▼ Contributing WritersCorey BarkerDave CrossGlyn DewisBryan O’Neil HughesScott KelbyKirk NelsonJesús RamirezKristina SherkColin SmithScott Valentine

Published by KelbyOne, LLC.

Copyright ©2016 by Scott Kelby

All rights reserved. No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

▼ TrademarksPhotoshop, Photoshop Lightroom, and Photoshop Elements are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc.

Macintosh, Mac, and Mac OS X are registered trademarks of Apple Inc.

Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

▼ Warning and Disclaimer

This eBook is designed to provide information about Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photo shop Lightroom for digital photographers. Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty of fitness is implied.

THIS PRODUCT IS NOT ENDORSED OR SPONSORED BY ADOBE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED, PUBLISHER OF ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CC AND ADOBE PHOTOSHOP LIGHTROOM CC.

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▼ Adjustment Layer TrickIf you have an image with a subject you need to extract but there isn’t much con-trast between it and the background, you can add a Levels adjustment layer (Lay-er>New Adjustment Layer>Levels) and greatly increase the contrast to the point where the edges are clearly defined, regardless of how bad the image looks. Then use the Quick Selection tool (W) to make the selection. When done, toss the adjustment layer and you’re left with a better selection that you can fine-tune in the Select and Mask workspace.

▼ Undo Layer VisibilityBy default, clicking on the Eye icon to hide and show layers is not undoable. If you want to be able to use the Undo/Redo and Step Backward/Step Forward commands to show and hide layers, you have to change one setting. In the His-tory panel flyout menu, choose History Options, and in the dialog, check Make Layer Visibility Changes Undoable.

▼ Gradient Selection via Quick Mask

You can make a gradient selection by simply choosing the Gradient tool (G) and then pressing Q to enter Quick Mask mode. This will allow you to draw the gradient like normal and see it as a color overlay. Then when you press Q again, it will return to an active selection.

▼ Subtract a Layer from a SelectionIf you have an active selection and you want to remove the shape of another layer from that selection, then hold down Command-Option (PC: Ctrl-Alt) and click on that layer’s thumbnail in the Layers panel to remove it from the selection. Or you can hold down Shift-Command (PC: Shift-Ctrl) to add it to an active selection.

▼ Perspective WarpThis feature (Edit>Perspective Warp) was introduced back in Photoshop CC and gives you yet another tool to get more accurate distortions. Sometimes you need to adjust the perspective of an object or even a building. This feature avoids the need for a multistep, multilayer process by allowing you to define a perspective grid right on the image and then manipu-late it any way you need. It even has a nifty little guide that pops up to show you how.

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▼ Placeholder TextWhen you’re working with a design and need to see what it would look like with some text, drag out a text box with the Type tool (T), and then use the Type menu and choose Paste Lorem Ipsum. This will fill the text block with random text, ideal for mocking up a design.

▼ Color AdaptationBack in Photoshop CC 2014, a setting called Color Adaptation was added to the Content-Aware functions. With the Patch tool (nested under the Spot Healing Brush tool [J] in the Toolbox), you can apply this in an interesting way, after using the tool. With Content-Aware chosen in the Options Bar, use the Patch tool to select the area you want to remove, and then drag the selection to the area you want to use for the patch. Then click-and-hold on the word “Color” in the Options Bar, and drag left or right to change the setting (from 0 to 10). As you change the number, the patch will adjust, allowing you to find the ideal number in each situation.

▼ Load Bright and BrighterTo load a selection of the areas brighter than 50% gray, in the Channels panel hold down Command (PC: Ctrl) and click on the RGB thumbnail. After saving that as an alpha channel (Select>Save Selec-tion), you can select areas that are even brighter. With the selection active, hold down Command-Option-Shift (PC: Ctrl-Alt-Shift) and click on the thumbnail of the new Alpha channel. This will select areas that are even brighter. Then you can save that as an alpha channel. Now you can Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) on either of the two Alpha channels depend-ing on the brightness of the areas you want to select.

▼ Curve ChannelsA common way to make a Curves adjust-ment is to separately adjust each color channel (Red, Green, and Blue). Instead of choosing each channel from the pull-down menu in the Curves dialog or Prop-erties panel, press these keys to switch between the channels: Option-2 (PC: Alt-2) for RGB, Option-3 (PC: Alt-3) for Red, Option-4 (PC: Alt-4) for Green, and Option-5 (PC: Alt-5) for Blue.

▼ Combining ShapesYou can combine two or more shape layers into one shape layer: just select the layers in the Layers panel and press Command-E (PC: Ctrl-E) to merge them together. Although when you change the Fill and Stroke in the Options Bar it affects both objects, the original shapes remain independently editable when you use either the Path Selection or Direct Selec-tion tools (A).

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▼ Extraction TimesaverWhen you need to composite someone onto a different background, drag the entire photo of the person onto the new background before starting any extraction. That way when you make a selection and enter the Select and Mask workspace, you can use the On Layers view (Y) in the Prop-erties panel to see the edge of the person on the new background. Now every deci-sion you make is in the context of the new background.

▼ Smarter Layer CompsLinked smart objects have one added benefit: using layer comps. In the original layered file, create layer comps in the Layer Comps panel that show and hide various

layer combinations. After you place the file into a document (as a smart object), use the Properties panel and click on the drop-down menu that displays as Don’t Apply Layer Comp to choose the layer comp you want to display. This saves you having to return to the contents of the smart object to change how it displays.

▼ Reset Character One of the potentially frustrating things about working with text is that Photoshop remembers every setting you last used. If you’re formatting some text—changing leading, tracking, horizontal scale, etc.—those settings will continue to be used the next time you add text. In cases when you want to start fresh with the normal settings, go to the Character panel flyout menu and choose Reset Character.

▼ Maximize Your WorkspaceWant more workspace? Try pressing the Tab key to hide all the panels, Options Bar, and Toolbox; press it again to reveal them. Or try pressing it in combination with the Shift key to hide just the panels; press it once again to reveal them.

▼ Tiled WindowsIn tiled window view (Window>Arrange), you can change the view of all windows at the same time by holding down the Shift key. For example, use Shift and the Space-bar and then click-and-drag to scroll the windows at the same time, or Shift-Com-mand-Spacebar (PC: Shift-Ctrl-Spacebar) to zoom all windows the same amount.

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smart object (Layer>Smart Objects>Con-vert to Smart Object). This way you’ll still have access to all the layers but can also return to the plug-in and make changes to the settings. This works great with Goo-gle’s Nik and Topaz plug-ins, for example.

▼ Faking Cutouts with BrushesFake challenging cutouts, such as those with hair or fur, using brushes. For exam-ple, the 112 Dune Grass brush built into Photoshop can, amongst other things, be made to look like fur using the set-tings in the Brush panel. Rather than attempt a perfect cutout, make a rough selection, then add a layer mask. Paint in black to remove a section of fur or body. Then paint it back in using the Dune Grass brush set to white to reveal the fur again, but now in the shape of the brush head, which looks like fur.

▼ Clone Stamp Tool RotationIf you’re trying to clone over an area that’s at an angle using the Clone Stamp tool (S), make life easier by first Option-click-ing (PC: Alt-clicking) to choose your clone source, and then in the Clone Source panel (Window>Clone Source), turn on Show Overlay, highlight the Rotate the Clone Source field, and use your Up and Down keys to rotate clockwise and counterclock-wise, respectively. Throw in the Shift key to rotate in larger increments.

▼ Color Dodge for Lighting EffectsColor Dodge is an awesome blend mode for creating lighting effects. The trick is to use it with a color that’s darker than what you need, then paint with the Brush tool (B) onto a blank layer. The magic hap-pens once you change the blend mode to Color Dodge. You can then control the intensity with the Opacity slider or even add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer with a clipping mask and use the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness sliders in the Properties panel to finesse the look.

▼ Smart Plug-InsBe sure to use third-party plug-ins non-destructively. Rather than use them on a merged stamp layer, select all the layers in the Layers panel, and convert them to a

▼ Use Notes to Collaborate with Others

Use the Note tool in Photoshop to commu-nicate with others exactly what needs to be done and where. The Note tool is found in the Eyedropper tool’s (I) fly out menu.

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▼ Use Color Range to Create Masks for Shadows/ Midtones/Highlights

If the light on a client’s face is very uneven, try using the Highlights, Mid-tones, and Shadows options in the Select drop-down menu in the Select>Color Range dialog to isolate different tones on the face and increase or decrease the exposure accordingly in order to even out the lighting. For example, after selecting Highlights in Color Range and clicking OK, add a Curves adjustment layer. This will generate a mask based on the selection. Decrease the exposure with the Curves adjustment. Repeat for the midtones, then select the shadows and increase the exposure with another Curves adjustment layer. Put these three layers in their own layer group, add a black mask on the whole folder, and then paint in the smoothed-out lighting effect on the client’s face. To get it perfect, play around with the opacities of each layer in the group and also click on each mask and use the Feather slider in the Proper-ties panel to blur them a little.

▼ Selective Color: Fixing Tungsten Lights

When you have color contamination from a tungsten light in a predominantly daylight-balanced image, use a Selec-tive Color adjustment layer (Layer>New Adjust ment Layer>Selective Color) with the Colors set to Yellows in the Properties panel to remove the yellow hues from only the places that have yellow in the image. This significantly decreases mask-ing time. This also works for a blue window in a predominantly tungsten-lit room.

▼ Selective Color: Fixing Face Redness

When some of the wedding guests that we photograph have very red faces (due to dancing or drinking), we use a Selec-tive Color adjustment layer set to Reds to remove redness from only the reds of the skin, leaving the yellows in the skin tones alone. This also will significantly decrease your masking time.

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▼ Load Images into Same FileIf you need to create an image with multi-ple images stacked on top of one another (e.g., if you used a tripod to capture mul-tiple images that you need to mask together), use the File>Scripts>Load Files into Stack command. This creates a file with all of the files stacked as layers in the same image.

▼ Find the Center of any ImageHere’s a simple way to find the center of a document. From the View menu, choose New Guide Layout. Change the settings to 2 Columns and 2 Rows, with the Gutter set to 0 in both cases. Then use the Preset drop-down menu and select Save Preset. Choose a name and save the preset. Click OK to close the New Guide Layout dialog. From now on in any document, use View>New Guide Layout and use your preset to find the center of the document.

▼ Use Gradients in Your MasksIf you’re working on a landscape image and you would like an effect to only be visible on the sky, you can use the Gradi-ent tool (G) to make perfect masks in sec-onds. Just make sure that the colors used in the gradient are shades on the white-to-black spectrum. Also, remember to apply the gradient to the mask and not the actual layer.

▼ Create Composite Layer When you have a number of layers and want to apply an effect to all of them, it’s easier to flatten them. However, you may want to keep your construction layers for making changes. Choose the top layer in the Layers panel and press Shift- Option-Command-E (PC: Shift-Alt-Ctrl-E). A new flattened layer will appear above all the other layers.

▼ Toggle through Layer Blend Modes

When looking for the best blend mode to use, activate the Move tool (V), hold down Shift-Option (PC: Shift-Alt), and then with your other hand, use the + or – keys to cycle through the different blend modes for the layer. This way, you can quickly determine which one works best for your needs.

▼ Searchable FontsThe font fields in the Options Bar and Character panel are searchable. Just start entering the name of your font, and the list will shorten to match the results.

▼ Auto-Align LayersIf your client chooses a portrait where her eyes are slightly blurred, replace the slightly motion-blurred eyes with the eyes from a frame where the eyes are sharper. This usually works best for photographers who shoot multiple frames in quick suc-cession. With both images open, drag the image with the sharp eyes into the blurry eye image, and then use the Edit>Auto- Align Layers command. Make sure both layers are selected in the Layers panel before enabling the align command. Once they’re aligned, use a layer mask to hide everything except the sharp eyes.

▼ Duplicating Documents Have you ever wanted to make an exact duplicate of your Photoshop document, layers and all? While you could choose File>Save As, and then save a copy and work on that, there’s a quicker way. Open the History panel (Window>History). At the bottom left you’ll see an icon that looks like a document with a plus sign on it. Click that icon to create a dupli-cate document.

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▼ How to Select a LayerSometimes it’s difficult to know exactly which layer you’re working on. Maybe there’s a layer on the page that you want to select so you can move it, scale it, or somehow change it. It’s as simple as mak-ing sure the Move tool (V) is selected. In the Options Bar, make sure that Layer and not Group is turned on next to Auto-Se-lect. Hold down Command (PC: Ctrl) and click in your document. Whatever you click on will become the active layer. Another way is to turn on Auto-Select, and if you want to see bounding boxes and have the Move tool work more like Illustrator, turn on Show Transform Controls, as well. I pre-fer the Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) way.

▼ Auto LevelsWhenever you open a Levels or Curves adjustment, you might see the Auto button and ignore it like I have for years. However, it’s worth clicking now to see what you get. Adobe has made vast improvements to the Auto settings in Photoshop CC.

▼ Black & White Adjustment for Better Color Images

The Black & White adjustment layer pro-vides some great ways of toning different portions of an image. Imagine if you had this kind of control over a color image? Duplicate your layer, go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Black & White, and change its blend mode to Luminosity in the Layers panel. Now when you make changes to the Black & White adjustment, notice how you now have control over the tones of the color image.

▼ Change Brush Size and Softness

Press the Left ([) or Right ( ]) Bracket keys to make a brush smaller or larger, respec-tively. This works with the Brush tool (B) or any relative of it, including things such as the Eraser (E) and Dodge and Burn tools (O), and even with brush Size fields in dia-logs such as Liquify. If you also include the Shift key in the combination, you can change the softness of the brush.

▼ Bird’s-Eye ViewWhen you have a very large image such as a panorama, it can be difficult or time-consuming to inspect different portions of the image at large magnifications. Hold the H key, and click-and-hold the left mouse button. You’ll see that the image shrinks to fit entirely on the screen. Drag the mouse to reposition the box surrounding the cursor, release, and Photoshop will fill the screen with the new selected area.

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Shift-Alt-Ctrl) then press T repeatedly for each repeat. Note: Each repeat will create a new layer unless the object is selected before invoking step and repeat.

▼ Fade EffectsHave you ever applied a filter in Photo-shop and thought maybe you’d like to decrease its intensity just a little instead of completely undoing it? There’s a fea-ture called Fade that’s only available right after you apply a filter. It’s located under the Edit menu and it allows you to lower the Opacity of the filter, as well as change the blend mode, which affects how the filter blends with the original pixels.

▼ The Flame GeneratorThe new Flame generator (Filter>Ren-der>Flame) is great for creating realistic custom flame effects for almost anything. Designers may find, however, that they can create some rather interesting design effects if they play with different colors and drastically move the sliders around. A little experimentation can go a long way.

▼ The Tree GeneratorLike the Flame generator, the Tree gener-ator (Filter>Render>Tree) works in simi-lar ways in that you choose a type of tree and then you can determine how lush or dead you want its appearance just by moving the sliders back and forth. Don’t be afraid; be extreme with the settings and you may discover something new.

▼ Quick ExportThe Quick Export feature (File> Export>Quick Export) introduced in Pho-toshop CC 2015 allows you to quickly export a file to whatever format you most commonly use. You can configure the Quick Export function in the Preferences (File>Export>Export Preferences). And if you choose to Export Files to an Assets Folder Next to the Current Document, when you choose Quick Export from either the File menu or by Right-clicking on an individual layer in the Layers panel, it will save in your selected format with-out any prompts at all.

▼ Step & RepeatUnless you use this feature all the time, it’s easy to forget about it. When you want to create multiple instances of an object, just press Option-Command-T (PC: Alt-Ctrl-T) to activate Free Transform in step-and-repeat mode. Then, move or transform the object and press Enter. Hold down Shift-Option-Command (PC:

▼ Image Import from DeviceThere’s a pretty cool feature in Photoshop where you can import images from your devices: Just go to File>Import>Images from Device. Your connected devices will show up on the left side of the Import Images from Device dialog. Once a device is selected, you can download its images to your computer or open them right in Photoshop as either a new document or as a new layer in the frontmost document. This is a handy feature for getting your device images quickly into Photoshop.

▼ Layer Comps and Blend ModesA layer comp can “record” the Visibility, Position, and Appearance of the layers in a document. You’ll find these options in the New Layer Comp dialog when you click on the Create New Layer Comp icon at the bottom of the Layer Comps panel (Window>Layer Comps). Appearance

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▼ Adobe ColorRemember Kuler? It was a great color- editing feature that used to be available in most Adobe apps. Now that feature is called Adobe Color Themes (Window> Extensions>Adobe Color Themes), and it allows you to create color themes and save them to your Creative Cloud Librar-ies. There’s also a mobile app called Adobe Capture CC that allows you generate color sets using the device’s camera. So if you see a logo or even a landscape that has colors you like, simply shoot the image to gener-ate the color set and upload it to your Cre-ative Cloud Libraries right on the spot.

refers to layer styles, which not only includes things such as Drop Shadows or Strokes, but it also includes blend modes and Opacity. So if you have a couple of layers and want to easily compare dif-ferent blend modes, add a series of layer comps, each with a different blend mode. Then you can quickly “browse” through the different looks using the Apply Next and Apply Previous icons at the bottom of the Layer Comps panel.

▼ Solid Color Adjustment LayersWhen you want to add a layer filled with color, try using a Solid Color adjustment layer (Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color). When you use Edit>Fill to fill with a color, every time you want to change the color, you have to click on the Foreground color swatch to use the Color Picker, and then Edit>Fill again. Instead, because the Solid Color adjustment layer is, well, an adjust-ment layer, you can double-click on the layer to change the color and see instant results while the Color Picker is still open.

▼ Toggle Layer LocksIf you’ve turned on any of the locking functions in the Layers panel (Lock Trans-parent Pixels, Lock Image Pixels, Lock Position, or Lock All), you can toggle that lock off and on by pressing the Forward Slash key (/). Bonus: You can turn on two locks at once (e.g., Lock Transparent Pix-els and Lock Position) and the shortcut works the same way.

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▼ Transform AgainIf you’ve used Free Transform (Command-T [PC: Ctrl-T]) to scale down a layer, and want to apply the exact same transformation to a different layer, press Shift-Command-T (PC: Shift-Ctrl-T). That’s the shortcut for Transform Again, meaning repeat what-ever you did: scale, rotate, move, or any combination of transformations. Bonus: If you want to apply the transfor mation to a copy, press Option-Shift-Command-T (PC: Alt-Shift-Ctrl-T).

▼ Scale a PatternAlthough you can add a pattern using Edit>Fill, the Pattern Stamp tool, or the Pattern Overlay layer style, only the layer style (Layer>Layer Style>Pattern Overlay) gives you the option of scaling the pat-tern as you apply it (and the ability to edit that scale amount at any time).

▼ Arrange OptionsOnce you have a stack of layers, you can easily change the stacking order, not only by manually dragging layers in the Lay-ers panel, but also with the commands under Layer>Arrange. These include options such as Bring to Front, Send Backward, and Reverse for situations when you want to turn the stack of layers upside down (in the reverse of the cur-rent order). Just select all the layers you want to affect in the Layers panel before accessing these commands.

▼ Reflection TrickThis is a nifty little design trick. Open an image and make the rulers visible by pressing Command-R (PC: Ctrl-R). Then, drag a vertical guide to the center where it should snap into position (if it doesn’t snap, make sure View>Snap is turned on). Press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to make a duplicate of the Background layer, and go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal. Switch to the Rectangular Marquee tool (M), and drag a marquee selection over half of the image to the guide in the center. Hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key and click the Add Layer Mask icon (circle in a square) at the bottom of the Layers panel. Voilà! If you click on the layer mask thumb-nail in the Layers panel to make it active and press Command-I (PC: Ctrl-I) to Invert it, you’ll get a completely different version.

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the Lasso tool (L), then add a Hue/Sat-uration adjustment layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue Saturation). In the drop-down menu in the Properties panel, change Master to Yellows, and then drag the Lightness slider to the Right.

▼ Puppet Warp TextWhen you apply a Puppet Warp (under the Edit menu) to a type layer, you can independently edit each letter (while keeping the text editable) by converting the text layer to a smart object (Layer> Smart Objects>Convert to Smart Object). Just add pins to each letter to adjust them. Converting to a smart object also makes the Puppet Warp editable after you apply it.

▼ Painterly Texture EffectGive your pictures a painterly texture look by first adding a merged layer (Shift-Command-Option-E [PC: Shift-Ctrl-Alt-E]) at the top of the layer stack and naming it “Look.” Duplicate this layer (Command-J [PC: Ctrl-J]) and rename the duplicate “Sharpness.” Hide the Sharp-ness layer for now by clicking its Eye icon in the Layers panel. With the Look layer active, go to Filter> Noise> Reduce Noise, set Strength to 10, and all the other sliders to 0. Click OK. Now you’ll have a smooth textured look across your image. (Note: If you’d like to increase the effect, press Con-trol-Command-F [PC: Ctrl-F] to repeat the Reduce Noise filter.) To bring back sharp-ness, click on the Sharpness layer, make it visible, and then go to Filter> Other> High Pass. Set Radius to 1 Pixel, click OK, and change the layer blend mode to Overlay in the Layers panel.

▼ Enhance Detail in White ClothingBring out more texture and detail in white clothing by first creating a merged layer (Shift-Command-Option-E [PC: Shift-Ctrl-Alt-E]) at the top of the layer stack. Then, go to Filter>Camera Raw Fil-ter, reduce the Saturation to –100, and adjust the Clarity and Contrast until more detail is visible in the white item. Click OK, and change the layer’s blend mode to Luminosity. Hold the Option (PC: Alt) key while clicking the Add Layer Mask icon (circle in a square) at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a black mask, which hides everything on the layer. With a white, soft-edged Brush (B), paint to reveal the detail in the clothing.

▼ Super-Fast Teeth WhiteningA super-fast way to give teeth a bit of whitening treatment is simply to make a loose selection around the teeth with

▼ Quick ContrastOne great way that I like to boost the contrast in my images without affecting the color or adding halos is by using the Unsharp Mask Filter. Simply go to Filter> Sharpen> Unsharp Mask, and then as a starting point, set Amount to 15%, Radius to 15 Pixels, and Threshold to 0. Always keep the Threshold at 0, and after adjust-ing the Amount, add the same amount in Pixels to the Radius and you’re done.

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▼ Use Adjustment Layers Set to Multiply

Whenever I want to diminish the appearance of distracting elements in a background to draw attention to specific areas of an image, I’ll use two random adjustment layers (Layer>New Adjustment Layer) set to the Multi-ply blend mode in the Layers panel. This will make the entire image darker. Just use the Brush tool (B) set to black to paint on the layer masks that came with the adjustment layers to hide the effects on the portion of the image you want to highlight.

▼ Paint Away Flyaway HairsIf you have a lot of flyaway hairs in your shot, try using the Filter>Noise>Dust & Scratches command on a duplicated Background layer. Play with the Radius slider until the hairs you wish to remove disappear from the layer, then click OK. Next, Option-click (PC: Alt-click) the Add Layer Mask icon (circle in a square) at the bot-tom of the Layers panel to hide that layer under a black mask, and paint in with white over the hairs you want to remove. Disclaimer: The success of this method depends greatly on the photo. It works great for backlit sub-jects and very blurry backgrounds.

▼ Multiple Instances of Layer Styles

As of Photoshop CC 2015, you can duplicate and stack layer styles such as Stroke and Drop Shadow on a single layer. Look for the + icons next to sev-eral of your layer style options in your Layer Style dialog. Just click the plus to add additional instances of that style.

▼ Fast ZoomZoom quickly into or out of an area in an image by holding the Command (PC: Ctrl) and Spacebar keys and clicking-and-drag-ging right or left, respectively.

▼ Free Transform for Added PowerWhen photographing male physique or sports athletes, I always find that there’s a little something missing that actually reduces their powerful presence. This is very quickly and easily rectified, though, with a sneaky use of Free Transform at the very end of the retouching process. With a merged layer (Shift-Command-Op-tion-E [PC: Shift-Ctrl-Alt-E]) at the top of the layer stack, go to Edit>Free Transform, and then in the Options Bar at the top of the screen, increase the Width (W) from anything between 101% to 105% and press Enter.

▼ Faster LiquifyWhen you have a small section of an image that needs Liquifying, don’t create a layer of the whole image. Use the Mar-quee tool (M) to draw a selection around the spot you need to Liquify, Copy (Com-mand-C [PC: Ctrl-C]) and Paste in Place using Shift-Command-V (PC: Shift-Ctrl-V), and then choose Filter>Liquify. This not only saves file size, but it also will make Liquify run much faster.

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▼ Don’t Forget Puppet WarpEvery now and again, I’ll browse through unused files with fresh eyes to see if they have any potential. On occasion, just the slight change in the angle of a head or position of an arm can take a picture from zero to hero. So, don’t forget Puppet Warp! You’ll find it under the Edit menu.

▼ Get Organized with LibrariesLibraries in the Creative Cloud save me an untold amount of time. Create your own library folder by clicking on the Creative Cloud icon at the bottom of the Libraries panel to enable syncing. Then, from the drop-down menu at the top of the panel, choose + Create New Library. To add items into the library, simply drag-and-drop any open image into the Libraries panel. From then on, the images and files you add into your library will be available across all of your Creative Cloud apps. To add them into a document, as before, just drag-and-drop them and they’ll be added on a new layer in the layer stack.

▼ Inverted High Pass LayersYou’re probably aware you can use Filter>Other>High Pass on a duplicate layer set to the Overlay blend mode to sharpen an image, but if you Invert (Command-I [PC: Ctrl-I]) the layer (not the mask) of a High Pass layer, you can easily create a smoothing effect. Use this to quickly smooth your clients’ eye whites and diminish the look of fine veins.

▼ Scrubby SlidersClick-and-drag your mouse left or right directly on any word that appears next to a field where you can input a number (such as the Opacity field in the Layers panel) and watch the number in the box change.

▼ Filling Selections and LayersThe fastest way to fill a selection or layer with a color is to use the keyboard: Press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill with the Foreground color; press Com-mand-Delete (PC: Ctrl-Backspace) to fill with the Background color. Press Shift- Delete (PC: Shift-Backspace) to open the Fill dialog where you can choose differ-ent color options, such as custom col-ors, patterns, and the amazing Content- Aware Fill.

▼ Use Corners to Your AdvantageHere are a couple of tips for scaling any-thing that has a bounding box, such as Free Transform. When you drag a corner of the bounding box, all four sides of the bounding box will be scaled from the opposite corner. If you hold down Option

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▼ Color Dodge EyesTo add eye dimension, paint 50% gray on an empty layer over the irises. Then, change that layer’s blend mode to Color Dodge, and double-click to the right of its name in the Layers panel to bring up the Layer Style dialog. Play around with the two sliders on the Underlying Layer bar in the Blend If section. The objective is to have the lightening effect show up only on the lighter striations in the irises. Hold down Option (PC: Alt) when you click on one of the sliders to divide it, which will help feather the edges where the effect is visible or hidden. Make sure you keep looking at the iris as you drag the sliders. The last step is to decrease the Opacity slider near the top of the Layer Style dia-log until it looks realistic.

(PC: Alt), all four sides of the bounding box will be scaled from the center. Add in the Shift key to constrain the shape, and you can transform with one quick drag.

▼ Freely TransformingWhen you need to change the size, angle, or shape of an object, Free Transform (Command-T [PC: Ctrl-T]) is the go-to tool. You’ll see a bounding box around your object with eight transform handles. You can use modifier keys to do a variety of transformations, but if you don’t want to memorize them all, Right-click inside the bounding box and use the context-sensi-tive menu. You’ll see such options as Scale, Rotate, Skew, Distort, Warp, and more.

▼ Use Clipping MasksLet’s pretend you’re working on a land-scape image where you’ve already cre-ated a mask on an adjustment layer so that it only darkens the sky. You then realize that you’d also like to increase the saturation of the sky, so you create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and pump up the saturation. Instead of cre-ating a second mask on the Hue/Satura-tion layer, simply choose Layer>Create Clipping Mask, and the added saturation will only be visible where the mask of the darkened sky adjustment layer (the layer underneath it) is white.

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▼ Avoid this Masking TrapThis is a simple tip, but it will help you avoid a slippery trap. When you’re compositing different layers in Photoshop, it’s common to change the canvas size during a proj-ect. It’s also common to apply a mask, fill it with black to hide an entire layer, and use a white brush to paint back just the areas you want to show. Here’s the trap: If you fill a mask with black, and then resize the canvas, the edges of the mask will show. Instead of filling with black, hold Option (PC: Alt) while clicking the Add Layer Mask icon (circle in a square) at the bottom of the Layers panel. This will create an inverted mask (black). If the mask is already cre-ated and you want to change it to a Hide All mask, click on the layer mask thumbnail and press Command-I (PC: Ctrl-I) to Invert the white mask to black. Now when you resize the canvas, the entire mask will still be filled with black, and you can let the trap spring on some other unsuspecting Photoshop user.

▼ Photoshop ResetWeird things happening in Photo-shop can often be fixed by resetting the Preferences file. Luckily, you don’t have to search for that file as we did in the past: Just quit out of Photoshop, locate your Photoshop launch icon (the actual one, not the alias in your task bar), and hold Option-Command-Shift (PC: Alt-Ctrl-Shift) as you launch Photoshop. A dialog will pop up ask-ing, “Delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings File?” Click Yes to start with a new set of preferences.

▼ Making Masks BetterHere are a few shortcuts to make layer masks even more powerful: Shift-click on the mask thumbnail in the Layers panel to turn it on and off; Option-click (PC: Alt-click) to show the black-and-white mask on the image; and press the Back-slash key (\) to show the mask overlay (Rubylith color).

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▼ Duplicating ThingsThere’s a really easy way to duplicate things such as layers, objects, layer styles, masks, gradient stops, and more. All you need do is press-and-hold Option (PC: Alt) and click-and-drag. A duplicate copy will appear as you drag, and you can drop it wherever you like.

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▼ Refining Really Good EdgesThe Select and Mask Workspace is a very powerful tool for cleaning up selections. It has one setting that can make a huge difference, and that’s the Edge Detec-tion Radius. This is the “decision zone” where Photoshop decides what should be selected and what shouldn’t. A high Radius is great for hair and soft edges, while a smaller Radius is great for clean, precise edges. The key to getting a good Radius is to turn on the Show Edge check-box (J) and then adjust the Radius slider.

▼ Negative Space Paint EffectCreate a text or graphic layer, then scale and position the text/graphic in the layout. Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) its layer thumbnail in the Layers panel to create an active selection, then go under the Select menu and choose Inverse. Next, create a new blank layer and click on the Eye icon next to the original text or graphic layer to hide it. Choose the Brush tool (B), and use the Brush panel (Window>Brush) to customize the brush options. Then paint on the selection to reveal the graphic or text in negative space.

than one layer, or the Command (PC: Ctrl) key to select non-adjacent layers. Then you can change the blend mode, Opacity, and Fill opacity of the selected layers all at the same time. You can also click on the Delete Layer icon (trash can) at the bottom of the Layers panel to delete all the selected layers at once.

▼ Make a Movable Lens FlareYou can apply the Lens Flare filter in a much more editable manner using this method. Add a layer above your photo, press D to set your Foreground color to black, and then press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the layer with black. Using the Elliptical Marquee tool (nested under the Rectangular Marquee tool [M] in the Toolbar) set to a high Feather amount in the Options Bar, draw a large oval selection in the middle of the window and apply the Lens Flare filter (Filter>Ren-der>Lens Flare). After you click OK to apply the Lens Flare, change this layer’s blend mode to Screen in the Layers panel, and press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to dese-lect. Now you can use the Move tool (V) to reposition the Lens Flare. The reason you want to create a feathered selection is to better blend the edges of the Lens Flare into the image. Otherwise, when you move the flare, you’ll see its edges.

▼ Show all FiltersIf you’re like me, then you like to have all of the available filters appear in the Filter menu when you’re experimenting with effects. When you first load Photoshop, however, and go to the Filter menu, you’ll only see an abbreviated list of available filters; the rest are located in the Filter Gallery. But if you want to see the whole list in the Filter menu, just go to Photoshop CC (PC: Edit)>Preferences>Plug-Ins and

▼ Edit Multiple Layers at OnceIf you select two or more layers in the Layers panel, you can change some settings for all of the layers at once. First, hold down the Shift key to select more

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check on Show All Filter Gallery Groups and Names. Now when you go to the Filter menu, you’ll see all of the filters just like the good ol’ days.

▼ Amazing Eyes with Linear Dodge

A great way to not only make eyes really stand out but also change their color is with a Selective Color adjustment layer. Start by making a selection of the eyes (excluding the pupils), and then with the selection active, add a Selective Color adjustment layer (Layer>New Adjust-ment Layer>Selective Color). Change the blend mode from Normal to Linear Dodge (Add) in the Layers panel. Control the intensity by using the Opacity slider in the Layers panel. In the Properties panel, choose Neutrals from the Colors drop-down menu, and then you can also use the sliders to make any changes to the overall eye color.

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▼ Change Colors Fast with Hue/Saturation

When using a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to change the colors within a picture, you can simply choose the color that you want to affect in the Master drop-down menu in the Properties panel, and then use the Hue/Saturation/Lightness sliders to make changes. This may not, however, affect all the colors that you’re trying to change, for example, all the various blues in a sky. To do this, choose Blues from the

Master drop-down menu and then group together the Color Range Limiting Bars at the bottom of the Properties panel by dragging together the outer triangles that appear between the two color bars. Then grab the Eyedropper tool with the + symbol, and click-and-drag all over the sky to pick up all the blue tones.

▼ Quickly Add Color Effects to Your Pictures

Adding color effects to your pictures can make a huge difference, enhancing the overall mood and feel that you’re after, and it’s amazing the effects you can create simply by experimenting. For example, to add the warm tones of a sunset to an otherwise flat image, start by opening a sunset image, going to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, and setting the Radius to around 250 pixels. Use the Move tool (V) to drag this blurred sunset image to the flat image, and place it at the top of the layer stack. Change the blend mode to Overlay in the Layers panel. Control the strength of the effect by using the Fill slider (predominantly reduces the color but keeps the effect of the blend mode).

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▼ Digital PolarizerWatching Photoshop engineers deliver magic, I always wished for the abil-ity to apply a polarizing filter (remov-ing non-metallic reflection and atmo-spheric haze) in postprocessing. Like a lot of wishes, that seemed far-fetched, and then Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw introduced the Dehaze tool—wow! (You can find it in the Effects panel.) My only gripe was that it also darkened the image (like a polarizer), but fear not, in either Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw, you can use it as a Graduated Filter (G). If by some chance you’re on an older version of Lightroom, or you want to enjoy the power on your phone, try it free in Lightroom Mobile!

▼ Adobe Camera Raw for VideoVideo is great, but editing it can be a hassle. Wouldn’t it be great if you had Lightroom for video? Well, here’s the next best thing: open a video in Photoshop (did you know you could?), turn that into a smart object (Layer>Smart Objects>Con-vert to Smart Object), and go to Filter>-Camera Raw Filter—it all works on the whole clip. When you’re finished, go to File>Export>Render Video—done!

▼ One Document, Two WindowsWorking on a large design document with lots of detail can make even the largest monitor feel small. How many times do you find yourself constantly zooming in for tight detail work just to zoom back out and realize the latest edit doesn’t work in the context of the wider view? One great solution to this is to create a duplicate window for your document. Do this with Window>Ar-range>New Window for [name of docu-ment]. This will create a second window

for your document that will update with each operation. Keep one window at the wider view, and the other zoomed in tight. This is particularly helpful when using a two-monitor setup.

▼ Smart Filter Blending OptionsSmart filters are certainly smarter than using filters in a destructive, traditional way. The primary benefit is that the filter settings are still live so the filter can be readjusted even after application. But there’s more to using smart filters than that. In the Layers panel, to the far right of each Smart Filter line is a small icon that looks like two slider controls. Double-click this icon to open the smart filter Blending Options. These options allow you to set the blend Mode and Opacity for the filter. This alone can open up new creative applications for using the same tired old filters.

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▼ Free Up Memory with PurgeIf you ever find that Photoshop starts lagging or complaining about scratch disks, it usually means that the program is hungry for more memory. Before you start trying to reassign free memory space in your prefer-ences, try this first: go to Edit>Purge. There are a handful of options but the All option is the most effective. This makes Photoshop release any memory it was holding onto that you’re not currently using. In turn, this frees up that memory for your active process-ing. This should always be your first step when trying to resolve memory issues with the program.

▼ Nondestructive Blur, Sharpen, and Smudge Tools

To work nondestructively when work-ing with the Blur, Sharpen, or Smudge tools, create a new blank layer and click on Sample All Layers in the Options Bar. Then, make your adjustments in the blank layer. This will generate the new edited pixels in the blank layer, without editing the pixels in the original layer.

▼ View and Print all Photoshop’s Keyboard Shortcuts

Photoshop allows you to save an HTML file that contains a list of all keyboard shortcuts, even the custom shortcuts that you’ve created. You can view that HTML file in your browser or you can print it. To save this HTML file, open the Keyboard Shortcuts and Menus dialog by pressing Shift-Option-Com-mand-K (PC: Shift-Alt-Ctrl-K). Then, under the Keyboard Shortcuts tab, click the Summarize button, select a location and name for your file, and click Save.

▼ Protect Tonal Values while Color Correcting

When working with a Curves adjust-ment layer (Layer>New Adjust ment Layer>Curves) to color correct an image, you may sometimes inadver-tently make the image darker or lighter. To apply your color correction without affecting the tonal values of the image, set the Curves adjustment layer’s blend mode to Color in the Layers panel. This will allow you to change colors only, without changing the lightness or dark-ness of the image.

▼ Text Larger than 1296 PointsWhen you’re using the Type tool (T), Photoshop will only let you enter up to 1296 points into the Font size field on the Options Bar. If you try to go higher, a pop-up tells you “a value between 0.01 and 1296.00 points is required.” If, however, you ever need your text to be larger, you can scale it up using the Free Transform command. Press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T), hold the Shift key, then click-and-drag the transformation handles outward to enlarge the text further.

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▼ Multiple Blemish Removal with the Patch Tool

While using the Patch tool (nested under the Spot Healing Brush tool [J] in the Toolbar) to fix blemishes, remember to hold down the Shift key so you can draw a selection around more than one blem-ish at a time. That way, you can fix all of the spots in one move (just click-and-drag one of the selected areas to an area you want to use for the patch).

▼ An Alternate Method to Liquify for Changing Something’s Shape

Instead of using Liquify to change some-thing’s shape, try using the Lasso tool (L) to select a certain area of the image, copy (Command-C [PC: Ctrl-C]) the selected area, and paste it into place (Shift-Command-V [Shift-Ctrl-V]) on its own layer. Then, press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to enter Free Transform, and click the Warp icon (curved grid above a curved, double-headed arrow) in the Options Bar to change the shape of the item. Just click-and-drag inside differ-ent areas of the grid and on the various control points to warp the shape. Click Enter to commit the transformation.

▼ Easy Keyboard Shortcut for Changing Brush Blend Mode

If you have any of the painting tools selected (such as the Brush tool) and you want to quickly change the brush’s blend mode in the Options Bar, simply press Shift-+ (Plus key) or Shift-– (Minus key) repeatedly to cycle through the active brush’s blend modes.

▼ Using Shake Reduction for Images with Motion Blur

Got an image with a slight motion blur? Not a problem anymore thanks to Filter>Sharpen>Shake Reduction! This tool can quickly take a reading of your image and guess which way the camera was shaking, and then apply an algo-rithm to try and reduce the motion blur or shake. If the default settings aren’t perfect, expand the Advanced section to reveal the blur estimation region (the marquee-look-ing box with the circle in the middle). Just reposition this region to a different place in the image and see if that works better. Tip: Use areas of the image that are in focus and are very detailed.

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▼ Cycling Through View ModesWhen you want to preview your work, press the F key to go into Full Screen Mode with Menu Bar, and then press F again to go into Full Screen Mode without menus (presentation mode). To return to normal (Standard Screen Mode), tap the F key one more time. Play a game and see how many times you can do it in a minute (don’t do that last one—I was kidding!).

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▼ Manually Drag a Drop ShadowWhen you’re inside the Layer Style dialog creating a Drop Shadow (Layer>Layer Style>Drop Shadow), you can push the sliders to set the Distance and Angle of a drop shadow, or you can simply click-and-drag right on the canvas to set its placement.

▼ Copy a Layer Mask to a Different Layer

Sometimes you can invest a lot of time carefully painting a layer mask to get it just perfect, and there are times when you may want to use that same layer mask on another layer; perhaps you’re using an adjustment layer with a masked layer. You could make a selection, copy the contents, and paste it into another mask, but here’s a faster way: Hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key and click-and-drag the mask you want to copy onto the layer to which you want to copy it. If there’s a mask already present, such as an adjustment layer, it will offer the option to replace the mask; otherwise, it will drop a copy of the mask onto the layer.

▼ Scaling Layer StylesWhen you make a layer style, all its settings are fine-tuned for the graphic for which you originally created it. Maybe it was a thin line, or it could have been a thick one. Perhaps it was a really small graphic, or an extra large one. A layer style that’s created for a large graphic always looks a little weird when it’s applied to a smaller graphic. Often, the bevel is so large it just looks like gum on the smaller graphic. The lesson here is that one size doesn’t fit all. It’s really easy to fix though: Right-click on the word “Effects” in the Layers panel and choose Scale Effects. You’ll now see a slider that enables you to make the layer style a perfect fit.

▼ Match FontSo your design client wants “something kind of like that font over there,” as she points to a sign across the street. Natu-rally, you snap a picture with your phone and import the image into Photoshop. After you drag a selection around the type with the Rectangular Marquee tool (M), you go to Type>Match Font. You’re presented with a list of similar fonts that you have installed, as well as some avail-able immediately on Typekit. You appear wise and insightful!

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