Photoshop CS5: The Missing Manual

Rescuing the Unfixables

Sadly, even with all the tricks you've learned in this chapter, you can't fix every image. If you run into what seems to be an unfixable photo and you're desperate to salvage it, try one of these techniques:

• Use the Lab Pop technique described on Adding Lab Pop and use the Lightness channel to create unique, retro-style color.

• Create an overexposed, high-key effect (see CMYK Channels).

• Convert it to grayscale. By draining the color from your image, your color problems have no choice but to vanish (Chapter 8, beginning on Draining Color).

• Add a color tint using a Black & White or Photo Filter Adjustment layer (Cropping images or Photo Filter Adjustment Layers, respectively).

• Turn it into a duotone (The High-Key Effect).

• Use a Threshold adjustment to create a pure black-and-white image (High-Contrast Black and White).

• Use a combination of filters to turn your image into a pencil sketch (Stylize).

• Use a plug-in like LucisArt to create a high-contrast, grungy look (PhotoTools).

Power Users' Clinic: Processing Multiple Files

By now, you've probably realized how time consuming all this image-correction business can be. That's why it's important to know how to save time by correcting more than one image with a single adjustment. Happily, there are several ways to do that:

• Open multiple files in Camera Raw. If you're using Camera Raw, you can adjust several files at once by opening them all together, and then clicking the Select All button at the top left of the Camera Raw ...