Title Details

Scott Onstott is a consultant, former university lecturer, author, and independent video producer with more than 14 years of experience teaching and writing about design visualization and image-manipulation software. He is the author of eight books, including Enhancing CAD Drawings with Photoshop and Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD LT 2013 Essentials. In addition, Scott has been writing a column in Photoshop User magazine for the past six years.

Chapter 1 Design Basics 1

Understanding the Design Process  1

Understanding Project Fundamentals  1

Collaborating with Others 3

Presenting Images 3

Participating in the Design Process  4

Learning Composition Principles  4

Framing Compositions  5

Employing Composition Themes  7

Understanding Your Rights to Use Images  18

Using Your Own Images 18

Using Others’ Images 19

Photography and Scanning Primer 21

Understanding Pixels 21

Selecting a Digital Camera  22

Lens Focal Length  24

Lens Aperture  25

Adjusting Exposure  26

Focusing 28

Selecting Light Sensitivity 29

Scanning Tips 30

The Essentials and Beyond 32

Chapter 2 Get ting Acquainted with Photoshop’s User Interface 33

User Interface Overview  33

Setting Application Preferences 36

Accessing Commands 38

Working with Documents 40

Using Tools  42

Understanding Tool Groups and Flyout Menus  42

Selecting Tool Options and Entering Numerical Values  45

Creating Tool Presets 46

Arranging Panels  48

Recalling Workspaces 52

The Essentials and Beyond 54

Chapter 3 Digital Imaging Fundamentals 55

Working with Pixels  55

Maximizing Megapixels  55

Selecting the Pixel Aspect Ratio  57

Dealing with Aliasing 58

Navigating Pixels  59

Understanding Color 60

Using Primary Colors 60

Storing Color in Channels 63

Selecting Image Modes  65

Picking Color  68

Storing Data  73

Bits and Bit Depth  73

Data versus Detail  74

Compressing Data  75

Setting Document Size and Resolution 76

Setting Resolution 77

Resampling Images  78

Changing the Canvas Size and Trimming  79

Cropping 81

The Essentials and Beyond 82

Chapter 4 Painting 83

Creating Gradients  83

Selecting Paint Colors  87

Using Painting Tools 90

Sketching with a Pencil 90

Painting with a Brush  92

Pouring Paint from a Bucket 94

Using Eraser Tools 95

Exploring Brushes  98

Opacity and Flow  99

Brush Panel  100

Painting With a Tablet  102

Taking Advantage of Pressure Sensitivity 103

Controlling Bristle Tip Brushes with Tilt Sensitivity 104

Painting from History 105

Understanding the History Panel  105

Using the History Brush  106

Painting with the Art History Brush 108

Using the Mixer Brush  110

The Essentials and Beyond 112

Chapter 5 Drawing 113

Comparing Vector with Raster Data  113

Drawing with Vector Tools 116

Manipulating Shapes  119

Working With Drawing Tool Modes 123

Shape Tool Mode  123

Path Tool Mode 126

Pixels Tool Mode 129

The Essentials and Beyond 131

Chapter 6 Writing 133

Typography Primer 133

Creating Point Text 136

Creating Mask Text 138

Fine-Tuning Type  142

Creating Paragraph Text 146

The Essentials and Beyond 149

Chapter 7 Selecting Pixels 151

Selecting with Marquees  151

Using the Rectangular Marquee  151

Using the Elliptical Marquee 153

Selecting with Lassos 156

Using the Lasso  156

Using the Polygonal Lasso 158

Using the Magnetic Lasso  160

Drawing Selections 162

Painting Selections 165

Selecting by Color 167

Quick Selecting and Refining 171

The Essentials and Beyond 175

Chapter 8 Working with Layers and Masks 177

Understanding Layers 177

Managing Layers 181

Blending Layers 184

Using Masks 191

The Essentials and Beyond 195

Chapter 9 Using Layer Styles and Comps 197

Applying Layer Effects  197

Octagram Layer  198

Rays Layer 202

Outer and Circle Layers 205

Circled Dot Layer Group  208

Dividers Layer  212

Working with Layer Styles  216

Using Layer Comps 218

The Essentials and Beyond 219

Chapter 10 Transforming Paths, Layers, and Smart Objects 221

Using Rulers and Guides 221

Moving, Aligning, and Distributing 224

Free Transforming  227

Deforming 231

Transforming Smart Objects  234

The Essentials and Beyond 237

Chapter 11 Adjusting and Filtering 239

Applying Adjustments and Filters  239

Working with Smart Filters  243

Creating Fill and Adjustment Layers 247

The Essentials and Beyond 252

Chapter 12 Developing Photos 253

Using Adobe Bridge 253

Making Development Decisions in ACR 255

Basic Parameters  256

Advanced Parameters 260

Making Local Adjustments in ACR  266

The Essentials and Beyond 270

Chapter 13 Retouching Photos 271

Using Retouching Tools  271

Developing the Photo 271

Removing the Telephone Pole and Wires  273

Replacing Textures In Perspective  278

Mapping Perspective Grids  278

Copying a Texture onto Surfaces in Perspective 282

Changing Focus  286

The Essentials and Beyond 289

Chapter 14 Merging Photos 291

Making High Dynamic Range Imagery 291

Using Merge to HDR Pro  291

Applying HDR Toning To A Single Image 295

Working with Panoramas 297

Using Photomerge  297

Making A Seamless 360-Degree Panorama  300

Processing Images in Stacks  304

The Essentials and Beyond 308

Chapter 15 Working with Color 309

Managing Color 309

Configuring Color Settings 312

Assigning and Converting Color Profiles  315

Correcting Color 318

Using Curves to Set Black, Gray, and White Points  318

Creating a Color Cast with the Photo Filter 321

Adjusting Color 323

Proofing Color 326

The Essentials and Beyond 328

Chapter 16 Creating Output 329

Printing 329

Saving for the Web  333

Rendering Images to Video 337

The Essentials and Beyond 339

Appendix Adobe Visual Communication Using Photoshop CS6

Objectives 341

Index 345