in the file itself when saving images. Therefore, if other people open a certain file, their copies of Photoshop can interpret that color space and display the image as closely as possible to the way you saw it. Working color spaces Photoshop doesn’t simply display images and base their color values on your monitor’s color space. If it did, each image would have embedded color-space information specific to a certain monitor, and a given RGB value would represent a slightly different color in each file. Instead, Photoshop uses a standardized working color space to map image colors to values. Photoshop also uses color management to adjust the display to compensate for the difference between your color space and the standard one. Photoshop’s default color space is sRGB, which was designed to represent a typical consumer-grade monitor. This default works well for images created for display on the Web and for printing on low-grade inkjet printers, because your audience will probably view the image on a monitor with a profile much like sRGB. If you send an image you’ve prepared with sRGB to a person using Photoshop with its default settings, that person should see a very close match to the colors you saw. However, sRGB has a fairly small gamut, which might be too limiting for high-quality image display and printing, so Photoshop enables you to work in other RGB color spaces. Many imaging professionals adjust images in the Adobe RGB (1998) color space, which can display a wider gamut than sRGB can. The Adobe RGB (1998) color space affects color values as well as appearances. For example, the color R200 G50 B80 will appear as a brighter red in the Adobe RGB (1998) color space than it will in sRGB.

2–6

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition Also, it’s possible to work in a color space with a wider gamut than your monitor can handle. Even if your monitor can’t display all of the colors in a file’s color space accurately, that won’t limit the colors when the image is displayed or printed elsewhere. Color spaces vs. color modes Color spaces are not the same as color modes. RGB and CMYK are color modes—each one represents a way of dividing a color into components. As was mentioned earlier, you can think of a color space as a “flavor” or “variant” of a color model. The sRGB and Adobe RGB (1998) color spaces are both within the RGB color model, but they are different color spaces. They have different gamuts, and they’ll map the same theoretical color to different RGB values. But the RGB value is not the color itself—it’s the numeric value of a color as viewed in a certain color space. To learn how various color spaces display colors differently, you can assign a different profile and examine the results. To specify a different profile for an image: 1 Choose Edit, Assign Profile. 2 In the Assign Profile dialog box, select Profile. 3 From the Profile list, select the one you want. 4 Click OK. The color values won’t change, but the image colors will be displayed in the new color space. This will change their appearance if the color spaces are significantly different. In ordinary work, you shouldn’t arbitrarily assign a different color space to an image this way; you’d normally use the Assign Profile command only if you believed that the wrong profile was embedded with an image. If you wanted to work in a different color space, changing the values without changing the appearance, you would typically convert to a different color space instead of simply assigning one. However, assigning a color space is helpful for seeing the difference between it and the original one.

Color management Do it!

A-2:

2–7

Examining color space differences

Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open the Info panel

Choose Window, Info.

2 Select the Eyedropper tool

In the Tools panel.

On the options bar, from the Sample Size list, select 3 by 3 Average

To specify that any pixels you point to or click will sample the average color of the pixels in the 3px  3px area you clicked.

3 Point to the saturated part of the red ball, as shown

Observe the value in the Info panel

The value is approximately 254R, 0G, 0B; this is fully saturated red in the sRGB color space.

4 On the status bar, click the Document statistics arrow and select Document Profile

To display the image’s color space, which is sRGB.

5 Choose Image, Duplicate…

To open the Duplicate Image dialog box.

Edit the As box to read Bin of balls Adobe RGB

Click OK 6 Choose Edit, Assign Profile…

To create the duplicate image. To open the Assign Profile dialog box.

Select Profile From the Profile list, select Adobe RGB (1998)

Click OK 7 Press c + ^ Press c + ^ again

8 In the Bin of balls Adobe RGB image, point to the red color

To assign the profile. To switch to My bin of balls 1. To switch back to Bin of balls Adobe RGB. You can see that some colors, notably red, are brighter in Adobe RGB than in sRGB. The color value is the same—about 254R, 0G, 0B. When you assigned a new profile, you didn’t convert to a different color space; you just displayed the same image pixel values in a different space, resulting in a visible color shift. The sRGB color space can’t produce this bright a red because its gamut is narrower in that hue.

2–8

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 9 Point to the saturated green ball, as shown

In the Info panel, observe the CMYK values

The values are approximately 100C, 0M, 80Y, and 0K, and they are followed by exclamation points, indicating that this RGB color is outside the CMYK gamut.

10 Switch to My bin of balls 1 Point to the same green ball, as shown, and observe the values in the Info panel

The highest values are approximately 85C, 15M, 85Y, and 0K, which produce a color that’s not as pure a green. The Adobe RGB color space, with its larger gamut, produces a “purer” green than does the sRGB space when converted to CMYK.

11 Close the Info panel Update and close all images

Color management

2–9

Topic B: Color space conversion This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

3.3c


3.5b

Given an option in the Color Settings dialog box, explain the purpose of that option.

5.1c


Displaying images in different color spaces Explanation

You can use Photoshop to display images in different color spaces. For example, if you are preparing an image for print, you can display it in a color space that represents your printer so you’ll have a good idea of what the final printout will look like. The default RGB color space, sRGB, represents a typical monitor, so you know how your images will appear to most viewers on the Web. The Color Settings dialog box You can specify the working color space (the one you plan to use most often) in the Color Settings dialog box, shown in Exhibit 2-3. (Choose Edit, Color Settings to open it.) In this dialog box, you can use the Settings list to select a set of color space settings. You can then customize these settings for each color model (RGB, CMYK, Grayscale, and Spot) to represent the output you’ll typically use. After you select the typical color space options, you can still specify a different color space for any image you open.

Exhibit 2-3: The Color Settings dialog box

2–10

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition Typical color spaces When specifying settings under Working Spaces in the Color Settings dialog box, you can use the following guidelines: Working space

Typical settings

RGB

Select the sRGB setting for output to low-grade consumer inkjets, to the Web, or to consumer photo printing companies. For commercial output to CMYK, or for output to a photo printer (with more than four ink colors), Adobe RGB is better because it has a wider gamut.

CMYK

Select a setting for your country and the paper type on which you’ll print most often (coated or uncoated). You can customize this setting more by selecting Custom CMYK.

Gray

Select a dot-gain value of 20% for high-quality paper or 30% for newsprint. (Dot gain measures how ink spreads when it’s absorbed into paper.) For Web work, use Gray Gamma 2.2, which matches typical monitors. For matching an uncalibrated Mac, use Gray Gamma 1.8, which displays images more brightly.

Spot

Select the same dot-gain value that you chose for Gray. Spot color is intended for printed images produced with specialty inks.

Color management policies Under Color Management Policies in the Color Settings dialog box, you can select different policies to specify what happens when you open an image with an embedded color space different from the default color space. The default action is to simply open the image using its embedded profile. The image should look as intended onscreen and will retain its pixel color values. However, it might not output to other devices or appear to other viewers (particularly those who aren’t applying color management) as it appears to you. You can specify an automatic policy for opening images. The options are described in the following table: Option

Effect

Preserve Embedded Profiles

Preserves embedded color profiles in newly opened files, regardless of whether the profile matches the working space. This is the default setting for RGB images.

Convert to Working RGB

Converts the newly opened document to the color space setting shown under Working Spaces. This setting will shift the pixel color values to match colors (as closely as possible given the different gamuts) when the image is displayed in your working color space. For example, the color 200R 0G 60B in an Adobe RGB (1998) image will shift to 234R 0G 59B when the image is converted to sRGB.

Off

Turns off color management for new files you create and for images you open with embedded color profiles different from the current working space.

Color management

2–11

You can also check Ask When Opening to specify that a dialog box should appear whenever you open an image with an embedded color space that doesn’t match the default. In that case, when you open a mismatched image, the Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog box will appear, as shown in Exhibit 2-4.

Exhibit 2-4: The Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog box

2–12 Do it!


B-1:

Opening images with mismatched profiles


Here’s how 1 Choose Edit, Color Settings… From the Settings list, select North America Web/Internet

Click OK 2 Open Coathangers

Here’s why To open the Color Settings dialog box. For this setting, the Gray working space is set to Gray Gamma 2.2, and the RGB color management policy is set to Convert to Working RGB. In addition, you’ll be notified if a profile mismatch occurs when images are opened or are pasted into a file. To close the dialog box. The Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog box appears. The image was created in Adobe RGB, but Photoshop’s working color space is sRGB.

Observe the default option

The default option for the North America Web/Internet setting will convert the document’s colors to the working color space.

Click OK

To open the file.

Save the image as

In the current topic folder.

My coathangers sRGB

3 Open Coathangers again

The Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog box appears.

Select Discard the embedded profile (don’t color manage) Click OK

In this image, some of the colors look darker because an image displayed in Adobe RGB (1998) has brighter reds than the same one displayed (without conversion) in sRGB.

Save the image as

Images that don’t have associated profiles are identified as “untagged”—that is, not tagged with a profile.

My coathangers untagged

4 Open Coathangers again Select Use the embedded profile (instead of the working space)

Click OK

The Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog box appears.

Color management 5 From the Arrange Documents menu, choose

2–13

(3 Up.) To display all three images without overlapping windows.

In the active document window, zoom in to 200% on the tab beneath the hook of the red hanger, as shown

Choose Window, Arrange, Match All

6 Open the Info panel

To zoom in on the same location and with the same magnification in the other two images. Choose Window, Info.

Select the Eyedropper tool, and position it over the left side of the red hanger tab in each image, as shown

In the original image and the untagged image, the values are the same (around 200R 0G 50B), but the reds look different. In the sRGB version, Photoshop converted the color to try to match the look of Adobe RGB as closely as possible, so the red value is around 235R 0G 50B.

7 Select the Hand tool On the options bar, check Scroll All Windows

Drag in one of the windows

To view the various colors in all windows at once.

8 Close the Info panel 9 Choose File, Close All 10 Choose Edit, Color Settings… From the Settings list, select North America General Purpose 2

Click OK

To close all open documents. To open the Color Settings dialog box.

2–14


Topic C: Printing with color management This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.4e

Demonstrate knowledge of how to assess color in images by using the Info panel, the Histogram panel, and color views.

3.3c


3.3e

Demonstrate knowledge of how to save print dialog settings as presets.

3.5a

Given a term associated with color management, explain the meaning of that term.

3.5d

Given a setting in the Color Management section of the Print dialog box, explain the purpose of that setting.

5.1c


Proofing image colors onscreen Explanation

To preview image colors as they’d appear when printed on a given printer, you’ll need to install a printer profile for that printer. You can download printer profiles from the printer manufacturer’s Web site, or you can use a hardware calibrator to create your own (this is the most accurate approach). In Photoshop, you can choose View, Proof Setup, Custom to open the Customize Proof Condition dialog box, shown in Exhibit 2-5. From the Device to Simulate list, select the profile for your printer, and then click OK. The printer profile you selected will be listed in the View, Proof Setup submenu.

Exhibit 2-5: The Customize Proof Condition dialog box

Color management Do it!

C-1:

2–15

Proofing colors onscreen

The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 2\Topic C.

Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Bin of balls 2 2 Choose View, Proof Setup, Working CMYK

(Choose the command even if it’s already checked.) The image changes to show how it will look as a CMYK document.

Choose View, Proof Colors

To return to the original appearance.

3 Choose View, Proof Setup, Custom…

To open the Customize Proof Condition dialog box.

From the Device to Simulate list, select SP1400 1410 MPHW

The image colors change to match the device’s profile.

Click Save

To open the Save dialog box.

4 Edit the File Name box to read SP1400 MPHW

Click Save

To save the profile.

Click OK

To return to the image.

5 Choose View, Proof Colors Choose View, Proof Setup, SP1400 MPHW

To uncheck it. To view the colors as they would appear when printed on this printer. Although the selected printer has a wider gamut than the CMYK press, the image is still less saturated than the original RGB version.

2–16


Printing with color management profiles Explanation

When you’re ready to print a color-managed image, you can choose settings to help ensure that the printed colors will match what you see on your monitor. After specifying the color conversion settings, you can set the color conversion to be performed either by the printer or by Photoshop. Letting the printer determine colors You can specify that Photoshop send all of the color conversion data to the printer, which will perform the conversion. In this workflow, Photoshop doesn’t perform any color correction directly. If the printer has settings for the specific paper you’re using, this workflow is simplest and should provide good results. Letting Photoshop determine colors You can instruct Photoshop to use the image’s assigned color profile to convert the colors to a specific printer color space. When using this option, you also need to choose printer properties to prevent the printer from performing any additional color conversions. This option is necessary when any of the following circumstances apply:  Printing to a PostScript printer  Printing to an inkjet printer without built-in profiles for color conversions  Using a paper type with a profile that’s not built into the printer driver Choosing a rendering intent When printing a color-managed image, you must choose a rendering intent, which specifies the rules for how the source colors are adjusted for out-of-gamut colors. This setting is specified in the Print dialog box. You should use the default rendering intent for the current color setting. For example, if you specify a color setting for North America or Europe, the Relative Colorimetric rendering intent is selected by default because Adobe Systems testing has determined that this option yields the best results for the current color setting. Choosing options for printing a color-managed image To specify settings for printing a color-managed image: 1 Choose File, Print to open the Print dialog box. 2 In the top-right corner of the dialog box, select Color Management from the list box. 3 From the Color Handling list, select an option to specify where the color conversion will occur: Printer Manages Colors or Photoshop Manages Colors. 4 From the Rendering Intent list, select an option to specify the rules for how the source colors should be adjusted for out-of-gamut colors. 5 From the Printer list, select the printer you want to use. 6 Click Print Settings to open the Properties dialog box for the selected printer. 7 Click Advanced to specify advanced settings for the printer. (The technique for viewing the advanced settings might vary depending on your printer model.) 8 Specify details about the paper you plan to use.

Color management

2–17

9 Under Color Management, select ICM. Then specify whether you want the printer to perform the color conversion. If you chose Photoshop Manages Colors earlier, then disable color conversion in this dialog box. 10 Click OK to return to the Print dialog box, and click Print to print.

2–18 Do it!


C-2:

Printing with a color management profile

Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Press c + P

To open the Print dialog box.

2 In the list in the top-right area of the dialog box, select Color

If necessary.

Management

3 From the Color Handling list, select Photoshop Manages Colors

To limit the color space conversions so they occur only in Photoshop, rather than allowing the printer to apply conversions.

4 In the Rendering Intent list, verify that Relative Colorimetric is selected 5 From the Printer list, select Epson Stylus Photo 1400 Series

6 Click Print Settings

To open the Epson Stylus Photo 1400 Series Properties dialog box.

Click Advanced

An alert box might appear, warning you that only experienced users should specify these settings.

Click Continue

If necessary.

7 Under Paper & Quality Options, from the second list, select the indicated paper type

8 Under Color Management, select ICM

Under Color Management, check Off (No Color Adjustment)

9 Click OK Click Done

To ensure that the color conversion from the image color space to the printer’s native color space is applied only from within Photoshop, and not again by the printer. To return to the Print dialog box. To save the settings and close the dialog box.

Color management

2–19

Proofing by simulating a device Explanation

You can use the Print dialog box to simulate the colors of another print device, such as a printing press, by using your desktop printer. Photoshop converts the image colors to the profile for your printer and paper, and then reinterprets the colors by using the profile of the device you want to simulate. The simulation might not be perfect, depending on the accuracy of the profile. You might need a custom profile for the simulated device, or you can choose a profile that comes close to the characteristics of the printer or press that will be used. To specify settings for proofing with a simulated device: 1 Set up a custom proof condition. a Choose View, Proof Setup, Custom. b From the Device to Simulate list, select the device. c Click OK. You can save the condition, if necessary. 2 Choose File, Print to open the Print dialog box. 3 In the top-right corner of the dialog box, select Color Management. 4 Select Proof. 5 From the Color Handling list, select Photoshop Manages Colors. 6 From the Printer Profile list, select the profile for your printer and paper. 7 From the Proof Setup list, select Current Custom Setup. The profile of the device will appear below the Proof button. 8 Click Print Settings and use the advanced printer settings to select ICM color management and disable any color adjustments. 9 Print the image.

2–20 Do it!


C-3:

Proofing by using a simulated device

Here’s how 1 Choose View, Proof Setup,

Here’s why You’ll define a new custom proof condition.

Custom…

From the Device to Simulate list, select

This is the profile Photoshop will use to adjust the colors to match the printing press’s output.

U.S. Sheetfed Coated V2

Click OK 2 Press c + P 3 Under Color Management, select Proof

From the Color Handling list, select

If necessary.

Photoshop Manages Colors

From the Printer Profile list, select SP1400 1410 MPHW

From the Proof Setup list, select Current Custom Setup

(If necessary.) The profile for your printer and paper. (If necessary.) The proof setup condition you chose.

4 Click Print Settings Click Advanced

To display advanced print settings.

Click Continue

If necessary.

Under Color Management, select

If necessary.

ICM

Under Color Management, check Off (No Color Adjustment)

5 Click OK Click Done 6 Close the image without updating

If necessary.

Color management

2–21

Unit summary: Color management Topic A

In this topic, you examined RGB and CMYK color gamuts. You also examined differences in color spaces.

Topic B

In this topic, you learned how to specify color management policies for opening files with embedded color spaces different from the default color space.

Topic C

In this topic, you learned how to proof colors onscreen for images you plan to print. You also learned how to print with a color management profile. Finally, you learned how to simulate a different print device.

Independent practice activity In this activity, you’ll compare multiple versions of an image with and without color management applied. The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 2\Unit summary. 1 Open Racecar. 2 Assign the sRGB profile to the image, and save it as My racecar sRGB. 3 Open Racecar again. 4 Specify that the file doesn’t use color management. Save it as My racecar untagged. (Hint: Assign the appropriate profile to remove color management.) 5 Open Racecar a third time, and preview it in CMYK. (Hint: View the Working CMYK proof setup.) 6 Compare the appearances of the three images. (Hint: Zoom in on the girl’s sweater in all three images, and compare the values for a red color in the Info panel.) 7 Print Racecar as a document (rather than as a proof). Specify that the printer should manage the color. (Hint: If you don’t have an actual printer, click Cancel or Done in the Print dialog box.) 8 Close all images without updating.

Review questions 1 Which of the following are color spaces? [Choose all that apply.] A RGB B Adobe RGB (1998) C CMYK D sRGB 2 Which of the following statements about color modes are true? [Choose all that apply.] A CMYK has a larger gamut than RGB. B Adobe RGB (1998) has a larger gamut than sRGB. C CMYK and RGB have the same gamut. D RGB has a larger gamut than CMYK.

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Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 3 If you wanted to work in a different color space, changing the values without changing the appearance, what would you typically do? A Convert to a different color space. B Assign a different color space. C Recalibrate your monitor. D Download a color space from the manufacturer’s Web site. 4 If you want to shift an image’s colors by displaying it in a different color space without changing its color values, you should: A Convert to a different color space. B Assign a different color space. C Recalibrate your monitor. D Download a color space from the manufacturer’s Web site. 5 In which section of the Color Settings dialog box can you specify what happens when you open an image with an embedded color space different from the default color space? A Working Spaces B Color Management Policies C Conversion Options D Advanced Controls 6 Which color management policy displays an image in its embedded color space when the image doesn’t match the working color space? A Preserve Embedded Profiles B Convert to Working RGB C Off D Discard the embedded profile 7 True or false: The working color space represents the color mode you intend to use most often. False; each color mode has its own working color space.

8 To preview images onscreen as they’d appear when printed on your printer, you should choose commands from the __________ submenu. A Image, Mode B Image, Adjustments C View, Screen Mode D View, Proof Setup

Color management

2–23

9 In the Customize Proof Condition dialog box, how do you select the profile for your printer? A Select an option from the Device to Simulate list. B Select an option from the Rendering Intent list. C Select an option from the Customize Proof Condition list. D Click Load to open proof setup. 10 If you want to print an image using a color management profile for a specific printer and paper type, which of the following should you do? [Choose all that apply.] A Select the Photoshop Manages Colors option. B Select the Printer Manages Colors option. C In the printer’s Advanced settings, enable printer color conversion. D In the printer’s Advanced settings, disable printer color conversion. 11 You should prevent the printer from performing any additional color conversions if which of the following statements are true? [Choose all that apply.] A You’re printing to a PostScript printer. B You’re printing to an inkjet printer without built-in profiles for color conversions. C You’re using a paper type with a profile that’s not built into the printer driver. D The printer has settings for the specific paper you’re using. 12 When you print a color-managed image, what must you select in order to specify the rules for how the source colors are adjusted for out-of-gamut colors? A A color space B A color mode C A rendering intent D A printer profile 13 If you specify a color setting for North America or Europe, which rendering intent is selected by default? A Perceptual B Saturation C Relative Colorimetric D Absolute Colorimetric

2–24


3–1

Unit 3 Photographic techniques Unit time: 75 minutes Complete this unit, and you’ll know how to: A Maximize digital image quality by

specifying settings for camera raw images. B Use photo filters and the Match Colors

command to adjust image colors. C Apply filters to counteract lens distortions

or simulate lens effects. D Merge side-by-side images to create

panoramas, and merge images of varying exposures to create High Dynamic Range images.

3–2


Topic A: The camera raw format This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.1c

Identify appropriate image formats for web, video, photos, print, PowerPoint, or Word.

2.4b

Demonstrate knowledge of appropriate color settings for web, print, and video.

2.4c

Demonstrate knowledge of how to analyze and change the tonal range of an image by using a histogram.

2.4d

Demonstrate knowledge of how to interpret color in an image by using the histogram and color balance tools.

2.4h

Demonstrate knowledge of 32-bit HDR imaging.

2.5c

Identify features of Camera RAW.

2.5d

Identify the differences between scanned images, digital camera images, and Camera RAW.

2.5e

Identify the most appropriate image type to use in a variety of situations.

3.1e

Demonstrate knowledge of non-destructive editing.

3.3b

Demonstrate knowledge of how to open scanned images, digital camera images, camera RAW images, and video files in Photoshop.

4.4f

Demonstrate knowledge of how to adjust hue and saturation.

4.4g

Demonstrate knowledge of how to enhance the visibility of a selected feature in an image, so the feature may be examined more accurately in medical or scientific research, architecture, or engineering environments.

Camera raw images Explanation

The default settings of most digital cameras can capture high-quality images, which are typically saved in the JPEG format. This format is routinely used to display photographic images on the Web. However, you can use custom digital-camera settings and Adobe Photoshop techniques to produce the best possible images. Some digital cameras can capture your photographs as camera raw images. As its name suggests, the camera raw format captures the image data directly from the camera’s sensor without applying any post-processing or compression. In contrast, when you capture a digital image to the JPEG format, your camera applies post-processing to the image, based on the camera’s settings, and compresses the image to reduce its file size. The JPEG format uses lossy compression, so some image quality is sacrificed. JPEG is suitable in many cases, but to get the highest possible quality, you can use the camera raw format.


3–3

When you capture an image in the camera raw format, any post-processing specified by the camera is not actually performed, but is instead stored as metadata—data about the image—with the image itself. You can use specialized software, such as Photoshop, to apply post-processing options. This procedure is more complex than simply capturing images in a format such as JPEG, but it gives you more control over image quality. When you open a camera raw image in Photoshop, the Camera Raw window appears so you can specify the post-processing settings to be applied to the image as you open it. The Camera Raw window includes the tools shown in the following table. Tool

Description

Tool

Description

Zoom tool

Spot Removal tool

Hand tool

Red Eye Removal tool

White Balance tool

Adjustment Brush tool

Color Sampler tool

Graduated Filter tool

Targeted Adjustment tool

Camera Raw Preferences

Crop tool

Rotates the image 90 counterclockwise

Straighten tool

Rotates the image 90 clockwise

Additionally, you can use the tabs on the right side of the window to specify additional settings to apply to the image. These settings can precisely control the image’s color, contrast, sharpness, smoothing applied to minimize noise, and correction for lens color and brightness distortions. You can also open a camera raw image as a Smart Object so that you can specify camera raw settings nondestructively. You can then specify camera raw settings while retaining the ability to modify them at any time, based on the original image data. You can double-click the Smart Object layer containing the raw file at any time to adjust the camera raw settings. To open a camera raw image as a Smart Object, use either of these techniques:  Choose File, Open As Smart Object.  Choose File, Place to add the camera raw image to the current open image. White balance The lighting in your environment influences how a camera reproduces color. Typical incandescent light, such as from a lamp, often has a warm yellow glow, which can give an image a yellow cast. For example, a white shirt might appear slightly yellow in the captured image.

3–4

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition You can use a camera’s white balance setting to neutralize the impact of your environment’s lighting. This will ensure that the camera properly reproduces image colors. You can use the white balance setting to indicate the current environment’s light source so the camera can make adjustments as necessary to avoid any color casts. The typical light-source options you can specify with white balance settings include an auto setting, daylight, tungsten light (typical incandescent light), fluorescent light, and flash. The white balance adjustment is written directly into the JPEG files that a camera creates, and it’s hard to fix if it’s incorrect. With the camera raw format, however, the white balance adjustment is not applied to the image data. Instead, the adjustment is stored as metadata that you can apply or ignore when you convert the camera raw image to pixel data in Photoshop. When you use Photoshop to open a camera raw image, you can specify the white balance settings in the Camera Raw window. Any part of an image that should be neutral, such as a white shirt or a neutral gray, should have matching R, G, and B values. You can select the Color Sampler tool and click the image preview to view RGB data for the image area you clicked. If an area that should be neutral has a color cast, select the White Balance tool and click that area to convert it to neutral RGB values. Workflow options In the Camera Raw window, you can open the image by using different color spaces and color depth values. For images intended for commercial printing, you should use a wider-gamut color space than sRGB, such as Adobe RGB (1998). Color depth measures the number of bits used to represent the color of a single pixel. Greater bit depth means more available colors and a more accurate color display. You can open camera raw images into 16-bit color depth, providing thousands of allowable colors per channel versus the standard 256, allowing for finer gradations and potentially preventing data loss if you make extreme adjustments. For example, when you’re adjusting an extremely underexposed (dark) image, an 8-bit version might end up with gaps in the histogram, as shown in Exhibit 3-1. The gaps indicate that some of the 256 tonal levels aren’t represented by image pixels. The same adjustment to a 16-bit version creates an image with no gaps in the histogram.

Original histogram and Levels adjustment

Histogram of adjusted 8-bit image shows gaps in output levels

Histogram of adjusted 16-bit image shows no gaps

Exhibit 3-1: Sixteen-bit images can prevent data loss caused by large adjustments


3–5

Sixteen-bit images take twice the disk space of 8-bit ones, however, and very few images or adjustments to 8-bit images will create visually discernable problems. (For example, even the 8-bit version of the adjustment in Exhibit 3-1 is hard to tell from the 16-bit version.) So, it’s often fine to save to 8 Bits/Channel unless you anticipate making large color or contrast adjustments or you’re creating large fine-art prints. In addition to 8-bit and 16-bit images, Photoshop supports 32-bit images. For example, if you work with High Dynamic Range (HDR) images in Photoshop, you’ll typically work with them as 32-bit images. In addition, you can convert images to and from 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit. Saving settings and files When you’re done making image adjustments in the Camera Raw window, you’ll finish the process by doing some combination of the following:  Save the settings so you can apply them to other images. To save the settings, choose Save Settings from the Camera Raw Settings menu. The next time you open the Camera Raw window, you can use the Settings list to select settings you’ve saved in the default location, or you can choose Load Settings from the Camera Raw Settings menu to load settings stored in any folder.  Open the adjusted image in Photoshop by clicking OK.  Save the adjusted image in DNG (Digital Negative) format. Unlike camera raw files, DNG files are not proprietary, and they can hold, in one file, both the pixel data and the data specifying how the image should look. Thus, you don’t need a “sidecar” file to store image settings. When saving a DNG file, you can opt to embed a JPEG preview, to embed the original proprietary camera raw file, to apply lossless compression, and to map values to linear reference values ranging from 0.0 to 1.0.  Apply the settings to the file without opening it. Although you can open and save DNG files in Photoshop, Adobe has also created a free application called Digital Negative Converter, which anyone can use to convert files to the Digital Negative format. The Digital Negative Converter supports all of the cameraspecific raw formats supported by Photoshop. You can download the Digital Negative Converter for free from www.adobe.com.

3–6 Do it!


A-1:

Adjusting settings for camera raw images


Here’s how 1 In Photoshop, choose File, Open As Smart Object…

Here’s why To open the Open As Smart Object dialog box. You’ll open a camera raw image as a Smart Object so that you can specify camera raw settings nondestructively.

Click No

(If necessary.) You don’t want to start Bridge at login.

Open CRW_7015

This camera raw image was taken with the Flash white balance setting but without the flash firing, so it has a blue cast.

2 Select

The Color Sampler tool.

Click to place color samples at the four points shown

Point 4 is within the front wheel of the cart.

3 Observe the color samples’ values

These points should have matching RGB values because these areas were white (neutral) in the actual scene. However, all have higher blue values.

4 Select Click point 1

The White Balance tool. To set the point as a neutral gray level. The RGB values at point #1 match within a value or two, and the other points are close to matching.

Photographic techniques 5 Drag the Saturation slider to a value of +20

3–7

To make the image “pop” more with color.

Drag the Brightness slider to a value of +90

To brighten the image so the paper behind the toy appears white.

Verify that the R, G, and B values for point 4 are all lower than 255

To ensure that this adjustment didn’t brighten the image too much.

6 Zoom in to 200% on the bottom of the red basket

(Select the Zoom tool and click the basket until the Zoom box displays 200%.) Note that the color is not very smooth.

Click

(On the right side of the window.) To activate the Detail tab.

Drag the Luminance slider to a value of 50

To smooth the flat color areas.

Drag the Color slider to a value of

To further smooth the flat colors.

75

7 Click Choose Save Settings…

(In the top-right corner of the Detail panel.) To display the Camera Raw Settings menu. To open the Save Settings dialog box.

Click Save In the File name box, enter Plastic kids’ toys Click Save 8 At the bottom of the Camera Raw window, click the indicated link 9 From the Space list, select

To save the settings.

To open the Workflow Options dialog box. If necessary.

sRGB IEC61966-2.1

From the Depth list, select

If necessary.

8 Bits/Channel

Edit the Resolution box to read

If necessary.

300

Click OK

You’ll save this image in DNG format to ensure that you’ll be able to access and modify the image and its settings, using the widest possible range of applications.

3–8

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 10 Click Save Image

(In the bottom-left corner of the window.) To open the Save Options dialog box.

In the Format list, verify that Digital Negative is selected Click Save 11 Click OK

To save a copy of the image in the DNG format. To close the Camera Raw window and open the image in Photoshop. Because you opened this image as a Smart Object, the settings you specified are nondestructive and you can change them any time.

12 In the Layers panel, double-click the layer icon Click Cancel 13 Save the image as My cart Close the image

To open the Camera Raw window.

To close the window without changing any settings. In the current topic folder.


3–9

Handling camera raw files in Adobe Bridge Explanation

Photographers using the camera raw format will typically shoot several images at a time in one location, generating many images that could benefit from applying the same camera-raw file options. For efficiency, you can use Adobe Bridge to apply the same settings to multiple images, rather than opening them individually in Photoshop and applying the settings to each one. To apply camera raw settings to files in Adobe Bridge: 1 Save the camera raw settings in Photoshop. 2 In Adobe Bridge, select the files that you want to apply the settings to; or select a file that has the settings you want to apply to another image and choose Edit, Develop Settings, Copy Camera Raw Settings. 3 Choose one of the following options from the Edit, Develop Settings submenu:  Camera Raw Defaults — Applies the default settings.  Previous Conversion — Applies the settings from the last time you used the Camera Raw window.  Paste Camera Raw Settings — Applies settings you copied from another image.  Clear Settings — Returns the image to its original state.  Any setting that appears in the list — These settings are the ones stored in the default location. You can tell that an image has had camera raw settings applied because a small icon appears on its thumbnail. Choosing the Clear Settings command removes the icon.

3–10

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition Camera Raw Preferences Choose Edit, Camera Raw Preferences to open the Camera Raw Preferences dialog box, shown in Exhibit 3-2.

Exhibit 3-2: The Camera Raw Preferences dialog box Each digital camera’s raw format is different. Photoshop’s Camera Raw plug-in can open a broad range of camera raw files, and it’s updated periodically when new cameras are released. However, because camera raw files are proprietary and are intended only to represent the data exactly as it was stored by the camera, Photoshop can’t write information back to that file. Therefore, when you apply settings to a camera raw file by clicking Done in the Camera Raw window or by applying them in Bridge, the settings are saved in either a sidecar file or a camera raw database file that holds data for multiple images. (A sidecar file has the same file format as the camera raw file but with an .xmp file extension.) You can select the location that Photoshop and Bridge use from the “Save image settings in” list. You can also choose whether sharpening settings apply to the image or only to the thumbnail. To display camera-raw-image thumbnails quickly without having to re-create them based on the associated settings file, Adobe Bridge stores adjusted versions of the thumbnails in a cache file. You can change the size of the cache file. A larger cache limit makes thumbnail displays more responsive in Bridge but takes more disk space.

Photographic techniques Do it!

A-2:

3–11

Applying camera raw settings in Adobe Bridge


Here’s how 1 Click Click the Folders tab

Here’s why (The Launch Bridge button is on the application bar.) To open Adobe Bridge. If necessary.

Navigate to the current topic folder Select CRW_7016.CRW

2 Drag the Thumbnail slider until the selected image and both versions of CRW_7015 are as large as possible, showing all images at the same time

This photograph was taken shortly after the one for which you saved camera raw settings earlier, and its subject matter is similar. You’ll apply the setting you just saved to it without opening it. (Earlier, you saved CRW_7015 as a DNG file.) To compare their appearance. The selected picture has a cooler color balance, making the paper behind the toy look slightly blue.

3 Select CRW_7015.CRW Choose Edit, Develop Settings, Copy Camera Raw Settings

To copy the settings you created for the shopping-cart image.

4 Select CRW_7016.CRW Choose Edit, Develop Settings, Paste Camera Raw Settings…

Click OK 5 Close Adobe Bridge

To open the Paste Camera Raw Settings dialog box. You can choose settings categories to add or remove.

To apply the settings. The image brightens noticeably.

3–12


Topic B: Photographic adjustments This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5.

Explanation

#

Objective

2.4g

Demonstrate knowledge of how to use localized color correction.

4.4c

Identify advanced adjustment tools and when to use them.

4.4e

Demonstrate knowledge of how to match, mix, and replace color by using a specific set of tools.

4.8e

Identify the appropriate filter to use for a variety of situations.

Photoshop provides several techniques for adjusting images. Some are particularly useful for people who have more experience in photography than in image editing.

Photo filters You can use Photoshop’s Photo Filter dialog box to simulate the technique of placing colored filters over a camera lens to adjust the color balance and color temperature of the light captured by the camera. Many of the photo filters create effects similar to Hue/Saturation adjustments, but they are tailored to the photographer’s mindset. To apply a photo filter: 1 In the Layers panel, click the “Create new fill or adjustment layer” icon. From the pop-up menu, choose Photo Filter to display the Photo Filter settings in the Adjustments panel. 2 From the Filter list, select the filter you want to use. If you want a different color, click the color square to open the Select filter color dialog box; select a color and click OK. 3 Drag the Density slider to control the amount of color applied to the image. The photo filter appears as a layer in the Layers panel.


B-1:

3–13

Applying photo filters


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Two girls Save the image as


My two girls filtered

2 Open the Layers panel From the “Create new fill or adjustment layer” pop-up menu, choose Photo Filter…

If necessary. To create an adjustment layer and display the Photo Filter settings in the Adjustments panel. You’ll warm up this image slightly.

3 In the Adjustments panel, from the Filter list, select Warming Filter (81)

Drag the Density slider to 20% 4 Rename the new photo filter layer Warming filter

Hide and show the layer

To see the effect. Next, you’ll try adding a sepia effect to the image. Because sepia effects work well in grayscale images, you’ll desaturate the image first.

5 Hide the Warming filter layer From the “Create new fill or adjustment layer” pop-up menu, choose Hue/Saturation…

To create an adjustment layer and display the Hue/Saturation settings in the Adjustments panel.

Drag the Saturation slider all the way to the left

To produce a grayscale effect.

6 Create another Photo Filter layer

From the Filter list, select Sepia Drag the Density slider to 90% 7 Update and close the image

In the Layers panel, from the “Create new fill or adjustment layer” pop-up menu, choose Photo Filter.

3–14


Color matching Explanation

When you’re planning to display several photographs together, whether in print or electronically, you might want the colors in some of the photographs to match. For example, if you’re printing several photographs of a forest for a magazine, you might want to ensure that all of the images use the same colors. Matching the image colors will give the publication a greater sense of continuity and harmony. To match image colors: 1 Open two images that contain colors you want to match. 2 Select the image regions in which colors should match closely. Even with only part of the image selected to designate the basis for color matching, the Match Color command can apply the adjustment to the entire image. 3 In the image containing colors you want to adjust, choose Image, Adjustments, Match Color to open the Match Color dialog box. 4 Under Image Statistics, from the Source list, select the open image containing colors you want to match in the current image. 5 Specify additional options, as shown in Exhibit 3-3. 6 Click OK.

Exhibit 3-3: The Match Color dialog box settings


B-2:

3–15

Matching colors in multiple images


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Canyon 1 Save the image as My canyon 1


2 Open Canyon 2 Save the image as My canyon 2


3 Tile the images vertically

(Use the Arrange Documents menu on the application bar.) To view the images side by side. You want the colors to match as closely as possible.

4 Select the Rectangular Marquee tool

In each image, you’ll select specific areas containing the colors on which you want to base the color matching.

5 In My canyon 1, select a section of the image’s top-left area, as shown

6 In My canyon 2, select most of the image’s center, as shown

The selected areas represent the same part of the canyon, where colors should be similar. You get better results if you don’t include areas that have very different colors.

3–16

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 7 In My canyon 2, choose Image, Adjustments,

To open the Match Color dialog box.

Match Color…

Under Destination Image, check Ignore Selection when Applying Adjustment

Under Image Statistics, from the Source list, select

To apply the adjustment to the entire image, instead of to only the selected area.

To specify that you want the current image to match the colors in My canyon 1.

My canyon 1.psd

8 Under Image Statistics, verify that Use Selection in Source to Calculate Colors is checked

Under Image Statistics, verify that Use Selection in Target to Calculate Adjustment is

checked

These “Use Selection” options use only the selected areas to determine the new colors. However, those new colors will be applied throughout the My canyon 2 image.

9 Under Image Options, increase the Luminance value to 107 Under Image Options, increase the Color Intensity value to 118 10 Clear and check Preview several times Click OK

11 Update and close both images

To compare the original image with the adjusted version. After a few moments, Photoshop completes the adjustment. Observe that the colors in both images match more closely.


3–17

Topic C: Lens adjustments This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.2a

Demonstrate knowledge of image composition and principles.

4.2b

Demonstrate knowledge of how to add and remove guides.

4.4c

Identify advanced adjustment tools and when to use them.

4.5d

Demonstrate knowledge of how to sharpen an image.

4.8e


Lens distortion Explanation

A photograph might contain distortion caused by camera settings or by other factors present when the picture was taken. You can use Photoshop to correct many types of distortions. In addition, you can use Photoshop to introduce effects that simulate photographic techniques or to produce intentional distortions for creative effects. The camera lens itself can cause distortions. For example, a picture taken with a wideangle lens might appear to curve outward, creating a barrel distortion. If you use a telephoto lens to zoom in closely on your subject matter, the image might display a pincushion lens distortion, in which the sides appear to bend inward. You can correct these types of lens distortions by using Photoshop’s Lens Correction filter. To simulate or correct lens distortions: 1 Select the layer you want to adjust. 2 Choose Filter, Lens Correction to open the Lens Correction dialog box. 3 On the right side of the dialog box, shown in Exhibit 3-4, on the Custom tab, specify the settings you want. 4 Use the tools in the top-left area of the dialog box to specify additional adjustments. The tools are shown in Exhibit 3-5. 5 Click OK.

3–18


Exhibit 3-4: Custom settings on the right side of the Lens Correction dialog box

Remove Distortion Straighten Move Grid Hand Zoom

Exhibit 3-5: Tools in the Lens Correction dialog box Before you apply the Lens Correction filter, it’s a good idea to first duplicate the layer you plan to correct. That way, you can apply the lens correction to a duplicate of the layer, so you can return to the original image if necessary. Automated Lens Correction A new feature in Photoshop CS5 is Automated Lens Correction. In the Lens Correction dialog box, you can specify both the make and model of the digital camera used to take the photo and the lens used on the camera. Using matching profiles, Photoshop will attempt to correct for distortion introduced by specific cameras and lenses. To use camera profiles, open the Lens Correction dialog box and click the Auto Correction tab. Then specify a camera make and model and a lens model, if desired (these don’t need to be exact matches with the actual camera used).


C-1:

3–19

Correcting lens distortions


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Hotels Save the image as My hotels straightened

(In the current topic folder.) You’ll correct the angle of the buildings to make them appear more parallel to each other.

2 Duplicate the Background layer With the duplicate layer selected, choose Filter,

To open the Lens Correction dialog box.

Lens Correction…

At the bottom of the dialog box, check Show Grid

With the grid placed over the image, the tilt of the buildings is more apparent.

3 Observe the bottom-left area of the dialog box To see that Photoshop has identified the kind of digital camera used to take this photo.

On the Auto Correction tab, from the Camera Make list, select

If necessary.

Canon

4 Display the Camera Model list

From the Camera Model list, select Canon PowerShot G10

The specific model used to take this picture isn’t listed, so you’ll use another one and then customize the settings.

3–20

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 5 Select

The Straighten tool.

Point as shown

Drag down as shown

To straighten the building.

6 Click the Custom tab Set the Vertical Perspective value to -25 7 Clear and check Preview several times

(At the bottom of the dialog box.) To compare the original image to the filtered version.

8 Click OK

To apply the filter.

9 Update and close the image


3–21

Depth-of-field effects Explanation

Portraits are often taken with a shallow depth of field that blurs the background. This technique focuses attention on the subject matter and away from distracting background details. You can use a camera’s aperture settings to control the depth of field. However, if you didn’t narrow the depth of field as you might have wanted to when taking the shot, you can simulate the effect later by applying Photoshop’s Lens Blur filter. The Lens Blur creates a much better simulation than does a simple Gaussian blur. The Lens Blur filter creates realistic bokeh, which are disc-like shapes from points of light in the background. Bokeh take the shape of the camera’s iris, which is often hexagonal. Higher-quality lenses have more blade curvature, creating rounder bokeh. The Lens Blur filter can also create noise to simulate film grain in blurry areas. To apply the Lens Blur filter to simulate depth-of-field effects: 1 In the image, select the background area that you want to blur, and choose Select, Save Selection to save it as an alpha channel. In the Save Selection dialog box, enter a name for the selection and click OK. 2 Choose Filter, Blur, Lens Blur to open the Lens Blur dialog box, shown in Exhibit 3-6. 3 Under Depth Map, from the Source list, select the named alpha channel containing the selection you saved. 4 Specify additional settings in the Lens Blur dialog box. 5 Click OK.

Exhibit 3-6: Settings in the Lens Blur dialog box

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Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition Depth maps If you don’t specify an alpha channel as the depth map for the lens blur, the blur will be applied to the entire active layer. If you do specify an alpha channel as the depth map, then white areas in the alpha channel will indicate areas that will blur, and black areas will indicate masked areas that won’t be blurred. To create a more realistic lens blur, you can specify a gradient that blends from black to white, creating gray areas where the blur is partially applied. As the gradient moves from darker to lighter gray, the blur increases. This effect simulates a realistic lens blur, in which the blur increases progressively for areas farther from the image’s focal point.

Do it!

C-2:

Simulating depth-of-field effects


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Sliding girl Save the image as


My sliding girl DOF

2 Duplicate the Background layer Rename the duplicate layer

For “shallow depth of field.”

Shallow DOF

3 Click the Channels tab Observe the Bkgd channel

(Do not click the channel.) The selection was carefully created from the foreground people and objects, and then inversed.

Return to the Layers panel, ensuring that the Shallow DOF layer is selected 4 Choose Filter, Blur,

To open the Lens Blur dialog box.

Lens Blur…

Under Iris, set the Radius to 70 Under Depth Map, from the Source list, select Bkgd

To select the channel. Where the channel is white (selected), the filter will blur; where the channel is black (not selected), it won’t blur. The blur looks unnatural because the channel allows everything other than the girl and her mother to be blurred.

Click Cancel

You’ll create a channel to act as a depth map with gray levels to represent depth in the image.

Photographic techniques 5 Show the rulers

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(If necessary.) Choose View, Rulers.

Drag from the top ruler to create guides as shown

The area above the top guide should be the most blurred (white in the depth map channel). The area below the bottom guide should not be blurred (black in the depth map channel). The guides are spread apart to account for the softness of the gradient you will create.

6 Click the Channels panel Duplicate the Bkgd channel

(Drag the Background channel to the Create new channel icon.) You’ll add a gradient within the white space.

Name the duplicate channel Blur depth map

Show the Blur depth map channel, and hide the Bkgd channel

If necessary.

7 Select the Gradient tool Press D

(If necessary.) To set the default colors. When you’re viewing channels, the default colors are white foreground and black background.

On the options bar, from the Mode list, select Darken

You want to leave the existing black areas that represent the foreground so that they won’t be blurred.

8 Drag from the top guide down to the bottom guide, as shown

The gradient represents an area that should gradually get blurrier.

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Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 9 Click the Layers panel Select the Shallow DOF layer 10 Choose Filter, Blur,

To open the Lens Blur dialog box.

Lens Blur…

Under Iris, set the Radius to 70 Under Depth Map, from the Source list, select Blur depth map

To select the channel you just created. The automatic preview shows the blur to be much more realistic.

11 Under Specular Highlights, set the Brightness to 60 Set the Threshold to 224

To add bokeh to the image.

12 Under Iris, set the Blade Curvature to 100

To make the bokeh more circular.

13 Under Noise, set the Amount to 3

To simulate film grain.

Click OK 14 Press c + H Hide, and then show, the Shallow DOF layer 15 Update and close the image

To apply the filter. To hide the guides. To observe the difference between the original image and the one with the filter applied.


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The Smart Sharpen filter Explanation

Typically, you should not apply any sharpening to an image until you’re finished editing it and applying color adjustments, particularly when preparing it for print use. For images with blurring caused by motion blur or lens blur, however, it can be useful to counteract that right away, perhaps adding another sharpening pass just before printing. You can use the Smart Sharpen filter to minimize lens and motion blurs. To apply the Smart Sharpen filter: 1 Choose Filter, Sharpen, Smart Sharpen to open the Smart Sharpen dialog box. 2 From the Remove list, select the type of blur you want to remove. 3 In the Amount box, specify the desired amount of sharpening. Specifying a higher Amount value increases the contrast between edge pixels, making the image appear sharper. 4 In the Radius box, specify a value to determine how many pixels around the edge pixels the sharpening will affect. 5 Check More Accurate to remove blurring more accurately but with a longer processing time. 6 Click OK.

Do it!

C-3:

Counteracting focus blur


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Two girls Save the image as


My two girls sharpened

2 Duplicate the Background layer 3 Choose Filter, Sharpen,

To open the Smart Sharpen dialog box.

Smart Sharpen…

Check More Accurate From the Remove list, select Lens Blur

Set the Radius to 1.2 Set the Amount to 100

If necessary.

Click OK


4 Hide and show the layer 5 Update and close the image

To compare the original image to the modified version.

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Topic D: Merging images This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.4h

Demonstrate knowledge of 32-bit HDR imaging.

4.1i

Demonstrate knowledge of how to composite images.

4.4d

Identify situations where using manual tonal adjustment is more appropriate than using the auto controls.

Combining images to create special effects Explanation

Photographers often combine two or more images to control dynamic range (the total brightness range in an image) or to create special effects. You can create similar effects digitally with Photoshop. One technique splices together side-by-side photographs to create a wide, panoramic image. Another technique combines multiple exposures to widen the total dynamic range and improve detail in different tonal ranges.

Photomerge A typical digital camera creates images with an aspect ratio (proportion of the image’s width relative to its height) of either 4:3 (used by most consumer-level cameras) or 3:2 (used by most SLR—single-lens reflex—cameras). To create a wider, panoramic image, you can take a series of photographs of a scene, turning the camera slightly for each shot and making sure that each picture overlaps the prior one. You can then merge the images to create one seamless image, as shown in Exhibit 3-7. Original images from digital camera

Panorama created with Photomerge

Exhibit 3-7: Four images merged to create a panoramic one If you try to overlap images by simply putting each one in a layer and blending them, you’ll almost always find that some image details align, while others don’t. This difference is caused by the change in perspective of the items in the scene from shot to shot as you rotate the camera. For distant objects, the perspective problem might be slight, but for closer ones, it can cause mismatched edges and angles, as shown in Exhibit 3-8.


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Mismatched edges and angles

Photomerge with perspective correction

Exhibit 3-8: Images combined to create a panorama To create a panoramic image: 1 Take two or more photographs of the same scene, shifting or rotating the camera slightly for each shot, leaving up to 50% overlap between each picture and the prior picture. Preferably, use a tripod, and lock the camera’s exposure to avoid brightness changes from image to image (or use your camera’s Panoramic mode if it has one). 2 In Photoshop, choose File, Automate, Photomerge. 3 From the Use list, select a source for the overlapping images. 4 If necessary, click Browse and select the images you want to include. 5 In the Photomerge dialog box, under Layout, select a layout option. Most options automatically generate the panorama, but you can manually position the images to modify the panorama. 6 Click OK. 7 Crop the resulting image, rotating the crop area if necessary. Using Adobe Bridge to access Photomerge A convenient way to access Photomerge for creating a panoramic image from multiple images is to use Adobe Bridge. From within Bridge, you can navigate to the images you want to merge, select the images, and choose Tools, Photoshop, Photomerge. From within Bridge, the Photomerge will be applied to all images in the current folder if no images are selected, or it will be applied to only images you select.

3–28 Do it!


D-1:

Creating a panorama with Photomerge

The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 3\Topic D.

Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Adobe Bridge

(Click the Launch Bridge button.) You’ll use Bridge to navigate to a folder containing a set of images that you’ll merge to create a panorama.

2 Navigate to the current topic folder

(In Bridge.) You’ll create a panorama from the images in the Museum images folder.

3 Open the Museum images folder

To view the images in the folder. Because you’ll merge all four images in the folder, you don’t need to select them.

4 Choose Tools, Photoshop,

To open the Photomerge dialog box in Photoshop. The four images in the Museum images folder are listed in the dialog box.

Photomerge…

5 Under Layout, select Perspective

To create a composition with the perspective based on the middle image.

6 Verify that Blend images together is checked 7 Click OK

After a moment, the image appears in Photoshop. The images are merged, and you can manually reposition them to improve the effect. Photoshop calculates the perspective necessary for each image to create a more accurate edge match and then displays the merged image. You could use the Select Image tool to move each image, but you’ll keep the current configuration.


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8 Select the Crop tool 9 Drag to create a crop marquee approximately as shown

Point outside the left edge of the crop area and drag up slightly to rotate it clockwise

So the bottom of the center of the building is approximately level.

Adjust the crop area so it contains only image pixels, not transparent space Press Enter 10 Save the image in Photoshop format as Museum panorama Close the image 11 Close Bridge

To crop and straighten the image. In the current topic folder.

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High Dynamic Range images Explanation

Human eyes can perceive a much wider dynamic range than most cameras, computer monitors, and printing devices can capture and reproduce. Ordinarily, you must compromise when photographing or adjusting images, either choosing which tonal ranges to omit or compressing the original contrast to a range that can be reproduced. However, you can use Photoshop’s Merge to HDR command to combine multiple exposures, ranging from dark to bright, into one image that more accurately represents the actual dynamic range of the original scene. Special-effects creators can benefit from working with these HDR (High Dynamic Range) images because they allow software to create more realistic lighting effects than could be achieved with images having a compressed dynamic range. High-end photographers can use HDR images to allow for more artistic creativity in interpreting a scene. You might be tempted to create HDR images for photographs with lighting issues, such as backlit scenes in which the main subject appears dark. Unless you’re doing special effects or high-end printing, however, you’ll likely get better results from the Image, Adjust, Shadow/Highlight command and other adjustments to an 8- or 16-bit image. To create an HDR image: 1 Take at least three photographs of the same stationary scene, with varying exposures ranging from very dark to very bright. The number of images you use depends on the original scene’s dynamic range; you might need up to seven or even more. Preferably, use a tripod, and vary the camera’s shutter speed at least a full stop per shot. To avoid changing the depth of field for each shot, do not vary the camera’s aperture. 2 In Photoshop, choose File, Automate, Merge to HDR Pro. 3 From the Use list, select a source for the images. 4 If necessary, click Browse and select the images you want to include, or click Add Open Files to use the currently open files. 5 If you expect the images to be misaligned (because you handheld or slightly shifted the camera), check Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images. 6 Click OK. Another Merge to HDR Pro dialog box opens. 7 If you don’t want to use all of the images you selected, clear one or more in the list. 8 From the Bit Depth list, select the number of bits per channel. Select 32 Bit/Channel if you want the image pixels to retain the full dynamic range, or select 8- or 16-bit if you want to compress the dynamic range in the resulting file. Because you can do that later, you should usually stay at 32 bits/channel at this point. 9 Adjust the White Point Preview so the highlights are bright but not blown out (replaced by all white pixels). 10 Click OK to display the result in a new Photoshop window. 11 Save the file. You can save 32-bit images in any of these formats: Photoshop (PSD, PDD), Large Document Format (PSB), OpenEXR (EXR), Portable Bit Map (PBM), Radiance (HDR), or TIFF.


D-2:

3–31

Creating an HDR image


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Light exposure, Medium exposure, and Dark exposure

These photographs were taken in sequence with three different exposures.

2 Choose File, Automate,

To open the Merge to HDR Pro dialog box.

Merge to HDR Pro…

Click Add Open Files Clear Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images

Click OK

These images are aligned fairly accurately with one another.

To open the second Merge to HDR Pro dialog box, in which you select images and adjust the white point preview. You’ll use the three exposures you added.

3 From the Mode list, select 32 Bit 4 Drag the White Point Preview slider to the indicated position

To display the highlights as nearly white but not blown out.

5 Check Remove ghosts

To automatically remove “ghosts” caused by moving objects.

6 Click OK

To display the result in a new Photoshop window.

7 Save the file as Washington DC scene

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Viewing, adjusting, and converting HDR images Explanation

HDR images contain 32 bits of information per channel. Because this setting far exceeds the capability of your computer monitor, you can’t see all of the tonal variation in the image at once. Therefore, you can choose which tonal range to display at any time so you can examine an image’s detail in that range. This adjustment does not affect the image pixels; it only controls the onscreen display. To change the visible tonal range of an HDR image: 1 From the status-bar menu, choose 32-bit Exposure. 2 Drag the slider to the right to display shadow tones more accurately (brightening the image’s appearance), and to the left to display highlight tones more accurately (darkening the image’s appearance). Adjusting HDR images In addition to changing the display of an HDR image, you might want to adjust its contrast in certain tonal ranges. For 32-bit images, not all adjustment commands are available. The available adjustment commands include Levels, Exposure, Hue/Saturation, Photo Filter, Channel Mixer, HDR Toning, and Desaturate. To adjust HDR image exposure: 1 Choose Image, Adjustments, Exposure. 2 Adjust the three sliders:  Drag the Exposure slider to the right to brighten highlights, and to the left to darken them. Exposure has little effect on shadows.  Drag the Offset slider to the right to brighten shadows, and to the left to darken them. Offset has little effect on highlights.  Drag the Gamma slider to the left to increase midtone contrast, and to the right to decrease it. 3 If you wish, select an eyedropper tool and click in the image:  Click the Set Black Point eyedropper to set the Offset value so the pixel you click is black.  Click the Set White Point eyedropper to set the Exposure value so the pixel you click is white.  Click the Midtone eyedropper to set the Exposure value so the pixel you click is middle gray.


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Converting an HDR image to a lower bit depth In addition to limiting the adjustment methods available for 32-bit images, Photoshop limits the number of blend modes, editing commands, filters, modes, and tools. If you want access to Photoshop’s full feature set, and you intend to use the image for traditional printing or for a display that doesn’t need the full dynamic range, you can convert the image to 16- or 8-bit. When you choose Image, Mode and then choose 8 Bits/Channel or 16 Bits/Channel, Photoshop displays the HDR Toning dialog box, shown in Exhibit 3-9. You can also choose Image, Adjustments, HDR Toning to open this dialog box, which contains settings you can use to adjust the look of 8- and 16-bit images as well. In the HDR Toning dialog box, you can select a preset to apply creative effects to the image. You can also select one of four conversion methods to control how the dynamic range is compressed to the lower bit depth:  With Exposure and Gamma, you adjust the overall brightness and contrast with the two sliders.  Highlight Compression compresses the highlight values to fit the dynamic range of the lower-bit-depth file. There are no settings to adjust with this method.  Equalize Histogram compresses the dynamic range and automatically adjusts contrast. There are no settings to adjust with this method.  With Local Adaptation, you can adjust a curve much like the one in the Curves dialog box to adjust contrast separately in different tonal ranges. If you ultimately intend to convert an HDR image to a lower bit depth, you might want to adjust contrast in this dialog box rather than separately in the Exposure dialog box, because the HDR Conversion dialog box offers comparable control. When you’re finished making adjustments, click OK to convert the image.

Exhibit 3-9: The HDR Toning dialog box

3–34 Do it!


D-3:

Viewing and converting an HDR image

Here’s how 1 From the status-bar pop-up menu, choose 32-bit Exposure

Here’s why To display a slider you can use to control the tonal range displayed onscreen.

Drag the slider slightly to the left of the center marker

To darken the image, displaying its highlights more accurately.

Drag the slider slightly to the right of the center marker

To brighten the image, displaying its shadows more accurately.

Drag the slider approximately back to the center

To display a balance of highlight and shadow detail. You can also adjust a 32-bit image by using a Levels adjustment, but you can’t perform a Curves adjustment or various other types of adjustments.

2 Choose Image, Adjustments

Close the menu 3 Choose Image, Mode, 16 Bits/Channel...

To observe the Image, Adjustments submenu. Several of the adjustment commands are unavailable. Click away from the menu to close it without choosing a command. To open the HDR Toning dialog box. You’ll convert the image to a lower bit depth, in which you can use Photoshop’s full feature set and which is still adequate for high-quality printing.

4 From the Preset list, select Photorealistic

Set the Radius to 100

To increase the size of the glow effect.

Set the Strength to 3.00

To increase the contrast of the glow effect.

Set the Vibrance to 100 Set the Saturation to –10 5 Click OK 6 Save the image as Washington DC scene 16-bit

7 Close all images

To convert the image.


3–35

Unit summary: Photographic techniques Topic A

In this topic, you specified settings for opening a camera raw image.

Topic B

In this topic, you used a photo filter to simulate the technique of placing colored filters over a camera lens to adjust the color balance and color temperature of the light captured by the camera. You also used the Match Color dialog box to match the colors between two images.

Topic C

In this topic, you learned how to use the Lens Correction filter to correct or simulate lens distortion effects. In addition, you used the Lens Blur filter to simulate depth-offield effects. Finally, you used the Smart Sharpen filter to minimize lens blur and motion blur.

Topic D

In this topic, you used the Photomerge dialog box to combine images into a panoramic image. You also created a composite of images of the same scene but with different exposures to create a High Dynamic Range image that more fully represents the original scene’s range of brightness levels.

Independent practice activity In this activity, you’ll open a camera raw image and remove a color cast. You’ll also change an image to match the colors of another image. Then you’ll simulate a depth-offield effect and create a panoramic image. The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 3\Unit summary. 1 Open CRW_7021 as a Smart Object. In the Camera Raw window that appears, set the saturation to +50. Leave the window open. 2 Set the white balance to remove a color cast. (Hint: Use the White Balance tool.) 3 Open the image and save it as RGBY. Close the image. 4 Match the Mountain 2 image color to the color in the Mountain 1 image, using the settings shown in Exhibit 3-10. Save the Mountain 2 image as My mountain 2 in Photoshop format, and close both images. 5 Open Trike girl and save it as My trike girl. Simulate a depth of field in the image. To create the depth map, select the Bkgd alpha channel in the Channels panel. Select the Gradient tool, and from the Mode list on the options bar, select Darken. Create a gradient extending from the top-right corner of the image down to a point near the tire, as shown in Exhibit 3-11. Select the RGB channel to view the color image. Choose Filter, Blur, Lens Blur and specify the Lens Blur dialog box settings shown in Exhibit 3-12. Update and close the image. 6 Create a panoramic image from the images in the Coastline images folder. Crop and save the image as Coastline panorama in Photoshop format. The image should appear approximately as shown in Exhibit 3-13. Close the image.

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Exhibit 3-10: The Match Color dialog box settings for Step 4

Exhibit 3-11: The depth map gradient for Step 5


Exhibit 3-12: The Lens Blur dialog box settings for Step 5

Exhibit 3-13: The coastline image after Step 6

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3–38


Review questions 1 Which format captures image data directly from the camera’s sensor without applying any post-processing or compression? A JPEG B TIFF C CompactFlash D Camera raw 2 What are the advantages of using the camera raw format? [Choose all that apply.] A It produces an image with a smaller file size. B It produces an image with the highest possible quality. C Post-processing specified by the camera is stored as metadata with the image. D Post-processing is performed automatically. 3 In the Camera Raw window, you can save the image with different color spaces and color depth values. For an image intended for commercial printing, in which format should you save it? A Adobe RGB (1998) B ColorMatch RGB C ProPhoto RGB D sRGB 4 In the Camera Raw window, what setting would you use to neutralize the impact of your environment’s lighting so you can properly reproduce image colors? A Luminance smoothing B Vignetting C White balance D Tone curve 5 In the Camera Raw window, why do you click Done? A To apply the settings to the original image B To save the applied settings in either a sidecar file or a camera raw database file C To discard the changes and open the image D To discard the changes without opening the image 6 Which is not true of opening a camera raw file in Photoshop? A You can adjust the white balance. B You can save settings to apply to other images. C You can choose the level of JPEG compression. D You can open the resulting image with a color depth of 16 bits/channel.


3–39

7 You can open camera raw images into 16-bit color depth, providing ________ of allowable colors per channel vs. the standard ________. A Thousands, 256 B Millions, 256 C Millions, thousands D 16, 8 8 What color depth is typical for High Dynamic Range (HDR) images? A 8-bit B 16-bit C 32-bit D 64-bit 9 Unlike camera raw files, ________ files are not proprietary, and they can hold both the pixel data and the data specifying how the image should look within one file, not requiring a sidecar file. A JPEG B TIFF C PSD D DNG 10 What program can you use to select multiple images at once and apply the same camera raw settings to all of them? A Adobe Bridge B Photoshop C Windows Explorer D None (you can’t do this) 11 What type of layer most closely simulates the technique of placing a colored filter over a camera lens? Photo filter

12 What command would you choose from the Image, Adjustments submenu to make the colors in two images more similar? Match Color

13 Which is the best filter to apply to remove barrel distortion from an image? A Lens Blur B Spherize C Lens Correction D Pinch

3–40

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 14 Which filter should you apply to best simulate a reduced depth of field created by a photographer? A Lens Blur B Gaussian Blur C Lens Correction D Radial Blur 15 Which filter has specific settings for counteracting focus blur created by a camera? A Lens Blur B Lens Correction C Smart Sharpen D Unsharp Mask 16 In the Smart Sharpen dialog box, specifying a higher Amount value ________, thus making the image appear sharper. A Reduces the noise in the image B Increases the noise in the image C Increases the contrast between edge pixels D Decreases the contrast between edge pixels 17 In the Exposure dialog box, drag the Exposure slider ________. A To the right to brighten highlights and to the left to darken them B To the left to brighten highlights and to the right to darken them C To the right to brighten shadows and to the left to darken them D To the left to brighten shadows and to the right to darken them 18 In the Exposure dialog box, drag the Offset slider ________. A To the left to increase midtone contrast and to the right to decrease it B To the right to increase midtone contrast and to the left to decrease it C To the right to brighten shadows and to the left to darken them D To the left to brighten shadows and to the right to darken them 19 In Adobe Bridge’s Tools, Photoshop submenu, which command should you use to create a wide, panoramic image from multiple files? A Batch B Photomerge C Picture Package D Merge to HDR


3–41

20 How does Photoshop’s Merge to HDR command work? A It merges multiple images into a panorama. B It allows you to combine multiple resolutions, ranging from low to high. C It merges multiple images into a collage. D It allows you to combine multiple exposures, ranging from dark to bright. 21 To change the visible tonal range of an HDR image, choose ________ from the status-bar menu. A Document Profile B Efficiency C 32-bit Exposure D Scratch Sizes 22 True or false: You cannot display all of the tonal levels in an HDR file at once on a typical computer monitor. True.

3–42


4–1

Unit 4 RGB image adjustments Unit time: 90 minutes Complete this unit, and you’ll know how to: A Understand color correction principles. B Locate image shadows and highlights, and

identify their color values. C Use automatic adjustments to maximize

image contrast. D Use curves to adjust image contrast. E Use the toning tools to retouch image color

and contrast by hand. F Replace a single color throughout an image

or in specific areas.

4–2


Topic A: Color correction principles This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5.

Explanation

#

Objective

2.2a


2.4g


3.1e


4.4b

Identify Adjustment menu tools that are used for adjusting tone.

Color correction alters an image’s color and contrast to improve its appearance. You can use Photoshop to adjust image colors and contrast to correct color problems, enhance realism, or achieve other goals. Although color correction is somewhat subjective, there are some color correction principles that most people agree on.

Maximize contrast and saturation Most people agree that a high-contrast image is more interesting and engaging than a low-contrast image. You should generally increase contrast as much as possible while maintaining a realistic image. Avoid blowing out highlights and blocking shadows As you increase contrast, try to avoid blowing out the highlights or blocking shadows. Blown-out highlights occur when increasing the contrast converts multiple brightness levels in the highlights to a single shade. When this occurs, you lose image detail that you can’t get back. For example, if you increase contrast too much, a white sidewalk with many subtle color variations in it might become completely white, destroying all sense of texture and realism. Similarly, blocking shadows occurs when increasing the contrast converts multiple brightness levels in the shadows to a single color, destroying image detail in the darker parts of the image. Adjust contrast most effectively To avoid blowing out highlights and blocking shadows, it’s often best to set the brightest areas slightly darker than pure white and to set the darkest areas to slightly brighter than pure black. As you adjust an image, don’t try to perfectly capture the contrast and saturation of the original scene. Instead, adjust the image to make it appear the way you want. You’ll often end up with an image that has more contrast and saturation than does the original image. For some images, you might want to retain low contrast for realism, or you might even want to lower the contrast for artistic reasons. However, people generally respond better to images that “pop” with contrast and saturation.


4–3

Neutralize casts Images often appear with a color cast, which is a color that appears subtly throughout an image and that might be particularly noticeable in areas that should be neutral. While viewing an image onscreen, you might not always notice a color cast. You can determine whether a color cast is present by viewing the RGB values of image areas that should be neutral. A neutral area has equal red, green, and blue values.

Match key colors The color of some common items should appear within a specific range, or the color will look unnatural. For example, if a person’s skin is purplish, we know immediately that there’s a problem with the image. There are generally accepted color ranges for such items as skin, grass, and sky.

Choose important tonal ranges to adjust At times, you might be tempted to select an image area before adjusting it. For example, you might want to select a sky to make it bluer without adding a blue cast to a grassy area. However, you should reserve this approach as a last resort, for a few reasons:  The adjustment you make might address a color cast that affects the whole image. You might first notice that the sky color is bad, but when you fix the color cast, you’ll find that other parts of the image are improved as well.  Selecting image areas before making adjustments creates an unnatural “cut out and pasted in” appearance unless the adjustments are blended in very carefully.  If you need to adjust parts of the image, you have a better approach available. You can use a Curves adjustment layer to make adjustments to narrow tonal ranges. For example, rather than just brightening a landscape image overall, you could adjust the brightness values that affect the sky without significantly changing the color or contrast in the grass. As with addressing color casts, you’ll usually find that this approach can improve image areas other than the one you initially targeted, and it doesn’t create artificial-looking selection edges. Because you have precise control over which areas to improve contrast in, you should focus contrast adjustments on the part of the image that’s most important to you. After you’ve maximized the overall contrast, any contrast you increase in one tonal range (say, the dark parts of the image) necessarily lessens contrast in other tonal ranges. For example, if you increase contrast in an image’s midtones, the highlight and shadow areas will then have less contrast. By deciding which tonal range is most important, you can accept the tradeoff of lower contrast elsewhere.

Use layers to make nondestructive edits When you use commands on the Image, Adjustments menu to apply a color correction, you permanently change the image pixels, making a destructive edit. For many color corrections, you can apply a nondestructive edit by using the Adjustments panel or the Layer menu to create an adjustment layer. You can easily hide, reset, or delete an adjustment layer to return the image to its original appearance. In addition, you can continually modify the adjustment layer’s settings to experiment with different values.

4–4 Do it!


A-1:

Determining the necessary adjustments


Questions and answers 1 Open Kids in snow. What problems do you see in the image?

2 Open Smithsonian. What problems do you see in the image?

3 Open Scouts. What problems do you see in the image?

4 Close all images.


4–5

Topic B: Measuring color This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.2a


2.4c


2.4e


3.1b

Demonstrate knowledge of how to organize and customize the workspace.

Preparing the workspace for measuring color Explanation

Before you adjust image colors, you should measure the color values of different parts of the image. You can use several panels to measure image color, and you might need to modify the Photoshop workspace so you can see all the panels you’ll want to use. The Info panel One way to measure color values in an image is to use the Info panel. As you point to different parts of an image, the Info panel displays the color values. The Info panel reference constantly changes as you move the pointer. To permanently display color values for specific locations in an image, you can use the Eyedropper tool to add color samplers to the image. On the options bar, you can use the Sample Size menu to specify whether the Eyedropper tool samples the color from the pixel you click or samples the averaged color from the group of pixels in a specified area around the pixel you click. To specify the color model used to display color values in the Info panel, choose Panel Options from the Info panel menu. The Histogram panel Another way to measure an image’s color values is to view them as a histogram in the Histogram panel. The left side of the histogram represents darker pixels, the right side represents brighter pixels, and the center represents midtone pixels. For example, if the histogram appears very tall on the left side, the image has many dark pixels. By default, the Histogram panel shows a histogram that represents all of the image colors. From the Histogram panel menu, you can choose Expanded View to display the panel’s Channel list. From the Channel list, you can select a single color component to display as a histogram. For example, you can select Red to view a histogram representing the brightness values of the color red throughout the image. To see histograms for all color components at once, choose All Channels View from the Histogram panel menu.

4–6 Do it!


B-1:

Setting up the workspace for measuring color


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Urn 1 Save the image as My urn 1 2 Choose Window, Workspace,

In the current topic folder. If necessary.

Essentials (Default)

Choose Window, Workspace, Reset Essentials

3 Choose Window, Histogram

To set the workspace to its default arrangement. The Adjustments panel is visible. To display the Histogram panel.

4 Drag the Info tab to dock it with the Layers panel, as shown

To display both the Adjustments panel and the Info panel.

5 Click as shown

To expand the panel dock.

6 From the Histogram panel menu, choose All Channels View

To display the Red, Green, and Blue histograms individually.

7 Select the Eyedropper tool On the options bar, from the Sample Size list, select 3 by 3 Average 8 Choose Window, Workspace, New Workspace…

Edit the Name box to read Color correction and click Save

To open the New Workspace dialog box. You’ll save this workspace for future use.


4–7

Identifying shadows and highlights Explanation

Before you adjust image colors, you should locate the image’s highlights and shadows. The Histogram can show you whether an image’s pixels are predominantly dark, bright, or more evenly distributed, but it doesn’t indicate where in the image the shadows or highlights occur. Levels adjustments You can use the Levels options in the Adjustments panel to quickly find an image’s darkest and brightest pixels. When you click the Levels icon in the Adjustments panel, Photoshop displays the Levels options and automatically creates an adjustment layer for your changes. Remember, when you make your changes on an adjustment layer (rather than through the Image, Adjustments menu), they are nondestructive edits, and you can change or remove them at any time without affecting the original image. To use the Levels options to find image highlights, press Alt and drag the white input slider. The image becomes black, and as you drag to the left, the brightest areas begin to appear. If the brightest pixels are neutral, they’ll appear white; but if the brightest pixels have a color tint, they’ll appear as that color. If the brightest pixels have a color, the image might have a color cast that you should remove. If the brightest pixels are supposed to have a color, however, then the image probably doesn’t have a true highlight and you shouldn’t force the highlight to become neutral. For example, a bright area on a colored surface might be the brightest area in an image, but it should display the color of the object’s surface, not pure white. In this case, you should not set that area as the target highlight or neutralize its color. Some images have specular highlights, which are reflections of light from a shiny surface. You should usually allow specular highlights to appear as pure white (R255 G255 B255), whereas other highlights should be closer to R245 G245 B245 (a bit darker than pure white). Also, you should avoid neutralizing an image based on a specular highlight because it might be pure white even if a color cast exists in the true highlights. To use the Levels options to find image shadows, press Alt and drag the black input slider. The image becomes pure white. As you drag, the darkest pixels begin to appear. Color samplers When you locate an image’s target shadow and highlight, you can mark them with color samplers. You can then view the color values for those areas in the Info panel, as shown in Exhibit 4-2, and see how your adjustments affect those values. To add a color sampler, select the Eyedropper tool; then press Shift and click in the image. A color sampler appears in the image as a small numbered icon, with a corresponding color value showing in the Info panel. You can press Shift and drag a color sampler to move it in an image. In addition, you can choose Color Samplers from the Info panel menu to hide or show the color samplers. To remove a color sampler, select the Eyedropper tool; then press Alt+Shift and click the color sampler.

4–8


Shadow color sampler

Highlight color sampler

Exhibit 4-1: The Info panel, showing color samplers for shadows and highlights

RGB image adjustments Do it!

B-2:

4–9

Locating shadows and highlights

Here’s how 1 Observe the Histogram panel

Here’s why In each channel, the histogram doesn’t extend all the way to the left or right. This indicates that the image’s shadows aren’t as dark and its highlights aren’t as bright as they could be.

2 In the Adjustments panel, click the Levels icon, as shown

To create an adjustment layer and to display the Levels options in the Adjustments panel. You want to locate the shadow and highlight pixels before making a correction.

3 Press a and drag the black input slider slowly to the right

(In the Adjustments panel.) To locate the shadows in the image. The first areas that appear with color other than white are the darkest areas in the image. If the color isn’t black, it means that the pixels’ red, green, and blue values aren’t balanced.

Release a momentarily

4 Press a and drag the black input slider to the right until solid black appears

To see where in the image the colored shadow areas appeared. The shadow pixels are in the top and bottom parts of the urn. Because those areas should be black, the colors indicate that the shadows have a color cast. To determine which colored shadow area is darkest overall. The largest area of solid black appears at the top of the urn, so you’ll place the shadow color sampler there, rather than at the bottom of the urn.

5 Zoom to 100% magnification at the top of the urn 6 Select the Eyedropper tool Press a and click the black input slider again

If necessary. To find the first area where significant color appears.

Press s and click in the area you just identified To add a color sampler. The Info panel expands to display RGB values for point #1. If the Info panel expands too much, the Adjustments panel will collapse.

4–10

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 7 Zoom back out

To view the entire urn.

8 Click the Adjustments panel In the Adjustments panel, press a and drag the white input slider to the left

To locate the highlights. The first non-black area is the brightest in the image.

When the first non-black area appears, release a

To view the original image. The first several areas that appear are on the urn. These areas are specular (reflected) highlights, which you shouldn’t force to be neutral and which could appear blown out in your corrected version.

Press a and drag the white input slider to the left until light areas appear in the backdrop cloth

This area should be neutral, and it’s a better choice for the image highlight than areas on the urn.

9 Zoom in on the lightest area of the backdrop cloth

In the bottom-left area of the image.

Press s and click to place a color sampler

You’ll also place color samplers for light and dark areas that should be neutral gray.

10 Zoom back out 11 Press s and click as shown to create color samplers 3 and 4

Observe the RGB values for all of the color samplers 12 Update and close the image

The green values are highest overall, followed by blue, indicating that the image has a green or cyan cast.


4–11

Topic C: Automatic adjustments This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.4c


3.1e


4.4a

Identify auto correction tools that are used for adjusting tonal range.

4.4b


4.4d


Automatic adjustment methods Explanation

After you find an image’s brightest and darkest areas (highlights and shadows), you can adjust the image contrast to make the highlights as bright as possible without blowing them out, and make the shadows as dark as possible without blocking them. One way to adjust contrast is to use Photoshop’s automatic adjustment options. You can apply automatic adjustments by choosing Image and then choosing Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, or Auto Color, but these commands result in destructive edits. A better method is to use the Adjustments panel, which provides automatic adjustment options that are layerbased and can be fine-tuned. The Adjustments panel’s Levels and Curves options both provide an Auto button that can make automatic tone and color corrections. You can use the Auto Color Correction Options dialog box, shown in Exhibit 4-2, to specify the type of automatic adjustment you want the Auto button to perform.

Exhibit 4-2: The Auto Color Correction Options dialog box

4–12

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition To specify the type of automatic adjustment that the Auto buttons make, follow these steps: 1 Create or select either a Levels or a Curves adjustment layer. 2 Open the Auto Color Correction Options dialog box by doing either of the following:  From the Adjustments panel menu, choose Auto Options.  In the Adjustments panel, press Alt and click the Auto button. 3 Select the correction algorithm you want to use:  Enhance Monochromatic Contrast — Makes shadows darker and light areas brighter, as you might by moving the input sliders to where the shadows and highlights begin on the Levels graph.

4 5

6

7

 Enhance Per Channel Contrast — Adjusts each channel separately, as you might by moving the input sliders for individual channels to where each channel appears on the Levels graph.  Find Dark & Light Colors — Uses the lightest and darkest pixels as the shadow and highlight values. Select Snap Neutral Midtones if you want Photoshop to choose a neutral color in your image and force it to gray. Under Target Colors & Clipping, enter a Clip percentage for Shadows and Highlights to specify the percentage of extremes that will be eliminated from calculations. The default settings eliminate 0.10% of the darkest shadows and the brightest highlights from color-correction calculations. By default, Photoshop uses neutral target colors: black for Shadows, gray for Midtones, and white for Highlights. To change a target color, click the color swatch and select a new target color. Check “Save as defaults” to make your selections the default settings for the Auto buttons in the Adjustments panel and the Auto commands on the Image menu.


C-1:

4–13

Comparing automatic adjustment methods


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Urn 2 Save the image as My urn 2


2 Click the Adjustments panel

(If necessary.) To expand it.

3 Click Auto

The image’s contrast improves.

4 From the Adjustments panel menu, choose Auto Options…

To open the Auto Color Correction Options dialog box.

5 Select Enhance Monochromatic Contrast

This option, which is equivalent to Auto Contrast, leaves a green cast in this image.

Select Enhance Per Channel

This option introduces a different cast.

Contrast

Select Find Dark & Light Colors

Check

The color cast is eliminated.

Snap Neutral Midtones

6 Click OK 7 Update the image


4–14


Setting target points Explanation

You can use the Levels options in the Adjustments panel to specify the parts of the image that should be the highlights and the shadows. The area you specify as the target highlight will become the brightest part of the image, and the area you specify as the target shadow will become the darkest part of the image. Other image areas might match the brightness of the highlight or shadow target points, but no areas will be brighter than the highlight target or darker than the shadow target. To set the target highlight and shadow: 1 In the Adjustments panel, click the Levels icon. 2 Select the Set White Point tool, shown in Exhibit 4-3. 3 Point to the brightest part of the image and click. The point you clicked becomes the image highlight, and other image areas are adjusted accordingly. 4 Select the Set Black Point tool. 5 Point to the darkest part of the image and click. The point you clicked becomes the image shadow, and other image areas are adjusted accordingly. 6 Select the Set Gray Point tool. 7 Point to a midtone area of the image that should be neutral, and click. The point you clicked becomes neutral (with equal red, green, and blue values), and other image areas are adjusted accordingly.

Set Black Point Set Gray Point Set White Point

Exhibit 4-3: The target point tools for adjusting levels Target values By default, the image area that you specify as the target highlight is converted to pure white (255R 255G 255B), and the target shadow is converted to pure black (0R 0G 0B). However, it’s a good idea to change the target highlight’s brightness value to about 96% and to change the target shadow’s brightness value to about 4%. Doing this is particularly useful for the following scenarios:  If the area you target as the highlight is not the brightest part of the image, then it will be brightened to pure white (255R 255G 255B) by default; other areas that were brighter will also brightened to pure white. By converting several bright shades to pure white, you blow out the highlights, losing image detail. Similarly, setting the target shadow to pure black can block the shadows.  Most printers can’t reproduce detail in areas that are nearly pure white or nearly pure black. In addition, any area defined as pure white might not get any ink coverage on the paper, and this might look like a printing error.


C-2:

4–15

Setting target points with eyedroppers

Here’s how 1 In the Adjustments panel, double-click

Here’s why (The Set White Point tool, available when the Levels options are displayed.) To open the “Select target highlight color” dialog box. You’ll select the white target color.

2 Edit the first B box to read 96, as shown

(Use the B box beneath H and S, not the one beneath R and G.) The B value in the HSB color model stands for Brightness.

Click OK

To close the dialog box. Another dialog box appears, providing the option of saving the setting as a default value.

Click Yes 3 Double-click

(The Set Black Point tool.) To open the “Select target shadow color” dialog box. You’ll set the black target color.

Edit the first B box to read 4

Beneath H and S.

Click OK


Click Yes

To save the setting.

4 With the Set Black Point tool selected, click color sampler 1 in the image

To set that point to a neutral shadow with 4% brightness.

Select the Set White Point tool

In the Adjustments panel.

In the image, click color sampler 2

To set that point to a neutral highlight with 96% brightness.

4–16

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 5 Click

To select the Set Gray Point tool.

Click either point 3 or point 4 In the image, click several areas of the background until points 3 and point 4 are each composed of red, green, and blue values that indicate a fairly neutral color

A color is neutral when its red, green, and blue values are the same. Observe the Info panel to check these values.

6 Update and close the image 7 Collapse the second panel dock

(If necessary.) The one containing the Histogram panel.


4–17

The Shadow/Highlight command Explanation

You can use the Shadow/Highlight command to correct shadow and highlight problems in images with very high contrast, such as a subject that’s silhouetted against a bright background or a subject that’s slightly washed out from being too close to the camera flash. These types of images are hard to correct with other methods because correcting very dark shadows or very bright highlights often takes extreme adjustments that adversely affect the rest of the image, as shown in Exhibit 4-4.

Original dark image

Adjusted with Curves

Adjusted with Shadow/Highlight

Exhibit 4-4: A Curves adjustment (center) to a very dark image weakens the sky more than does a Shadow/Highlight adjustment (right) To correct an image with shadow or highlight problems: 1 Duplicate the layer you want to adjust. Because the Shadow/Highlight command is a destructive edit, you should apply it to a duplicate layer so you can preserve the original image in case you need it later. 2 Choose Image, Adjustments, Shadows/Highlights to open the Shadows/Highlights dialog box, shown in Exhibit 4-5. 3 Specify settings as needed to correct the image. 4 Click OK.

4–18


Exhibit 4-5: The Shadows/Highlights dialog box


C-3:

4–19

Correcting shadow and highlight problems


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Smithsonian Save the image as My Smithsonian

(In the current topic folder.) You’ll attempt to use the Levels dialog box to correct this image.

2 Choose Image, Adjustments, Levels…

In the Levels dialog box, drag the Gamma (midtone) slider to the left

To lighten the image. This lightens the building but also weakens the sky in the image.

Click Cancel

To close the Levels dialog box. You will use a different method to correct the image.

3 Duplicate the Background layer

You want to preserve the original Background layer because you’re going to perform a destructive edit on the duplicate layer.

4 Choose Image, Adjustments,

To open the Shadows/Highlights dialog box.

Shadows/Highlights…

Under Shadows, set Amount to

To brighten the shadows.

75

Check Show More Options 5 Under Shadows, set Tonal Width to 40 Under Shadows, set Radius to 70 6 Under Adjustments, set Color Correction to +40

To expand the dialog box. To lessen the effect on the lighter areas of the image and focus more on the shadows. Increasing this value creates more contrast in the bush and flowers in front of the building. To increase the vibrancy of the flowers.

Set Midtone Contrast to -15

To make the bush lighter and to have less contrast with the darker building.

Click OK

To close the Shadow/Highlights dialog box.

7 Hide the duplicate Background layer

Show the duplicate layer 8 Update and close the image

To compare the adjusted image with the original. The building, tree, and flowers are dramatically improved, while the sky and flags are almost identical to the original.

4–20


Topic D: Curves adjustments This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.4a


2.4e


4.4b


4.4d


Using curves to adjust contrast Explanation

You can use Levels adjustments to adjust image shadows, highlights, and midtones, but you can often adjust an image with greater precision by using Curves adjustments. For the most flexibility, you’ll want to make your changes on a Curves adjustment layer so they are nondestructive. The advantage of using the Curves adjustment is that you can adjust any specific brightness level, instead of just the three levels available with Levels adjustments. For example, instead of adjusting only the shadows, highlights, or midtones, you could use curves to adjust the contrast of pixels with brightness levels between 15% and 40%. To perform a nondestructive edit with curves, do any of the following:  Create a duplicate layer. Then choose Image, Adjustment, Curves.  Choose Layer, New Adjustment Layer, Curves and click OK.  In the Layers panel, click the “Create new fill or adjustment layer” icon and choose Curves from the pop-up menu.  In the Adjustments panel, click the Curves icon. Photoshop will display the Curves options in the panel and create an adjustment layer. In the Curves options in the Adjustments panel, the horizontal axis represents input values, and the vertical axis represents output values. By default, the curve appears as a 45° line, indicating that the output values match the input values, resulting in no change to the image. You can click anywhere along the curve to add a point, and you can then drag that point to adjust the curve. Dragging a point straight down darkens the areas at the current input level. Dragging up brightens the image. You can drag a point away from the curve area to remove it, or you can press Alt and click Reset to return the curve to its default. For realistic corrections, the curve should generally slant up and to the right. If the curve dips down, it reverses the tonal areas and the result looks unnatural.


D-1:

4–21

Adjusting contrast with curves


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Shoreline Save the image as My shoreline 2 In the Adjustments panel, click

(In the current topic folder.) You’ll adjust contrast by using a Curves adjustment layer. (The Curves icon.) To create an adjustment layer and to display the Curves options in the Adjustments panel. You’ll create points on the curve and then modify them.

3 Click the center of the curve as shown

To create a point.

Drag the point you just created slightly below and to the right of the midpoint

To darken the image. Areas that were at 50% brightness are now at a lower brightness level on the output axis.

4 Drag the point up slightly above the midpoint

To brighten the image.

4–22

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 5 Click the curve to the right of the point you just created, as shown

To create another point.

Drag the new point straight down to create a curve, as shown

Observe the image 6 Click

Because the curve dips down, the tonal areas are reversed, creating an unnatural appearance. (The “Reset to adjustment defaults” button.) To remove the points you created and return the curve to a 45° line. Next, you’ll move the top endpoint of the curve to control the highlights.

7 Drag the top endpoint of the curve to the left, as shown

To brighten the overall image. Next, you’ll move the bottom endpoint to control the shadows of the image.


4–23

8 Drag the bottom endpoint of the curve to the right, as shown

To darken the shadows. The image now has more contrast. A steeper curve represents more contrast because the shadows are darker and highlights are lighter.

9 Drag the endpoints of the curve as shown

The contrast decreases, and the image looks washed out. This isn’t the effect you want.

10 Click and hold Click

To show the previous state. The image appears as it was before the last adjustment. To reset to the adjustment defaults.

11 Create a midpoint and place it as shown

To darken the midtones.

12 Update the image

4–24


Using curves to adjust specific tones Explanation

You can use curves to adjust specific tonal regions of an image. To target a particular tonal region, you can estimate where to click the curve and then drag as necessary. To more accurately target the adjustment, you can use the On-image adjustment tool— available in the Adjustments panel—to select a specific area of the image to adjust. As you move the pointer, a circle appears on the curve, indicating the brightness value of the pixel you’re pointing to. You can then press Ctrl and click the image to add a point, representing that brightness level, to the curve. To limit an adjustment to a specific color, select a color channel from the Channel list. A new curve appears for the color channel you selected. In addition, when you’re making on-image adjustments, you can press Ctrl and click the image to add a point to each individual color-channel curve.

Do it!

D-2:

Adjusting specific tones

Here’s how 1 Open the Histogram panel

In the Adjustments panel, click Auto

Here’s why In some of the channels, there are gaps between the left or right edges of the histogram and the data, indicating that the image does not have the optimum contrast. To maximize the contrast in the individual red, green, and blue channels. The Curves display changes to show the curves of the individual channels. You want to maximize contrast in the greenery on the side of the mountain to minimize the appearance of a mist obscuring it. This will create a more vibrant photo than the original.

Hide the Histogram panel 2 In the Curves panel, click

(The On-image adjustment tool.) The pointer changes to a half-filled Eyedropper.

Move the pointer over the dark green strip at the bottom-left part of the mountain, near where the beach ends, as shown In the Adjustments panel, observe the circle that appears on the curve

The circle moves in relation to the Eyedropper’s position.


4–25

3 Click in that dark green area of the image

To add a point to the RGB curve.

4 In the image, click the middle of the greenery on the hillside, as shown

To add another point to the curve.

5 Drag the first point you created down until the values are approximately 65 for Output and 95 for Input

To darken the pixels valued 95 or below. This step creates a steeper region between this point and the next, adding contrast. The curve to the left of this point is shallower than before, so some pixels were darkened to a value of nearly zero. However, those pixels are in the trees on the right, which can be silhouetted. Next, you’ll darken the hillside greenery a bit.

4–26

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 6 Click the next point in the curve Press y 11 times

To lower the output value by 11. Your values probably won’t exactly match those shown here. Next, you’ll add points to regain contrast in the sky.

7 Move the pointer around within the sky and clouds, and observe the circle on the RGB curve

To see the range you need to adjust to regain contrast. Because the circle is near the top-right corner of the curve, it represents the highlights in the image.

Click the curve to create a point Drag the point to position it approximately as indicated

To darken the sky. The clouds also darken, however.


4–27

8 Add another point to the curve, and position it approximately as indicated

To lighten the clouds without affecting the sky much. You want to add a bit more contrast to the greenery, which you’ll do in the Green channel.

9 From the Channel list, select Green In the Curves display, the red and blue channel lines disappear. If the histogram is displayed in the background, it displays only the green channel.

Click a dark portion of the hillside greenery in the image

To create a point on the Green curve.

Click a light portion of the hillside greenery

To create the next point on the Green curve.

10 Adjust the points so that the curve appears approximately as shown

Now, the blue water seems too saturated to look realistic.

4–28

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 11 From the Channel list, select Blue

Click the most saturated blue near the shoreline

To create a point on the Blue curve.

Move the point down slightly

To desaturate the blue slightly.

12 Click the Layers panel Hide the Curves 1 layer Show the Curves 1 layer again 13 Update and close the image

To compare the adjusted image with the original.


4–29

Flesh tones Explanation

It’s important for skin color to appear without any color cast, or viewers will notice a problem. People know instinctively what flesh tones should look like, so you should ensure that flesh tones fall within specific target ranges. The target ranges for flesh tones and other key colors are usually specified using CMYK values. Fortunately, you can set the Info panel to display CMYK values even for images using RGB or other color modes. To specify a different color mode in the Info panel, click the eyedropper icon next to a sample point to show a list of color models, and then select the one you want. You can use the following guidelines for specifying flesh tones:  Caucasian — The yellow value should be equal to the magenta value or up to 30% greater than the magenta value (except for children, whose pinker skin might require a magenta value slightly higher than the yellow value). The cyan value should be between one-fifth and one-half of the magenta value. In addition, the black value should be very small or even zero. For example, an acceptable Caucasian flesh tone is 8C 35M 40Y 0K for fairer skin, and 25C 55M 70Y 10K for darker skin.  African-American — Follow the same general guidelines as for Caucasian skin, but specify higher values for all color components. For example, an acceptable African-American flesh tone is 20C 65M 70Y 15K for lighter skin, and 25C 80M 85Y 45K for darker skin.  Asian — You can again follow the general guidelines stated previously, but set the yellow component at least 10–15 points higher than the magenta value. For example, an acceptable Asian flesh tone is 15C 30M 55Y 5K. RGB to CMY correlation Because you’ll often be correcting skin tones in an RGB image, you should understand how RGB colors correlate to CMYK colors. In RGB, the red, green, and blue colors are inversely proportional to the cyan, magenta, and yellow colors in CMYK.  Red is the opposite of cyan.  Green is the opposite of magenta.  Blue is the opposite of yellow. Therefore, you can decrease cyan in an image by increasing red. Likewise, you can increase yellow by decreasing blue.

4–30 Do it!


D-3:

Correcting flesh tones


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Scouts 1 Save the image as My scouts 1

(In the current topic folder.) This image already contains color samplers for highlight, shadow, and two flesh tones. You should view the sample points for the flesh tones as CMYK values to evaluate them.

2 Click the Info panel Click as shown

To open the color value list for color sampler #3.

From the list, select

To convert the values to CMYK color.

CMYK Color

3 Observe the CMYK values for color sampler #3

The Yellow percentage is too high relative to Magenta. It should be higher, but not by more than 5 to 10 percentage points. Also, the Cyan percentage should be between one-half and one-fifth of the Magenta; it’s much too low now.

4 Create a Curves adjustment layer and enable on-image adjustments

Click Auto

Click the Adjustments panel. Click the Curves icon and then click the On-image adjustment tool. The pointer changes to a half-filled Eyedropper. To neutralize the shadows and highlights. To address the problem of the Yellow value being too high relative to Magenta, you’ll first adjust the opposite of Yellow, which is Blue.

5 From the Channel list, select Blue

Press c and click color sampler #3 in the image

To add a point to the Blue curve.

In the Adjustments panel, click the point and press z eight times

To increase the blue in the flesh tone. The Y percentage for color sampler #3 in the Info panel decreases. To avoid brightening the image significantly, you’ll adjust Green, the opposite of Magenta.


4–31

6 From the Channel list, select Green

Add a point on the curve for color sampler #3

Press Ctrl and click color sampler #3.

Click the point and press y four times

To adjust the M percentage for color sampler #3. Although the Auto adjustment added a bit of cyan by lowering the Red channel’s white point, it didn’t go far enough to add significant cyan to the flesh tones.

7 Select the Red channel Select the top-right point of the curve Press y until the C value for color sampler #3 is at least 8% 8 Hide the Curves adjustment layer Show the Curves adjustment layer again


This adjustment brings each Cyan value to within one-fifth of the Magenta value, which is a good guideline for Caucasian flesh tones. To compare the adjusted image to the original. This adjustment also made the boys’ uniforms bluer. In many cases, an adjustment made for one purpose also helps the image as a whole by removing a pervasive color cast.

4–32


Topic E: Hand-retouching color This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5.

Explanation

#

Objective

3.1c


4.4b


4.4d


4.5g

Demonstrate knowledge of how to use blending tools.

In addition to adjusting contrast by using Levels and Curves adjustments, you can retouch small areas by using the toning tools. Mimicking techniques used by photographers, these tools include the Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools.

Toning tools The Dodge tool lightens image areas, the Burn tool darkens image areas, and the Sponge tool increases or decreases color saturation. Each tool affects only the pixels that you drag it over. In addition, when you select the Dodge or Burn tools, you can click the Range list on the options bar to specify whether the tool will affect shadows, midtones, or highlights. For the Sponge tool, click the options bar’s Mode list to specify whether the tool will saturate or desaturate image colors. For the Dodge and Burn tools, specify an Exposure value on the options bar to control the strength of the tool’s impact. The toning tools are painting tools, so they permanently change the pixels in your image. Therefore, you might want to use these tools on a duplicate layer, so you can keep the original layer in case you need to return to it later.


E-1:

4–33

Using the Burn tool to darken image areas

The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 4\Topic E.

Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Scouts 2 Save the image as My scouts 2 2 Duplicate the Background layer Name the duplicate layer Fix flash reflection

In the current topic folder. To preserve it from a destructive edit. You’ll adjust the image pixels directly, and you want to keep the original image as a backup.

3 Observe the image

The flash created a brighter reflection off the top and top-right hands than it did off the other hands, creating an uneven appearance. Rather than try to adjust this with curves, which would affect all of the hands, you’ll brush over them with the Burn tool.

4 In the Tools panel, point to the Dodge tool and hold down the mouse button Select the Burn Tool, as shown

On the options bar, from the Range list, select Midtones

If necessary.

Set the Exposure value to 10% 5 Drag over the very light skin on the knuckles on the top and topright hands 6 Update and close the image

To darken those areas slightly.

4–34


Topic F: Color replacement This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.4g


3.1c


4.4e


Global hue changes Explanation

Sometimes you’ll want to significantly shift one specific color in an image to another hue. To do this, you’ll need to narrow the adjustment to only the desired color, and you might want to paint it selectively in individual image areas. There are several ways to change a specific color throughout an image:  Create a Selective Color adjustment layer. Selective Color is intended primarily for CMYK printed images. You can adjust the amount of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black used to create red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow, white, neutrals, and grays. For example, you can specify that greens should contain more yellow to change the appearance of a lawn in an image without affecting the house.  Create a duplicate layer. Then choose Image, Adjustments, Replace Color to open the Replace Color dialog box. Use the eyedropper tools and the Fuzziness slider in the dialog box to select a range of colors, and then drag Hue, Saturation, and Lightness sliders to shift the selection.  A slightly more flexible variation on the previous approach is to choose Select, Color Range and select the colors as you would in the Replace Color dialog box. Then, with this selection active, create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.  Use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer by itself to restrict the affected color range, and change the hue, saturation, and lightness. This approach often creates the most realistic results because you can precisely control the range of the hue to be changed, as well as how large a range of transition colors to blend. Other approaches often create excessively sharp transitions between changed and unchanged colors. To change one hue throughout an image with a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer: 1 In the Adjustments panel, click the Hue/Saturation icon to create an adjustment layer and display the Hue/Saturation options, as shown in Exhibit 4-6. 2 From the Edit list, select the color closest to the one you want to change (it doesn’t have to match exactly).


4–35

3 If you want to more accurately select the color to be changed, do a combination of the following:  Drag the angled sliders between the color ramps to expand or narrow the number of transition colors to be affected. The colors between the vertical bars and these angled sliders are partially affected by the adjustments.  Drag the vertical sliders between the color ramps to the left and right of the gray area to expand or narrow the range of colors to be shifted.  Drag the gray area between the color ramps to shift the hue.  Select the Eyedropper tool and click in the image to select the color you want to change. If you click a color very different from the one you selected from the Edit list, the color in the Edit list will change.  Add to or subtract from the range of colors with the + and – Eyedropper tools. (Or press Shift to temporarily access the + Eyedropper, and press Alt to temporarily access the – Eyedropper.) 4 Drag the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness sliders to affect the selected color range. 5 If necessary, select the Hue/Saturation layer’s layer mask thumbnail, and paint with black in an image area to prevent color changes from occurring there.

Edit list

Hue, Saturation, and Lightness sliders

Eyedropper tools Color ramps Angled slider Vertical slider Gray area

Exhibit 4-6: The Hue/Saturation options in the Adjustments panel

4–36 Do it!


F-1:

Replacing a color throughout an image

The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 4\Topic F.

Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Park ride Save the image as My park ride 2 In the Adjustments panel, click

(In the current topic folder.) You’ll change the paint color on the ride from yellow to red. (The Hue/Saturation icon.) To create an adjustment layer and display the Hue/Saturation options in the Adjustments panel.

3 From the Edit list, select Yellows To restrict the adjustment so that only yellow pixels are affected.

Drag the Hue slider to –50

To shift all yellows to red.

Drag the Lightness slider to –20

To make the red areas darker. Some of the girl’s hair is now red-tinged, and a few designs on the girl’s dress are now red. You’ll paint over those areas in the adjustment layer’s mask to return them to the original colors.

4 In the Layers panel, select the white layer mask thumbnail for the Hue/Saturation layer 5 Press D and then X

To set the foreground and background colors to black and white.

6 Select the Brush tool From the Brush Preset picker, select the Soft Round brush Set the brush size to 35 pixels Paint over the girl’s hair and the red spots near the top of her dress 7 Update and close the image

To paint with black in the layer mask, revealing the original colors from the layer below.


4–37

The Color Replacement tool Explanation

You might want to replace a color in only certain places in an image, and that color might be interspersed with other colors, making it difficult to create an accurate mask or to paint in the new color with precision. The Color Replacement tool can easily replace colors in such images. It works much like the Magic Eraser tool, in that it changes only the pixels that match a target color as you paint. To replace colors with the Color Replacement tool: 1 Create a duplicate layer so that the effects of this destructive edit can be reversed if necessary. 2 Set the foreground color to the color you want to use as the replacement. 3 Select the Color Replacement tool, which is located in the same tool group as the Brush tool. 4 On the options bar, use the Brush Preset picker to specify a brush size, or press [ and ] to change the size. 5 On the options bar, from the Mode list, select the blending mode (Hue, Saturation, Color, or Luminosity) with which the new color will replace the old one. In most cases, Color is most effective. 6 On the options bar, click an icon to specify the sampling type you want to use:  Sampling: Continuous — Changes the color of all pixels you drag across that match the color at the center of the pointer as you drag. This option works well for replacing varying colors as you paint.  Sampling: Once — Changes only colors that match the color that was under the pointer when you began dragging. This option works well when the areas you want to replace are fairly consistent in color. You can stop dragging, and begin in a new location to begin replacing a different color.  Sampling: Background Swatch — Replaces only colors that match the current background color, shown in the Background color indicator in the Tools panel. This option works well for images with a single color to replace. 7 On the options bar, from the Limits list, select a limits mode:  Discontiguous — Replaces all instances of the sampled color located below the pointer as you drag.  Contiguous — Replaces only instances of the sampled color that are connected to one another.  Find Edges — Replaces connected areas of the sampled color while better preserving the sharpness of shape edges. 8 On the options bar, in the Tolerance box, specify a value to determine how similar to the sampled color other areas must be to be replaced. A low tolerance replaces only areas very similar to the sampled color, and a high tolerance replaces a broader range of colors. 9 On the options bar, check Anti-alias if you want to soften brush-stroke edges; clear it if you don’t want overlapping strokes to display a visible edge. 10 Drag over the areas containing the color that you want to replace

4–38 Do it!


F-2:

Replacing a color by painting

The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 4\Topic F.

Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Red peppers Save the image as My red and green peppers

(In the current topic folder.) You’ll change the front pepper from red to green.


To preserve it from a destructive edit.

3 Click the foreground color


Edit the R, G, and B fields to read 70, 140, and 40

To create a green color.

Click OK 4 From the tool group that contains the Brush tool, select the Color Replacement tool

You’ll paint in the new color rather than replace it throughout the entire image.

5 Press ] or [ to increase or decrease the brush size shown on the options bar to 70 pixels

As necessary.

On the options bar, click

(The Sampling: Once icon.) To replace colors based only on the color that’s under the pointer when you begin dragging, not the colors under the pointer as you continue to drag.

Type 6

To set the Tolerance to 60%. Increasing the tolerance will replace more shades of red. You don’t need to worry about accidentally replacing similar colors, so you can safely increase the tolerance for this image.

On the options bar, clear

To avoid creating visible edges where your paint strokes overlap one another.

Anti-alias


4–39

6 Point as shown, with the crosshair within a red color and with the edge of the brush circle past the edge of the pepper

To choose the color (under the crosshair) to sample, and the area (within the circle) to paint.

Drag around the edge of the pepper as shown

To paint the outer edge of the pepper but not the colors surrounding it. Don’t paint the background pepper.

7 Point as shown, and begin painting the inside of the pepper

To sample a slightly lighter red so you can replace the light red color near the edges that meet the background pepper.

4–40

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 8 Paint the rest of the pepper, being careful not to extend the brush edge into the background pepper

(Don’t worry about replacing the stem color.) The tool won’t replace the stem color because it doesn’t match the red you sampled.

9 Press [ 10 times to reduce the brush size to 10 pixels


The bright areas of the pepper remain tinged with red, so you’ll touch them up with a smaller brush to avoid painting on the background pepper. (The Sampling: Continuous icon.) To let the sample color change as you drag over slightly different highlight colors.

10 Drag over the bright areas of the pepper that remained red, again being careful to keep the brush edge within the front pepper

To complete the color replacement.

11 Update and close the image 12 Choose Window, Workspace, Essentials (Default)

Choose Window, Workspace, Reset Essentials

To return to the workspace to its default arrangement.


4–41

Unit summary: RGB image adjustments Topic A

In this topic, you identified color correction principles, such as maximizing contrast and saturation, neutralizing color casts, matching key colors, and choosing important tonal ranges to adjust. You learned that many color corrections can be made as nondestructive edits by using the Adjustments panel.

Topic B

In this topic, you learned how to set up the workspace for measuring color. You then learned how to locate image shadows and highlights and identify their color values.

Topic C

In this topic, you used the auto-adjustment commands to maximize image contrast. You also used the target point tools to specify an image’s target highlight, target shadow, and target midtone. Finally, you used the Shadow/Highlight dialog box to correct images with shadow and highlight problems.

Topic D

In this topic, you used a Curves adjustment to adjust image contrast. You also manipulated curves to adjust specific tones. Finally, you learned how to adjust curves to specify accepted flesh tones.

Topic E

In this topic, you learned how to use the toning tools—Dodge, Burn, and Sponge—to brighten, darken, or adjust the saturation of image colors.

Topic F

In this topic, you replaced colors throughout an image by using a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, and in specific places by painting with the Color Replacement tool.

Independent practice activity In this activity, you’ll apply the Shadow/Highlight command to an image. You’ll also add color samplers and create a Curves adjustment layer. Finally, you’ll use the Color Replacement tool to replace an image color. The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 4\Unit summary. 1 Open Three women. Save the image as My three women. 2 Apply the Shadows/Highlights command to lighten the women without affecting the scene visible through the windows behind them. (Hint: First, duplicate the Background layer. Choose Image, Adjustments, Shadows/Highlights, and use the settings shown in Exhibit 4-7.) 3 Clear and check Preview to see the adjustments you made. Update and close the image. 4 Open Kids in snow. Save the image as My kids in snow. 5 With the Eyedropper tool, Shift+click to add a shadow color sampler, a highlight color sampler, a flesh-tone color sampler, and a neutral-point color sampler, as shown in Exhibit 4-8. 6 Create a Curves adjustment layer. Set the shadow target to 5% and the highlight to 97%. Then maximize contrast with the Auto button. (Hint: To set the target shadow and target highlight values, double-click the Set Black Point and Set White Point tools in the Curves options in the Adjustments panel. In the Color Picker dialog box, enter the specified value in the B box that’s beneath the H and S boxes.) 7 Add points to the RGB curve for dark and light tones, and adjust them approximately as shown in Exhibit 4-9 to lighten the shadows without blowing out the detail in the snow.

4–42

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 8 Select the Red channel. Using the On-image adjustment tool, click the sample point on the girl’s forehead. Then move the point up in the Red channel’s curve until the Cyan value for the flesh-tone color sampler is approximately half the Magenta value. (Hint: To see the CMYK values, click the eyedropper icon to the left of color sampler #3 in the Info panel and select CMYK color.) 9 Adjust the bottommost and topmost points on the Red, Green, and Blue curves to adjust the shadow values to between 9 and 12 for each channel, and to adjust the highlight sampler values to between 200 and 215 for each channel. (Hint: Use the bottommost end point to adjust shadows, and the topmost end point to adjust highlights. Make shadow adjustments in all three channels, and then make highlight adjustments in all three channels. View the Info panel for the values specified.) 10 Evaluate your results. The final curves for the Red, Green and Blue channels should look similar to those shown in Exhibit 4-10, Exhibit 4-11, and Exhibit 4-12. 11 Update and close the image. 12 Open Peppers and save it as My peppers. Use the Color Replacement tool to replace the red of the back pepper with an orange color. 13 Update and close the image.

Exhibit 4-7: The Shadows/Highlights dialog box settings for Step 2


Exhibit 4-8: The location of the color samplers after Step 5

Exhibit 4-9: The RGB channel Curves adjustment for Step 7

Exhibit 4-10: The Red channel Curves adjustment for Step 10

4–43

4–44


Exhibit 4-11: The Green channel Curves adjustment for Step 10

Exhibit 4-12: The Blue channel Curves adjustment for Step 10

Review questions 1 Which is not a typical objective of color correction? A To neutralize color casts B To maximize contrast in all tonal ranges equally C To avoid blowing out highlight detail D To match key colors, such as flesh tones 2 How can you perform a color correction as a nondestructive edit? [Choose all that apply.] A Use the commands on the Image menu and its submenus. B Use the Adjustments panel to perform a color correction on an adjustment layer, which can be reset or deleted if necessary. C Create a duplicate Background layer and perform destructive edits on that layer, preserving the original layer. D Use the Color Replacement tool.


4–45

3 True or false: The process of subjectively adjusting images’ color to improve their appearance is called “color management.” False. That process is called “color correction.”

4 Which of the following is not used for measuring or evaluating colors in an image? A The Info panel B The Histogram panel C The Measure tool D The Eyedropper tool 5 True or false: For a high-resolution image, the 3 by 3 Average setting for the Eyedropper tool is typically a better choice than Point Sample. True.

6 True or false: You should identify the brightest and darkest image areas as targets for highlights and shadows, whether or not they should be neutral. False.

7 To locate image highlights, which key should you press as you drag the white input slider in the Adjustments panel when Levels options are displayed? A Ctrl B Alt C Shift D Caps Lock 8 You can use color ______________ to display in the Info panel the color values at up to four locations in the image. Samplers

9 Which option in the Auto Color Correction Options dialog box sets overall contrast without affecting color casts? A Enhance Monochromatic Contrast B Enhance Per Channel Contrast C Find Light and Dark Colors D Snap Neutral Midtones 10 True or false: When you have Levels options displayed in the Adjustments panel, clicking an image area with the Set Gray Point tool sets that image pixel to a gray pixel at 50% brightness. False. It makes the pixel gray, but not necessarily at 50% brightness.

11 Which adjustment is intended primarily for correcting images with excessively dark or bright subject matter? Shadow/Highlight

4–46

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 12 What do steeper areas in an adjustment curve create? A Brighter colors B Darker colors C Lower contrast D Higher contrast 13 For Caucasian flesh tones, the yellow value should be at least as high as the ______________ value. A White B Cyan C Magenta D Black 14 Which tool darkens the pixels you drag it over? A Dodge B Burn C Sponge D Any of the above 15 In the Adjustments panel, which of the following is not an option you can use to change a specific color in an image without affecting other colors? A Hue/Saturation B Selective Color C Replace Color D Levels 16 Which tool allows you to paint over multiple colors in an image, changing only the pixels that match a sample color? A The Magic Eraser tool B The Color Replacement tool C The Color Sampler tool D The Brush tool 17 Using the Color Replacement tool, you want to replace a range of colors as you paint in the image. Which option should you select? A Color Sampling: Continuous B Color Sampling: Once C Color Sampling: Background Swatch D Anti-alias

5–1

Unit 5 CMYK separations Unit time: 40 minutes Complete this unit, and you’ll know how to: A Specify color settings for print images, and

separate images into CMYK components. B Correct image colors by adjusting CMYK

curves. C Use the Unsharp Mask filter to sharpen an

image.

5–2


Topic A: Prepress color settings This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

1.3c

Identify deliverables that might be produced during the project.

2.1c


2.1e


2.4a


2.4b


2.4e


2.4f


3.3c


3.5b

Given an option in the Color Settings dialog box, explain the purpose of that option.

5.1c


Issues in converting to CMYK Color mode Explanation

When preparing an image for commercial print use, you’ll often begin with an image in RGB Color mode, and you’ll eventually convert the image to CMYK Color mode to create color separations (an image or page divided into ink color components that match those used on a press). You should carefully specify settings before and after converting an image to CMYK to ensure that you get the best printed results. When deciding whether to convert images to CMYK mode, consider the following:  If you’re not planning to have an image printed on a commercial press, keep it in RGB mode. This mode is good for printing on photo paper and for printing to desktop printers, which can benefit from the larger gamut of RGB images.  Most commercial print vendors prefer CMYK images. The vendors might charge you to convert RGB files to CMYK, or they might even reject RGB files entirely.  Always consult the print vendor to learn the image requirements for a specific print job. Never assume that you know how the vendor will want the images prepared.  You should usually perform at least initial color correction in RGB mode to take advantage of its larger gamut. This is particularly important for an image intended for both Web and print use, because Web images should remain in RGB mode.

CMYK separations

5–3

 Some images will benefit from color correction in CMYK mode, in which you can directly control ink percentages (particularly black ink, which greatly affects contrast but not color balance). You can also make somewhat more precise adjustments to specific tonal ranges in CMYK mode than you can in RGB mode.  You should adjust CMYK conversion settings in Photoshop to target the CMYK images to specific printing conditions, such as the paper and press type. Therefore, you should convert files only if you have at least a rough idea of those conditions. Additionally, you might need to generate multiple CMYK versions of an image from the original RGB file.  If your print vendor has a calibrated, color-managed system, and in particular if the image will be printed on different paper stocks, the vendor might prefer RGB images in order to generate the most appropriate CMYK file. Handing off to other designers When you’re collaborating with other designers or providing images that will be used in larger documents, there are a number of options to consider when choosing the file and image format you deliver. If you are providing a finished image to an end-user, and you know the press specifications, you can send the image in CMYK mode. Any layers you created can be flattened because there is no need for further changes in the image. If you are sending an image design that is not finished, or that needs to be in a form that can be edited, you’ll want to choose a format that will preserve the layers and color range of your design. Possible scenarios include:  Information included in type layers might not be finalized. If you preserve type layers, the text can be edited to incorporate changes, such as prices or descriptions in a product advertisement.  Layers that contain colors or effects might need to be changed to work with other colors in the completed layout. Changes might also be needed to fine-tune the image for use in different media or reproduction sizes.  Layer comps might be preserved to allow designers or clients to choose among alternative versions of your design.  It might be wise to deliver the image as RGB if further changes are possible. If you preserve the greater color range available in RGB mode, adjustments will occur in a richer color palette and retain more subtlety.  If the image will be used in a variety of printed media, like newspapers and magazines, different CMYK conversions will be required for each medium. It is best to work from the RGB original to generate each of the needed separations. InDesign considerations A designer who is creating a complex page layout or a multiple-page document in Adobe InDesign can work with the layers of your Photoshop image to apply the adjustments necessary to make your design ready for the printing press. When you’re preparing an image for use in InDesign, consider saving your image in the Adobe PDF format. This format retains standard PSD format features, including:  Vector type  Layers  Paths and clipping paths  Alpha channels and spot channels

5–4

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition While preserving these image elements, the Adobe PDF format also offers typical PDF features, such as password protection and smaller file size. Text and vector shape layers that you create in a Photoshop image are treated differently by InDesign depending on the file format you save in. If a PSD file is placed in an InDesign file, then text or vector shape layers are rasterized when the InDesign file is output. The text or images might then be pixelated. But if the same image is placed in InDesign as a Photoshop PDF file, InDesign does not rasterize the image’s text or vector shape layers. To save an image as a Photoshop PDF file, choose File, Save As. Select Photoshop PDF from the Format list and click Save.

Do it!

A-1:

Discussing CMYK conversion

Questions and answers 1 True or false: Because most print vendors use Photoshop and color management, it’s usually best to send them RGB images so they can convert them to CMYK as they see fit.

2 Why should you consult your printing vendor about how to prepare your images?

3 True or false: If you know you’ll be commercially printing an image, you should convert it to CMYK before adjusting it.

4 What standard Photoshop features are retained by the Photoshop PDF format?

5 When you are preparing an image for use in InDesign, why might you save the image in Photoshop PDF format?

CMYK separations

5–5

Choosing RGB and CMYK color spaces Explanation

The quality of image conversion from RGB to CMYK depends partly on the RGB color space in use. The default sRGB color space has a smaller gamut than the Adobe RGB (1998) color space. Therefore, if you convert from sRGB to CMYK, the results won’t be as good as the results you’d get from converting from Adobe RGB (1998) to CMYK. To specify the RGB color space for your image, choose Edit, Color Settings. In the Color Settings dialog box, select an option from the RGB list under Working Space. In addition, you can select CMYK color space settings from the CMYK list. The Color Settings dialog box is shown in Exhibit 5-1.

Exhibit 5-1: The Color Settings dialog box

5–6 Do it!


A-2:

Choosing RGB and CMYK color spaces for prepress


Here’s how 1 With no image open, choose Edit,

Here’s why To open the Color Settings dialog box.

Color Settings…

From the Settings list, select

This option sets the RGB color space to Adobe RGB (1998), a better option than sRGB. This option is also set to ask for instructions if a profile mismatch is detected when you’re opening an image.

Click OK

To close the Color Settings dialog box.

North America Prepress 2

2 Open Slide1 Select Convert document’s colors to the working space and click OK

This image will be printed in a magazine. The Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog box appears. To convert the image to Adobe RGB (1998), which enables you to use more saturated colors and creates better color separations than sRGB.

3 Save the image in Photoshop format as My slide prepress


4 Choose View, Proof Setup,

(Choose it even though this option is already checked.) To display the image as it would appear in CMYK mode. The colors shift slightly because of the CMYK gamut limitation.

Working CMYK

5 Display the Info panel Verify that you can see the four sampler values in the Info panel

These represent the shadow, the highlight, a flesh tone, and an area that should be fairly neutral (a dark gray).

From the Eyedropper list next to each sampler, select Proof

To see the CMYK values for each sampler.

Color

CMYK separations 6 Choose Edit, Color Settings…

5–7

To open the Color Settings dialog box. You’ll compare the CMYK settings for different press conditions.

Under Working Spaces, from the CMYK list, select U.S. Sheetfed Coated v2

Observe the image

The saturation increases a bit because sheet-fed paper is generally higher quality.

From the CMYK list, select

The saturation in the image drops. This setting would typically be good for newsprint, which is uncoated and is printed on a web press.

U.S. Web Uncoated v2

5–8


Custom CMYK ink options Explanation

When you convert an image from RGB to CMYK, Photoshop assigns U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2 as the default CMYK color space. This color space represents standard settings for a typical American web press. You should talk with your print vendor, however, about the specifications that will work best with its printing conditions. You can select from among a few other common settings by using the CMYK list under Working Spaces in the Color Settings dialog box. To specify a custom CMYK color space, you can click the CMYK list and select Custom CMYK to open the Custom CMYK dialog box, shown in Exhibit 5-2. You can then specify the settings provided by your print vendor, and click OK.

Exhibit 5-2: The Custom CMYK dialog box In the Custom CMYK dialog box, you can use the Ink Options settings to specify the printing conditions. These settings control how CMYK colors appear on screen and influence the CMYK values when you convert from RGB to CMYK. Dot gain The Dot Gain value identifies the dot gain of the paper on which the image will be printed. Dot gain indicates how much each dot of ink will spread when it’s applied to the paper. More absorbent paper, such as newsprint, will absorb more ink, resulting in greater dot gain. You can specify the Dot Gain value so that Photoshop will apply less ink to compensate for the dot gain. The standard Dot Gain value is 20%. This value indicates that when you specify a 60% halftone dot, for example, it will end up measuring 80% due to dot gain.

CMYK separations Do it!

A-3:

5–9

Choosing custom CMYK ink options

Here’s how 1 From the CMYK list, select Custom CMYK…

Here’s why To open the Custom CMYK dialog box. A print vendor has given you press specifications for expected dot gain and ink limits, and you want to create a file prepared to those specs. The print vendor provided the following specs:  Press inks and paper: SWOP on coated stock, printed on a web press  Expect 25% dot gain  Black ink limit: 90%  Total ink limit: 290%

2 In the Ink Colors list, verify that SWOP (Coated) is selected 3 In the Info panel, observe the values for sampler #4 Your color values might vary slightly from those shown here.

4 Edit the Dot Gain percentage box to read 25

To match the spec you received.

Press t

(It might take a moment for the color values to change.) The values lighten some because you should use less ink to get the same appearance when dot gain is high.

5–10


Separation options Explanation

In the Custom CMYK dialog box, you can customize several settings under Separation Options. Next to Separation Type, you can select GCR or UCR, which are the two types of separations. GCR and UCR are different techniques for adding black to neutral areas currently defined using cyan, magenta, and yellow. GCR stands for Gray Component Replacement. Select GCR to specify how the neutral areas made up of cyan, magenta, and yellow are replaced with black ink. UCR stands for Undercolor Removal. When you select UCR, you don’t have as much control over conversion of neutral areas from cyan, magenta, and yellow percentages to black. UCR specifies that only the darkest areas should be converted to black. Black generation If you select GCR, you can also select an option from the Black Generation list. The Black Generation settings determine the extent to which neutral areas in your image are replaced with black ink. You should typically use the default Black Generation setting, which is Light. For an image with many neutral areas that are fairly light, however, you might get better results by selecting Medium or Heavy. Selecting an option with higher black generation will replace more neutral areas throughout the image with black, thereby preventing color casts from occurring in the light areas if the inks aren’t perfectly balanced on the printing press. You should avoid using Heavy GCR for images with a lot of dark areas, because adding too much black ink might result in blocked shadows. Ink limits Too much black ink can result in a muddy image with loss of detail in the shadows. To avoid too heavy an application of black ink, you can limit the amount of it used during printing; you do this by specifying a lower value in the Black Ink Limit box. You can specify a black ink limit of 85% to 90% to help maintain more detail in the shadows. In addition to limiting the amount of black ink, you might need to limit the combined amount of all four inks for an image’s darkest areas to avoid over-saturating the paper with too much ink. You can specify a value to limit the combined cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks in the Total Ink Limit box. A value of 290% to 300% can work well for the shadow areas on paper of typical weight and quality. For lower-grade paper such newsprint, a value closer to 260% is necessary. Undercolor addition When you specify GCR separation, you can specify an undercolor addition value in the UCA Amount box. The UCA Amount value you specify leaves a small C, M, Y percentage, along with added black, in the shadow areas when you’re using GCR to create more saturated blacks. You should typically leave this value at zero, because if you need more saturated blacks in the shadow areas, you can always deepen the channels manually in the resulting CMYK image.

CMYK separations Do it!

A-4:

5–11

Setting separation options

Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Verify that GCR is selected

Under Separation Options in the Custom CMYK dialog box.

2 From the Black Generation list, select Light

To allow more of the color inks relative to black, allowing for more adjustment of color on a press.

In the Info panel, observe the values for sampler #4 The K value is lower than the other three values.

3 Observe the values for sampler #1

In the Info panel.

4 Edit the Black Ink Limit box to read 90


Observe the values for sampler #1

The K value dropped.

5 In the Info panel, from the Eyedropper list for sampler #1, select Total Ink Edit the Total Ink Limit box to read 290


Observe the values for sampler #1 The total ink value dropped to accommodate lower-quality paper, which can’t handle as much ink saturation.

6 Verify that the UCA Amount is 0

It’s unusual to need UCA.

7 Click OK

To close the Custom CMYK dialog box and return to the Color Settings dialog box.

5–12

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 8 Click More Options

Clear Use Black Point

The shadow ink values are lower than necessary because the Use Black Point Compensation value is set for a profile-based separation instead of for a custom CMYK one. Under Conversion Options.

Compensation

Observe the values for sampler #1 The total ink value increased to near the allowable limit. It’s not exactly 290% because sampler #1 was based on a 4% brightness value, not 0%.

Click OK 9 Update the image

To close the Color Settings dialog box.

CMYK separations

5–13

Color separations Explanation

After you specify the separation settings you want to use for an image you’re preparing for print, you’re ready to perform the separation from RGB to CMYK. To separate an image into CMYK components, choose Image, Mode, CMYK Color. The image colors are converted from RGB to CMYK, and the CMYK values are based on the settings you chose in the Color Settings dialog box and the Custom CMYK dialog box.

Do it!

A-5:

Separating an image

Here’s how 1 Click the Channels panel

Observe each of the individual color channels 2 Choose Image, Mode,

Here’s why You can see the color channels for the red, green, and blue components that combine to display the image in full color. A channel looks like a grayscale image. A darker area represents more of that color. A warning box appears.

CMYK Color

Click OK

3 In the Channels panel, click the Yellow channel Click the Cyan channel

4 Click the CMYK channel 5 Update and close the image

To convert the image to CMYK. The Channels panel now displays color channels for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black components. Flesh tones have more yellow than cyan, so the skin looks dark. Observe the darker areas on the skin of the two people. The flesh tones have a significant amount of cyan, indicating that this image might have a cyan cast. To display the image in full color.

5–14


Topic B: CMYK image adjustments This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.4a


4.4e


Curves adjustments Explanation

When preparing an image for print, you might perform some basic Curves adjustments while the image is still in RGB color mode. After you convert the image to CMYK color mode, you can fine-tune the colors by performing a CMYK Curves adjustment. When you view CMYK curves, as shown in Exhibit 5-3, you’ll see that they are reversed as compared to the RGB curves. The highlights are now in the bottom-left corner, and the shadows are in the top-right corner.

Exhibit 5-3: A CMYK curve Because you can use CMYK values to adjust most key colors—such as flesh tones, grass, and sky—to match known parameters, you can perform CMYK Curves adjustments more directly than if you were to perform similar adjustments with RGB curves. To specify comparable color corrections with RGB curves, you’d have to adjust each CMYK color’s opposite. CMYK neutral areas In RGB mode, neutral areas are defined by matching red, green, and blue components. In CMYK mode, a color that’s defined by matching cyan, magenta, yellow, and black values won’t appear neutral. A neutral gray in CMYK requires cyan values that are a bit higher than the magenta and yellow values, due to cyan ink impurity. For example, a typical highlight in CMYK might be defined as 5C 3M 3Y 0K. Because neutral areas have a higher cyan percentage than magenta or yellow percentages, you shouldn’t perform adjustments on the master CMYK curve. Adjusting the master CMYK curve adjusts all of the component curves together, but the cyan curve will need to be set higher than the others to avoid introducing a color cast.

CMYK separations

5–15

As you perform a CMYK Curves adjustment, avoid darkening the shadows. That way, you can ensure that you don’t exceed the ink limits specified by your print vendor. To more accurately target the adjustment, you can use the On-image adjustment tool (in the Adjustments panel) to select a specific area of the image to adjust. As you move the pointer over the image, a circle appears on the curve, indicating the brightness value of the pixel you’re pointing to. You can then press Ctrl and click the image to add a point representing that brightness level to the curve.

5–16 Do it!


B-1:

Adjusting CMYK curves


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Slide 2 Save the image as My slide 2 2 Create a Curves adjustment layer

In the current topic folder. (In the Adjustments panel, click the Curves icon.) The flesh tones on the woman are high in cyan.

View the Cyan curve 3 Click Press c and click color sampler #3 in the image

The On-image adjustment tool. To create a point on the Cyan color curve.

With the point on the curve selected, press y as many times as needed until the C value for color sampler #3 is 10%

(View the Info panel to see the adjusted C value for color sampler #3. The C value is to the right of the “/” sign.) This value is one-third of M, which is a good target value. The grass is now too yellow-green.

CMYK separations 4 Press c and click the bright green grass

To add a point on the curve.

Drag the point approximately as shown

To make the grass less of a yellow-green.

5 Hide the Info panel 6 Update and close the image

5–17

5–18


Topic C: Sharpening This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

4.5d


4.8e


The Unsharp Mask filter Explanation

After you’ve finished correcting an image’s colors, you can often further increase contrast and clarity by sharpening the image. You can choose from among several Photoshop sharpening filters, but the Unsharp Mask filter typically produces the most consistent and professional results. The Unsharp Mask filter increases contrast along the edges of an image, thereby sharpening it. You should perform color adjustments and any image resolution changes before you apply any sharpening. Unsharp Mask filter settings To sharpen an image, choose Filter, Sharpen, Unsharp Mask. You can then specify settings in the Unsharp Mask dialog box, shown in Exhibit 5-4. The settings you specify will have a more pronounced effect onscreen than in a printed version of the image, so you might need to do some experimenting to determine which settings produce the best results for print images. Like all of the filters, Unsharp Mask performs a destructive edit—it makes permanent changes to the pixels in the image. It’s a good idea to create a duplicate layer and apply filters to that layer, preserving the original.

Exhibit 5-4: The Unsharp Mask dialog box

CMYK separations

5–19

The following table describes the settings in the Unsharp Mask dialog box. Setting

Description

Amount

Specifies how much the image’s contrasting pixels should be lightened or darkened to increase contrast. In areas where contrasting pixels meet, bright pixels are lightened and dark pixels are darkened to increase contrast. The Amount value ranges from 0% to 500%. You should specify a value based on the image’s resolution. For example, images with a resolution from 200ppi to 300ppi should use an Amount between 100% and 250%. Too high an Amount value can add noise to the image.

Radius

Specifies the number of pixels around the contrasting pixels that will be affected by the sharpening. If you set the Radius value too high, the contrasting pixel areas might display a halo effect. Generally, you can set the Radius to a value from 1 to 1.5 for high-resolution images prepared for commercial printing, and from 0.3 to 1 for lower-resolution images prepared for onscreen display.

Threshold

Specifies how much contrast must exist in a given image area in order for that area to be sharpened. The Threshold value refers to tonal value differences on a scale from 0 to 255. For example, if the Threshold value is 0, then all image pixels will be sharpened. If the Threshold value is 3, then adjacent pixels must be three tonal values different from one another to be adjusted by the filter. A Threshold value of 3 to 10 is typically effective for ensuring that relatively flat colored areas aren’t sharpened; this helps to prevent excessive noise from being introduced.

5–20 Do it!


C-1:

Applying the Unsharp Mask filter


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Slide 3 Save the image as


My slide sharpened

2 While pressing a, point to the status bar and hold down the mouse button

To display the image’s resolution: 300ppi.


To keep the original layer intact.

4 With the duplicate Background layer selected, choose Filter, Sharpen, Unsharp Mask…

To open the Unsharp Mask dialog box.

In the image, click near the top edge of the woman’s leg where it meets the grass 5 Drag the Amount slider all the way to the right

To see that portion of the image in the image preview in the Unsharp Mask dialog box.

To set the value to 500 for experimentation with the Radius value.

Set the Radius to 3.0

The edge of the woman’s leg shows a halo effect.

6 Lower the Radius to 1.5

This is a good value based on this image’s 300ppi resolution.

CMYK separations

5–21

7 Lower the Amount to 130 8 In the image, click the pattern on the girl’s pants

(So both the pants and the slide appear in the image preview.) This sharpening has added noise to image areas that should be flat color, such as the smooth slide.

Click the Threshold box Press z to increase the value to 3

Noise on the slide smoothes out because the Threshold value prevents small differences in pixel color from being exaggerated.

Click OK

To apply the settings.


5–22


Unit summary: CMYK separations Topic A

In this topic, you discussed issues related to converting images to CMYK Color mode and preparing images for use in Adobe InDesign. You specified RGB and CMYK color spaces for prepress. You also chose custom CMYK ink options. Finally, you specified separation options and learned how to convert an image from RGB to CMYK and how to separate images into CMYK components.

Topic B

In this topic, you learned about the advantages of making further color corrections in CMYK Color mode after images have been corrected in RGB mode. You then corrected image colors by adjusting CMYK curves.

Topic C

In this topic, you learned how to set the Amount, Radius, and Threshold values for the Unsharp Mask filter. Because applying this filter alters image pixels, you applied it to a duplicate layer in order to preserve the original image.

Independent practice activity In this activity, you’ll specify appropriate CMYK color settings for an image and you’ll color-separate an image. You’ll also create a CMYK adjustment layer and use the Unsharp Mask filter. The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 5\Unit summary. 1 Open Tricycle (converting to Adobe RGB as you open the image). Save the image in Photoshop format as My tricycle prepress. 2 The image will be printed on postcard stock and sheet-fed on a SWOP press. Dot gain is expected to be approximately 15%. Because the paper will be heavy stock, ink limits are 95% black and 310% total. Specify the CMYK color settings accordingly. (Hint: Choose Edit, Color Settings. Under Working Spaces, from the CMYK list, select Custom CMYK to open the Custom CMYK dialog box.) 3 Color-separate the image into CMYK. 4 Create a CMYK adjustment layer to balance the flesh tone (color sampler #3) by increasing Yellow until its value is higher than that of Magenta. (Hint: Adjust the Yellow curve. Using the On-image adjustment tool, press Ctrl and click color sampler #3 in the image; adjust the curve point approximately as shown in Exhibit 5-5.) 5 Sharpen the image by using the Unsharp Mask filter. (Hint: Create a duplicate layer first.) 6 Update and close the image.

CMYK separations

5–23

Exhibit 5-5: The Yellow channel Curves adjustment for Step 4

Review questions 1 True or false: You should base the CMYK settings you choose on the printing conditions, such as the press and paper type. True.

2 For what purpose should you generally not use RGB Color mode? A Applying overall color correction B Printing to an inkjet printer C Sending an image to a commercial printer D Purchasing prints on photographic paper 3 Which option can you use to specify the black generation amount for neutral image areas? A The GCR separation type in the Custom CMYK dialog box B The Color Management Policies in the Color Settings dialog box C The UCR separation type in the Custom CMYK dialog box D The Intent in the Color Settings dialog box 4 To create a color separation from an RGB file, choose Image, Mode, ______ Color. CMYK.

5 You’re editing a CMYK curve by using the Curves options in the Adjustments panel, after having edited an RGB curve. What is different? A Highlights and shadows are in reverse order from left to right and top to bottom. B The curves are the same. C The CMYK curve is steeper. D The CMYK curve is flatter. 6 True or false: A neutral gray has matching cyan, magenta, yellow, and black values. False. The cyan value must be higher than the magenta and yellow values.

5–24

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 7 Which slider in the Unsharp Mask dialog box controls the width of the “halo” that appears at contrasting edges? A Amount. B Radius. C Threshold. D You can’t control the halo width. 8 Which value in the Unsharp Mask dialog box should you increase to avoid introducing noise in flat color areas? A Amount. B Radius. C Threshold. D You can’t prevent noise from appearing in flat color areas.

6–1

Unit 6 Grayscale and spot colors Unit time: 40 minutes Complete this unit, and you’ll know how to: A Use the Black & White options to

maximize image contrast when you convert an image to grayscale. B Use spot channels to specify spot colors in

a Photoshop image. C Convert a grayscale image to a duotone.

6–2


Topic A: Grayscale conversion This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

3.1e


3.3c


4.4h

Demonstrate knowledge of how to convert a color image to black and white.

The Black & White options Explanation

When you want to display or print a color image in grayscale, you can convert it by choosing Image, Mode, Grayscale. However, you can create a grayscale version and have more control over the conversion by using the Black & White options in the Adjustments panel. When you convert an image to grayscale by choosing Image, Mode, Grayscale, the conversion is based on the image’s overall luminosity. However, some channels might contain detail that can provide more contrast in the grayscale version of the image. The Image, Mode, Grayscale command tends to rely more on the Green channel for determining the contrast in the converted image, so if the Red or Blue channels include more detail, then you might get a better grayscale version if you base the conversion more on the Red or Blue channel. The Black & White commands create a grayscale image based on specific percentages of red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and magenta. You can choose Image, Adjustments, Black & White to open the Black & White dialog box, but changes made there result in a destructive edit. It’s usually better to perform a nondestructive edit instead. To do so, use the Adjustments panel’s Black & White options, shown in Exhibit 6-1, to make your changes to an adjustment layer instead of to the original image. To create a grayscale version of an image by using the Black & White options: 1 In the Channels panel, click each color channel to determine which ones display the best contrast. 2 In the Layers panel, select the layer containing the content you want to display in grayscale. 3 In the Adjustments panel, click the Black & White icon to create an adjustment layer and display the Black & White options. 4 Adjust the color percentages to get the best contrast for the grayscale version. For example, you can use the On-image adjustment tool to point to a color and drag to adjust its percentage. You can achieve different effects by selecting options from the Preset list. You can also apply a tint to an image by checking Tint and specifying Hue and Saturation values.


6–3

Exhibit 6-1: The Black & White options in the Adjustments panel The Black & White options don’t convert the image to Grayscale mode. Instead, it’s displayed as an RGB image with values that generate a grayscale appearance. As you adjust the source color percentages, you must be careful to avoid blowing out the highlights and blocking shadows, both of which would diminish image detail.

6–4 Do it!


A-1:

Creating a grayscale image


Here’s how 1 Open Rocks

Here’s why The Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog box appears.

Select Discard the embedded profile (don’t color manage)

Click OK Save the image as My rocks conversion

2 Choose Image, Duplicate…

(In the current topic folder.) You’ll create a duplicate image and convert it to grayscale for comparison with another that you’ll convert with a Black & White adjustment layer. To open the Duplicate Image dialog box.

Edit the As box to read My rocks grayscale

Click OK 3 Choose Image, Mode,

To open the duplicate image in a new tab.

Grayscale

A message box appears, asking whether you want to discard the image’s color information.

Click Discard

To discard the color information.

4 Arrange the images so that you can see both of them 5 Select the Move tool While pressing s, drag the grayscale image into the “My rocks conversion” image window 6 Update and close the “My rocks grayscale” image 7 Rename the new layer Grayscale conversion

Hide the Grayscale conversion layer

To copy the layer to the other image. Pressing Shift centers the dragged layer within the image.

Grayscale and spot colors 8 View each channel

6–5

(Red, green, and blue.) To find the channel with the most contrast in the areas that are important to you. The Red channel has more contrast in the dark rocks and has a darker sky.

View the RGB channel 9 Select the Background layer In the Adjustments panel, click

(The Black & White icon.) To create an adjustment layer and to display the Black & White options in the Adjustments panel.

Blue Filter

You’ll adjust the cyan color by dragging within the sky in the image.

Press y

To select the next filter—Darker.

Press y again

To select Green Filter.

10 From the Preset list, select

11 Click

The On-image adjustment tool.

Point to the sky in the image, and press and hold the mouse button

The pointer changes to indicate that you can now drag to adjust the color percentage for the color you’re pointing to.

Drag to the right 12 View the Grayscale conversion layer Delete the Grayscale conversion layer 13 Update the image

To increase the Cyan percentage to about 100%, lightening the sky. Note that the image appears darker.

6–6


Grayscale and RGB file size Explanation

After you use a Black & White adjustment layer to display an image as grayscale, the image is still defined as a combination of Red, Green, and Blue channels (RGB Color mode). Because an RGB image uses three channels, and a grayscale image uses only one channel, an RGB image’s file size is three times larger than a grayscale version. Therefore, after you use the Black & White command to display an image in grayscale, you should convert the image from RGB to grayscale to reduce the file size. The grayscale version will look identical to the RGB version. If you applied the Black & White command as an adjustment layer, then when you convert to grayscale, you’ll be prompted to either discard the adjustment layer or flatten the image. To maintain its appearance based on the settings you chose for the Black & White adjustment layer, you’ll have to flatten the image.

Do it!

A-2:

Converting an image from RGB to Grayscale

Here’s how 1 From the Document statistics pop-up menu, choose

Here’s why (Click the triangle in the status bar to display the pop-up menu.) The file size is 9MB.

Document Sizes

2 Choose Image, Mode,

An alert dialog box appears.

Grayscale

Click Flatten

To flatten the image to a single Background layer.

In the second alert box, click Discard

3 Observe the image size 4 Update and close the image

The image size is now 3MB, which is one-third of the original.


6–7

Topic B: Spot-color images This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5.

Explanation

#

Objective

2.1c


2.4b


4.7b

Demonstrate knowledge of functionality of Type tools.

5.1c


Printing full-color images by combining cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks is typically called four-color printing or process printing. When you’re printing a document that uses three or fewer solid colors, you can instead print those images by using spot colors.

Spot colors A spot color is a premixed ink color that is printed on its own printing plate. The more printing plates that are needed to print a publication, the higher the printing costs are. Therefore, spot colors are typically used in addition to black in publications with fewer than four inks. You can also use spot colors for colors you can’t generate by combining cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, such as vibrant blues and greens or metallic colors. To specify a spot color in a Photoshop image: 1 From the Channels panel menu, choose New Spot Channel to open the New Spot Channel dialog box, shown in Exhibit 6-2. 2 Click the color swatch to open the Select spot color dialog box. To select a color from a color library, such as Pantone, click Color Libraries. From the Book list in the Color Libraries dialog box, select the color matching system you want to use. Then select a swatch and click OK. 3 In the Solidity box, enter a percentage based on the level of transparency you expect the ink to show when printed. The Solidity value affects only onscreen display, not printing. 4 Click OK.

Exhibit 6-2: The New Spot Channel dialog box

6–8

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition Ink overprinting and solidity Pantone inks tend to be opaque, hiding what’s printed beneath them. Like the other process inks (cyan, magenta, and yellow), black is semi-transparent, so other inks can show through. That’s why adding 100% magenta and 100% yellow makes red, for example, not just 100% of whichever ink was printed on top. The New Spot Channel dialog box’s Solidity setting helps you visualize the effect of blending inks together. It affects only the onscreen display in Photoshop, not the printed output. You should refer to a printed sample, such as a Pantone color guide with combinations of inks at different percentages, because guessing the Solidity value might produce unwanted results. To avoid potential problems—such as black being printed after a spot color, making an overlapping area look dark and muddy—you might want to “knock out” the black from the area where the spot color resides. You can do this by creating a layer mask or filling with white, as shown in Exhibit 6-3.

Black plate with star-shaped knockout

Spot color plate that will print in black rectangle

Exhibit 6-3: A white area knocked out of the black plate so no black ink will overlap the spot color ink Trapping One problem that can occur with pages printed on a press is misregistration: a misalignment of inks caused by shifting of the printing plates and other inaccuracies. If you knock out a shape on one printing plate so it doesn’t print in the area where another ink color will print, a slight misalignment of the printing plates could cause a white gap to appear where the colors are misaligned, as shown in Exhibit 6-4. To avoid a white gap caused by misregistered printing plates, you can specify that the knockout on one plate is slightly smaller than the object that will print with the other plate. That way, the color will slightly overlap the knocked-out area at its edges, helping to ensure that no white areas appear even if the plates are slightly misregistered. This process is called trapping. The easiest way to create a trap is to contract the selection before creating the layer mask that hides (knocks out) the content in the original image.


6–9

White gaps caused by misaligned plates

Exhibit 6-4: White gaps left where the black plate and spot color plate were misaligned

6–10 Do it!


B-1:

Adding a spot-color channel


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Rocks spot Save the image as


My rocks spot

2 Select the Horizontal Type Mask Tool, as indicated

On the options bar, set the type format to Georgia, Regular, 48 pt

3 Click near the top-left corner of the image and type Adventure…


(The “Commit any current edits” button.) To convert the type into a selection.

Press M to select a Marquee tool, and drag the selection from within its edges

To move the selection to the desired location over the sky in the image.

4 From the Channels panel menu, choose New Spot Channel…

To open the New Spot Channel dialog box.

Click the color swatch

To open the Select spot color dialog box. You’ll select a color from a Pantone library.

Click Color Libraries

To open the Color Libraries dialog box.

Type 1665

To select PANTONE 1665 C as the color.

Click OK

To return to the New Spot Channel dialog box.

Grayscale and spot colors 5 Set the Solidity value to 100%

6–11

The Solidity value affects only the onscreen display, not printing. It reflects the level of transparency you expect the ink to show when printed. Pantone ink is typically opaque, so it would replace the color in the picture if it were printed after the black ink, as it appears at the 100% setting. If the Pantone ink were printed first, however, the black ink from the image would darken the letters, as it appears in Photoshop with low Solidity values. To prevent the color from looking like 0% solidity (with black darkening the words) when printed, you’ll knock out the gray ink where it overlaps the spot color. Then it won’t matter which ink prints first.

Click OK 6 Press c and click the PANTONE 1665 C channel’s thumbnail Choose Select, Modify,

To close the New Spot Channel dialog box. To convert the PANTONE 1665 C channel to a selection.

To open the Contract Selection dialog box.

Contract…

Edit the Contract By box to read 1

(If necessary.) To allow for a slight overlap of inks for trapping.

Click OK 7 Create a new layer Press D

To set the colors to their defaults.

Press c + j

To fill the selection in the new layer with the white background color.

8 Hide the PANTONE 1665 C channel

To view the knockout you created in the grayscale version.

Show the PANTONE 1665 C channel

To turn it back on.

Press c + D

To deselect.

9 Zoom in on the letter A at 200% magnification

To examine the edges.

6–12

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 10 Double-click to the right of the name for the PANTONE 1665 C channel

To open the Spot Channel Options dialog box.

Set the Solidity value to 0

To see the 1-pixel overlap between the Pantone ink and the grayscale image. This overlap will prevent a white gap from appearing if the Pantone ink is shifted relative to the black ink when the image is printed.

Click Cancel 11 With the Move tool selected, press x twice

Press w twice 12 Update the image

To keep the Solidity value set to 100%. The Pantone ink shifts slightly compared to the background. No large white gap appears at the first nudge, but because the overlap you created is only 1 pixel, the white gap is visible at the second nudge. Because the image resolution is 300 ppi, each pixel represents 1/300". Most printing companies can keep misregistration within that tolerance. To move the Pantone ink back to its original position.


6–13

Saving DCS files Explanation

When you create an image that includes spot colors, you must save it in a format that retains those colors before you can use the image in a page layout application. The DCS (Desktop Color Separation), TIFF, PSD, PDF, PSB and RAW formats support both process colors and spot colors. The DCS 1.0 format creates a separate file for each color channel, but this is rarely necessary. The DCS 2.0 format, a variant of the EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) format, is more commonly used and is more compatible with other applications for spot-color printing than are the other formats.

Do it!

B-2:

Saving a DCS file

Here’s how 1 Choose File, Save As…

Here’s why To open the Save As dialog box.

From the Format list, select Photoshop DCS 2.0 (*.EPS)

Click Save

The DCS 2.0 Format dialog box appears.

2 From the Preview list, select TIFF (8 bits/pixel)

When you preview the image in other applications, such as InDesign or QuarkXPress, a 1-bit-per-pixel image would appear black and white.

Click OK 3 Update and close the image

6–14


Topic C: Duotones This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5.

Explanation

#

Objective

2.4b


Although a grayscale image can display 256 levels of gray onscreen, a version printed on a press typically reproduces only about 50 levels of gray. You can add one or more colored inks to generate the image, and this broadens the image’s tonal range in the printed version. A grayscale image that is reproduced by using one or more colored inks is called a duotone. You can also use a duotone to add visual interest to a grayscale image by tinting it.

Creating duotones Technically, a duotone is a grayscale image that’s reproduced by using two inks—often black ink with one colored ink. A grayscale image reproduced with a single color of ink is a monotone. Grayscale images reproduced with three or four inks are tritones or quadtones, respectively. However, all of these variations are often generically referred to as duotones. To create any of these duotone variations in Photoshop: 1 Open a grayscale image, or convert a color image to grayscale. 2 Choose Image, Mode, Duotone to open the Duotone Options dialog box. You can specify a monotone, duotone, tritone, or quadtone. 3 From the Type list, select the duotone variation you want to use. 4 Next to each ink, click the color swatch to open the Color Libraries dialog box. Specify the color you want to use for the ink, and click OK.

Grayscale and spot colors Do it!

C-1:

6–15

Creating a duotone


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Rocks duotone Save the image as My rocks duotone

2 Choose Image, Mode,

To open the Duotone Options dialog box.

Duotone…

From the Type list, select Duotone

3 Click the color swatch to the right of Ink 2

To open the Color Libraries dialog box.

Type 1665

To select the ink color.

Click OK

To return to the Duotone Options dialog box.

4 Click OK 5 Update the image

Black and Pantone 1665 combine to display the image.

6–16


Duotone curves Explanation

After you convert a grayscale image to a duotone, you can adjust its settings in the Duotone Options dialog box (choose Image, Mode, Duotone). If you want to change how each ink is distributed throughout the image, then in the Duotone Options dialog box, click the curve icon next to an ink color to open the Duotone Curve dialog box. You can adjust each duotone curve by dragging a point on the curve up or down (but not left or right). Click OK to return to the Duotone Options dialog box. You can then adjust another ink’s curve, or click OK.

Do it!

C-2:

Adjusting duotone curves

Here’s how 1 Choose Image, Mode, Duotone…

2 Click the PANTONE 1665 C curve icon (the diagonal line)

Here’s why To open the Duotone Options dialog box. After looking at the duotone, you decide that the effect is too strong and needs editing. To open the Duotone Curve dialog box for the Pantone color.

3 Drag the 100% point in the topright area of the graph down until the 100 box reads 70, as shown

To lessen the intensity of the ink in the image.

4 Drag the 60% point on the curve down to 35%

To slightly lessen the intensity in the midtones.

Click OK


6–17

5 Edit the Black curve as shown, with the 80% point dropped down to 75%

To lighten the dark gray areas, allowing more color to show through and providing more clarity.

Click OK 6 Click OK 7 Choose Edit, Color Settings From the Settings list, select North American General Purpose 2

Click OK 8 Update and close the image

To return to the Duotone Options dialog box. To return to the image.

6–18


Unit summary: Grayscale and spot colors Topic A

In this topic, you used the Adjustments panel’s Black & White options to maximize contrast in an image you converted from RGB to grayscale.

Topic B

In this topic, you added a spot-color channel to an image. You also used the DCS file format to save an image containing a spot color.

Topic C

In this topic, you converted a grayscale image to a duotone. You also adjusted the curves for individual inks in a duotone image.

Independent practice activity In this activity, you’ll use the Black & White options to create a grayscale version of an image. You’ll add a spot-color title to an image by adding a spot channel. Finally, you’ll create and adjust a duotone. The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 6\Unit summary. 1 Open USS Missouri, discarding the image’s embedded profile. Save the image as My USS Missouri conversion. 2 Create a Black & White adjustment layer. Adjust the color percentages to create an alternate gray, with a deeper sky and more contrast throughout the image. 3 Convert the image to grayscale. (Flatten the image in the process to keep the appearance you specified in the Black & White adjustment layer.) 4 In the top-left corner, add a spot-color title that reads U.S.S. Missouri, as shown in Exhibit 6-5. Use Arial Black 34pt type, PANTONE 5455 C, and 100% solidity. (Hint: Use the Horizontal Type Mask tool to create the type mask. Then choose New Spot Channel from the Channels panel menu.) 5 Create a duotone using black ink and the color PANTONE 5455 C. 6 Adjust the duotone’s black ink curve as shown in Exhibit 6-6. Adjust the duotone’s PANTONE 5455 C ink curve as shown in Exhibit 6-7. 7 Update and close the image.

Exhibit 6-5: The image after Step 4


Exhibit 6-6: The adjusted black ink duotone curve for Step 6

Exhibit 6-7: The adjusted PANTONE 5455 C ink duotone curve for Step 6

6–19

6–20


Review questions 1 Which command should you choose to have the most control over converting an image from RGB to grayscale? A Image, Mode, Grayscale B Image, Adjustments, Black & White C Image, Mode, Bitmap D Image, Adjustments, Desaturate 2 An RGB Color image’s file size is __________ the same image converted to Grayscale mode. A Three times larger than B The same as C Six times larger than D One-third the size of 3 A spot color is created as a(n) __________. A Layer B Path C Channel D Adjustment layer 4 True or false: A spot color’s Solidity value affects only its onscreen display, not the way it prints. True.

5 Which is not an option for the number of inks you can specify for an image in Duotone mode? A Two B Three C Four D Five 6 For you to create a duotone image, the image must be in _______________ mode. A CMYK B RGB C Grayscale D Indexed Color 7 To adjust how each ink in a duotone image is distributed throughout various tonal regions, you should adjust its _______________. Curve (or Duotone curve)

7–1

Unit 7 Web and video images Unit time: 60 minutes Complete this unit, and you’ll know how to: A Downsample and trim Web images to

decrease file size, and use Zoomify to export high-definition images that can be panned and zoomed. B Use the Save for Web & Devices command

to optimize images for Web use. C Optimize a Web image to a target file size,

and apply lossy compression. D Optimize images with transparency or

simulated transparency. E Optimize images for video.

7–2


Topic A: Web image size This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.1a

Demonstrate knowledge of how image resolution can change once an image is manipulated.

2.1b

Demonstrate knowledge of differences between printed images and onscreen images.

2.1c


2.1d

Identify the difference between image size measured in pixels and document size measured in inches.

2.1e


3.3c


4.3a

Demonstrate knowledge of how to change the canvas size.

4.3g

Demonstrate knowledge of how to resample to a larger or smaller image.

4.5d


4.8e


5.1a

Demonstrate knowledge of the elements of web images that need to be checked or confirmed prior to publishing to the web.

Preparing images for the Web Explanation

When you prepare images for use on a Web site, you should keep their file sizes as small as possible. Smaller images download more quickly for Web users, and this makes your site easier to navigate. If a Web page takes too long to load, visitors might give up and leave your site. Factors affecting file size These factors contribute to an image’s file size: Factor

Description

Pixel count

The more pixels in an image, the larger its file size. An image’s resolution (number of pixels per inch) has no impact on the file’s size or its appearance on the Web—it’s the total number of pixels that determines file size and onscreen display size. For example, an image that’s 500 pixels wide and tall will appear at the same size onscreen whether its resolution is 72ppi or 300ppi. Reducing an image’s pixel dimensions (width and height in pixels) reduces file size, but also results in a smaller image onscreen. To preview an image’s size as it will appear in a Web browser, view the image at 100% magnification.


7–3

Factor

Description

Number of colors

The more colors in an image, the larger its file size. The Save for Web & Devices command can save an image in the GIF format, which specifies a maximum of 256 colors and produces small file sizes. In some cases, however, reducing to 256 colors might destroy image detail, and some colors might be replaced with undesirable colors.

Compression

Most Web images are saved in GIF or JPEG format. The GIF format reduces an image’s file size by reducing the number of colors and compressing the image. The GIF format uses lossless compression, which compresses the image and preserves the pixel data. The JPEG format uses lossy compression, which changes the pixel data and can introduce distortions. The JPEG format supports millions of colors, however, so it’s generally best for full-color photographs. In addition, when you use the JPEG format, you can specify a quality setting that balances image quality with file size. You can also use the PNG-8 and PNG-24 formats instead of GIF and JPEG. Although the PNG formats are more robust than GIF and JPEG in some respects, some of their attributes aren’t fully supported by older Web browsers.

Additional file information

Do it!

A-1:

Some images are saved with additional file information that adds to the file size. For example, an image might be saved with a preview or a color management profile. Fortunately, when you save an image for the Web by using the File, Save for Web & Devices command, all additional file information is stripped from the Web-optimized version of the file.

Discussing Web image size

Questions and answers 1 Which factor influences an image’s file size and Webbrowser display size: pixel count or resolution? 2 What other factors influence an image’s file size?

3 When you save an image for Web use, how can you strip out additional file data to reduce file size?

7–4


Downsampling Explanation

Web images’ file sizes should be as small as possible for faster downloading. It’s also best to design a Web page so that site visitors can view entire individual images without having to scroll much. Therefore, you need to consider how well your Web images fit on the page with all the other page elements. You’ll often need to reduce image dimensions so that images fit the way you want. You can use Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)—used to create most Web pages— to specify the size at which an image appears. HTML can specify an image’s display size but cannot change the actual file size. Therefore, if an image is larger than you want, you should resize it in Photoshop; reducing the image size in Photoshop will also reduce the file size. When you’re starting with an image that is a different size than you want, you can resample it to change the number of pixels it contains. You’ll typically downsample images for the Web, reducing the number of pixels. To downsample an image: 1 Choose Image, Image Size to open the Image Size dialog box. 2 Check Resample Image to activate the Pixel Dimensions section. 3 Check Constrain Proportions to ensure that the image is resized proportionally. 4 Under Pixel Dimensions, edit the Width and Height values in pixels to specify the dimensions you want the image to have. 5 Click OK. Web resolution units When you prepare images for print use, the resolution in pixels per inch helps determine the quality of the printed image. For Web images, though, image resolution in pixels per inch isn’t a concern, because Photoshop automatically optimizes the resolution when you use the Save for Web & Devices command. The only factor you should consider is the total number of pixels in an image—that is, the image’s pixel dimensions. For example, if you want to ensure that an image will fill half the width of a screen that’s 640 by 480 pixels, you’ll set its width to about 300 pixels. When the same image is viewed on a monitor set to 1280 by 1024 pixels, the image will fill about one quarter of the monitor’s width. Because Web images are measured in pixels, you should use pixels as the measurement unit when working with your images. Sharpening for the Web When you downsample an image, Photoshop determines how to assign colors to the new image pixels to best match the appearance of the original image. Photoshop determines this based on the interpolation method you select from a list in the Image Size dialog box. For most images, you should use the default Bicubic method. No matter which interpolation method you select, the image will often display some blurring after downsampling. You can use the Unsharp Mask filter to sharpen an image and restore some of its detail. (The Unsharp Mask filter offers more control than the simple Sharpen filter does.) For Web images, follow these guidelines:  In the Unsharp Mask dialog box, use a Radius of 0.3 to 1.0 for most Web images. Don’t use 1.5, as you would for print, because you’ll get too large a “halo” relative to the details in the image.


7–5

 Set the Amount to the value that works best for the image onscreen. For print images, you typically make the image a bit over-sharp to get the best results. With images designed for Web use, you should not over-sharpen them; the way they look in Photoshop is the way they will look to a Web audience.  Typically, a Threshold of zero is good. The Threshold counteracts noise in flat color areas, but with smaller images, noise in flat areas is rarely noticeable, and raising this value can detract from sharpness in small details. Do it!

A-2:

Downsampling images


Here’s how 1 Open Nutmeg large Save the image as mynutmeg1

Here’s why You want to use a smaller version of this image for a Web site. (In the current topic folder.) When naming images for eventual Web use, you’ll generally use all lowercase characters and no spaces.

2 Show the rulers

(If necessary.) Press Ctrl+R.

3 Right-click either the horizontal or vertical ruler

To display a shortcut menu, listing the available ruler units.

Choose Pixels 4 Choose Image, Image Size…

To change the ruler units. To open the Image Size dialog box.

Verify that Constrain Proportions and Resample Image are checked Under Pixel Dimensions, edit the Width box to read 150

The value in the Height box scales proportionally.

Click OK 5 Choose Filter, Sharpen,

To open the Unsharp Mask dialog box.

Unsharp Mask…

Lower the Radius to 0.8

To avoid a halo around the edges of the image.

Set the Amount to 90 Clear and then check Preview

To see how the new settings affect the image. The Unsharp Mask filter makes more of the detail apparent.

Click OK


6 Update the image

7–6


Trimming Explanation

Another way to reduce an image’s file size is to trim (remove) excess pixels from the edge of the image. Many images are bordered by a solid color or by transparency, and you can remove pixels from those areas by using the Trim command. To trim excess pixels, choose Image, Trim to open the Trim dialog box, shown in Exhibit 7-1. Select options and then click OK.

Exhibit 7-1: The Trim dialog box Do it!

A-3:

Trimming images

Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Observe the file size (On the status bar.) You will trim the image based on the top-left pixel color, which is white. In doing so, you’ll also reduce the file size by removing unnecessary portions of the image.

2 Choose Image, Trim…

To open the Trim dialog box.

Select Top Left Pixel Color Under Trim Away, verify that all four options are checked

To trim the areas at the top, bottom, left, and right of the image.

Click OK 3 Observe that not all of the image is trimmed

Some apparent extra white space at the bottom of the image wasn’t trimmed because the pixels that make up the soft shadow aren’t entirely white.

4 Observe the file size To see that it’s been reduced by trimming the excess areas of the image.



7–7

Zoomify Explanation

Typically, photographic images are downsampled before they’re displayed on the Web. Downsampling reduces an image’s file size to allow faster downloads, and it allows the image to fit in the required space. However, downsampling also removes image detail. If you posted a high-resolution image on the Web so that viewers could see its fine detail, the image would have a large file size, causing it to download slowly. In addition, the image might not fit in a browser window, and viewers would have to scroll to view different parts of it. To resolve these issues, you can use Zoomify to export a high-resolution image for the Web so that viewers can see a smaller version of the entire image that does not require a long download time. Viewers can zoom in on that sample image to see its fine detail, and they can pan to view parts of the image in more detail. Export high-resolution images When you export an image with Zoomify, you can specify its dimensions so that it fits in a browser window. If you want to show an image in an 800×800-pixel area, you can specify these dimensions to show the entire image. But a user viewing the image will also be able to zoom it and then pan to see different sections, without having to scroll the browser window. The image retains its original dimensions, as shown in Exhibit 7-2. In addition, the image doesn’t take any longer to load than would a similar image with the same dimensions. To export an image by using Zoomify: 1 Choose File, Export, Zoomify to open the Zoomify Export dialog box, shown in Exhibit 7-3. 2 From the Template list, select the desired template. 3 Click Folder to open the Browse for Folder dialog box. Specify a location in which to save the files, and click OK. 4 If desired, edit the Base Name box. This name will appear as part of a URL, so it can’t contain spaces or special characters. 5 Under Image Tile Options, specify settings for the main image. 6 Under Browser Options, specify the dimensions of the image area in the browser window. 7 Click OK. When you export an image with Zoomify, Photoshop creates an HTML file, as well as a folder containing sections of the image at different zoom levels and the other files needed to show the image in a browser. All of these files (but not the original image) need to be uploaded to a Web server to show the image online. Viewing a Zoomify image in a Web browser requires the Flash Player.

7–8


Exhibit 7-2: Viewing a Zoomify image in a browser

Exhibit 7-3: The Zoomify Export dialog box

Web and video images Do it!

A-4:

7–9

Exporting an image with Zoomify


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Snow flower

You want to show this image at full size on the Web.

2 Choose File,

A warning box appears, stating that this image exceeds the size that Save for Web & Devices was designed for.

Save for Web & Devices…

Click Yes

To close the warning box and open the Save for Web & Devices dialog box.

3 From the Preset list, select JPEG High

Observe the image’s size and download time information With a slow connection, it would take almost four minutes for this image to load in a browser.

Click as shown

To display a shortcut menu.

Choose Size/Download Time (2 Mbps)

Even with a high-speed connection, the image would still take a while to load.

4 Click Cancel

To close the dialog box. You’ll export the image with Zoomify so that it will load more quickly.

5 Choose File, Export,

To open the Zoomify Export dialog box.

Zoomify…

6 From the Template list, select Zoomify Viewer with Navigator (Black Background)

7–10

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 7 Click Folder Navigate to the current topic folder and click OK 8 Drag the Quality slider all the way to the right

To open the Browse for Folder dialog box. To specify the output location.

(If necessary.) To set the Quality to 12.

9 Edit the Width box to read 800 Edit the Height box to read 600

The image is wider than it is tall, but you’re not sure of the exact ratio. This is an estimate.

10 Verify that Open In Web Browser is checked 11 Click OK

To export the image and open it in your default Web browser. The image appears smaller than its actual size, but you can zoom in to actual size to see various sections of the image.

12 Click in the flower in the center of the image

To zoom in on the section you clicked.

Click the flower again

To zoom to full size.

13 In the top-left corner of the image, observe the navigator

It shows the area of the image you’re currently viewing, relative to the whole image.

Drag within the blue boundary

To change the section of the image displayed.

14 Drag the zoom slider slowly, as shown (At the bottom of the image.) To zoom out.

15 Close the browser

To return to Photoshop.

Web and video images 16 In Windows Explorer, navigate to the current topic folder

7–11

Photoshop has created a file named Snowflower.html and a folder named Snowflower_img.

Open the Snow-flower_img folder

It contains another folder and two other files: a Shockwave Flash file and an XML file that the browser uses to show the image in the viewer.

Open the TileGroup0 folder

The Zoomify command creates individual images that show sections of the original image at different zoom levels. If you wanted to show the Zoomify image on a Web page, you’d need to upload both the HTML file and the folder containing these images and the SWF and XML files.

17 Return to Photoshop Close the image

Without updating.

7–12


Topic B: Optimizing images for the Web This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.1c


2.1e


2.4f


3.3a

Demonstrate knowledge of how to import, export, and save files.

3.3c


5.1a


Optimizing file sizes Explanation

When you’re preparing an image for Web use, you want it to appear with the highest possible quality while having the smallest possible file size. Balancing these two factors to create the best image is called optimization. The best way to optimize an image for Web use is to save a copy of the image by using the Save for Web & Devices command. You can use this command to save an image in any of three common Web image formats: JPEG, GIF, and PNG.

JPEG optimization The JPEG format is typically used to optimize color photographic images because it supports files with millions of colors. When you save an image in the JPEG format, you can specify a Quality setting, which balances image quality and file size. As you increase the Quality setting, you also increase the file size. The JPEG format uses lossy compression, which alters the image pixel data and removes detail. When the JPEG Quality setting is too low, JPEG compression artifacts—irregularities in the image— become visible. You should specify a Quality setting that reduces image file size without producing any visible artifacts. To save an image in the JPEG format, choose File, Save for Web & Devices to open the Save for Web & Devices dialog box. Although the JPEG format can hold CMYK or Grayscale images as well as RGB images, the Save for Web & Devices dialog box automatically converts images to RGB, as required for display in Web browsers. To specify JPEG optimization settings, use either of these techniques:  From the Optimized file format list, select JPEG; then specify the Quality value and other settings.  From the Preset list, select a JPEG option with predefined settings, as shown in Exhibit 7-4.


Optimized file format

7–13

Optimize menu

Compression quality

Exhibit 7-4: The JPEG optimization settings in the Save for Web & Devices dialog box You can specify the following JPEG optimization settings: Setting

Description

Preset

Applies a JPEG format with preset values. You can create your own JPEG presets by specifying the custom settings you want and choosing Save Settings from the Optimize menu.

Optimized file format

Used when you don’t want JPEG presets. Available formats include JPEG, GIF, PNG-8, PNG-24, and WBMP. Each format supports different settings, so the format you specify determines the other options available for optimizing the image.

Compression quality

Determines the compression level. You can select a descriptively named compression quality. For example, you can select Very High, which by default specifies a numeric Quality of 80.

Progressive

Creates a progressive JPEG image, which will download in stages so that viewers can see a rough version of it while the full image is downloading. If you don’t check Progressive, the image won’t appear at all until it’s fully downloaded.

Optimized

Creates an optimized JPEG image, which has a slightly smaller file size but isn’t supported by some old Web browsers.

Embed Color Profile

Retains color profile data, which provides color management information that some browsers can use to help ensure that image colors are displayed as you intended. If you want the optimized image to retain its color profile data, then check this box. Color profile data will increase the image’s file size, however, and not all Web browsers support this data.

Quality

Used to specify a Quality setting with more precision. You can enter a number in the Quality box or drag the Quality slider.

Blur

Applies a blur to an image to slightly reduce its file size. (You’ll usually get better image quality and a smaller file by adjusting the Quality setting.)

Matte

Used to specify the color to be used for areas that are transparent in the original image. You should typically specify a Matte color that matches the background color of the Web page on which you’ll use the image.

Convert to sRGB

Converts image colors to the sRGB color space.

Metadata

Stores information about the image. You can strip out metadata, or include copyright information, copyright and contact information, all information except data about the camera that created the image, or all metadata.

7–14 Do it!


B-1:

Optimizing with the JPEG format


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open nutmeg2 Save the image as mynutmeg2 2 Choose File, Save for Web & Devices…

Click the 4-Up tab

To open the Save for Web & Devices dialog box. To see a preview of the original image, along with three other previews with various optimization settings.

3 Verify that the top-right image preview is selected From the Preset list, select JPEG High

4 Select the bottom-left preview From the Preset list, select

To specify that preset for the selected preview.

JPEG Medium

5 Select the bottom-right preview From the Preset list, select JPEG Low

6 Observe the file sizes under each preview

The lower the JPEG quality setting, the smaller the file size.

7 In the Save for Web & Devices dialog box, click

The Zoom tool.

Click the bottom-right preview twice

To zoom all of the previews to 300% magnification. You can see artifacts around the edges in the JPEG Medium image (with a Quality value of 30), and the effect is even more apparent in the JPEG Low image (with a Quality value of 10).

8 Press a and click the bottomright preview twice

To return to 100% magnification. Unless you plan to enlarge the image later, what you see at 100% magnification is what the Web viewer sees. For this image, Medium quality is good enough, producing a file that is a fraction of the original file size with only a small reduction in quality. Because you know you won’t use the JPEG Low image, you will try some additional settings to see the resulting visual effects and file sizes.

Web and video images 9 Click

7–15

To select the Hand tool, so you can click the previews without unintentionally changing the magnification.

10 Verify that the bottom-right preview is selected From the Preset list, select JPEG High

You’ll begin with the presets for JPEG High and then modify them.

11 Observe the file sizes for the bottom-left and bottom-right previews

You want to see whether you can reduce the file size for the bottom-right preview to match that of the bottom-left preview by adjusting some of the settings.

Drag the Blur slider to the right

Release the mouse and observe the file size of the bottom-right preview

The file size has decreased slightly.

Drag the Blur slider until the file size is approximately 4.4K

A Blur value of 1.1 will produce a file size of 4.441K, the same as that of the preview using the JPEG Medium preset. Even though the two images would have the same file size, the bottom-right one is noticeably blurrier.

12 Select the bottom-left preview Click Save

This is the version you will save. To open the Save Optimized As dialog box.

Navigate to the current topic folder In the Format list, verify that Images Only is selected Click Save 13 Update and close the image

To save the JPEG-optimized version of the image and return to Photoshop.

7–16


GIF optimization Explanation

The GIF format is typically used for images composed of areas of solid colors, such as simple Web graphics or logos. By default, the GIF format doesn’t discard any image data, but it does limit image colors to 256. Typically, the fewer colors you use, the smaller the image’s file size. To save an image in the GIF format, choose File, Save for Web & Devices to open the Save for Web & Devices dialog box. To specify GIF optimization settings, do either of the following:  From the Optimized file format list, select GIF, as shown in Exhibit 7-5. Then specify the GIF settings you want.  From the Preset list, select a GIF option with predefined settings.

Optimized file format Color reduction algorithm Dither algorithm Transparency dither algorithm

Exhibit 7-5: GIF optimization settings in the Save for Web & Devices dialog box


7–17

You can specify the following GIF optimization settings: Setting

Description

Color reduction algorithm

Specifies fewer colors than the GIF format’s maximum of 256. Use this setting to specify the method by which Photoshop determines which colors the optimized image should use. The colors are listed in the Color Table.

Dither algorithm

Determines the dithering method used (if any): Diffusion, Pattern, or Noise. Dithering is a technique that creates the illusion of additional colors (or shades of gray) by varying the pattern of dots or pixels. When an image’s colors are reduced, Photoshop can simulate a color that no longer exists by filling that area with a pattern of pixels of two or more similar colors in the panel. The area then appears to be filled with a solid color similar to the original color.

Transparency

Used to include transparent areas in the optimized GIF image. Unlike the JPEG format, the GIF format supports transparency. GIF supports only areas of full transparency or full opacity, however, so it can’t display partial transparency.

Transparency dither algorithm

Specifies the method for dithering partially transparent areas. The GIF format can’t display partially transparent pixels, but you can simulate the effect by applying a transparency dither to replace partially transparent pixels with a pattern of solid and transparent pixels.

Interlaced

Specifies that the GIF image will appear in stages as it’s downloaded, rather than not appearing at all until fully downloaded.

Colors

Specifies the number of colors used in the image.

Dither

Specifies the amount of dithering used in the image. A higher dithering value simulates more colors and is useful for making gradients appear smoother. Increasing the Dither value might increase the file size.

Matte

Specifies a matte color in areas that are transparent in the original image.

Web Snap

Specifies how close a color must be to a Web-safe color before it will be converted to a Web-safe color. Web-safe colors are the 216 colors that are the same on both Macintosh and Windows computers when only 256 colors are available. However, many Internet users today use monitors that display thousands or millions of colors, making this option less relevant.

Lossy

Discards some image data to reduce file size.

7–18 Do it!


B-2:

Optimizing with the GIF format


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Logo on gradient 2 Choose File, Save for Web & Devices…

To open the Save for Web & Devices dialog box. Because the 4-Up tab was active when you last viewed this dialog box, it is still active.

Observe the second image preview It uses 32 colors and an 88% dither.

Observe the bottom image preview

3 Select the second image preview

It uses 32 colors but no dither. The gradient in the bottom image preview has more noticeable vertical banding than does the gradient in the second image preview. If necessary.

Drag the Dither slider to 100%

To smooth out the vertical banding. The file size has increased somewhat, which is why the default value might be a good choice.

4 From the Colors list, select 8

To see how decreasing the number of colors affects the image’s appearance and file size.

Edit the Colors box to read 9

To increase the number of colors by one.

Continue increasing the number of colors while observing the edges of the text

The text edges look gritty until there are about 13 colors in the image.

5 Compare the 13-color, 100% dither preview (the second one) with the 16-color, 88% dither preview (the third one)

The second preview has only a slightly larger file size, but the gradient looks smoother overall.


If necessary.

Click Save Edit the File name box to read logo

Click Save

To open the Save Optimized As dialog box.


7–19


Even though you didn’t edit the image itself, you are prompted to save changes because Photoshop remembers the Save for Web & Devices settings.

8 Open Recipes page title

Sometimes when you need to reduce the file size substantially, it might be better not to use dithering at all.

9 Open the Save for Web & Devices dialog box

Choose File, Save for Web & Devices.

Select the top-right image preview

If necessary.

Set the Colors value to 8

This image preview uses an 88% dither.

For the bottom-right image preview, set the Colors value to 8

This image preview uses no dither. The drop shadows on both previews look somewhat banded, so this setting is less than ideal. You might need to use it, though, if the entire page produces too large a file size. The vertical and horizontal elements in the “R” and “e” look chipped in the dithered version, but they don’t in the non-dithered one.

10 Save the bottom-right version as recipestitle

Update and close the image

7–20


Topic C: Fine-tuning quality This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.1e


3.3c


5.1a


Comparing options Explanation

When you’re optimizing an image for Web use, the choice of file format is not always obvious. In the Save for Web & Devices dialog box, you can use the previews to compare optimization options for an image by specifying different file formats and settings. You can use additional options to help determine which file format and settings will work best for your image. To determine the best optimization settings for an image, you can use the Save for Web & Devices dialog box to specify settings for one preview, and then instruct Photoshop to automatically apply alternate settings to the other two previews for comparison. For example, you can specify particular JPEG settings for one preview and then choose Repopulate Views from the Optimize menu. The remaining previews will display the image in the same file format but with different settings. Optimize to File Size You might want to optimize an image in order to use a specific file size—for example, to match the file sizes of other images on a Web page. If you know the target file size for a particular image, you can instruct Photoshop to determine the best settings to use to achieve that target file size. To optimize an image to a specified file size: 1 Open the Save for Web & Devices dialog box. 2 From the Optimize menu, choose Optimize to File Size to open the Optimize To File Size dialog box. (This command optimizes images for only the GIF and JPEG formats.) 3 In the Desired File Size box, enter the target file size. 4 Under Start With, if the selected preview uses GIF or JPEG and you want to use the current format, select Current Settings. If you want Photoshop to select the best format to use to meet the target size, select Auto Select GIF/JPEG. 5 Click OK.


C-1:

7–21

Optimizing to a target file size


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open Logo on canvas 2 Open the Save for Web & Devices dialog box 3 For the second image preview, from the Preset list, select JPEG High

You’ll begin with high JPEG quality to avoid artifacts. This image has a photographic element; it’s often better to use JPEG for mixed photographic and flat-color images. Because of the photographic portion of the image, the 256color limit in GIF images might not give you the results you want. Also, its non-lossy compression is less efficient for creating smaller files with photographic material.

4 From the Optimize menu, choose Repopulate Views

(The button for the Optimize menu is to the right of the Preset list.) To create additional JPEG image previews.

5 From the Zoom Level list, select 200%

The artifacts on the characters are noticeable, particularly in the bottom two previews. The third preview (with the Quality value of 30) is the best compromise between image quality and file size. However, you want this image’s file size to match that of another, similar image on your Web page.

6 Select the third preview From the Optimize menu, choose

To open the Optimize to File Size dialog box.

Optimize to File Size…

Edit the Desired File Size box to read 12 Select Auto Select GIF/JPEG

You’ll let Photoshop determine the best file type for the image.

Click OK

Photoshop sets the Quality value to 22, with JPEG as the file type.

7 Save the optimized image as logo-on-canvas

7–22


Changing lossiness Explanation

In the Save for Web & Devices dialog box, you can further reduce a GIF-optimized image’s file size by using the Lossy setting. The default Lossy value is zero, which means that no lossy compression is applied. Increasing the Lossy value decreases the file size but introduces image distortions. These distortions are particularly noticeable in solid-color areas and in text.

Do it!

C-2:

Changing lossiness

Here’s how

Here’s why


For the Logo on canvas image.


(If necessary.) The image quality is good, but you’ll experiment to see whether you can get better results with the GIF format.

From the Optimized file format list, select GIF The default Colors setting is 32. The colors aren’t bad, but you might be able to decrease file size by using fewer colors.

From the Colors list, select 8

The peppers in the image lose their red color. This setting is too low.

From the Colors list, select 16

Now the peppers are red again.

3 Drag the Lossy slider to 100

This value produces noise on the text, but the background is usable. This setting also drops the file size quite a bit—almost one-third of the original size.

Experiment with different Lossy values Drag the Lossy slider back to 0 Click Done 4 Update and close the image

To close the dialog box. Photoshop will remember the current settings.


7–23

Topic D: Creating transparency This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5. #

Objective

2.1c


2.1e


3.3c


5.1a


Formats that support transparency Explanation

If an image contains transparent areas that you want the Web-optimized version to include, you must select a Web image format that supports transparency. The GIF, PNG-8, and PNG-24 formats all support transparency. However, the GIF and PNG-8 formats can’t display partial transparency—pixels are displayed as either fully transparent or fully opaque. Both formats can apply dithering to simulate partial transparency. Although the JPEG format doesn’t support transparency at all, the JPEG 2000 format, an optional Photoshop plug-in, does support transparency. For you to view JPEG 2000 image files on the Web, however, your browser must have a JPEG 2000 plug-in. Not many browsers support JPEG 2000. To display true partial transparency, you can use the PNG-24 format. The newest Web browsers can display PNG-24 images, but some older browsers can’t display multilevel transparency in PNG-24 images.

7–24 Do it!


D-1:

Creating transparent GIF images


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open nutmeg3 Hide the Shadow and Color Fill 1 layers 2 Open the Save for Web & Devices dialog box

To see that the nutmeg image has transparency around it. Because the JPEG format doesn’t support transparency, you will use a GIF format.

3 Verify that the top-right preview is selected From the Preset list, select

The preview shows the transparent areas.

GIF 32 Dithered

4 Clear Transparency

Check Transparency 5 Save the selected preview as nutmeg-default-trans

To put a white background into the image. When you don’t want transparency in an image that has it, you can specify a white background. To remove the white background, restoring the transparent areas. In the current unit folder.


7–25

Matte colors Explanation

When you’re optimizing a GIF image that includes transparency, a harsh edge might appear where the opaque pixels border the transparent area. To prevent this, you can apply a matte color to any semitransparent pixels in the original image. If the matte color matches the Web page’s background color, it will soften the transition between the opaque pixels and the transparent areas. Similarly, when optimizing a JPEG image that originally includes transparency, you can specify a matte color to fill all transparent areas. The matte color should match the Web page’s background color so that the areas that were transparent in the original image will seem to be transparent in the optimized version. Hexadecimal colors Computer monitors use red, green, and blue to make all colors you see, and a hexadecimal scheme is used to identify different combinations of those colors: the first two characters represent the intensity of red, the next two of green, and the last two of blue. Hex notation uses the scale 0123456789ADCDEF, with 0 representing almost no color and F representing 15 times the intensity of 0. Hexadecimal characters can be a combination of letters and numbers. When creating a Web page in HTML, you can use hexadecimal values to specify colors for Web page components. For example, you can use hexadecimal values in the HTML code to specify background colors for Web pages and table cells. Because the HTML code identifies certain colors by their hexadecimal values, you can exactly match a matte color to a Web page’s background color by specifying the same hexadecimal value. To specify a matte color in the Save for Web & Devices dialog box: 1 Click the Matte box to open the Choose a color dialog box. 2 Edit the # box to specify the color’s hexadecimal code. 3 Click OK. A computer monitor uses light to display color. When you add the colors together, you get white; the absence of all colors is black (as if you’ve turned the light off). So, for example, 000000 (the lowest level of red, green, and blue) is black, and FFFFFF—or #FFFFFF—is white. To get yellow, you would add red and green, but no blue, so the hex code would be FFFF00.

7–26 Do it!


D-2:

Choosing matte colors for GIF and JPEG images


Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Start Internet Explorer Press c + O Click Browse Browse to the current topic folder Open transparency-GIF-default

This HTML page displays the image file you just created with three different background colors so you can see the edges. The image looks good on white, passable on light yellow, but bad on dark blue, because the image was on a white matte in Photoshop by default. In addition, a white speck appears at the top-right of the image when it’s on a dark background. This area wasn’t pure white, so it didn’t get converted to transparency earlier.

2 Switch to Photoshop

If you know the image will be on a dark background, you can save it with that color for a matte. Doing this will affect colors that were semitransparent in the original image, tinting the resulting color with the matte.


For the nutmeg3 image.

Click the Matte color swatch, as shown


Edit the # box to read 000099

This is the hexadecimal value for dark blue.

Click OK 4 Save the top-right image preview as nutmeg-dark-matte 5 In Internet Explorer, open transparency-GIF-dark-matte Switch to Photoshop

This time, you see a dark-blue fringe in the first two images, but the image looks just right on the dark blue background. Next, you’ll experiment with the JPEG format. If an image will be placed on a solid background, you can use JPEG, but you should choose the correct matte color.


7–27

6 Open the Save for Web & Devices dialog box From the Preset list, select JPEG High

Set the Matte color to 000099

Click the Matte swatch to open the Choose a color dialog box. Edit the # box and click OK. The blue color appears in the entire background because JPEG doesn’t support transparency.

Save the image as nutmeg-dark-bkgd

7 In Internet Explorer, open transparency-JPEG-dark-bkgd Switch to Photoshop

The only area of the image that looks good is the solid background that uses the matching matte color.

7–28


Partial transparency Explanation

When an original image includes partial transparency, you can optimize it for the Web by using the PNG-24 file format. Partial transparency will be maintained in the optimized image, but not all Web browsers support partial transparency. Another option is to save the image in the JPEG format and apply a matte color that matches the Web page’s background color. If the Web page’s background isn’t a single solid color, the most effective technique is to optimize the image in the GIF or PNG-8 file format, with which you can specify a transparency dither. From the Transparency dither algorithm list, select a dithering option; then specify a matte color that will look acceptable over multiple backgrounds. The transparency dither will create a pattern of transparent pixels and matte-colored pixels to simulate partial transparency. The areas of the image that were fully transparent will remain fully transparent in the optimized version.

Do it!

D-3:

Simulating partially transparent areas


Here’s how 1 Show the Shadow layer

Here’s why Keep the Color Fill 1 layer hidden. The shadow is created by using areas of partial transparency.

2 Open the Save for Web & Devices dialog box From the Preset list, select GIF 32 Dithered

Save the image as


nutmeg-with-shadow

3 In Internet Explorer, open transparency-GIF-with-shadow Switch to Photoshop 4 Open the Save for Web & Devices dialog box From the Preset list, select PNG-24

Save the image as nutmeg-24-bit-trans

The image looks good on a solid white background, but the extra white around the shadow is obvious against the others.


7–29

5 In Internet Explorer, open transparency-PNG

If you’re using Internet Explorer 7 or later, the image is displayed properly on all of the solid backgrounds. However, if you’re using Internet Explorer 6, the image isn’t displayed properly because IE6 for Windows doesn’t support PNG transparency.

6 Switch to Photoshop 7 Open the Save for Web & Devices dialog box From the Preset list, select GIF 32 Dithered

From the Transparency dither algorithm list, select Diffusion Transparency Dither

8 Click the Matte color swatch Edit the # box to read 808080

To create a dithered pattern where there was originally partial transparency. The pixels will still appear either completely solid or transparent, but the alternating pattern of solid and transparent color will simulate the partial transparency as effectively as possible given the GIF format’s limitations. To open the Color Picker dialog box. This time, you’re choosing a middle-gray matte color that will look acceptable on both white and a darker color, rather than one that will look good on one color and bad on the other.

Click OK Save the image as


nutmeg-diffusion-trans

9 In Internet Explorer, open transparency-GIF-diffusion Close Internet Explorer 10 Update and close the image

Observe the dithered pattern. The result isn’t as pleasing as the real shadow, but the dithered pattern still suggests a shadow. To return to Photoshop.

7–30


Topic E: Preparing images for video This topic covers the following Adobe ACA exam objectives for Photoshop CS5.

Explanation

#

Objective

2.1c


2.1e


2.4f


2.5f

Identify the functionality provided by having non-square pixel support when working with video.

5.1d

Demonstrate knowledge of the elements of images that need to be checked or confirmed prior to publishing for use in videos.

Many video productions include still (static) images along with motion elements. Properly preparing images for video involves separate considerations from those used for images intended for print or for the Web.

Pixel aspect ratio Computer monitors display images with square pixels. However, video monitors, such as televisions, use rectangular pixels. For example, the NTSC video standard—used in North America, Japan, Korea, and Mexico—displays pixels that are approximately 90% as wide as they are tall, as shown in Exhibit 7-6. Therefore, the pixel aspect ratio (the width of a pixel relative to its height) for NTSC is 0.91. The PAL standard, used in Europe, also uses rectangular pixels, but ones that are wider than they are tall (with a pixel aspect ratio of 1.066). Square pixel, as on a computer monitor

1

Narrow pixel, as on an NTSC (television) display

1

1

0.91

Exhibit 7-6: NTSC video has a 0.91 pixel aspect ratio This difference in pixel width means that images that look correct on your computer monitor will appear distorted horizontally when imported into a video application, such as Adobe Premiere. For example, if you create the image shown in Exhibit 7-7 as a standard Photoshop image, it will appear too narrow when used in an NTSC video.


Image as it appears on a computer monitor

7–31

Image as it appears on an NTSC (television) monitor

Exhibit 7-7: A standard Photoshop image will appear distorted in a video production Photoshop can address this problem in two ways. First, Photoshop can display images on a video monitor that’s connected to your computer via a FireWire interface. Choose File, Export, Video Preview to choose output options before sending the image to the display, or choose File, Export, Send Video Preview to Device to view it immediately. Second, Photoshop allows you to view images with a non-square pixel aspect ratio so you can use your computer monitor to simulate the display of a video monitor. To do so, choose View, Pixel Aspect Ratio and select a video standard. Photoshop will retain the number of pixels in the image, but it will adjust the width of the image’s display based on the selected pixel aspect ratio. Because pixel-aspect-ratio correction doesn’t offer an exact representation of the image pixels, however, you should turn it off to see the image at the highest quality setting. Do it!

E-1:

Viewing pixel aspect ratios

The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 7\Topic E.

Here’s how

Here’s why

1 Open DVD title image

This image was designed with square pixels, not taking into account the pixel aspect ratio of NTSC video, for which the image was intended.

2 Observe the shape of the dish

The dish appears almost perfectly circular.

3 Choose View,

To display the image as it would appear in a video displayed on a widescreen television.

Pixel Aspect Ratio, D1/DV NTSC Widescreen (1.21)

4 Observe the shape of the dish

The dish now appears wider than it should.

5 Choose View,

To return the image to its original appearance.

Pixel Aspect Ratio, Square

7–32


Video format presets Explanation

When you create an image, you can select a standard video format preset. In addition to setting the image dimensions, the preset also sets the color mode to 8-bit RGB (as it should be for video), sets the pixel aspect ratio to match the format, and generates guides for safe zones. Safe zones Television sets overscan, or enlarge, the images they receive, so pixels at the edges won’t appear. The amount of overscan varies with individual sets, so you should avoid positioning important details close to the edges. Video professionals typically consider approximately 90% of the image to be within the action-safe zone, where motion critical to understanding the video should remain. Because text is usually more important than movement, professionals recommend keeping text within a title-safe zone of about 80% of the frame size. The guides that Photoshop creates for video format presets represent the action- and title-safe zones, as shown in Exhibit 7-8.

Exhibit 7-8: Title- and action-safe zones Video preset image dimensions There are several television resolution standards, but the traditional aspect ratio for television screens is 4:3—the image is four units wide and three units high. The DV NTSC standard is 480 scan lines (which equate to image pixels) tall. If televisions used square pixels, the image would be 640  480 (because 640/480 = 4/3). However, because the display pixels are narrow, the standard is 720  480. Working with video preset images One of the advantages of working with a video preset image is that new items you create will appear correct with the pixel-aspect-ratio correction applied. For example, if you press the Shift key as you drag an elliptical shape, it will look circular as you intended, not stretched horizontally (even though it’s created with a different number of horizontal and vertical pixels to compensate for the non-square pixels). Similarly, when you create text with pixel-aspect-ratio correction turned on, the text is automatically scaled horizontally so it appears correctly onscreen and in the video application in which you place the image.


E-2:

7–33

Creating an image for video

Here’s how 1 Press D Press X

Here’s why (If necessary.) To set the foreground and background colors to the defaults. To switch the foreground and background colors so the background is black. You want the background of the new file to be black.

2 Choose File, New…

To open the New dialog box.

3 Edit the Name box to read

This image will contain the title, image, and navigation elements for a DVD.

DVD menu

4 From the Preset list, select Film & Video

From the Size list, select

The video is in DV format.

NTSC DV Widescreen

5 From the Background Contents list, select Background Color

To set the background color to black.

Click OK

To close the New dialog box. Another dialog box, explaining that you should turn off pixelaspect-ratio correction for maximum image quality, might open.

Click OK

(If necessary.) To close the dialog box.

6 Show the rulers

Press Ctrl+R, if necessary.

7 Select the Horizontal Type tool

You’ll specify certain text formatting and then create some text within the title-safe zone.


To open the Character panel.

Select the formatting options indicated

The font should be Arial, Black, 20 pt, with Auto leading and –20 Tracking.

7–34

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 8 Hide the Character panel 9 With the Horizontal Type tool, drag a marquee approximately as shown, starting at the left guide for the title-safe zone

10 Type Play Press e twice

To insert paragraph breaks.

11 Type Select Scene and press e twice Type Special and press e

You’ll complete this menu choice on the next line.

Type Features Press e on the numeric keypad 12 Choose View, Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction

Choose View, Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction

To complete the text editing. To verify that Photoshop scaled the text, you’ll temporarily turn off pixel-aspect-ratio correction. To display the image without simulating a video monitor. The text characters are narrower than normal. To view the image as it would appear on a widescreen TV.

Click OK 13 Save the image



7–35

Scaling images for video Explanation

You’ve seen that square-pixel images aren’t displayed correctly in a video production, and you know how to generate a new image with pixel-aspect-ratio correction applied. There’s still the matter of correcting the problem for existing images. To correct the problem, scale the square-pixel image horizontally in the opposite direction of the video standard’s pixel width. For example, for NTSC video, you need to scale the image to 112.5% of its original width (720 pixels / 640 pixels  100%). There’s an easier approach than calculating the amount and scaling it yourself. Dragging a layer from a square-pixel image to one with a non-square pixel aspect ratio will automatically scale the layer horizontally to compensate for the difference in pixel widths. Before scaling any image for video, you should check to ensure that your video application will not also attempt to adjust for pixel aspect ratio (you don’t want to overcompensate). For example, Adobe After Effects will automatically scale squarepixel images other than those created at standard sizes (such as the NTSC DV size of 720  480 pixels), so if you create an image at any dimensions other than standard sizes, you should not scale it in Photoshop. Other video applications might not work the same way, so you might need to change your approach in Photoshop accordingly.

Image formats for video When you’re saving images intended for use in video, it’s important to use a format that will provide the best functionality and compatibility. The following image formats are commonly used in high-end video production:  OpenEXR — Used by the visual-effects industry for HDR images. This format supports multiple lossless and lossy compression methods.  Cineon — Supports outputting back to film with no loss of image quality.  Targa — Designed for use with the Truevision video board. This format supports 16-, 24-, and 32-bit RGB images as well as indexed-color and grayscale images that don’t contain alpha channels.

7–36 Do it!


E-3:

Scaling a square-pixel image for video

Here’s how 1 Click the DVD title image tab

Here’s why You need to scale this image for video and incorporate it with the DVD menu image.

Arrange the image windows to see both images at the same time 2 Select the Cooking with layer

If necessary.

Press s and click the Dish layer

To select the three layers you want to add to the menu.

3 Drag one of the selected layers to the center of the DVD menu window

To duplicate the layers in the other image and to scale them horizontally in the process.

Close DVD title image

Without updating it.

4 Using the Move tool, drag in the image so the Dish layer snaps to the top and right edges of the image

5 Observe the shape of the dish View the image with a square pixel aspect ratio, and then return to the NTSC Widescreen ratio

The dish still looks circular, despite the difference in pixel aspect ratio. The dish looks too narrow when the image is displayed with square pixels; this confirms that Photoshop scaled it to compensate for the difference in pixel aspect ratio between the two images. The title appears partly outside the title-safe area, so this needs to be corrected.

Web and video images 6 Press c and click the Dish layer Drag the title to within the titlesafe zone


7–37

To deselect it.

The image is now prepared correctly for use in a video application for NTSC output.

7–38


Unit summary: Web and video images Topic A

In this topic, you learned about factors that influence image file size. In addition, you used the Image Size command to downsample images for Web use. You also used the Trim command to remove excess pixels from image borders. Finally, you used Zoomify to export high-definition images that users can pan and zoom on the Web.

Topic B

In this topic, you used the Save for Web & Devices command to optimize an image in the JPEG and GIF formats for Web use.

Topic C

In this topic, you used the Repopulate Views command to generate additional previews with varying settings based on the selected preview. In addition, you instructed Photoshop to specify optimization settings automatically to achieve a target file size. Finally, you applied a lossiness setting to specified areas of an image, while masking other areas from the lossy compression.

Topic D

In this topic, you learned about the Web-optimized formats that support transparency, and you learned about Web browsers that support partial transparency. In addition, you learned how to select matte colors for GIF and JPEG images to smoothly blend opaque pixels with transparency or with a Web page’s background color.

Topic E

In this topic, you created an image and adjusted it to use the correct pixel aspect ratio for NTSC video.

Independent practice activity In this activity, you’ll prepare an image for Web use by resampling, sharpening, trimming, and optimizing it. You’ll optimize the image in several formats, using various settings. You’ll also export an image with Zoomify. Then you’ll create an image for use in a video production. The files for this activity are in Student Data folder Unit 7\Unit summary. 1 Open Cumin large. Save the image as My cumin large. 2 Resample the image to 120 pixels wide. 3 Sharpen the image. 4 Trim the image to remove the excess background areas. 5 Optimize the image for the Web, with the name cumin, in a medium JPEG format. 6 View the image in Internet Explorer. (Hint: In the Windows Internet Explorer dialog box, select JPEG Files from the file type list.) 7 Return to Photoshop and hide the Color Fill 1 layer. 8 Optimize the image for the Web as a GIF file with transparency. Save the optimized image as cumin-trans. 9 View the image in Internet Explorer; then close Internet Explorer. In Photoshop, update and close the image. 10 Open Easter egg. 11 Export the image by using Zoomify. Use a template with a Navigator option, a Width of 450, and a Height of 300. 12 Preview the image in a browser, and zoom and pan to see the image detail. 13 Close the browser; then close the image in Photoshop (without updating it).


7–39

14 Create an image named Video menu practice. Specify NTSC DV as the size. Specify a black background. 15 Within the title-safe zone, use the Horizontal Type tool to define a marquee, as shown in Exhibit 7-9. Specify Arial, Black text, 24 pt, with Auto leading. 16 Add the text shown in Exhibit 7-10. 17 Update and close the image. 18 Close Photoshop.

Exhibit 7-9: The type marquee specified in Step 12

Exhibit 7-10: The type specified in Step 14

7–40


Review questions 1 You’re using the Save for Web & Devices dialog box to prepare an image for Web use by specifying the JPEG format. Which color mode will the image use? A Grayscale B CMYK Color C RGB Color D Indexed Color 2 Why is the Unsharp Mask filter often better than the simple Sharpen filter? A The Unsharp Mask filter is not subject to pixelation the way the Sharpen filter is. B The Sharpen filter can produce a dull border around the image. C The Unsharp Mask filter offers a greater degree of control than does the Sharpen filter. D The Sharpen filter can over-sharpen an image. 3 Name three factors that contribute to an image’s file size. Answers may include pixel count, number of colors, compression, and additional file information.

4 True or false? It’s important to save Web images at a resolution of no more than 96 ppi. False. The pixel count, not the number of pixels per inch, is what matters.

5 You can use the _________ command to eliminate excess pixels, such as transparent or white space, from the edges of an image. Trim

6 By using Zoomify, you can __________. A Zoom in more closely on an image than you can in Photoshop. B Create a Web photo gallery with multiple images. C Export a high-resolution image to a Web browser so that a user can view it at its original size but load it more quickly. D Export a high-resolution image to a Web browser so that a user can pan and zoom, while reducing the time it takes to load the image. 7 In the Save for Web & Devices dialog box, you can use _________ views to compare two or more versions of an image. n-up

8 When you’re placing photographic images on a Web site, which format is generally the best to use so that you get a good balance of image quality and file size, and ensure widespread browser compatibility? A GIF B JPEG C TIFF D PNG


7–41

9 When you’re placing illustrations with flat color areas on a Web site, which format is generally the best to use if you want widespread browser compatibility? A GIF B JPEG C TIFF D PNG 10 If you have a target file size for an image, what command should you choose from the Optimize menu in the Save for Web & Devices dialog box? Optimize to File Size

11 Which formats support transparency, even if not all browsers can display it properly? [Choose all that apply.] A GIF B JPEG C TIFF D PNG 12 How can you simulate transparency in a JPEG image that will appear on the Web? A Use the Opacity slider in the Layers panel. B Specify a Matte color in the Save for Web & Devices dialog box. C Check Transparency in the Save for Web & Devices dialog box. D Check Interlaced in the Save for Web & Devices dialog box. 13 If you want to make an image with transparency appear without light edges on a dark background, you should specify a dark ______ color in the Save for Web & Devices dialog box. Matte

14 True or false? You can create images with semi-transparent pixels that can be displayed properly in all browsers in widespread use. False. Although the PNG format supports partial transparency, Internet Explorer 6 won’t display it.

15 Why might you use Video Preview to display images on a video monitor connected to your computer? A To preview differences in how an image appears on a video monitor as compared to on a computer monitor B To preview QuickTime movies embedded in your images C To preview animated GIF images D To preview Flash content

7–42

Photoshop CS5: Production, ACA Edition 16 Why might a Photoshop image look distorted when viewed on a video monitor? A Video monitors typically have higher resolution than computer monitors. B Video monitors typically display more colors than computer monitors. C Computer monitors display images with square pixels, but video monitors use non-square pixels. D Computer monitors use square pixels even when displaying images with nonsquare pixels. 17 Pixel-aspect-ratio correction is primarily useful for images intended for: A Print B The Web C Video D PDF files 18 What is the purpose of displaying an image by using pixel-aspect-ratio correction? A To display the image at its intended print resolution B To display the image at its intended resolution for online display C To display an image as it might appear when distorted by JPEG compression at various quality settings D To display the image using non-square pixels to simulate how it might look on a video monitor 19 You’re preparing an image that will be included in a video that will be viewed on video monitors. What color mode should you use for the image? A CMYK B 8-bit RGB C 16-bit RGB D Multichannel

S–1

Course summary

This summary contains information to help you bring the course to a successful conclusion. Using this information, you will be able to: A Use the summary text to reinforce what

you’ve learned in class. B Determine the next courses in this series (if

any), as well as any other resources that might help you continue to learn about Photoshop CS5.

S–2


Topic A: Course summary Use the following summary text to reinforce what you’ve learned in class.

Unit summaries Unit 1 In this unit, you learned about project management concepts and the importance of a communications management plan. Then you created, modified, and exported layer comps. Finally, you learned about some basic design principles. Unit 2 In this unit, you examined RGB and CMYK color gamuts as well as differences in color spaces. You also learned how to specify color management policies. Next, you learned how to proof colors onscreen and how to print with a color management profile. Finally, you learned how to simulate a different print device. Unit 3 In this unit, you specified settings for opening a camera raw image. You also learned how to use photo filters. Then you used the Match Color dialog box to match the colors between two images. Next, you learned how to correct or simulate lens distortion effects. In addition, you simulated depth-of-field effects and learned how to minimize lens blur and motion blur. You also learned how to combine images into a panoramic image and how to create a High Dynamic Range image. Unit 4 In this unit, you identified color correction principles. Then you learned how to locate image shadows and highlights and identify their color values. Next, you learned how to use the auto-adjustment commands, the target point tools, and the Shadow/Highlight dialog box. In addition, you used a Curves adjustment and learned how to specify accepted flesh tones. Finally, you learned how to use the toning tools, and you replaced colors throughout an image and in specific places. Unit 5 In this unit, you discussed issues related to converting images to CMYK Color mode and preparing them for use in Adobe InDesign. You specified color spaces for prepress, chose custom CMYK ink options, and specified separation options. You also learned how to convert an image from RGB to CMYK and how to separate images into CMYK components. Next, you corrected image colors by adjusting CMYK curves. Finally, you learned how to set values for the Unsharp Mask filter. Unit 6 In this unit, you learned how to use the Adjustments panel’s Black & White options. You then added a spot-color channel to an image and used the DCS file format to save an image containing a spot color. Next, you converted a grayscale image to a duotone and adjusted the curves for individual inks in a duotone image.

Course summary

S–3

Unit 7 In this unit, you learned about factors that influence image file size. In addition, you learned how to downsample images for Web use and how to use the Trim command to remove excess pixels from image borders. Next, you used the Save for Web & Devices command to optimize an image for Web use. You also learned how to use the Repopulate Views command and how to specify a target file size. Next, you applied a lossiness setting to specified areas of an image. Then you learned about formats that support transparency. In addition, you learned how to select matte colors for GIF and JPEG images. Finally, you created an image and adjusted it to use the correct pixel aspect ratio for NTSC video.

S–4


Topic B: Continued learning after class It is impossible to learn how to use any software effectively in a single day. To get the most out of this class, you should begin working with Photoshop CS5 to perform real tasks as soon as possible. We also offer resources for continued learning.

Next courses in this series This is the last course in this series.

Other resources For more information, visit www.axzopress.com.

G–1

Glossary Action-safe area In a video image, the area in which motion critical to understanding the video should remain to accommodate overscan.

Color management A process that adjusts colors as necessary to achieve a close match when an image is displayed or printed on different devices.

Aspect ratio The proportion of an image’s width relative to its height.

Color mode A method of defining colors by breaking them into components. RGB, CMYK, and Lab are color modes.

Barrel distortion Distortion caused by a camera lens that makes an image appear to curve outward at the edges.

Color model A method of assigning color values to represent an actual color. Color models include: RGB, HLS, CMYK, and Lab.

Bit depth See Color depth. Blocked shadow An area that should display some contrast but instead displays all black pixels. Blown-out highlight An area that should display some contrast but instead displays all white pixels. Bokeh Disc-like shapes in the bright areas of a blurred background of a photograph. Camera raw image A non-lossy compressed image saved by a digital camera without post-processing. Each type of camera has a unique file format for its camera raw file. CMYK color image An image defined by Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black color channels. CMYK images are typically used for commercial printing. Color correction The subjective process of altering an image’s color and contrast to improve its appearance. Color depth The number of bits per channel of data in an image, which determines the total possible number of shades of color. Images with a higher color depth can have higher quality but with a larger file size. Color gamut The total range of colors that a device or color model can reproduce or represent.

Color profile A file that represents a color space. A profile might represent a monitor or a theoretical color space such as Adobe RGB (1998). An image file might have, embedded in it, a color profile representing the color space in which the image was edited. Color profile, assigning The process of choosing a color space that reflects the one in which an image was edited. Assigning a color profile does not change the pixel color values but affects the image’s appearance in Photoshop. Color profile, converting The process of changing an image’s color space so that the image’s color values change to reflect the difference between its original color space and the new one. After an image is converted from one profile to another, it should appear approximately the same in the new color space as it did in the old one. Color separations An image or page divided into ink color components that match those used on a printing press. Most color separations are to CMYK or spot-color inks. Color space A theoretical representation of color reproduction characteristics that models the gamut of available colors and maps color appearances to values. You can think of a color space as a variant within a color mode. Comps Versions of a design or layout. In Photoshop, these can be generated within a single image. Contrast The difference in brightness between the dark and light areas in an image.

G–2


DCS file format The Desktop Color Separation format, which can hold spot-color channels in addition to process (CMYK) channels. Dithering Simulating a color by alternating a pattern of two or more other colors. For example, a dithered pattern of yellow and blue pixels can appear green. Dot gain The enlargement of printer dots caused by ink spreading on paper. Downsampling Reducing the number of pixels in an image without changing its basic appearance. Duotone A grayscale image that is reproduced using one or more colored inks. Strictly speaking, a duotone uses only two inks, but Photoshop’s Duotone mode allows for images with two, three, or four inks. Dynamic range The total brightness range of an image or scene. Four-color printing See Process color printing.

HTML Hypertext Markup Language, used to code Web pages as text files. HTML tags are used to identify structural elements (such as headings, body text, lists, and tables), to create links to other files, to display images, and sometimes to indicate an element’s appearance or position on the page. Ink limits Values for limiting the amount of ink used in printing; set to avoid over-saturating the paper. Interpolation The method by which Photoshop resamples an image. Each interpolation method creates a different level of sharpness, accuracy, and processing speed. JPEG The Joint Photographic Experts Group image format, which can hold millions of colors and uses lossy compression. The JPEG format is typically best used for photographic images with no transparency. Lossless compression Compression that reduces an image’s file size but retains all of its original data when decompressed and displayed.

Gamut See Color gamut.

Lossy compression Compression that reduces an image’s file size by discarding some of the data, thereby reducing image quality.

GCR (Gray Component Replacement) A method of converting RGB values to CMYK values that specifies how much black ink should replace cyan, magenta, and yellow in neutral color areas in the image.

Matte color A background color that either replaces transparent space in an image with no transparency, or acts as a blend color for semi-transparent pixels in an image with transparency.

GIF

Metadata Information about an image that is stored electronically with the image file.

The Graphics Interchange Format, which holds up to 256 colors and uses lossless compression. The GIF format is typically best used for illustrations with flat color areas or images with transparency. Grayscale image A one-channel image containing only black, white, and shades of gray. Most grayscale images are 8-bit, with 256 available levels of gray. HDR image High Dynamic Range image, which holds 32 bits of data per channel, allowing for a greater dynamic range than cameras can capture or monitors can display. Hexadecimal color The six-character code used in HTML to define a color. The first pair of characters represents the red component, the second pair represents green, and the third pair represents blue.

Misregistration Misalignment of inks relative to one another, caused by the shifting of printing plates and other press inaccuracies. Optimization Converting an image for the Web with the intent of creating the highest possible image quality and lowest possible file size. Panoramic image An image with a much wider aspect ratio than that of a typical photograph. Pincushion distortion Distortion caused by a camera lens that makes an image appear to curve inward at the edges.

Glossary Pixel aspect ratio The width of a pixel relative to its height. Pixel dimensions The width and height of an image as measured in pixels. PNG The Portable Network Graphics format, which uses lossless compression and supports transparency. The PNG-8 variant holds 256 colors and on/off transparency. The PNG-24 variant holds millions of colors and supports partial transparency. Process color printing Printing with cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks to represent a full range of colors.

G–3

Trapping The process of slightly overlapping abutting color areas to prevent a white gap from appearing if the inks are misregistered. Trimming Eliminating excess pixels from an image’s edges. Photoshop can automatically trim either fully transparent pixels or ones that match the top-left or bottom-right pixel color. UCR (Undercolor Removal) A method of converting RGB values to CMYK values that specifies that only very dark neutral areas should be printed with black ink, instead of with a combination of cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Project life-cycle The five phases of project management: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring/controlling, and closing.

Unsharp Mask A filter used to sharpen an image and enhance detail. This filter allows you to “mask” the effect on “unsharp” areas to avoid introducing noise in areas of flat color.

Rendering intent When specifying color-management options, the set of rules for how the source colors are adjusted for out-of-gamut colors.

Web-safe color One of the 216 colors that will be displayed correctly on either a Windows or Macintosh computer with an 8-bit (256-color maximum) video card.

Resampling Changing the number of pixels in an image while retaining its basic appearance.

White balance A camera or image value or adjustment that reflects the color temperature of the ambient light where the photograph was taken.

Resolution The number of pixels per inch for a printed image, or the number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical dimensions of an image for the Web. RGB color image An image defined by Red, Green, and Blue color channels. RGB is typically used for most image editing, desktop printing, and Web images. Sidecar file A file that holds the settings you create in the Camera Raw window. The sidecar file has the same base name as the corresponding camera raw file but with the XMP file extension. The sidecar file affects how the image opens in Photoshop and how the thumbnail is displayed in Adobe Bridge. Specular highlight Reflected light from a shiny surface. You can usually allow specular highlights to appear pure white. Spot-color printing Printing with one or more pre-mixed inks that each appear on a separate printing plate. Title-safe zone In a video image, the area in which text should remain to accommodate overscan.

Working color space The default color space for a color mode selected in Photoshop on a specific computer.

G–4


I–1

Index A Adjustment layers, 4-3 Adjustments panel, 4-7, 4-14, 4-20, 4-34, 6-2 Adobe Bridge, 3-9 Aspect ratio, 3-26 Automated Lens Correction, 3-18 Automatic adjustments, 4-11

B Black & White commands and options, 6-2 Black Generation settings, 5-10 Burn tool, 4-32

C Camera raw images, 3-2 Setting preferences for, 3-10 Camera raw settings Applying in Adobe Bridge, 3-9 Saving and loading, 3-5 Channel list, 4-5 CMYK color model, 2-2 Color cast, neutralizing, 4-3 Color correction, principles of, 4-2 Color depth, defined, 3-4 Color management policies, 2-10 Color modes Vs. color models, 2-2 Vs. color spaces, 2-6 Color profiles, 2-5, 2-16 Color samplers, 4-7 Color separations, 2-3, 5-2 Options for, 5-10 Performing, 5-13 Color space Defined, 2-5 Settings for, 2-9, 5-5 Working, 2-5 Color-managed images, print settings for, 2-16 Colors Adjusting with CMYK curves, 5-14 Appearance vs. values, 2-5 Changing in selected areas, 4-37 Changing throughout an image, 4-34 Hexadecimal, 7-25 Knocking out black, 6-8 Matching between images, 3-14 Matte, 7-13, 7-25 Measuring, 4-5

Proofing onscreen, 2-14 Spot, 6-7 Touching up manually, 4-32 Web safe, 7-17 Communications management plans, 1-5 Compression Lossy value, changing, 7-22 Lossy vs. non-lossy, 7-3 Contrast Adjusting with curves, 4-20 Tips for adjusting, 4-2 Conversions To CMYK, 5-2 To grayscale, 6-2 Curves Using to adjust contrast, 4-20 Using to adjust duotones, 6-16 Using to adjust tones, 4-24 Custom CMYK options, 5-8

D DCS files, 6-13 Depth maps, 3-22 Depth of field, 3-21 Design principles, 1-12 Dithering, 7-17 DNG file format, 3-5 Dodge tool, 4-32 Dot gain, 2-10, 5-8 Downsampling, 7-4 Duotones Adjusting curves for, 6-16 Creating, 6-14 Dynamic range, defined, 3-26

E Edits, destructive vs. nondestructive, 4-3 Exporting High-resolution images with Zoomify, 7-7 Layer comps, 1-11

F File size Factors affecting, 7-2 Reducing through downsampling, 7-4 Reducing through trimming, 7-6 Target, 7-20 Filters For correcting lens distortions, 3-17

I–2


For depth-of-field effects, 3-21 Photo, 3-12 Smart Sharpen, 3-25 Unsharp Mask, 5-18, 7-4 Flesh tones, target ranges for, 4-29

G GCR (Gray Component Replacement), 5-10 GIF format Optimization options, 7-16 Transparency support, 7-23 Grayscale, converting to, 6-2

H HDR images, 3-30, 3-32 Hexadecimal colors, 7-25 Highlights Blowing out, 4-2 Finding, 4-7 Setting target points for, 4-14 Histogram panel, 4-5 HTML, specifying file size with, 7-4 Hue/Saturation adjustment layers, 4-34

I ICC profiles, 7-13 Image resolution, 7-4 Images Adjusting contrast in with curves, 4-20 Camera raw, 3-2 HDR, 3-30, 3-32 Matching colors in, 3-14 Panoramic, 3-26 Scaling for video, 7-35 Sharpening, 3-25, 5-18 InDesign, preparing images for, 5-3 Info panel, 4-5 Ink limits, 5-10 Interlaced GIFs, 7-17

J JPEG format And transparency, 7-23 Optimization options, 7-12

L Layer comps Creating, 1-7 Exporting, 1-11 Layers Applying adjustments with, 4-3 Preserving, 5-3 Lens Blur filter, 3-21 Lens Correction filter, 3-17 Levels options, in Adjustments panel, 4-7, 4-14

Lossy compression, 7-3, 7-22

M Matte colors, 7-13, 7-25 Metadata, 3-3 Misregistration, 6-8

N Neutral areas, defining, 5-14

O Optimizing Defined, 7-12 For GIF images, 7-16 For JPEG images, 7-12 To target file size, 7-20

P Panoramic images, 3-26 Photo filters, 3-12 Pixel aspect ratio, 7-30 Pixel dimensions, 7-2 PNG formats, 7-23, 7-28 Presets, video, 7-32 Print settings For color-managed images, 2-16 For proofing with a simulated device, 2-19 Progressive JPEGs, 7-13 Projects Life-cycle of, 1-3 Reasons for failure of, 1-4 Proofing image colors, 2-14

R Rendering intent, 2-16 Resolution (ppi), 7-4 RGB color model, 2-2 RGB colors, correlation with CMYK colors, 4-29

S Safe zones, 7-32 Selective Color adjustment layers, 4-34 Shadow/Highlight command, 4-17 Shadows Blocking, 4-2 Finding, 4-7 Setting target points for, 4-14 Sidecar files, 3-10 Smart Objects, 3-3 Smart Sharpen filter, 3-25 Specular highlights, 4-7 Sponge tool, 4-32 Spot colors Specifying, 6-7 Supported file formats, 6-13

Index sRGB color space, 2-5

Unsharp Mask filter, 5-18, 7-4

T

V

Tools In Camera Raw window, 3-3 Lens Correction, 3-17 On-image adjustment, 4-24, 6-2 Target point, 4-14 Toning, 4-32 Transparency Formats supporting, 7-23 GIF optimization setting, 7-17 Partial, 7-28 Trapping, 6-8 Trimming images, 7-6

Video Image formats for, 7-35 Presets, 7-32 Scaling images for, 7-35

U UCR (Undercolor Removal), 5-10

W Web-safe colors, 7-17 White balance, 3-4 Working color space, 2-5 Settings for, 2-9

Z Zoomify, 7-7

I–3

I–4


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