Photoshop® CS4 For Dummies®

Photoshop® CS4 For Dummies®

by Peter Bauer
Released October 2008
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9780470327258

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Book description

This latest version of Photoshop has a few new tricks up its sleeve and Adobe Photoshop CS4 For Dummies will teach you how to use them. From the basics like getting your images into and out of Photoshop to enhancing, cropping, and color correction, it's all here!

You'll get all of the basics of digital images and master the importing and exporting of images. You'll find out how to create easy enhancements like adding shadows and highlights and making color natural, in addition to learning how to use the Adobe camera raw plug-in. Before you know it, you'll be making beautiful "art" with Photoshop by combining images, precision edges, dressing up images, painting in Photoshop, and using filters. You can even streamline your work in Photoshop using advanced techniques. Find out how to:

  • Import images and use all the tools and processes

  • Reduce digital noise, make colors look natural, add highlights and shadows

  • Optimize images for print or the Web

  • Edit images

  • Explore the Painting function and master the daunting Brushes panel

  • Add layer styles

  • Create on-screen presentations, contact prints, and more

Complete with lists of ten reasons to love your Wacom tablet, ten reasons to own a digital camera, and ten favorite tips and tricks, Adobe CS4 For Dummies is your one-stop guide to setting up, working with, and making the most of Photoshop CS4 for all your digital photography needs.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. About the Author
  3. Author's Acknowledgments
  4. Publisher's Acknowledgments
  5. Introduction
    1. About This Book
    2. How This Book Is Organized
      1. Part I: Breezing through Basic Training
      2. Part II: Easy Enhancements for Digital Images
      3. Part III: Creating "Art" in Photoshop
      4. Part IV: Power Photoshop
      5. Part V: The Part of Tens
    3. Conventions Used in This Book
    4. Icons Used in This Book
    5. How to Use This Book
  6. I. Breezing through Basic Training
    1. 1. Welcome to Photoshop!
      1. 1.1. Exploring Adobe Photoshop
        1. 1.1.1. What Photoshop is designed to do
        2. 1.1.2. Other things you can do with Photoshop
        3. 1.1.3. If you don't have specialized software
      2. 1.2. Viewing Photoshop's Parts and Processes
        1. 1.2.1. Reviewing basic computer operations
          1. 1.2.1.1. Launching Photoshop
          2. 1.2.1.2. Working with images
          3. 1.2.1.3. Saving your files
          4. 1.2.1.4. Keyboard shortcuts
        2. 1.2.2. Photoshop's incredible selective Undo
          1. 1.2.2.1. Painting to undo with the History Brush
          2. 1.2.2.2. Reducing to undo with the Fade command
        3. 1.2.3. Installing Photoshop: Need to know
    2. 2. Knowing Just Enough about Digital Images
      1. 2.1. What Exactly Is a Digital Image?
      2. 2.2. The True Nature of Pixels
      3. 2.3. How Many Pixels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin?
        1. 2.3.1. Resolution revelations
        2. 2.3.2. Resolving image resolution
          1. 2.3.2.1. Changing the size of your artwork with the Image Size command
          2. 2.3.2.2. Choosing a resampling method
          3. 2.3.2.3. Picking an image resolution
      4. 2.4. File Formats: Which Do You Need?
        1. 2.4.1. Formats for digital photos
        2. 2.4.2. Formats for Web graphics
        3. 2.4.3. Formats for commercial printing
        4. 2.4.4. Formats for PowerPoint and Word
    3. 3. Taking the Chef's Tour of Your Photoshop Kitchen
      1. 3.1. Food for Thought: How Things Work
        1. 3.1.1. Ordering from the menus
        2. 3.1.2. Your platter full of panels
        3. 3.1.3. The tools of your trade
      2. 3.2. Get Cookin' with Customization
        1. 3.2.1. Clearing the table: Custom workspaces
        2. 3.2.2. Sugar and spice, shortcuts are nice
        3. 3.2.3. Spoons can't chop: Creating tool presets
      3. 3.3. Season to Taste: The Photoshop Settings
        1. 3.3.1. Standing orders: Setting the Preferences
          1. 3.3.1.1. PreferencesGeneral
          2. 3.3.1.2. PreferencesInterface
          3. 3.3.1.3. PreferencesFile Handling
          4. 3.3.1.4. PreferencesPerformance
          5. 3.3.1.5. PreferencesCursors
          6. 3.3.1.6. PreferencesTransparency & Gamut
          7. 3.3.1.7. PreferencesUnits & Rulers
          8. 3.3.1.8. PreferencesGuides, Grid & Slices
          9. 3.3.1.9. PreferencesPlug-Ins
          10. 3.3.1.10. PreferencesType
        2. 3.3.2. Ensuring consistency: Color Settings
      4. 3.4. When Good Programs Go Bad: Fixing Photoshop
    4. 4. Getting Images into and out of Photoshop
      1. 4.1. Bringing Images into Photoshop
        1. 4.1.1. Downloading from your digital camera
        2. 4.1.2. Scanning prints
          1. 4.1.2.1. Determining scan resolution
          2. 4.1.2.2. Preventing moiré patterns
      2. 4.2. Keeping Your Images Organized
        1. 4.2.1. Creating a folder structure
        2. 4.2.2. Using Adobe Bridge
        3. 4.2.3. Renaming image files easily
      3. 4.3. Printing Your Images
        1. 4.3.1. Cropping to a specific aspect ratio
        2. 4.3.2. Remembering resolution
        3. 4.3.3. Controlling color using FilePrint
        4. 4.3.4. Considering color management solutions
        5. 4.3.5. Printing alternatives
      4. 4.4. Sharing Your Images
        1. 4.4.1. Creating PDFs and Web sites
        2. 4.4.2. E-mailing your images
  7. II. Easy Enhancements for Digital Images
    1. 5. Adding Dark Shadows and Sparkling Highlights
      1. 5.1. Adjusting Tonality to Make Your Images Pop
      2. 5.2. Histograms Simplified
      3. 5.3. Using Photoshop's Auto Corrections
      4. 5.4. Levels and Curves and You
        1. 5.4.1. Level-headed you!
        2. 5.4.2. Tonal corrections with the eyedroppers
        3. 5.4.3. Adjusting your curves without dieting
      5. 5.5. Grabbing Even More Control
        1. 5.5.1. Using Shadow/Highlight
        2. 5.5.2. Changing exposure after the fact
        3. 5.5.3. Using Photoshop's toning tools
    2. 6. Making Color Look Natural
      1. 6.1. What Is Color in Photoshop?
        1. 6.1.1. Color modes, models, and depths
          1. 6.1.1.1. Which color mode should you choose?
          2. 6.1.1.2. Does a color model make a difference?
          3. 6.1.1.3. Why should you worry about color depth?
        2. 6.1.2. Recording color in your image
      2. 6.2. Making Color Adjustments in Photoshop
        1. 6.2.1. Watching the Histogram and Info panels
        2. 6.2.2. Choosing color adjustment commands
          1. 6.2.2.1. Auto Tone/Auto Contrast/Auto Color
          2. 6.2.2.2. Brightness/Contrast
          3. 6.2.2.3. Levels
          4. 6.2.2.4. Curves
          5. 6.2.2.5. Exposure
          6. 6.2.2.6. Vibrance
          7. 6.2.2.7. Hue/Saturation
          8. 6.2.2.8. Color Balance
          9. 6.2.2.9. Black & White
          10. 6.2.2.10. Photo Filter
          11. 6.2.2.11. Channel Mixer
          12. 6.2.2.12. Invert
          13. 6.2.2.13. Posterize
          14. 6.2.2.14. Threshold
          15. 6.2.2.15. Gradient Map
          16. 6.2.2.16. Selective Color
          17. 6.2.2.17. Shadow/Highlight
          18. 6.2.2.18. Variations
          19. 6.2.2.19. Desaturate
          20. 6.2.2.20. Match Color
          21. 6.2.2.21. Replace Color
          22. 6.2.2.22. Equalize
        3. 6.2.3. Working with Variations
        4. 6.2.4. Manual corrections in individual channels
      3. 6.3. The People Factor: Flesh Tone Formulas
    3. 7. The Adobe Camera Raw Plug-In
      1. 7.1. Understanding the Raw Facts
        1. 7.1.1. What's the big deal about Raw?
        2. 7.1.2. Working in Raw
      2. 7.2. Do You Have What It Takes?
      3. 7.3. Working in the Camera Raw Plug-In
        1. 7.3.1. Tools and preview options
        2. 7.3.2. The histogram
        3. 7.3.3. The preview area
        4. 7.3.4. Workflow options and presets
        5. 7.3.5. The Basic panel
        6. 7.3.6. Adjusting the tone curve
        7. 7.3.7. The Detail panel
        8. 7.3.8. HSL, grayscale, and split toning
        9. 7.3.9. Compensating with Lens Correction
        10. 7.3.10. Camera profiles, presets, and snapshots
        11. 7.3.11. The Camera Raw buttons
    4. 8. Fine-Tuning Your Fixes
      1. 8.1. What Is a Selection?
      2. 8.2. Feathering and Anti-Aliasing
      3. 8.3. Making Your Selections with Tools
        1. 8.3.1. Marquee selection tools
        2. 8.3.2. Lasso selection tools
        3. 8.3.3. The Quick Selection tool
        4. 8.3.4. The Magic Wand tool
        5. 8.3.5. Refine Edge
      4. 8.4. Your Selection Commands
        1. 8.4.1. The primary selection commands
        2. 8.4.2. The Color Range command
        3. 8.4.3. Selection modification commands
        4. 8.4.4. Transforming the shape of selections
        5. 8.4.5. The mask-related selection commands
      5. 8.5. Masks: Not Just for Halloween Anymore
        1. 8.5.1. Saving and loading selections
        2. 8.5.2. Editing an alpha channel
        3. 8.5.3. Working in Quick Mask mode
        4. 8.5.4. Adding masks to layers and Smart Objects
        5. 8.5.5. Masking with vector paths
      6. 8.6. Adjustment Layers: Controlling Changes
        1. 8.6.1. Adding an adjustment layer
        2. 8.6.2. Limiting your adjustments
    5. 9. Common Problems and Their Cures
      1. 9.1. Making People Prettier
        1. 9.1.1. Getting the red out . . . digitally
        2. 9.1.2. The digital fountain of youth
        3. 9.1.3. Dieting digitally
        4. 9.1.4. De-glaring glasses
        5. 9.1.5. Whitening teeth
      2. 9.2. Reducing Noise in Your Images
        1. 9.2.1. Decreasing digital noise
        2. 9.2.2. Eliminating luminance noise
      3. 9.3. Fooling Around with Mother Nature
        1. 9.3.1. Removing the unwanted from photos
        2. 9.3.2. Eliminating the lean: Fixing perspective
        3. 9.3.3. Rotating images precisely
  8. III. Creating "Art" in Photoshop
    1. 10. Combining Images
      1. 10.1. Compositing Images: 1 + 1 = 1
        1. 10.1.1. Understanding layers
        2. 10.1.2. Why you should use Smart Objects
        3. 10.1.3. Using the basic blending modes
        4. 10.1.4. Opacity, transparency, and layer masks
        5. 10.1.5. Creating clipping groups
        6. 10.1.6. Making composited elements look natural
      2. 10.2. Making Complex Selections
      3. 10.3. Vanishing Point
      4. 10.4. Putting Together Images Automatically
        1. 10.4.1. Creating panoramas with Photomerge
        2. 10.4.2. Combining exposures for HDR images
    2. 11. Precision Edges with Vector Paths
      1. 11.1. Pixels, Paths, and You
      2. 11.2. Easy Vectors: Using Shape Layers
        1. 11.2.1. Your basic shape tools
        2. 11.2.2. The Custom Shape tool
        3. 11.2.3. More custom shapes — free!
        4. 11.2.4. Changing the appearance of the shape layer
        5. 11.2.5. Simulating a multicolor shape layer
      3. 11.3. Using Your Pen Tool to Create Paths
        1. 11.3.1. Understanding paths
        2. 11.3.2. Clicking and dragging your way down the path of knowledge
        3. 11.3.3. A closer look at the Paths panel
          1. 11.3.3.1. Pick a path, any path
          2. 11.3.3.2. The Paths panel buttons
      4. 11.4. Customizing Any Path
        1. 11.4.1. Adding, deleting, and moving anchor points
        2. 11.4.2. Combining paths
        3. 11.4.3. Tweaking type for a custom font
    3. 12. Dressing Up Images with Layer Styles
      1. 12.1. What Are Layer Styles?
      2. 12.2. Using the Styles Panel
      3. 12.3. Creating Custom Layer Styles
        1. 12.3.1. Exploring the Layer Style menu
        2. 12.3.2. Exploring the Layer Style dialog box
        3. 12.3.3. Layer effects basics
          1. 12.3.3.1. Drop Shadow
          2. 12.3.3.2. Inner Shadow
          3. 12.3.3.3. Outer Glow
          4. 12.3.3.4. Inner Glow
          5. 12.3.3.5. Bevel and Emboss
          6. 12.3.3.6. Satin
          7. 12.3.3.7. Color Overlay
          8. 12.3.3.8. Gradient Overlay
          9. 12.3.3.9. Pattern Overlay
          10. 12.3.3.10. Stroke
        4. 12.3.4. Opacity, fill, and advanced blending
      4. 12.4. Saving Your Layer Styles
        1. 12.4.1. Adding styles to the Style panel
        2. 12.4.2. Preserving your layer styles
    4. 13. Giving Your Images a Text Message
      1. 13.1. Making a Word Worth a Thousand Pixels
        1. 13.1.1. A type tool for every season, or reason
        2. 13.1.2. What are all those options?
        3. 13.1.3. Taking control of your text with panels
        4. 13.1.4. The panel menus — even more options
        5. 13.1.5. Putting a picture in your text
      2. 13.2. Creating Paragraphs with Type Containers
        1. 13.2.1. Selecting alignment or justification
        2. 13.2.2. Ready, BREAK! Hyphenating your text
      3. 13.3. Shaping Up Your Language with Warp Text and Type on a Path
        1. 13.3.1. Applying the predefined warps
        2. 13.3.2. Customizing the course with paths
    5. 14. Painting in Photoshop
      1. 14.1. Discovering Photoshop's Painting Tools
        1. 14.1.1. Painting with the Brush tool
        2. 14.1.2. Adding color with the Pencil tool
        3. 14.1.3. Removing color with the Eraser tool
        4. 14.1.4. Picking a color
        5. 14.1.5. Working with other brush-using tools
        6. 14.1.6. Filling, stroking, and dumping to add color
        7. 14.1.7. Using gradients
      2. 14.2. Browsing the Brushes Panel
        1. 14.2.1. An overview of options
        2. 14.2.2. Creating and saving custom brush tips
    6. 15. Filters: The Fun Side of Photoshop
      1. 15.1. Smart Filters: Your Creative Insurance Policy
      2. 15.2. The Filters You Really Need
        1. 15.2.1. Sharpening to focus the eye
        2. 15.2.2. Unsharp Mask
        3. 15.2.3. Smart Sharpen
        4. 15.2.4. Blurring images or selections
        5. 15.2.5. Using the Lens Correction filter
        6. 15.2.6. Cleaning up with Reduce Noise
      3. 15.3. Getting Creative with the Filter Gallery
      4. 15.4. Push, Pull, and Twist with Liquify
      5. 15.5. Do I Need Those Other Filters?
        1. 15.5.1. Bending and bubbling
        2. 15.5.2. Creating clouds
  9. IV. Power Photoshop
    1. 16. Streamlining Your Work in Photoshop
      1. 16.1. Ready, Set, Action!
        1. 16.1.1. Recording your own Actions
        2. 16.1.2. Working with the Batch command
      2. 16.2. Sticking to the Script
      3. 16.3. Tooling around in Bridge
      4. 16.4. Creating Presentations and Multi-page PDFs
        1. 16.4.1. Creating a PDF presentation
        2. 16.4.2. Collecting thumbnails in a contact sheet
        3. 16.4.3. Saving paper with picture packages
      5. 16.5. Creating Web Galleries
    2. 17. Introducing Photoshop CS4 Extended
      1. 17.1. Understanding Photoshop CS4 Extended
      2. 17.2. Painting and Layers in 32-Bit Color
      3. 17.3. Smart Object Stack Modes
      4. 17.4. Working with 3D Artwork
      5. 17.5. Editing Imported Video
      6. 17.6. Measuring, Counting, and Analyzing Pixels
        1. 17.6.1. Measuring length, area, and more
        2. 17.6.2. Counting crows or maybe avian flu
      7. 17.7. Ignoring MATLAB, DICOM, and Other Initials
  10. V. The Part of Tens
    1. 18. Pete's Top Ten Favorite Photoshop Tips and Tricks
      1. 18.1. Adding Artistic and Creative Effects
        1. 18.1.1. Smoothing skin perfectly
        2. 18.1.2. From a photo to a painting
        3. 18.1.3. Creating a sketch from a photo
        4. 18.1.4. Creating snow or rain
        5. 18.1.5. The Glass Text effect
      2. 18.2. Useful Tricks to Make Life Easier
        1. 18.2.1. Changing product colors in a snap
        2. 18.2.2. Deleting a plain white background
        3. 18.2.3. Quick and easy edge effects
        4. 18.2.4. Making dashed and dotted lines
        5. 18.2.5. Print multiple documents at the same time
    2. 19. Ten Reasons to Love Your Wacom Tablet
      1. 19.1. More Natural Movement
      2. 19.2. Health and Safety
      3. 19.3. Artistic Control
      4. 19.4. Extended Comfort
      5. 19.5. Programmable ExpressKeys and Touch Strips
      6. 19.6. The Optimal Tablet
      7. 19.7. The Pen's Switch
      8. 19.8. Setting Preferences
      9. 19.9. Don't forget the accessories
      10. 19.10. Cintiq for the Ultimate Control
    3. 20. Ten Reasons to Own a Digital Camera
      1. 20.1. Shooting Digital for Your Work
      2. 20.2. Shooting Digital for Yourself
      3. 20.3. Shooting Digital for the Rest of Us

Product information

  • Title: Photoshop® CS4 For Dummies®
  • Author(s): Peter Bauer
  • Release date: October 2008
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9780470327258