We’ll start with this image; we could use any image that could use a border:

On top of this image, we’ll add a new layer filled with plain white:

Next, use the rectangular marquee tool to draw out an area and fill it with black – leaving a small white border all the way around. This will be the basis of our easy customizable border:

Now, what we want is to keep the white border, but drop out the black square. The easiest way to do this is to change the layer’s Blend Mode to Screen. Use the drop-down list at the top of the Layers Panel:

There we have a nice white border, very easily accomplished. But, we’re not done yet – by a longshot.

For the next series of steps, we’ll need to convert the Border layer to a Smart Object. Right click the Border layer in the Layers Panel, and choose Convert to Smart Object. You could also choose Layer > Smart Objects > Convert to Smart Object.

Notice the little badge that appears on the layer indicating it is now a Smart Object:

Why a Smart Object? Because that allows us to use Smart Filters! And, as you may recall from earlier tutorials, Smart Filters allow us to modify the parameters of the filter at any time. Let’s start by adding a filter to the Border Smart Object layer – we’ll use Filter > Distort > Glass. This opens the Filter Gallery and we see the parameters of the Glass filter. This filter distorts the edges of our black rectangle, where it meets the white border.

Note that even though the black is invisible due to the Screen blending mode, it is still there and available for us to modify with the filter. We’ll crank up the Distortion parameter to a healthy 10, and leave the Smoothness at a moderate value of 3:

Click on OK, and we have a bit of a rough edge to our border. Things are getting interesting, but we’re just getting started:

Let’s use the Smart Filter the way it was intended! Double click on Glass in the Layers Panel, and we’re right back to the filter gallery. Let’s change the Texture parameter to Blocks and notice the way our border is changing. Don’t click OK yet:

Next, click the icon at the bottom right for New Effect Layer:

This adds a second Glass filter on the first, and the effect is enhanced. We could stop here, but we won’t:

Let’s change the filter type of this new layer from Glass to Ocean Ripple. Set the Ripple Size to 8, and the Ripple Magnitude to 12:

We could keep going, adding new filter layers and changing the effects, but let’s stop here and press OK to see how our image looks:

Notice how Ocean Ripple pushes the pixels to the right, creating an uneven border. We could change this from Ocean Ripple to Spatter, with a Spray Radius of 15 and Smoothness of 5 to get this effect:

You could try dozens, if not hundreds, of variations on this theme of white borders. But, what if we need a black border? Thanks to adjustment layers and Blend Modes, the solution is only a couple of clicks away. First, the explanation.

We will want the white to become black, but remain visible, and the black to become white, but remain invisible. We can invert the Border layer’s colors and change its Blend Mode from Screen to Multiply to accomplish this. Let’s start by inverting the colors. Add a new Invert Adjustment Layer by clicking the half black, half white icon on the Layers Panel and choosing Invert:

Here’s the result. We have our black border, but the rest of the image is hideous:

Now, we don’t want to invert everything – just the Border layer. So, we need to clip it to the Border so it only affects the Border. There are several ways to do this, but the easiest is Ctrl-Alt-G on Windows, Cmd-Opt-G on Mac, or choose Layer > Create Clipping Mask. The Invert layer now is indented with a small arrow icon indicating it is clipped to the Border layer:

Now, we have the opposite effect with the Border layer – the border is invisible and the interior is opaque. This is because the colors are inverted. We can change the Border layer Blend Mode to Multiply, which will hide the white and show the black:

And, we have our black border! Now, to change from white to black, we simply click the eyeball on or off of the Invert layer, and change the Blend Mode from Multiply to Screen.

If you’re adventurous, you could even create layer comps to change from the white to black borders in a single click. And, you could drag the Border and Invert layers into any other document (resize to fit the new document) and you have easy, portable, customizable borders, with lots of variation available via the filter gallery.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

We’ll start in Lightroom. I’ve just returned from a trip to China, and I managed to take a variety of photos while I was there. I returned, and imported the images into Lightroom.

Some of my images were bracketed, so I elected to merge them to HDR using Nik’s HDR Efex Pro, one of my personal favorite plug-ins. The process is straightforward, highlight my bracketed images, right click, and choose Export, then select my HDR Efex Pro preset:

In HDR Efex Pro, I make my adjustments, then click Save to return the processed image back to Lightroom:

Now, we get back to Lightroom, and… no image! Where it the world did it go?

Sometimes, the answer is that you have a specific User sort order set, and the image goes at the end of the list. Not the case here, as we can see the bottom of the grid and the image clearly is missing.

A closer inspection of the grid shows something strange is definitely going on. The images were in a stack:

But, notice the first image says “1 of 4.” If you hover over the second, it shows “3 of 4.” What gives? The returned processed image from HDR Efex Pro should be “2 of 4,” but it isn’t showing.

The answer, and this is what gets everyone from newbies to more experienced but forgetful users, is found in the left hand pane, which was closed in my example. Let’s open the left pane and take a look:

And, here we see the issue. We are viewing “Previous Import!” Previous Import is a special kind of temporary collection, that shows the images from your last Import session. For whatever reason, any image created by an external editor and saved back into Lightroom does NOT show up in Previous Import.

Let’s open the Folders, and navigate to the folder where we asked the files to be placed during the previous import session. In my case, this is very easy, because I let Lightroom organize the files by date (it’s an import option, which I strongly recommend unless you have a good reason to organize them another way… and of course, many people do have a good reason).

Here’s the view of the folder, and there’s our image, right where it is supposed to be – in position “2 of 4” in the stack. When we view the folder, we see all the items in the folder, which is where HDR Efex Pro returned the file. When we were viewing Previous Import, we did not see the file because external editing, even though it re-imported the new file, did not count as an “Import” worthy of inclusion in “Previous Import.”

Here we see that the file was never missing at all, we were just looking in the wrong place – at a filtered list of files that didn’t show the whole picture.

This very same problem can occur in other similar circumstances:

• When you send a file to Photoshop for editing, or to any other plugin that returns a different file from what was sent.
• When you are viewing a collection and send files for editing, the returned edited files aren’t automatically included in the collection.

So, the next time you’re doing some post-processing in Lightroom, and wonder why your image disappeared, look to the left hand pane. Chances are, you’re viewing Previous Import, or viewing a Collection. Go back to the Folders, and you’ll find your image!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

The answer is likely much simpler than that. Many problems with the brush tool can be solved by examining the Brush toolbar at the top of the screen. Let’s look at an example.

Here we have the makings of perhaps a bit of poster artwork. We want to paint some bold freehand strokes on this image, on a new layer in a contrasting color:

So, we grab the brush tool, and set the brush to a hard round brush, set the color to a dark brown color, and start to paint. Oh, dear:

The color we’re painting doesn’t match the foreground swatch at all. The observant reader may notice the problem straight away: The brush opacity, as set in the toolbar, is 20%:

If we set the opacity back to 100%, by moving the slider or pressing the “0” key shortcut, we will get the expected results.

However, it’s not always that easy! Let’s look at another example:

Similar problem, but the opacity is set at 100%, so what gives? Again, a close inspection of the toolbar shows an option is set – one that is new to version CS5 of Photoshop:

Take a look at the tool tip: “Tablet pressure controls opacity (overrides brush panel setting).” This is a very handy option, but I’ve found that many people aren’t aware of it, click it inadvertently, and then drive themselves crazy trying to figure out why their brushes are acting up.

Note the other options just to the right also: “Enable Airbrush Mode” with its very own Flow setting (similar to opacity, but like an airbrush, it builds up over time) and “Tablet pressure controls size.” These can also wreak havoc if they become enabled accidentally:

These options are sticky, and using a tool preset can enable these without you knowing it. So, be aware and look to the toolbar right away if you sense a problem.

Now, let’s examine the brush tool bar to make sure everything is set properly – no errant options and no incorrect adjustments. We start to draw, and – uh oh. More problems:

Here’ I’ve brought the new culprit onto the screen, and as you can see, we’ve got the layer opacity set to 20% and we’re once again getting the wrong results. It may seem obvious and simple, but I can tell you this has tripped up many a student over the years!

Here’s another variation on the same theme. Can you spot the problem?:

We selected brown, but the foreground swatch shows gray. The color appearing on our image is green. The problem? We’re drawing on the wrong layer! The layer mask of the adjustment layer is active. Again, such a common problem, yet often a head-scratcher if you’re not paying attention.

Or how about just this one?

Ah, the dreaded, “You can’t do this” icon. If you try to paint, you get this ugly message:

Again, the layers panel shows the issue: The adjustment layer itself is selected (not the mask, but the adjustment icon). This will never work:

We’ve just run through a litany of potential problems with the Brush tool – some obvious, some not so obvious – but all relatively simple to fix, IF you know where to look. Keep one eye on the tool bar, and keep another eye on the Layers panel – and you’ll solve 99% of your problems with the Brush tool. And, that goes for the other painting tools as well: the Healing Brushes, Clone Stamp, Eraser, Smudge Tool, Dodge and Burn, and so forth – they all share the brush functions and are all susceptible to those little errors – little errors that can create great headaches if you’re not paying attention.

Got a Photoshop headache? Drop a note in the comments and we’ll try to cover it either directly or in a future tutorial!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Let’s start with a quick example. You’re working in a document, and you need to add some type. You choose a tried and true serif font (Adobe Garamond Pro), and commence typing; but this is what you get:

Looks nice, but why all the caps? Why aren’t the small letters working? Something seems to be amiss. Fortunately, this issue is easy to solve, but you’ll need to open the Character panel to get to the root of the problem (Window > Character):

Notice the row of “T” symbols in the lower section of the panel? They are button options, and the one in the center with a large and small “T” is selected. This is the “Small Caps” option, as we can see by hovering the cursor over the button and looking at the tool tip:

This option will use an all-caps typeface if it is included in the font, or else it will “fake” it using the existing font. There are two problems that come up when these options are selected in the Character panel:

1. The setting is “sticky,” so if you set this option once, it will be in effect the next time you use the type tool – even in a different document, or on a different day!
2. When Photoshop has to “fake” a text attribute (which in Photoshop jargon is referred to as “faux,” as in “faux bold,” “faux italics,” or “faux caps”) this can lead to other problems later.

We can fix #1 by turning off the attribute with the text layer selected. The font reverts to the normal type face we were originally expecting:

Be careful with this – even clicking on a layer that has a “faux” attribute active will set it within the Character panel, and it sticks until you reset this option!

Now what about problem #2 above – faux attributes causing other problems? Let’s take a look at an example. Here we have some text that we want to use to create a work path, or a shape layer. We click on the text layer, and use Layer > Type > Create Work Path, and get this error:

It may not be obvious looking at the text in the document, but based on the error message we see that the type layer uses a “faux bold” style – and that prevents us from creating a work path. We get virtually the same error if we try to use Layer > Type > Convert to Shape Layer:

Sure enough, a quick peek at the Character panel shows the culprit, and solving this problem is as simple as clicking the faux bold style button to turn it off.

Purists will advise you never to use the faux styles, as they are problematic not just in these cases, but can cause issues as well in prepress if you’re having your final result sent out for professional printing. I won’t go so far as to say never use these styles, but do exercise caution, and make it a habit to look at the Character panel to be sure you understand whether any of these faux options are active and affecting your text.

On a similar note, what if you started to type text into your Photoshop document, and you got some strange layout results, like this?

These are font spacing problems, and can give you a quite a start if you’re not expecting them. Sometimes, when you’re creating a text layout, you need to adjust the spacing to get a certain look. However, those settings are also sticky (just like the faux styles we saw above). So, if you’re working on a document today and see this type of problem, you probably changed the settings in your last document yesterday – and they’ve lingered. Sure enough, looking at the Character panel, we see evidence of sticky changes:

Sometimes, these may not even be obvious at all (such as the font size % adjustment in the middle section for width and height). You get type that looks almost normal, but the size doesn’t match what you’d expect. Look to the Character panel for your solution.

Sometimes, the changes in the Character panel may be extensive or difficult to track down. In that case, we have a one-click solution that allows us to discard all the crazy settings and return things to normal. Click the fly-out menu in the upper right of the Character panel, and in the menu, choose Reset Character.

This resets everything back to normal (including resetting your font face to Myriad Pro at 12 point). You’ll need to reselect your font and size, but you can do so knowing that all the other hidden snags have been removed, and your text will render normally once again.

Have a Photoshop headache? Stubborn program problem that you can’t seem to solve? Leave a comment, and we’ll try to address your problem in a future tip!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

If you’ve got a problem that’s stumped you, or an annoyance you’d like to see resolved, add a comment at the end of this article, and we’ll see if we can work it in! That’s what we do here at TipSquirrel!

So let’s start with that all-too-common ailment:

Problem: “I want to use the Photoshop Filter XXXXX, but it’s greyed out! Is there something wrong? Do I need to reinstall Photoshop?”

The good news is, there most likely isn’t anything wrong – we just need to make a few adjustments to the file with which we’re working.

In fact, the answer most likely is staring us in the face, right beside the menu:

Yes indeed, we are working with a file that has 16 bits per channel, clearly displayed as “RGB/16” in the caption bar of the image. This is the single most common reason for the filters to be greyed out. You see, a great number of filters are from an old batch of filter effects Adobe acquired many versions back, and those filters haven’t been updated to modern standards. So, while they will work with 8-bit files, they won’t work with 16-bit files.

Another related problem shows itself with the Clouds filter (Filter > Render > Clouds). Normally you would expect the clouds to be rendered in the foreground and background colors, but with a 16-bit file you always get black and white:

Here’s how to solve both of these problems very quickly: change the bit depth of your file from 16 bits per channel to 8 bits per channel by selecting Image > Mode > 8 Bits/Channel.

Once you’ve made this change, all the filters become available:

Problem solved, right?

Well, maybe not exactly. Changing a file from 16 bits per channel to 8 bits per channel can be a hindrance, in that 8 bits per channel has fewer colors available – 256 shades of color in each of the three channels, as compared to 65,536 shades of color per channel in a 16 bit file. You may notice a degradation if the image, especially in subtle gradients such as skies, skin and clothing. So, is there a workaround?

You bet there is. There are several workarounds, in fact.

1) Make a copy of your document, and convert the copy to 8 bits per channel. Run the filter there, and copy and paste the result back into your 16 bit file.

2) Convert your critical layer or layers to a Smart Object (select the layer or multiple layers, and choose Layer > Smart Objects > Convert to Smart Object. Then, change the bit depth of your file by choosing Image > Mode > 8 Bits/Channel as we saw above. In this case, two important things happen:

• The contents of the smart object remain at 16 bits/Channel!
• All the filters now work, and as a benefit, they are applied as Smart Filters (see below*).

We covered Smart Filters and Smart Objects in some detail awhile back – if you need a refresher, please see my earlier tutorials:

Smarter Editing with Smart Objects
Smart Objects, Raw Flexibility
Smart Objects, Smarter Filters (*this tutorial describes Smart Filters and how they work)

And, for even more in-depth studies of Smart Objects:

Picture Package with Smart Objects
Exposure Blending with Smart Objects
Nested Smart Objects – (Part 1) – (Part 2)
Max Stacks with Photoshop
Noise Reduction with Smart Object Stack Modes
Creative Stacking Diversions

Stay tuned next week as we continue to attack common problems in Photoshop.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

The gifts are wrapped, the tree is decorated, and you’re ready for your long winter’s nap. But wait – you’ve forgotten something: the cookies! Never fear, with Photoshop you can whip up some great Christmas cookies from scratch.

In this two part tutorial (with both parts presented here), I make use of some freely available assets that you can download for your own use and experimentation:

Christmas Cookie customer shapes from Adobe Photoshop Exchange

Free 3D model of a plate from TheFree3DModels.com

Watch, enjoy, try it yourself; and have a happy and safe holiday, and a prosperous new year. I’ll see you in January!

Part 1:

Part 2:

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

For this particular technique, you need to be able to see the Enhanced Path Bar in Bridge:

If you don’t see the Path Bar, choose Window > Path Bar:

Now, as with Eplorer in Windows 7, and Finder on a Mac, you can click the folder names in the Path Bar to navigate immediately to the selected folder. And, when you double click a folder in the content panel or the folders panel to navigate into that folder, the Path Bar expands to include the current folder.

However, try this: Click the > symbol that separates the folders in the Path Bar. A menu pops up showing all folders at that level (Hint: you can also right-click in Windows or Control-click on a Mac to activate this menu):

Now, choose a folder from the popup menu. You’re in Folder Cruising mode. Clicking a folder expands the Path Bar to that folder, and displays all the sub-folders at the new level:

Once you’ve reached your destination, you can stop folder cruising by choosing that from the menu, by clicking directly on a folder in the Path Bar, or by clicking elsewhere in the interface:

What a great feature!

But, the Path Bar does even more. In Bridge CS5, you can drag a folder to the Path Bar to open it (although I’m not sure how this is better than double clicking). A blue rectangle appears when the folder is dragged onto the Path Bar, and dropping the folder opens it immediately:

And, if drag and drop or clicking are too simple, you can also edit the path manually by typing it in. Clicking once on the last item in the Path Bar changes the bar into a text field where you can manually type in the path (might be useful for changing to a different drive altogether):

Finally, don’t forget that Bridge includes Navigation Buttons, which provide “Forward/Backward” navigation capability, just like in your browser. And, the little downward triangle next to the Navigation arrows gives a history list of recent folders:

Bridge is just full of little navigational tricks – poke around and you’ll find lots more. Meanwhile, until next time, happy cruising!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

We’ll start with this simple Photoshop document. We have a background, and 3 plain neutral gray layers, which will become our 3D objects. Notice we have two layers turned off for now:

Let’s turn the first gray layer into a 3D Sphere. From the menu, choose 3D > New Shape From Layer > Sphere:

This creates a plain gray sphere, like so:

Now, let’s make this look more like an ornament. We can open the Diffuse texture by double clicking the Layer 1 entry under Diffuse, in the Textures section of the layer:

When you double click the Diffuse texture, it opens up the original gray layer in a new file – this works very similar to the way Smart Objects work. We’ll modify this texture, and save it – which will update the master 3D object:

We’re going to simply add a stock image (I got the images used in this example from stock.xchg), something with a holiday feature, as a new layer to this file. Once we have it in place, we can save and then close this document:

When we close the document, we can see that the 3D object is updated with the new texture. We can use the 3D Object rotate tool to spin it around to the desired view:

Next, we can turn on layer 2. We’ll repeat the same process, to create a second ornament with a different texture. In this example, I’ve used the 3D Object Pan Tool to move the new object to the side just a bit so we can see what’s happening:

Now, let’s repeat the process once more with the third gray layer, this time adding an image that has a winter scene for a nice holiday effect:

Now that we have our three ornaments created, we’ll need to merge the 3D layers together. This is necessary so we can light them together, and let them interact. To merge 3D layers, we must select TWO layers at a time, then choose 3D > Merge 3D Layers:

With the two layers merged, select the merged layer and the remaining single 3D layer, and repeat the process:

Now, we have a single 3D layer with all three ornaments on it – and the ornaments seem to be intersecting, occupying the same space:

Now, let’s switch to the 3D Panel (Window > 3D). First, choose the second icon at the top (Filter by: Meshes). Second, choose the first mesh in the list. Third, use the 3D Mesh Pan and 3D Mesh Slide tools to maneuver the ornament back and to the side a bit compared to the other two:

Select the second mesh in the list and repeat:

Finally, choose the third and move it around to your taste as well. Keep adjusting by panning and sliding the spheres until you get a configuration that you like:

Next,. we’ll adjust the lights a bit. First, switch to the fourth icon at the top of the 3D Panel (Filter By: Lights). Second, choose the icon at the bottom to show 3D features. Third, choose 3D Lights. This will show the icons representing the lights:

Now comes the experimentation: Use the Rotate Lights tool and move one or both lights to get a bit of shading on the spheres. Let’s change the softness of the light to 50% as well:

Once you have the light positioned, go to the first icon in the 3D Panel (Filter By: Scene). Make sure the Scene is selected, and change the Quality to Ray Traced Draft. You’ll see the render grid crawl across the image. Looks nice!

But wait, we’re not done yet. Most Christmas ornaments are glossy, reflective metallic things, and we can simulate that, too. Choose the Sphere_Material, and change the Reflection value from 0 to 80:

Now, repeat for the other two entries for Sphere_Material, and you’ll have created 3 highly reflective orbs. Let the render complete and you’ll have a nice holiday scene:

The possibilities are endless – any combination of textures and reflectivity, and you have an entire new scene. Mix and match all you want! Experiment, have fun, and enjoy yourselves! See you next week.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites