Turn on the full power of Photoshop with a PEN TABLET

Using a mouse as an input device may work for placing insertion points in text or dragging a rectangular selection in Photoshop, but using a Brush tool or selecting specific areas with a mouse is similar to writing your name with a bar of soap — clunky and inaccurate. You can edit images with greater comfort and control using a pressure-sensitive tablet and pen, such as the Wacom Intuos or Cintiq. More than 20 Photoshop tools, such as the Brushes, the Eraser, the Quick Selection tool, the Clone Stamp, the Dodge and Burn tools, and other tools can be fully customized only when a tablet is connected to the computer. You can then change brush size, roundness, flow, or opacity by applying more or less pressure with the pen.

Instead of scooting the mouse around, you use the pen to place the cursor exactly where you want, and make precise selections or paint digitally as with a traditional paintbrush on paper. 

The key to using a tablet and pen and turning on the full power of Photoshop is to start by setting the Tablet Preferences located in the System Preferences or Control Panel.

 

 

1 With a Wacom tablet plugged into a USB port and the Wacom driver installed, open the Tablet Preferences from System Preferences (from Control Panel in Windows).

The Tablet Preferences open with the Pen tab selected.

2 Click and drag the Tilt Sensitivity slider to the right for greater tilt response.

3 Click and drag the Tip Feel slider for a softer or firmer touch.

The Select Application dialog box appears.

6 Click Adobe Photoshop CS6.

7 Click OK.

Note: If Photoshop is not running, click Browse and navigate to the Photoshop CS6 application. 

 

 

A Photoshop CS6 is listed in the Application section.

8 Click Functions to customize the ExpressKeys, Touch Ring, and Radial Menu.

Note: Make sure that Photoshop CS6 is still highlighted in the Application section.

9 Click any ExpressKey drop-down menu to change the setting to Keystroke.

10 Type a keystroke, such as D for Deselect, and click OK. 

11 Type a name for the Keystroke and click OK. 

12 Repeat steps 9 to 11 for any other ExpressKey you want to change. 

13 Click the Touch Ring tab. 

14 Click and drag the Speed slider to change the scrolling speed. 

15 Click any of the Functions drop-down menus to select different settings. 

Note: If you select Keystroke for any of the Functions drop-down menus, repeat steps 10 and 11. 

16 Click the Close button. Your custom settings are saved in the Wacom Preferences or Wacom Control panel. 

TIPS

Did You Know? 

Although you can work in Photoshop without a tablet, you will not have access to a large number of tools, which are specifically designed for use with a pressure-sensitive tablet and pen. For example, using a mouse, you can select only Off or Fade for Brush opacity. With a tablet attached to the computer, you can also select Pen Pressure, Pen Tilt, and Stylus Wheel, giving you more natural and responsive control when painting or editing photos. 

Try This! 

Set one ExpressKey for the Radial menu. Click the Radial Menu tab in the Wacom Tablet Preferences (Control Panel) and click one section of the Radial menu. Click the Function drop-down menu and set your custom settings as in the task steps. Now when you click the ExpressKey, the Radial menu appears on-screen so you can click to launch an application, run an action, or use the keystroke depending on your custom settings. 

Important! 

Wacom pen tablets come in three basic types: the Bamboo, the Intuos, and the Cintiq, and each comes in multiple sizes. The preferences dialog box varies slightly depending on the type of Wacom tablet you have connected.

CALIBRATE AND PROFILE your monitor for accurate editing

All the work you do in Photoshop is based on what you see on the screen, so the color accuracy of your monitor is very important. Because each monitor displays color differently and because a monitor’s characteristics change over time, you should calibrate and profile your monitor regularly to make sure that you are viewing the colors that are actually in your files.

Make Photoshop TAKE NOTES FOR YOU

Some projects in Photoshop require only a few steps, and if you repeat the project multiple times, you will probably memorize the steps. Most tasks, however, require many steps, and the order in which to apply them is crucial to the function of the tools. Even if you follow the steps in this book, you will often try a new tool, apply a different option, or add multiple changes to complete your vision. When you succeed in creating a particular look, the most difficult part is remembering how you did it.

CUSTOMIZE A GRADIENT to suit your design

You can use the Gradient tool to blend colors and fill text with soft gradations of color, to fill backgrounds or selections with a colored gradient, to apply gradient layers, or to work with masks when making composite images. As with the brushes, Photoshop installs but does not automatically load a number of different gradient color sets, which you can find by opening the Gradient picker menu and loading these using the same steps as in task #11.

LOAD OPTIONAL BRUSH SETS for better painting

Brushes are essential for working with Photoshop. When you customize a brush and create a new preset, you can use that brush with not only the Brush tool but also a number of Photoshop tools, such as the History brush, the Eraser tool, the Pencil tool, and other tools. Adding brushes gives you more options for editing photographs and many more variations for painting with Photoshop. You can view the brushes in the Brush picker and change the default view from small thumbnail to any of the other view options listed. 

When you first install and open Photoshop, only the default brushes appear in the Brush picker. The optional brushes are stored in sets in the Presets folder. You can load any set and have the additional brushes replace the default brushes or be appended to the existing brush set using the Preset manager. Once loaded the additional brushes appear in the Brush picker. 

You should only add the brushes you need because loading more brushes requires more resources, or memory. At any time, you can append different brush sets to see your options, save different sets, and delete the ones you do not need.

 

1 Click the Brush tool.

2 Click the Brush Preset drop-down menu.

A The Brush picker appears, displaying small thumbnails of  the brush tips.

3 Click the gear menu button on the Brush picker.

The Brushes menu appears.

4 Click Small List or Large List in the menu to see the names of the brushes as well as the tip.

 

The Brush picker changes to show the brush names.

5 Click here and drag down to expand the Brush picker.

6 Click the gear menu button ( ) on the Brush picker again.

7 Click Wet Media Brushes in the bottom section of the picker.

Note: You can select any of the brush sets listed.

8 Click Append in the dialog box that appears.

B The Wet Media Brushes are added to the bottom of the Brush picker.

9 Scroll down the Brush picker to see all of the new added brushes.

TIPS

Try This! 

You can save a copy of the Brushes folder to another location on your hard drive. Your custom brush set and any brush sets you download can then be transferred to another computer or reloaded if you have to reinstall Photoshop. By default, the Brushes folder is in /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS6/ Presets/ (on Mac OS X) or C:\Program Files\Adobe\ PhotoshopCS6\Presets\ (in Windows). 

Did You Know? 

You can find a large number of predesigned brush sets both free and for a fee on the web. 

Try This! 

You can add patterns the same way you add brush presets. Click and hold the Gradient tool on the toolbar and select the Paint Bucket tool. Click Foreground in the Options bar and select Pattern. Click the pattern icon to open the Pattern picker. Click the gear menu button on the Pattern picker and select a different pattern set at the bottom of the menu. Click Append in the dialog box that appears.

DESIGN A CUSTOM BRUSH with your settings

Many of the tools in Photoshop have modifiable brush options, and whether you retouch photographs, design brochures, or paint from scratch, you often need to vary the shape, size, and hardness of the brushes to fit your project. 

The Brush picker includes a variety of brushes you can select from a menu. You can also modify the attributes of any of these preset brushes and save the modified brush as your own custom brush preset so that you can readily use it for your next design. You can name and save any number of custom brushes as presets. 

Many other tools also have modifiable brush options, including the Pencil tool, the Eraser tool, the Clone Stamp tool, the Pattern Stamp tool, the History Brush, the Art History Brush, the Blur tool, the Sharpen tool, the Smudge tool, the Dodge tool, the Burn tool, and the Sponge tool. 

Customizing tools for your projects and saving your presets can save time for repetitive tasks and also open up more creative possibilities for your drawing, painting, and retouching.

 

 

1 With a new blank document open, click the Brush tool.

A You can optionally select different foreground colors for comparing the different brush strokes.

2 Click the Brush Panel Toggle button in the Options bar.

The Brush panel opens and the controls for the brush tip shape are visible.

3 Click a Bristle tip brush preset to modify into a custom brush.

4 Click and drag in the image to see the brush stroke.

Note: If you are using a Wacom tablet and stylus, the brush preview shows the brush angle as you angle the stylus.
 

5 Click and drag any of the sliders to change the size and look.

Note: To set any of the Control drop-down menus to Pen Pressure, such as the settings options under Shape Dynamics,you must have a pen tablet connected (see task #15).

B You can click the Shape drop-down menu and select a different shape.

C The Brush preview window displays the changed brushstroke.

6 Click and drag in the open document to test the brush effect.

 

 

D Your customized brush stroke appears on the document.

7 Click any of the other options, such as Texture, in the left section of the Brush pane.

8 Click and drag any of the sliders or drop-down menus to change the size and look.

9 Click and drag in the document to test the changed brushstroke.

10 Click the Create New Brush button.

The Brush Name dialog box appears.

11 Type a name for your brush.

E You can optionally click Capture Brush Size in Preset to save the brush size.

12 Click OK.

Your customized brush is now available in the Brush panel and stored in the default brush set.

Note: If you later reset the brushes without saving the changes, you will lose your custom brush preset.

TIPS

Important! 

You should save custom brushes in a set so they are available the next time you open Photoshop. Click the Brush Preset drop-down menu in the Options bar. Click the gear menu button and click Save Brushes. Type a name for the current set, including your custom brushes, in the dialog box and click Save. The brush set with the custom brushes is saved in the Photoshop Brushes folder in the Presets folder. 

Did You Know? 

The Brush Tip Shape options available with the Bristle tip brushes are different than those for the Standard brushes. You can change the Standard Brush Tip shapes by clicking and dragging the sides of the brush shape circle in the Brush Tip Shape pane. 

More Options! 

The Bristle tip brushes display an animated preview on-screen. You can see what a corresponding physical brush would look like, and also see how the bristles splay as you paint on the digital canvas. You can toggle the preview on and off by clicking the Live Tip Brush Preview button on the bottom of the Brush panel.

CREATE A CUSTOM ACTION to increase your efficiency

Actions help you perform repeated steps quickly. An action is a series of commands that you can apply to an image with one click of the mouse. Unlike a keyboard shortcut, which can only invoke a command, an action can open a command, apply changes to an image, step through another command, apply it, and even save a file in a particular way. Photoshop includes many predesigned actions, and you can also create your own for steps that you do over and over and add them to the Actions panel. 

Using the Actions panel, you record a sequence of steps and save your new action. When you need to apply the same steps to a different image, even to an entire folder of files, you play the action, and Photoshop automatically applies the steps. You can record any number of steps and even create complex actions that include steps requiring specific information in dialog boxes. Actions become particularly useful when you do repetitive projects with many steps.

 

 

Note: The steps in this task create a simple action for setting up a new 7-×-5-inch document at 300 pixels/inch for a greeting card.

1 Click Window.

2 Click Actions.

A The Actions panel appears.

3 Click the Create New Action button.

B Alternatively, you can click the panel menu button and select New Action.

The New Action dialog box appears.

4 Type the name of your action.

C You can click the Function Key drop-down menu and select a function key for a keyboard shortcut.

D You can click the Color dropdown menu and select a color for the action.

5 Click Record.

 

 

E The Record button in the Actions panel turns red.

Perform the steps that you want to record as an action:

6 Press Ô+N (Ctrl+N) to open a new file.

The New dialog box appears.

7 Type 7 in the Width field and 5 in the Height field.

8 Type 300 in the Resolution field.

9 Click the Advanced disclosure triangle.

The window expands with more options.

10 Click the Color Profile drop-down menu and click Adobe RGB 1998.

11 Click OK.

F A new untitled document appears.

12 Click the Stop Recording button.

G Your custom action to create a 7 × 5 greeting card is now recorded and listed in the Actions panel.

13 Test your action by clicking the Action name in the Actions panel and clicking the Play button.

TIPS

More Options! 

You can apply an action to a folder of files by clicking File Automate Batch and selecting the action and a source folder. Or you can apply an action to a group of images from Bridge by clicking Tools Photoshop Batch. 

Try This! 

Assign colors to your actions and turn them into buttons. With an action highlighted, click the panel menu button on the actions panel and click Action Options. Click the Color drop-down menu in the Action Options dialog box, select a color, and click OK. Then click the panel menu button again and select Button Mode. Your actions appear with color-coded labels. 

Did You Know? 

Photoshop actions are saved in a folder called Actions inside the Presets folder of the Photoshop application folder.

ADD A KEYBOARD SHORTCUT for a favorite filter

Photoshop includes keyboard shortcuts for the tools that you use most often. Many of the tools already have keyboard shortcuts assigned. Still, you may find yourself going to the menu to select an item, such as the Smart Sharpen or Gaussian Blur filter, so often that a personalized keyboard shortcut becomes a huge timesaver.

You can create your own custom keyboard shortcuts or even change some Photoshop keystrokes to something that you can remember better. If the keyboard shortcut that you choose is already assigned by Photoshop for another function, a warning appears. Although you should generally avoid keyboard shortcuts that your operating system uses, you can change Photoshop’s default shortcuts, or you can apply a different set of keystrokes not already assigned. 

Learning and using custom keyboard shortcuts can streamline your workflow, leaving you more time for designing and photo editing.

 

 

1 Click Edit.

2 Click Keyboard Shortcuts.

The Keyboard Shortcuts and Menus dialog box appears with the Keyboard Shortcuts tab preselected.

3 Click the Shortcuts For dropdown menu and select Application Menus.

4 Click the Filter disclosure triangle.

 

 

A The filters are listed along with any existing keyboard shortcuts.

5 Scroll down to the filter for which you want to add a shortcut.

6 Click the filter.

An empty field appears under the Shortcut column.

7 Press Ô (Ctrl) or an F key (function key) and type your shortcut in the field.

Note: A shortcut must include either Ô (Ctrl) or an F key (function key). This example shows Ô+Shift+Option+G(Ctrl+Shift+Alt+G).

8 Click Accept.

The Photoshop Defaults set is modified to include your shortcut.

9 Click OK.

Your custom keyboard shortcut is now available to use.

TIPS

Did You Know? 

You can access the Keyboard Shortcuts and Menus dialog box by using a keyboard shortcut — Ô+Shift+Option+K (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+K). 

Try This! 

You can save and print a list of all keyboard shortcuts. Click Summarize in the Keyboard Shortcuts and Menus dialog box and save the file as Photoshop Defaults.htm. Open the file and print the list for reference. 

More Options! 

You can even save a keyboard shortcut set with a custom workspace. Click Window Workspace New Workspace. In the New Workspace window, name the workspace and click Keyboard Shortcuts ( changes to ). Click Save to save the current Keyboard Shortcuts set with the workspace.

SAVE TIME FINDING YOUR IMAGES with the Mini Bridge

The Mini Bridge panel in Photoshop is a time-and space-saving feature. You can quickly find an image from within the Photoshop interface, without having Bridge completely take over your screen. 

The Mini Bridge actually launches Bridge in the background; however, the Bridge window does not open until you click the Bridge icon. You can set the preferences for the way the Mini Bridge displays information. Then with a click of the Mini Bridge icon you can browse the contents of your computer, find an image, preview it in a mini preview window, and zoom in to check details, all without leaving Photoshop. You can even sort multiple images and rate them in a mini review mode window, and then filter the images you want to view in the Mini Bridge.

Finding a specific image or a group of images to work on using the Mini Bridge is the quickest way to improve your Photoshop workflow.

 

 

1 Click File.

2 Click Browse in Mini Bridge.

A You can optionally click the Mini Bridge tab at the base of the screen.

The Mini Bridge opens.

Note: To close the Mini Bridge, double-click its tab.

3 Click the Launch Bridge button.

B The Mini Bridge opens in the default layout.

4 Click the Computer drop-down menu to locate your image folder.

5 Double-click a drive or folder to open it.

C The image thumbnails appear.

6 Click and drag to scroll through the image thumbnails.

7 Click the sort drop-down menu to change to a different sort order.

 

 

8 Ô+click (Ctrl+click) multiple images to select them.

9 Click the View dropdown menu and select Review Mode from the menu.

The screen fills with the selected images in Carousel view. 

10 Click any of the smaller images to bring it to the front.

The image carousel rotates to that image.

11 Click here to close the Review Mode window and return to Photoshop.

TIPS

Did You Know?

You can quickly return to Photoshop from the full Bridge CS6 window by clicking the Boomerang  in the Options bar of the Bridge application. 

Try This!

When in Review mode in the Mini Bridge content window, click in the front image to get a 100% preview of that section of the image. 

More Options!

You can play a mini slide show inside the Mini Bridge panel or in full screen mode, and quickly return to the Photoshop interface. Ô+click (Ctrl+click) a number of images in the content pane of the Mini Bridge. Click the View button at the top on the Mini Bridge and click Slideshow in the drop-down list. A slide show of the selected images fills the screen. Press Esc to return to the Photoshop window.

CUSTOMIZE YOUR VIEW of Bridge

Bridge, which ships with Photoshop, acts as a power browser and central hub for all the Creative Suite applications and shows all types of available files and folders. You can even see thumbnails of documents and files from other applications, such as Word or Acrobat files. When you double-click a thumbnail from Bridge, the associated application launches. You can open Bridge from within Photoshop or as a separate application. 

Bridge offers different ways to search, categorize, and view your files, options for adding information, and automation for various repetitive tasks. As with Photoshop, you can customize your Bridge workspace so you can review and compare images more efficiently. And because Bridge adds more functionality, such as creating PDF files and web galleries, you can set up your Bridge workspace to fit your own project.

To launch Bridge from within Photoshop, click File and Browse in Bridge. You can also press the keyboard shortcut Ô+Option+O (Ctrl+Alt+O).

 

 

1 Launch Bridge.

Note: You can make any changes you prefer for your custom workspace.

2 Click the Folders tab to navigate to a different folder of images.

3 Click and drag the Metadata and Keywords tabs to the center of the left panel.

4 Click and drag the Preview tab to the center pane.

5 Click and drag the Content tab to the right pane.

The Content images align vertically on the right.

6 Click an image to see it in the Preview tab.

7 Click the right separator bar and drag to the right.

The Preview tab enlarges and the content tab narrows.

A You can also click the left separator bar and drag to the left to enlarge the Preview tab more.

 

8 Click Window.

9 Click Workspace.

10 Click New Workspace.

The New Workspace dialog box appears.

11 Type a name for the workspace.

12 Make sure that both check boxes are checked.

13 Click Save.

Your custom workspace is saved and appears in the top panel.

TIPS

More Options! 

You can change the user interface and background to different shades for viewing images by clicking Adobe Bridge CS6 (Edit) Preferences. Use the User Interface Brightness slider under the General Preferences to vary the interface color, and the Image Backdrop slider to vary the backdrop color from black to gray to white, and click OK to apply the new color. 

Enlarge It!

Press Tab to make the Preview window, or whatever center window you designate, fill the screen as the other panels slide away on the sides. Press Tab again to return to your custom Bridge workspace. 

Try This! 

Ô+click (Ctrl+click) multiple images in the Content pane to compare them in the Preview pane. You can also stack the selected images by clicking Stacks Group as Stack, or by pressing Ô+G (Ctrl+G).

Change your WINDOW VIEWS

Photoshop enables you to open one image or multiple images at one time on the screen. You can then view and compare your images to see which one is the best of the group. 

The default setting for Photoshop automatically opens multiple images as separate tabs in one window. Tabs are useful to quickly change from one image to the next, by simply clicking the named tab. You can select one image and open it in a separate window while leaving all the others as tabs in the group, or view all the images as cascading individual windows. 

You can also tile multiple windows so they all fit on the screen at once. 

You can have two windows of the same image open. Then you can view an enlarged version in one window and the full photo in the other, so you can edit a particular area while still viewing the overall effect on the entire image. 

If you need to compare specific areas on similar photos, open all the photos in one of the multiple views. You can then match the areas displayed in each of the images and even match a zoomed-in location.

 

 

1 Click File.

2 Click Open.

The Open dialog box appears.

3 Shift+click multiple images to select them.

Note: Shift+click selects multiple images listed consecutively. Ô+click (Ctrl+click) selects individual images in the list.

4 Click Open.

The images open in the default tabbed mode.

5 Click any tab to view a different image.

6 Click Window.

7 Click Arrange.

8 Click Float All in Windows.

 

The images open in separate windows cascading down the screen.

9 Click the title bar of one photo to bring it forward.

10 Click Window.

11 Click Arrange.

12 Click Tile.

The images tile across the screen.

13 Click the Hand tool.

14 Click and drag inside one image to move to the bottom right corner.

14 Click Window.

15 Click Arrange.

16 Click Match Location.

All the windows move their contents to display the bottom right corner of each image.

TIPS

Try This! 

With multiple images open, click Window -> Arrange Tile. Photoshop automatically tiles all the open images at a size to best fit the screen. 

Did You Know? 

If you zoom in on one image when you have multiple images open, and then tile the windows, you can click Window -> Arrange -> Match Zoom to zoom the same amount on all the windows. 

More Options! 

You can drag one or more windows to a second monitor. You can then have all your tools and panels on one monitor and all your images on the other, or one version of an image on one monitor and an edited version on the other.

Create your own CUSTOMIZED WORKSPACE

The workspace in Photoshop refers to the layout of the different panels and tools on your screen. With all the functionality built into Photoshop, your screen area can easily become cluttered. You can design and save a workspace to fit your needs for a particular project, with only the items that you use most. You can hide others or collapse them into buttons to save space. You can even create multiple workspaces with different tools for different types of projects, such as one for painting, one for design, and one for photography. 

You can move and resize individual panels. You can move the single-column toolbar, undock it, or change it to a two-column panel. When you select Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar from the View menu, your image appears as large as possible with all the tool panels available.

You can save a custom workspace and even save the keyboard shortcuts and/or menus for that workspace. 

You can start from scratch or you can modify any of the Photoshop preconfigured workspaces. When you alter any existing workspace, your changes are automatically saved.

 

 

1 With an image open, click View.

2 Click Screen Mode.

3 Click Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar.

A The area on-screen maximizes to fill the space.

4 Click here to reduce the panel groups to buttons with names.

5 Click here and drag the History button onto the panel group.

6 Click here and drag the Properties button to the bottom of the panel group.

7 Click here to change the width of the toolbar.

TIPS

Did You Know?

You can delete any workspaces you do not need. First select a different workspace as in the task to make it active. Then click Window -> Workspace -> Delete Workspace. Click the Workspace drop-down menu in the Delete Workspace window that appears. Select the name of the workspace to delete and click Delete. Click Yes in the warning dialog box that appears.
 

Try This!
 

You can revert any changes to a workspace back to the original default settings. With the workspace you want to revert active, click Window -> Workspace -> Reset Workspace Name.
 

Important!
 

Restarting Photoshop while pressing and holding Ô+Option+Shift (Ctrl+Alt+Shift) as you launch the
application also resets all the original workspaces. However, this action also deletes all your personalized workspaces as well as any other custom settings.

SET THE PREFERENCES for the way you work

Even if your computer meets the minimum requirements to run Photoshop, you should set up the Preferences to fit the type of tasks you regularly work on. Optimizing Photoshop’s performance not only makes your computer run more efficiently, it also makes working with your projects faster and easier. For example, by default, Photoshop is set to use more than half of the available RAM. You can adjust this setting to fit not only the amount of RAM installed in the computer but also the number of applications you need to run at the same time. You can also set a separate scratch disk to speed up your work. 

Using the Preferences settings, you can customize other default settings such as the colors for the guides and grid so they are distinct from those in your image and designate an additional plug-ins folder to keep third-party items separate from those included with Photoshop. You can also select the Camera Raw Preferences to change those default settings. Each option under the Preferences menu opens different panes to customize so you can make Photoshop work for you.

 

 

1 Click Photoshop (Edit).

2 Click Preferences.

3 Click General.

The General Preferences dialog box appears.

4 Click any of the drop-down menus to change your settings.

Note: For this task, the default Image Interpolation has been changed to Bicubic Sharper.

5 Click to select the options you want, or deselect those you do not want.

Note: For this task, the Beep When Done option is selected.

6 Click Performance in the left pane to continue customizing more settings.

Note: You can optionally click Next to change the settings for the next pane in the list.

 

 

The dialog box changes to the Performance Preferences.

7 Click and drag the slider to adjust the maximum amount of RAM available to Photoshop.

8 Click a different scratch disk.

9 Click the up or down arrow to change the order of scratch disks. 

10 Click Plug-Ins or another preference option in the left pane.

11 Make any other changes that you prefer in the other Preferences panes.

12 Click OK when you have cycled through all the Preferences panes.

13 Click Photoshop (File).

14 Click Quit Photoshop (Exit).

The next time you start the application, your custom settings take effect.

TIPS

Optimize Photoshop Performance! 

• Set the Memory Usage preference to about 70% or stay within the listed ideal range.

• Close other applications and run Photoshop by itself.
 

•  Keep open only files that you are currently working with. Close other open files.

•  Reduce the number of History states.

• Load only the patterns and brush tips you need. Each loaded pattern and tip increases the RAM required to run Photoshop.
 

•  Merge layers that no longer need to be kept separate as you work.

• Add more RAM to your computer.
 

• Use a separate scratch disk and set the Preferences order to use that disk first.

• Defragment your drives regularly.

Did You Know?
 

You can restore the Preferences any time by pressing and holding Ô+Option+Shift (Ctrl+Alt+Shift) as you launch the application. 

CHOOSE YOUR PREFERRED COLOR for the interface and screen modes

In previous versions of Photoshop, you were able to change the color of the background behind the image you were working on, with the tools and panels remaining a light color. Photoshop CS6 now gives you color options for the interface. The color themes include four different shades from light gray through dark gray, and the changes take place immediately when you select a different Appearance Color Theme from the Preferences Interface window. 

Viewing your images against darker or lighter backgrounds acts like a traditional matte surrounding your central image, and helps the eye see the colors and contrast more accurately. When the tools and panels around your image are too light, it can distract your eye. You can even match the tools and panels with the background color of your selected screen mode, giving you a more uniform backdrop for viewing and editing. 

Darkening the user interface is particularly useful for photographers and those working in both Photoshop and Lightroom, or another application with a dark appearance, because less of a visual shift occurs when switching applications.

 

 

Note: You can better judge the options if you first open an image and press F once to change the view mode to Full Screen with Menus.

1 Click Photoshop (Edit).

2 Click Preferences.

3 Click Interface.

The Interface pane of the Preferences dialog box appears.

4 Click the title bar and drag the Preferences dialog box slightly to the side or down to see the tools and panels.

5 Click each of the four Color Theme boxes to see the changes.

TIPS

Did You Know?

Pressing the F key toggles the screen modes from Standard, to Full Screen with Menus, and then to Full Screen.

Try This!
 

You can use the F1 and F2 keys to toggle the darkness levels of the user interface. By default, the F1 and F2 keys are secondary shortcuts to other functions. On a Mac, F1 is bound to Edit -> Undo/Redo and F2 is set to Edit Cut. In Windows, F1 is set to Help and F2 is set to Edit ->Cut. You can delete these default settings, as in task #8, because those tools have other keyboard shortcuts. You can then quickly darken the user interface by pressing F1, and lighten it by pressing F2.

SELECT THE COLOR SETTINGS for your projects

Using Photoshop, you can improve photographs, repurpose them, or start with a blank canvas to create original graphic designs or paintings. Because different types of output have different limits on the range of colors that they can represent, you should start by setting the working color space that matches your project’s intended output, such as for print or the web. Photoshop’s default color space is set to sRGB, a limited color space intended for web images to be viewable on even the lowest-quality monitor. sRGB is a small color space. Designers and photographers who plan to print their work with inkjet printers generally prefer to work in the larger color space called Adobe RGB (1998). 

In Photoshop, you can easily choose your working color space and save it. When you work on a project you intend to print, start by selecting the North America Prepress 2 settings and Adobe RGB (1998). You can then select different options depending on your intended output. Alternatively, you can select the ProPhoto working space if you prefer to use the widest color gamut possible for photographic editing.

1 Click Edit.

2 Click Color Settings.

The Color Settings dialog box appears.

3 Click the Settings drop-down menu and select North America Prepress 2.

A The RGB setting changes to Adobe RGB (1998).

Note: ProPhoto RGB is an even larger color space often preferred by professional photographers because it includes a wider range of tones and allows for fine detail editing.

The rest of the Color Settings dialog box changes to reflect the preferred working space for images that you print.

4 Click More Options. The dialog box expands.

5 Click the Intent drop-down menu and select Perceptual for most photographic projects or Relative

Colorimetric for graphic design projects.

6 Click OK.

Your color settings are saved untilyou reset your preferences.

TIPS

Important!
 

Photoshop is all about interacting with what you see on your screen. Wallpapers and bright backgrounds interfere with how you judge colors in your images. You should set your desktop background to a medium neutral gray using System Preferences on a Mac, or the Appearance and Personalization settings in the Control Panel in Windows.
 

Customize It!
 

You can save your own Color Settings preset. The name of the preset changes to Custom when you deselect any check box or make any other changes. Click Save after customizing your settings. Type a name in the Save dialog box and click Save. Your customized preset appears in the Settings menu, ready for you to choose.
 

Try This!
 

If you have other Creative Suite CS6 applications, you can synchronize the color settings to match your saved custom Photoshop CS6 color settings. In Photoshop, click File Browse in Bridge. In Bridge, click Edit Creative Suite Color Settings. Click North America Prepress 2 and click Apply.