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Re: [OM] OT: CS6

Subject: Re: [OM] OT: CS6
From: Bob Whitmire <bwhitmire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 4 May 2012 15:45:30 -0400
Ah, layers. I am no expert, not even close, but I have been fighting with them 
for a couple of years now. Some on the list have been doing it much longer, so 
I invite them to weigh in or correct or taunt as they see fit.

My advice for layers is to start slow and roll on the throttle as you get 
deeper into the subject.

For starters, let's forget for the moment that the later iterations of Camera 
Raw and Lightroom (same thing, different look) make it almost unnecessary to 
visit Photoshop at all. Let's pretend that we do only basic adjustments to our 
Raw files and then export them to Photoshop as TIFFs or PSDs. 

So you open the file and you have a background layer. First, go up to the icons 
in the tool palette and find the layer for Levels. Click. New layer added to 
your stack. Don't worry about the white window in the layer. Photoshop adds a 
layer mask automatically. You may or may not need it. Early on, ignore it or 
you'll get a headache.

There's a drop down menu of blend modes. Don't worry about what they are, and 
don't be intimidated by the number and apparent opaqueness of them all. In the 
beginning, you're going to use only three: Normal, Luminosity and Saturation.

For Levels, use Normal, which as I recall is the default. You make your 
adjustments with those little triangles under the baseline of the histogram. 
Get the black slider just under where the black part starts (on the left), the 
right triangle under just where the highlights start (on the right) and the 
middle triangle to mess with your mid tone values. All of this is to taste. 
When it looks good to you, stop messing with it. You've basically set black 
point, white point and midtones.

Next, find the icon for Curves. Click. Set the blend mode to Luminosity. You 
use Luminosity because if you leave it on normal, curves adjustments will also 
subtly alter your Saturation. You want to wait until the next step to muck with 
that. Make your curves adjustments to taste. I usually go for an "S" shape, but 
it's really relative to what the image needs and what looks best, The secret of 
Curves is contrast. It's the single most effective tool for setting contrast 
because you can do it across the entire tonal range. 

Now, a trick for working with Curves. You can actually move the line to taste, 
or you can click on that pointed index finger icon (top left of the Curves 
panel?). Then you place it over the area of the image you want to adjust, Move 
it up and down and watch your curves line change as it adjusts the tonal values 
matching the values beneath the pointing finger. It's easy to get carried away 
with this, but don't worry about it. Have fun. Play. The nice thing about 
Layers is they are nondestructive.

Now, having set Levels and Curves, your next step is Saturation. Click the 
Layer icon and add your third layer (not counting the background). Set the 
blend mode to Saturation. You do this because if you leave it at normal, 
adjusting Saturation will also affect Luminosity. You really don't want to do 
that when you can avoid it, which you can by using the blend modes. You can 
make the Saturation adjustment global, or using the drop down menu, you can 
alter the Saturation of different colors. I generally set my Saturation this 
way because there's so much more control.

So, there you have it: Introduction to Layers. It's barely a start, but it's an 
important start. There's lots more you can do with Layers, including lightening 
and darkening using brushes, increasing and decreasing Saturation using 
brushes, adding type, disappearing things and what not. But the three I've 
outlined here are the basic three.

More complex layering sometimes requires merging up and using CMD-J to 
duplicate the background and such, but all of that's for later, when you have a 
good book or DVD tutorial for using Layers, and a bottle of good Scotch to 
handle the frustration.

Rock On!

--Bob


On May 4, 2012, at 3:02 PM, Chris Barker wrote:

> I've succumbed.  I've bought CS5, ready for the "free" upgrade to CS6 when it 
> comes.  I don't need it, but I have been curious about the new interface, not 
> to mention the upgrades to some of the features that I use.
> 
> And I really must get to grips with layers.

-- 
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