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Special Mentions
Adobe Photoshop Extended CS4
1. Unified tabbed interface with self-adjusting panels
This addition of a new
Application Bar
across the top of the Photoshop window offers the most common
tools we're likely to use some of which were previously buried
in submenus. For example, links to launch
Bridge,
workspace organizing options, the hand tool, zoom tool and show
extras are now are your finger tips.
The user workspace has changed in this new release
of Photoshop CS4; this time with the introduction of an
interesting tab-based interface with self-adjusting panels. What's cool
is being able to group tabs and arrange document windows in
a number of ways. The self-adjusting panels make rearranging
the workspace quick and easy. Takes some getting used to
though -- so be patient.
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the tabs (see red circled tabs in screenshot above)
above the image window to move from one open image
to another. |
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But if you need to "see" all four (for
example) of your open images at one time, click the
Arrange Documents button
in the Application Bar, and then select a 4 Up view
from the menu (screenshot on left). Instantly all four
of the images are tiled for
your viewing and working pleasure. (screenshot
below) |
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2. Live, nondestructive
corrections with the easier Adjustments Panel
The new Adjustments Panel |
Easier
Adjustments Photoshop’s Layer Masking interface is
greatly improved in CS4. No more configuring the
adjustment's parameters in a modal dialogue box (previously
accessed through Image > Adjustments).
To change those parameters, you previously had to
double-click on the Adjustment layer and re-open that modal
dialogue box. Now you just click on the layer in the Layers
panel, and its controls appear in the Adjustments panel in
one centralized location making them easier to access.
When using adjustments a corresponding layer mask is
automatically created, so if layer masks were a mystery to
you before, you are pretty well forced to now benefit from
this less destructive adjustment methods of layer masks.
This is a good thing; trust me.
The Adjustments Panel also offers several presets for each
of the adjustments which can be selected with one click
along with the option of further refinements.
In the Curves and Hue/Saturation adjustments there are new
on-image controls which allow you to click and drag directly
on the document to adjust specific areas. |
Experimenting with the new Vibrance adjustment:
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Original Photo
Once you've opened your photo,
click the Workspace Switcher button in the
Application Bar (by default it may read Essentials)
and choose Color and Tone. (screenshot on
left)
Click the Vibrance button (see
red circle in screenshot
above) in
the new Adjustments Panel to open the Vibrance adjustment options. |
Vibrance and Saturday Adjustment Panel on left of
screenshot above.
Drag the Vibrance and Saturation
sliders to the right. You’ll notice that a new adjustment layer has
been automatically created in the Layers panel (See! You have no
choice now) (screenshot above). I've exaggerated the
Vibrance and Saturation so
you can actually see a difference between the original photo
of the hummingbird and the new one with a little more
pizzazz as is befitting a hummingbird. |
Click the Return to Adjustment List button
(screenshot on left) at the lower left corner of the
panel if you need to make a second adjustment selection.
Once you've returned to the Adjustment Lists, click the
disclosure triangle next to any of the Presets to make a preset
selection (screenshot above). For this image, I chose
the Levels Presets and selected Increase Contrast 3.
Click on the preset and Photoshop adds yet another Adjustment
layer to your layer stack, pre-configured according to the
preset but you can still modify the setting in the Adjustments
panel if you're not happy with the way it looks. |
Vibrance and Contrast added to Original Photo |
When you choose an adjustment, the
panel shifts to display the adjustment controls, and a new
adjustment layer is automatically created in the Layers panel. You
can re-edit the adjustment at any time.
The photo on the left now has two adjustment layers: Vibrance and
Levels. The original photo is still safe
and untouched under both those adjustment
layers so if you don't like what you've done, open double
click to open either of the
adjustment layers and experiment with new adjustments or drag those adjustment
layers to the trash and start over with different
adjustments. Thus the term
"non-destructive" changes to your image. |
3. Re-editable, feathered, density-controlled masks
Masks Panel |
The new Masks panel smooths and speeds the creation and adjustment of pixel and vector
masks making it easier than ever to apply effects to precisely
defined areas of an image. Now, with simple sliders, you can adjust
the density and feathering of a mask to control both the sharpness
of the mask edge and how much of the adjustment effect you’d like to
reveal. The Refine Mask feature allows simple yet fine-grained
control over the mask size and edges. And Color Range has been
upgraded, letting you automatically create powerful and detailed
masks based on single or multiple colors.
In the Adjustments panel, select Lighter from the
Black & White Presets
list. Switch to the Masks panel by clicking its tab, and click the
Color
Range button. Ensure that the Black & White 1 adjustment layer is
still selected in the Layers panel. (screenshot on left)
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When the Color Range
Dialogue Box opens, choose Sampled Colors
from the Select: menu, check to enable the
Localized Color Clusters option, then click
the different areas of the image you want to
select. (top screenshot on right). Experiment with
all the different sliders to get the effect you want and
remember to use the + and - eye-droppers in the
Color Range Dialogue Box
to select or de-select when selecting multiple colours. (Or
keystrokes: shift-select to pick multiple colours and
alt-select to de-select colours) (bottom screenshot on right)
Click OK to close the
Dialogue Box. Now click the Invert button in the
Masks
panel. To make the strawberry and the child's beautiful blue eyes stand out even
more, I returned to the
Adjustments panel and used the Vibrance adjustment to jack up the
Vibrance and Saturation settings. |
Color Range Dialogue Box
Selectors |
Original Image |
Density Controlled Masking |
4.
More refined, natural results with
Dodge, Burn, and Sponge Tool
Before and After Photos using the Dodge Tool
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The newly refined Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools
help preserve tonal quality while you correct exposure and colour
saturation. Select the Dodge tool, and set the
Range menu in the Options
bar to Shadows. Make sure the Protect Tones option is enabled
(checked),
to guard against unwanted changes to the skin tones in the
photo. Adjust the brush to a suitable size and drag over the image. Note how the
detail is brought out with full preservation of the delicate
skin tones.
5.
Changes in the Clone Stamp and Healing Brush
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Previous versions of the Clone Stamp and
Healing Brush only showed the size of your cursor.
With CS4 you can now actually see the image data that will
be painted into the area you're cloning (or healing).
It's basically a preview before you commit.
Very cool! |
Preview of what clone will look like
before committing. |
6. Photomerge®
Enhanced Auto-Align, Auto-Blend, and
new 360° panoramas
The Auto-Align and Auto-Blend features (we first saw
these in CS3) are much improved. The Photomerge® script stitches
multiple images into a seamless panorama with much smoother
colour transitions from one image to another. CS4 also does a
much better job of correcting vignetting and barrel or
pincushion distortion, further reducing color discrepancies
across individual images.
Additional improvements include the ability to create
360-degree panoramas, automatic detection of fish eye lenses to
compensate for their inherent distortion, and the new Collage
option which rotates and scales individual images as they are
combined using Auto-Align and Photomerge.
To merge a selection of images, on the menu bar, go to
File > Automate > Photomerge. When the
Photomerge Dialogue Box opens, click the
Browse button to find and select the images for
the merge. Once the file names appear in the window, click the
OK button. (screenshot
below)
Select the files for merging in the Photomerge
Dialogue Box. |
Six photos selected for merging into a panorama.
Note: the different tones in the sky.
Sit back and marvel as Photoshop goes to work
arranging and rearranging the images, picking and choosing
the best parts of each photo to make a compilation of a
perfect panorama.
The result of a seamless merge with much smoother
colour transitions, especially noticeable in the sky.
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7. Content-Aware Scaling
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When I showed my daughter this exciting new feature, she asked
when anyone would be likely to use it. The truth is, if all the
elements in any given photograph are important to you, cropping
the sides or top off the picture is a nasty option. With
content-aware scaling, you can now take a rectangular photo and
change it to a square or panorama without losing any of the
subject matter in the photo AND without distorting the main
subjects; the children. Now how cool is that?! |
Original photo of two children frolicking on a beach (700
pixels x 525 pixels) |
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To begin, simply select any unlocked layer in a Photoshop
document, (duplicate your locked background layer if need be) and then choose
from the Menu bar Edit > Content-Aware Scale.
Now you can resize the image by dragging the corner or side
controls. Photoshop should figure out to leave the children as
they are, but if you want to absolutely protect them from
distortion or resizing, use any selection tool to roughly select them then
choose Select > Save Selection to save it as a
new alpha channel (remember to give your saved selection a
name). Choose your saved selection from the Protect
menu (screenshot at left) at the top of the window. Now
when you drag the corner or sides or top of the image, the
children are protected from any distortion or resizing whatsoever
and yet the image content in the rest of the photo is retained
while being resized to your new image size.
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Compare this photo with the original
one above.
All the water and sand elements from the original photo have
been retained in this square version.
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Likewise, this panorama version
retains all the original elements, although slightly
squished at the bottom and top. But the children; perfect! |
8. Rotate View: Canvas Rotation
Fluid rotation of your image
within the document window. |
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Photoshop CS4 introduces
the new Rotate View tool (accessible from the
Application Bar or Tools Panel)
allowing you to now nondestructively spin your
canvas to any orientation. This is very handy whether you
paint by mouse or tablet. There's no pixel distortion and no
craning your neck to view the perspective you want. No matter how you
rotate
your canvas, Photoshop CS4 adjusts your selections, grids,
rulers, and other tools and features to match your chosen orientation.
Double-click the Rotate View tool to return to normal
orientation.
Note: If you're unable to use this tool, check your computer to
be sure you have an OpenGL 2-capable 3D video card with at least
128 MB of RAM. If you can see a drop shadow around your image (see
screenshot above),
you're all set to go. If it doesn't work, yet you know you have
the right graphics card, you may just need to enable Open GL
Drawing in your GPU settings. To do this, open your Photoshop
and on the Menu Bar, click Edit > Preferences >
Performance and check to enable Open GL Drawing.
(screenshot below). With GPU-acceleration, you can also
try out the new photo flicking. To view different aspects of an
enlarged image, use the Hand Tool,
and "flick" the image to smoothly move it around the screen (similar to the data
flicking used with the iPhones). Also with a supported GPU you
can take advantage of smooth, accurate pan and zoom functions;
right up to pixel level 3200%.
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Additional changes and updates you'll want to
explore:
Depth-of-Field Stacking:
To use this feature, you need to set up your shots using a
tripod when taking your photos (macro shooters will love this
feature). Shoot multiple frames that are each focussed at a different distance. Photoshop CS4 will merge
all of the images, pulling only the in-focus areas from each one to
create an image with very deep depth of field.
3D Editing and Compositing:
The new and enhanced 3D tools found
in Photoshop CS4 Extended are designed to allow the image maker
to work with 3D images just as easily as they have traditionally
been able to work with 2D pictures. New tools allow you to
interact directly with 3D models and easily composite these
models within 2D scenes.
Enhanced Motion Graphics:
CS4 increases the ease with which
videographers are able to drag motion-based images into
Photoshop with tools needed to work on frames. Photoshop can now
work more easily with non-square pixels, any audio associated
with video footage, and it is also possible to animate 3D
objects, camera position, render settings and even
cross-sections.
Volume Rendering
allows you to convert text, shape or pictures
into a volume. Video professionals can use this to quickly
create 3-dimensional text.
Availability and pricing
Adobe is offering Creative Suite 3
customers moving to Creative Suite 4 a lower upgrade price than it
offers to those moving from older, qualifying versions. For a
limited time, a special introductory offer enables customers with
older qualifying products to enjoy the same lower price with savings
of up to US$200 off their actual upgrade price. For more detailed
information please visit Adobe at
http://www.adobe.com/special/up2suite/.
To order directly from Adobe, visit the
Adobe Store
or call 1-800-833-6687.
Written by Cheryl Smith; co-author and illustrator of the
Really, Really, Really Easy Step-by-Step Computer Books
series.
Copyrighted 2009 by Neat Net Tricks
Reproduction in any form without express written consent is
prohibited.
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