Pixel Training

New Photoshop CS6 Features - Properties Panel

With the new version of any software there's always changes that leave us asking, "Where did that go?". With the introduction of the new Photoshop CS6, it was no different. With CS6 having more changes than any release of Photoshop in a very long time, you can be certain you will be wondering where some of your favorite tools went. Some were moved, changed or renamed but most of them still exist. It's just a matter of finding them. Lets take a look at where the Mask panel went and what happened to the Adjustments panel.

How to make Selective Black and White images in Photoshop

Photo: ©2012 Jo Brady

One of the many questions I get in my Photoshop classes is how to do selective black and white photos where the subject is in color but the background is desaturated and turned to black and white. One of my Photoshop students, Jo Brady, happened on this fox in her yard one morning and caught it in this great picture. She wanted to turn the background black and white while leaving the fox in color to enhance its presence. So I thought I would share a step-by-step process on how to do this in Photoshop CS6. You can also do this in older versions of Photoshop including Elements.

How to Create a PDF Contact Sheet in Adobe Photoshop Bridge

Update (July 17, 2013): If you are using Bridge CC you will need to manually install the Adobe Output Module, read more here.)

Creating a Contact Sheet for a photo shoot is one of the easiest ways to present your client a sheet of photo thumbnails so they can decide which ones to choose. Fortunately, Adobe created a more streamlined version of this process in CS5 by adding it directly in to Adobe Bridge under the Output workspace. In earlier versions, you had to create seperate JPEGs of the contact sheet in the Bridge menu Tools<Photoshop>Contact Sheet II. They are bringing it back in CS6 again but I like the new version because I can output PDFs directly from Bridge. Lets look at how to make a Contact Sheet in Adobe Bridge.

Tutorial: How to Sync Develop Settings in Adobe Bridge

One of the ways to make your workflow more efficient when working with Raw files in Photoshop is to sync settings across multiple images that have the same setup like in a studio table top shot or even a portrait session. Using a gray card or similar like the ColorChecker Passport can make life even easier since you will have something to measure your grey balance with. Even if you don't have a gray card you can set the develop settings in one image and sync them to the rest of images with a simple command in Bridge. Lets take a look on how to do this in Bridge.

If you're using a gray card of some sort you want to get your White Balance set first. Select the photo with your gray card in Bridge and open it in Camera Raw by going to the menu File>Open In Camera Raw… (Command-R).

High Pass Overlay Action

A new Action has been added to the Downloads page called the High Pass Overlay for creating micro contrast or structure to your photo. You can take this action way up and create a grungy look to your image. Its a great way to increase the local contrast and add a little punch to your photo. It also allows you to try different values and see it in action on your photo before you hit OK.

Download the action here.

To load the action, download the action from the link above then go to the Actions panel menu and select Load Actions... Select the saved action on your hard drive and hit Load. It should now be in your Actions panel. Open an image, select the action and hit Play.

I hope you enjoy it. Be sure to leave a comment and let me know how it works.

Tutorial: Lens Corrections in Adobe Camera Raw

Learn how to use the Lens Corrections tab in Adobe Camera Raw and how to apply the Lens Profile. This is a great tool for architectural photographers as well as making all photographs look better.

Tutorial: Using Curves to Warm a Photo

One of the fun things to do in Photoshop is to change the color of a photo to influence the mood and give it some flavor. Using the adjustments layers is one of the best ways to doing this and the Curves Adjustment is King when it comes to adjusting color in Photoshop.

Tutorial: Create a Vignette in Photoshop CS5

Learn how to create a vignette in Photoshop using the Levels adjustment layers.

 

Tutorial: Creating Low Resolution JPEGs

In this tutorial you'll learn how to process a group of high resolution photos in Photoshop to low resolution JPEGs using automation.

 

Tutorial: How to Reset a Photoshop Tool

Many times while working in Photoshop I grab a tool and it doesn't do what its supposed to do. It can be frustrating and 99% of the time the cause is a setting in the Tool Options that was changed earlier when working with the tool and is still active. It’s a great disruption to the flow of creativity and can just make you angry.

When you encounter this problem the simplest method to get back on track and continue working again is to reset the Tool to its default setting. You could spend a minute or two trying to figure out what's causing the problem but why spend that time searching when you can simply reset the tool with one click?