PhotoShop 5 in Depth with Cdrom
Authors: David Xenakis, Sherry London
Venue:  (1998)

From the Book: Introduction Introduction Hello! We havent met yet, but perhaps we will become acquainted within the pages of this book. You are probably a current user of Photoshop, or perhaps you want to become one. (Otherwise, there would be little reason for you to have picked up this very heavy book to see whether this might be the oneout of all the competing titlesthat you need.) Is this the book you need? We would like to think so. We have spent a good deal of time putting concepts and ideas into words and figures. But how we have spent our time isnt your problem: Your problem is to decide if this book will give you the essentials of what you need to know about Photoshop 5. Therefore, it falls on us to tell you what weve done, and what weve assumed that you will want in a Photoshop book. After that, you can flip through the pages, look at the example illustrations, read some of the explanations, check to see what topics are included, and decide if weve done our job well enough to justify your investment and your time. Whats "In Depth" About This Book? We have written this volume for the advanced user of Photoshopor for an intermediate-level user who would like to become a power user of this application. We assume that you are familiar with the program and that you need a book that shows you the range of possibilities inherent in expert use of Photoshop. Although our explanations are clear, they do assume a prior general knowledge of the program. For this reason, we feel that we have written a book that enhances your depth of knowledge about Photoshop and builds on your previous accomplishments. If you are at this level, you dont need a book that explains how to save a file. You already know that! By starting at a higher level, we can cover the more critical and advanced skills. Weve had fun writing this book; we hope you profit from reading it. Whats In The Book This book is divided into 12 chapters. The order of the chapters is progressive. Youll learn the basics in the first few chapters, and then go on to explore increasingly advanced material. The following are short synopses of what youll find in each of the chapters.  Chapter 1, "Optimizing Photoshop." We begin with one of the most important topicsmaking the program perform at its best in your computer environment. You need to know about the important issues of RAM and drive space, environment settings, and the all-important Photoshop Preferences that make the program perform at its best. Youll learn to set up your system so that running Photoshop becomes a pleasure. System and configuration issues can then recede in importance as you concentrate on using the program.  Chapter 2, "Acquiring Images." Because many people use Photoshop mainly as an editing programwhere pre-existing data is manipulated and changedrather than as a program in which new digital artwork is created, the next topic on your list of subjects to master is that of acquiring images. Youll be introduced to the pixelreally introduced!and will learn the basics of scanning. Well take a thorough look at what scanning software can do to eliminate some of the tedious aspects of acquiring your picture files, and how you can arrive at the best quality your scanner can give. Youll also learn how to clean up your scans, to remove dust, scratches, and other artifacts that interfere with the eventual use of the image. Finally, you will take a close look at Photo CD and how you can take advantage of this inexpensive source of digital images.  Chapter 3, "Toolbox Techniques." Perhaps you have already experimented with Photoshops superb collection of tools. If you have, we think this chapter will open your eyes to possibilities that you might not have suspected. This chapterone of the largest in the book shows you each tool in action (except for the Pen tool, which is so important that it merits its own chapter), looks at all the options associated with the tool, and suggests fast ways of choosing the tools and their options from the keyboard. This chapter also introduces a selection method called Quick Mask. Youre going to love Quick Mask for the simple way it allows you to mask an image using both the Paint tools and the Selection tools. Two attractive photographs are furnished to give you an enjoyable, step-by-step look at some very different aspects of Quick Mask.  Chapter 4, "Paths And The Pen Tool." This chapter is really the conclusion of Chapter 3 because its topic is the Pen tool (and the associated Paths palette). This tool will carry you into areas of special effects that youll find easy to master and thrilling as possibilities for your own work. Were also going to sidestep Photoshop temporarilyas we do in many places in this bookto look at Adobe Illustrators handling of paths and at how you can use these two amazing programs in tandem. As in Chapter 3, more practice files are provided so that you can get into doing useful things at once.  Chapter 5, "Using Channels." You may have heard of the word channel connected with Photoshop and thought of it as a technical term. It certainly is technical, but it is far more than just a word. Channels, as youll see in this chapter, are a way of displaying different kinds of information. Channels can be masks or selections, representations of color strength, an analog for transparency information, even a visual way of representing a way of controlling the effects of a command. Once you begin to understand channels, youll have a behind-the-scenes look at some of Photoshops most sophisticated inner mechanisms. Moreover, youll have a foundation for some of Photoshops most powerful editing functions. We will show you how to use the channels that are native to all Photoshop files, make new channels, and produce other channels that are the result of adding two channels together or subtracting one or more from another. The process will sound complex, at first, but with hands-on experience, youll find that it is effortless and a good deal less challenging than rocket science.  Chapter 6, "Using Layers." Layers amaze everyone who uses Photoshop. These really are Photoshops most wonderful gift to the world of digital art. They are powerful and flexible and so easy to use! After you get past the surface delights of layers, you are going to find surprisingly interesting things that go beyond simply stacking up groups of pixels and playing with blends modes and changes in opacity. Well show you how to use layer masks, clipping groups, and options that will allow you to make parts of your layer invisible based on its brightness or color or on the brightness or color of the pixels beneath it. This chapter includes a look at transformations of the pixels on a layer. You will learn how to subtly change the orientation of objects on a layer so that they seem to belong to the same reality as pixels on other layers. What else can we say about layers? If you like working in Photoshopor think that you mightlayers are just about the most fun you can have without laughing aloud.  Chapter 7, "Calculations." This chapter deals with just two menu commands: Apply Image and Calculations. Youve probably seen examples of the wild and wonderful photographic montages that are dominating the world of the graphic arts. If so, youve probably seen examples of images that flow together in ways that seem nearly impossible. High-level users of Photoshop make use of these two commandsas well as many other powerful Photoshop capabilitiesto achieve such complex effects. To show you how these commands can be used in several situations, the Companion CD-ROM provides files on which you will apply our step-by-step instructions. After youve been through the basics and have seen how many possibilities you have at your disposal, youll be in good shape to strike out on your own. Who knows? In a few months, maybe it will be your awesome photo montage that is furnishing amazement to the world of the graphic arts.  Chapter 8, "Filter Frolics." No Photoshop book is complete without a look at filters. Youll see examples in use as they are applied to a photograph of a cat named Marmalade. Our hero the cat, as you will see, survives his encounters with altered reality in fine style. He, of course, remembers that removing the effects of an applied filter is as simple as the clicking one step up on the History palette.  Chapter 9, "Photoshop Prepress." This is the first of two large-scale chapters that deal with the subject of Photoshop and prepress. If you need to prepare digital images for any kind of print reproduction, we think youll appreciate both of these chapters as they cover just about every topic that youll need to know about. Chapter 9 begins with a short course on press conditions and what you need to know when you are processing files. We then provide precise information for preparing halftones and duotones so they appear clean, clear, and beautifully balanced when they come from the press. Next, youll learn about preparing line art and handling spot color. This chapter includes, among other topics, how-to information for using touch and bump platesadditional inks to augment black and process-color printingthat youll find difficult to locate anywhere else.  Chapter 10, "Calibration And Color Reproduction." Here is the second of our comprehensive chapters on using Photoshop to prepare images for printing. This chapter tackles calibration, color management, and making color separations. What have you read about color management? Or calibration? Did much of what youve read seem suspiciously as if it were being driven by marketing hype? We agree. Color management is simply a matter of understanding how what you see on the monitor relates to what you will get from the press. Well introduce you to Photoshops new support for ICC profiles and how you can use profiles to get the best color output. We employ a number of strategies to take away the mystery from Color Management. If knowledge is power, this chapter is going to make you a powerful producer of colored printing.  Chapter 11, "Manipulating Images." In the two prepress chapters, you will have learned enough about editing your Photoshop files so that you end up with clear and pleasing images. Chapter 11 continues this process by showing you how to make corrections that can be revised as you go. This chapter also shows you how to use Photoshops layout features. We will show you some clever ways to position your image layers with great precision.  Chapter 12, "Photoshop And The World Wide Web." Since Photoshop was first introduced by Adobe Systems, it has become the best-selling image-editing software in the world. It is used for many purposes, but none have such far-reaching importance as the preparation of photographic material for the World Wide Web. We bring you a comprehensive look at what you can do to make your images look good, and how you can make sure that your digital files move from server to client as fast as possible. Youll hear about file formats for the Web, how to deal with Web color, and even a bit about whats involved with HTML code. If you are involved in Web or multi-media development work, this chapter will serve you well. The CD-ROM What else about the book should you find interesting? The CD-ROM disk. Many books of this type come with CD-ROMs, and many announce that they contain a selection of high-quality stock photos. How does ours differ from others? Read the fine print accompanying most CD-ROM stock images and youll see that most of them are actually small, low-resolution demos/samples from stock photo companies, and that you cant actually use the images unless you pay a licensing fee. This book does not do that. The practice files that accompany this book are good-looking, high-resolution images of a size that you can use for many purposes. Most are absolutely royalty-free files. If you decide that you want to use any or all for a purpose of your own, go ahead and do it. Period. (If you come up with a good-looking photo presentation that uses one of this books photos, wed be happy to receive an email telling us where we might see it. Its a lot of fun for us to feel that we may have helped you in some small way.) What else is on the CD-ROM? The usual stuffmostly demos, and some resource files. Check these things out. The demo software will give you a good idea whether the product is going to work in the way that you expect and for the purpose that you expect. What better way to evaluate an interesting software title than to try it at no cost? For more information, see Appendix A in this book. Other Resources Some other useful resources are available to you simply because you have purchased the book. E-mail addresses, for example. Make a note of these two: slondon@earthlink.com and xenakis.david@xrx-inc.com. If you have a problem with anything that you find in the book, let us know. You will not get an automated response promising that well get back to you within the next 6-8 weeks. You may have to wait a day or two (sometimes were not home), but we will respond with reasonable promptness with whatever help we can give you. How To Use This Book The simplest thing for us to tell you is this: Turn to page one and start reading. We know, this is a software book and hardly the sort of thing youll want to read for entertainment. If this were a large paper on particle physics, perhaps we would be a little more hesitant about telling you to just get started. But this is Photoshop were writing about. Youre already interested in Photoshop, so you might as well just jump in. You can easily follow whats going on, even at the beginning stages. Just dont try to read in bed: The things too heavy. If you know the basics, go ahead and jump around. But be aware that weve built up a sequence where one idea leads to the next. If you get lost, try backing up a few pagesor maybe to the previous chapterand then move forward from there. We have used a few conventions in the book that distinguish between the two platformsWindows and Macintoshon which Photoshop is most commonly used. If a piece of information is relevant to one platform over the other, we usually make this clear. Where key commands are used, we provide the Macintosh command first, followed by the Windows command. (For example: "Command+E (Command is used on the Mac) or Ctrl+E (Control is used inWindows)." The Macintosh will always be the first modifier key listed, with the Windows modifier second. The ordering is alphabetical and indicates no preference for one platform over the other.) Beyond these small cautions, you can read this material without worrying that you are in the midst of information that might not apply to your platform. We recommend keeping the CD-ROM disk handy so that you can get to the practice files whenever you need them. As we mentioned previously, nearly all of those files are high-resolution images. If you find that memory problems occur because of the sizes of the images, simply choose Image|Image Size, and change the resolution from 300 ppi down to 72 to 100 ppi. Doing so should give you the same image but with far less data with which to saddle your machines memory. Above all, have fun with this book. If an interesting idea comes to you as you work with the practice files, take a break and pursue it. It might come to nothing, it might turn out to be wonderful. Either way, youll have learned something useful. And well always be waiting, ready to continue whenever you return from your side exploration.