Photoshop Fitness » Information

Adding Borders with Square Corners

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:38:03 +0000

Since the next segment on selections includes a thing on borders, I thought some might find the following information useful.

A common question I get all the time is “How do I get square corners on the borders of the photos in a spread?”

The fastest and easiest way, whether you are stroking the photos using Edit—Stroke, or using a Layer Style by doubleclicking on the layer and then choosing Stroke, is to stroke inside.

This image is a photo on a layer above a white background. If you stroke Outside, you will get rounded corners, as you see here. Center will give you the same thing, just not so rounded.

In this image, you can see that Inside was chosen, and the corners are square. Just be aware that this cuts off the outside of the image area. This has never been a problem for me, since I never have my subjects so close to the edge that the sliver that is covered by the border would be missed.

How do I change my units?

admin — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 01:07:45 +0000

I usually use inches, but I have a job where it would be more convenient for me to have pixels. What’s a fast way to change the units?

Just make sure that your Rulers are turned on—Cmd R (Cntl R on PC)—and right click on the ruler itself (Control click if you don’t have a right button) and you will see a list of available units. Just scroll to the one you want.

How do I center this image?

admin — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:50:26 +0000

Trying to drag one image to the center of another? Just hold down the Shift key while you drag. The trick is to let go of the mouse button BEFORE you let up on the Shift key.

The Gotcha that gets them all!

admin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:45:36 +0000

Do all your brushes look like this, no matter how many times you hit the bracket keys?:

Check your Caps Lock key—I bet it is on!

This gets almost every new Photoshop user!

Gotchas

admin — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 07:37:32 +0000

Gotchas are things to watch out for. When you try to do something, and you don’t get the expected
behavior, there are things to look for to quickly troubleshoot and get back to work. Some
may seem obvious, some not so. But what helps is to get used to quickly looking at the layer
palette first, then your brush options, then finally to other areas.

1. Are you on the right layer?
2. Is your layer turned on?
3. Are you painting on the mask or the image?
4. Are you in the correct blending mode? There is one for the layers and one for the brush options.
Check them both.
5. Is your opacity turned down? Again, check the layer AND the brush options.
6. Do you have a hidden selection? It is possible to hide the marching ants, but the selection is
still there. To quickly eliminate this as a possible cause, just hit Command (PC: Control) D, to
deselect.
7. Watch your units when you crop. It’s possible to have pixels instead of inches, and you can
have Height in pixels and Width in inches, giving you unexpected results.
8. Are you trying to do something on or to a text layer? Text layers are special, and may need to
be rasterized (converted to pixels from a vector, or mathematical representation) in order to do
what you want. The Rasterize options are in the Layer MENU.
9. Can’t merge a layer? There may be an adjustment layer underneath, and you can’t merge a
layer onto one.

Can you think of any more? If so, add a comment!

The Very First Post!

admin — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:23:45 +0000

Welcome to the new Photoshop Fitness blog. This is where I will be demonstrating techniques, both old and new. We will start off with some basic lessons, because for some things, you just have to understand. You can’t fake it.

A FEW of the things in this blog will come from my booklet or instructional CD and DVD.

Then we will move on to working on individual images. I’m sure there will sometimes be some duplication of techniques, but I think that seeing something used multiple times, but in slightly different ways, will make the concepts more concrete. Besides, I expect (hope) people will be finding this place at different times, so it will be new for them!

A brief bio, and then we are off!

I started my portrait/wedding business in 1984.

I discovered Photoshop in 1992, when I bought my first scanner—it came with it, believe it or not! Photoshop 2.5. It was a daunting program so I did what I usually did when I wanted to learn about something—I went to the library. There were no books on Photoshop. I went to the bookstore—none.

I tried the Internet—just kidding! Those were the days of dial-up modems. So there was very little information out there. So I did the Classroom in a Book thing. It was alright as far as it went, but it taught me almost nothing about how to use Photoshop to correct and enhance the kinds of photographs that a protrait and wedding photographer would take.

I wasn’t interested in pre-press. I’m not even a commercial photographer, much less a graphic artist. So I had to learn on my own and from others in a similar position. And that’s a terrible way to learn—fumbling around in the dark. No one to teach me what I needed to know. Instead, all these lessons on how to make chrome letters and posterize photos.

Things are much better today. Lots of books, lots of tutorials online. But it’s almost TOO good. How does one choose? How do you know that you haven’t missed out on something really important or really helpful, when most photographer’s plan of learning is this scattergun approach?

I’ve been a member of the Digital Wedding Forum since 2001. There came a point about 4 years ago when a hardly a week went by without me hearing from someone there that I should write a book about Photoshop. So I finally decided to do something. It wasn’t a big book—I thought that a small booklet that emphasized the most important concepts for a wedding/portrait photographer would actually be more palatable. You’ll find a description in Feeding Your Muscles in the menu above.

But then I realized that, as photographers, many of us are much too right-brained for learning from a book. We need to be shown. So I started recording Quicktime movies to demonstrate techniques. The result is the two volumes that are described in Feeding Your Muscles in the menu above.

So why the name Photoshop Fitness? I am very much into fitness—the photos above are really me, with no Photoshop! I decided to approach teaching Photoshop as if I were your personal trainer, trying to give you the skills and techniques you need to be in tip-top Photoshop shape. It allows me to combine two of my passions. I hope you will forgive all the muscle metaphors!

OK, let’s get started!