Photoshop CS6: The Missing Manual

by Lesa Snider

Overview

Photoshop CS6 is truly amazing, but it can also be overwhelming if you’re just getting started. This book makes learning Photoshop a breeze by explaining things in a friendly, conversational style—without technical jargon. After a thorough introduction to the program, you’ll delve deep into Photoshop’s secrets with expert tips and practical advice you can use every day.

The important stuff you need to know:

• Learn your way around. Get a guided tour of Photoshop’s beautiful new workspace.
• Unlock the magic. Discover the most practical ways to use layers, channels, masks, paths, and other tools.
• Fine-tune your images. Learn techniques for cropping, retouching, and combining photos.
• Play with color. Drain, change, and add color; and create gorgeous black-and-whites and duotones.
• Be artistic. Create original illustrations and paintings, use text and filters effectively, and edit video clips.
• Share your work. Produce great-looking images for print and the Web.
• Work smarter and faster. Automate common chores and install plug-ins for complex tasks.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781449316150
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/24/2012
Pages:	862
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Lesa Snider is on a mission to teach the world to create—and use!—better graphics. She’s an internationally acclaimed speaker; stock photographer and chief evangelist for iStockphoto.com (www.lesa.in/istockdeal); as well as the founder of the creative tutorial site PhotoLesa.com. Lesa is the author of many video-training workshops (www.lesa.in/clvideos) and the coauthor of iPhoto ’11: The Missing Manual. She writes a regular column for Photoshop User, Elements Techniques, and Macworld magazines, and contributes frequently to Design-Tools.com and PlanetPhotoshop.com. Lesa is also a long-time member of the Photoshop World Dream Team of instructors and can be spotted teaching at many other conferences around the globe. She also teaches Advanced Photoshop for the international graphic design school, Sessions.edu. You can connect with her online on Facebook (www.facebook.com/PhotoLesa), YouTube (www.lesa.in/ytvideochannel), Twitter (@PhotoLesa), and www.PhotoLesa.com.



During her free time, you’ll find Lesa carving the twisties on her sportbike, dressed up in her Star Trek best at a sci-fi convention, or hanging with fellow Apple Mac enthusiasts. Lesa is a proud member of the BMWMOA, F800 Riders Club, and the Colorado Mac User Group (www.CoMUG.com) a.k.a. the Boulder Mac Maniacs. Email: [e-mail].

Table of Contents

Foreword; The Missing Credits; About the Author; About the Creative Team; Acknowledgements; Introduction; What’s New in Photoshop CS6; About This Book; Part One: The Basics; Chapter 1: Photoshop CS6 Guided Tour; 1.1 Meet the Application Frame; 1.2 Working with Panels; 1.3 The Power of Undo; 1.4 Tweaking Photoshop’s Preferences; 1.5 Working with Presets; Chapter 2: Opening, Viewing, and Saving Files; 2.1 Creating a New Document; 2.2 Saving Files; 2.3 Opening an Existing Document; 2.4 Changing Your View; 2.5 Arranging Open Images; 2.6 Guides, Grids, and Rulers; Chapter 3: Layers: The Key to Nondestructive Editing; 3.1 Layer Basics; 3.2 Managing Layers; 3.3 Layer Blending; 3.4 Layer Masks: Digital Masking Tape; 3.5 Using Smart Objects; 3.6 Layer Styles; Chapter 4: Selections: Choosing What to Edit; 4.1 Selection Basics; 4.2 Selecting by Shape; 4.3 Selecting by Color; 4.4 Selecting Irregular Areas; 4.5 Modifying Selections; Part Two: Editing Images; Chapter 5: Controlling Color with Channels; 5.1 How Color Works; 5.2 The Channels Panel and You; 5.3 Meet the Color Channels; 5.4 The Mighty Alpha Channel; 5.5 Basic Channel Stunts; Chapter 6: Cropping, Resizing, and Rotating; 6.1 Cropping Images; 6.2 Resizing Images; 6.3 Content-Aware Scaling; 6.4 Rotating and Distorting; Chapter 7: Combining Images; 7.1 Cut It Out; 7.2 Pasting into a Selection; 7.3 Fading Images Together; 7.4 Layer Blend Modes; 7.5 Zapping Backgrounds with Blending Sliders; 7.6 Auto-Aligning Layers and Photomerge; 7.7 Auto-Blending Layers; 7.8 Cloning Between Documents; 7.9 Combining Vectors and Rasters; 7.10 Mapping One Image onto Another; Chapter 8: Draining, Changing, and Adding Color; 8.1 Draining Color; 8.2 Changing Color; 8.3 Adding Color; Chapter 9: Correcting Color and Lighting; 9.1 Quick Fixer-Uppers; 9.2 Correcting Images in Camera Raw; 9.3 Using Levels; 9.4 Working with Curves; 9.5 Creating High Dynamic Range Images; 9.6 Making Colors Pop; 9.7 Rescuing the Unfixables; Chapter 10: Changing Reality: Removing and Repositioning; 10.1 The Great Healers; 10.2 Zapping Shines and Shadows; 10.3 Whitening Teeth; 10.4 Super Slimmers; 10.5 Skin Softeners; 10.6 Show-Stopping Eyes; 10.7 Other Creative Madness; Chapter 11: The Art of Sharpening; 11.1 What Is Sharpening?; 11.2 Basic Sharpening; 11.3 Advanced Sharpening Techniques; 11.4 Sharpening in Camera Raw; Part Three: The Artistic Side of Photoshop; Chapter 12: Painting in Photoshop; 12.1 Color Theory: The Basics; 12.2 Selecting a Color Scheme; 12.3 Choosing Individual Colors; 12.4 (Re)Introducing the Brush Tool; 12.5 Customizing Brushes; 12.6 Defining a New Brush; 12.7 Installing New Brushes; Chapter 13: Drawing with the Vector Tools; 13.1 Photoshop’s Drawing Modes; 13.2 Drawing Paths with the Pen Tool; 13.3 Saving Paths; 13.4 Drawing with the Shape Tools; 13.5 Editing Paths; 13.6 Making Selections and Masks with Paths; Chapter 14: Creating Artistic Text; 14.1 Typography 101; 14.2 Creating and Editing Text; 14.3 Formatting Text; 14.4 Special Text Effects; 14.5 More Typographic Resources; Chapter 15: The Wide World of Filters; 15.1 The Joy of Smart Filters; 15.2 A Filters Tour; Part Four: Printing and the Web; Chapter 16: Photoshop and Print; 16.1 The Challenge of WYSIWYG Printing; 16.2 Resizing and Formatting Files; 16.3 Printing on an Inkjet Printer; 16.4 Printing on a Commercial Offset Press; 16.5 Printing on a Digital Press; 16.6 Printing Multiple Images; 16.7 Recap: Stress-Free Printing Tips; Chapter 17: Photoshop and the Web; 17.1 Creating Web- and Email-Friendly Images; 17.2 Animating a GIF; 17.3 Designing a Website Favicon; 17.4 Creating Web Page Mockups and Image Maps; 17.5 Protecting Your Images Online; 17.6 Building Online Photo Galleries; Part Five: Photoshop Power; Chapter 18: Working Smarter with Actions; 18.1 The Actions Panel; 18.2 Using Actions; 18.3 Managing Actions; 18.4 Creating Droplets; 18.5 Sharing Actions; Chapter 19: Beyond Photoshop: Plug-Ins; 19.1 Adding and Removing Plug-Ins; 19.2 Managing Plug-Ins; 19.3 Noise Reducers; 19.4 Making Selections and Masking; 19.5 Color Correction and Enhancement; 19.6 Miscellaneous Plug-Ins; Chapter 20: Photoshop and Video; 20.1 Creating Your First Video Project; 20.2 Opening and Importing Video Clips; 20.3 Editing Video; 20.4 Animating Objects and Effects; 20.5 Global Lighting; 20.6 Adding Comments; 20.7 Adding Fill and Adjustment Layers; 20.8 Adding Layer Styles; 20.9 Using Smart Filters with Video; 20.10 Cloning and Healing; 20.11 Exporting Videos; 20.12 Additional Video Resources; Chapter 21: Using Adobe Bridge; 21.1 Browsing through Photos; 21.2 Importing and Managing Photos; 21.3 Showing Off Your Work;