Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual (Paperback)

~ Lesa Snider (Author)
Key Phrases: camera raw, smart object, application frame, Color Picker, Free Transform, Gaussian Blur (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Packed with information, Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual has all the secrets to editing photos and creating superior documents in Photoshop. Author and graphics pro Lesa Snider objectively explains how you can take advantage of all the powerful features, and get the results you want.

Praise
"I just saw Photoshop World instructor Lesa Snider's new book, Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual, and it so reminded me of when Deke McClellend used to write The Photoshop Bible, (which I loved) because it literally covers everything about Photoshop (it's nearly 900 pages!). Lesa did a great job on the book, and in my mind, it is the new Photoshop Bible. Way to go Lesa!"
--Scott Kelby, Photoshop Insider


Five Fast Photo Effects in Photoshop CS4
By Lesa Snider

Click thumbnails to open full-size images in a new window.

1. Quick black-and-white with color tint. Photoshop lets you easily convert a color image to black-and-white without harming the original image. First, create a Black & White Adjustment layer by clicking the half-black/half-white circle at the bottom of your Layers panel, and then choose Black & White. Tweak the various sliders in the resulting Adjustments panel for maximum contrast, and then add a color overlay by clicking the Tint checkbox at the top of the panel. Photoshop assumes you want to give your image a brown (sepia) tint. To use another color, click the little brown color swatch to the right of the Tint checkbox and pick a new color from the resulting Color Picker.

2. Partial color effect. To really draw viewer's eyes to the focal point of your image, make the focal point colored and the rest of the image black-and-white. By using the layer mask that tags along with each Adjustment layer, you can hide the effect of a Black & White Adjustment layer and bring back the original color. (Think of a layer mask as digital masking tape.) To create this effect, add an Adjustment layer by clicking the half-black/half-white circle at the bottom of the Layers palette, and then choose Black & White. Tweak the sliders for maximum contrast, and then, on the Layers panel, click once to select the Adjustment layer's mask (the white thumbnail to the right of the layer thumbnail). Press B to grab the Brush tool and, at the bottom of Tools panel, set the foreground color chip to black. (In the realm of the layer mask, painting with black conceals and painting with white reveals.) Next, mouse over to your document and use the Brush tool to paint over any area you want to bring back its original color. If you bring back too much color, press X to flip-flop your color chips so you're painting with white, and then paint that area to make it black and white again.

3. Portrait popper. You can make Photoshop add a soft, darkened edge around any photo in seconds...if you know which filter to reach for. Choose Filter > Distort > Lens Correction, then grab the Vignette slider and drag it all the way to the left. To darken the edge color even more, grab the Midpoint slider and drag it slightly to the left. Click OK and you're finished!

4. Background swap. If you want to add a colorful background to a photo that has a white background, don't waste time creating a selection to delete the background or hide it with a layer mask. Instead, swap backgrounds with the flick of a layer blend mode (blend modes change the way color on one layer interacts with the color on other layers). Simply place the colorful background at the top of your layers stack and use the pop-up menu at the top of the Layers panel to change that layer's blend mode to Darken. Like magic, wherever the two layers intersect, only the darkest colors will remain. If necessary, you can use a layer mask to hide parts of the new background, as shown here.

5. Quick color boost. Photoshop CS4 gives you a quick new way to make the colors in your image pop without harming the original image. It's called the Vibrance Adjustment layer, and you can find it on the right side of your screen in the new Adjustments panel (or by clicking the half black/half white circle at the bottom of your Layers panel). Once you've created the Vibrance Adjustment layer, drag the Vibrance slider all the way to the right, and it intensifies the colors in your image. Happily, it has less of an effect on bright colors (because they're already highly saturated) than on lighter tones, yet it leaves skin tones relatively unchanged.

Look Inside Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual

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Product Description

Photoshop is the world's most widely used photo-editing and graphics program. But with all its fantastic new features and options, the CS4 version can bewilder even the most seasoned professional. That's where Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual comes in: packed with tips, tricks, and lots of practical advice, this visually rich four-color guidebook teaches you everything you need to know to edit photos and create beautiful documents in Photoshop.

Whether you're an absolute beginner or a power user ready to try some advanced techniques, author and graphics pro Lesa Snider King offers crystal-clear, jargon-free instructions to help you take advantage of these powerful tools--not only how they work, but when you should use them. You'll quickly get up to speed on new CS4 features such as:

• Photoshop's completely revamped workspace
• Smoother image display and quick zoom, including the new pixel grid view
• New Masks and Adjustments panels
• The Vibrance adjustment layer
• Hand-painting adjustments and using graduated filters in Camera Raw
• Enhanced Adobe Bridge

And much more. You'll also find out which features work well, and which aren't worth your time. Written with the clarity, humor, and objective scrutiny that are hallmarks of the Missing Manual series, Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual is the friendly, thorough resource you need. Why settle for anything less?

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Product Details

• Paperback: 796 pages
• Publisher: Pogue Press (January 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596522967
• ISBN-13: 978-0596522964
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,880 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #19 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Digital Photography & Video > Adobe Photoshop
  #30 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Reference
  #37 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Graphics & Multimedia

• This item is part of The O'Reilly Missing Manuals Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent New Photoshop Book, January 21, 2009

By	C. Brown (Arizona) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Adobe Photoshop is one of the most complicated and powerful computer graphics programs available for general consumer use. Because of the growing popularity of digital photography, photographers of all skill levels are plunking down up to $700 for the program so that they too can "Photoshop" their images, however, many of these buyers will find the their initial attempt to use the program frustrating and the results of their efforts less than they expected. As a result of the complexity of the program a veritable industry consisting of Photoshop associations, conferences, instructional videos, podcasts and books has developed over the years. Lesa Snider King's new book, Photoshop CS4 The Missing Manual is a very worthy addition to this collection.

As is the case with all the Missing Manuals, this book takes the reader through a well structured, in-depth inspection of the program's capabilities. The author has provided some excellent examples that allow the reader to read through the book as a tutorial or simply to refer to it as a reference text. I've used Photoshop from the first CS version to the latest CS4 and have a number of books on the subject yet I was able to pick up a number of very useful tips in the first 250 pages by working along with the examples in the book. In addition, the author has sprinkled some general graphic tips throughout the book that are very useful to those without a background in design.

I think that this book is an excellent resource for Photoshop users of all levels. For the beginner it will provide an excellent tutorial, while the more advanced user will find it a useful reference. It has found a permanent place next to my computer.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SMILE!! YOU'RE ON PHOTOSHOP!!, January 22, 2009

By	John R. Vacca "Tech Write Independent Reviewer" (Pomeroy, Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Are you relatively new to digital-image editing? If you are, then this book is for you. Author Lesa Snider King, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that is intended to make learning Photoshop CS4 tolerable and even enjoyable by avoiding technical jargon as much as possible and explaining why and when you'll want to use certain features in the program.

King, begins by giving you the lay of the land and shows you how to work with panels and make Photoshop workspace your own. Then, the author covers how to open and view your documents efficiently, and how to set up new documents so you have a solid foundation on which to build your masterpieces. Next, she dives into the most powerful feature in all of Photoshop: layers. The author also explains how to select part of an image, so you can edit just that area. She continues by diving head first into the science of color as you explore channels and learn how to use channels to create selections. Then, the author explains a variety of ways you can crop images, both in Photoshop and in Camera Raw. Next, she shows you how to combine your images in a variety of ways, from simple techniques to more complex ones. The author continues by covering draining, changing, and adding color, arming you with several techniques for creating gorgeous black-and-white images, delicious duotones, partial-color effects, and more. She also focuses on the color-correcting images, beginning with auto fixer-uppers, moving on to the wonderfully simple world of Camera Raw, and then into the more complicated realm of Levels and Curves Adjustment layers. Then, the author covers how to retouch people; as well as, practical techniques how to slim, trim and beautify the faces and bodies that grace your pictures. Next, she covers all kinds of ways to sharpen images in order to make them look especially crisp. The author also explains the many ways of choosing colors for your documents, and shows you how to create a paining from scratch. She continues by focusing on using the mighty Pen tool to create complex illustrations and selections; as well as, how to use Photoshop's Shape tools. Then the author shows you the basics of typography and then moves on to how to create and format text in Photoshop. Next, she covers the wide world of filters. Next, the author shows you how to print your images. Finally. the author focuses on how to prepare images for the Web, and walks you through the various file formats you can use , how to protect your images online, and how to use Adobe Bridge to create Web galleries.

This most excellent book is all about working smarter and faster. In other words, the most important thing to remember about this best-selling book is to be patient and try not to get frustrated.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Reference For New Photoshoppers, March 4, 2009

By	Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

'Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual' is a 750+ page book that will show you ALL the ins and outs of using Photoshop CS4. Tailored towards the newbie Photoshop user, the content here is anything but newbie! With 19 chapters of content and in FULL FULL FULL color, this is a great learning tool to getting through all the ABCs of Photoshop!

McKinnon Overview

01. The Basics
02. Opening, Viewing, Saving Files
03. Layers
04. Selections
05. Channels
06. Cropping, Resizing, Rotating
07. Joining Images
08. Draining, Changing, Adding Color
09. Correcting Color and Lighting
10. Photoshopping People
11. Sharpening Images
12. Painting in Photshop
13. Drawing with Vector tools
14. Creating Artistic Text
15. Filters
16. Photoshop and Print
17. Photoshop and the Web
18. Actions
19. Plug-Ins

This is an easy book to put a stamp of approval on and it's another gem in the Missing Manual line of books, one of the greatest technical publishing lines out there today!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED