ph o to s h o p tips tricksmna.org/assets/photoshop-tips-and-tricks.pdf · for everyday use....

PH OTO S H O PTips

a n dTricksBy Ka rl Ku n t z ,Ma n a ging Ed i to r, The Col u m bus Di s pa tch© 2004

Karl Kuntz • Photoshop - Tips & Tricks 2

Interface Settings

To Access the Navigator feature:Window>Nav igat or.

All of the Tool Options are now located in a stripacross the top of the desktop. It can be moved tothe bottom of the desktop if needed by grabbingthe gray strip on the right side of the strip.

Click on the tab of the palette that you wish to activate. This will keep your desktop from being clutteredwith tool option palettes.

The most used ToolOptions can be placedin the palette well bydragging on the titletab and dragging thebox into the well.

% of current ZoomHighlight & type the desired %in either the Navigator Window

or the Document WindowZoom

INZoomOUT

Interactive SliderZoom Control

Moveable areaof detail box

Navigator

Tool Options

Double click onthe palette tabto collapse orenlarge thepalette box.

Combinepalettes drag bythe tab intoanother palettebox.


Viewing Wi n d o w

Scratch:Shows the amount ofdisk space used.

Document Profile:Shows the currentimage profile.

Document Size:Shows the size of thecurrent image.

Efficiency:% of the image able toprocess in RAM.

Timing:Time used to processthe last operation.

Current Tool:Active tool selected inthe Tool Box.

Image Details

Details about the current Photoshop image can beaccessed by touching the arrow under the image.

The default is the current document size.

Hold the SHIFT key and click the DocumentInformation area and the print preview is displayed.The preview shows the size of the image on the current paper size selected.

Hold the OPTION key and click the DocumentInformation area and the Document Details windowis displayed. It includes the size, type and resolutionof the image.


Adjusting Images

Window>Show Info.

Always use the densitometer when working with animage. This feedback is essential to enhancing a pic-ture for maximum printing reproduction.

Red/Green/BluePixel Values0-2550=Black255=White

Used to check thedensity of layers andtransparent images.0% - 100%

GrayScale & CMYK Separation Values

Actual Color (RGB)

Lab Color

HSB

Total Ink

L = L i g h t n e s s0 - 1 0 0a=Red to Gre e n127to -128b = Yellow to Blue127to -128

The total amount ofink specified in theSeparation Setup inColor Settings

0% = WhiteMax = total % of allink colors

H=HueS=SaturationB=Brightness

Palette Options for Show Info can be accessed byclicking the triangle on the side of the box.

There are the nine different color outputreadings in Photoshop.

DensitometerCMYK is basedon the Preferencesdefined in ColorSeparation &Printing Inks 0% - 100%

Opacity


Adjusting Images

Shadow

Highlight

Midtone

Three-Quarter

Tones

QuarterTones Picks an automatic White

Point & Black Point using theHistogram as its basis.

Saves a reproduction curvefor everyday use.

Interactive View

This circle shows a specificsample point of the image.As the eyedropper is placedin the image and the mouse

clicked, these points willappear, telling you where to

adjust the image.Command-Click on the pic-ture to add sample points.

Double Clicking on any ofthe eye droppers will allowyou to interactively set the

White / Neutral / Blackpoints.

Allows users tospecify a smoothcurve or draw anarbitrary curve.

This scale can be changed by clicking the arrows in the middle to change from

percent values 0% to 100% to pixel values(RGB 0-255) 0=Black 255=White

0% 50% 100%

Loads a saved curve forreproduction use.

White PointBlack Point

Neutral Point (Gray)

ShowsInput vs.

Output atthis

specificpoint.

Note: Points can be added tothe graph to constrain thecurve. A Command Click

will add a point to the curve .A point can be removed

by dragging it offthe curve.

Curves


Adjusting Images

Multiple channels (whole image) or single separation channel to be adjusted

Darker

Lighter

The Curve displayed shows the grid in 10% increments.To toggle the grid between 10% and 25% increments, hold

down the OPTION key and click inside the grid.

A standardblack and white

outputreproductioncurve would

probably read:

RC Paper:

5% Highlight35% Midtone

82% Black

For Film:

2% Highlight40% Midtone90% Shadow

Curve that adds ContrastThis curve adds contrast but may be too dark inthe midtones (50% range).

Curve that adds Contrast and lightens MidtonesThis curve adds contrast and keeps the the dynamicrange of the picture making a more pleasing picturewith better reproduction qualities.

Note: Pulling thehighlight or

shadow end pointon the curve willincrease contrastof the image but

shorten thedynamic range ofthe picture. This

will cause a picture to lose

detail and reproduce poorly.

Substitute a “S”style curve in allto increase con -

trast but maintainthe dynamic

range.


Gray Balance Using Levels

The finished pictures havem ore tone and a bet ter co l orb a l a n ce than the ori gi n a l . T h eL evels should be ch ecked andn orm a l i zed on ea ch digital pic-t u re .

This tech n i que speeds up the p rocessing of d i gital image s .

Most users forget to adjustthe midtones (gray triangle)when working with the imagein Levels.

LevelsLevels can be very useful to deter-mine the dynamic range of your picture. The histogram map showsthe distribution of the pixels in the photograph.

If the Input Levels histogram is shortin either the white or black end, thetriangles can be moved to the areawhere the picture detail starts. (wherethe curve stops or spikes) This wil lredistribute the tones in the picture.

To correct the image pull the white triangle until it meets the start of the pixels in the image. By making thechange in separate channels the gray balance in the picture is maintained.

This histogramshows the

lack of light pixels in the

image.

The corrected imagehistogram is shown onthe right. The whitespikes show the loss ofpixel detail in theimage.

Remember: Levels usepixel values from0 = bl ack to 255 = white.

Before

After

Corrected RGBHistogram

The eye-dropper

tools workthe same asin Curves


Cleaning a White PointGOAL:

Pick a new white point in the image without losingdetail in the highlights.

This method allows you to clean the contaminatedcolor from the image without losing any detail inthe image.

Start by selecting Images> Adjust > CurvesDouble click on the white eyedropper.

The color picker will appear.

After the Color Picker appears, use the color sam-ple tool and sample the color you want to clean inthe image.

Study the values in the LAB color space.

Lab color is all the color that your eye can see.

L refers to the Luminance (detail) in the image.

A refers to the red/green component of the picture.

B refers to the yellow/blue component of the picture.

To clean the color in the white area of the picture,zero out the values in the A & B channels. (Noticethe balanced values in the RGB.

Do not change the Luminance channel. The L channel controls all the detail in the image.

Select OK.

To execute the cleaning function, choose a whitepoint in the image. It is best to pick the same pointas the one sampled when the Color Picker wasactive.The color is now clean and the picture still holdsdetails in the Highlights.

The info box shows thecleaned white point isnow a neutral and stillholding detail. A regu-lar white point choicewould have lost all thedetail.


C ropping an Image

Standard CropTo Crop: Draw the box, put the arrow in the box anddouble click the mouse when the image is framed forcropping.

Moving the Crop BoxClick and drag inside the crop to move the cropoutline around the picture.

Enlarging the Crop BoxClick and drag on one of the crop handles toenlarge the crop.

Constraining the Crop BoxConstraining the crop is possible by double clickingon the crop tool and entering one or both of thedimensions of the crop.

Constraining Part 2Hold the Shift key to constrain the proportions ofthe crop. This only works if one of the crop mea-surements (width of height) is left blank.

ResolutionIt is important to enter a resolution in the resolu-tion box to keep the picture from resampling.

Cancelling the CropCancel the crop by hitting the escape key on thekeyboard.

Other OptionsChange the point of rotation by moving the centerpoint in the crop box.

Sticky EdgesHold the CONTROL key to keep the crop from“jumping” to the picture’s edge.

Drawing from the CenterHold the OPTION key to draw the crop from thecenter instead of the beginning point.

Rotating the Crop BoxTo Rotate: Place the cursor outside the crop frame.The cursor will appear as a rotated arrow. Rotateuntil pleasing.The center of rotation can also be changed. It canbe moved outside of the image.

CropThe Crop settings allow you to “mask” the crop area.The perspective function has little use in the newsindustry. It is impossible in Photoshop 6 to setupup the preferences to use different crop measure-ment units for the width and height. You can achievethis manually by using the following abbreviations:in = inches / px = pixels / picas = picas.


Dodge, Burn, & SaturationTi p s

√ On co l or images use the Dod ge / Bu rn tech n i que in Lab mode .Areas wi ll ligh ten or darken wi t h o ut ch a n ging the co l or balance .Rem em ber to ch a n ge your image back to RGB wh en finished . √Use a soft ed ge brush to Dod ge / Bu rn . You wi ll get bet ter, m orep l easing re su l t s .

√ Build custom brushes (and save them) to help with probl ema reas of the image .

√ An expo su re of 40% or less, (I prefer 20%), is the best way tocon trol the inten s i ty of the Bu rn / D od ge . The high er the percen t-a ge the harder it is to maintain an “even”l oo k .

√ Use the Dod ge / Bu rn functi on only on areas that are very small .On large area s , use other tech n i ques that all ow more con trol su chas Gra d a ti on Bu rn / D od ge ,s el ec ti ons and the Ma gic Wa n d .

√ Be su re to sel ect tone va lue of the image area that you areBu rning or Dod gi n g .The three sel ec ti ons are :Hi gh l i gh t : Try this on high l i ghts on dark skin ton eMi d ton e s : Most ef fec tive in this area .Sh a dow:

√ Use the Dod ge / Bu rn functi on in a sweeping moti on with themouse but ton dep re s s ed . If you do mu l tiple cl i cks while dod g-i n g / bu rn i n g , you wi ll lose the opport u n i ty to use the Edit > Un dofea t u re (CO M M A N D-Z) to flash a before/ after on the screen .

√ Satura ti on rem oves the gray from the image and stren g t h en sand intensifies the co l or. D e s a t u ra ti on rem oves the co l or andrep l a ces it with gray.

√ Use the “ Mu l tiple Wi n dow ” tech n i que to work on fine det a i la reas in an extreme close-up fashion while displaying the samei m a ge in a sep a ra te wi n dow in the full display mode . This wi lld i s p l ay the ch a n ges and how they wi ll look in the full image in ani n teract functi on .

Keyboard Numerical Hot Keys are enabled.1=10%,2=20%,3=30%,4+40%,5=50%,6=60%,7=70%,8=80%,9=90%,0=100%. Punch 2 number keys in rapid succession for exam-ple,4,5 to get 45%.

N O T E : If you are using the Sh ow Brushes Pa l et te and the large s tbrush size that can be ren dered is 16 pixel s , the Direct Cu rs orsE x ten s i on is not active . To activa te place the exten s i on in theP lug-in Fo l der and re s el ect the Plug-ins from the Preferen ce sMenu .

It is easy to build your own custom brushes by do u ble cl i cking ona bru s h . The dialog box shown bel ow wi ll appea r. Cl i ck OKwh en you have com p l eted your brush ed i ti n g . It is saved to theSh ow Brushes palet te . In Ph o to s h op 6.0 it is easy to ch a n ge thes i ze of the bru s h . Use the St a rt Bra cket to make the brush small erand the End Bra cket to en l a rge the bru s h .

Using Double Wi n dows can make the Dod ging / Bu rning ora ny fine detail pixel ed i ting functi on mu ch ea s i er to use. As yo um a ke ch a n ges on the large picture , t h ey are ref l ec ted in thes m a ll wi n dow.

Vi ew> New Vi ew.

Brushes

You can ch a n ge the shape of the brush by ro t a ting the arrowand moving the bl a ck dots to the cen ter inters ec ti on or typ i n gin the set ti n gs in the An gle or Roundness boxe s . You can alsogive your brushes an unique name.


Action Palette

Make a set of Actionsthat detail how youwork with images. Thiswill enable you toprocess an image usingonly the mouse, savingkeystrokes and access tothe menu items.

Ac ti ons can be saved for ea ch user in a mu l tiple users site . Ph o to s h op can saveAc ti on sets (for Sep a ra ti on s ,D e s i gn and Pa i n ting) that can be loa ded as needed .

An unlimited amount of Actions can be saved but only 30 can beassigned Function Keys(F1 through F15 & Shift F1 through Shift F15).

BE CAREFUL!! There is only one UNDO in Photoshop.

In Actions, the UNDO will not undo the whole sequence only thelast function. Any changes can be made using the History Palette.

SAVE A COPY when working with important files.

If QuicKeys or other commercial macro makers are used to automatePhotoshop a conflict may develop when using Photoshop’s Actions feature.

Stop Record

Turn Command ON / OFF

Turn Breakpoint ON / OFF

Record

Play

New Action

Trash Action

Actions


Gradation Burning/Dodging • Version 4.0 - 8.0#1: Select All (Command > A) or (Edit >Select All)

#2: Double click on theMask Tool Icon.

▼#3 Make sure the“Selected Areas is checked in the Option Box.Hit “OK”and an Untitled Mask will appear.

#4 Select the Gradient Tool and draw a linefrom the edge of the picture to approxi-mately the spot you would like to Burn /Dodge.

A Mask will appear showing the area to beenhanced. This area can be strengthenedusing the -Image > Adjust > Curves method

(Command > M).

#5 Choose the SelectionIcon and the Mask will nowbecome an active selectionready to be enhanced. Toincrease the soft area of cov-erage increase the featherradius. (Approx. 25 pixels)The picture can now beadjusted in a feathered man-ner like burning/dodgingedges in a traditional dark-room.


Multiple Gradation Burning/Dodging • Version 4.0 - 8.0

Follow the Commands on the following page tomake a gradation mask.

First Gradation Area:•Select All (Command > A) or (Edit > Select All)

•Double click on the Mask Tool Icon.

•Make sure the “Selected Areas is checked in theOption Box. Hit “OK”and an Untitled Mask willappear.

•Select the Gradient Tool and draw a line from theedge of the picture to approximately the spot youwould like to Burn / Dodge. Make sure the GradientDialog box is set to Foreground to Background.

•A Mask will appear showing the area to beenhanced. This area can be strengthened using the -Image > Adjust > Curves method (Command > M).

Next Gradation Area:

Ch oose Foreground to Tra n s p a rent from the Gra d i en tTool dialog box . This is the on l yw ay to d rawmu l ti p l em a s k s for a p i c t u re .

Using the Gradient Tool draw a second mask.A second mask will appear. As many masks as needed can be created using this method.

To make the mask a selectionclick the Selection Tool (next tothe Quick Mask Tool).

The selection is now ready to be enhanced. Toincrease the soft area of coverage increase the feath-er radius. (Approx. 25 pixels) The picture can nowbe adjusted in a feathered manner likeburning/dodging edges in a traditional darkroom.

The best method to lighten / darken the image is touse: Image> Adjust > Curves (Command > M) andwork in the midtone range.


Digital Images

Image Size Ti p s :√ On digital images make sure that the resolutionis changed from 72 DPI to the operating resolutionof 200dpi.

√ Keep the proportions box checked to make surethe picture is not distorted when processed.

√ Uncheck the File Size box to change the File Sizein an inverse proportion to the resolution.

Tips for reducing grain:

√ Work on the Blue Channel.

√ Try blurring the Blue channel using GaussianBlur.

√ Use Unsharp Mask on the Red & Green Channelafter blurring the Blue channel using GaussianBlur.

√ Try Dust and Scratches (Filters: Noise/Dust &Scratches. Experiment with setting in the dialogbox. A default threshold of 5 seems to work well.

√ Enlarge the picture using the two windowmethod. Pick a green pixel and change it to black.Adjust the midtone to a pleasing reproductionvalue and color correct as needed.

√ Most digital images have a very high Cyan valuethat corrupts the other colors. Use Selective Colorto correct the image.

√ When the Blue Channel is very, very grainy, thelast resort is to use Filter: Noise/Despeckle on thechannel.

√ When the image is really grainy, change the picture to Lab mode. Blur the a & b channels usingthe method described above. If the L channel isnot that grainy then it can be sharpened usingUnsharp Mask.

Other Digital Ti p s :

√ Despeckle the overall image and then sharpen theimage using Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask

√ Use the Densitometer to check all the images(especially the shadow areas). Adjust accordingly.

√ Test various lighting conditions to gain experi-ence with the digital camera. Be sure to test thecamera under the same conditions you expect touse it to gain needed experience how the camerareacts to different situations.

Shooting & Correcting Digital:

√ The original transmitted images still tend to beflat. Looking at a blow up of the shadow portion ofthe image with a densitometer, the maximum blackis 89%. Using Photoshop the - Image > Adjust>Curves - Menu, a new black point is picked toextend the range and contrast of the image.

The Blue Channel has most of thegrain. When the separation ismade to CMYK, the grain becomesvisible in the Yellow Channel.

Grain & Such

√ Special way to shoot pictures: Try to use a softindirect lighting when using a flash. Several attach-ments are available to add to your flash to accom-plish this.

√ More punch, more range and better color areachieved after the image is adjusted. Black andwhite images are also very acceptable using thistechnique. This is accomplished by - Mode >Grayscale, and the midtones are adjusted for presssituations.

√ Try to balance the scene for one light source.Multiple light sources are very hard to image.


Using Double Windows & Selective Channel Corre c t i o n

Active colorchannel displayed

for correction

This technique allows you towork on an extreme closeup of apicture and have the same pictureopen on the desktop to view thechanges.

Window >Arrange >New Windowand a se co nd image wil lappear. Or O p en (Same FileName) and Photoshop will tellyou the file is already open andask if you would like to open itagain.

This is very helpful for airbrush-ing, dodging/burning, color cor-recting and most other enhance-ments that require fine detailedchanges that can effect the overallimage quality.

Double Windows

Channel Color Correction

Density changesbefore/after

will bedisplayed

Effects of the colorcorrection are

displayed on thefull color window

as they are applied.

IMPORTANT!Use LAB colorand select theL channel t o

lighten ordarken your overall your

image withoutchanging thecolor balance.


C o l o r C o r rection Using Selective Color

Sel ec tive Co l or was a newfea t u re in Ph o to s h op 3.0.

It all ows images to be cor-rec ted just as they would ona high -end co l or scanner.

The basic rep rodu c ti on co l-ors , Cy a n , Ma gen t a , Yell ow,and Bl a ck and their mix-t u re s , Red , Green , and Blu eas well as the Wh i te s ,Neutra l s , and Bl a ck can bea d ju s ted .

For pictures with any co l orb a l a n ce probl em , Sel ec tiveCo l or is the tool to use.

An a l y ze the picture to deter-mine what correc ti on isn eeded . The den s i tom eter ish el pful wh en using this tech-n i qu e . Ch oose the co l or tobe correc ted and adjust it toyour spec i f i c a ti on s .

The Rel a tive set ting is a verys m a ll amount of correc ti onwh erea s , Ab s o lute is a veryl a rge correc ti on .

Most pictures can be correc t-ed very easily using thisf u n c ti on .

D on’t forget to try theWh i te s , Neutra l s , and Bl a ck s .I have found that these sel ec-ti ons make image correc ti onthe qu i cke s t .

Pi ck the co l or you would like to correct and ad just thes l i ders for a previ ew of the correcti on .

Use the Wh i te s ,Neutra l s , and Bl a cks toco l or correct mosti m a ges very qu i ck l y.

Con trol the stren g t hwith these set ti n gs .Rel a tive is half a ss trong as Ab s o lute .

Karl Kuntz

Selective Color doesn't have a Hot Key. You can make a hot key for any Photoshop feature including Selective Color. Edit>Keyboard Shortcuts allows you to change any combination of keys.


C o l o r C o r re c t i o n

Hue/SaturationTips:

Taking the green castout a color picture.

Select the green hue.Take the cursor into thepicture and it willbecome an eyedropper.Pick the color you wouldlike to use as a sampleswatch in the Hue /Saturation color box.

Leave the Hue slideralone.

Decrease the Saturation.Increase the Lightness.The green cast will nowdisappear and bereplaced with a neutralcolor.

Note: This image cor-rection technique willwork with other imageswith color balance prob-lems. For example, tooRed, too Blue etc. Itworks best with imagesthat have color balanceproblems involving amixture of two colors.

Use the plus (+) and (-)minus eyedropper toselect the proper color tocorrect.

Try adjusting theSaturation andLightness to oppositevalues:

Saturation -20Lightness -20

Color Ramp toshow color spaceto be corrected

Pick the color tobe corrected

Choose the color tobe corrected.

Click on the plus (+)eyedropper.

Click on an area of theimage to correct

Expanded range afterthe color sample

The co l or ramp shows the co l or to be ad ju s ted.The dark gray is the main co l ors el ected to be corrected and the light gray is the tra n s i ti on co l or.

The ramp shows the expanded co l or ra n ge after the sample. The ra n ge nowi n clu des Yell ow and the expanded Red and Green are a s .

The co l or set ti n gs now correct more of the unw a n ted co l or than the reg u l a rYell ow set ti n g . Most of the time Satura ti on / Desatura ti on and Li gh tness wi ll cor-

rect the image . The Hue is sel dom used to correct the co l or.

Karl Kuntz

Use the eyedropper to refine the color to be used. You can also expand the color range by dragging the triangle color ramps.


C o l o r C o r rection / CMYK

St a rt with a New Wi n dow to show the ch a n ges as they occ u r.

Open Sh ow Ch a n n el s :Wi n dow >Pa l et tes >Sh owCh a n n el s

Open a New Wi n dow:Wi n dow >New Wi n dow

E n l a rge / Redu ce the Wi n dowsso one is large and the otheris small . Ma ke the small on ethe active wi n dow.

Sel ect the Ch a n n els that yo uwould like to work wi t h . Inthe example the Cy a n(CO M M A N D 1) and Yell ow(CO M M A N D 3) are sel ec ted .Shift Cl i ck to sel ect them .

This wi ll all ow theseCh a n n els to become active .Only these two Ch a n n els wi llbe shown in the smallWi n dow. The large wi n dowwi ll show the ch a n ge in fullco l or.

Using Cu rve s( Command > M) adjust thegreen cast out of the image .No ti ce that Cu rves wi ll on l yd i s p l ay the active Ch a n n el s .

As the image is correc ted itwi ll be displayed in the largewi n dow.

Two Ch a n n els can be adju s ted simu l t a n eously while vi ewing the ch a n ges on the ori gi n a l .

Calibration SuggestionsMa ke a Ca l i bra ti on Fo l der and store all the calibra ti on set-ti n gs for Ph o to s h op in this area .

O n ce the com p uter screens have been calibra ted don’t adju s tthe bri gh tness and con trast of the com p uter.

Ma ke a hood out of Bl a ck Foa m core or bl a ck card boa rd tos h i eld the mon i tor from extra n eous light that can con t a m i-n a te your screen display.

If using flu ore s cen ce ligh t s , rep l a ce them with co l or correc ted ,d ayl i ght balance tube s . The walls around the scanning areashould be painted in a neutral co l or. A light gray works be s t .

Mark the KeyboardMa rk the keyboa rd with a Plus (+) on the Shift key to rem i n dthe opera tor that holding Shift down while using anySel ec ti on Tool wi ll “a d d ” to the sel ec ti on .

Ma rk the Keyboa rd with a Mi nus (-) on the Opti on key toremind the opera tor that holding the Opti on while using anySel ec ti on Tool wi ll “Su btra c t” f rom the sel ec ti on .

Tear Apart Menus

Ph o to s h op uses Tea r- a p a rt menu s . The dialog boxes can becom b i n ed or torn apart as need for imaging work . No te ,Ph o to s h op rem em bers the last po s i ti on of a ny dialog box andwi ll call it up in the same place the next time it is used .


Photoshop Operating Ti p s

Holding the Option Down andtouching the Cancel Button willreset the curve to the starting posi-tion. This allows you to start overwithoutcanceling.

Hold Option Down and touching thegraph will display the graph in 10% incre-ments instead of 25 % increments. T h i sa ll ows you to start over wi t h o ut con cealing thef u n c ti on and starting over.

Do Not use Brightness / Contrast when working with images. It compresses the tonesof the pictures and causes poor reproduction of theimage. All enhancement needs to be done using theCurves function.

Fi l ter Fa de Opti onIn the past if a filter action was too strong theonly choice was to undo the filter action and fil-ter the image again. The new Filter Fade allowsthe user to “fade” the effect of the filter on theimage by entering a percent of fade effect. Thisfeature is very cool. It saves time and allows auser to get exactly the amount of filter actionneeded for the image.


Photoshop Operating Ti p sC reating a Test Strip1. File New

E n ter the Si ze of the test file 2 X 10 inches is a very goods t a rt .

Ma ke su re the type isgrays c a l e .

2. Reset Photoshop’sdefault colors.

Bl a ck must be 100%Wh i te must be 0%

3. Gradient To o l

Use the Gra d i ent Tool tod raw a smooth linear gra d a-ti on the length of the 2 X 10i n . box .

4. Posterize

Im a ge >Map > Po s teri ze :Po s teri ze the image using 21Steps to ach i eve 5% step sf rom 0% to 100%.

Ma ke su re the Previ ew but ton is ch ecked .

5. Type To o l

Use the Type Tool to placethe % va lues in the correc tbox . Use the den s i tom eter toch eck the acc u racy of t h es c a l e .

At the 20% mark ch a n ge thetext co l or to wh i te by ch a n g-ing the default foreground -b a ck ground co l ors .

6. Save it!

7. Highlight the file anduse Command I.

L ock the file so it won’t belost or ch a n ged wh en savi n gthe file to test outp ut curve s .

Test FilesCrea te a test grid and use it to calibra te your sys tem . This canbe a 3-co l or or bl a ck & wh i te file with va lues from 0% to100% that can be converted to CMYK or Grayscale for te s ti n gp u rpo s e s .

It is important wh en crea ting a file like this to inclu de theva lue nu m ber next to the box . This makes the ch a rt ea s i er toa n a l y ze .

Use a den s i tom eter to read the re sults and adjust accord i n gl y.Use the Sh ow In fo Box in Ph o to s h op to analyze the on screenre sults vs outp ut and make adju s tm ent accord i n gl y.

This test (or a similar one) should be sent to the outp utdevi ces on a daily basis to ch eck qu a l i ty.

C o o rd i n a t e sWh en using the Sh ow In fo Box , with Mouse Coord i n a te sen a bl ed , the Sh ow In fo Box wi ll show you the finished crops i ze wh en one dimen s i on is picked .

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