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Adobe Photoshop Tips, Tutorials & Techniques

The Adobe Photoshop section includes posts and articles that cover tips, tutorials and best practices for various areas of opening, editing and exporting photographs and graphics into and from Photoshop. Discussion includes how to effectively utilize this piece of photo editing software in post-processing to best arrive at the result you're looking for. Additional topics include how to work efficiently with all of Photoshop's tools and panels; color, clarity, size, type, filters, etc...for both print and the web.

How Much Larger are Smart Object Files Than Regular Files in Adobe Photoshop?

November 16, 2018

We all know by now that we should be converting layers that we add filters to in Adobe Photoshop to Smart Objects. I’ve said this a dozen times on this blog. Doing this has tremendous upside and only somewhat of a downside. The upside is that the layer we’re working on will be protected by the Smart Object envelope. Any changes that we make to it will be non-destructive. For a heavy Photoshop users, having this capability is invaluable. It’s huge. It’s make or break kind of stuff.

The downside of converting a layer to a Smart Object is that it adds to the file size. Whenever I hear that, I’m like, “Yeah, whatever. What’s it going to add? Like 5 MBs? That’s nothing! I have a 4 GB external drive!” It’s almost as if people say that the additional file size isn’t even something to consider. I’ll admit that I haven’t made a big deal about it on this blog. Should I have? Does the file size grow substantially? Is this something we should be taking a closer look at?

In today’s post, I’m going to run a simple experiment. I’m not going to take people’s words for it or read about it on the internet. I’m going to do the work myself to garner some actual results. What I’d like is to see exactly is how much the size of a file grows if a layer within that file is converted to a Smart Object. Simple enough.

To perform this experiment, I needed a photograph that was taken in RAW format. With this in mind, I grabbed my camera and ran outside to our bird feeder. It just snowed last night up here in Maine and the birds are going crazy for bird food. They always do this after it snows. I took a bunch of quick pictures and then came back inside and loaded them onto my computer. I’ll use the best shot, which isn’t great, but it’ll do. Here it is.

Chickadee

This is a Chickadee. It’s out state bird. We’re very proud of this bird in Maine. I just wish it was sunny for the photo, but I’ll have to live with the clouds.

The Numbers

Okay, ready for some information? Here goes. The size of the RAW file after I took it out of the camera is below.

RAW File (CR2): 28.3 MB

I did a small amount of editing in Camera Raw and then moved the file into Adobe Photoshop. From there, I simply “Saved Ad” a TIFF file. Let’s check out the size of that.

TIFF File (TIF): 68.6 MB

After that, I saved the original RAW file out as a Photoshop PSD file. Both TIFF and PSD files preserve layers within the file. I wanted to see the difference between the two sizes.

Photoshop File (PSD): 68.6

Isn’t that interesting? They’re both exactly the same. Because they’re the same size, I’ll work with just TIFF from here on out. Let’s move on.

The next thing I wanted to see was how large a file would become if I added a straight up filter to the layer and also if I added an adjustment layer to the file. Let’s take a look.

TIFF File with Filter: 206 MB
TIFF File with Adjustment Layer: 206 MB

Whoa. Okay, the minute you touch a file in Photoshop, the size of it jumps up quite a bit. That’s good to know.

Now let’s take a look at what happens to the file size if I just convert the image layer into a Smart Object. All I’m doing for this one is opening the RAW image into Photoshop and then converting the layer and saving it out. That’s it.

TIFF File with Smart Object: 275 MB

Okay, things are starting to get a bit heavy here. My 4 GB external drive isn’t looking so large anymore. How much bigger can these files get? Well, let’s have a look. For this final experiment, I’m going to add a filter to the Smart Object. For this one, I’m building off the last one. I already converted the layer and now I’ll go up to the Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen menu item and click.

TIFF File with Smart Object + Filter: 344 MB

That’s pretty large. It’s actually so large that if we were to work on many of our photos and save those working files, we’d need a heck of a lot of disk space to store all these things. The question now is, is it worth it to use Smart Objects? I suppose that depends on how serious you are. What type of photography or graphic design are you into? Are you making money off of it? Can you afford all those external drives? There are many questions, but I at least wanted to get you some raw data to review. Please, let me know your thoughts on this. Does what I showed you above surprise you?

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Photoshop


How to Rename & Reorder Layers in Adobe Photoshop

November 11, 2018

I wanted to write a quick post to answer a question I received a few days ago regarding the management of layers in the Layers panel of Adobe Photoshop. Many folks who are new to this application have some difficulty understanding the basics of how layers work. I always tell them to think about Photoshop as a table and layers as pieces of paper on top of that table. You can move the pieces of paper around, just as you can with layers. You can reorder the paper, just as you can with layers. You can also stack the pieces of paper on top of one another, just as you can with layers. Layers are quite literally “layers.” They’re layered on top of one another in a certain sequence.

While this post is about layers, it’s mostly about something more specific than that. The question I received had to do with how to name layers as well as how to change the order of them in the panel. Since this is quick and easy to explain, I thought I’d do it here. I would never want to respond to a question like this to an individual if others can be helped as well.

In today’s post, I’ll open a few images in Adobe Photoshop. I’ll use those images as examples when it comes time to name their layers. I’ll also demonstrate how to change the order of the layers in the Layers panel as well. This is all easy stuff, so it shouldn’t take long at all.

Demo Photos

Okay, I’ve gone ahead and opened four different images into the same file in Photoshop. The way I did this was to select the files in Adobe Bridge and then go to the Tools > Photoshop > Load Files into Photoshop Layers menu item and click. That opens all the selected images into one file as layers. It’s a very handy feature to have around. It saved me some clicking and dragging.

Anyway, here’s the fancy “natural looking” arrangement I made. I hope the fact that the images are on top of one another is noticed.

Collage of Photographs

Naming the Individual Layers

I guess the question is, why in the world would anyone want to name the individual layers in the Layers panel? I mean, most of the time, there are only one or two layers. Maybe three at most, so why not just keep them as the way Photoshop named them by default? To be honest, when I’m working with just a handful of layers, this is what I do. The answer is, you want to name them because you’re not always going to be working with just a handful. There may be a point where you work with dozens or hundreds. You’ll certainly want to not only name them, but group them as well, but that’s something for another day. Another good reason to name the individual layers is because you may be working on variations of the same image (or similar looking images). Perhaps they just have different brightness levels. Since this can get confusing fast, naming them to describe them makes a lot of sense.

Let’s take a look at the current Layers panel.

Layers Panel in Photoshop

As you can see, each of the four photographs has its own layer. The thumbnails are showing which is which. You can also see that I added a bottom layer that I filled with white. That’s helping my demonstration out.

Since the current names of the photo layers are the image file names, I’d like to change them to be more descriptive. To rename a layer, I’ll simply double-click the current name with my mouse. The name area will become editable and I’ll type the new desired name and then when I’m finished with that, I’ll press the Enter key on my keyboard.

Renaming Layers in Photoshop

In the above screenshot, I completed the renaming, but I left the top one in the editable state, so you can see what that looked like.

Reordering the Layers

You may have noticed that I have sort of a collage of photos going on in my example. The order is random, so I may want to change that. In order to change the way the photos are stacked on top of one another in the workspace, I’ll need to change the layer order in the Layers panel. This is easy enough to do.

Currently, the “Curvy Bridge” photo layer is third from the top. I’d actually like that to be the top layer. To make it the top layer, I’ll click and drag the layer in the Layers panel to the top position. In the next screenshot, I have clicked and dragged the Curvy Bridge layer to the top position. As I dragged it, I noticed that light blue lines were appearing between the other layers. Those are the areas I can drop this one so it can reside in its new position. Once it’s where I want it to be, I can simply drop it and that’s it.

Dragging Layer to Reorder It

Another easy way to reorder layers is to use two keyboard shortcuts. To move a layer down in relation to the other layers, use Ctrl+[ and to raise it up, use Ctrl+]. I thought about it and I came to the conclusion that I didn’t like the bridge photo all the way on top, so I pressed Ctrl+[ to move it down one space. Now it’s perfect. If I wanted to move a layer all the way to the top or all the way to the bottom in one fell swoop, I would add the Shift key to the shortcuts.

I know that these were simple concepts, but they’re necessary and not everyone knows how to manage these parts of the Layers panel in Adobe Photoshop. I do hope I clearly explained everything though. If you have any questions regarding this post, please feel free to ask in the comments section down below or in the discussion forum. I’m always hanging out in both areas. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Photoshop


How to Apply an Adjustment to Only One Layer in Adobe Photoshop

November 9, 2018

The answer is clipping. I’ll tell you that right up front. If you would like to apply an adjustment layer to just one layer in Adobe Photoshop, use the clipping feature. It’s that simple.

Have you ever worked on a file in Photoshop and thought about adjusting only one area of an image? For instance, let’s say you have a lovely couple standing together outside and you wanted to emphasize them and only them. You wanted the background to sort of disappear, or at least fade out a bit. How would you go about doing that? If you apply an adjustment layer to the entire photo and try to emphasize the couple like that, sure, you’ll get your emphasis, but it’ll be applied to everything, even the background. Conversely, if you attempted to de-emphasize the background, everything would be de-emphasized the same way as the previous example was. There has to be a way to separate things into their own layers and then apply adjustments to just those layers. I’m sure you already know that there is. It’s the reason I’m sitting here writing right now.

In today’s post, I’m going to work through a short project that will demonstrate exactly how to select an object in a photograph, apply a layer mask to that object and then how to clip it to only one layer. The result will be an image that contains separate elements inside of it. While this demonstration will be simple and brief, the ramifications of it will be far reaching. This is the method professionals use when they’re doing these types of things. Remember, layer masks, adjustment layers and clipping are used every single day by the best image editors in the world.

Today’s Demo Photo

I’ve probably used this photo before. I thought it was perfect for this post though, so I decided to use it again. My plan is to select the couple and then apply a layer mask to them, so they’re isolated from the background. I’ll continue on and apply the adjustment layers from there.

Lovely Couple in the Snow

Selecting the Couple

I’m going to use the Quick Selection Tool to make today’s selection. Since there isn’t anything terribly challenging about this selection, I’ll leave it rough so I can move on at a decent pace.

Before I do anything though, I’m going to duplicate the photograph layer by clicking on it and dragging it down to the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. That will give me two identical layers. Then, I’ll use the Quick Selection Tool to make my selection.

Quick Selection Tool in Adobe Photoshop

I’ll size and then drag the tool around the inside edge of the couple. If I’m careful, I’ll end up with the dotted marching ants around the selection (the couple). If I mess up and draw outside the lines, I’ll just press and hold the Alt key on my keyboard to unselect that area. Here’s my selection.

Selection From Quick Selection Tool in Adobe Photoshop

Can you see the dotted lines? They’re around the outer edge of the couple.

Adding a Layer Mask

The next step will be to add a layer mask. Since I have a selection, adding a layer mask will make it so just that selection is visible with everything outside of it invisible. To add the layer mask, I’ll head down to the bottom of the Layers panel and click the Add Layer Mask button.

Add Layer Mask Button in Layers Panel

If you take a look at the layer mask thumbnail in the Layers panel above, you’ll see that the visible part is white and the hidden part is black.

Adding an Adjustment Layer

Earlier in this post, I mentioned that I wanted to somewhat brighten up the couple. To do this, I’ll apply the Brightness/Contrast adjustment from the Adjustments panel. Once it’s been applied, I’ll push the Brightness slider to the right for a value of 30 and the Contrast slider to the right for a value of 15. That will brighten everything in the image as well as add some contrast too.

Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer in Photoshop

While this is nice and all, it’s not exactly fitting with my plan for making the couple stand out from the background. As I just mentioned, everything is now bright with some contrast thrown in for good measure. How do I separate the effect of the adjustment layer so it only affects the top layer – the one with the mask applied to it?

Clipping an Adjustment Layer

Before I go any further, I’d like to have you take a look at the current Layers panel. Check this out.

Layers Panel

What I’ve got is the adjustment layer on top, affecting both the masked layer of just the couple as well as the layer beneath that, which includes the background. My goal now is to make it so the adjustment layer only affects the middle layer. To do this, I’ll head up to the Layer > Create Clipping Mask menu item and click.

Layer > Create Clipping Mask Menu Item in Photoshop

Now, if I go back and look at the layers in the Layers panel, I’ll notice that the top adjustment layer has been indented. That means it’s clipped to the layer directly beneath it and it’s not affecting the layers below any longer.

Clipped Adjustment Layer

Let’s now take a look at the couple.

Bright Couple in Snow

If you’ll notice, the couple is brighter, while the background has been untouched. This is perfect. To celebrate, I think I’ll add another adjustment layer. I’ll go ahead and add the Vibrance adjustment and clip it just as I did the previous one. I would like to add some additional color to the couple as well.

Darkening the Background

At this point, I think I’m ready to darken, or de-emphasize, the background. To do this, I’ll click on the bottom layer in the Layers panel and then I’ll apply the Brightness/Contrast adjustment again. This time, the adjustment layer will appear directly above the bottom layer, so it automatically won’t affect anything above it. I don’t need to clip it to anything.

When the Properties panel for this adjustment opens up, I’ll push both sliders to the left. For the Brightness, I’ll make the value -40 and for the Contrast, I’ll make the value -50. This will darken the entire scene behind the couple and it will also dull it out somewhat so all those branches don’t distract from the couple. Now let’s take a look at the final Layers panel, just to get a clear idea of what’s happened.

final Layers Panel

And now, let’s take a look at the final image.

Final Edited Photo in Adobe Photoshop

Pretty cool, right? It makes the photo look much more 3D.

I hope I clearly explained how to use clipping in Adobe Photoshop to have an adjustment layer affect only the layer directly beneath it for some very nice effects. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section below or you can ask any question you wish in the discussion forum. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Photoshop


Sharpening a Photo with Blur Filters & Blend Modes in Adobe Photoshop

November 3, 2018

I’ve said this a thousand time before. There’s more than one way to get there from here in Adobe Photoshop. Some methods for accomplishing your goals are very straightforward while others are somewhat convoluted. As Adobe continues to build and refine their applications, they learn what the most common tasks are. They streamline them. They make tools to complete them quickly. A task that used to take ten steps to complete now takes only two. Sometimes though, it’s fun to use the old ways or ways that take us down the windy road. Sometimes, there are unintended consequences that we can learn from. If you want to become very proficient with Adobe Photoshop, you’ll need to learn the not so simple ways.

In today’s post, I’d like to show you the long way around to sharpening an image in Photoshop. The method I’d like to demonstrate will use a blending mode, a Smart Object, and inversion, a blur filter and then more blending modes. While it’s very simple to use the new Smart Sharpen filter, it’s also an eye opener to use this longer and more flexible method. As you’ll see during the process I’ll explain below, you can make an image look all sorts of different ways while attempting to sharpen it.

Today’s Demo Photo

Because this is a sharpening post, I thought I should work with a very detailed photo that will show off the process. Take a look at this one. I don’t think I could have chosen anything better. I’ve decided to display the before and after shot below. This is just a small preview of what’s to come.

Photo Sharpening Before & After

Beginning the Process

For this sharpening task, I’m simply going to give you the instructions for how to go about it. If you would like to dig into the “whys” of how this works, you can do that at any time. If you’re interested, I encourage you to look into what each blending mode does. That should set you off running.

Okay, the first thing I’m going to do is to open the image in Adobe Photoshop. Once it’s opened up, I’ll select the layer in the Layers panel and duplicate it twice (select each layer and use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J), so there are three layers in all. Then, I’ll put the two top layers in a group (select them and use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+G). And finally, I’ll apply the Overlay blending mode to the group itself. Let’s see what that looks like. Here are the layers.

Group in Layers Panel with Overlay Blending Mode Applied

Here was the original image:

Original Untouched Photograph

And here’s what the image looks like now. As you can see, it’s much more saturated. Don’t get too used to that.

Grouped Photograph with Multiple Layers

It’s remarkable what blending modes can do though, isn’t it? People who create Actions use blending modes all the time.

Invert & Vivid Light

Next in the process is the inversion I was talking about and then another blending mode application. I’ll go ahead and click on the very top layer in the group to select it and then use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+I to invert it. Then, I’ll apply the Vivid Light blending mode to that layer as well. Doing this will bring the image back to its original look, so I’m not going to bother showing it to you here. I will, however, show you the Layers panel, just to give you a glimpse of what’s going on.

Invert Layer & Apply Vivid Light Blending Mode

Smart Object & Surface Blur

We’re getting there. I know what you’re thinking right about now. You’re wondering how all of these steps fit together. Think of them as a math problem. You need to understand what each step does in order to see all of them actually do something. I’ve covered all of this in previous posts. If you really are curious about what’s going on, please use the search bar above to dig in a bit deeper. You may also just follow the instructions if you don’t want to do any of that. That’s what I would personally do.

Anyway, I’ll go ahead and right-click on the inverted layer now and then select the Convert to Smart Object option from the menu that appears. Once that’s done, I’ll head up to the Filter > Blur > Surface Blur menu item and click.

Filter > Blur > Surface Blur Menu Item in Photoshop

Then, once the Surface Blur dialog box appears, I’ll set the Radius value to 100 pixels and the Threshold value to 30 levels. This is what works for the photo I’m using.

Surface Blur Dialog

I’ll click on the OK button and then watch as the image’s colors slightly change and as the image becomes sharper. If you’re following along with your own photograph, I think you’ll agree that the before and after shots feel sort of like putting on a pair of glasses. Things just become more clear.

The Final Blending Mode

For the final step, I’m going to double-click on the Smart Filter Blending Options icon in the Layers panel and change the blending mode for the filter from Normal to Luminosity. I’m doing this to compensate for the slight color change that occurred during the previous steps. In the photo I’m using, the reds became slightly over saturated.

Luminosity Blending Options

When I’m finished with that, I’ll click the OK button and the task is completed. Here is the final image.

Final Edited Image

While it may not be readily apparent that this image is indeed sharper looking, I can confirm it is. As I turn on and off the visibility of the grouped layers, the clarity becomes much more easily seen.

Going a Step Farther

If you really want to jazz things up, you could duplicate the background layer once more, like I just did. I then moved that layer to the top position in the group and applied the Vivid Light blending more to it.

Darker Vivid Light Effect

When I do this, the sharpening effect stays intact, but the image appears much more robust. I could even cycle through the remaining blending modes to see which one I like best. Since Vivid Light looked good in this case, I kept it. Take a look.

Vivid Light Effect in Photoshop

For the before and after shot I displayed above, I didn’t even use a blending mode. That just goes to show how much of an effect hierarchical blend modes can have on images in groups. Now let’s take a look at the before and after shot. Well, actually this is after and before, from left to right.

Before & After Versions of Vivid Light Sharpening Effect

Now, if I wanted to put this all together for easy accessibility and reuse, I could always create a Photoshop Action for that. I’ll be writing a lot more about Actions in the future. They are incredible little pieces of wonder. You’re going to love them.

For now though, just be aware that making these types of adjustments in Photoshop often requires many different steps and that these steps often build off of one another. Layer styles, blending modes and filters work together to create remarkable results. To dive into this area deeper, you’ll need to focus on how each of these parts create the whole.

I hope I clearly explained how to sharpen a photograph in Adobe Photoshop by taking advantage of blend modes and filters. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section below. Also, as always, you may ask any questions you’d like, of me or others, in the discussion forum. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Photoshop


How to Take & Edit Time Lapse Waterfall Photographs

November 1, 2018

My lady and I decided that Halloween would be a perfect excuse to hike up into the woods to take photographs of a waterfall. Don’t ask me how the two are connected because I won’t have a good answer for you. Anyway, we’ve been meaning to get up to this waterfall because it’s very pretty and secluded. The only problem has been the lack of water. It’s relatively dry up in the mountains of Maine during most of the summer, so any water related photography needs to happen in either spring or fall. During the winter, the falls are frozen. Since we recently had a healthy rainfall, we decided that Halloween would be the day. New tradition? I’m not sure yet.

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever wondered how to take one of those silky smooth running water photos? I guess they’re called time lapse photos. It’s when the water is moving, but nothing else in the scene is. In my opinion, these types of photos are very attractive and I’ve enjoyed taking them in the past. They wake up an otherwise common scene. I’ve seen time lapses applied to the ocean, rivers, streams, waterfalls and anything else you can imagine that has to do with water. I really do like them.

Yesterday was the day to experiment with a few different lens filters. My goal was to capture a few decent time lapse shots of Poplar Falls in Carrabassett Valley, Maine. Since we were the only ones at the falls, we had as much room and liberty as we wanted.

Poplar Falls in Carrabassett Valley, Maine

In today’s post, I’d like to show you the very simple process I took to take a few different photographs. They’ll be of two scenes and the one I edit will be of one close by scene. Really, I just moved the angle of the camera over a bit. I’d like to write this post for the beginning photographer who wants to walk out into the woods with camera in hand to capture something like this. I’ll discuss the equipment that’s needed as well as the editing that goes into the photo afterwards. For that editing, I’ll be using Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop.

Equipment & Gear Needed For Time Lapse Photography

Believe it or not, you don’t need much to take great time lapse photos. Yesterday, I went out with a Canon Rebel T7i DSLR camera, a tripod and a few lens filters. The DSLR camera was necessary because I needed to have control over the shutter speed, the tripod was necessary because it’s impossible to take handheld time lapse photos and the lens filters were necessary because with many daylight prolonged shutter speed photos, overexposure is a problem. And that’s really it. If you can adjust the shutter speed of your camera, attach an ND filter to the end of the lens and keep the camera still somehow, you can take silky smooth waterfall photos.

Some Demo Shots

In this section, I’m going to show you two different scenes with two different shutter speeds. These photos are straight out of the camera and haven’t been touched at all. The reason I’d like to show you these photos is because it’s helpful to see how a simple shutter speed adjustment can affect a photograph.

For this first scene, I set the camera to auto (Program Mode) and took the shot. I let the camera do all the work. I did have my +8 Neutral Density lens filter attached to the lens. Actually, I had that lens filter attached for all of these photos. I also had the camera mounted on my tripod for all these shots.

Photograph Taken with 1/30 Second Shutter Speed

F/4, 1/30 second, ISO 800, 18-135mm lens @ 24mm

As you can see, that’s a regular old photo of the water running down the stream and it wouldn’t be too remarkable if I posted it on my blog or social media. People would be like, “Yeah, what’s so special about that?”

For this next shot, I switched the camera into Shutter Priority Mode. I found that two seconds is the sweet spot for photos like this. Anything between one and four seconds is actually really good, depending on what you’re going for.

Two Second Time Lapse River Water Photograph

F/11, 2 seconds, ISO 100, 18-135mm lens @ 24mm

And if I ran this picture through Camera Raw and did a few edits to it (and then cropped it some), I’d end up with a much better photo of a bland scene.

Time Lapse Photo of a Steam

You have to remember, it was totally cloudy and a fairly ugly day. Can you imagine the nice colors I could have had in these photos if it was sunny out?

Here’s another scene that I took. The first photo is again taken with Program Mode and the second is taken with Shutter Priority Mode. Take a look.

Waterfall Photo Taken with 1/40 Second Shutter Speed

F/4, 1/40 second, ISO 640, 18-135mm lens @ 24mm

And here’s the same shot taken with Shutter Priority Mode at one second.

Waterfall Photograph Taken with One Second Shutter Speed

F/10, 1 second, ISO 100, 18-135mm lens @ 24mm

Again, it seemed like the sweet spot for the shutter speed was around two seconds.

Now, let me quickly edit the second shot to see if I can make it look any better than it currently does. I’m sure I can.

Smooth Time-Lapse Waterfall Photo

Notice that ugly dead tree to the left of the waterfall. That’s got to be removed in this next scene.

The Final Waterfall Scene

I hope you’re seeing how easy it is to capture these kinds of photographs. There’s no special skill needed. All you need is a neutral density filter to keep overexposure at bay, a tripod to keep your camera steady and a camera with the ability to adjust shutter speed. That’s it.

Now, let’s take a look at this last photo. This one is my favorite because it’s so smooth and the bottom of the falls spread out nice and wide. This is the untouched version.

Smooth Time-Lapse Waterfall Original Shot

F/18, 2 seconds, ISO 100, 18-135mm lens @ 18mm

If you haven’t guessed by now, much of what makes time-lapse photos look so good comes from post-processing. Photographers and editors add all sorts of filters to these things. Honestly, nature simply isn’t as beautiful as what’s displayed in most photography out there. Some people think this is cheating and others think it’s art. Who’s to say what it is?

The way I go about editing photos for posts like this is to just clean the image up and make it presentable. In this photo in particular, I need to add some contrast, depth and to remove that ugly dead tree that’s next to the waterfall. I’d also like to add a tad bit of warmth and color to the image as well.

Editing the Image in Adobe Camera Raw

For this photo, I’m going to push a few sliders around. After opening it in Camera Raw, all I used was the Basic panel. Nothing else. I could have added some saturation via the HSL Adjustments panel, but I chose to saturate a few of the colors with the Vibrance slider instead. That worked pretty well. Here are the adjustments I made in Camera Raw.

Camera Raw Basic Panel Settings

Removing the Tree with Adobe Photoshop

Now, the last thing I need to do with this image is to remove the tree I was talking about earlier. To do this, I used a path and the Spot Healing Brush Tool. I chose to go this route because the tree was fairly straight. Curved a bit, but nothing terrible. To read the post that describes the process I took, please click through below.

How to Remove Power Lines Using Paths in Adobe Photoshop

The process I used is exactly the same as the one I laid out in the post.

Another good option would have been to use the Lasso Tool to remove the tree. The instructions for that process can be found here:

Removing Objects with Content-Aware Fill in Adobe Photoshop

Finally, let’s take a look at the final image again.

Poplar Falls in Carrabassett Valley, Maine

I do like this shot. Especially towards the bottom where the water appears the smoothest.

I hope I clearly explained the basics for how to take a time-lapse photo of a waterfall. I also hope I helped out with the editing of this type of photo as well. As you can see, there are no secrets here, just a few necessary items. If you have any questions regarding this type of photography, please let me know in the comment section below or in the discussion forum. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design, Photography Tagged With: Camera Raw, Photoshop


How to Slice Through Text in Adobe Photoshop

October 30, 2018

I’m sure you’ve seen the slice effect somewhere out there. It looks like something, either a picture or a graphic or some text, has been sliced right in half with a sword. Basically, there’s a gap through the center of the object and that’s what gives it the slice effect. It’s actually not so much a gap where some material from the object was removed, but a gap caused by part of the object moving away from the other. It’s pretty neat and I think learning how to go about creating this effect would help tremendously if you’re interested in graphic design. Somewhere along the lines, you’re bound to be asked to pull something like this off.

In today’s post, I’d like to demonstrate how to effectively slice text in half in Adobe Photoshop. For this project, I’ll be taking advantage of Smart Objects, the Rectangle Tool and vector masks. The first time around, this type of project should take about ten minutes to complete, once you’ve established the text font, color and overall look you’re going for. Once you know what you’re doing though, the process should take about 30 seconds to complete. There are a few new ideas in this post, so be sure to read through to the end.

The Big Slice

I thought I’d give you the resulting image up here, just to wet your whistle. This is what this graphic will look like when I’m finished with it.

Slice Effect in Photoshop

Pretty neat, right?

Writing Out the Text

For this project, I created a document in Adobe Photoshop that measured 700 pixels wide and 468 pixels high. This is the size I generally use for this website because it fits well with the theme I’m using. I left the background white and I wrote out the words “Slice It!” with the Impact font sized to 176pts. Obviously, the color is some sort of pink. I then centered the text by selecting the text layer in the Layers panel and then selecting the entire document by activating the Rectangular Marquee Tool and using the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+A. Once the area was selected, I changed to the Move Tool and used the alignment options in the options bar up top to center the text vertically as well as horizontally.

Here’s what I have so far.

Slice It Text

Converting to a Smart Object

In order to make this text editable in the future, if need be, I’m going to convert the text layer to a Smart Object. To accomplish this, I’ll simply right-click on the layer in the Layers panel and choose Convert to Smart Object from the menu that appears.

Drawing a Path

Next, I’m going to use the Rectangle Tool to draw a path over half the image. I’ll go to the left vertical toolbar and click on the Rectangle Tool.

Rectangle Tool

From there, I’ll look up at the options bar and make sure the Path option is chosen in the first drop-down.

Path Option in Options Bar

And now, I’ll draw out the rectangle.

Path Rectangle in Adobe Photoshop

While this path doesn’t need to be perfectly aligned with the edges of the document, there are times when paths need to be precisely shaped. In cases like this, I recommend using guides because paths can snap to guides when they’re being drawn. That’s just a quick tip for anyone who’s interested.

At this point, I need to reshape the path somewhat. I think you’ll see why in a moment. To reshape the path, I’ll use the Direct Selection Tool.

Direct Selection Tool in Adobe Photoshop

The way I’ll do this is to click and drag over just the upper left anchor point. That will keep only that one active. Then, I’ll hold down the Shift key on my keyboard to lock the left edge in vertically (so it doesn’t wander) and I’ll click and drag that anchor point down a bit so the top horizontal line is sloping downward. Then, I’ll do the same thing to the other side, but this time, I’ll drag that corner upward. Here’s my result.

Sloped Path Outline

Again, these lines don’t need to be exact. I’m just trying to keep things neat as I move through this project.

Applying a Vector Mask

The trick here is to make half of this text disappear, so I’ll use a vector mask to accomplish that. To apply a vector mask, I’ll hold down the Ctrl key on my keyboard and click on the Add Layer Mask icon that’s located at the bottom of the Layers panel. This will make the top half of the word disappear and will add a mask to the layer on the Layers panel.

Half Text

Masked Layers in Layers Panel

Duplicating the Layer

I hope you see where this is going now. All I have left to do is to duplicate the masked text layer and reverse the mask. To duplicate the layer, I’ll click once on it in the Layers panel to select it and then I’ll use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+J to make the duplicate. After that, I should have two of the same exact layers, which doesn’t really help me much. What I really need is two layers that are inversely masked. So, to invert the mask, I’ll choose one of the layers and then, while the Rectangle Tool is active, head up to the options bar and click on the Path Operations icon. After that, I’ll click on the Subtract Front Shape option.

Subtract Front Shape

This will seemingly undo what I did earlier to make the top part of the text disappear. The entire word will be showing once again, but in reality, it’s two halves of the word. Take a look at the Layers panel for a moment.

Dual Masked Layers in Layers Panel in Photoshop

Do you see how the masks are inverse from one another? If I activate the Move Tool again and click to select one of the masked text layers and then nudge one of them, I’ll see the effect take shape. For this example, I’ll nudge straight up and down a few times.

Separated Text Effect

And that’s it! I’d say that’s a really cool and very easy effect to pull off. Depending on what kind of effect you want, you can make all different types of shapes with the Rectangle Tool or other shape tools. I just changed up the path outline a bit and make this.

Cut Text Effect in Photoshop

The sky’s the limit. And if I ever wanted to edit the actual text, I could double-click on the layer in the Layers panel, edit the text and then save that file out. That would update the text in the working file.

I hope I clearly explained how to use the text tools, Smart Objects and vector masks to create interesting effects in Adobe Photoshop. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know down in the comment section below. You may also ask any question you wish in the discussion forum. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Photoshop


How to Create a Basic Text Drop Shadow Effect in Adobe Photoshop

October 28, 2018

I’m sure you’ve seen what a Drop Shadow effect looks like when it comes to graphics. They’re everywhere. This effect was one of the very first ones I toyed with when I began using Adobe Photoshop and it’s still just as elegant today as it was back then. I’ll confess that I did have a very brief love affair with the Bevel & Emboss effect, but that was short lived. I abused that one and I had to give it up. When everything is embossed on a poster or postcard, it doesn’t look very good. Less is more in many cases. How embarrassing.

Anyway, the drop shadow effect is very cool. There’s a lot you can do with it and if applied correctly, it can completely transform whatever it is you’re working on to a multi-dimensional piece of art. Flat graphics have their place as do letters that seem as though they’re floating off the page.

In today’s post, I’d like to walk through a quick project that has to do with the creation and application of drop shadows in Adobe Photoshop. To do this, I’ll create some text on a solid background and then work inside of the Layer Style palette to adjust and apply the shadow. While this can be a very simple and straightforward process, I hope to dazzle you with a few additional tips and tricks. Read on below!

The Demo Text

I wrote out some generic text and tried to accompany it with some basic colors that I felt a shadow would appear clearly on. This is what I came up with.

Drop Shadow Effect Text in Adobe Photoshop

Adding the First Drop Shadow

Since I have already shared a post that has to do with applying layer styles in general here, I won’t go too far in depth with what I share below.

Okay, to apply the first drop shadow to the text in this project, I’ll double-click on the text layer in the Layers panel. This will open up the Layer Styles palette, where I’ll click on the check box to the left of the Drop Shadow option in the left column. Then, I’ll click on the words Drop Shadow themselves, which will reveal the options for this effect. Take a look.

Drop Shadow Options in Layer Styles Palette

This first shadow I’m making can be considered somewhat of a base layer. It’s not going to be one of those distinct shadows that we see out there so frequently. To create the base shadow, I’ll make these settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply
Color: Same as background
Angle: 130 degrees (turn off global light)
Distance: 40px
Spread: 20%
Size: 50px

Here are the settings so you can see them.

First Shadow Settings in Layer Style Palette

And this is the output of that.

Base Shadow on Text

I’d say that’s pretty good. It really separates the text from the background and it looks like a shadow. I actually just looked at things again and decided to increase the Opacity to 75% from 50% and I also added some Noise at 20%. These weren’t huge changes and they’re actually barely noticeable, but I though they looked good.

Adding a Second Shadow

To make things interesting, I’m going to add on another shadow. I think you’ll appreciate this effect. To add another shadow with the same exact settings as the one I just added, I’ll simply click the small + symbol that sits to the right of the Drop Shadow title in the left column.

Duplicate Drop Shadow in Layer Styles Palette

Again, this new shadow effect was created with the same settings as the previous one I was just working on. I don’t necessarily want all those settings to be the same, but I will keep some. The settings for this shadow that I’ll change are:

Opacity: 85%
Angle: 140 degrees
Distance: 20px
Spread: 50%
Size: 20%
Noise: 0%

When I’m finished with this one, I’ll click the OK button to apply it. Let’s take a look at it.

Dual Shadow Effects

Adding a Gradient Overlay

While I think this shadow couple is looking really nice and that it truly wakes this text up, I think I can go a bit further to add more flair to the text. I’d like to also add a Gradient Overlay. To do this, I’ll click on the check box to the left of the Gradient Overlay title in the left column of the Layer Style palette. Then, I’ll click on the title itself to show the settings area. Once that’s done, I’ll change these settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply
Opacity: 25%
Gradient: Black to White
Angle: 40%

For the other settings, I’ll leave them as their defaults. Here is the settings area for this effect.

Gradient Overlay Settings in Adobe Photoshop

This is what the text looks like now. The gradient overlay is subtle, but very nice.

Gradient Overlay Effect on Text

Adding an Inner Shadow

By now, you should be getting the hang of how to apply effects to text or an object. What I do is cruise around the Layer Style palette and play with things as experimentation. If I like something, I keep it. If I don’t, I leave it alone. In this case, an inner shadow adds to the depth of the text, so I decided to keep it. To add the Inner Shadow, I clicked on its check box and then on the text, just like I did with the others. Then, I changed a few of the default settings. Here they are:

Blend Mode: Multiply
Color: Black
Opacity: 35%
Angle: 130 degrees (turn off global light)
Distance: 5px
Choke: 0%
Size: 10px

Here’s a visual of the settings I used for this one.

Inner Shadow Effect Settings in Photoshop

And finally, here is the resulting text.

Inner Shadow Effect on Text

I actually like the text with just the two shadows applied to it the best because the text remains bright, but I wanted to show you some of the possibilities, especially as the text size changes. You can change the effects so they’re tighter or more spread out. For instance, if I double-clicked on the Inner Shadow effect in the Layers panel and and changed the Size attribute to a zero value, the soft shadow would turn hard. I could do the same thing with the second drop shadow I created to harden that one up as well.

Hard Shadow Effects on Text

As you can see, the creative possibilities are there. If I removed the gradient overlay, but kept the hard shadows, this is what I’d end up with. Oh, I could go on all day.

No Gradient Overlay

This one is my favorite. Okay, I have to stop there or I’ll never stop.

I hope I clearly explained how to apply different effects, such as Drop Shadow, Gradient Overlay and Inner Shadow, to text in Adobe Photoshop. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section down below or in the discussion forum. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Photoshop


How To Work with Shapes in Adobe Photoshop

October 27, 2018

If you’re a photographer and use Adobe Photoshop specifically to edit, crop and save out your photographs, you most likely don’t touch many of the tools the application has to offer. I’ve been working with Photoshop for years and years and I swear that it sometimes feels like I have only scratched the surface. There’s always something new and there’s always someone who knows more. That’s what I like to say.

Anyway, even if you are a photographer who just edits photos right now, there may come a time when you need Photoshop for something more. Let’s pretend you’d like to make some business cards for yourself or that you’d like to make some pamphlets as an advertisement for your services. If this were the case, you’d certainly need to transition from photo editing to some light graphics work. Not to fear. Photoshop excels at producing graphics. And since you’re already familiar with the interface already, learning new things shouldn’t be difficult at all.

In today’s post, I’d like to talk about shapes inside of Adobe Photoshop. I’d like to discuss how you can create them and how you can work with them. They’re a bit different than what you might expect, in that multiple shapes can be contained on the same layer. Of course, they can float around on their own layers as well, but the fact that they can sit on one layer all together usually throws people for a loop. I’ll explain all about that below.

I’ll first show you the shape tools and then I’ll draw some shapes to help further anything I’d like to discuss. To make this post exciting, I think I’ll use a photograph of a flower as half of a pretend postcard I’ll be creating. Hopefully this will show you just how seamless the transition from photo editing to graphic design can be made.

Today’s Demo Photo & Postcard

Okay, I’ve already got the perfect flower picked out. Here it is.

Beautiful Flower with Water Droplet

I’ll cut out part of the flower and use that as half of the postcard I’ll be putting together. I won’t be finishing the postcard in this post as I’m only doing this as a layout idea for where you might want to use the shape tools.

This is what the postcard looks like.

Flower Show Postcard

Adding Some Graphics

I may be going a bit overboard here, but I wanted to show you that there may be times that you not only need to use your photography in a graphics project, but that you may also need to use shapes as well. In this version the postcard, I added four custom shapes. Like I said, I may be going overboard here, but I think you’ll get the idea.

Flower Show Postcard with Shapes

In the white area between the shapes and the title would go all the information regarding the show itself. Now that the hypotheticals are finished, I’ll get going with a few sections on how to use the shapes themselves.

Creating a Shape

Now, I want to let you know that I’ve already written a fairly comprehensive post on shapes and how to use them. I’ll sort of pick up here where that one left off, so I encourage you to read that post before going any further. That is, of course, if you don’t know anything about working with these things. If you’re already pretty knowledgeable, then by all means, read on. Here’s that post.

A Closer Look at the Shape Tools in Adobe Photoshop

What I’ll be doing down below will be isolated to working with shapes only. What I shared above was merely to give you an idea of where you might apply these concepts.

I’ll kick things off by selecting the Custom Shape Tool in the left vertical toolbar.

Custom Shape Tool in Adobe Photoshop

When I activate that tool, a few different options in the options bar up top appear. I’ll first make sure (working left to right) the drop-down is set to Shape. Then, I’ll choose the background color of the shape and then the color of the stroke I’d like to apply. After that, I’ll choose the width of the stroke and finally, I’ll choose the shape itself from the Shape drop-down. Here’s the options bar squeezed in as best as I could get it.

Custom Shape Tool Options Bar

Regarding the stroke, there are quite a few different options available to us. If I click the Stroke options drop-down that sits just to the right of the width field, I’ll see that I can change how the stroke appears, from a solid line to a dashed one to a dotted one. I can also alter how the ends of the stoke appears. If I’d like to go even further than that, I can click the More Options button, make a few changes and then save those changes as a preset. So it’s fairly expansive. Take a look.

Shape Stroke Options in Photoshop

Once everything is set, I can go ahead and draw a shape. I’ll do that with one custom shape and then I’ll choose another and draw two more.

Shapes

As I drew these, I noticed that each one was being drawn on its own layer. Photoshop did this automatically. It created a new layer every time I clicked and dragged to create another shape.

Here are the layers in the Layers panel.

Shape Layers in Layers Panel

Shape Attributes

Once I make my attribute selections from the options bar up top, those attributes will stay and will be applied to each and every shape I create thereafter, as long as an existing shape layer is selected from the Layers panel before I draw the next shape. So basically, if I want to create another pink flower shape that’s just like the ones I just created, all I would have to do is click on one of the existing layers and then draw my new shape. If I didn’t want to apply those same colors and stroke, I would click somewhere else in the Layers panel to deselect the existing shapes and then head back up to the options bar to set new attributes.

If I wanted to change the attributes of an existing shape, I would click to select that shape in the Layers panel and then head up to the options bar and change whatever I’d like to change. The moral of this story is that selecting or not selecting existing shapes in the Layers panel makes a difference when drawing out new shapes.

Copying Shape Attributes From One Shape to Another

Once I choose colors and stroke attributes for one shape and then draw that shape out, I can easily copy and paste those same attributes to any existing shape or shapes I want. To accomplish this, all I’d need to do is to right-click on the shape I want to copy from in the Layers panel and then select Copy Shape Attributes from the menu that appears.

Copy Shape Attributes Menu Item in Adobe Photoshop

After that, I’d select the layer or layers I’d like to paste those attributes to in the Layers panel. Finally, I’d right-click on one of those selected layers and select Paste Shape Attributes from the menu that appears.

Merging Shapes into One Layer

If, for some reason, I wanted to contain all of the shapes I drew on one layer (as opposed to separate layers), all with the same attributes, I could easily merge everything with just a few simple steps. As I said above, as I drew my shapes out, they created their own layers. If I merge them, they’ll reside on one layer and will all be the same color and will have the same stroke applied to them. And being on the same layer, I could change the attributes for all shapes on that layer just by making changes in the options bar.

To merge the shapes, I’ll head up to the Layer > Merge Shapes menu item and click.

Layer > Merge Shapes Menu Item

When I do that, all but one shape layer will disappear. I’ll be left with one layer that contains all the shapes.

Merged Shape Layer

For this example, I shifted one of the smaller shapes over so it was overlapping the other small one. I wanted to show you what would happen if I did that and then merged the shape layers. Take a look at the result.

Touching Combined Shapes

While merging shapes into one layer like this does make things easier when assigning colors and strokes, it makes things slightly more challenging when it comes to moving those shapes around. Because they’re all contained on one layer, I can’t simply click and drag them with the Move Tool any longer. I now have to use the Path Selection Tool to first click on the actual shape in the workspace to activate it and then click on it again and drag it where I’d like to move it to. This next screenshot shows how all the shapes become highlighted when just one is clicked on. It also shows how the anchor points of the selected shape become visible when the shape is selected by this tool. Also, you can see how I dragged this shape down to disconnect it from the one above.

Selected Shapes with the Path Selection Tool

Separating a Shape From a Merged Layer

Just as I can merge shapes into one layer, I can also separate those shapes into their own layers again. It’s actually quite easy to do. In this next example, I’m going to separate the larger shape from the others and move it onto its own layer. To do this, I’ll first select the shape with the Path Selection Tool.

Path Selection Tool in Photoshop

Then, once the layer is selected, I’ll head up to the Layer > New > Shape Layer Via Cut menu item and click.

Layer > New > Shape Layer Via Cut Menu Item

This will create a new layer with this particular shape on it all by itself.

Separate Shape Layer

As you can see, working with shapes is quite a versatile experience. Shapes are used in all types of projects and it’s very beneficial to become familiar with how they work. It’s not a difficult process at all. It just takes some getting used to. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section down below or in the discussion forum. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Photoshop, Shapes


Combining Camera Raw Edited Photos in Adobe Photoshop For Awesome Color

October 22, 2018

Cameras have ranges. They have trouble capturing extremes in both directions. For example, if you were trying to take a photo of something and there was pure black and pure white in the scene, your camera would have difficulty with accurately representing that in the final photo. The same is true when it comes to color. Trying to take a photo of a warm scene and a cool scene at once is a Herculean effort. It’s for this reason that a few brilliant people invented post-processing applications, such as Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop. With these tools, we can help our photos along and change things up so we’re looking at our photos just as we looked at the original scene. Well, we can add a bit of extra love too, but I won’t mention that right now.

In today’s post, I’m going to show you a really neat trick that helps isolate areas of a photo. For this trick, you’ll need both Adobe Camera Raw and Adobe Photoshop. Camera Raw is used for the actual editing and Photoshop is used to parse out what is what. The primary use of Photoshop is to take advantage of layers and layer masks. Once you see how this type of workflow operates, I’m sure you’ll use it for a lifetime. It’s fast, easy and effective and it can be used in so many situations.

Today’s Demo Photo

This is the photo I’ll be working with. I chose this particular one because it’s got two distinct areas that aren’t being displayed to their full potentials. The area to the left is warm, while the area to the right is cool. I’d like to bring both of these feelings out simultaneously. The camera didn’t do a very good job at that.

Lake Shore or Sea Shore

Making Adjustments in Camera Raw

The entire point of this post is to show you how to bring out specific colors from a photograph. The way I’m going to do this is to adjust the image once in Camera Raw and then move it over to Photoshop. Then, I’ll open the photo again in Camera Raw, adjust it so the colors look totally different and open that version in Photoshop as well. In Photoshop, I’ll have two files open. They’ll appear different, due to the opposing color casts. It’s there I’ll take advantage of a layer mask to hide and reveal certain areas of color. You’re going to love it.

Okay, so I just opened the image into Camera Raw from Adobe Bridge. I changed up the colors somewhat and made things a bit more warm. I don’t want to go crazy or anything, but I would like to make the grassy area, wooden fence post and parking lot look more friendly. I think it can use some tweaking. For this, I’ll push the Temperature slider in the Basic panel to the right and then I’ll head into the Split Toning panel and add some saturation to the red/orange colors. To learn how to make these types of adjustments, please review these posts:

Use Split Toning For Simple Color Correction in Adobe Camera Raw

Enhancing Color Photographs with Split Toning in Adobe Lightroom

How To Make A Photo “Pop” With Adobe Camera Raw

Ignore the fact that the second link directs to a post about Adobe Lightroom. Both Camera Raw and Lightroom are virtually identical when it comes to using the Split Toning feature.

This is the output of the first version. The warmer one.

Warm Version of Edited Photograph

As you can see, the warmth I added was applied to the entire photo. I’m not concerned with that as I’ll correct it later on. Right now, since Camera Raw closed out after I transferred the photo to Photoshop, I’ll return to Bridge to launch the same exact photo into Camera Raw again. This time though, I’ll push the Temperature slider to the left and the Split Toning sliders towards the blues to add a cool appearance to the image. When I’m finished, I’ll move this version into Photoshop as well. Take a look at this one. This time, when I make the edits, I’ll be looking at how the water and the sky look.

Cool Version of Edited Photograph

As you can see, I didn’t do anything too drastic at all. When I made the warm adjustments, I ignored the cooler areas of the image and when I made the cool adjustments, I ignore the warm areas. That’ll give me good separation in just a moment.

Masking in Photoshop

At this point, I have two tabs open in Photoshop, one with the warm image and one with the cool image. With my mouse, I’m going to click right on one of the images (in this case, the cool one), and, while holding down the Shift key on my keyboard, drag the image up to the tab of the warm image file. Once I see the tab activate, I’ll continue holding down my mouse button and drag the image down into the center of the workspace. I’ll let go then.

Here’s a tip for you. While dragging images like this from one tab to another, holding down the Shift key makes sure to situate the one being dragged exactly in the center of the new workspace. Since these both are identical in size and shape, they end up right on top of one another, aligned and everything.

From here on out, the job is easy, as if it weren’t easy before. I’ll click the cool layer in the Layers panel, which should be on top, and then head down to the bottom of the Layers panel and click on the Add Layer Mask icon. This will add a layer mask to the cool photo layer. Take a look.

Layer Mask in Layers Panel of Adobe Photoshop

Then, with the Brush Tool sized appropriately (about 600 pixels wide because the image is so large) and the color set to black, I’ll begin brushing the cool away from any place in the photo I’d like to see warmth. It doesn’t matter if I screw up because I’m dealing with a mask. I could always just swap the color to white and fix what I messed up.

Brush Tool in Photoshop

This is what the mask thumbnail looks like after I did the painting.

Edited Layer Mask

Basically, the black is where the cool photo is being hidden and the white is where the cool is exposed. In the black areas, the warmer image should be showing through from the background. Let’s take a look at the final image.

Final Edited Beach Photograph

Looks pretty good, right? I obviously could have gone much further with the colors, but I felt this looked pretty good. If I wanted to edit the combined image in Camera Raw again, all I would need to do is to hold down the Ctrl or Shift key on my keyboard and select both layers in the Layers panel. Then, I’d right-click on the layers and choose Convert to Smart Object from the menu that appears. Finally, I’d go to the Filter > Camera Raw Filter menu item and click. Camera Raw would open with the image in it, I’d make my edits and then return to Photoshop by pressing the OK button.

I think this will help if you’re into doing something like this. I hope I clearly explained how to edit one image twice in Adobe Camera Raw and then move both of those images into Photoshop. From there, I explained how to use a layer mask to hide a portion of one image to reveal that portion of the other, allowing for some amazing color combinations. If you have any questions about this post, please let me know in the comment section down below or as always, you can ask me in the forum. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Camera Raw, Photoshop


Creating Editable Image Adjustments with Smart Objects in Adobe Photoshop

October 20, 2018

This is very cool. Do you remember back in the day, before adjustment layers in Adobe Photoshop were around, when we had to visit the Image menu item and then use the items in the Adjustments section? If you’ve used Photoshop for a decent length of time, you surely remember this. If not, let me show you the area I’m referring to. It’s still there.

Image > Adjustments Menu Items in Adobe Photoshop

Inside this Adjustments area are some really great tools. I loved using them because, well, that’s what we did. We’ve got Brightness, Contrast, Levels, Curves and just about everything else. I haven’t used these features in years because of the adjustment layers that replaced them.

Well, I’m about to show you something really neat. I know there’s a huge population out there that has yet to get used to using adjustment layers. They have the latest software, but they simply like what they’ve been using forever, whether it be because of the easy to use menu area or because of the floating palettes. What I share below might help out tremendously because up until recently, any correcting or other adjustment made through these menu items was permanent, meaning destructive. If you edit a photo using these tools, the photo is forever altered. I’ve said this many times; this isn’t a good thing. Of course, there are workaround such as creating back up layers and the such, but that’s not practical all the time. That’s why Adobe came out with non-destructive adjustment layers for these types of edits.

In today’s post, I’m going to demonstrate how to go about using the old style Adjustments menu in a non-destructive fashion. It’s so simple, it’s going to really wow you. These adjustments will be treated like Smart Filters, so everything you do will be re-editable, which is what we want.

Today’s Demo Image

I don’t know if I used this photo yet or not, but I thought it was pretty good for this topic. Since the image isn’t overly saturated in any way, it’ll be obvious when I apply an adjustment. Take a look.

Girl Holding Pink Rose

Converting Layer to Smart Object

Yes, I’m sure you knew I was going to say this. Of course the first step, after opening the photo into Photoshop, is to convert the background layer into a Smart Object. This is actually the secret sauce of this post. To make these adjustments non-destructive, all that needs to happen is this conversion. I’m sure you know how to do this by now too. Simply right-click on the layer and choose Convert to Smart Object from the menu that appears.

Applying the Adjustment

I’ll keep this simple and apply the first available adjustment. That would be the Brightness/Contrast one. So, I’ll head up to the Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast menu item and click.

Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast Menu Item in Adobe Photoshop

When I click that, I’ll notice something happen. The Brightness/Contrast dialog box will appear and I’ll be able to make my edits. When I’m finished, I’ll click the OK button. In this case, I added some contrast to make the image stand out more and to give it some definition.

Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Dialog

Now, just to be clear, when I add the contrast through this dialog, Photoshop is doing the same exact thing it would do if I were doing this through an adjustment layer. I’m seeing the same effect.

After I click on the OK button, I’ll notice that I’ve got a new filter under my layer in the Layers panel.

Smart Filter in Layers Panel in Photoshop

And just as with any other Smart Filter, I can double-click on the adjustment part of it and the dialog box will appear again, where I can change things up. If I want to add or remove brightness or contrast, I can.

So, what’s different between this method and the adjustment layer method we’ve gotten so used to? Well, for one, I don’t have individual layer masks. I do have an overall mask that can be applied, but that’s going to affect any and all of these types of adjustments I add. With the adjustment layer approach, I can edit those masks independently, which gives me a lot of flexibility.

I do get this though; if I double-click the Smart Object thumbnail, the original image will open in a new tab. So, if I wanted to, I could change that somehow and then save the file out, return to the original project and the change will show there. That’s pretty handy. Also, if I ever want to remove this adjustment, all I need to do is drag it down to the trash can located at the bottom of the Layers panel.

Auto Tone, Auto Contrast & Auto Color

You may have noticed a few additional adjustments that can be made inside of the Image menu area. These are the Auto Tone, Auto Contrast and Auto Color adjustments. I guess Adobe hasn’t gotten around to these yet because if I go ahead and click on one of these options, the adjustment will be applied and it won’t touch the original file because of the Smart Object wrapper, but it also won’t create a Smart Filter element. It will simply be applied and that’s it. If I do that and then double-click the Smart Object thumbnail, I’ll see the original, untouched, image.

Auto Tone, Auto Contrast & Auto Color Options in Photoshop

Also, if I apply one of these “autos,” it will become oddly unapplied the more I add and play with other adjustments. So I would need to continuously reapply whatever it was I did initially.

I hope you get the idea here. It may take some experimentation to get used to, but I think it’s worth it. And since this is pretty new, there’s a good chance that Adobe will keep it around for a while.

Auto Tone Adjustment Applied to Photograph

I hope I clearly explained how to create a Smart Object and then how to apply an adjustment from the menu items as opposed to from the Adjustments panel. This is the old way to do things that a lot of people still enjoy and now that it’s protected, it’s even better. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section below or in the discussion forum. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Photoshop

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