II. Precautions: Non-Medical
- Not for Medical Care
- The author uses several software packages and programming languages to develop FPnotebook content
- For convenience, a dozen pages in FPNotebook are dedicated to quick notes on content creation
III. Technique: Anatomy
- Draw Blue Bursa Sac
- With pen draw a shape
- Add an adjustment fill layer - gradient (uses pen-drawn shape)
- Choose gradient #004080 to #7fbfff
- Add fx - outer glow to layer: Color #0061c2, spread 7, size 18
IV. Technique: Layers
- Create selection from mask
- Ctrl-click on Mask Icon on Layer (alt-click allows for editing the mask)
- Also works with a selection outline of object pasted onto layer
- Copy selected part of image to a new layer
- Ctrl-J (or Ctrl-Alt-J to name it)
- Replace a layer mask with another
- Click on the new layer mask to use and press alt while dragging to the mask to replace
- If the layer had no prior mask, this mask creates a new one for the layer
- Merge all layers onto a new layer
- Alt-Ctrl-Shift-E (only way to do this, there is no menu option)
- Create New Layer
- Ctrl-Shift-N
- Layer Modes
- Multiply
- Darkens (consider in compositing)
- Screen
- Lightens
- Multiply
- Duplicate Layer
- Right click on image or layer and choose duplicate layer
- Allows layer to be duplicated to any open document
- Apply layer to one below
- Alt-click between the two layers until you see icon (box with arrow down)
V. Technique: Selection
- Quick Mask (Q)
- Use smudge tool for soft edges
- Press tilda (~) to toggle on and off the ruby-lith image (shows only the black/white mask)
- Editing Mask
- Alt-Click the layer mask thumbnail to see mask in black and white
- Set default colors with "D" (white as foreground, black as background)
- Use the brush tool (100% hardness, 100% opacity) and paint mask with black to conceal, white to reveal
- Select areas (e.g. marquee, lasso) and backspace to fill selected mask area with background black
- Select areas (e.g. marquee, lasso) and alt-backspace to fill selected mask area with foreground white
- Invert the mask with Ctrl-I
- Check mask by using magic wand tool with threshold set to 0
- Click in blacks with magic wand, invert selection and paint any residual selected areas with black
- Click in whites with magic wand, invert selection and paint any residual selected areas with white
- Other compositing tools (for adjusting selections)
- Smudge Tool
- Smudge margins in slightly
- Smudge Tool
- Refine Mask
- For compositing, use a combination of feather and shift edge
- Feather: 0.5
- Shift-Edge: -50
- Adjust contrast to increase edge definition as needed
- For compositing, use a combination of feather and shift edge
- Selection modifications
- Click/drag to start new selection
- Shift + click/drag to add selection
- Alt + click/drag to subtract selection
- Shift + alt + click/drag to intersect selection
- Tools to get basic selection with edge detection
- Precautions
- Edges will be imperfect (use threshold tool set to 0 and 255 to see this)
- Use the refine mask/edge without changing radius/auto
- Increase smooth and contrast in equal ammounts to remove irregularities
- Tools (use shift to add to selection, alt to subtract from selection)
- Magic Wand
- Quick Selection
- Selection Menu
- Set-Up
- Deselect selection, Ctrl-D, before applying these
- If limiting sample to a single layer, ctrl-click the layer first
- Color Range
- Focus Area
- Set-Up
- Magnetic Lasso
- Adheres to edges, automatically laying down points while you move around object
- Click "backspace" to remove a point
- Click to create a point
- Precautions
- Adjusting selection
- Transform selection (free transform for selections)
- Transform Selection (selection menu)
- Transform selection (free transform for selections)
VI. Technique: Transformation
- Precautions
- Each application of free transform re-writes layer pixels (but not vector based shapes)
- Avoid applying free transform to the same pixel-based layer more than once
- Smart objects and vector-based objects may be transformed multiple times
- Some effects are permanent modifications when using standard layers
- Smart objects and their applied filters remain editable (e.g. filters such as gaussian blur, camera raw)
- Masked smart objects can not be transformed
- Click the link icon between the smart object and mask to disconnect
- Transform the smart object and then click the mask link icon to reapply the mask
- Each application of free transform re-writes layer pixels (but not vector based shapes)
- Free Transform Tool (Ctrl-T or to create a copy at same time, Ctrl-Alt-T)
- Skew
- Ctrl-click and drag
- Skew opposite sides simultaneously
- Ctrl-Shift and drag
- Perspective transform
- Ctrl-Shift-Alt and drag
- Warp Mode
- While working in Free-Transform mode, click on warp mode button at upper right
- Skew
VII. Technique: Camera Raw
- Cross-functionality with Photoshop
- Open as smart object in photoshop
- When DNG or raw file is open in camera raw, hold shift and click "open object"
- Double click thumbnail to open again in camera raw
- To duplicate a smart object layer, right click image and select "New Smart Layer via Copy"
- Avoid Ctrl-J for this, as will simply copy a layer but modify the sam underlying smart object
- Open as smart object in photoshop
- HSL adjustments
- Use the HSL Grayscale tab with the targeted ajustment tool
- Select the saturation sub-tab
- Click over colors to adjust in the image and slide mouse left or right to modify
- Select the luminance sub-tab
- Increase or decrease luminance as needed
- Less commonly, hues may also be adjusted
- Contrast adjustments
- Contrast affects all pixels
- Increasing contrast increases brightness of highlights and darkness of shadows
- Increasing contrast spreads the histogram out
- Clarity affects edges
- Increases contrast between highlights and shadows adjacent to one another
- Contrast affects all pixels
- Identifying clipped whites or blacks
- Hold Alt while dragging the whites slider (clipped whites will be shown on black background)
- Hold Alt while dragging the black slider (clipped colors will be shown on white background)
- Complimentary colors are shown of the clipped channel (e.g. yellow indicates clipped blue channel)
- Normal to see some clipping of various colors
- Black areas suggest clipping of all colors and this should be corrected
- Setting white balance when neutral color in image is difficult to find
- Turn vibrance to 100%
- Select the white balance tool (I, eye dropper)
- Click on or drag over a white or light gray object
- Decrease the vibrance to a reasonable setting
VIII. Technique: Saving
- Saving for web
- Save for Web (legacy) still offers the most options
- Always choose "convert to sRGB"
- Choose JPG for photos and PNG 8 for illustrations (PNG-32 for broad color range >>256)