All Categories : Web Graphics Teach Yourself Photoshop 4 in 14 Days - 6 - Moving Pixel Paint On Day 3, "Painting and Drawing Tools," you learned about the paint tools available in Photoshop. The tools are there, it's just a matter of putting them to use. But what about after the paint (or the pixels, I should say) is on the page? Or when the image just isn't quite what you would like? Well, as I am sure that you have realized by now, Photoshop can fix it. Today we'll take a trip back into the toolbox to use what I would consider to be some of Photoshop's most advanced tools. Not advanced in that they are difficult to use, but advanced in what they enable you to do. We are also going to sneak a peak at the Blur filters, but you'll have to wait for a whole day's coverage on filters until Day 12, "Photoshop Filters." And if you are curious about more advanced painting information, see Day 7, "Digital Paint." Today's chapter will not cover painting or making selections (these are covered on Day 7 and Day 2, "Selections: Editing and Manipulating Images," respectively). Instead, you'll learn about adjusting pixels that are already on the canvas using the Smudge tool, the Toning tools, and the Focus tools: The Toning tools are: Dodge tool Burn tool Sponge tool The Focus tools are: Blur tool Sharpen tool Most of these actions can be accomplished with filters, such as the Blur and Sharpen filters, but these tools offer a much greater delicacy of control. For most of this chapter's exercises, we will be working with close magnification. This is so that we can keep a firm grip on the control of where our tools are doing their job. If you need a refresher on working with magnification, refer back to Day 1, "Photoshop Basics." NOTE: One of the things you'll find as you become more accustomed to working with Photoshop is the prevalence of image manipulation techniques. Your eye will begin not only to pick up clues in magazines and other printed pieces that betray the workings a digital re-toucher, but also begin to examine for technique and skill. Take note of the next automobile advertisement you see in a flashy, four-color magazine or brochure. Note the foreground. Check the highlights. Examine the reflections in the headlights. Do they look good? Too good? Almost all advertising images are retouched and the people doing this are incredible professionals. Learn from them. Notice how the backgrounds fade or the trees blur or how the highlights appear. Not to foster any conspiracy, but evidences of Photoshop are all around you. Just keep your eyes open... The Smudge Tool One of the most intuitive tools in the toolbox, the Smudge tool, is the "finger tool." It actually enables you to "push the paint around." This tool is great for smoothing edges and seams in images. The Smudge tool, with a very intuitive and understandable interface, can mix and smear pixels to create softer edges. Most of the tutorials in this section are done on a larger scale to demonstrate what the Smudge tool can do and its limitations. Most of the time you will use this tool in a very subtle, but important way to blend image elements. Select Smudge in the toolbox (see Figure 6.1) and then double-click it to invoke the Options palette (see Figure 6.2). Figure 6.1 The Smudge tool. Figure 6.2 The Smudge Tool Options palette. NOTE: Notice that when you select the Smudge tool, you won't see the finger icon. This is because you have another cursor type selected in your preferences. Go to File+Preferences+Display & Cursors. In this dialog box, select the Standard radio buttons for the Painting cursors. In the options palette, notice the Pressure slider. This controls the "finger pressure" on the canvas. A moderate, say around 50 to 75%, pressure is preferable; it's easier to work with a lighter touch. To change the size of the "finger," open the Brushes palette, Windows+Show Brushes. Select the size you want. For more information on the Brushes palette, see Day 3. I recommend that you stay with a fairly small brush/finger, because this is a tool used to tweak parts of images. Let's see what we can do with the Smudge tool: 1. Open the file 06file01 from the CD (or one of your own choosing). 2. Select the Smudge tool from the toolbox. 3. Double-click the Smudge tool to open its options palette. 4. Set the pressure to 100%. 5. Next, for the best results, select Window+Show Brushes. Select a brush with a soft edge (see Figure 6.3). Figure 6.3 The Brushes options palette. 6. Now, click in the image and drag from the building up to the sky while holding the mouse button (see Figure 6.4). Figure 6.4 The Smudge tool at a high-pressure setting. NOTE: Remember that you can hit a number key to change the pressure setting. Hit 5 for 50%. Hit 0 for 100%. 7. Return to the Smudge Tool Options palette and reset the pressure setting to about 50%. Try smudging again. Notice the difference? Figure 6.5 A more subtle and useful effect. A high-pressure setting makes the Smudge tool almost turn into a Paint tool. You can drag and smear pixels all over the place. Alternately, a lower pressure setting creates an effect that looks and behaves much more like a Smudge. Blending Modes for the Smudge Tool Next, turn your attention to the drop-down menu in the upper-left corner of the Smudge tool options palette. This menu contains a short list of seven modes available for the Smudge tool: Normal Darken Lighten Hue Saturation Color Luminosity These first three modes are easy to understand. Obviously, we have already used the Normal mode. The Darken and Lighten mode only affect pixels that are lighter or darker, respectively, than the beginning color (meaning the color on which you click first). The Darken mode changes lighter pixels and the Lighten mode affects darker pixels. Therefore, when I drag the mouse down the side of the building in the darken mode, only the colors lighter than those where I first clicked are affected (see Figure 6.6). Figure 6.6 The Darken mode. In the Lighten mode, we see just the opposite (see Figure 6.7). Only the pixels that are darker than the ones where I initially clicked are affected. When I drag down from the sky through the building, a number of pixels are affected, because they are all darker than where I started. If, however, I drag from the building up into the sky, you can see no change at all. Note the position of the mouse, yet no apparent difference from where I started. Figure 6.7 The Lighten mode. Use these modes when you want to exert precise control over a smudge. By affecting only lighter or darker pixels, other nearby pixels can remained untouched. Of course, it takes a good eye to know when to use which mode. If you try one, and it doesn't turn out the way you want, select Edit+Undo or try File+Revert. The remaining modes are as follows: Hue Saturation Color Luminosity These modes create new colors using the starting color and the blend color (or, in other words, the color you are smudging into). An easy way to remember how these work is to think of the mode name as the component (remember Day 4, "Color Modes and Models," Brightness are components of color) of the color that will be added to the original color. Thus, Hue creates a new color based on the original color and taking the hue component of the color into which you smudge. The Saturation mode creates a new color based on the original color and adding the saturation from the color into which you are smudging. The same goes for the Color and Luminosity modes, they are based on the original color which you clicked and then add the color component from the color into which you smudge. Because this book is printed in grayscale, I won't bore you with images. Try the modes and see for yourself. Also, for more information on the blending modes, see Day 7. The Sample Merged Check Box You'll also notice in the options palette a couple of check boxes. The Sample Merged check box should be used when you are working with layers. Note that when the sample merged layer is unchecked the background of the image shows through the rose clearly (see Figure 6.8). This is because the Smudge tool is not picking up any of the background image. It is dragging, as it were, transparency through the rose. Figure 6.8 Without Sample Merged checked. When the Sample Merged feature is selected, however, you are given access to both background and foreground images (see Figure 6.9). Figure 6.9 With Sample Merged checked. Finger Painting with the Smudge Tool Smearing paint, however, is not the only option available with the Smudge tool. You also can Finger Paint. Selecting the Finger Painting option enables you to use the Smudge tool as a paint tool, painting with the current foreground color. NOTE: Press and hold Alt on a Windows machine or Command on a Macintosh to temporarily enter the finger painting mode. If you lower the pressure setting, the color lightens and the length of your paint stroke shortens--and you run out of paint faster. You can accomplish this same effect using a paint tool and setting the Fade feature in the options palette, but the Smudge tool does it much more intuitively. Although the Smudge tool is primarily used for softening edges between adjoining elements in an image, it also can be used as a paint tool. This is just another example of the myriad ways you can accomplish similar tasks in Photoshop. The Focus Tools Now we turn our attention to the Focus tools. These tools, Blur and Sharpen, are great for touching up an image, fixing tiny flaws, and bringing items into sharper contrast. Make sure to also check Day 12 for information on the Blur and Sharpen filters, and Day 10, "Photo Repair and Special Effects," for how to repair or alter photographs and pictures. The Blur Tool The Blur tool, simply put, creates blurs in images. By blurs I mean a softening or evening out of pixel values. Select the Blur tool from the toolbox (see Figure 6.10). Double-click it to invoke the options palette (see Figure 6.11). Figure 6.10 The Blur tool. Figure 6.11 The Blur tool's options palette. In the following exercise, we will reduce the impact of a background image on the entire image by blurring it. This will, in turn, make the foreground image appear even sharper and focused than it is. 1. Open the file 06file02 from the CD-ROM (see Figure 6.12). Figure 6.12 Figure 06file02. 2. Select the Zoom tool and zoom in on the red and white tower in the background of the image (see Figure 6.13). The Blur tool is a subtle tool, so the closer you get to the pixel level, the better you will be able to see and control its effects. Figure 6.13 Zoomed to a magnification of 334%. 3. Make sure that the pressure is set to 100% and the blending mode to normal. For more information on the blending modes, see Day 5, "Adjusting Color." 4. Now, simply click and drag the Blur tool across the face of the distracting background element. NOTE: When you are working with the Blur tool, you can temporarily select the Sharpen tool (and vice versa) by pressing the Alt key on a Windows machine and Command on the Macintosh. Make sure that as you blur you cover the entire area that you intend to blur. A missed spot stands out very conspicuously. Also, don't forget that you can change the size of your Brush tool by choosing a brush from the Brushes options palette (see Figure 6.14). For the Blur tool, I recommend using a brush with a soft edge, but not for the Sharpen tool. When sharpening, I prefer to have hard edges, so that I know exactly what I'm hitting (see Figure 6.15). Figure 6.14 The Brushes palette. Figure 6.15 The finished product. Notice how much more the building in the foreground now stands out when the eye isn't drawn so much to the brightly colored one in the background. In the next section, we will use the Sharpen tool to see if we can make the temple stand out even clearer, so don't close this image yet. The Sharpen Tool The Sharpen tool is the equal and opposite to the Blur tool. Where the Blur tool softens pixel values, the Sharpen tool hardens them and brings them into greater relief, by raising their hue, saturation, and brightness components. Because of their equal but opposite relationship, they occupy the same space on the toolbox. NOTE: To make a quick switch between the Blur and the Sharpen tools, use the drop-down menu in the middle of the options palette (see Figure 6.16). Figure 6.16 The Sharpen tool's options palette. If you worked on the exercise for the Blur tool in the last section, please use it. If not, open file 06file02 from the CD-ROM (see Figure 6.17). In this exercise, we'll sharpen the foremost building, increasing its role as the focal point of the image. Figure 6.17 The image before sharpening. NOTE: The Sharpen tool works between colors, at their edges. If, for instance, you have a large area of a solid color, and you click in it with the Sharpen tool, you will see little effect. It requires edges of differing colors to increase the perception of relief and clarity. 1. First, let's zoom in on the area to be sharpened (see Figure 6.18). Figure 6.18 Zoomed to a magnification of 204%. 2. Next, select the Sharpen tool and set the pressure to 50% in the options palette. 3. Now, since most of this image is fairly bright and clear anyway, we should concentrate on the uppermost section, which is somewhat blurry. Carefully drag the Sharpen tool (mouse button pressed) across the blurred top of the image. Be careful not to go beyond the top of the tower (see Figure 6.19). Figure 6.19 Sharpening the image. NOTE: If you completed the exercise in the Blur tool section, try going back over that area with your Sharpen tool. What happens? It helps, but it can't restore its original appearance. Remember, Photoshop can only work with what is already there. If you have taken it away, it is probably gone for good. If this is a concern to you, save often so that you can Revert when the time comes. Also, use File+Save As to create various copies of the same file for backup. Be careful when you sharpen. If you go over a section too much or have the pressure set too high, you can end up burning the color out of an image, which will probably make it look worse than it did initially. Figure 6.20 is a version of the final image--subtly improved. Figure 6.20 The final version. The Sharpen tool is great when used in small doses. As I have been trying to stress, Photoshop can only work with the existing material. It can take a terribly blurry, out-of-focus image and clear it up. So always make sure you are working with the clearest, sharpest scan or image that you can get. The Toning Tools The Toning tools include the Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools. These are analogous to the photographic techniques that control a photograph's exposure. These enable you to lighten and darken portions of an image, as well as increase the color saturation. These tools are great for fine tuning images, creating shadows or highlights. Use them in small doses to enhance the appearance of your images. For this sort of precision work, I strongly recommend that you change your cursors to Brush Size in the File+Preferences+Display & Cursors dialog box (see Figure 6.21). Figure 6.21 Display & Cursors dialog box. This enables you to see exactly what you are doing, because these are precision tools. Also, I suggest that you select a brush with a soft edge. This makes the tools' effects appear more natural, but you are encouraged to try different brushes for different effects to find the exact result you are looking for. Dodge Tool The first of the toning tools that we will examine is the Dodge tool (see Figure 6.22). This tool, which in the standard cursor mode looks like a lollipop, is used to lighten areas of an image. Figure 6.22 The Dodge tool. As always, double-click the tool, or choose Window+Show Options, to invoke the options palette (see Figure 6.23). Figure 6.23 The Dodge tool options palette. Notice the drop-down menu in the options palette. It gives your three choices: Shadows Midtones Highlights These options indicate the types of pixels that the tool will affect. If you want to adjust the shadows, such as making them lighter and leaving the lighter pixels untouched, select Shadows. The default option for the Dodge tool is Midtones. This is a good choice when you want to affect the midtone pixels or when you are unsure of how to proceed. Select the Highlights when you want to lighten already light colored areas, leaving the darker areas untouched. The following exercise will demonstrate the use of the highlight selection to lighten the gent's collar while leaving his jacket untouched. 1. Please open the file 06file03 on the accompanying CD (see Figure 6.24). Figure 6.24 File 06file03. 2. Zoom in on the man's collar (see Figure 6.25). Figure 6.25 The finished version. 3. Select the Dodge tool. 4. Make sure that you select Highlights in the options palette drop-down menu. Also, make sure that your brush size is reasonable. (This really isn't too much of a concern. The dark color of the nearby pixels will preserve them from change.) 5. Next, simply click in the area of the collar. This will lighten the area. Click and drag to lighten various areas. NOTE: With the Highlight mode selected, try clicking in the area of the suit. Not much of an effect, huh? Now try it with the Shadows mode selected. See a difference? 6. Now, try lightening the tie. Note that the light areas really pop out, but the dark areas are left subdued. In the following tutorial, we are going to lighten a darker area of the same image. This time, by selecting Shadows from the menu, we will lighten darker pixels and leave lighter pixels untouched. 1. If it is not already open, please open the file 06file03 from the CD. 2. This time, let's work on the wine bottle, creating a larger highlight, while leaving the existing highlight untouched (see Figure 6.26). Figure 6.26 The wine bottle magnified. 3. Select the Dodge tool. 4. Make sure to select Shadows from the drop-down menu in the Dodge tool's option palette. 5. Now, click in the area above the existing highlight (see Figure 6.27). Figure 6.27 The added highlight. The Dodge tool is a great one for correcting images that lack the correct exposure, or scans that come in too dark. It is better than trying to lighten manually, because it takes into account the entire image and adjusts accordingly. Burn Tool The next tool that we need to take a look at is the Burn tool, which performs exactly the opposite task as the Dodge tool (see Figure 6.28). Where the Dodge tool lightens, the Burn tool darkens. Figure 6.28 The Burn tool. Select the Burn tool by clicking its icon in the toolbox or by selecting it from the drop-down menu provided in the Toning Tools Options palette (see Figure 6.29). Figure 6.29 The Burn tool options palette. In the following exercise, we will use the Burn tool to subdue some over exposed areas in an image. 1. Open file 06file04 from the CD-ROM (see Figure 6.30). Figure 6.30 The original image. 2. Both karatekas' uniforms are somewhat overexposed in this image. Select the Burn tool. 3. In the options menu, select midtones and set the pressure to 50%. 4. Choose a fairly large brush (I used a 65 pixel diameter) with soft edges (see figure 6.31). Figure 6.31 The Brushes options palette. 5. Next, click and drag over the uniform of the man on the right. Notice a change? Zoom in--the change is subtle but effective (see Figure 6.32). The uniform looks much more realistic with shadows heightened and the bright whites subdued. Figure 6.32 The finished image. The drop-down list for Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights behaves the same way as was described in the preceding section on the Dodge tool. Figure out the type of pixels you want to affect and then select the corresponding command from the drop-down menu. Sponge Tool The last tool to examine today is the Sponge tool, the last but not least of the Toning tools, which contains some wonderful properties. It can increase or decrease the saturation of the colors within an image. If you will recall from Day 4, saturation is the purity of a color or the amount of gray that is mixed into a color. In the following figures, note the Saturation component. In Figure 6.33, it is 95, but as the Color Picker is moved farther into the gray, the Saturation component drops to 13 (see Figure 6.34). Thus, as gray is added the Saturation component drops. Figure 6.33 Heavily saturated color. Figure 6.34 Saturation decreased. The Sponge tool gives you a way to control the saturation of a portion of an image with a minimum of fuss. Simply click it in the toolbox and double-click it to open the options palette (see Figures 6.35 and 6.36). Figure 6.35 The Sponge tool. Figure 6.36 The options palette. Let's use the Sponge tool to saturate an image: 1. Please open file 06file05 from the CD, shown in Figure 6.37. Figure 6.37 The original image. 2. In the Brushes options palette, set the pressure to 100% (see Figure 6.38). Figure 6.38 The Brushes option palette. 3. In the drop-down menu, choose Saturate. 4. For this exercise, I used a fairly large brush (100). You may want to go larger or smaller, depending on how precise you want to be. 5. Now, click and drag in the image. I selected to focus on the one plant in the foreground, leaving the others alone (see Figure 6.39). Figure 6.39 The saturated version. Now we'll try desaturating a portion of our image. This causes the colors to become less vibrant. It is almost as if we are injecting gray into that portion of the image over which we drag the Sponge tool. 1. Please open the image 06file06 from the CD, shown in Figure 6.40. 2. Select Desaturate from the options palette drop-down menu. 3. Make sure the Pressure is set to 100%. 4. Now, using a fairly large brush (again, a 100 pixel diameter brush with soft edges), click and drag over the skier. Figure 6.40 The original image. Notice how the bright colors of his ski attire lose some of their brilliance. I went over the skier a number of times, removing nearly all of the original color from his suit (see Figure 6.41). Figure 6.41 The finished image. The Desaturate option gives you a functionality that can help establish the focus of a picture. Often through a trick of the light, a background image can be nearly as bright as the foreground image. Desaturating background images, while simultaneously saturating foreground images, helps you to maintain the focus of an image. Summary Today we learned how to move paint (or pixels) that are already in an image. The Smudge tool is great for doing light touch ups, for softening areas, and for blurring lines and seams. Yet, it can also function as a paint tool with the Finger Paint option selected. We then examined the Focus tools: Sharpen and Blur. These also are great for retouching images, but only in small doses. Too much blurring becomes immediately apparent and too much sharpening can burn colors out. The final sections were devoted to the Toning tools: Dodge, Burn, and Sponge. These are analogous to photographic darkroom techniques. Dodging increases the exposure, or lightens, an image. Burning does just the opposite; it reduces the exposure of an image, darkening it. The Sponge tool can increase or decrease the saturation of a color in an image. Saturating means to increase a color's purity. Desaturating increases the gray element in relation to the true, pure color. All of these tools and techniques can help you adjust pixels that are already on the digital palette, but it is important to remember that Photoshop can only work with what is there. If, after you have applied one of these effects to an image and you don't get the results you want, you may have to use another image. By exercising restraint with a thoughtful touch, however, these tools can add a distinct level of professionalism to any image. Now, go forth and give these tools a try, and I'll see you tomorrow. © Copyright, Macmillan Computer Publishing. All rights reserved.

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