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Prevent snapping

When dragging a layer or selection near the edge of a document or layer, Photoshop snaps the edge of the object you’re working with to the edge of the document, layer, or selection that’s currently active. To prevent this, hold down the Control (PC: Ctrl) key after you start dragging the layer or selection and the snapping will be temporarily disabled.

Reposition selections

Click-and-drag with the Rectangular Marquee tool (M) or Elliptical Marquee tool and then press-and-hold the Spacebar to reposition the selection before releasing the mouse button. This is especially useful when attempting to create an elliptical selection

that aligns with an existing object.

Cycle through blend modes

When the Move tool (V) is active, hold down the Shift key and press the plus (+) or minus (–) key to change the blend mode of the active layer in the Layers panel. If the Brush tool (B) or a retouching tool is active, then the same keyboard shortcut will change the

blend mode of the active tool instead in the Options Bar.

Fit on Screen

If you ever copy-and-paste an image from a larger image into a smaller one, and then proceed to transform (Command-T [PC: Ctrl-T]) the resulting layer, you’ll  find that the transformation handles appear outside your view of the document (because they’re beyond the document’s bounds). When that’s the case, press Command- 0 (PC: Ctrl-0) to use the Fit on Screen command to see the transformation handles that are attached to the active layer.

Reset any tool

If any tool is acting oddly, consider resetting the tool. Right-click on the tool icon in the upper-left corner of the Options Bar and choose Reset Tool from the menu that appears.

Multiple undos

Command-Z (PC: Ctrl-Z) works fine when all you want is to undo a single step. If you need to undo multiple steps, add the Option (PC: Alt) key to the aforementioned keyboard shortcut first to be able to apply multiple undos. You can also control how many undos are available. Choose Photoshop (PC: Edit)>Preferences> Performance and in the History & Cache section, change the History States setting.

Cycle through open windows

Press Control-Tab to cycle through the open documents in Photoshop. Adding the Shift key will reverse the direction that the documents are displayed in.

Brush to Eyedropper

Any time the Brush tool (B) is active, hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key and click on an open image to choose a color within the document to paint with. This is the same as temporarily switching to the Eyedropper tool (I).

Painting on a mask

When painting on a mask with the Brush tool (B), press X to swap the Foreground and Background colors, press D to reset the Foreground and Background colors to their defaults, and use the number keys on the keyboard to change the Opacity of the active brush in the Options Bar.

Target a layer

When the Move tool (V) is active, hold down the Command (PC: Ctrl) key and click to target the top-most layer that contains information that’s directly below your mouse position. Hold down the Shift key to add additional layers to the ones that are already selected.

"Mask" with Blend Modes for Easy Composites

The two images above do not really work for me separately.  I thought they might look better combined so I played around with them a bit.  I am not a big fan of spending a large amount of time selecting or masking unless I absolutely must.  When I do mask I use either Photoshop alone or Topaz Remask.  For this composite, I wanted to try a blend mode switch and see if I could avoid any selections or masks.  The process I used is below.

The first step was to create a stack by layering the two images in Photoshop.  I used the trees as a background and added a few Curves Adjustment Layers to fix tonal range, color cast, and add contrast (you could also do that in Lightroom first.)  At the top of the layer stack is my eagle fight shot.  I moved the eagles into a possible position and am now ready to try a blend mode switch.

With the eagle layer active I changed the blend mode to Darken.  The Darken blend mode works by displaying only the parts of the active layer that are darker than underlying pixels (in lower layers.)  I thought the eagles are darker than the sky so maybe it would work.  Unfortunately, the sky in the eagle layer is darker than the background sky.

To fix this little issue, I added a Curve Adjustment Layer and set it to affect only the eagle layer.  To do this click on the the click to clip to layer icon that looks like a dark circle on top of a light circle at the bottom of the Adjustments panel or hold down the Alt/Opt key and click on the line separating the eagle layer from the Curve layer (you will know you are in the right place when your cursor changes to the dark/light circle icon.)  When we set up a clipped layer the adjustment will only effect the layer it is clipped to.  In this case, the curve only modifies the eagle.  As I drag the curve up notice less of the sky around the eagles is visible.

I continued to move the curve up until the sky on the eagle layer was lighter than the sky of the background.  Now only the eagles themselves show up with the Darken blend mode.

Final step for me was a Black and White adjustment layer.  Not sure I will ever use the image but I like the result better than where I started and the technique is a great tool to have in your kit.  This also works in reverse using the Lighten blend mode.

The final composite

Fiat Lux!

Embrace the Group

As many of you know the power of Photoshop is found in the layer.  Taking that a little further, it is found in the combination of many layers to achieve just the look or design you are going for. 

Some users are hesitant at first but soon find themselves adding layer after layer in order to perfect an image.  As I walk around the classroom looking at people's work it is not unusual to find images with 25+ layers! 

With all those layers, things can get a little bit confused and cluttered.  We recommend two simple tips to help keep everything logical and organized.

A mess of layers.

1) Name every layer.  Of course, Photoshop does this for us but the auto generated layer names do not always tell us exactly what the layer is doing.  Try to name each layer with something simple that tells you immediately what the layer does for your image.  The simpler and more meaningful the better as you might revisit the image a day, a month, or a year in the future and will want to know quickly what each layer does. To rename a layer just double click on the current layer name and an editable text box will pop up.  If you happen to click in the wrong spot and the Layer Styles dialog opens, no worries.  Just close it and try again.

Layers with meaningul names but still cluttered.

2) Use groups!  Groups are like parent folders on your hard drive.  A parent folder may contain dozens of files.  When you want to see them all you expand the folder, when you don't collapse.  A group works the exact same way.)  When the layers start piling up see if there is a way to group them together.  For example, if you have five layers to optimize the sky put them into a group.  To create a group, highlight the layer or layers you want together and then position your mouse over any of the layer thumbnails.  Click, hold, and drag to the Group icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.  The group icon is the one that looks like a small folder.  It is the third from the right directly next to the create new layer icon.  Once you have a group remember to give it a meaningful name.  You can easily expand or collapse the group by clicking on the small triangle to the left of the group thumbnail (a folder icon.)

With properly named groups it is much more logical and organized.

You can have as many groups as you need or want.  Once you have a group you can also add  a layer mask to selectively reveal or conceal the effects of the entire group.

Try these two techniques and see if they help manage the possible confusion and clutter that comes with a multi layered document.

Fiat Lux!



The Torn Edges Border Effect

In Adobe Photoshop CS5 there are countless ways to get creative with your photography. One of my favorite ways to make an image stand out is to use a cool border effect. One style a lot of people like is the "Torn Edges" look.

We'll start by opening a new image in Adobe Photoshop. In the layers panel double click on the Background Layer and rename the layer "Border Effect," and hit OK. The layer is now unlocked and editable. Next, add a layer mask to the Border Effect layer by clicking on the Add Layer Mask icon located at the bottom of the layers panel; the symbol looks like a square with a small circle in the middle. You should now see a white layer mask appear on the right of your layer thumbnail.

Select the brush tool from your tools panel or tap the 'B' key. Be sure to set the foreground color to black and the background color to white. Next, go to your Brush panel (if you do not see it go to Window> Brush, Or, click the panel button  on the left side of the options bar. With the Brush panel open you'll see a list of brush setting displayed on the left. Start clean by unchecking all of the brush setting options. Click on 'Brush Tip Shape' located at the top. Displayed on the right will be several brush tip shapes, select a soft, round brush from the menu. In the brush options find the Size slider and make the brush between 120-125px in diameter. Be sure that hardness is set to 0% and spacing is at the default of 25%.

Go back to the brush settings list and select Dual Brush (when selected a check mark will automatically appear next to Dual Brush). In the dual brush settings select the 60px Chalk brush, leaving the brush options set at their defaults. In the brush stroke preview at the bottom of the Brush panel, you'll see your brush shape change from a soft round brush to a textured, rough edged brush. For now hide or close the Brush panel.

Now that the brush is configured to give uneven edges and texture, go back to your Border Effect layer. On the Border Effect layer click on the layer mask thumbnail to be sure that it is selected. Be sure that your brush tool is still selected and that you are painting with black. Move your cursor into the image and begin to paint along all four edges of your picture. You will see the edges of the image turn rough and uneven. The beauty of using a layer mask to create the border is the fact that it's non-destructive.

If you look at the border and decide it's not quite what you had in mind you can paint with white on the layer mask and reveal more of the original image. You can always modify the brush by changing the size and opacity. You can also experiment further with the brush shape by going back to the Brush panel and adjusting the spacing, scatter or count settings of the Dual Brush. Once you have found a brush you like save it as a preset! At the bottom right of the Brush panel you'll see a New Brush icon (this looks just like the New Layer icon in the Layers panel) Click on the New Brush icon and give your brush a distinct name like "Torn edges." You'll now be able to find the brush you created in the Brush Presets panel and use it whenever you need.

To finish the effect, create a new layer and fill with your color of choice (or leave it transparent) and move under your background in the layer stack.

You can follow these steps to create a variety of brush presets to use for creating fun and original borders for your images. You can also use the other Brush Settings in conjunction with Dual Brush to make even more styles of brushes.

If you have any questions about this or any of the tips you see here on the Light Workshops Blog contact us at info@LightWorkshops.com

Fiat Lux!

A Foggy Moon Eclipse

Last night my 3-yr old daughter and I were able to get a few snaps and a few videos of the eclipse. Though it was a light foggy night I was able to get a couple interesting shots of the moon getting covered up.

Reagan tried to get a few with her little Xsi and 85mm but she was not pleased with her results.

I set up the Canon 7D with a 100-400mm on an Induro CT-313 tripod and the BH-55 from Really Right Stuff with a Canon Cable Release (easy for a 3-yr old to handle as well). So actually, I guess Reagan took the majority of the photos!

Most everything was taken as stills during the video recording. Once I get the video put together I'll try to get something up so you can see the fog blowing by the moon. It was pretty spectacular to watch.

For this collage I opened several images from Lightroom as layers. I doubled the length of the canvas size and created a black background.  I masked the moons so that I could minimize the black area around them  (making it easier to grab them with the "auto select" tool option on my move tool as well as making the document size a bit smaller). That way when I click on each moon it automatically selects the moon I want. I then put each moon into a "lightening" blend mode...I chose Linear Dodge just to see how it looked and stuck with it. I'm sure there are others that would work just as well.

I then used guides to line up each of the moons so that they are centered on the document as well as in line with each other. I cropped any excess canvas off and Voila! A beautiful moon pano ready for Christmas!

Keep shooting! Even when you think it's too cloudy!

-Victoria