Unknown Tricks and Time-Savers
We all have shortcuts that are essential to our daily workflow. A majority of them are staples such as Copy (Command + C) and Paste (Command + V), but occasionally we stumble upon a shortcut we wish we’d learned years ago. Suddenly, this simple shortcut has streamlined our process and shaved quite a bit of time off our day. Collected here are some lesser known but extremely helpful shortcuts. Many of these are not documented in the “Keyboard Shortcuts” menu, and some of them don’t even have equivalent menu options.
Please note that all of the shortcuts listed below assume that you are using Photoshop CS4 on OS X. They will work on the Windows platform by converting as follows: Command → Control and Option → Alt.
Unveiling Photoshop Masks
Design is a fluid and shifting process in which layers are constantly modified and tweaked. As complexity builds, so does the need for preserving data in a flexible way. Learning non-destructive editing techniques helps you yield documents that bend along with your creativity. Photoshop Masks are the keystone of this process. Not only do they preserve vital pixel data, but they allow for the creation of flexible interface elements as well. In this article, we’ll explore the technological aspects and creative advantages of incorporating masks into your workflow.
Photoshop offers five methods of masking: Pixel Masks, Vector Masks, Quick Masks, Clipping Masks and Clipping Paths, all of which define pixel opacities without affecting the original data. Each of them has its own pros and cons, and consequential which method to use is extremely vital for making clean, flexible and properly masked layers.
Brushing Up On Photoshop’s Brush Tool
When laid by a learned hand, brush strokes can convey a sense of energy, tactility and humanness. These qualities converse in to your audience’s subconscious, whispering thoughts that words alone can’t convey. In the digital realm, a website with wonderful brushwork is a welcome break from the stark precision of most corporate websites.
Mastering the digital brush is by no means simple. It carries the same difficulties as the sable brush hidden at the underside of your art bin. In fact, the difficulty is multiplied by the disconnect between the hand and monitor. Developing Photoshop brush skills takes time, but it is well worth the effort. This article outlines the plethora of options that Photoshop affords, so that you can efficiently make and use brushes like the Ancient Masters.
Setting Up Photoshop For Web, App and iPhone Development
Most public who have designed websites or apps in Photoshop will, at one point or another, have had issues trying to match colors in images to colors generated by HTML, CSS or code. This article aims to solve those problems once and for all. So how can we achieve color management that matches colors across multiple devices?
In the print world, color management typically involves calibrating your entire workflow, from scanner or digital camera to computer show to hard proofs to the closing push output. This can be quite a tall order, especially when the devices use different color spaces — matching RGB and CMYK devices is notoriously hard.
Designing for iPhone 4 Retina Show: Techniques and Workflow
The iPhone 4 features a vastly superior show resolution (614400 pixels) over previous iPhone models, containing quadruple the 153600-pixel show of the iPhone 3GS. The screen is the same physical size, so those extra dots are used for additional detail — twice the detail horizontally, and twice vertically. For developers only using Apple’s user interface elements, most of the work is already done for you.
For those with highly custom, image-based interfaces, a honest amount of work will be vital in scaling up elements to take full advantage of the iPhone 4 Retina show. Scaling user interfaces for higher detail displays — or increasing size on the same show – isn’t a new problem. Interfaces that can scale are said to have resolution independence.
Mastering Photoshop Techniques: Layer Styles
Layer Styles are nothing new. They’ve been used and abused again and again. Despite their ubiquity, or perhaps because of it, many designers do not yet realize the full potential of this clever menu. Its beauty lies in our skill to make an effect and then copy, modify, export, hide or trash it, without degrading the content of the layer.
Below we present, step by step, several practical techniques to help you refine your designs, increase productivity and reduce layer clutter.
Helpful Photoshop Tips And Tricks For Photo Retouching
When it comes to designing in Photoshop, there is a myriad of ways one could use to achieve a certain result, especially when it comes to photo retouching. Designers use technique they are most confident as well as comfortable with, which is splendid because it’s always helpful to peek into the workflow of our colleagues and learn new design approaches. We have had articles on cloning, compositing, masks andobscure Photoshop time-savers in the past. This article is different.
I’ll be covering some of the helpful techniques and tricks which I’ve learned from my experience. You may know some of them, but hopefully not all of them. All images used in this article were bought and are used according to their licenses. The second part of this post will be published in 2 weeks.
Photo Retouching Tips And Tricks In Photoshop
Previously we published the first part of Photoshop tips and tricks for photo retouching. Today, we’ll be presenting the rest of the article. We hope that these techniques will be quite helpful for your workflow. You may know some of them, but hopefully not all of them. We have had articles on various tools in Adobe Photoshop but this one is focused more on the techniques rather than the tools provided. Please note that all images used in this article were bought and are used according to their licenses.
If you want to redefine the foreground and background colors, use the Eyedropper tool to select the foreground color, and then switch the position with the background color, maybe by using the shortcut X, and pick up the next color. But there is an simpler way.