Play with a Full Deck

Just a quick note to let you know...

The full deck of Photoshop Tip Cards in now complete!

Now, you too can become an instant Photoshop wiz!

Now, with your own set of Photoshop Tip Cards, you can plow through a pile of pre-printing processes in no time too!

Finally!

There is a simple, low-tech way to get help for the popular Adobe Photoshop editor.

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Wasting hours with distracting searches on the internet, flipping between screens looking for help as you're trying to work!

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The time wasting trial and error attempts to remember how to do all the complicated adjustments!

ROLL!
Your creative powers into making eye-catching digital images FAST!

Your house will be on FIRE!
With productivity and imagination.

52 easy to use index cards show in simple terms exactly how to do all the most popular Photoshop edits, tricks and "secret" shortcuts. And thanks to input from our members, printing costs have been substantially reduced. You're going to love (and be amazed at) the price!

Start playing with a full deck!
Get more details or order yours today at:

http://photoshoptipcards.com

Christie said it best...
"I love, love, love your tip cards!"
PhotographybyChristie.net

Yes...they were designed by me for YOU!
Made right here in Buffalo, NY USA!

"Like a Photoshop seminar in every box"
(Only I saved you the high-priced fees and took all the notes for you!)

2 Popular Blend Modes

Here's a little behind the scenes look at 2 popular blend modes and how they work.

But before I begin, I received so many nice comments on the previous stained glass photo in "Dead Colors Come Alive" I thought I would post another of my favorites here today. Again, this rare bit of secular stained glass was found in Forest Lawn Cemetery. It is on the list of national historic places - President McKinley was buried here. Aside from being the eternal resting place of many famous Americans of the 1800's, it also houses some of the most beautiful outdoor artworks in the city. I hope you'll enjoy today's selected photo! A sunrise full of hope.

And as an additional note for those who might be straining to look for some connection between the tips being offered in this blog and the photos beside each piece, there is none. Except to say that all of the photos have been put through a Photoshop enhancement of one kind or another...and probably many.

That said, let's talk about two popular blend modes, how they work, and what they can do to make your photos more appealing.

First up is MULTIPLY.

You will find that Photoshop's default blend mode is NORMAL. If you change the blend mode to MULTIPLY, Photoshop will take out the light (white) pixels and multiply the dark ones. If you have a photo that is dominated by too much lightness, maybe outdoors on a sunny day, or a bit too heavy on the flash, a quick way to darken it up is to change the blend mode to MULTIPLY. Be sure to use the opacity slider to fine tune it because in most cases just switching blend modes here will make your photo too dark. Decrease the opacity for a better effect.

Next up is SCREEN.

The SCREEN mode is basically the opposite if MULTIPLY. In screen mode Photoshop takes out the dark pixels. When you change from NORMAL to SCREEN you will see your photo appear washed out, too light. Again, adjust the opacity to gain a more favorable effect. If you find your prints always come out too dark, despite looking great on your monitor, SCREEN is a great way to lighten your photos after you have made all other adjustments in Photoshop and are ready to print. (click for more details on using screen to correct dark prints)

These two blend modes can be great time savers when you know how they work. And now you do! So whenever you want nice control over your lights and darks get out your own Photoshop and experiment with blend modes...and their opacity slider.

Be sure to check back on Sunday. This week I'll begin "SHORTCUT SUNDAYS".

Each Sunday will now be dedicated to showing you the hidden keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop. Great tips to shorten your time on the computer so you can spend more time behind the camera.

Notes on History

At some point in our lives, we all wish we could go back in time and do things just a bit differently.

We'd like a do-over.

Well, as photographers we know we can stop time with our cameras, right? So, is it really a stretch to think we can use our great software, Photoshop, to actually go back in time?

In reality, the creators of Photoshop, in their infinite wisdom (how they actually created such a thing in the first place boggles my mind!) realized that occasionally, we might make a mistake, an errant keystroke perhaps. When this occurred we might be frustrated if we couldn't go back and "undo".

And so they gave us the power to go back in time. The almighty "UNDO". In fact, they not only gave us one UNDO, but through use of a built-in memory system called HISTORY, they let us have several whacks at UNDOing"

Alas, though they were generous to a (de) fault, sometimes we find that we just can't go back far enough, right?

But perhaps you have been imprisoned by your own thoughts?

You CAN change "HISTORY"!

You can change it from it's default of "20" to a much more reasonable number for us mortals, like between 50 and 100. (However, don't get carried away with your new-found power. If you get crazy and decide to set the history to 999, you'll pay the ultimate price. Photoshop will eat your every last gigabyte of memory trying to keep track of what you are doing. Ultimately, your system will slow to a snails pace. Just remember, the higher default you set, the more memory is consumed.)

So here's the simple HISTORY tip that will save you many hours of frustration and deleted layers:

Go to EDIT - PREFERENCES -PERFORMANCE
("PERFORMANCE" might be "GENERAL" on versions 7 and earlier)
Look for HISTORY STATES. Change the number from 20 to anywhere, say 50 -100, and click, "OK".

You're done!

It's a really simple tip but one that's often overlooked.
Doing this can really make your time with Photoshop a much more pleasureable experience.