Photoshop CS5 All-in-One For Dummies E-Book

Barbara Obermeier

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1004

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

A full-color, value-packed reference to Photoshop CS5 Photoshop is the world's most popular image editing software, with more than four million users worldwide. Professional photographers, graphic designers, and web designers as well as photo hobbyists are eager to learn the newest features of Photoshop CS5. This complete reference makes it easy, with nine self-contained minibooks covering each aspect of Photoshop. * Photoshop is the image-editing software preferred by professional photographers and designers around the world; Photoshop CS5 is packed with new functionality and enhanced tools * This full-color guide includes nine self-contained minibooks: Photoshop Fundamentals; Image Essentials; Selections; Painting, Drawing, and Typing; Working with Layers; Channels and Masks; Filters and Distortions; Retouching and Restoration; and Photoshop and Print * Includes all the basics for beginners as well as how to manage color, modify and transform selections and paths, make corrections with filters, use the liquefy command, prepare graphics for print or the Web, create contact sheets and picture packages, and more With bonus information on the companion website and coverage for both Windows and Mac, Photoshop CS5 All-in-One For Dummies is an all-purpose reference.

Leseprobe

Photoshop® CS5 All-in-One For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

What’s in This Book

Book I: Photoshop Fundamentals

Book II: Image Essentials

Book III: Selections

Book IV: Painting, Drawing, and Typing

Book V: Working with Layers

Book VI: Channels and Masks

Book VII: Filters and Distortions

Book VIII: Retouching and Restoration

Book IX: Photoshop and Print

About the Web Site

Conventions Used in This Book

Icons Used in This Book

Book I: Photoshop Fundamentals

Book I: Chapter 1: Examining the Photoshop Environment

Launching Photoshop and Customizing the Desktop

Setting display settings with the Window menu

Setting up the status bar

Playing with Panels

Working with Your First Photoshop File

Opening, printing, and saving files

Making selections

Making simple image edits

Adjusting size, color, and contrast

Creating layers

Applying filters

Unifying with the Application bar

Simplifying your edits with the Options bar

Viewing and navigating the image

Introducing Adobe ConnectNow

Book I: Chapter 2: Getting to Know the Tools Panel

Turning On the Tools Panel

Selecting tools

Getting to know your tools

Introducing the Photoshop Tools

Using selection tools

Creating and modifying paths

Using painting tools

Using tools for cloning and healing

Creating effects with typographical tools

Using focus and toning tools

Creating shapes

Viewing, navigating, sampling, and annotating tools

Using tools for the Web

Saving Time with Tool Presets

Creating custom tool presets

Managing your presets

Book I: Chapter 3: Starting, Finishing, and Getting It on Paper

Browsing for Files

Opening an Image

Opening special files

Opening as a Smart Object

Placing Files

Creating a New Image

Saving a File

Closing and Quitting

Getting It on Paper

Taking a look at printers

Printing an image

Setting printing options

Book I: Chapter 4: Viewing and Navigating Images

Looking at the Image Window

Zooming In and Out of Image Windows

Zooming with keyboard shortcuts

Using the Zoom tool

Other ways to zoom

Handling the Hand tool

Rotating with the Rotate View tool

Cruising with the Navigator Panel

Choosing a Screen Mode

Getting Precise Layout Results

Creating guides

Using guides

Using grids

Measuring Onscreen

Measuring an object

Measuring an angle

Using the Info Panel

Working with Extras

Managing Images with Adobe Bridge

Brief anatomy of Bridge

Configuring the Bridge window

Using the Menu bar and buttons

Using keywords

Creating PDF Presentations

Creating a Web Gallery

Introducing Mini Bridge

Book I: Chapter 5: Customizing Your Workspace and Preferences

Creating Workspace Presets

Creating and Deleting Workspace Presets

Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts

Customizing Menus

Setting Your Preferences

Setting general preferences

Customizing the interface

Deciding how you want files handled

Handling performance options

Adjusting your cursors

Adjusting transparency and gamut

Setting measurement preferences

Setting up guides, grids, and slices

Adding plug-ins

Specifying type options

Using the Preset Manager

Book II: Image Essentials

Book II: Chapter 1: Specifying Size and Resolution

Putting Images under the Microscope

Vector images

Raster images

Viewing Raster Images Onscreen

Using the Image Size Command

Resampling Images

Adding pixels to an image

Taking pixels out of an image

Changing the Canvas Size

Cropping an Image

Using the Crop tool

Cropping with the Marquee tool

Using the Trim command

Using the Crop and Straighten Photo command

Book II: Chapter 2: Choosing Color Modes and File Formats

Selecting a Color Mode

RGB Color

CMYK Color

Grayscale

Monotone, Duotone, Tritone, and Quadtone

Indexed Color

Lab Color

Bitmap

Multichannel

Converting to a Different Color Mode

Converting from RGB to CMYK

Converting to grayscale

Using the Conditional Mode Change command

Choosing the Right File Format

TIFF

JPEG

JPEG 2000

GIF

EPS

PDF: The universal donor

Photoshop

Photoshop Raw

Camera Raw

BMP

Large Document Format (PSB)

Other file formats

Book II: Chapter 3: Using and Managing Color

Dealing with Foreground and Background Colors

Defining Color

Poking around Color Picker

Mixing with the Color panel

Grabbing color from the Swatches panel

Lifting and sampling color

Using the Color Sampler tool to measure color

Finding and Sharing Color Themes with Kuler

Color Management Essentials

Setting up your work environment

Calibrating your monitor

Establishing Your Settings

Handling Photoshop’s predefined settings

Indicating your working spaces

Working with your newly defined settings

Setting color-management policies

Getting Consistent Color among Adobe Applications

Proofing Colors in the Final Output (Soft Proofing)

Book II: Chapter 4: Time Travel — Undoing in Photoshop

Undoing What’s Done with the Undo Command

Reverting to What’s Saved

Working with the Almighty History Panel

Understanding states and snapshots

Introducing History panel options and tools

Viewing an Image’s Various States

Going back to a particular state

Reviewing your image at different states

Purging and clearing all states

Navigating the history list

Looking at the History Options Dialog Box

Taking Snapshots

Restoring Part of an Image

Using the Eraser with the Erase to History option

Using the History Brush tool

Using the Fill with History feature

Using the Art History Brush tool

Book II: Chapter 5: Creating Actions for Productivity and Fun

Using the Actions Panel

Introducing Preset Actions

Loading preset actions

Playing a preset action

Creating a New Action

Editing and Managing Actions

Rerecording an action

Editing an action

Creating and Saving Actions Sets

Batch Processing Actions

Creating Droplets

Book III: Selections

Book III: Chapter 1: Making Selections

Defining Selections

Marqueeing When You Can

Using the Rectangular Marquee tool

Using the Elliptical Marquee tool

Using the Single Column and Single Row Marquee tools

Using the Marquee options

Lassoing (When You Can’t Marquee)

Selecting straight sides with the Polygonal Lasso tool

Attracting with the Magnetic Lasso tool

Adjusting the Magnetic Lasso options

Performing Wand Wizardry

Selecting with the Magic Wand tool

Setting your tolerance

Using the Magic Wand Options bar

Saving Time with the Quick Selection Tool

Book III: Chapter 2: Creating and Working with Paths

Introducing Paths

Creating a Path with the Pen Tool

Knowing your Pen tool options

Creating your first work path

Drawing curves

Connecting a straight segment to a curve segment

Connecting curve segments with cusp points

Closing a path

Creating subpaths

Working with the Paths Panel

Creating a path

Creating a new path

Saving a work path

Deleting, duplicating, and renaming a path

Stroking a path

Filling a path

Loading Paths as Selections

Turning a Selection into a Path

Using the Kinder Freeform Pen

Curve Fit

Magnetic

Width, Contrast, Frequency, and Pen Pressure

Creating Paths without the Pen

Editing Paths

Using the Options Bar

Book III: Chapter 3: Modifying and Transforming Selections and Paths

Achieving Selection Perfection

Adding to a selection

Subtracting from a selection

Intersecting two selections

Getting the Keys to Behave

Using the Select Menu

Selecting all or nothing

Reselecting a selection

Swapping a selection

Feathering a selection

Using the other Modify commands

Applying the Grow and Similar commands

Moving and Cloning Selections

Cloning

Moving the selection outline, but not the pixels

Transforming Pixels

Transforming Selection Marquees

Using Content-Aware Scaling

Transforming Paths

Book IV: Painting, Drawing, and Typing

Book IV: Chapter 1: Painting and Drawing with Photoshop

Introducing the Pencil and Brush Tools

Finding out what the Pencil tool does

Using the Pencil tool

Painting with the Brush tool

Blending with the Mixer Brush tool

Working with the Brush panel

Choosing a brush-tip shape

Using the preset brushes

Viewing preset brushes

Drawing with Vector Shapes

Drawing a preset shape

Drawing multiple shapes in a shape layer

Setting Geometry options

Creating your own custom shape

Using vector masks

Manipulating shapes

Book IV: Chapter 2: Filling and Stroking

Filling a Selection with a Solid Color

Fill Options and Tips

Pouring with the Paint Bucket Tool

Stroking a Selection

Working with Gradients

Applying a preset gradient to a selection

Customizing and editing gradients

Adding transparency to a gradient

Managing and Saving Gradients

Working with Patterns

Applying a preset pattern

Creating a new pattern

Book IV: Chapter 3: Creating and Editing Type

Selecting a Type Mode

Understanding Different Kinds of Type

Exploring the Type Tools

Entering Text in Point Type Mode

Entering Text in Paragraph Type Mode

Creating Type on or in a Path

Using the Options Bar

Working with the Character Panel

Leading

Tracking

Kerning

Vertical and Horizontal Scale

Baseline shift and text attributes

Working with the Paragraph Panel

Changing paragraph alignment

Changing paragraph justification

Changing paragraph indentation

Changing spacing between paragraphs

Breaking long words across two lines

Editing Text

Finding and replacing text

Checking your spelling

Masking, Shaping, and Warping Type

Playing with type layer opacity

Creating fade effects

Creating type outlines

Rasterizing your type layer

Transforming type into vector shapes and paths

Wreaking havoc on your type

Book V: Working with Layers

Book V: Chapter 1: Creating Layers

Getting to Know the Layers Panel

Looking at the Background and Layers

Introducing Different Types of Layers

Using plain vanilla layers

Using adjustment layers

Taking advantage of fill layers

Making use of shape layers

Using type layers

Making Layers

Creating a new layer

Using Layer via Copy and Layer via Cut

Duplicating layers

Compositing with Multiple Images

Copying and pasting images

Dragging and dropping layers

Using the Paste Special commands

Transforming Layers

Using Puppet Warp

Auto-Align Layers

Auto-Blend Layers

Book V: Chapter 2: Managing Layers

Rearranging Layers

Moving Layer Elements

Aligning and Distributing Layers

Linking Layers

Locking Layers

Color-Coding Layers

Creating Layer Groups

Flattening and Merging Layers

Merging layers

Flattening layers

Working with the Layer Comps Panel

Book V: Chapter 3: Playing with Opacity and Blend Modes

Adjusting Layer Opacity

Adjusting the Fill Opacity

Creating Effects with Blend Modes

General blend modes

Blend modes that darken

Blend modes that lighten

Lighting blend modes

Blend modes that invert

HSL color model blend modes

Working with the Advanced Blending Options

Advanced options to blend with

Blend If options

Book V: Chapter 4: Getting Jazzy with Layer Styles and Clipping Groups

Layer Styles Basics

Introducing the Many Layer Styles

Applying a Layer Effect

Managing and Editing Layer Styles

Managing layer styles

Editing drop shadow or inner shadow effects

Changing default inner and outer glow effects

Editing Bevel and Emboss Effects

Structure

Shading

Texture

Contour

Editing Satin Effects

Changing Overlay Effects

Changing Stroke Effects

Playing with Contours

Adjusting contour settings

Modifying contours with the Contour Editor

Applying and Modifying Preset Styles

Managing preset styles

Saving your own style

Clipping Layers into Masks

Book V: Chapter 5: Working with Smart Objects

Introducing Smart Objects

Creating Smart Objects

Placing artwork

Copying and pasting

Converting a layer into a Smart Object and vice versa

Creating one Smart Object from another

Editing Smart Objects

Replacing contents

Exporting contents

Book VI: Channels and Masks

Book VI: Chapter 1: Using Channels

Understanding Channels

Working with Channels

Viewing channels without a remote

Changing the default channel view

Duplicating and deleting channels

Rearranging and renaming channels

Splitting channels

Merging channels

Using Painting and Editing Tools with Channels

Introducing Alpha Channels

Saving a selection as an alpha channel

Loading an alpha channel

Using the Channel Mixer

Book VI: Chapter 2: Quick-and-Dirty Masking

Working with Quick Masks

Using the Color Range Command

Starting with Color Range basics

Executing the Color Range command

Selective Erasing with the Eraser Tools

Erasing to the background or transparency

Selecting and erasing by color

Removing an image’s background

Book VI: Chapter 3: Getting Exact with Advanced Masking Techniques

Working with the Masks Panel

Working with Layer Masks

Creating layer masks

Using the Gradient and Brush tools on a layer mask

Managing layer masks

Creating and Editing Vector Masks

Adding a vector mask to a layer

Managing vector masks

Creating Channel Masks

Book VII: Filters and Distortions

Book VII: Chapter 1: Making Corrections with Daily Filters

You Say You Want a Convolution?

Corrective and destructive filters

Filter basics

Introducing Smart Filters

Sharpening What’s Soft

Sharpen

Sharpen More

Sharpen Edges

Smart Sharpen

Unsharp Mask

Blurring What’s Sharp

Smoothing with the Facet and Median Filters

The Facet filter

The Median filter

Applying a Filter Again

Fading a Filter

Selectively Applying a Filter

Book VII: Chapter 2: Applying Filters for Special Occasions

Working in the Filter Gallery

Getting Artsy

Stroking Your Image with Filters

Distorting for Fun

Pumping Up the Noise

Pumping Down the Noise

Breaking Your Image into Pieces

Rendering

Using the Clouds filter

Creating fibers

Using other rendering filters

Getting Organic with the Sketch Filters

Adding Texture

Looking at the Other Filters

Book VII: Chapter 3: Distorting with the Liquify Command

Exploring the Liquify Window

The painting tools

The other tools

The Options Areas

Transforming an Image

Mastering Freezing and Thawing

Reconstructing an Image

Extending and Cloning Distortions

Reconstruct modes

More Reconstruct modes

Using Displace, Amplitwist, and Affine

Book VIII: Retouching and Restoration

Book VIII: Chapter 1: Enhancing Images with Adjustments

Introducing the Histogram Panel

Choosing Automatic Color Correctors

Auto Tone

Auto Color

Auto Contrast

Setting Auto Color Correction Options

Using Simple Color Correctors

Applying Brightness/Contrast

Tweaking with the Color Balance controls

Fixing lighting with Shadows/Highlights

Adjusting exposure

Using HDR Toning

Correcting colorcast with Variations

Washing out color with Desaturate

Working with Professional Color Correctors

Leveling for better contrast

Setting black and white points manually

Adjusting curves for hard-to-correct photos

Converting to Black & White

Getting colorful with Hue/Saturation

Using the Colorize option

Pumping up the Vibrance

Matching Color between Documents

Switching Colors with Replace Color

Increasing and Decreasing Color

Using the Selective Color command

Using gradient maps

Adding color with photo filters

Playing with the color mappers

Book VIII: Chapter 2: Repairing with Focus and Toning Tools

Lightening and Darkening with Dodge and Burn Tools

Turning Down the Color with the Sponge Tool

Smoothing with the Smudge Tool

Softening with the Blur Tool

Cranking Up the Focus with the Sharpen Tool

Book VIII: Chapter 3: Fixing Flaws and Removing What’s Not Wanted

Cloning with the Clone Stamp Tool

Using the Clone Stamp tool

Tips for excellent cloning results

Digital Bandaging with the Healing Brush Tool

Patching without Seams

Zeroing In with the Spot Healing Brush

Colorizing with the Color Replacement Tool

Getting Rid of Dreaded Red-Eye

Working with Vanishing Point

Book IX: Photoshop and Print

Book IX: Chapter 1: Prepping Graphics for Print

Getting the Right Resolution, Mode, and Format

Resolution and modes

Screen frequencies

File formats

Working with a Service Bureau

Getting the ball rolling

Using a prepress checklist

Saving and Printing Vector Data in a Raster File

Choosing Color Management Print Options

Getting Four-Color Separations

Creating Spot Color Separations

Creating a spot channel

Editing a spot channel

Book IX: Chapter 2: Using Photomerge and Merge to HDR Pro

Using the Photomerge Command

Using the Merge to HDR Pro Command

Photoshop® CS5 All-in-One For Dummies®

by Barbara Obermeier

Photoshop® CS5 All-in-One For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River StreetHoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Photoshop is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2010925703

ISBN: 978-0-470-60821-0

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

Barbara Obermeier is principal of Obermeier Design, a graphic design studio in Ventura, California. She’s the author or co-author of over 19 publications, including Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies, How-to-Wow with Illustrator, and Digital Photography Just the Steps For Dummies, 2nd Edition. Barb also teaches graphic design at Brooks Institute.

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to Gary, Kylie, and Lucky, who constantly remind me of what’s really important in life.

Author’s Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my excellent project editor, Nicole Sholly, who kept me and this book on track; Bob Woerner, the world’s best Executive Editor; Andy Cummings, who gives Dummies a good name; David Busch, for his great contribution to the first edition; Dennis Cohen, for his technical editing; and all the hard-working, dedicated production folks at Wiley. A special thanks to Ted Padova, colleague, fellow author, and friend, who always reminds me there is eventually an end to all those chapters.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Nicole Sholly

Executive Editor: Bob Woerner

Copy Editors: Heidi Unger, Brian Walls

Technical Editor: Dennis R. Cohen

Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner

Media Development Project Manager: Laura Moss-Hollister

Media Development Assistant Project Manager: Jenny Swisher

Media Development Associate Producers: Josh Frank, Marilyn Hummel, Douglas Kuhn, Shawn Patrick

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Katherine Crocker

Layout and Graphics: Claudia Bell, Samantha Cherolis, Joyce Haughey, Erin Zeltner

Proofreader: Melissa D. Buddendeck

Indexer: Sherry Massey

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Introduction

There’s a reason why Photoshop is the world’s industry standard in image-editing software. The depth and breadth of the program is unparalleled. Photoshop immediately sucks you in with its easy-to-use interface and powerful tools and commands. It’s so feature rich that you soon begin to lose track of time and start blowing off your commitments just to try one more thing. And just when you think you’ve finally explored every nook and cranny and mastered the program, you suddenly read a tip in a book or magazine that enlightens you about something you didn’t know. Or even more likely, you stumble upon some great effect while working on a late-night project. That’s the beauty of Photoshop. It’s the program that just keeps giving.

The depth and breadth of Photoshop has downsides, too, of course. You must make a major time commitment and invest much effort to master it — hence the large number of books written on the program. Walk into your neighborhood bookstore or type Photoshop in the Search field at any online bookseller’s site, and you see a barrage of choices. Some books are general reference books, some are targeted toward the novice user, and others focus on a specific mission, such as color management or restoration and retouching.

About This Book

This book is written for the person who has a good grasp of using a computer and navigating the operating system and at least a cursory knowledge of Photoshop. It is intended to be a comprehensive reference book that you can read cover to cover or reach for when you’re looking for specific information about a particular task.

Wherever I can, I sneak in a useful tip or an interesting technique to help you put Photoshop to work for your project needs.

Sometimes, knowing how to use a tool doesn’t necessarily mean that you know what to do with it. That’s why this book contains several Putting It Together exercises that help you make a connection between the multiple Photoshop tools at your disposal and the very specific task you need to accomplish. Want to get the red out of a subject’s eyes or create a collage? Just check out the Putting It Together sections in Books III through IX. These sections present info in easy-to-follow numbered steps, in a hands-on style, building on what’s presented in the chapter so that you can go to the next level, put concepts to work, and move on to the next task.

You can find images that appear within the Putting It Together sections on this book’s companion Web site (www.dummies.com/go/photoshopcs5aiofd), so you can follow along precisely with the steps.

What’s in This Book

This book is broken into minibooks, each covering a general topic. Each minibook contains several chapters, each covering a more specific topic under the general one. Each chapter is then divided into sections, and some of those sections have subsections. I’m sure you get the picture.

You can read the book from front to back, or you can dive right into the minibook or chapter of your choice. Either way works just fine. Anytime a concept is mentioned that isn’t covered in depth in that chapter, you find a cross-reference to another book and chapter where you find all the details. If you’re looking for something specific, check out either the Table of Contents or the Index.

The Cheat Sheet at Dummies.com (find more information inside the front cover) helps you remember all the shortcuts you’ll use most often. Print it, tape it to your monitor, and glance over it when you need to.

And finally, I have pictures. Lots of them. In full, living color. Many of these pictures have callouts that point to specific steps or identify important concepts, buttons, tools, or options. With a program like Photoshop, an image often speaks louder than words.

This book contains nine minibooks. The following sections offer a quick synopsis of what each book contains.

Book I: Photoshop Fundamentals

Ready to get your feet wet with the basics of Photoshop? Head to Book I. Here’s where you get familiar with the Photoshop environment — the desktop, menus, and panels. I also briefly introduce the key tools and explain what each one does.

Photoshop has such an abundance of tools — and so many ways to use those tools — I can’t possibly cover them all in this book. But if you’re looking for details on the less commonly used features or perhaps more information about using tools you’re already familiar with, you’ll find them on this book’s companion Web site (www.dummies.com/go/photoshopcs5aiofd).

In this book, I cover how to get started on Photoshop and how to view and navigate your image window. Here’s also where I give you all the important details about the o’mighty Adobe Bridge, and the new Mini Bridge, and how to customize your workspace and preference settings.

Finally, I go into the bare basics of printing, and then how to save files and close Photoshop.

Book II: Image Essentials

This book covers all those nitpicky — but critical — details about images, such as size, resolution, pixel dimension, image mode, and file format. Turn to this book to find out how to safely resize your image without causing undue damage.

You can also find out how to crop images and increase their canvas size. In addition, I breeze through basic color theory and get you started using and managing color.

But wait — there’s more. I give you the lowdown on the History panel and brushing and erasing to history. And, if that’s not enough, I throw in a chapter on using and creating actions for enhanced productivity.

Book III: Selections

This important book gives you all the juicy details and techniques on creating and modifying selections and paths. You find out about each of the selection tools and also the powerful — albeit sometimes unruly — Pen tool and its accompanying Paths panel.

Book IV: Painting, Drawing, and Typing

If you want to know about the drawing and painting tools, this book is for you. Here I cover the Brush and Pencil tools, including the new Mixer Brush tool, along with the multifaceted Brush panel and new Brush Preset Picker panel. I also show you how to create vector shapes by using the shape tools, and how to fill and stroke selections.

Head to this book to find out how to create both gradients and patterns and, last but not least, become familiar with the type tools and how to use them to create and edit standard type, type on and in a path, and type with special effects.

Book V: Working with Layers

Layers are an integral component in a Photoshop image, and Book V is where I explain them. In this book, you discover how to create and edit layers and how to use multiple images to create a multilayered composite image. You find out various ways to manage layers for maximum efficiency, including using the Layer Comps panel. I also show you how to enhance layers by applying different blend modes, opacity settings, layer styles, and styles. I round out the minibook by covering Smart Objects. And finally, I introduce you to working with the Auto Align and Auto Blend features.

Book VI: Channels and Masks

This book gives you all the how-tos you need to work with channels and masks. I show you how to save and edit selections as alpha channels so that you can reload them later. And I show you how to work with the various kinds of masks — quick masks, clipping masks, layer masks, and channel masks — and how you can use each to select difficult elements. I also cover other masking techniques, such as erasing and using the Color Range command. Finally, I introduce you to the Masks panel, a powerful ally to the masking arsenal.

Book VII: Filters and Distortions

I filled this book with tons of handy tips and techniques on using filters to correct your images to make them sharper, blurrier, cleaner, and smoother — whatever fits your fancy. I give you the scoop on the Smart Filters feature, which enables you to apply filters nondestructively. You also find out how to use filters to give your image a certain special effect, such as a deckled edge or water droplets. Finally, I introduce the Liquify command so that you can see the wonder of its distortion tools — and how they can turn your image into digital taffy.

Book VIII: Retouching and Restoration

You find everything you need to know about color correction or color enhancement in Book VIII — getting rid of colorcasts, improving contrast and saturation, remapping, and replacing colors.

In addition, I include a chapter on using the focus and toning tools to manually lighten, darken, smooth, soften, and sharpen areas of your image. You get to see how you can use the Clone Stamp tool, the Healing tools, and the Red Eye tool to fix flaws and imperfections in your images, making them good as new. I also show you the Color Replacement tool and how to replace your image’s original color with the foreground color. Finally, you get some tidbits on how to work with the fascinating Vanishing Point feature, which can make editing and compositing images a whole lot easier.

Book IX: Photoshop and Print

This book gives you the lowdown on preparing your images for print. You find details on how to get the right resolution, image mode, and file format. You also discover how to set up both process and spot color separations for those offset print jobs.

About the Web Site

For those Web graphics enthusiasts, you find lots of great bonus chapter material on this book’s companion Web site (www.dummies.com/go/photoshopcs5aiofd). Find out how to optimize your images for maximum quality and quick download times. You also find information on slicing and animating your images and creating a photo gallery that you can easily post on the Web.

Conventions Used in This Book

You’ll find that this book is cross-platform. Windows commands are given first, followed by Mac commands in parentheses, like this:

Press Enter (or Return on the Mac) to begin a new line.

And occasionally, text is specific to one platform or another. You’ll find that figures are divided into both platforms as well.

Often, the commands given involve using the keyboard along with the mouse. For example, “Press Shift while dragging with the Rectangular Marquee tool to create a square,” or “Alt-click (Option-click) on the eyeball to redisplay all layers.”

When you see a command arrow (⇒) in the text, it indicates that you should select a command from the menu bar. For example, “choose Edit⇒Define Custom Shape” means to click the Edit menu and then choose the Define Custom Shape command.

This book has been written using Photoshop CS5 and, more specifically, the Standard version. Despite that fact, you can still glean valuable info if you’re using version CS4 or CS3. It may take a little more time to understand how a panel or options have changed, and of course, the topics covering new features won’t be applicable.

Speaking of new features, when writing this book, it wasn’t exactly crystal clear what new CS5 features Adobe would be including in the Standard versus Extended versions of Photoshop. So if I’ve included (or not) a particular tool or command that you don’t have, my apologies in advance.

Icons Used in This Book

While perusing this book, you’ll notice some icons beckoning you for your attention. Don’t ignore them; embrace them! These icons point out fun, useful, and memorable tidbits about Photoshop, plus facts you’d be unwise to ignore.

Seasoned users will appreciate this icon, which kindly points out new features introduced in Photoshop CS5.

This icon indicates information that makes your Photoshop experience easier. It also gives you an icebreaker at your next cocktail party. Whipping out, “Did you know that pressing the bracket keys enlarges or shrinks your brush tip?” is bound to make you the center of conversation.

This icon is a reminder of things that I already mentioned and want to gently re-emphasize. Or I might be pointing out things that I want you to take note of in your future Photoshop excursions.

The little bomb icon is a red flag. Heed these warnings, or else Photoshop may show its ugly side.

This icon marks eggheady graphics or Photoshop info that goes beyond the basics.

This icon points to related content you’ll find on this book’s companion Web site, which you can find at www.dummies.com/go/photoshopcs5aiofd.

Book I

Photoshop Fundamentals

Don’t know where to start? Well, unless you have a burning question on something very specific, this is a great place to dive in. And I promise you won’t flounder. There’s nothing like a general overview to get you feeling confident enough to tackle more sophisticated features.

In this book, I introduce you to the Photoshop environment with all its components, from the desktop to the many panels. I show you each of the 71 tools and briefly explain what each tool does. From there, I show you how to open existing files or create new ones and then how to save and print those files, as well as how to view and navigate around your image window. In that same chapter, I give you details on using Adobe Bridge, a powerful browser and file-management tool, as well as the new mini Bridge. Finally, I explain how to customize your workspace and preferences so you can tailor Photoshop to better suit your personal image-editing needs and interests. I guarantee you won’t find a more accommodating image editor around.

Chapter 1: Examining the Photoshop Environment

In This Chapter

Starting Photoshop

Examining the Photoshop desktop

Working with panels

Discovering the Application bar

Investigating the Menu bar and the Options bar

As environments go, the Photoshop working environment is pretty cool: as inviting as a landscaped backyard and not nearly as likely to work you into a sweat. Each of Photoshop’s many tools — with more options than a Swiss Army knife — is custom-designed for a specific chore. When you’re familiar with your surroundings, you’ll be eager to make like Monet in his garden, surrounded by panels, brushes, buckets of paint, and swatches of color, ready to tackle the canvas in front of you.

Launching Photoshop and Customizing the Desktop

You start Photoshop the same way you launch any other program with Windows or the Mac OS. As with other programs, you can choose the method you find the easiest and most convenient. In Windows, you can launch programs from the Start menu or an icon on the taskbar. In Mac OS X, you may have a Photoshop icon on the Dock. In either Windows or Mac OS X, you can double-click a Photoshop shortcut or alias icon if you have one on your desktop. Finally, you can double-click an image associated with Photoshop, which then launches Photoshop along with the file.

When you launch Photoshop, the workspace, shown in Figure 1-1, appears.Like the real-world desktop where your keyboard and monitor reside, the Photoshop desktop is a place for you to put all the images you’re working with.

Within the Photoshop application window, you see a variety of other windows and boxes, such as the image window that enables you to view and edit images. The application window contains the stuff you’re probably used to seeing in other programs — a title bar at the top of the window, a status bar at the bottom (unless you have it turned off) if you’re a Windows user, and menus to help you execute commands and get important information about your image files. However, the arrangement of controls may be a little unfamiliar to you. Photoshop arranges controls into groups, or panels.

Your virtual desktop can become as cluttered as the real thing, but Adobe has built in some special features (located on the Options bar, which I discuss later in this chapter) that let you keep stuff close at hand but tuck things away so they’re not constantly underfoot (or under-mouse, so to speak).

Digital Vision

Figure 1-1: The Photoshop desktop consists of many components, including an image window, panels, and bars.

After you arrange your Photoshop desktop the way you like it for a specific project, you can even save the desktop and reuse it whenever you work on that project (see Book I, Chapter 5 for details).

Every image you work on appears within the confines of the image window. However, you can move some components, such as the various panels and the Options bar, both inside and outside the Photoshop application window.

The following sections show you how to customize the workspace so you can get to work.

Setting display settings with the Window menu

The Window menu, shown in Figure 1-2, controls the display of panels and some other elements of the Photoshop workspace. (Find out more about maneuvering panels in the section “Playing with Panels,” later in this chapter.)

Figure 1-2: Access all panels via the Window menu.

The top two entries on the Window menu enable you to control the display arrangement of your open documents and manage your workspaces.

On the Window⇒Arrange submenu, you can tell Photoshop to cascade (stack) or tile (butt edge to edge) all open documents. Your images must be floating in their windows to enable this option (Window⇒Arrange⇒Float All in Windows).

Photoshop also sports what’s referred to as an application frame. Open documents are tabbed together neatly, one stacked behind the other. If you yearn for the old days and want your images to float within the application, choose Float in Window (for the currently selected image only) and Float All in Windows (for all your images) commands in the Arrange submenu.

Table 1-1 gives you the lowdown about the other options on the Window⇒Arrange submenu.

The remaining bulk of the Window menu contains a list of panels (in alphabetical order) and currently open documents.

Table 1-1 The Window⇒Arrange Submenu

Menu Command

What It Does

Consolidate All to Tabs

Takes your open floating documents and tabs them together under the Options bar.

Match Zoom

Takes your open documents and matches the magnification percentage of your active document.

Match Location

Takes your open documents and matches the location of your active document. For example, if you’re viewing the lower-left corner of your active document and choose Match Location, all your open documents display from the lower-left corner.

Match Rotation

Takes your open documents and matches the canvas rotation of your active document.

Match All

Employs all Match commands simultaneously.

New Window

Opens another view of the same image, allowing you to work on a close-up part of the image while viewing results on the entire image.

Minimize (Mac only)

Hides the image while placing the image’s thumbnail on the Dock. Click the thumbnail to restore the image in Photoshop.

Bring All to Front (Mac only)

If you have multiple applications launched, thus multiple document windows open, this command brings all Photoshop documents to the front, ahead of any document windows from other open applications.

Setting up the status bar

Each Photoshop image window comes equipped with a status bar. Many people tend to associate status with wealth, so I think there’s a good reason to accept the free wealth of information that the status bar offers:

On the far left of the bar is a box that displays an active image’s current zoom level (such as 33.33%). Incidentally, the title bar of the document itself also shows the zoom level.

If you installed Photoshop to a networked computer and you activate the workgroup features, which enable file sharing and other perks, you see the icon for the Workgroup Services pop-up menu just to the right of the zoom-info box.

To the right of the zoom level is the display area for file and image information — which, by default, shows the document profile.

To display other types of information, click the right arrow in the status bar, choose Show, and select one of the following options from the menu that appears (as shown in Figure 1-3):

Adobe Drive: If you’re a Version Cue user, you can select this option, which enables you to connect to Version Cue servers. When you connect via Adobe Drive, you can open and save Version Cue files. Adobe has decided to discontinue Version Cue, so the future of the Adobe Drive feature is unknown.

PhotoDisc

Figure 1-3: The status bar provides a wealth of vital information about your image.

Document Sizes: When you select this option, Photoshop displays two numbers to approximate the size of the image. The first number shows you the size of the file if you were to flatten (combine) all the layers into one and save it to your hard drive in the native Photoshop file format. The number on the right shows the size of the file, including layers, channels, and other components, and how much data Photoshop has to juggle while you’re working on the file. You want this option active when you need to keep track of how large your image is.

Document Profile: When you select this option, the status bar displays the name of the color profile that the image uses, as well as the number of bits per channel. You probably won’t use this option unless you need to know the profiles of all the open documents while making complex color corrections. (You can find more information about profiles in Book II, Chapter 3.)

Document Dimensions: When you select this option, the status bar shows you the size of the image by using the default measurement increment you’ve set in Photoshop’s Preferences (pixels, inches, picas, and so on). You might need this information to reference the physical dimensions of your open files. For information on setting preferences in Photoshop, see Book I, Chapter 5.

Measurement Scale: Displays the scale of the document. For example, 1 pixel=1.0000 pixels.

Scratch Sizes: Scratch space is the virtual memory set aside on your hard drive to simulate RAM and make editing large files easier. Enabling this option shows two measurements for an active image. On the left, you see the amount of real memory and virtual memory that all open images are using. On the right, you see the total amount of RAM available for working with images. Photoshop needs a lot more memory and disk space to work on an image while that image is open, shown by the Scratch Sizes display, as opposed to the Document Size display that shows only the file size of the document.

Efficiency: This indicator helps you gauge whether you really have enough RAM to perform a task. It shows the percentage of time Photoshop spends actually working on an operation, compared to the time it must spend reading or writing image information to or from your hard disk. If the value dips below 100 percent most of the time, you need to allocate more memory to Photoshop (if you’re using a Windows PC). For more information on parceling out RAM, see Book I, Chapter 5.

Timing: This number shows you how long it took you to complete your most recent incredible feat.

Current Tool: This option shows you the name of the tool currently in use.

32-Bit Exposure: This option is for adjusting the preview image for viewing 32-bit High Dynamic Range (HDR) images. The slider control is available only if you have an HDR image open. Book IX, Chapter 2 covers HDR.

Playing with Panels

Many image-oriented programs use panels of a sort, and Photoshop has had panels (formerly called palettes) since version 1.0 (released in January 1990). However, since Photoshop 3.0, the program has used a novel way of working with panels. Rather than standalone windows, Photoshop uses grouped, tabbed panels, which overlap each other in groups of two or three (or more, if you rearrange them yourself). To access a panel that falls behind the one displayed on top, click the panel’s tab. By default, some panels, such as Tool Presets, appear alone.

Panels may contain sliders, buttons, drop-down lists, pop-up menus (as shown in Figure 1-4), and other controls. You also find icons at the bottom of many panels. For example, at the base of the Layers panel are command icons that let you create a new layer, add a layer style, or trash a layer that you no longer want. Many panels — such as the Brush, Styles, Actions, and Color panels — include options for defining sets of parameters (called presets) that you can store for reuse at any time.

Figure 1-4: Panels contain various command icons for editing and managing your image.

Whatever name you call them, palettes or panels, they still hold the same information. They’re streamlined and easily tucked away and expanded, as needed. By default, the panels are anchored in the top-right by a multitiered dock.

Here’s how to open, close, and otherwise manipulate a panel group, which can be accessed easily from the Window menu:

To expand a panel: Panels are represented by icons when collapsed. To expand a panel, simply click its icon. You can also select a panel by choosing it in the Window menu.

To bring a panel to the front of its group: When the panel group is expanded, the visible panel is the panel that has a check mark next to it on the Window menu. In this mode, you can select only one panel in any group because only one tab in a group can be on top at one time. When you select a panel from the Window menu, you have no way of knowing which panels are grouped together because Adobe lists panels alphabetically, rather than by groups. To bring a specific panel to the front, click its tab (when expanded) or icon (when collapsed).

To move a panel out of its group: Grab the panel’s tab with your mouse and drag it to its new location, such as another group, the panel dock, or the Photoshop desktop. If you move the panels out of their groups or drag them onto the desktop so they stand alone, any of them can be selected in the Window menu.

To collapse a panel: Click the gray area next to the tab.

To close a panel: Select a check-marked panel in the Window menu. The whole panel group closes. You can also select Close or Close Tab Group from the panel’s pop-up menu.

Here are some more panel-manipulation tips:

Expand or collapse the dock. To do so, click on the double triangles at the top of the dock.

Reduce a panel to its icon. Drag the panel by its tab and position it below the existing column of icons. Release your mouse button to make the panel collapse to its corresponding icon.

Save space by keeping panels in groups. You can move all the panels in a group by dragging the gray area to the right of the group’s tab. Access an individual panel by clicking its tab to bring it to the front. As a result, several panels occupy the screen space required by only one.

Use the Window menu if you can’t find a panel. On the Window menu, select the panel’s name to make it visible or to bring it to the top of its group.

Customize, customize, customize. After you use Photoshop for a while, creating your own custom panel groups based on the panels you most often use can be a real timesaver. For example, if you don’t use the Paths panel very often but can’t live without the Actions panel, you can drag the Paths panel to another group or to the panel dock area, and put the Actions panel in the same group as the mission-critical Layers and Channels panels.

Restore default panel locations, when desired. If you decide you don’t like the way you’ve arranged your panels, you can choose Window⇒Workspace⇒Essentials (Default) to return them to the default configuration (the way they were when Photoshop was installed).

Many panels (for example, the Swatches and Character panels) allow you to reset the settings back to their defaults. To do so, select Reset from the panel’s pop-up menu located in the top-right corner.

Working with Your First Photoshop File

So many menus, so little time! The second you begin working with Photoshop, you may be convinced that Adobe’s flagship image editor has approximately 8,192 different menu selections for you to choose from. In truth, Photoshop has only about 500-plus separate menu items, including some duplicates. That figure doesn’t count the 100 or so entries for filter plug-ins (which can expand alarmingly when you add third-party goodies). However, even 500-plus menu items are considerably more than you find in the most ambitious restaurants. Basically, if you want to do something in Photoshop, you need to use the Menu bar (or its equivalent command snuggled within a panel menu). If you’re using the Mac OS, the Photoshop Menu bar may share space with Finder components (such as the Apple menu).

The following sections offer a summary of what you can find and where you can find it.

Photoshop also helps you by providing efficient context menus, which change their listings depending on what you’re doing. You don’t see options you don’t need; you see options appropriate to what you’re working on. Right-click (Right-click or Control-click on the Mac) to bring up the menu.

Opening, printing, and saving files

The File menu offers a cornucopia of file options, from opening new images and opening saved files to browsing existing files, closing files, and saving files. You’ll find automate, scripts, and print commands, too. To open a file, choose File⇒Open and navigate to the folder containing the file you want to open. Select the file and click Open. For detailed instructions on the many ways you can open files, see Book I, Chapter 3.

Making selections

Selections let you work with only part of an image. You can select an entire layer or only portions of a layer with one of the selection tools, such as the Marquee or Magic Wand tool. The Select menu offers several commands to modify your selection — from capturing more pixels to softening the edges of the selection. The Select menu (shown in Figure 1-5) is short and sweet, but the capability and control that the menu unleashes is nothing short of an image-editing miracle.

Understanding selections is such an important cornerstone to your Photoshop knowledge that I devote an entire minibook (Book III) to showing you how to use them.

Making simple image edits

The Edit menu contains tools that enable you to cut, copy, or paste image selections in several ways. You can fill selections or stroke their outlines (create a line along their edges), which I explain in more detail in Book IV, Chapter 2. You can use the Edit menu to rotate, resize, distort, or perform other transformations (changes in size or shape) on your selections (see Book III, Chapter 3). Additionally, you can undo the last change you made in Photoshop, fade a filter, check your spelling, or find and replace text.

Purestock

Figure 1-5: The Select menu offers commands for making, modifying, saving, and loading your selections.

Adjusting size, color, and contrast

You’d think the Image menu (shown in Figure 1-6) might have something to do with making changes to an entire image document, wouldn’t you? In practice, some of the entries you find here do apply to the whole document, but others can apply to only particular layers or selections.

For example, the Mode menu item allows you to change an entire image from color to grayscale. The Image Size, Canvas Size, Image Rotation, Crop, and Trim selections all change the whole document in some way. On the other hand, you can only apply the changes wrought from the Adjustments submenu to an entire image if the document consists of only a background and has no layers. If the document has more than one layer, then adjustments such as Color Balance, Hue/Saturation, or Levels work only with a single layer or a selection on that layer.

The Variables and Apply Data Set commands work with data-driven graphics. Briefly, data-driven graphics make it possible to quickly produce multiple versions of an image for print and Web projects. Multiple versions allow for target audience customization for projects such as direct mail pieces. For example, you can base hundreds of versions of a brochure or Web banner on a single template. The Variables define which elements change within a template. A Data Set is a collection of variables and associated data.

Alaska Stock Images

Figure 1-6: The Image menu is where you find commands for adjusting the size, color, and contrast of your image.

You’ll find yourself turning to the Image menu more often than many of the other menus, partially because it’s so useful and partially because, for some reason, many of the options don’t have keyboard shortcuts that let you bypass the menu.

Creating layers

Layers give you a way of stacking portions of an image — like sheets of acetate — on top of one another so that you can work on individual pieces separately. Then, when you’re satisfied with your changes, you can either combine the changes into a final image or leave them in layers for maximum editing flexibility.

The Layers feature, which gets an entire book of its own (Book V), lets you create new and duplicate layers, delete one or several layers, change layer properties (such as a layer’s name), or add special features, such as drop shadows or beveled edges, to objects in a layer. You can also create special kinds of layers to make adjustments or mask portions of an image. The menu has selections for changing the order of the layers (moving a specific layer to the front or top of the stack, and so on) and grouping layers. Figure 1-7 shows an image that has three layers: The first layer is the symphony image, the second layer is the instrument, and the third layer contains the type.

You also can merge layers down, combine them with all other visible layers, or flatten them into one single-layer image (or background). Although consolidating your layers makes the file smaller, flattening is irreversible after you close the file. Storing an unflattened version of a file is always a good idea in case you want to make more changes later on.

Applying filters

A filter is an effect that changes an entire layer, channel, or selection. Some common filters include the Blur and Sharpen filters, as well as the Distort filters, such as Spherize. The Filter menu, shown in Figure 1-8, consists almost entirely of cascading categories of image-transmogrifying plug-ins. You can wade through this menu to find the perfect effect to apply to an image or selection. Book VII has everything you need to know about filters.

PhotoSpin

Figure 1-7: Layers enable you to edit elements individually in your document.

Figure 1-8: The Filter menu is bursting at the seams with plug-ins to improve, enhance, or completely transform your image.

After you apply a filter, Photoshop copies the filter command to the top of the Filter menu for easy accessibility, in case you want to reapply the filter with the exact same settings.

The Filter Gallery command allows you to apply several filters simultaneously in one neat editing window.

Liquify and Vanishing Point are more like mini-programs than filters. The rest of the Filter menu consists of 14 filter categories, each containing from two to more than a dozen options:

Single-step filters, such as Blur, Facet, and Clouds, are simple to use but make a huge impact on an image. Just select each filter to apply it; it has no options to specify.

Dialog box-based filters let you select options galore. These filters utilize preview windows, buttons, slider controls, and menus to distort, pixelate, sharpen, stylize, apply textures, and perform other functions.

The Filter menu also provides an opportunity to convert for Smart Filters. If you convert your layer to a Smart Object, you can then apply a Smart Filter. A Smart Filter is smart because it doesn’t alter your image pixels, but merely hovers above them, thereby allowing you to re-edit, or even remove, the filter if necessary. For the scoop on this cool (and very useful) feature, see Book VII, Chapter 1.

If you install additional filters from third parties, Photoshop lists them at the very bottom of the Filter menu. You can find third-party filters at such Web sites as www.alienskin.com, www.andromeda.com, and www.autofx.com.

Unifying with the Application bar

The Application bar, shown in Figure 1-9, located at the far end of the main menu in Windows and directly below the main menu on the Mac, consolidates commands and features previously found, or also found, elsewhere in the application. For more details on most of these commands, check out Book I, Chapter 4. Here’s what you can find on this bar:

Application icon: The Photoshop icon is displayed to simply identify the application. In Windows, clicking the icon displays the standard system menu.

Launch Bridge: This button allows you to access the image-management application, Bridge, with a mere click.

View Extras: Click this icon to select whether to show guides, the grid, or rulers from the drop-down list. For more on these items, see Book I, Chapter 4.

Magnification Percentage: Displays the current magnification percentage. Click the down arrow to select from preset percentages of 25%, 50%, 100%, and 200%. Or enter your desired magnification percentage in the text field.

Hand and Zoom tools: Select these tools from the Application bar or Tools panel — your choice. Use the Hand tool to move around your image window and the Zoom tool to zoom in and out. For more on these two tools, see Book I, Chapter 4.

Rotate View tool: Select this tool from either the Application bar or Tools panel. This tool actually rotates your entire image window, not just the image within the boundaries of the window.

Arrange Documents tool: Click the down arrow to select various viewing configurations. Depending on the number of open images you have, various configurations will be available. You can also choose to float, rather than tab, your open images; create a new window; and display actual pixels or fit your entire image onscreen. See explanations of the Match commands in the earlier “Setting display settings with the Window menu” section in this chapter.

Screen Mode Switcher: Click the down arrow to select from standard, full screen with Menu bar, and full screen modes.

Workspace Switcher: Click the down arrow to select a different workspace. Selecting the Essentials workspace resets all your panels and menus to the default settings.

If you’re a Mac user and don’t care for this bar, hide it by choosing Window⇒Application Bar to deselect it. Also, if you use other CS5 applications, you may find a similar Application bar.

Simplifying your edits with the Options bar

The Options bar, shown in Figure 1-10, is a great feature because it eliminates the need to access a separate options panel for each tool. The bar remains available at all times, docked below the Menu and Application bars (unless you decide to hide it for some bizarre reason), and the options change when you switch tools. If the default location doesn’t work for you, feel free to move it anywhere you please.

Figure 1-9: The Application bar unifies commonly used features in one centralized location.

Alaska Stock Images

Figure 1-10: The ubiquitous Options bar is dynamic and reflects various options for the tool in use and operation being performed.

Because the Options bar changes its appearance with each active tool, I can’t explain all the components you might find there, but all Options bars do have some common characteristics:

Gripper bar: Grab this little bar, on the far left, with the mouse and drag to undock or dock the Options bar. You can let the Options bar float anywhere in the workspace.

Tool Presets/Options pop-up menu: This box displays the icon of the currently active tool. Click the down arrow to access a drop-down list that includes a selection of brush tips (for painting and erasing tools); a flyout menu that lets you select presets (saved settings) for various tools; and additional options to set, such as the size of the icons used to represent brush tips. You may also reset a particular tool — or all tools — to the Photoshop default values.

Bar options: Additional options, such as mode, opacity, feather, type styles, and fonts are arrayed on the rest of the Options bar.