T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R L I G H T R O O M ® & P H O T O S H O P ® U S E R S     A P R I L 2 0 2 2

Under the We explore options for creating prints

when the cloud-based Lightroom app
Photoshop Crop overlays don’t offer a lot of flexibility, so
learn how to build your own golden spiral that
Loupe is the home base for your photo library Proving Ground can be transformed to your heart’s content

Cover Image by Hafitha Issa  |  Cameras for Girls

NO FOOLIN’
Removing distractions in your images
will have your viewers focused on
the things that really matter
 recipe FROM DON KOMARECHKA
“ THE MA D S C IEN TIST OF P H OTOG RAP H Y”

CLICK

Water droplet refraction photography is all about careful lighting and careful alignment.
Every element of the photograph is like a puzzle piece that needs to fit perfectly in exactly
the right place for the image to be made whole. Gooseneck arms can hold anything -
Lumecube lights for illumination and clamps to hold the photographic “ingredients” in place.
The flower in the background needs to be in alignment with the droplets and the foreground
petals, which can be easily done with subtle and accurate shifts.

This macro contraption is flexible and customizable, and any camera with
macro capabilities can get a similar shot. While I generally shoot with fancy
mirrorless cameras and expensive lenses, this image was also intended
to prove a point: the camera is the least important element to the
composition. If you can check off the “macro” box, energy should be
focused on the other elements of the image and how to best sculpt it;
you’re a droplet sculptor first, and a photographer second. So many of
the skills required to get these images to work have little to do with
the camera itself, and more to do with how you stage everything.
Platypod is there to make this entire process easier.
 ingredients:
• Don Komarechka and
his Smart Phone
• 1 Gerbera Daisy and petals
• Water

instruments used:
• 1 Platypod Max
• 1 Platypod Ultra
• 2 Lume Cube 2.0 Waterproof LEDs
• 1 Lume Cube Panel Pro
• 6 Platypod Goosenecks
• 3 Mini Super Clamps
• 1 Benro IN00 Ball Head
• 1 Square Jellyfish Smart Photo Holder

“The Mad Scientist of Macro Photography”

That’s what they call Don Komarechka. Known for his ability to create
art from the simple elements of nature. Tools from the Platypod Ecosystem
help Don get the images he needs to portray his vision. Although the setup
seems complex, it took Don no more than an hour to assemble and capture this
amazing photograph. Platypod simply made the job easier.

Don’t forget to pick up a copy of Don’s new

book: Macro Photography: The Universe at
our Feet. It’s one of the finest and most
complete books on macro photography
that’s ever been written.

For more information and to find the equipment

listed above visit www.Platypod.com
APRIL 2022     VOL 25     NO 4

[024] [034] [038]

DEVELOPING THE SHOT LIGHTROOM LABORATORY UNDER THE LOUPE
All Souls Church: Isolating a Building Five Composition Tricks Printing with Lightroom?

[044] [058] [066]

MAXIMUM WORKFLOW VISUAL STORYTELLING LIGHTROOM Q&A
Boris FX Optics 2022 Rediscovery Through Printing Answers to Your Lightroom Questions

[068] [072] [076]

LIGHTROOM TIPS & TRICKS GOING MOBILE PHOTOSHOP FOR LIGHTROOM USERS
Learn to Work Faster and Smarter in Lightroom Indroducing Creative Cloud Express Creative Sharpening

DEPARTMENTS
[ 007 ]  A NOTE FROM SCOTT

[ 009 ]  CONTRIBUTORS

[ 010 ]  BENEFIT SPOTLIGHT

[ 012 ]  KELBYONE COMMUNITY

[ 022 ]  NEW ONLINE TRAINING

[082]
REMOVE & IMPROVE: CLEAN UP YOUR IMAGE QUALITY
MARK HEAPS
[090] [102] [112]
DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS BEGINNERS’ WORKSHOP
Custom Displacement Effects Create Your Own Metallic Title Text Effect Creating Colored Studio Lighting

[118] [124] [130]

PHOTO EFFECTS PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND DESIGNING IN PHOTOSHOP
Got Questions? Photoshop Has the Answers! Creating Custom Crop Overlays Let’s Do the Type Warp!

mags

[140] [144] [152]

PHOTOSHP Q&A REVIEWS PHOTOSHOP TIPS
Terry White Answers All of Your Photoshop Questions Get the Scoop on the Latest Gear Learn to Work Faster and Smarter in Photoshop

ONLINE CONTENT
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KelbyOne
A NOTE FROM SCOTT

GETTING INTO GEAR

Lots of fun stuff going on right now! We just wrapped
up the KelbyOne Landscape Photography Conference,
and it was a huge success. Thanks to everyone who
spent a few days with us learning all the new stuff
(including lots of postprocessing classes, of course),
and we’re very grateful for the wonderful turnout
and support. If you weren’t able to attend, you can
still sign up for the conference and stream all the
classes on-demand for an entire year. Head over to
KelbyOneLive.com, click the View Conferences link
up top, and then click the Past Conferences tab.
Next up is our first-ever Photography Gear Confer-
ence on May 17–18, 2022, where the entire focus of the
two-day conference is to help you master your camera
gear, lenses, and accessories. For the first time ever,
we have separate tracks for Nikon, Canon, and Sony
shooters and, of course, we have classes on photo gear
that will help all photographers (like classes on flash
and other lighting gear, tripods, etc.). It’s going to be
something really unique and super helpful, so we’d
love you to be there. You can find more info and tickets
at KelbyOneLive.com.
Here in the magazine, we’re sad to announce that
Lightroom expert Victoria Bampton is retiring from the
“Lightroom Q&A” column, and this will be her last issue.
Next issue, we’re delighted to welcome a wonderful
digital artist and KelbyOne instructor Victoria Pavlov,
who will be taking over our “Photoshop Q&A” column.
Terry White, who had previously penned that column,
will be taking over our “Lightroom Q&A” column from
Victoria Bampton. As excited as we are to have one
of Adobe’s own Senior Evangelists taking over the
reins, we’re so grateful to Victoria Bampton for the
wonderful job she has done with the column with her
wisdom, insights, and spot-on answers to the trickiest
of Lightroom questions. She is a star, and we were
honored to have her gracing our pages. Although we’ll
miss her, she’ll be leaving the column in really good
hands. Thank you, Victoria.
In other news, I’m happy to announce that the
faster and easier. You just don’t know how happy that
makes me. Thanks for all the great feedback in the
KelbyOne forums, and a high-five to our web team for
making it all happen.
Before we go, I wanted to point out two courses
that we recently released that I want to make sure you
don’t miss. They’re both from Photoshop wizard Kirk
Nelson (who also writes one of the “Down & Dirty
Tricks” columns here in the magazine), and the first
one is really cool because it focuses on Enhancing
Backgrounds Using Photoshop’s New Neural Filters.
There’s a lot more power and control in these filters than
most people realize, and Kirk uncorks that genie. I think
you’ll be surprised at how much you can do, and what
a difference these filters can make. His other course is
about Shooting and Compositing Your Own Special
Effects. This really takes things up a notch, and it will
open a whole new world of effects that can separate
your work from the crowd. My thanks to Kirk for coming
up with such unique courses for our members, and
I hope you’ll give them a look. You’ll super-dig ’em.
Here’s wishing you a great spring, packed with lots
of creative opportunities! ☺
All my best,
KELBYONE .COM

search improvements to the KelbyOne member’s site

that I wrote about last month have been a hit with our Scott Kelby
members. They’re really seeing the difference, and KelbyOne President & CEO
they’re able to find the courses and info they need Editor & Publisher

 7 
THE MAGA ZINE FOR LIGHTROOM & PHOTOSHOP USER S

EDITORIAL:
Scott Kelby, Editor-in-Chief
Chris Main, Managing Editor
Kim Doty, Associate Editor
Barbara Thompson, Copy Editor

Cover Image: Hafitha Issa/Cameras for Girls

GRAPHICS:
Jessica Maldonado, Art Director
Margie Rosenstein, Senior Graphic Designer
Angela Naymick, Senior Web/Graphic Designer

MARKETING:
Adam Frick
Ashley Fosse Each issue we feature cover art by a KelbyOne Member
Kleber Stephenson This issue’s cover is by Hafitha Issa, a 26-year-old grad-
uate of the Journalism and Communication program from
WEB: Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Hafitha is cur-
Adam Frick rently working as a freelance news anchor at Foundation for
Curt Husting Africa, a news agency in Kampala. She reports on different
issues with a bias on business and politics. Hafitha also
Yojance Rabelo
attended Cameras for Girls in 2018, founded by Amina
Aaron Westgate Mohamed. Amina’s goal is not only to teach girl’s how to
use a camera but to also provide each student with their
PUBLISHING: own camera so they can actually get paid as journalists.
Scott Kelby, Publisher To learn more about Amina and Cameras for Girls, turn
Kalebra Kelby, Executive V.P. to page 17.

Jean A. Kendra, Business Manager

All contents ©COPYRIGHT 2022 KelbyOne, LLC. All rights reserved.
Any use of the contents of this publication without the written permission
ADVERTISING:
of the publisher is strictly prohibited. Photoshop User is an independent
Kleber Stephenson, Vice President of Business
journal, not affiliated in any way with Adobe Systems, Inc. Adobe, the
Development & Enterprise: kleber@kelbyone.com
Adobe logo, Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom, and Photoshop
are registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. in the
HOW TO CONTACT KELBYONE: United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks mentioned
U.S. Mail: 138 Douglas Road East belong to their respective owners. Some of the views expressed by
Oldsmar, FL 34677-2922 contributors may not be the representative views of the publisher.
ISSN 2470-7031 (online)
Voice: 813-433-5000    Fax: 813-433-5015
n

Customer Service: info@kelbyone.com

Letters to the Editor: letters@photoshopuser.com
COLOPHON:
Photoshop User Magazine is produced using Adobe Photoshop CC 2022
and Adobe InDesign CC 2022. Korolev, Factoria, and Priori Sans are used for
headlines and subheads. Acumin Pro and Korolev are used for body copy.
An official publication of KelbyOne
This seal indicates that all content provided herein is produced
by KelbyOne, LLC and follows the most stringent standards for
educational resources. KelbyOne is the premier source for
instructional books, online classes, and live seminars for
creative professionals.
 APRIL 2022     VOL 25     NO 4

COREY BARKER BRYAN O’NEIL HUGHES COLIN SMITH

is a digital artist and Photoshop instructor. He is the
author of Photoshop Down & Dirty Tricks for Design-
ers Vol 1 and 2, as well as numerous courses here at
KelbyOne. He has also been a featured instructor at
live events such as Photoshop World and Adobe MAX.
is Director of Product Management & Partner Out-
reach at Adobe, overseeing a portfolio of Creative
Cloud applications and services. He’s one of Adobe’s
primary spokespeople, representing them across
creative segments and platforms.
is an award-winning digital artist, photographer, and
lecturer who has authored 20 books and a library of
training videos. He’s the founder of the online resource
PhotoshopCAFE.com, president of Software-Cinema
.com, and runs a popular YouTube channel.

VICTORIA BAMPTON SEAN McCORMACK LESA SNIDER

runs the popular Lightroom Queen website and
forums. She is an Adobe Community Professional
based in England, and the author of the Adobe Photo-
shop Lightroom Classic: The Missing FAQ and Adobe
Photoshop Lightroom: Edit Like a Pro series of books.
is a commercial photographer based in Galway, Ireland.
His work covers everything from fashion and portraiture
to products and interiors. He fell into writing from his love
of Lightroom, and appreciates the opportunity to pass
on his knowledge. He also loves playing with plug-ins.
is the author of Adobe Lightroom CC and Photoshop
CC for Photographers: Classroom in a Book (2016),
Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual, TheSkinnyBooks,
and more than 40 video courses. She’s also the tech-
nical author and eLearning specialist for TAITTowers.

PETER BAUER KIRK NELSON ROB SYLVAN

is an award-winning photographer and author, and
does photo and video verification for a limited clientele.
His latest book is Photoshop CC for Dummies. He was
inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame in 2010 and
received the Pioneer of Photoshop Award in 2005.
is a professional graphic designer and photographer
in the D.C. area. With 25 years of experience, he
refers to himself as “Your Friendly Neighborhood
Graphics Geek.” You can find more of Kirk’s tutorials
and Photoshop resources at The Pixel Pro.
is a photographer, educator, and aspiring beekeeper. He’s
the author of many Lightroom and photography books,
eBooks, and videos, including Adobe Photoshop Light-
room Classic for Dummies. Rob can often be found in the
KelbyOne Community helping members with PS and LR.

DAVE CLAYTON IBARIONEX PERELLO SCOTT VALENTINE

is a UK-based graphic designer with over 30 years
experience; author of How Do I Do That In InDesign;
host of the successful He Shoots, He Draws pod-
cast; and a KelbyOne, Photoshop World, and Adobe
MAX instructor.
is an LA-based photographer, writer, and educator
with over 30 years of experience. He’s the host of
The Candid Frame podcast, and has written many
magazine articles and books, including Making Pho-
tographs: Developing a Personal Visual Workflow.
blends his education in physics with his love for art,
bringing a unique voice to teaching through experi-
mentation. His Hidden Power books (Adobe Press)
are used in colleges across the US. He wants you to
never let your tools get in the way of your art.

SEÁN DUGGAN SERGE RAMELLI DAVE WILLIAMS

is a fine-art photographer, author of several books
on Photoshop and digital imaging, and creates edu-
cational content for companies such as Adobe and
LinkedIn Learning, where he has over 20 courses on
photography, Photoshop, and mobile image making.
is a landscape and urban photographer based in the
US and Paris. His work has been shown in more than
90 galleries worldwide, and he has 7 fine-art books.
Serge teaches photography, Photoshop, and Light-
room to students all around the world.
is a well-seasoned, UK-based travel photographer, edu-
cator, and blogger with internationally published work
and a passion for sharing his knowledge of Adobe soft-
ware. Dave lives by the mantra, “Lend me your eyes and
I’ll show you what I see.”

MARTIN EVENING RICK SAMMON TERRY WHITE

is a photographer with a background in commercial
studio photography. He’s also an experienced tech-
nical reviewer, who has over the last two decades
authored 25 books on Photoshop and Lightroom. He
was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame in 2008.
is a Canon Explorer of Light and a longtime friend
of KelbyOne. He has written dozens of articles for
us and has more than 30 classes (including two on
bird photography and one on safari photography)
for KelbyOne. Visit with Rick at ricksammon.com.
is a Worldwide Creative Cloud Design Evangelist
for Adobe Systems, Inc., an Adobe Certified Expert,
author of Secrets of Adobe Bridge, co-author of
InDesign CS/CS2 Killer Tips, runs Terry White’s Tech
Blog, and presents at conferences around the world.

REMOVE & IMPROVE: CLEAN UP

YOUR IMAGE QUALITY
Mark Heaps
Mark Heaps is an Adobe Community Professional, instructor, author,
photographer, and Executive Creative Director. He’s been a featured
speaker at Adobe MAX, SXSW, and many other events. His clients
include Apple, Google, Coca-Cola, Dell, and many others.
 KelbyOne
BENEFIT SPOTLIGHT
ARE YOU GETTING THE MOST OUT OF
YOUR KELBYONE PRO MEMBERSHIP?
As a Pro member, you’re receiving the ultimate
experience with KelbyOne. This is our complete
plan that includes everything to immerse yourself
in learning. We want to make sure you know about
all of the added benefits you’re getting as a Pro
member so you can take advantage of them all!
Pro members have access to our entire course
library (800+ courses), including a new course
every week, taught by world-class instructors who
you know and love. In addition, you have hundreds
of quick tips and tutorials, guided learning tracks,
and the opportunity to live-learn through private
members-only webcasts.
 10 
You can also get Photoshop, Lightroom, and
photography help from the amazing members in our
Community. You get Photoshop User magazine
monthly along with access to more than 150
back issues, including all the issues of Lightroom
Magazine. Then there’s the Creative Toolkit packed
with pre­s ets, eBooks, and other fun freebies. And
last, but certainly not least, there are significant
discounts available from our partners, such as Apple,
B&H Photo, and Mpix.
Do you know someone who should go Pro?
Share the benefits of a Pro Membership with them to
help accelerate their learning today! n
 COMMUNITY
Member Challenge 49 | Winner
Light and color are two of the most essential elements of
any photograph so, for this challenge, we asked KelbyOne
members to show us unique and creative ways to incorporate
both. We revealed the winner, runner up, and top finalist
photos on the Insider on March 24.
Sherry Brooks blew us away with this starry night
display. Congratulations, Sherry! Your incredible talents
and abilities are truly dazzling, making you the winner of
the Light and Color Challenge.
Sherry Brooks
Patrick Seiler
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022
Another incredibly composed night photo was submitted
by Patrick Seiler. The glow on the snow and the lighting
on the trees—wowza! We selected this image above as
the runner up.
Rounding out this challenge, we also featured three
finalists: Paul Shilling, Cathy Allen-Shinn, and Tahir
Rafique. They also had some stunning displays of light
and color to share. To take in those explosions of light,
click here to visit the Insider. If you’d like to look through
 12 
CHRIS MAIN  |   ASHLEY FOSSE  |   DAVE CL AY TON
all the amazing entries for this challenge, head on over
to the Community.
Congratulations again to our finalists, runner up, and
our winner, Sherry Brooks! We had a ton of images from
which to choose, and we wished they could all be winners.
Be sure to look back at all our past Member Challenges
for more examples of community awesomeness!
Member Challenge 50 | Outdoor Scenes
Whether it’s a warm ocean breeze, crisp air in the moun-
tains, or the sound of birds in your backyard trees, there’s
something for everyone to love about the outdoors. For
this challenge, we want you to scout out your favorite
natural wonders, city skylines, local parks, or beach
fronts, and capture their essence in a photo. Take your
time and compose a stunning image that tells the story
of your favorite outdoor scene. Here’s how the Member
Challenge works:
• E
 ntrant must be a KelbyOne Pro member to
submit their work into the contest.
• Work must be original to the entrant.
• Only one image can be submitted per entrant.
• W
 ork must be created within the challenge
dates (March 25, 2022–May 15, 2022).
• Images must be submitted by May 15, 2022,
at 11:59 p.m. EST.
• T
 he winner of this Member Challenge will be
announced by May 26, 2022, on the Insider. The
winner will receive a Member Challenge feature
and bragging rights!
• A
 fter you’ve created your image, head on over
to Member Challenge 50 | Outdoor Scenes on
the Community and submit your work in a comment.
Details, rules, terms and conditions, and prize
information can be found there as well.
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and
create and submit an amazing image for your chance
to win a feature, bragging rights, and exposure on our
social channels.
  KELBYONE COMMUNITY

 Artist Spotlight     Elise Theriault / member since 2017 / rimrockshadows.com

 KELBYONE COMMUNITY

 Artist Spotlight     Bruce Weinberg / member since 2019 / bruce-weinberg.com

  KELBYONE COMMUNITY

 Artist Spotlight     David Enzel / member since 2020 / enzelphoto.net

 KELBYONE COMMUNITY

 Who’s Who in the KelbyOne Community     Hafitha Issa / Cameras for Girls / member since 2018 / camerasforgirls.org

WHO’S WHO IN THE KELBYONE COMMUNITY
AMINA MOHAMED
Amina Mohamed is a Canadian-based photographer who started the Cameras for Girls program
in Uganda in 2018. The program not only provides cameras to each student, but Amina also
provides hands-on training, as well as partnering with companies such as KelbyOne to help with
their continued education. The photo on the cover of this issue is by one of her students, Hafitha
Issa. We interviewed Amina to learn more about her and the Cameras for Girls program.
First, we’d like to learn a little about your background.
You and your family were exiled from Uganda when you
were three years old and you moved to Canada. How did
your career evolve as a photographer, and how did that
lead you back to Uganda?
Yes, we came to Canada from Uganda in 1972 as refugees,
and I was raised in a strict Muslim household, so the
arts were not encouraged. However, my dad gave me
a camera at the age of 10, and my love for the medium
started, but I never thought I could make it a career.
After graduating from college and taking fashion design,
I found myself working in the Toronto film and TV industry,
and from there, my love and passion for photography
grew. In 2006, I moved from producing short films into
documentaries, and I pitched a documentary about the
Indians coming back to Uganda to reclaim their lost
properties. It would be my first time back to Uganda in
2007 but certainly not the last, as I realized that Uganda
was now where I belonged—at least in my heart!
After you reconnected with Uganda, why did you
decide to start the Cameras for Girls program and
what is the goal of the program? What skills do
the girls learn in the program?
Society plays a huge role in how females fare in the
developing world, and the churches preach that females
should be home, having babies and/or taking care of the
younger children in the house. Still, they never mention
that females should be educated. When I went back
to Uganda, I saw immense poverty, a difference in the
wealth of the Indians and the Africans (which led to
the expulsion of the Indians in 1972), and a difference
in how males and females were treated. Males had
opportunities whereas females did not. It was also clear
to me that I had grown up in Canada with so many
options, and sadly they did not have any, or very few,
of the same opportunities, and I wanted to even the
playing field in my way.
The goal of Cameras for Girls is job creation. There are
many unique programs out there where an organization
 KELBYONE COMMUNITY
will go into a marginalized community and teach pho-
tography to kids or adults; in my research, very few offer
skills-based training that moves the needle forward
for these communities, other than learning a new skill.
However, without having a camera, they cannot keep
learning. But it gives these organizations amazing stories
to tell on social media. I did not want that to be me.
So we set out to build a fully immersive program and
provide a camera for each girl to keep so they could
get meaningful employment, climb out of poverty, and
support themselves and their families.
Over the three days together, the students learn how
to operate the dials and functions of the camera. Sadly,
even in the university program with 600 students, there
are only 100 cameras to be shared, which means they
hardly get enough practice to prepare for a job. They
learn the exposure triangle, composition, how to tell
stories photographically speaking and more. We also
do daily photo walks in the slums, where we work with
daily reviews to see how they’re improving day after
day, which boosts their confidence.
What challenges have you encountered making
Camera for Girls a reality?
When I first came up with the idea, I hoped to go into the
northern part of Uganda, where Joseph Kony had ruled
the area, turning children into child soldiers. I wanted to
provide an outlet for girls seeking to recover from this
tragedy. However, when I started to do my research and
speak to the schools and NGOs on the ground, I was
told it would not be feasible, for a few reasons.
For one, there was hardly any electricity, and they
lacked Internet access. Girls attended school infrequently
because their parents didn’t believe in providing their
daughters’ education, or lacked the fees. If a girl got
her menses, she wouldn’t come to school because she
KELBYONE .COM
lacked the necessary resources. If I were to provide a
camera, it would be sold for food.
My friend Venex in Uganda, an environmental journalist
at the time, suggested I teach photography to girls who
 17 
  KELBYONE COMMUNITY
WHO’S WHO IN THE KELBYONE COMMUNITY
AMINA MOHAMED
were endeavoring to become journalists. To get a job
in journalism, they were required to have a camera and
know how to use it. We fill that gap with the camera
and the training.
Up until we received charity status last year, it was
challenging to build viable partnerships in Uganda, but
after that happened, we were able to sign contracts with
Makerere University and Uganda Christian University to
recruit students directly instead of doing our recruitment
campaign, which as you can imagine was challenging
by itself being in Canada.
Are there other photographers or educators involved
in the program?
In Uganda, I have partnered with Kenny Mulinde, a
filmmaker with Youth Arts Movement, and Daniel Moxie,
a photographer who has been volunteering for us from
day one. Kenny provides a one-week filmmaking camp for
interested students, and we pay for that opportunity so
they can get exposure to videography and photography.
In South Africa, I partnered with Khwela Womxn,
who helped us with the logistics to operate the photo
walk for 10 students, while I did the online training. As
we grow this program outside Uganda, I’ll be recruiting
other photographers who wish to help us with the training,
as I cannot be everywhere, but the program can. We
hope that some of our graduating students will become
trainers and mentors to those who follow.
How did you overcome the challenges of COVID to keep
Cameras for Girls going? When will you be able to return
to teaching the girls in person?
When COVID hit, we were a week away from booking
our tickets for the third in-person training. When that
came to a halt, I went to work building a platform with
40 videos, ranging from beginner to advanced skills.
We didn’t want to lose momentum, so this allowed
the girls who were already enrolled and also future
students to learn at their convenience, keeping in mind
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022
the time difference and, in some cases, the challenge to
get online. The platform houses photography videos from
basic to advanced skills, interviews that I’ve conducted
with journalists and photojournalists worldwide, and PDF
documents that are downloadable for quick-and-handy
guides on everything from camera basics to lighting.
It also houses business skills training, such as
building a resume, cover letter, and Linkedin profile;
 18 
business plan samples; contracts; etc., for those who
wish to start their own business. The idea is to provide
a comprehensive training platform where none exists
for them through school or work experience.
We are so thrilled to finally be returning to Uganda in
June of this year to resume the third in-person training
and are well on our way in our recruitment.
How many students has the program trained since
its inception, and how has it impacted their lives?
We have taught 32 girls in Uganda and 10 girls online
in South Africa. In addition to the three-day, in-person
workshop held in the country (or online in the case of
South Africa), I also do a full year-long curriculum that
encompasses the already mentioned portal. We follow
that with biweekly zoom meetings to review their photos
and talk about their challenges and monthly assignments.
Half of our students in Uganda now have full-time
work and, had it not been for COVID, I’m positive our
numbers would be higher. We continue to work with
those who need it to help them improve their cover
letters, resumes, and Linkedin profiles to obtain work.
Can you tell us more about the biweekly photo reviews,
and what your students learn through that process?
The idea is for my students to send their photos for
review on a biweekly or monthly process. Sadly, after
January 2021, the Internet in Uganda was sequestered
due to political upheaval in the country so they send
photos when they can.
Both groups of girls in Uganda have graduated,
and thus they’re not required to send me photos for
review, but I highly encourage them to keep learning
to improve their work opportunities. The girls in South
Africa are frequently sending photos for consideration.
I do a recorded review for them that they can watch
at their leisure over and over. I comment on exposure,
compensation, etc. and provide feedback on the photos
related to the assignment given. I did this training in
November last year, and two of the girls have already
landed full-time jobs with an agency.
KelbyOne has partnered with Cameras for Girls to help
with their photography education beyond the hands-on
training that you provide. How has KelbyOne helped your
students in their continued education?
A considerable part of our training is learning how to take
photos, correctly caption the images (for a journalism
  KELBYONE COMMUNITY

 Who’s Who in the KelbyOne Community     Elizabeth Nabacwa / Cameras for Girls / member since 2018 / camerasforgirls.org
 KELBYONE COMMUNITY

 Who’s Who in the KelbyOne Community     Patricia Oyella / Cameras for Girls / member since 2018 / camerasforgirls.org

WHO’S WHO IN THE KELBYONE COMMUNITY
AMINA MOHAMED
setting), and edit them so they’re ready to be printed
along with the articles they pitch to their editors.
When I started this, I reached out to KelbyOne, as
I had been learning and improving my own photography
skills on the KelbyOne platform years before I started
this initiative, and I could see how the training might
benefit or supersede the work we were providing.
I reached out to Jean Kendra on your team and explained
what we were trying to accomplish, and she jumped
in wholeheartedly. She offered two licenses so the
girls could learn how to edit.
We have two computers in Uganda, one on each end
of the city, that the girls can access twice per month.
The KelbyOne licenses help them improve their skills
and, for those who are interested, expand their learning
beyond what we provide.
You started Triple F Photo Tours to help fund Cameras
for Girls. Can you tell us about your tour company and
how it helps Cameras for Girls?
Yes, I also run a photo tourism company called Triple
F Photo Tours. We offer non-touristy photo tours to
various destinations. We help our travelers improve
their photography on every excursion. We also do a
lot of culturally immersive activities, as it’s my firm
belief that, when you travel, you should get to know
the people and the country. It’s the best way to break
down borders and stereotypes of people outside our
home countries.
When our guests travel with us to Uganda, they
also get to sit in on the three-day workshop we do
with Cameras for Girls. They get to see the impact of
their travel dollars at work while meeting these young
women and getting a view of their world and the
hardships they suffer.
For all the other tours we offer, 10% of revenues go
toward Cameras for Girls. As we grow the company
and expand our offerings, we’ll bring a separate source
of funds to Cameras for Girls aside from the regular
fundraising activities we do.
Besides your Triple F Photo Tours, how else do you
raise money for the program and acquire cameras
for your students?
When I started the initiative, I started a GoFundMe
campaign, which helped us raise funds to purchase
cameras for our second training. For our first training,
 KELBYONE COMMUNITY
I put out a call on Facebook, and people sent me small
point-and-shoots, which was fine because I had no
idea if this was going to be successful or not. Then
last March, we received media exposure through the
Toronto Star and CTV National News, and we were
sent all types of cameras from across the country, and
donations toward our GoFundMe campaign, which
has helped me get ready for this year’s training.
Now that we’re a charity, we fundraise via our
donor database, running year-end campaigns, Giving
Tuesday campaigns, and our upcoming Change Your
Lens, Change Her Story Campaign, which will run the
month of April. We hope to raise $10,000 to do a live,
three-day workshop in South Africa later this year.
You’ve mentioned charity status a couple of times now,
which Cameras for Girls received back in September of
2021. What other benefits does charity status provide?
Charity status means that we can now offer tax receipts,
where we couldn’t before. It also gives our charity
legitimacy, as I now have a board that I’m accountable
to, and allows us to seek previously unavailable funds
because we lacked charity status.
How can people continue to follow your story,
or even better, how can they become involved
by donating cameras, money, or their time?
We’re so grateful to our supporters who have helped us
grow our brand and reach. For monetary donations in
Canada, we use CanadaHelps.org; for US donations
we use PayPal.com.
As for camera donations, we’ll take any camera—used
or new, film, digital, etc. We’re lucky because we have
a local store that helps us sell what we can’t use, and
purchase what we use for our training: the Canon G1 X.
We chose this camera because it’s robust for training
in photography and video and small enough to keep on
your person without being stolen. Please reach out to me
at amina@camerasforgirls.org if you’d like to donate.
You can follow us on CamerasForGirls.com, Face-
book, Instagram, and Linkedin.
And finally, for anyone interested in teaching, please
reach out to me at amina@camerasforgirls.org and
KELBYONE .COM
we can chat further. n
 21 
 Here Are Your Latest Online Courses

Lighting for
Beverage & Splash Photography
Join Aaron Van for a complete behind-the-scenes look at everything you need to know to create pro-level photos of beverages.
To begin, Aaron takes you through the tools, props, glassware, and light-shaping tools he uses every day. From there you’ll join
Aaron in the studio for a series of shoots where changing up the lighting allows for a variety of creative looks that help tell a story.
Through each lesson, Aaron shares tips and techniques for elevating your beverage photography higher and higher.

Photographing
Winter Landscapes
Join Ian Plant on location in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as he shares his favorite tips and techniques for creating
dynamic winter landscape compositions that draw the viewer deeper into your photographs. Along the way, Ian
teaches you how to keep your gear and yourself safe and warm while shooting, how to find the best subjects and
light, and then puts it all into practice through a series of on-location shoots in lakeside ice caves.
 Every week, we publish at least one new training course.
Check out these brand-new courses below:

Getting Super Organized

in Lightroom Cloud
If you’re using the cloud-based Lightroom (or considering it in the future), then this is the class for you! Scott has adapted
his SLIM organizational system from Lightroom Classic to work with the newer cloud-based Lightroom with the same focus on
keeping it simple. There are five key steps to this process, and Scott breaks down each one, teaching you the tools you
need to know and providing a common-sense framework that you can adapt to the subjects you photograph.

Shooting and Compositing

Your Own Special Effects
Join Kirk Nelson for a truly fun and practical class on shooting and composting special effects that you can create in your own home
or backyard. With lessons on capturing water splashes, smoke, steam, and fireballs using props, materials, and equipment you may
already have or can acquire at a local store, you’ll be ready to get started right away. After walking through how to create and capture
the effects, Kirk takes you through his postprocessing workflow and demonstrates how to composite these effects into photographs.
 MARTIN EVENING
DEVELOPING THE SHOT

ALL SOULS CHURCH:

ISOLATING A BUILDING
All Souls Church is a prominent building at the top of London’s Regent Street, which is part of architect
John Nash’s coordinated Regency design that connects The Mall (leading to Buckingham Palace) with
The Regent’s Park. The church today is a well-known landmark building, mainly because it’s in front of
the BBC headquarters, otherwise known as Broadcasting House.

ALL IMAGES BY MARTIN EVENING

 24 
  DEVELOPING THE SHOT

I took this photograph using a Sony RX100 camera that The best way to create the cutout is to do what I did
I’ve owned for a number of years now. When I first bought here and use the Pen tool in Photoshop to define the
the camera, I thought it was a great alternative to carrying outline of the building. Using this method, I was able to
around my much bigger digital SLR cameras. These days, add a black Solid Fill layer, converting the Pen path to a
it mostly collects dust in my equipment cupboard, as I’m vector mask. Now, if all the above sounds very complex,
more inclined to use my iPhone for taking snapshot photos, bear with me as I do explain at the end of this article
especially when I can now capture good-quality RAW how there’s also now an easier way to cut out buildings.
DNG photos using the Lightroom for mobile app camera. (KelbyOne members can click here to download a smaller
The finished image shown here is an interesting exercise DNG version of this image for practice purposes only.)
in how to create a cutout to isolate a building from its
surroundings and place it against a black background. THE STEPS
This is a technique I’ve seen other photographers use STEP ONE: The first step is to edit the Basic panel settings
successfully with urban architectural subjects; however, to lighten the image and bring out a little more detail in
I’d describe the result as being more like an architectural the shadows. I did this by increasing the Exposure as
illustration than a photograph. It’s a technique you could well as lightening the Shadows. I also boosted the Clarity
apply to almost any notable city location. The tricky and Vibrance.
bit is to remove people from the scene and create the
perfect cutout.
With a handheld shot like this, the only option was
for me to use the Spot Healing Brush in Photoshop to
remove the people. On the other hand, if you can mount
your camera on a tripod, you can always take multiple
exposures and use these to apply a multi-layered smart
object Stack Mode processing technique to remove the
people automatically (I showed how to do this in the
February 2021 issue of Photoshop User).

STEP TWO: Next, go to the

Detail panel, and increase
the Sharpening Amount to
55 and set the Radius to
0.9, which is a more suit-
able setting for this archi-
tectural subject. Because
the photo had been shot
at a low ISO setting, I was
also able to increase the
Detail amount. In the Noise
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Reduction section below, set

the Luminance slider to 15
to help reduce the noise in
Before the lightened shadow areas.

 25 
  HOW TO

STEP THREE: With the camera

tilted upward from street level,
this caused some convergence
of the verticals. To correct for
this, manually adjust the Ver-
tical slider in the Transform
panel to straighten the verticals
a little more.

STEP FOUR: The previous Trans-

form panel adjustment also
affected the shape of the image,
which now requires cropping.
Select the Crop Overlay tool (R)
and drag the corner handles
to apply a tighter crop. Then,
click to select the Straighten
tool (it looks like a level) in
the Crop Overlay panel and
drag from the top of the spire
downward, following the angle
of the spire, to apply an Angle
adjustment to level the church
within the frame. Press Enter
to commit the crop.
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

 26 
  DEVELOPING THE SHOT

STEP FIVE: We’re now ready to

carry out the main Photoshop
retouching work. To do this, select
Photo > Edit In >Edit in Adobe
Photoshop. This step creates a
rasterized version of the original
RAW image opened in Photoshop
with all the Lightroom settings
applied so far. Add a new empty
layer above the Background layer,
select the Spot Healing Brush tool
(J), ensure Sample All Layers is
enabled in the tool Options Bar,
and paint carefully to remove the
people from the bottom of the
photo. You can use the Bracket
keys ( [ ] ) on your keyboard, as
needed, to change the size of
the brush.

STEP SIX: With the people removed,

open the Paths panel (Window>
Paths), and select the Pen tool
(P). Up in the Options Bar, set
the Tool Mode to Path, click on
the Path Operations icon (two
overlapping squares), and select
the Subtract Front Shape mode.
Start by drawing an outline of the
outer part of the church building.
Continue drawing the path com-
pletely around the sky area, and
then click on the starting point
to close the path. This creates an
outline of the area that we want to
hide. [For tips on using the Pen
tool, check out the December 2018
issue of Photoshop User.—Ed.]
Complete the outline by choos-
ing the Combine Shapes mode
in the Path Operations menu
and then drawing to define the
remaining areas that need to be
hidden, such as the gaps between
the pillars. Again, be sure to click
the starting point of each path to
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close it. Double-click the Work

Path’s name in the Paths panel,
and click OK in the Save Path
dialog to save the path.

 27 
  HOW TO

STEP SEVEN: Once you’ve

completed drawing the outline,
make sure the path is active in
the Paths panel, then click the
Create New Fill or Adjustment
Layer icon (half-black, half-
white circle) at the bottom of
the Layers panel, and select
Solid Color. This will open the
Color Picker dialog, where you
can select black as the fill
color. This will add a black
background to the photo
masked by the selected path.
If you need to edit the path,
you can do so by using the
Pen tool or one of the Pen
modifier tools nested with it
in the Toolbar. You can also
use the Direct Selection tool
nested with the Path Selection
tool (A) in the Toolbar.

STEP EIGHT: Press Command-S

(PC: Ctrl-S) to save the edited,
layered Photoshop image,
which will automatically add
the photo to the Lightroom
catalog, alongside the RAW
original in the same Lightroom
folder location. In the Light-
room Develop module, click
on the Black &White button at
the top right of the Basic panel
to convert the photo to black
and white. Upon seeing the
image in its near-completion
state, I made a fine-tuning
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

adjustment to the Highlights

slider and also added a little
more Clarity to add definition
to the building.

 28 
 DEVELOPING THE SHOT

STEP NINE: Go to the B&W

panel and adjust the individ-
ual sliders to fine-tune the
appearance of the church in
black and white. Mainly, drag
the Red and Yellow sliders to
the left to darken the stone
work and add more depth to
the image contrast.

STEP 10: Finally, go to the Color

Grading panel, and edit the
Shadows and Highlights to add
a sepia coloring effect to the
photograph, as shown here.
Set the Blending slider all the
way to the right to 100 and the
Balance slider to +3.

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 29 
  HOW TO

TWO WAYS TO
ISOLATE A BUILDING
To achieve a precise cutout like
the one I showed here with the
All Souls Church image, I suggest
drawing a Pen path. For archi-
tectural subjects, this is the most
precise way to define your subject.
But I know not everyone will have
the skills and experience to work
with the Pen tool in Photoshop, or
have the patience required to draw
complex outlines. Well, this might
be a good opportunity to learn!
There are plenty of tutorials
out there that will teach you how
to work with Pen paths. Why not
try this method on the supplied
demo image, or even on one of
your own shots? The main thing
to remember is that the Pen tool
Options Bar must be set to Path

mode (not Shape or Pixels). Next, you need to understand the Path Operations
options. In Combine Shapes mode, the path you draw defines the subject you wish
to select; however, with the All Souls Church image, I wanted to define the outline
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

of the church so that I could edit the background (filling with black). Therefore, in
this instance, I mainly used the Subtract Front Shape option. It’s also important
to convert the default Work Path to a saved path as soon as possible. Otherwise,
it’s all too easy to select another tool, return to working with the Pen tool, and
accidentally delete the current Work Path.
Now, I promised in the opening section I’d show you an easier method for
creating this type of effect. Working with a RAW original in Lightroom or Camera
Raw, you can now click on the Masking icon (sandwiched between the Histogram

 30 
 DEVELOPING THE SHOT

and Basic panels) to reveal

the new masking options.
To isolate the clock tower
in the image shown here,
I chose Select Subject from
the Masking menu options.
I then clicked on Mask 1 in
the Masks panel to reveal
the Subject 1 mask icon,
which I Right-clicked and
then selected Invert to invert
the selection.
I could then simply darken
the Exposure and apply a
negative Blacks adjustment
to darken the sky to black.
The success of this technique
will depend on the accuracy
of the Select Subject mask.
I find the Select Subject
masking generally does a
pretty good job; but nearly
always you’ll have to make
some minor edits to the mask
if you want to achieve a per-
fect outline. For example, you
can click on the Add or Sub-
tract buttons and select, say,
the Brush tool to fine-tune a
mask outline. n

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 31 
 SERGE RAMELLI
LIGHTROOM LABORATORY
FIVE COMPOSITION TRICKS
Composition is key when it comes to photography. If you’re at the right place at the right time but don’t
know how to compose your shot, you might miss a chance to create a beautiful piece of art.
Rule of Thirds
So what is composition? It’s the arrangement of elements
within a work of art to convey a message. With that in
mind, let’s get to the first type of composition.
1. THE RULE OF THIRDS
The concept behind the rule of thirds is that if you were
to draw two lines horizontally and two lines vertically
over your photo to create a grid of nine equal squares,
it will form four key points where the lines intersect.
The idea is that you want to position your subject near
one of those points. You often see this in movies, where
characters on the screen are more to the right or to the
left of the shot. Placing key elements near these points
will make a photo more dynamic.
When capturing an image, these lines can be viewed
in your camera, or you can mentally visualize them. In
postproduction, you can use it as an overlay on your
image when using the Crop Overlay tool (R) to help make
a photo more pleasing to the eyes. In Lightroom Classic,
you can find the Thirds overlay option under Tools>Crop
 34 
ALL IMAGES BY SERGE RAMELLI
Guide Overlay. You can also tap the letter O to cycle
through all the various crop overlays.
In this example above, the sky is more interesting so
I wanted to have the top 2/3 of the image filled with the
sky and the lower third with the land, with the horizon
close to the second horizontal line.
2. LEADING LINES
To add depth to your photos, you can use natural leading
lines to guide the eyes of the viewer into your photo.
This can be very effective when you can find a line that
starts from the point of view of the viewer and heads
straight into the photo, like in the image shown at the
top of the next page. The other lines converge in the
distance, leading viewers’ eyes to the yellow building.
3. FRAME IN THE FRAME
Using natural elements in a scene to create a frame around
your main subject will focus the viewer’s attention (see
bottom of next page). This is a cool trick to make your
  L I G H T R O O M L A B O R AT O R Y

Leading Lines

KELBYONE .COM

Frame in the Frame

 35 
  HOW TO

subject really stand out. It’s fun to play with this concept the reality was that there were 50 photographers behind
in nature, and it can really embellish your main subject. me taking photos. So if I wanted to show photographers
taking a photo, I’d have included them, but instead,

4. F
 OREGROUND, MIDDLE GROUND,
AND BACKGROUND
This is definitely the hardest compositional trick. The idea
is to have a foreground element that contributes to your
message, gives it a sense of where the photo was taken,
I simply got closer and zoomed in on the key elements
and the beauty of the moment. That’s very important!
So there you have it, the five key elements of composition.
You can practice each of them and work at improving the

and adds depth to your photo. It’s easy to take a pretty

photo of the beach or a city view, but if you have a great
foreground element, it will take your photo to the next
level. Make sure that you find a nice, aesthetic element,
not something distracting or that’s a high-frequency
texture like dirt or messy grass. It has to be an element
that’s related to your subject and adds that extra value
to your message.
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

5. A STRONG STORY
Last, but not least is telling a strong story. All of those
tricks are useless if your message is confusing. The idea
is to communicate simple things: include elements that
will contribute to your message and exclude elements that
are just distracting. The photo at the bottom right simply composition in your images using these tricks. You’ll see
communicates a beautiful sunset on a beach in Iceland, but it really is more fun than work. Enjoy! n

 36 
 ROB SYLVAN
UNDER THE LOUPE

PRINTING WITH LIGHTROOM?

Historically when it comes to printing, Lightroom Classic or Photoshop are the go-to apps for most Adobe
customers, but what about folks who subscribe to the Lightroom (only) plan that doesn’t include those
options? In this article, we’ll explore the routes that are available for creating prints of all kinds (local
printer and online) when the cloud-based Lightroom app is the home base for your photo library.
ALL IMAGES BY ROB SYLVAN

It has long been a criticism of the Lightroom app that it be printed somehow. I’m not in any way advocating that
doesn’t have a print function (let alone a dedicated Print printing through Lightroom is superior to printing from
module like Lightroom Classic) and, while that’s technically Lightroom Classic or Photoshop; I’m simply discussing
true, it doesn’t mean photos managed by Lightroom can’t the possibilities.

 38 
  UNDER THE LOUPE

BASIC PRE-PRINTING WORKFLOW

Just as in Lightroom Classic, there are a few
considerations to make before you reach the
stage of sending copies to be printed. The
key difference is that in the absence of a
dedicated Print module, we have to rely on
some other app or online service to complete
the printing process; but that doesn’t come
until we have the photo looking the way we
want and cropped to the desired aspect ratio
for the print, and those are things we can do
in Lightroom.
Last issue, I compared the editing capa-
bilities of Lightroom Classic and Lightroom,
so I won’t cover the process of editing to make
a photo look great, but I do want to talk about
cropping. In Lightroom Classic, we may not
pay as much attention to cropping the photo
first, because we can use the Zoom to Fill
function in the Print module to make a photo
fit within the dimensions of a photo cell we
define in a print layout, which effectively crops
the photo to the aspect ratio of the print. In
Lightroom, it’s probably in your best interest
to crop the photo to a desired aspect ratio
before exporting it for either online printing
or passing along to another local app for
printing at home.
In Lightroom, the shortcut to the Crop
tool is the letter C (which makes much more
sense than R in Lightroom Classic), or click
the Crop & Rotate icon along the right edge
of the interface. Once you enter the Crop
tool, you can select a preset aspect ratio
from the Aspect Ratio drop-down menu, or
choose Enter Custom if none of the presets
meet your needs.
Remember, the aspect ratio defines the
relationship between the long side and the short
side, so those numbers aren’t necessarily a size
in inches. For example, let’s say your goal is
to create a print that’s 8x10". If you look at the
list of preset aspect ratios you won’t see one
named 10x8 (or 8x10 for that matter). So, you
KELBYONE .COM

might think you need to select Enter Custom,

and when you do, you’re presented with the
Enter Custom Aspect Ratio dialog where you
enter the values 8 and 10, and click OK.

 39 
  HOW TO

After clicking OK, you’ll find the

crop rectangle changes accordingly,
but if you look at the Aspect Ratio
drop-down menu, you’ll find it says
4x5 because that’s the same aspect
ratio as 10x8, just expressed differ-
ently. Now there’s nothing wrong
with entering in values that match
the size print you want to make, as
that will result in the correct aspect
ratio being defined for cropping
purposes, but don’t panic if you
enter 12x18 and see the Aspect
Ratio display as 2x3.
Print size is a function of how
many pixels exist in the photo
and the print resolution applied
on export. Once the photo looks
the way you want it to look, and
you’ve cropped it to the desired
aspect ratio, you’re ready to move
on to making the print. Let’s first
look at how that can be done using
a local printer at home, and then
how you can use Lightroom to
send that photo off to an online
print service.

PRINTING TO A LOCAL the manufacturer of your photo printer

PHOTO PRINTER
For a person subscribing to the
Lightroom plan, they’re able to
install the Lightroom app on all
of their devices, which could be
any combination of Windows and
Mac computers, iOS and Android
mobile devices, or even a Chrome-
book. As there isn’t a function
within any of the Lightroom apps to
print directly to a locally connected
photo printer, we have to rely on
some other software to take the
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022
provides software for creating and sending
print layouts to your printer. I know Epson
and Canon do this. Heck, even Brother
does it for my cheap office printer. Consult
your printer manual or the manufacturer’s
website to see what’s possible.
I’m printing to a Canon imagePRO-
GRAF PRO-1000 these days, but years
ago I used Epson’s software to print to my
ancient Epson Stylus Pro 3800. As far as
the Lightroom side of the equation goes,
the process is the same no matter what
software you’re using to send the photo

photo from Lightroom to the printer. to the printer.

When you consider the variety
of operating systems at play and
the variety of inkjet and dye-based
printers on the market, there are
too many possible configurations
for me to cover all of them. These
days, however, it’s very likely that
Previously, we cropped to our desired aspect ratio, so now we’re ready to
export to a location of our choosing (wherever it makes sense in your workflow)
and set the photo to the desired print size, resolution, color space, and even
decide about output sharpening. Click the Share icon in the upper-right corner
and choose Custom Settings. Here’s where you tell Lightroom what size print
you want to make and, as long as you cropped it to the correct aspect ratio, it
will be sized accordingly.

 4 0 

An important caveat: I’m work-
ing under the assumption that
your source photo has enough
pixels in it to create the print at
your desired print size and res-
olution. There are a number
of online calculators you can
find, but here’s one to get you
started. In the calculator, I entered
my desired print size (8 x10 in)
and resolution (300 ppi), and
it showed me that the required
pixel dimensions are 2,400 x 3,000
pixels. The source photo in ques-
tion is 5,504 x 8,256 pixels, so
even with my crop to the new
aspect ratio, I know I have more
than enough pixels to print this
photo at the desired size and res-
olution. It’s true that this is easier
to figure out in Lightroom Classic
and Photoshop, but with a free
online calculator it isn’t that hard.
With the Settings panel open, choose your
file type first. I suggest JPG to keep it simple,
though your chosen printing software may
also support TIFF. Likewise, for simplicity sake,
expand the More Options section, and set
the color space to sRGB down at the bottom.
For Dimensions, choose Custom, and
then choose Long Side and enter the desired
 UNDER THE LOUPE
print size value for the longest side
of the print. In my case 10 inches.
Lightroom will automatically size
the short side to the correct pro-
portion, which is why it was so
important to crop to the correct
aspect ratio first.
By choosing inches (or centi-
meters if you live in a metric part
of the world), you’ll get the option
for setting the desired resolution
as well. The safest value to enter
is 300 ppi for most prints but, if
you prefer a different value for
your prints, by all means use that
number. If you choose JPG as file
type you can choose the Quality
level (amount of JPEG compression
applied to the exported copy), and
I suggest a high value like 90%.
The final decision that will
impact your print is whether to
apply Output Sharpening or not.
This is the same output sharpen-
ing found in Lightroom Classic’s
Print module and Export dialog.
You can choose either Glossy
Paper, Matte Paper, Screen, or
None. I’m printing to a glossy
paper, so I choose accordingly,
and then set the amount to Stan-
dard (as opposed to Low or High).
Once configured, click the Export
button to send the copy to your
chosen location.
From there, just open the image
in your printer manufacturer’s soft-
ware to handle passing the photo
on to your printer. My experience
with the Canon software for my
printer has been very positive,
and I’ve gotten great results when
sending the photo from the app
on my Mac or on my phone.
PRINTING TO
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AN ONLINE LAB
If you don’t own a photo printer or
if you want to choose from a wider
array of media types than you
 41 
  HOW TO

might have at home (like print-

ing on wood), then it’s possible
to send photos to a few online
print labs directly from within the
Lightroom app for Mac/Windows
(unhelpfully referred to as Light-
room for desktop by Adobe). As
all of the photos imported into
Lightroom are accessible at full
resolution in the cloud, it facilitates
the process of sending photos to
print services that are connected
to your Lightroom account.
Here I have a photo that
my wife loved of my son from a
winter camping trip, so I thought
it would be cool to print it on
wood and give it to her as a gift.
I can’t print to wood at home, but
I knew that I could send photos
directly to WHCC (White House
Custom Colour) from Lightroom.
Here’s how:
First, crop your image to the
correct aspect ratio. I wanted to
make a 10x10" print, so I cropped
the photo to a 1x1 aspect ratio.
Then, press P to open the
Photos panel on the left. This is
where you’ll find Connections
along with your albums and
folders. Before setting up the
connection, I suggest placing
the photo(s) you want to send
to the print service in an album
of their own to make it easier to
find them after the connection
is made. Click the + sign next
to Connections (or the Add
Connection button within the
panel if you haven’t made any
connections yet) to see all of in the future. For this project, I clicked the Add Connection button next to WHCC
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

the possible connections from
which you can choose.
When it comes to printing,
WHCC and Printique are the
two options at the time of this
writing. I’ve had good results
from both services so far, but
I hope more options appear
and exited the dialog. While not required, I recommend visiting the website for
the service you intend to use and creating an account there before creating the
connection in Lightroom. I think it just speeds up the process.
Once you exit the Connections dialog, you’ll see a screen for the service
you selected and a Get Started button. Clicking that button walks you
through the process of selecting a photo and then clicking the Share icon to
access the chosen connection at the bottom of the Share options. In my case
I selected WHCC.

 42 
  UNDER THE LOUPE

You’ll then be prompted to

give the project a name, and after
clicking Continue, you’ll be taken
to a webpage to make choices
about your project. This step may
vary between print services and
may even evolve over time. It was
here that I made my print choices
and adjusted the layout using the
online tool.

The process is pretty straight­

forward, and I like having a much
wider range of materials to print
onto as well as larger print sizes
than my home printer can sup-
port. The final product took a few
days to be printed from the time
I ordered and a few more days to
arrive, boxed up safely, at my door.
The print now hangs by my wife’s
workstation, and I was pleased with
the process and the result. Printing
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from Lightroom may be different,

but it’s definitely possible. n

 43 
 SEAN MCCORMACK
MAXIMUM WORKFLOW

BORIS FX OPTICS 2022

An email from Boris FX letting you know that there’s a new version of Optics on the way is an exciting
prospect. Last year’s debut showed that the combination of Boris FX Sapphire with the old Tiffen DX/DFX
plug-in was a winner for fun and creativity with photographers. What could this visual effects power­
house do to top that? Well, how about adding even more of their Oscar-winning movie plug-in magic
for still photographers to use? Oh yes!
ALL IMAGES BY SEAN MCCORMACK

Boris FX seems intent on giving users the joy of even
more play by adding Particle Illusion and Beauty Studio,
both from their Continuum plug-in, to Optics. Particle
Illusion makes use of emitters to create fire, smoke,
fluids, and a host of other cool elements to add to
your photo.
While it may sound like a compositor’s dream, there
are other new additions that would spark the interest
of commercial and portrait photographers. New filters
such as Pin Warp or Emboss allow the building of more
creative backgrounds, while Beauty Studio allows easy
skin smoothing with auto-generated mattes. You can,
of course, edit these mattes further with great masking
tools like EZ Mask. And speaking of masks, you can
now export the mask to Photoshop to reuse there for
the rest of your edits.

 4 4 

WHAT’S NEW?
So what is new exactly? Let’s list the new features and then
have a play.
• Particle Illusion: This includes 1,700+ particle-based effects,
many of which have timeline-based properties for even more
internal looks. Smoke, Fire, Fluids are all available to manipulate.
• UltraZap: Even more zappiness, as you can have even more
lightning bolts from your source point. Taper control is
included, as well as secondary bolts.
• E mboss: These are new tools for creating different emboss
types. Speaking of type, you can easily use these on text
as well as for manipulating backgrounds.
• U ltraGlow: You can now add a lot more glow to your photo.
It’s also included in some of the effects directly for additional
internal glow.
• P in Warp: Using up to 20 pins, you can push and push at
your photo to your heart’s content. Unlike Puppet Warp in
Photoshop, pins can overlap.
• B eauty Studio: This allows you to apply skin smoothing
within the plug-in for a one-stop creative portrait shop.
• E xport Masks: Get those EZ Masks into Photoshop to use
on other parts of your edit.
• Enhanced UI: Optics has a shiny coat of paint giving a more
modern look with better text visibility.
• M ore, More, More: There are more than 2,000 new presets,
lens flares, film stocks, and Gobo/light patterns.
 MAXIMUM WORKFLOW
WHAT DOES BORIS FX OPTICS
2022 DO THAT LIGHTROOM OR
PHOTOSHOP CAN’T?
While it’s true that you can do skin work directly
in both Lightroom and Photoshop, as well as
the correction work, you don’t have the ease
of access to instant filters, such as lens flares,
particles, or light leaks. And that’s not even a
scratch on the surface of Optics 2022.
It goes well beyond the bounds of being an
image finisher, but more of an image elevator.
With Optics 2022, you can make something out
of almost nothing. A lot of “Maximum Workflow”
is about using tools to get things done faster.
Optics 2022 is about making time for creative
play. Many aspects of editing can be technically
proficient, but tedious; not Optics. While you
delve deep, you’re always having fun doing it.
NEW COAT OF PAINT
The first look at Optics reveals a fresh coat of
paint. It just looks so much better. The original
Optics was using the Tiffen DFX UI, and while
it’s not bad by any stretch, it was looking a tad
jaded compared to more recently created plug-ins.
The graphical enhancements help bring Optics
in line with modern plug-ins. Text is clearer, and
the split of the Presets and Parameters panels is
a great change, allowing access to both at once.
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 45 
  HOW TO

Reset, Cancel, and Apply

now have text buttons at the
bottom right, rather than
icons at the top left. The
Add Mask icon has moved
into the Layers stack, right
by the layers themselves. The
Generate Mask icon is now a
cog, and all the icons in that
row are much larger. Even
the zoom-related icons were
touched up, with Fit being far
more obvious now. One thing
we wish they’d do here is add the industry-standard STEP FIVE: When you want to edit the settings again,
Command-+/- (PC: Ctrl-+/-) shortcuts for zoom. double-click on the program name below the name of
You can also create Workspaces, which can be imported the layer in the Layers panel.
and exported. Simply choose what panels you want,
then rearrange them and save the workspace using
the New command. There are some included already:
Default, Edit, and View.

LET’S PLAY!
Enough of the jibber-jabber, let’s get into using Optics.
There’s not enough space to look at everything, but we
can look at some of the bigger features. Beauty Studio
is one of the new additions, so we’ll begin there. It’s
designed as an automatic skin smoother.
Even if you’re a Lightroom user, we highly recommend
using Optics 2022 via Photoshop to access smart objects.
This allows you to edit the Optics settings at any point BEAUTY STUDIO
in the future, so let’s first take a quick look at the smart STEP ONE: With your smart object layer created,
object workflow starting from Lightroom Classic. open Optics 2022. From the Filters panel, click the
magnifying glass to start Search. Enter Beauty and
STEP ONE: From Lightroom Classic, use the Photo>Edit choose Beauty Studio from the results. You can try
In>Edit In Adobe Photoshop 2022 menu item or the out the presets to find your favorite, but we’ll use
shortcut Command-E (PC: Ctrl-E) to open your photo the Default preset here. We’re also using a headshot,
in Photoshop. You’re not going in directly as a smart as the results are more visible than in a 3/4- or full-
object, so don’t use the Open As Smart Object in length portrait.
Photoshop command.

STEP TWO: In Photoshop, duplicate the layer using Com-

mand-J (PC: Ctrl-J), or from the Layer>New>Layer Via
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

Copy menu. You can also drag the layer to the Create a
New Layer icon (+) at the bottom of the Layers panel.

STEP THREE: Right-click on the new layer and, from the

contextual menu, choose Convert to Smart Object.

STEP FOUR: Open the layer with the plug-in you want to
use. Here it’s Optics 2022. Do your edits and apply.

 46 
  MAXIMUM WORKFLOW

Step Two

STEP TWO: Clicking the A|B

icon at the top of the inter-
face allows you to see the
work that’s been done. An
automatic matte (a mask) has
been created in the filter to
select the skin areas.

STEP THREE: To refine this

matte, change the View in
Parameters from Output to
Matte. Expand the Matte
section of the panel to access
Step Three Color A and Color B.

STEP FOUR: Click on Color

A and use the eyedropper
to select one of the lighter
areas of skin. Currently these
areas are darker and are
excluded from your matte,
as shown in the image in
the previous step. You can
see the color changing in
the swatch as you move
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the cursor over the skin,

and when you click, those
areas should turn white in
Step Four the matte.

 47 
  HOW TO

STEP FIVE: To refine the effect, you can add your own
mask to the layer. In the Layers panel, click on the frame
with a + icon and select Paint from the mask options.
STEP SEVEN: Should you want to reduce the strength of
the filter, you can either reduce the Opacity of the layer
(currently at 100) in the Layers panel, or you can use the
Master Amount control in the Smoothing section in the
Parameters panel. Click Apply when you’re done.

STEP SIX: Click the Invert Mask icon, which is the fourth
one from the left at the top. This shows the filter, and you
can then paint off where you don’t want the effect. We
want to remove the effect from any areas that define the
edges in the face, so here we’ll paint the lips, eyes, and
eyebrows, as well as the nostrils.
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

Before After

 4 8 
  MAXIMUM WORKFLOW

PLAYING WITH FIRE

Beauty Studio is obviously more practical than creative, so
it’s time for us to delve into Particle Illusion. Use the smart
object workflow as described above to get a smart object
layer into Optics 2022. The image here was shot by dragging
the shutter. The flash fired, but the shutter speed was slow
enough to register a continuous light with an orange gel on
it. We make no claim to originality on this look; it’s inspired
by Lindsay Adler. The orange light does allow us to play with
some of Particle Illusions filters, such as Smoke and Fire.

STEP ONE: To get a feel for what Particle Illusion can do, click
on the Particle Illusion tab in Filters at the bottom of the screen.
Click PI Complete to see the full set of available presets. This
loads the Wormhole Storm Large preset.

Before

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Step One

 49 
  HOW TO

STEP TWO: While we’re not

going to use this preset, it
does highlight one import-
ant feature that’s in a lot of
Particle Illusion: the Timeline.
As Particle Illusion comes
from movie visual effects,
the presets have a timeline,
where they change over
time. Using the Time control
in the Parameters panel, you
can select a frame from
the Timeline to use. For
explosions, smoke, or fire,
this could be early on or at
the peak, with each frame
having a different look; and
that’s before you even start
to manipulate the settings.

STEP THREE: Going with

the existing orange in this
image, it makes sense to
look at smoke and fire. You
can access this by using
Search in the Presets panel,
or by choosing the PI Fire
or PI Smoke filters at the
bottom. We’re going to select
PI Fire in the Filters panel,
and then select the Sparky
Flow 01 preset.
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

 50 
 MAXIMUM WORKFLOW

STEP FOUR: The effect looks

great, but it’s too small. You
can enlarge it by going to the
Master Scale setting in the
World Transform section of
the Parameters panel. Here
we almost doubled it to 198.
Use the on-image control (the
red crosshairs) to move the
World Center for a better fit
in the image.

STEP FIVE: The aim for the

fire is as a background ele-
ment, so it’s time for a mask!
We’ll click the Add Mask icon
as we did for Beauty Studio,
but this time we’ll choose EZ
Mask. Left-click-and-drag to
draw green lines in areas
you want to keep, which is
the background here. Don’t
forget to include gaps, such
as the area between her body
and arm in this image. Right-
click-and-drag to draw red
lines in areas that you want
to mask. When you’re done,
click the cog icon at the end
of the toolbar to generate
the mask.
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 51 
  HOW TO

STEP SIX: You can hide the

mask by clicking on the
image thumbnail on the PI
Fire layer. In the Parameters
panel, expand the Particle
Properties. The controls are
aptly named, and each affects
the look a lot.
The Number set ting
works well here, and by
reducing it to 56, it removes
the large central buildup of
color, giving better balance.
Spin revolves the particle
emitters around; it ’s not
quite what you’d expect
either, so play around. A
setting of 280 gives a nice
motion in our image.
Frames to Preload is
worth mentioning, as this is
effectively a fast forward for
the Timeline. Some presets
start with no particles and
build up to a look. Setting
a higher number of Frames
to Preload skips to the good
part. Zoom doesn’t zoom into
the overall filter, it zooms
into the particles, so you
get motion as part of the
effect. We’ve left it at 100
for this image.
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

STEP SEVEN: Next, click on

the Add Layer icon at the top
left of the Layers panel. In the
Filters panel, we’re going to
select PI Smoke this time,
and then we’ll use Smoke
Fill 01 in the Presets panel.

 52 
 MAXIMUM WORKFLOW

STEP EIGHT: Drag the World

Center on-image control
down to where you want
the smoke in your image,
as shown here.

STEP NINE: This time, we’ll

use Zoom in the Particle
Properties to enlarge the
smoke. It doesn’t look bal-
anced to the image yet ,
but we’ll fix that shortly.
Move the World Center
again, if required.

STEP 10: Next, we’ll expand

the Composite section, and
click on the Tint Color
swatch. From the color panel
that opens, we selected the
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eyedropper, and hovered

the cursor over the fire to
find a point with a suitable
orange color.

 53 
  HOW TO

Step 11

STEP 11: We clicked on that point to add the color to the

smoke, and set the Tint Strength to 100.

Step 12

STEP 12: Next, we set the layer Opacity to 50 to fade the

effect and let the subject show through.
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

STEP 13: Now, Right-click on the PI Smoke layer and

choose Duplicate Layer. Grab the mask from the PI Fire
layer and drop it on this new PI Smoke layer. This gives
the effect that the smoke is behind as well as in front.
Set the layer Opacity to 80.

 54 
 MAXIMUM WORKFLOW

STEP 14: You’ve probably

gathered by now that you
won’t see 1,700 effects
being used here! But we’ll
add just a couple more fil-
ters. Let’s add a new layer,
choose the PI Sci-Fi set in
the Filters panel, and click
on the Gamma Burst preset
in the Presets panel. In the
Parameters panel, we’ll set
the Time to 98 and Zoom
to 129. Move the filter into a
place you think suits. There
are tons of filters that could
work here, but the matching
color tones make this an easy
choice for this image.
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STEP 15: For the final filter,

we’re going to use one of
the older filters, S_NightSky,
located in the Render filters.

 55 
  HOW TO

Start Finish

STEP 16: Finally, we clicked the Add Mask icon and

chose Paint again, and then painted away the new stars
at the bottom of the image. To get the image back into
Photoshop, click the Apply button.

EZ MASKS FOR PHOTOSHOP

To get a mask back to Photoshop, you need to do a little
advance preparation. There’s also a Photoshop bug with
masks and smart objects, so we’ll be doing this with a
normal layer.

STEP ONE: First, we need a normal layer so, in this case,

we’ve duplicated the Background layer and placed it over
the Optics layer from our previous edit. At the bottom of
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

the Layers panel, click on the Add Layer Mask icon (circle
in a square) to add an empty mask to the layer.

STEP TWO: With the new layer’s image thumbnail selected

in the Layers panel, open Optics 2022 from the Filter
menu in Photoshop. To make it easy to get a previously
made mask, choose Yes when the dialog shows asking
if you want to apply previous filters/masks.

 56 

STEP THREE: When Optics opens, click on
one of the previously generated layer masks
(or create a new one) in the Layers panel.
To the right of each mask is an icon of a box
with an upward arrow. Click this to engage
Export Mask.
STEP FOUR: Click Apply to go back to
Photoshop. The original empty mask will
be replaced by the mask from Optics 2022.
The reason for doing this is that you can
create very different mask sets using EZ
Mask compared to the selections available
in Photoshop. The mask can be moved,
 MAXIMUM WORKFLOW
copied, or inverted, as required, on other layers without needing
Optics to edit them.
OPTICAL POWER
In the short space we
have here, it’s impossible
to cover everything. The
Optics 2022 manual is 723
pages long, so all we can
ever hope to do is touch
on the basics. There’s so
much more, such as HUD
filters for adding screens
and dials, or UltraZap for
magical lightning goodness.
Honestly, I’ve never had so
much fun with a plug-in;
and there’ll be a lot of lost
Step Four
time playing with it.
If you haven’t downloaded the trial version, you should really give yourself
the opportunity to play with it. Optics 2022 is available now for $149 for a
new license, or you can subscribe for $99/year or $9/month. If you have
the previous version, you can log into your account for an upgrade offer.
KelbyOne Pro members can get a generous discount via the Discounts
link in the Perks section in their member dashboard. n
KELBYONE .COM
 57 
 IBARIONEX PERELLO
VISUAL STORYTELLING

REDISCOVERY THROUGH PRINTING

I allowed the business of the past few years to put a damper on printing my photographs. The images
found their home in dozens of magazine articles and presentations, but I fell behind creating fine-art
prints of my work. The recent addition of a large-format inkjet printer changed that.
ALL IMAGES BY IBARIONEX PERELLO

Images shared on Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, or even
printed in a magazine result in a fast-and-passive consider-
ation of a photograph. Even when images were published,
multiple deadlines resulted in a postprocessing workflow
that favored speed. I prided myself on producing good
results in a short time. Printing, however, demanded a
different approach.
Holding that first print resulted in a pleasure I’d
forgotten. It also led me to slow down and evaluate my
images differently. Creating a print demands a slower
and thoughtful approach deserving the permanence
of a quality print. It was a pleasure I was happy to
experience again.
Most of my workflow remains the same regardless
of the output. Yet, when it comes to the print, I carefully
consider the viewer’s experience, expecting that they’ll
be looking at it for more than a few seconds.
The visual draws of light and shadow, line and shape,
color, and gesture influenced how I saw a scene and
created a composition. Those same considerations are

 58 

Step One
at play when making global and selective adjustments.
It’s how I control the viewer’s experience of my vision.
THE IMAGE
This image was created for an assignment for Goodwill
in Southern California. The images were meant to be
used primarily for social media and internal digital and
print publications. I didn’t give thought to printing the
work, and only considered adding selects to my website.
The printer’s presence inspired me to print some of my
favorite shots from the series. These were photographs
that I enjoyed as photographs and not as part of the
larger story that I was telling.
A large part of Goodwill’s work is the collecting and
sorting of varieties of items, including clothing, furniture,
electronics, books, and more. They earn income from
the sale of these items in their local stores. These
sales and other income resources provide multiple
services to local communities, including thousands of
job opportunities.
The facility I was assigned to was one of the larger
locations where donations were made. I was amazed
by the vast quantities of items throughout the facility,
all of which had to be sifted and sorted through. Some
bins collected particular items such as pants or shoes,
while others contained various miscellaneous items.
It was in one such bin that I discovered outside the
warehouse where the sight of a doll of the late rapper The
Notorious B.I.G. caught my attention. I was surprised at
 V I S UA L S T O RY T E L L I N G
the sight of it, never having known that such a thing even
existed. I found its appearance odd and funny. I composed
a shot that included a fellow sorting through the bins as
it also provided an essential storytelling element.
The early afternoon light was hard and harsh, making for
a high-contrast scene. The composition, which emphasized
the doll and its white suit, posed an exposure challenge.
There was a risk of overexposure that could blow out
the highlights. I made a few test shots and adjusted my
exposure to retain as much highlight and shadow detail as
possible. The resulting RAW file would have enough data
to produce a workable image, requiring time and attention.
I hadn’t considered printing the photos, but technical
choices made during exposure made a big difference in
printing. [KelbyOne members can click here to download
a smaller DNG version of this image to follow along for
practice purposes only and, even though we’re using Adobe
Camera Raw in the following steps, you can just as easily
follow along using Lightroom Classic (LrC).—Ed.]
STEP ONE: After opening the image in Adobe Camera Raw,
go to the Edit section (LrC: Develop module). Click on the
Browse Profiles icon (three squares and a magnifying glass;
four squares in LrC) to the far right of the Profile drop-
down menu. This launches a panel that contains several
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sets of Adobe profiles and a representative thumbnail for
each profile in each set. Expand the Adobe Raw set, and
select Adobe Neutral, which is the flattest of the various
profiles, an ideal choice for this high-contrast file.
 59 
  HOW TO

STEP TWO: A casual view

of the dark image might
lead you to believe that
it resulted from an inade-
quate exposure, but noth-
ing could be further from
the truth. Though extensive
processing is required, the
choice of exposure, white
balance, and a low ISO
makes producing a qual-
ity image possible. Go to
the Basics panel to apply
several global adjustments
to the image. Set Exposure
to +1.25, Contrast to –3,
Highlights to –21, Shad-
ows to +17, Whites to –1,
and Blacks to –5. These
settings produce a night-
and-day difference.

STEP THREE: The proximi-

ty of the lens to the doll
reduced the apparent
depth of field, which
was controlled using an
ultra-wide -angle lens
and a moderate aperture.
The image has a nice
snap to begin with but
can be improved with
slight adjustments to
midtone contrast. After
increasing the magnifi-
cation of the image to
100%, adjust Texture to
+14 and Clarity +5.

STEP FOUR: Color is an

essential visual draw in
this image. Along with the
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

doll’s white suit, the teddy

bears provide a source of
saturation color that draws
the viewer’s attention to
the lower quarter of the
frame. Tweak this by
increasing Vibrance to
+21 and Saturation to +13.

 6 0 
 V I S UA L S T O RY T E L L I N G

STEP FIVE: The image

is greatly improved yet,
despite the harsh lighting,
the overall image appears
flat. Go to the Curve control
panel (LrC: Tone Curve),
choose the Parametric
Curve option (the first
icon to the right of the
word “Adjust”), and make
a few changes. Increase
the Lights to +22, Darks
to +20, and reduce Shad-
ows to –10. This adjustment
brightens the quarter-tone
highlights and darkens the
quarter-tone shadows with
little impact on the extreme
ends of the tonal range.

STEP SIX: Every RAW file

requires a modest degree
of pre-sharpening. The
adjustment needn’t be
aggressive, as the final
amount of sharpening will
depend on your printing
output. This choice will
consider print size, paper
choice, and image file size.
With the image magnified
to 100%, go to the Detail
panel and increase the
Sharpening (LrC: Amount)
to 50, Noise Reduction (LrC:
Luminance) to 5, and Color
Noise Reduction to 20.

STEP SEVEN: Reds, orang-

es, yellows, and blues are
the dominant colors in
this image, but they need
to be more subtle. Go to
the Color Mixer panel
(LrC: HSL panel) and
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select the Luminance

tab. Decrease Reds to –4,
Oranges to –4, Yellows to
–6, and Blues to –4.

 61 
  HOW TO

STEP EIGHT: A subtle vignette

will deemphasize the edge of
the composition, so go to the
Effects panel and set Vignetting
(LrC: Amount) to –6, Midpoint to
59, Roundness to +45, Feather
to 72, and Highlights to 28.
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

STEP NINE: The image might be sufficient to post on social
media, but it’s intended for print this time. The choice of
a Luster paper will provide excellent color saturation and
contrast, but it might also result in the loss of important
details in the shadows of the woman’s coat. To prevent
that from going too dark, click the Masking icon (gray
circle with dotted outline in the tools on the right) and
click on the Brush option. Adjust the brush options to a
Size of 10, Feather of 68, Flow of 26, and Density of 100.
Then move down to the Light panel and set Exposure to
+0.45, Shadows to +20, and Blacks to +10. Then slowly
paint over the woman’s coat until more details are revealed.
Though the result appears subtle onscreen, it can make
a more significant difference on paper.

 62 
  V I S UA L S T O RY T E L L I N G

STEP 10: There is one problem area in the composition: The striped box immediately STEP 11: The plastic container
below the woman’s right arm is bright enough to distract. To darken this, click on the behind the doll’s left arm is too
Create New Mask button at the top of the Masks panel. From the pop-out screen bright. This adjustment is a
that appears, select the Brush tool. Leave the brush settings as is, but set Exposure challenge, as aggressive dark-
to –0.25, Contrast to +13, Highlights to –4, Shadows to –8, Whites to –8, and Blacks ening of this area will render it
to –8. Slowly paint the box until it’s slightly darker and less of a distraction. an unnatural gray; so, it’s vital to
settle on a healthy compromise.
Increase the magnification of
the image to 100% and then
click Create New Mask again.
Select the Brush tool and set
its Size to 13, Feather to 79, and
make sure that the Auto Mask
control is checked.
In the Light controls, set
Exposure to –0.50, Contrast to
+6, Highlights to –9, Whites to
–12, and Blacks to –16. Care-
fully brush around those bright
areas to darken them. Use these
same settings to tone down the
brighter area of the doll’s coat.
Once done, hold down
the Shift key to change the
Open button to Open Object,
and click it (LrC: Photo>Edit
In>Open As Smart Object in
Photoshop). This will open the
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file in Photoshop as a smart

object, which will allow you to
return to Camera Raw at any
time for revisions.

 63 
  HOW TO

STEP 12: Assuming that

you’re working with a cali-
brated monitor, you can see
how the image will appear
on paper before creating
a print. In Photoshop, go
to View>Proof Setup>
Custom. This control opens
the Customize Proof Condi-
tion window from which you
can select the ICC profile
for the paper you intend
to use to print.
Go to Device to Simulate
to choose the printer, set
Rendering Intent to Relative
Colorimetric, and enable
Black Point Compensation.
Under Display Options,
enable Simulate Paper Color
and then click OK. The result-
ing change should be a close
approximation of what you’ll
see on paper.

Creating these prints has

been fun and rewarding. It
has given me a healthier per-
spective of where I’ve been
and how I’ve grown as a
photographer. It reminds me
of the importance of seeing
my photographs as tangible
objects that I can hold, share,
and appreciate. I understand
it now to be an essential part
of my photographic process
and journey. n
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

Final image

 6 4 
 VICTORIA BAMPTON
LIGHTROOM Q&A
Q. 
I like to shoot with my camera set to B&W so
that the preview on the back of the camera
and the JPEG are B&W. When I imported the
images into Lightroom, I was expecting the
RAW images to be in color, but they’re still in
B&W. Is this normal?
It sounds like your Lightroom defaults are currently
A. 
set to mimic the camera settings, but it’s very easy
to change them to settings of your choice. To set
the same defaults for all RAW files, go to Lightroom
Classic (PC: Edit)>Preferences and click the Presets
tab. Select the default of your choice in the Global
pop-up menu. You have a few options: Adobe Default
uses the Adobe Color profile, so your RAW photos
would be in color even if you selected B&W in the
camera. Camera Settings recognizes the picture style
(e.g., Monochrome) that you selected in the camera
and applies the matching camera profile if it’s available.
Preset, of course, applies the preset of your choice,
so you can choose specific camera settings that you
want Lightroom to apply to new photos.
If you have more than one camera, you can set
a different default for each camera by checking the
Override Global Setting for Specific Cameras checkbox.
Select the camera from the Camera pop-up and
then, using the Default pop-up, select your chosen
default for this particular camera model. Click Create
Default to confirm your choice. The table to the right
shows all of your camera-specific defaults, and the
down-facing arrow at the end of each line allows
you to change or delete the custom default.
These new defaults apply to any new RAW photos
that you import but they won’t automatically update
photos that you’ve already imported. If there are any
photos that you haven’t edited yet, you can select
them in the Grid view and click Reset All in the Quick
Develop panel to apply your new default settings.
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022
 66 
Q. W
 hen I open Lightroom on my desktop,
I don’t see Library, Develop, etc. at the top.
Where are they?
A. If everything looks a bit different, the most likely
reason is that you’ve installed Lightroom instead of
Lightroom Classic. Lightroom is the cloud-based
ecosystem, whereas Lightroom Classic is the tradi-
tional folder-based desktop app. It’s an easy mistake
to make as the names are so similar, so just go back
to the Creative Cloud app and install Lightroom
Classic instead.
Another possibility, if everything else still looks
like Lightroom Classic, is that the Module Picker
may be hidden. You can bring it back by going
to Window>Panels>Show Module Picker or by
clicking the black bar along the top of Lightroom
Classic’s window.
There’s one final possibility, although it’s less
likely. If some of the module names show, you may
have hidden specific modules. It’s a handy option
if you never use the Web module, for example, but
you probably want to keep Library and Develop
showing. To bring them back, Right-click on one of
the other module names in the Module Picker (or
where they should be) and reselect them from the
context-sensitive menu.
Q. 
Can you please explain to me why, when I use
the Spot Removal tool, my image changes to
this black-and-white outline? I need it to go
back to normal.
That black-and-white outline is called Visualize Spots
A. 
and, as the name suggests, it’s designed to help
you identify spots that you might want to remove;
for example, dust spots in the sky are much more

obvious than they are in the full-color photo. There’s
a checkbox and a slider in the toolbar beneath the
photo when you’re in Spot Healing mode. (If you can’t
see the Toolbar, press T.) If you drag the slider to the
right, more dust spots are revealed, and dragging
it to the left hides them. To turn it off, just uncheck
the box or press the A key.
ALL IMAGES BY VICTORIA BAMPTON
Q. I ’m trying to remove a plug-in that I no longer
use, but when I select it in the Plug-in Man-
ager dialog, the Remove button is unavailable.
How do I uninstall it?
A.  Only plug-ins that you’ve installed using the Plug-in
Manager (found under the File menu) can be removed
using the Remove button in the Plug-in Manager
dialog. Many third-party software installers, however,
place their plug-ins in a special Modules folder,
to save you having to install them manually. You
can temporarily disable them from the Plug-in
Manager, but to remove them completely, click
the plug-in’s Show in Finder button (PC: Show
in Explorer) and then move or delete the plug-in
 LIGHTROOM Q&A
using Finder (PC: Explorer). The plug-in disappears
when you restart Lightroom.
Q. I n the Metadata Filter panel, the dates used
to be hierarchical, so I could select a whole
year, a month, or a specific date. Now I have
to select a whole range of dates which is
much harder. How do I get it back to a
hierarchical view?
A.  In the top-right corner of the Date column, there’s
a hidden button that displays a context-sensitive
menu, and you can select Hierarchical in that menu.
It’s only available for a couple of metadata columns.
The other obvious one is keywords, which allows
you to filter keywords as a flat or hierarchical list.
Q. 
In the breadcrumb bar above the Filmstrip it
shows the number of photos, but I’m trying to
understand why one folder is showing “700
of 704” images. The filters are turned off, so
where are the other four photos?
You probably have some stacks in that folder, and
A. 
they’re currently collapsed so the hidden photos
aren’t included in the visible photo count. You can
use the Photo>Stacking>Expand All Stacks command
to open all of the stacks in one go, and then you’ll
be able to see the other four photos. n
KELBYONE .COM
If you have a Lightroom question that you’d like Terry White to
answer in the pages of Photoshop User magazine, send it to
letters@photoshopuser.com.
 67 
 SEÁN DUGGAN
LIGHTROOM TIPS & TRICKS
Last month we looked at collections and collection sets in Lightroom Classic. This month is a continua-
tion of that topic but the focus is on using albums and folders in the cloud-based Lightroom. We’ll begin
with a basic overview and then look at sharing albums for viewing, as well as contributing new photos
and allowing other users to edit your images and create new auto-saved versions.

ALBUMS VS. COLLECTIONS menu where you’ll find an option to add the selected
Let’s get started with a terminology clarification. In the photos to an existing album.
cloud-centric Lightroom, albums are the equivalent of
collections in Lightroom Classic. Folders, which can
be used to organize the albums you create, are the
equivalent of collection sets in Lightroom Classic. If you
open Lightroom and don’t see the albums in the left side
panel, click the Photos icon in the upper left, or tap P to
show/hide that panel.

Keyboard shortcut = P

Folders

CHOOSE HOW ALBUMS AND

Albums FOLDERS ARE DISPLAYED
Next to the Create Albums & Folders plus symbol is
a menu icon with options for how the albums and
folders are displayed in the panel: by Title, Recently
Updated, or Photo Count. You can also choose whether

ORGANIZE ALBUMS WITH FOLDERS

PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

At the top of the Albums panel, click the plus icon to

create either an album or a folder. If an existing folder
is currently active, you have the option to nest the new
album or folder inside it. Using a structure of nested
folders and albums can be an effective way to organize
albums. To add photos to an album, select a range of
thumbnails and drag them onto the album. You can also
select photos and Right-click to display a contextual

 6 8 
  LIGHTROOM TIPS & TRICKS

to display cover images with the albums, or just the album. To remove a selected photo or photos when
album names. you’re viewing the Target album, press the Delete key
(PC: Backspace). The images will be removed from just
OTHER ALBUM OPTIONS that album, but will still be present in All Photos, as well
Right-click on the name of an album or folder for additional as any other albums of which they are a part.
options, including the ability to share an album, rename
it, designate it as the Target album, or store it locally.
Except for Share To, all of these options are available
if you click the three-dot icon in the upper-right above
the thumbnails.

Target Album

STORE ALBUMS LOCALLY

Lightroom stores the full-size versions of your images
on the Lightroom cloud servers. If there’s room on your
device, be that a computer or a mobile device, smart
previews are available when you need to apply edits to
a file and, if not, these are downloaded on an as-needed
basis. Of course, that does require a decent Internet
connection. If you want to be able to work with full-size
files independently of Internet access, you can choose
to designate that a specific album is stored locally (see
the earlier tip “Other Album Options”). If you choose to
store an album locally, you’ll see a dialog informing you
how much space will be required to download the images.
Albums that are stored locally will display a green circular
badge and the photo count will also be shown in green.

Bonus Tip: You can also rename an album by double-

clicking on the album name that’s shown above the
thumbnails in the upper left.

TARGET ALBUMS
When you make an album the Target album using one
of the methods mentioned above, you can add selected
images to it by tapping T on the keyboard. The Target
KELBYONE .COM

album will be displayed with a dark outline around it in

the Albums panel. If you’re working in All Photos view
or in another album that contains the image you just
added, you can tap T again to remove it from the Target

 69 
  HOW TO

You won’t find an actual file with the album name on

your system, so don’t bother looking for it. Any files that
are stored locally will be placed inside a specific file
for the Lightroom program. On Mac, you can find this
in the Pictures folder as a Lightroom Library.lrlibrary
file. On Windows it’s buried a bit deeper at [Username]
\AppData\Local\Adobe\Lightroom CC.
On a Mac, the only way to see the contents of this
file is to Right-click on it and choose Show Package
Contents. For the China Trip 2018 album shown in the
previous illustration, I found the image files in a folder
with a meaningless name (well, meaningless to me), which right above the thumbnails. There are different ways
I only found by checking the Date Modified date, then that an album can be shared, and I’ll cover these below.
in a nested folder for originals organized by the date the
photos were captured. SHARE TO…
Note: Albums are the only way to store specific, This choice is only available by Right-clicking on an
user-designated groups of images locally on your computer. album name. This option is for sharing images to
Storing the album locally doesn’t remove the full-size web-based platforms such as Adobe Portfolio, Blurb,
originals from the Adobe cloud storage; it just provides SmugMug, and others. When you select it, you can
you with full-size copies in case you need to work with choose Add Connection, and then you choose from
them in locations with slow or no Internet bandwidth a list of different web platforms and product vendors.
(just make sure you choose to store the albums locally Once you’ve added a connection, it will show up as a
when you still have good Internet access). sharing choice in the Share To flyout menu when you
In the Local Storage tab of the Adobe Lightroom (PC: Right-click on an album name, as well as in the three-
Edit)>Preferences, you can choose to store all smart dot menu in the upper Right.
previews on your computer, or store a copy of all full-size
originals on your computer (doing this won’t remove the
full-size originals from the cloud storage). When you
choose either of these options, the Required Space info
above these options will be updated.
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

SHARING ALBUMS
One of the advantages of the cloud-based Lightroom is
that albums can be shared very easily with other people,
even if they don’t have an Adobe ID, or don’t have the
Lightroom program installed on their computer or mobile SHARE & INVITE
device. To share an album, just Right-click the album This is probably the sharing option in which most people
name, or you can also click the three dots or the Share will be interested. It can be accessed by Right-clicking on
& Invite icon (the pictograph of a person) at the upper the album name in the Albums panel, or by clicking the

 70 
  LIGHTROOM TIPS & TRICKS

ALL IMAGES BY SEÁN DUGGAN

Share & Invite icon or the three-dot icon

in the upper right above the thumbnails.
In the basic Share & Invite dialog, you Auto-saved Versions
made by others.
can get a shareable link where anyone
with the link can view the album in a web
browser, even if they don’t have Lightroom
or an Adobe ID. In the Invite section, you
can add an email address for the person
with whom you want to share, as well as
specify the level of access you’re extending
to him or her: view only, view and contribute,
or edit and contribute. To share editing
privileges, the person you share with needs

Can View
Can Contribute
Can Edit & Contribute
to have a Creative Cloud subscription
for Lightroom in order to edit an image
in Lightroom for desktop, Lightroom for
mobile, or Lightroom on the web.
created (a new version is saved when the person making the changes
exits the Edit screen). A small circle with their profile photo (if they’ve
added one to their Creative Cloud account) will be displayed on
the thumbnail.
By default, the last edited version of the image, either by you or with
whomever you’ve shared the album, is displayed in the thumbnail grid, as
well as the full image detail view, but you can click on any other version
to make that the current view. You can also promote an auto-saved
version to a named version by choosing it in the Versions panel, clicking
the three-dot “more” icon, and choosing Save as Named Version. n

SHARE & INVITE:

EDIT AND CONTRIBUTE
When you share an album and assign edit
and contribute access, the person you share
with can apply edits to the shared album
images, as well as contribute new photos.
Edits to the photo made by the person
with whom you’ve shared the album are
automatically saved as versions, making
it easy to review the changes they’ve
made, or revert to an earlier version if
you so choose.
To review different edit versions made
by others with whom you’ve shared the
album, click on the Edit icon in the upper
KELBYONE .COM

right (or tap E on the keyboard), and then

click Versions below the Edit panels. Once
you see the Versions panel, select Auto to
see versions that have been automatically

 71 
 BRYAN O’NEIL HUGHES
GOING MOBILE

ADOBE RUSH IS VIDEO EDITING FOR ALL

Today’s cameras and smartphones all generate both beautiful photos and high-resolution videos.
Further, social platforms allow for sharing of both still and video files. Video is a bigger piece of our
lives than ever before, and Adobe’s mobile solution, Adobe Premiere Rush, solves both anywhere access
and usability. While applications, such as iMovie, are incredibly powerful, they’re constrained to the
Apple ecosystem and don’t consider multiplatform workflows; plus, they lack integration with other
creative products or storage.
ALL IMAGES BY BRYAN O’NEIL HUGHES

Adobe Rush is a friendly, nonlinear video editor that allows
you to ingest and intersperse video and still images, add
sound, leverage powerful motion graphics presets, and do
some advanced color grading and audio work, all in a
cloud-hosted file that can seamlessly integrate with Premiere
Pro (should you want to take things much, much further).
Rush is available on iOS (iPhone and iPad), Android, Mac,
and Windows. Today we’ll look at Rush on an iPad, which
is how I import, store, edit, and share my drone video files.
EDITING A VIDEO PROJECT
Let’s work through a video project and take a look at
what’s possible in Rush.
STEP ONE: Ingesting video is as simple as launching
Rush, tapping the + icon, and adding media. This can
be any of your footage (video or still) from a connected
drive, card, local storage, or Creative Cloud (Rush even
supports Dropbox).

72
  GOING MOBILE

STEP TWO: Once you have a project, you can continue

adding any of these elements from the media picker
at the top left and reordering them. You can select
a clip and cut it where the playhead sits, move it by
dragging, or delete it by tapping the trash can icon.
Adding and assembling video clips into a narrative is
intuitive and forgiving (undo can be found in the upper
right-hand corner).

STEP THREE: Here, I added a title slide, which can be

animated over time. The text is editable, and the parameters
(time, duration, placement, etc.) are all adjustable.

STEP FOUR: Editing color of video or still content will be

familiar to anyone who has used Lightroom or Photoshop:
Simply select that piece of your video timeline and tap
the Color button (three overlapping circles) in the toolbar
on the right to make adjustments. Within the Color
workspace, you’ll find a variety of powerful presets. My
workflow is to select the preset I like best and then move
into Edit to tweak the details. Two important things to
note here are:

1. Y
 ou can create your own preset based
upon any changes.

2. B
 y default, these changes are applied
to other clips.

KELBYONE .COM

73
  HOW TO
STEP FIVE: You can adjust the speed of any video clip
by selecting the appropriate clip and then choosing the
Speed button (it looks like a speedometer, located below
the Color button). This will allow you to ramp the speed
up or down. Remember, a high frame rate at capture will
give you considerably better results (more frames equal
more control of speed).
STEP SIX: Adding audio is, for the most part, simple and
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022
powerful. You select the Audio button (below the Speed
button) and choose from a collection of prepackaged
soundtracks, sound effects, and loops. If you want to
add your own media, you can return to the media picker
that we discussed earlier in the upper-left of Rush’s
screen, but this is where it gets a little confusing (at
least to me). To navigate to your music library files or
your own audio, select Your Media in the media picker
74
(as opposed to Audio), and then in Locations, you go to
Audio. If you see songs listed, but not available, you’ll
need to purchase them or find the corresponding file.
Audio in Rush took me a while to understand, but I was
brand-new to the workflow when I started using the app
for drone footage.
STEP SEVEN: As you add multiple video clips and perhaps
stills, you’ll want to consider how they transition between
segments, which can be found by tapping the Transitions
button (three lines with a lightning bolt located just above
the Color button on the right). Unlike Color and Speed, you
can choose transitions simply based on where the playhead
sits, and then if you want to move it, you simply drag it
to where you like in the timeline. Within these transitions,
you can elect to pan and zoom and automatically reframe
the content, both easy but powerful.

STEP EIGHT: Graphics are found alongside type in the
corresponding button near the upper right. In addition
to Titles and Transition Graphics, you can choose an
Overlay. Overlays are like layers, only they animate over
time. These are fast, powerful ways to bring a fresh and
impactful change to your video clips (see opposite page).
That covers the basics: add stills or video clips; cut
length; reorder; edit color; play with titles, graphics, and
transitions; and perhaps add some sound. Pretty easy.
FILE HANDLING
Now let’s dedicate a moment to file handling (part of what
makes Rush special).Your Rush projects are synched to
the cloud, which means that when you open Rush on
your phone, desktop, or any other device you’re signed
into, you can access any project you’ve made. This allows
you to edit or publish from anywhere and always have
access to your original.
This file handling and Rush’s forward-thinking archi-
tecture also allow you to integrate with Premiere Pro
 GOING MOBILE
seamlessly. The workflow here is simply to launch
Premiere on your Mac or Windows desktop and open
your Rush project. All the pieces, colors, and edits will
be maintained, and you’ll now be jumping into a much
more powerful workflow.
Getting back to Rush: if you want to go deeper on the
basics, the learn tab (available in the home screen) will
take you to some fantastic resources.
For me, Rush has been a great inroad into video editing;
I’ve found the basic assembly and timeline editing to be
intuitive and have been impressed with the results. As
with photography, the quality of capture, lighting, and
stability of your camera all factor in. Then there’s audio
(absent in drone footage) and the fact that video editing
is time-consuming (the more you shoot, the longer it
takes to edit!) but, if you’re new to video, I think you’ll
enjoy Rush. To see some of my drone work with Rush,
follow me on Instagram. n
KELBYONE .COM
75
 SCOTT KELBY
PHOTOSHOP FOR LIGHTROOM USERS

CREATIVE SHARPENING
You’re probably wondering, “Can there really be more to sharpening than we’ve already learned in these
past few issues?” We’ve learned the classic Unsharp Mask, we’ve learned about High Pass sharpening,
and even Smart Sharpen. Can there be more? There’s always more in Photoshop, and today we’re
looking at a different way of thinking about sharpening.
ALL IMAGES BY SCOTT KELBY

So far, the sharpening we’ve applied is absolutely critical.
It’s a part of our production workflow (every photo gets
sharpened—every single one!), so the type of sharpen-
ing we’ve learned is that essential, kind-of-mandatory
sharpening we do to all our images.
There’s another style of sharpening, however, and this
one is optional. It’s called “creative sharpening,” and it can
be used as a device to lead the viewer’s eye to where you
want it to go within the image, or to make certain parts
of your image stand out. We do this by “spot sharpening”
those areas. There are a number of ways to do this, and
I’ll show you a few different options so you can choose
which one you like best, if you decide to do this style of
optional sharpening.
OPTION 1: PAINTING SHARPENING
IN CAMERA RAW
This version of creative sharpening is done in of Camera
Raw, so you can either do this after you’ve opened the
RAW image in Camera Raw, or you can do this afterward

 76 

(including on a JPEG, TIFF, or PSD
image) by going under the Filter menu
and choosing Camera Raw Filter.
STEP ONE: Start by clicking on the
Masking icon (gray circle with dotted
outline in the toolbar on the right),
and then when the menu of masking
tools appears, click on Brush.
Step One
Step Three
 PHOTOSHOP FOR LIGHTROOM USERS
STEP TWO: Scroll down the list of
adjustment sliders for the Brush until
you reach the Detail panel, where
you’ll see a slider for Sharpness.
Drag this slider to the right, as shown
here (the further to the right you
drag it, the more sharpening will
be applied, so don’t go too crazy
with this).
Step Two
STEP THREE: Now you’ll use the
Brush to paint over any areas that
you want to stand out to the viewer.
In the example shown below, I want
my subject’s eyes to be the thing
that draws the viewer in. Here, I’ve
painted over just her eye on the right
(you can see my brush cursor over
her eye). Of course, you’d paint over
both eyes, but this is just the spot
sharpening that I’m talking about,
where you’re sharpening an area to
draw the viewer to where you want
them to look first.
OPTION 2: USING THE
SHARPEN TOOL
Yes, there’s actually a tool in Photo­
shop just for sharpening. It’s right
there in the Toolbar (nested with the
Blur tool), and its icon looks like a tall
triangle (as shown on the next page).
For a long time, the Sharpen tool
was absolutely awful but, a few years
back, Adobe completely updated the
tool with a totally new mathematical
KELBYONE .COM
 77 
  HOW TO

algorithm, and now

it works really well.
You just have to be
careful not to overdo
it (like most things in
life, right?).
Here’s our origi-
nal RAW image and,
after doing basic
sharpening, there
are a few areas that
I’d like to stand out
more; in particular,
the graphics on the
jet. They’re just not
as sharp and crisp
as I’d like.
So, I used the
Sharpen tool to paint
over those text and
logo areas on the
jet to make them
really sharp and
draw the viewer’s
attention (I usually
paint in a circular
motion). Here you
can see how much
sharper those text
areas are now, but
what’s nice is that
creatively sharp -
ening those areas
makes the entire jet
look sharper.
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

Before After

 78 

OPTION 3: HIGH PASS MASKED SHARPENING
Here we’re going to apply some High Pass sharpening
(the same one we learned earlier in this column), and
then we’re going to hide it behind an inverted layer
mask and paint over just the areas we want to be sharp
(it sounds complicated, but it’s super easy).
STEP ONE: First, duplicate the Background layer (press
Command-J [PC: Ctrl-J]), and then go under Photoshop’s
 PHOTOSHOP FOR LIGHTROOM USERS
Filter menu, under Other, and choose High Pass (as
shown here).
STEP TWO: When the High Pass dialog appears, drag the
Radius slider all the way to the left so the layer is solid
gray. Then, slowly drag it to the right until you see the
edges in your image start to appear clearly (as shown
below). Now click OK.
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 79 
  HOW TO

STEP THREE: Then, to get rid of that

gray, but have the sharpening effect
appear on your image, go up near
the top-left of the Layers panel and
change the layer blend mode from
Normal to Hard Light (as shown
here). The only problem is this adds
sharpening to the entire image, but
we just want to have the sharpening
appear in certain places (for example,
we don’t want to sharpen the clouds),
but we’ll fix that in the next step.
Step Four

STEP FOUR: Hold the Option (PC:

Alt) key and click on the Add Layer
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

Mask icon (circle in a square) at the

bottom of the Layers panel. This adds
a black mask to this layer (called an
inverted layer mask) that completely
hides the sharpening layer from
view. So now your image looks like
it did before you added that High
Pass sharpening.

 80 

STEP FIVE: To add your creative sharpening, get the Brush
tool (B) from the Photoshop Toolbar, press D to set white
as your Foreground color, and now paint over any areas
where you want that high level of sharpening. Tip: To
quickly change the size of your brush, use the Bracket
keys ( [ ]) on your keyboard.
In this case, I painted over the grid on the bottom of
the building on the left, and then I painted over the glass
Before
 PHOTOSHOP FOR LIGHTROOM USERS
on the sides of the buildings to make those areas extra
sharp so they stand out to the viewer.
Okay, that’s three different ways to apply creative sharp-
ening, just to get you up and running on the idea. This is a
really valuable creative tool for leading your viewers’ eyes
to where you want them to engage first. Our Photoshop
journey continues in the next issue. See you then! ☺ n
KELBYONE .COM
After
 81 
You’ve likely heard the old saying “One man’s trash is another
man’s treasure.” The lesson in this adage is extremely relevant
to photographers; it’s all about how you look at the thing or
moment to which you’re assigning potential. Sometimes we
have complete control over the scenes that we compose
but, in other cases, it’s like the wild west: how fast can you
get your finger on the trigger and pull? I’ve edited so many
images in my career as a retoucher and production artist
that I’m always trying to see the greatest potential in an image.
If you’ve ever studied successful image makers over the decades,
you’ll notice they seem to have just the right amount of content
in their compositions to tell the story and keep your attention
where it should be.
 Today, we can greatly control our compositions through

Photo by Brian Yurasits on Unsplash

postprocessing and editing. Although there are hundreds
of well-established techniques to focus the attention of
your audience, such as contrast, saturation, composition,
etc., in this article we’re going to dive into removing the
elements of an image that might be considered “junk,”
that distract from its potential. Before we get started, I’d
like to offer a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the
famous journalist, poet, aviator, and French laureate who
wrote the well-known children’s story The Little Prince.
I believe this is at the core of what helps us decide how
much we edit and craft our work.

...perfection is finally attained

not when there is no longer anything to add,
but when there is no longer anything to take away…

– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Before we even begin discussing tools and controls, we

should identify the ways to go about removing elements
within an image: cover it up, or abstract the detail you
want gone from the image.

CAN I COVER IT UP
WITH SOMETHING ELSE?
The most common way of removing elements from your
image is to cover it up, but it’s often dependent on having
enough material within the image from which to borrow.
Here’s a simple example of that in this image of floating
garbage that you can find on Unsplash.com.
There’s so much water available around the cup that
there would be no issue using surrounding pixels to replace
the cup. Don’t forget the reflections, though! So often
the way a viewer quickly identifies that part of a picture
was removed is because the editor forgot details such
as reflections, texture shifts, differing sharpness levels,
or similar items. Notice in the image above that it’s not
just the reflection that could give it away, but a series of
ripples coming off the cup, accentuating the fact that a
solid object is there in the water.
Using the Patch tool (nested below the Spot Healing
Brush tool [J] in the Toolbar), we can draw a basic
selection around the cup, reflection, and surrounding
ripples and borrow from the neighboring water in the
ABSTRACT VS. PATTERNED
The reason the Patch tool is an appropriate choice in
this instance is that the surface properties of the water
are very abstract in detail: sharp, focused, but irregular.
There’s no pattern or specific geometric forms coming
from the water. If we had chosen to use the Clone Stamp
tool (S), we could have ended up with either hard edges
from the brush circles or blurry/foggy areas where the
replacement occurred.
BLENDING
The Patch, Healing Brush, and Spot Healing Brush
tools all have auto-blending capabilities that take a
lot of the hard work out of removing elements from
an image. Because of this, though, you need to think
about the area from which you’re borrowing pixels. In
the sample image of the cup, even though there’s a
lot of water in the image, the entire top half and even
some parts of the water to the right of the cup are out
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shot. The green area in the image above represents the of focus. This makes all those areas a bad choice from
selection that was made with the Patch tool; the red area which to borrow pixels. In Photoshop, it’s always easier
represents where we dragged the selection to borrow to blur pixel detail than it is to sharpen something that’s
pixels to cover up the cup. out of focus.

 83 
 83 
 DISTRACT FROM YOUR EDITS
Whenever you’ve patched or healed a larger area, there’s
always something that can give away your little secret.
But, if you layer in more elements from the surrounding
pixels to distract from the fact that something was there
in the first place, it makes it hard for the human mind to
notice any minuscule shifts in detail, texture, etc. In this
case, there are several bubbles floating on the surface
of the water from which we can borrow to drop a detail
or two where the cup originally was. This helps “sell the
edit” to the viewer.
To ensure you don’t copy a bubble so many times
ABSTRACT THE JUNK!
It does require a certain amount of skill to cut something
from a picture and replace it with neighboring pixels.
The textures, colors, tonality, etc. are all factors to be
considered. Occasionally, though, there’s nothing offensive
in the image that needs to be removed (thanks, Uncle
Jim, for photobombing every wedding photo), but rather
the “junk” is distracting to the focal point of the image.
Simply put, it’s just “visual noise.” In these instances,
you can consider using filters and other effects to help
reduce their presence in the image. Here’s an example.

Photo by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash

it looks fake, take advantage of the Clone Source
panel (Window>Clone
Source) that allows you
to reduce the size of the
source you’re cloning with
the Clone Stamp. Reduc-
ing the larger details to
smaller details and placing
just a select few where
the cup once was helps
with successfully hiding
the edit.

Before

In this image (that you can find on Unsplash by

clicking here), all the right ingredients are present for a
good image: motion, drama, leading lines, and more. But
there’s so much going on in the background, the seats,
signs, etc., that the viewer could easily be distracted
from the key subjects of the image: the athletes.
In the revised version on the next page, you can see
that by using a blurring technique we accomplish two
things: First, we take away the distracting level of detail

 8 4 
that was originally in the background. Blurring those
lines and edges of the seating pattern helps the viewer
ignore what’s going on in the background. The human
mind likes to identify shapes and forms as rapidly as it
can, which is known as the Gestalt theory. So reducing
detail in “junk” parts of the image is a great way to
modify an image without having to use compositing
or retouching techniques. Secondly, the filter choice
in this example helps accentuate what ’s actually
happening in the scene: they’re running fast, so this
filter illustrates the motion of the runners.
After
SO HOW DO WE DO IT?
STEP ONE: Using the menu command Select>Subject,
Adobe Sensei will start by providing a basic auto-created
selection of all the runners.
STEP TWO: Review the quality of the auto selection and
clean up any parts of the subjects that are missing in the
selection. In this case, we can use the Object Selection
tool (W), which combines the legacy controls of the
traditional Lasso tool (where you can hold Shift to add to
or Option [PC: Alt] to subtract from the existing selection)
with the same machine-learning abilities of
the Select>Subject engine we used in Step
One. So you can draw a loose selection around
the part you want to add or subtract, and
Photoshop will auto-generate a selection for
that part. (If you haven’t played with these
selection features, you can learn more about
them from my past “The Perfect Selection”
column in Photoshop User.)
STEP THREE: Although this isn’t necessary for this tech-
nique, it’s a step that fits into the best-practices category
in case something happens with your selection when
you’re working on an image. Go to Select>Save Selection
and click OK. This will produce an alpha channel, saved
in your Channels panel (Window>Channels). Anytime
you take extra effort to create and refine a selection,
it’s a good idea to save it so you can recall it at a later
stage, if needed.
STEP FOUR: Right-click on the image layer in the
Layers panel and choose Convert to Smart Object
(or go to Layer>Smart Objects>Convert to Smart
Object). This will enable you to make edits to your
image using smart filters, which keeps the effect
editable and nondestructive.
STEP FIVE: Make sure your selection is still active. If it
isn’t, load it from Select>Load Selection (you did save
it in Step Three, right?). Inverse the selection by going
to Select>Inverse because we want to apply the blur
effect to everything but the runners.
STEP SIX: To create the motion effect, we’ll use Path Blur,
which you can find under Filter>Blur Gallery>Path Blur.
You’ll see a blue arrow appear in your image. This line
orients the direction of the path blur. Start by dragging
the white dots at each end of the arrow to rotate and
position it, as well as setting it to the length and angle
that you want the path blur to follow.
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Before adjusting any of the Path Blur settings in the
Blur Tools panel, uncheck the option labeled Centered
Blur. This is important so that the blur follows the arrow
and goes from right to left rather than blurring both
 85 
 directions. This subtle difference is what allows the edit STEP EIGHT: This next step is a little bit meta. If you want
to be more realistic, because a photographer would “drag to adjust and blend in the mask for the effect, click on
the lens” following the runners, and we want the blur to the Smart Filters mask to make sure that it’s targeted. In
emulate that movement. the menu, go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Set the Angle
Once you have this set correctly, adjust the Speed of so that it’s parallel to the lines of the running lanes in
your path blur so it’s abstracting the background detail the image. In this example, we set the Angle to 3° and
enough that it’s no longer an issue. For a more realistic the blur Distance to 70 px.
lens-drag blur effect, be sure to turn up Taper and you’ll
notice the Path Blur dissolves over the length of the
blue path.
This may be enough for removing junk detail, but if
you want a tracing contour effect mixed in, the additional
settings found under the Motion Effects panel can add
another dimension to this edit. Experiment with the
settings for Strobe Strength and Strobe Flashes. The
number of flashes creates a number of ghost/contour
traces that can be mixed with the blur.

STEP SEVEN: Now, when you click OK at the top of the

Blur Gallery interface, you should notice that your smart
object image layer has a Smart Filter with a mask attached
to it that was created using
the selection of the subjects.
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

This mask dictates where the

filter is applied to the image,
not to be confused with a layer
mask that affects the visible
pixels on a layer. Anywhere
that’s white in the smart filter
mask is where the Path Blur
effect will be applied.

 86 
 It’s worth noting that earlier we men- STEP ONE: First up, we’ll

Photo by Diana Parkhouse on Unsplash

tioned that blurring in both directions would
cause a problem. Unfortunately, Path Blur
isn’t available to use on masks! Because
the Motion Blur is only affecting the mask,
however, we’re going to move the mask to the
left using the Move tool until it blends and
aligns in a way that we like. For this image,
we moved the mask left approximately 35
px (with the Move tool active, tap the Left
Arrow key to move it one pixel at a time,
or simply drag with the Move tool), which
is half the distance of the Motion Blur we
applied to the mask. This offset makes up
for the bidirectional blur.
remove the deer on the
right. So, why not just use
the Spot Healing Brush?
Because you’d most likely
get a result as shown below.
So what happened?
With the Spot Healing
Brush, you paint over the
pixels you want to replace, and then Photoshop evaluates the image
to find an area from which to sample and uses the Content-Aware
engine to blend and replace those pixels. It often does a great job, but
sometimes it grabs unwanted pixels, like we see in the result below.

The end result is a convincing illustrative

photo effect that reduces the background
distractions without having to cut anything
out or patch any pixels with compositing
techniques. There are a variety of blur-
ring techniques available through filters in
Photoshop, which means you have a variety
of ways to abstract details in an image, based
on the context of the image. Play with Lens
Blur or Field Blur for when you want to blur
backgrounds or foreground elements.

CONTROLLING REMOVAL
WITH CONTENT-AWARE
Earlier in the article, we showed a simple
example of removing garbage floating on
water using the Healing Brush tools in
Photoshop, but there are often times when
those tools don’t give you the results you
desire. Using the Patch tool and Clone Stamp
worked in that image because there were no
other elements or artifacts other than the
water. But what happens when you have a
few more things going on in your image?
In the following image, which is also from
Unsplash, you can see the photographer
nailed a great moment with the deer looking
straight at the lens. Perfect! But there’s also What about the Patch or Healing Brush tools, which allow you to
another deer running through the scene that target the sample replacement pixels? Well, based on the scale of
pulls our attention away from the moment everything, you’d only be able to borrow pixels from the left side of
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with the main figure. It’s still a great capture the image, and that would introduce more highlight pixels from that
because all of the ingredients are there, but break in the trees in the background. Those light pixels on the left
let’s remove any areas that are taking away are already competing with the deer in the middle, so we’re going
the image’s greater potential. to want to remove those as well, but we’ll do that after the deer edit.

 87 
 STEP TWO: To remove the deer, let’s use
Content-Aware Fill. Before we activate
Content-Aware Fill, start by using the Lasso
tool (L) to make a loose selection around
the deer we want to remove, as shown here.

STEP THREE: With the selection made, go

to Edit>Content-Aware Fill. This will bring
up an interface that gives you more control
over the areas that are being sampled for
replacing the selected area. This isn’t like
cloning where it’s a straight copy, but rather
you’re dictating which pixels Photoshop
can evaluate and sample to generate the
new pixels to fill the selection.

In the Content-Aware Fill workspace,
you’ll see a view of the working file on
the left, and a preview of what the fill
replacement will look like on the right.
In the Content-Aware Fill panel, set the
Indicates drop-down menu to Excluded
Area so that everything that has a color
overlay will be ignored for sampling.
Using the Sampling Brush tool (B) at
the top left, paint over the main deer in the
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022
to fill content with a rotated or curved pattern, you could try the different
strength settings in the Rotation Adaptation drop-down menu, or if a
background was a texture or repeating pattern with perspective, you
could check the Scale box so Content-Aware Fill auto-adapts to the
size difference. This gives great results in our overall image.
Another important setting is the Output To drop-down menu.
Output to New Layer is handy for being nondestructive with your
editing but, for our next step, you’ll need to merge the output and
the original image layer.

center. This mask instructs the sampling THAT DISTRACTING HIGHLIGHT

engine to ignore these pixels. That’s why
the preview doesn’t give us a strange
floating head like we had before.
There are additional settings that you
can experiment with here to get different
results. For example, if you were trying
BREAK IN THE TREES
We’re going to use the Patch tool for this edit. If you output the result of
the Content-Aware Fill to a new layer, press Shift-Command-Option-E
(PC: Shift-Ctrl-Alt-E) to create a stamped merged layer of all the visible
layers, and then move this layer to the top of the layer stack. Otherwise,
the Patch tool will try to sample the deer we removed, which is still on
the Background layer.

 8 8 
STEP FOUR: With the stamp layer active,
start by selecting the area with the bright
highlights on the left. Take notice in the
screenshot shown here that the selection
also includes a portion of the grass. Anytime
you’re using the Patch tool, it will struggle to
blend pixel values directly along edges with
differing contrasts. So rather than selecting
up to the edge of the grass, you’ll get better
results if you go past that edge.
STEP FIVE: Now when you click-and-drag
the selection with the Patch tool over to
the right-hand side, you’ll borrow pixels
from the area where the deer was recently
Final image
removed. Now you’re cloning from an area that had been replaced
with Content-Aware Fill!
A good tip to remember is when dragging the Patch selection
to a new spot, use the preview in the selection to try to line up any
edges. In this case, that would be the section of grass at the bottom.
STEP SIX: Now that we’ve removed all the distractions that were taking
away from the frame around the deer staring at the camera, we can
begin the tonal work. In the final version, we made some minimal
tonal adjustments around the face to brighten it up, converted it to
black-and-white, added a vignette, and slightly warmed the tones over
the black-and-white effect.
You can see that, by removing the break in the trees on the left, the
deer now has the strongest and brightest pixels in the image, and that
helps draw your eye back to the deer anytime you look away. With all
the extra image area around the deer, this shot could easily be made
into a square print or even cropped to a portrait image.
And that’s the point of
“junk removal.” It’s less about
removing things (although
sometimes that’s necessary
with photobombing relatives)
and more about increasing
the signal and reducing the
noise in an image.
If you found this article
interesting, please check
out my other articles and
courses for KelbyOne where
I go deeper on masking,
selections, tone and color
editing, and much more.
KELBYONE .COM
Happy “Photochoppin’!” n
 89 
 COREY BARKER
PHOTOSHOP DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

CUSTOM DISPLACEMENT EFFECTS

It’s fun to revisit effects I created years ago to see if they still hold up or if they can be enhanced in some
way. Back in my early days of “Down & Dirty Tricks,” I did a water displacement effect that I want to use
in this tutorial as an example to show you how you can go back and expand on something you created
a long time ago and perhaps even discover something new. Here, we’ll build custom displacement maps
for a stylized water-distorting effect.

 90 
  PHOTOSHOP DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

STEP ONE: First we need a subject.

It’s fun to experiment with this effect
on different types of images but we’ll
keep things somewhat simple here as
we have an Adobe Stock image of a
model on a white background, which
should make it easier to extract her.
If you’d like to download the low-res
watermarked version of this image to
follow along, click this link, log in with
your Adobe ID, and click the Save to
Library button. Double-click the image in
the Libraries panel (Window>Libraries)
to open it in Photoshop.
To make it easier to work with the
image, increase the resolution of the
practice file. (We normally don’t rec-
ommend enlarging images, but this
is only for practice purposes.) Go to
Image>Image Size, turn on the Resample
checkbox, select Preserve Details 2.0
from the Resample drop-down menu, set
©Adobe Stock/Alexander Y

the Width to 3,000 pixels, and click OK.

STEP TWO: To begin the extraction

process, go under the Select menu
and choose Subject. After a little bit
of Photoshop wizardry the selection
is created. Go up to the Options Bar
and click the Select and Mask button,
or go under the Select menu again and
choose Select and Mask.

STEP THREE: Since the background

is white, set the View mode in the
Properties panel to On Black (A) and
the Opacity to 100%. Select the Refine
Edge Brush tool (R) in the toolbar on the
left and use the Left and Right Bracket
keys on your keyboard to quickly change
the brush size as needed. You can see
a few areas around her hair where the
white backdrop is still showing through.
Just dab those areas with the brush to
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clear them away. Continue to paint over

any other areas of the hair or the rest
of the subject where needed to remove
the original white background.

 91 
  HOW TO

STEP FOUR: Once you’re

done painting the adjust-
ments, go back over to the
Properties panel and set
Smooth to 1. Then scroll
down and activate Decon-
taminate Colors. While the
background is only white,
turning on Decontaminate
Colors and lowering its
Amount slider to around
25% not only cleans up the
edges but it also helps with
blending around her hair.
Finally, set the Output To
drop-down menu to New
Layer with Layer Mask, and
click OK.

STEP FIVE: We now have

the subject extracted with
a layer mask, but in order
to retain the layer mask
and be able to edit the
distortion at any time, we’ll
need to convert this layer
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

into a smart object. So just

Right-click the layer in the
Layers panel and choose
Convert to Smart Object in
the contextual menu. You
should see a smart object
icon at the bottom right of
the layer thumbnail.

 92 
 PHOTOSHOP DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

STEP SIX: Create a new

document in which to
build the final image by
going to the File menu
and choosing New. Set
the Width to 1400 pixels,
Height to 2000 pixels,
Resolution to 300 ppi,
a n d th e B a c k g ro u n d
Contents to White. Click
OK or Create.

STEP SEVEN: Next, go and

grab the smart object layer
with the Move tool (V) and
drag it into this new canvas;
hold down the Shift key
before you drop the layer
so the subject lands cen-
tered in the canvas. Press
Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) for
Free Transform, and scale
and position the subject
in the composition. Press
Enter to commit the trans-
formation. Double-click the
subject layer’s name in the
Layers panel and rename
it “Fitness Girl.”

STEP EIGHT: In the Layers

panel, create a new blank
layer by clicking the plus
icon next to the trash can
at the bottom of the Layers
panel, and then drag the
new layer below the sub-
ject layer. Here’s where
you choose a background
color. Click on the Fore-
ground color swatch near
the bottom of the Toolbar
to open the Color Picker.
When I created the origi-
nal version of this project,
I used a blue background
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but this time I’m using

green. Choose whatever
color suits your subject,
and click OK.

 93 
  HOW TO

STEP NINE: Press Option-

Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace)
to fill the new layer with
the Foreground color. Then
click on the Add a Layer
Style icon ( ƒx) at the bottom
of the Layers panel and
choose Gradient Overlay.
In the Layer Style dialog,
click on the Gradient pre-
view thumbnail to open the
Gradient Editor; select the
Black, White gradient in the
Basics folder; and click OK
to close the Gradient Editor.
Then use the settings shown
here to create a subtle color
variation. We’ll add more to
the background later, but for
now this base color will do
for visibility sake. Click OK
in the Layer Style dialog.

STEP 10: Open the water

©Adobe Stock/Pineapple studio

image you wish to use (you

can find this image from
Adobe Stock by clicking
here and then download
the low-res version, open
it in Photoshop, and then
resize it as described in Step
One). Again it helps if the
water is on a white back-
ground as it is here. I like
this stylized look not just
because of the spiral effect
but also because all the
subtle waves in the water
give Photoshop more areas
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

that it can distort. If you’re

using the Adobe Preview
image, go to Image>Image
Rotation>180°.

 94 
  PHOTOSHOP DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

STEP 11: Remove the color from the water by pressing

Shift-Command-U (PC: Shift-Ctrl-U), and then press
Command-I (PC: Ctrl-I) to invert the image values. Now
it just looks like water on a black background. We want
to extract this using a luminance-based selection but
let’s first make it a little brighter with more detail.

STEP 12: Press Shift-Delete (PC: Shift-Backspace) to

open the Fill dialog. Set the Contents drop-down menu
to White and, in the Blending section, set the Mode to
Soft Light and lower the Opacity to 75%. Click OK.

STEP 13: Open the Channels panel (Window>Channels),

hold down the Command (PC: Ctrl) key, and click on any
of the individual RGB channels to create a selection of
the highlights. The combined RGB channel is a tad darker
than the individual channels, which means they have more
detail. Here I Command-clicked (PC: Ctrl-clicked) the Blue
channel. Once the selection is active go to the Layers panel,
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and create a new blank layer. Press D then X to set the

Foreground color to white, and then press Option-Delete
(PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the active selection with white.
That’s using luminance to extract water!

 95 
  HOW TO

STEP 14: The next step is

to drag the extracted water
element to the working file
using the Move tool. Use
Free Transform (Command-T
[PC: Ctrl-T]) to scale and
position the water around
the subject bearing in mind
the image will be distorted
where the water overlays
the subject. You can see
why this subject works
pretty well with this water
element. Press Enter when
done to commit the change,
and then drag this layer to
the top of the layer stack in
the Layers panel.

STEP 15: Now that we’ve

established where we want
the water effect to appear
in the image, we’ll use that
to make the displacement
maps. Yes, plural. You’ll
see why in a minute. Start
by going under the Image
menu and choosing Dupli-
cate to create a copy of
this image.

STEP 16: Delete all the

layers in the duplicate file
except the water element
and the Background layer.
Click on the Background
layer in the Layers panel
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

to make it active, and press

Shift-Delete (PC: Shift-Back-
space) to open the Fill
dialog. Set the Contents to
50% Gray, Mode to Normal,
Opacity to 100%, and click
OK. Rename the water layer
“Main Splash.”

 96 
 PHOTOSHOP DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

STEP 17: Go under the

Image menu and choose
Duplicate once again to
create a copy of the Main
Splash image. Once created,
select the water element
layer, and lock its transpar-
ency in the Layers panel
by clicking the first icon to
the right of the word “Lock.”
Press D to set the Fore-
ground color to black, and
then fill the layer with black
by pressing Option-Delete
(PC: Alt-Backspace). For
this one, lower the layer
Opacity to around 85%.

STEP 18: Go back to the

white displacement map file
and select the Main Splash
layer. Press Command-E
(PC: Ctrl-E) to merge the
water element with the gray
Background layer. Go under
the Filter menu, to Blur,
and choose Surface Blur.
Set both the Radius and
Threshold to 5 pixels, which
will smooth out any subtle
noise in the image, and
click OK. Go to File>Save
As, select Photoshop for
the Format, and save the
image as “splash_displace_
white” to your desktop or
preferred folder.
Repeat this step for
the black version of the
splash, except name it
“splash_displace_black .”
Displacement works by
pushing white pixels up
and to the left and pushing
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black pixels down and to

the right. By creating two
maps we can control each
direction separately.

 97 
  HOW TO
STEP 19: Back in the main image, click on the Fitness
Girl smart object layer in the Layers panel. Go under
the Filter menu, to Distort , and choose Displace.
Normally this would take some trial and error to get
the displacement just right because, sadly, it still
has no preview. Because the layer is a smart object,
however, Displace will be applied as a smart filter,
allowing you to change settings even after they ’ve
been applied.
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 98 
Here we’ve set the Horizontal Scale to 100 and Vertical
Scale to just 50 since most of the water movement is
horizontal. Keep the other settings as is and click OK.
You’ll be prompted to locate the displacement map file.
Start by navigating to the white one and click Open. You’ll
see the distortion created by the water image and how
the pixels are being pushed to the left (temporarily hide
the top water layer so you can see the distortion on the
subject). Now let’s do it with the black one.
 PHOTOSHOP DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

STEP 20: Press Command-J

(PC: Ctrl-J) to make a
duplicate of the Fitness
Girl layer. Double-click the
word “Displace” below the
copied layer to open the
Displace dialog. We just
left the settings the same
and clicked OK. You’ll be
prompted to load a map
again, so here’s where
you’ll choose the black
displacement map. Now
you can see the subject
is distorted in the other
direction. (We should go
ahead and rename the
water layer to “Main Splash”
while we’re here.)

STEP 21: Once again make

a duplicate of the Fitness
Girl layer and place it at the
top of the layer stack. Grab
the Displace smart filter on
this duplicate and drag it
to the Delete Layer icon
(trash can) at the bottom
of the Layers panel. Hold
down the Option (PC: Alt)
key as you click the Add
Layer Mask icon (circle in
a square) at the bottom of
the Layers panel to add a
hide all layer mask, which
will completely hide the
subject on this layer.
Also, turn the Main
Splash layer back on and
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make sure it’s above the

two displaced layers but
below the copied subject
layer at the top.

 99 
  HOW TO

STEP 22: Select the Brush tool (B) in

the Toolbar and choose a standard Soft
Round brush. Click on the layer mask
thumbnail on the top layer in the Layers
panel to make sure the mask is active,
and press D to set the Foreground
color to white. Begin painting in areas
where you don’t want the water effect
covering the model. The idea is to make
it appear as if sections of water are
going behind her.
We started by bringing back areas
around the face but left some water
because it looked like it was coming
off her chin. Next, we painted the water
off the upper part of her torso and arm,
as well as parts of her legs.
Continue painting in areas where
the water would go behind the subject
and any other areas that you want to
blend. I revealed some parts of her
shoes but only a little so they aren’t
totally obscured by the splash.

STEP 23: While both displacement

layers are yielding a great result, we
can mask away any parts that shouldn’t
be distorted or they just don’t look
right. Just add a layer mask to each
displacement layer, press D then X to set
the Foreground color to black, and paint
away any areas you don’t want or need.
You can also paint on the Smart Filters
mask on each layer to help hide distorted
areas. By separating the displacement
into layers we can keep the best parts
of each and hide the rest. Once you’re
done you can see the result is a pretty
convincing stylized effect.
Remember the displacement images
are contained in smart objects, so if
you want to switch out the subject for
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

another, just go into the smart object

by double-clicking its thumbnail in the
Layers panel. Add the new subject, and
then save the changes and close the
smart object. It will update the image
with the same displacement maps. Then
you’d just need to rework the masking
a bit, but you’ll save a lot of time!

 10 0 
 PHOTOSHOP DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

STEP 24: Now let’s add some

finishing effects to wrap it up.
First, select the Main Splash layer
in the Layers panel, click on the
Add a Layer Style icon (ƒx) at the
bottom of the Layers panel, and
choose Outer Glow. For the color,
we’re using a brighter green to
enhance the green highlight of
the background. Notice the Size
is maxed out at 250 px and the
Spread is set to 0%. Also, set the
Blend Mode to Soft Light and
lower the Opacity to around 75%.
These settings can vary depending
on the color of your background.
Sometimes Overlay mode might
work better but here Soft Light
works fine! Click OK when done.

STEP 25: To help blend the hair

on the subject a bit more, Right-
click on the Main Splash layer
and choose Copy Layer Style.
Then Right-click on the first dis-
placement layer with the white
displacement map and choose
Paste Layer Style to copy the
Outer Glow. This not only enhanc-
es the overall glow more, but
also hides small imperfections
in the hair.
We’re pretty much done
with the overall ef fect. The
last thing we did was to add a
simple design element to the
background. You can see how
that ’s done by watching this
short video.

Hopefully, you now have a deeper

understanding of how displace-
ment maps work and how you can
get creative by separating the
tones into multiple maps, which
also gives you more control over
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the distortion, especially when

using smart objects! n

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 KIRK NELSON
PHOTOSHOP DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

CREATE YOUR OWN

METALLIC TITLE TEXT EFFECT
Crafting fun title treatments is one of those tasks for which Photoshop seems intentionally built.
Who doesn’t love a bright, shiny metallic title? Accomplishing this effectively is an exploration in layer
styles and other filters, but it goes way beyond just basic Bevel & Emboss. The key is understanding
the limitations of the styles and working to apply them within those constraints. Sometimes that means
creating multiple layers for a single line of text; sometimes it means folding smart objects inside other
smart objects. In any case, it’s a fun journey with great results! (This effect was inspired by the movie
The Adam Project, now streaming on Netflix.)

STEP ONE: In Photoshop,

create a new document with
File>New and set the Width to
1500 pixels, the Height to 500
pixels, Resolution to 72 ppi, and
the Background Contents to
Black. Give the file a name,
something like “Metal Title
Text,” and click Create.

 102 

Step Two
Step Three
STEP TWO: Press D then X to set the Foreground color to
white, and then use the Type tool (T) to create the main
text. Use a stencil-type font such as Stenciletta, which
is available at Adobe Fonts through your Creative Cloud
subscription. (Just go to Type>More from Adobe Fonts in
Photoshop, and when the webpage opens, sign in with
your Adobe ID, search for Stenciletta, and then click the
Activate Font Switch next to Stenciletta Regular to sync
the font to Photoshop.) The plan is to have a light source
in the middle of the title, so the text needs to be broken up
into a few layers for that to work correctly. Click to create
one text layer with the text to the left of the planned light
source, and type “ATOM PR” at around 91 pts. Press Enter
to commit the type, and then Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T)
for Free Transform. Up in the Options Bar, click on the
chain link icon to unlink the Width and Height fields, set
the Width to 148%, and press Enter. Press Enter again
to commit the transformation.
Click again to add another line of text to the right of
the light source, and this time type “JECT” (the missing
“O” will become our light source). Free Transform these
letters as we just did with “ATOM PR.”
Then add a third layer of type above the main text for
the smaller article, “THE.” That article should be a much
smaller point size, something around 33 pts. Select all
three letters with the Type tool and increase the tracking
to 300 in the Properties panel (Window>Properties) to
 PHOTOSHOP DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS
put plenty of space between the letters. Now use the
Move tool (V) to position the type layers as shown here.
STEP THREE: Create a new layer by clicking the plus icon
at the bottom of the Layers panel. Double-click the name
of this layer, rename it “Text Back,” and move it below
all the text layers. Then hold down Shift-Command (PC:
Shift-Ctrl) and click on each of the text layer thumbnails
in the Layers panel to create a selection in the shape of
all the text.
Set the Foreground color to a gold hue (#ffdb46), hold
the Option (PC: Alt) key, and tap Delete (PC: Backspace)
to fill the selection with that color. Cancel the selection
with Select>Deselect.
Go to Edit>Transform>Scale. In the Options Bar, make
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sure the Width and Height fields are still unlinked, and
set the Width to 99%. Click the checkmark to apply the
transformation and see that this is a quick-and-dirty way
to approximate a slight 3D effect on the text.
 103 
  HOW TO

STEP FOUR: Looking closely

at some of the letters, partic-
ularly the “A” and “M,” certain
points stand out that betray
the fact that the gold backing
isn’t truly 3D. To adjust this,
use the Polygonal Selection
tool (nested with the Lasso
tool [L] in the Toolbar) to
create small selections that
will connect the top points
of the gold backing to the
top points of the white text.
Fill the selections with the
same gold color. When fin-
ished, cancel the selection
with Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D).

STEP FIVE: Starting with the

first text layer, the ATOM PR
text, open the Layer Style
dialog by clicking the ƒx icon
at the bottom of the Layers
panel and choosing Bevel
& Emboss. Set the Style to
Inner Bevel, the Technique
to Smooth, Depth to 220%,
Direction to Up, Size to
3 px, and Soften to 1 px.
In the Shading area, uncheck
the Use Global Light box
and set the Angle to 15° and
the Altitude to 26°. This puts
the light source to the right
of the layer. Click on the
Gloss Contour thumbnail and
change it to Ring - Double
in the Preset drop-down
menu. Click OK to close the
Contour Editor. Make sure
the Highlight Mode is set to
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

Screen and the color white,

but increase the Opacity
to 84%. The Shadow Mode
should be set to Multiply
with black color but reduce
the Opacity to 22%. Don’t
click OK yet in the Layer
Style dialog.

 10 4 
 PHOTOSHOP DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

STEP SIX: Now add a Gradient

Overlay style by clicking on it
in the list on the left side of
the Layer Style dialog. (Note: If
you don’t see Gradient Overlay
in the list on the left, click
the ƒx icon at the bottom-left
corner of the dialog and select
it from there.) Keep the Blend
Mode at Normal and the
Opacity at 100%.
Click on the Gradient
pre­v iew thumbnail to open
the Gradient Editor, double-
click the lef t color stop
below the gradient ramp,
and set it to a mid-brown
(#7e7459). Click OK to close
the Color Picker. Set the right
color stop to a cream color
(#f7eed9). Click OK to close
the Gradient Editor.
Back in the Layer Style
dialog, make sure the Style
is set to Linear and the Angle
is at 90°, then reduce the
Scale to around 50%. Set the
Method drop-down menu to
Classic, and then click-and-
drag directly on the canvas
to position the gradient so
the transition part is centered
on the text vertically. Don’t
click OK yet.

STEP SEVEN: Next add a

Satin layer style with the
Blend Mode set to Overlay
and the color to a pale yellow
(#faf499). Change the Opacity
to 38% and set the Size to
9 px and the Contour to the
Gaussian curve. Then drag on
the canvas again to position
the Satin effect so it appears
to be a thin reflected line on
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the surface of the text. This

will adjust the Distance and
Angle settings in the Layer
Style dialog. Don’t click OK yet.

 105 
  HOW TO

STEP EIGHT: Just one more

style to add here and that’s
the Stroke layer style. Set
the Size to 2 px, Position
to Outside, Blend Mode to
Screen, and Opacity to 100%.
Change the Fill Type to
Gradient. Edit the gradient
to be white to black, but
slide the white color stop
over to a Location of 30%.
Click OK to close the Gra-
dient Editor and, back in
the Layer Style dialog, set
the Style to Radial and the
Method to Linear. Then
click-and-drag on the main
canvas area to move the
gradient around until it sits
at the center of the first
letter. Now you can click OK
in the Layer Style dialog to
apply all the effects.

STEP NINE: Once that base

set of layer styles is complete,
it’s a much easier task to
tweak them for application
on the other text. Right-click
on the “ATOM PR” text layer
and select Copy Layer Style
from the contextual menu.
Then, Right-click on the
“JECT ” text layer, and select
Paste Layer Style.
Double-click Bevel & Em-
boss on the “JECT” layer to
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

open its settings. We want

to move the light source
to the left of the layer, so
the Angle should be around
180°. Then go to the Stroke
settings and drag the gradient
highlight to the second to last
letter in the text. Click OK.

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 PHOTOSHOP DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

STEP 10: Paste the layer

styles on the “THE” text layer
as well. Click on the Eye icon
next to the Stroke layer style
to hide it. Then, Right-click on
the word “Effects” just below
the layer and choose Scale
Effects from the contextual
menu. Set the Scale to 25%
to reduce the overall size
of the layer effects without
having to adjust the settings
for each effect individually,
and click OK.

STEP 11: Go to the Text Back

layer and add an Inner Glow
layer style. Set the Blend
Mode to Overlay, Opacity
to 55%, color to white, Tech-
nique to Softer, Choke to 0%,
and Size to 6 px. Then add a
Gradient Overlay style with
the gradient using #fffeab
for the left color stop and
#404036 for the right color
stop. Set the Style to Reflect-
ed, Angle to 180°, and Scale
to 111%. Click OK.

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 107 
  HOW TO

STEP 12: Click the top text layer

in the Layers panel and then
Shift-click the Text Back layer to
select all of the text layers. Go to
Layer>Smart Objects>Convert to
Smart Object to combine all the
text layers into a single object, and
rename it “Title Text.” Then go to
Image>Adjustments>Levels and
pull the middle slider over to about
0.77 to slightly darken the effects
on the text. Click OK.

STEP 13: Grab the Ellipse tool

(nested below the Rectangle tool
[U] in the Toolbar) and set the Fill
color to a pale yellow (#fef598)
in the Options Bar. Hold down
the Shift key to keep the shape
perfectly circular and drag out
a circle to fit in the gap where
the “O” should be between the
text layers; press-and-hold the
Spacebar while drawing the circle
to reposition it.
Switch to the Rectangle tool
and draw out a rectangular shape
covering the top-right quarter of
the circle. Shift-select both shape
layers in the Layers panel and
press Command-E (PC: Ctrl-E)
to combine them.
Then use the Path Selection
tool (A) to click on the rectangular
shape to make it active, and set
the Path Operations (overlapping
squares) in the Options Bar to
Subtract Front Shape, which will
carve out the rectangular shape
from the circle.
Grab the Direct Selection tool
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

(nested below the Path Selection

tool) and click on the bottom-right
point on the rectangle so only
that point is active. Pull down that
outside corner of the rectangle to
create an angle as shown here.
Click Yes in the warning dialog
that pops up.

 108 
 PHOTOSHOP DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

STEP 14: Duplicate the shape

layer by dragging it to the
Create a New Layer icon (+)
at the bottom of the Layers
panel, and use the Path
Selection tool to make the
top rectangular shape active.
Set the Path Operations in
the Options Bar to Intersect
Shape Areas. Then tap the
Up and Right Arrow keys
several times to move the
rectangular shape up and
to the right to create the
appearance of a carved-out
set of clock hands.

STEP 15: Combine both

shape layers into a single
smart object, and rename
it “Clock Face.” Add an Inner
Glow layer style and set the
Blend Mode to Soft Light,
Opacity to 100%, color to
a mustard yellow (#ffd306),
and the Size to 6 px.
Then add a Gradient Over-
lay style with the gradient
colors set to white on the
left and the same pale yellow
(#fffeab) on the right, but
move the white color stop
to a Location of 30%. Set
the Style to Radial and the
Scale to 100%.
Next, add an Outer Glow
style with the Blend Mode
at Screen, Opacity at 64%,
Noise at 0%, color at another
pale yellow (#f f f47b), the
Spread at 7%, Size at 84 px,
and Range at 50%. Click OK
to apply the layer styles.
Finish off this layer by
adding a Gaussian Blur
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from Filter>Blur>Gaussian
Blur and use a Radius of 0.5
Pixels to add just a touch of
softness to the shape.

 109 
  HOW TO

STEP 16: Add a new layer

above the Clock Face layer
and name it “Light Glow.”
Set the Foreground color to
a dull yellow (#ffdb46), and
grab the Gradient tool (G).
Click on the gradient preview
thumbnail in the Options Bar
to open the Gradient Editor,
select the Foreground to
Transparent preset in the
Basics set, and click OK.
Select the Radial Gradient
icon in the Options Bar and,
starting at the center of the
circular shape, drag the gra-
dient outward to the letter “T”
to create the glow. Change
the layer’s blend mode to
Screen near the top left of
the Layers panel and reduce
the Opacity to 55%.

STEP 17: Go to the Title Text

smart object layer and press
Command-A (PC: Ctrl-A) to
Select All. Then press Com-
mand-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to copy
the pixels to a new layer. Set
the blending mode to Linear
Dodge (Add) to use this layer
to create a bright effect on
the text beneath it. Go to
Layer>Layer Mask>Hide All.
Grab the Brush tool (B) and
use a Soft Round brush with
white paint (press D) on the
mask to paint in the bright-
ening effect on the letters
adjacent to the light source.

STEP 18: Add a new layer

PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

at the top of the layer stack

and name it “gleam.” Go to
Edit>Fill, set the Contents
drop-down menu to Black,
and click OK to fill the layer
with black. Turn the layer
into a smart object, go to
Filter>Render>Lens Flare,

 110 
  PHOTOSHOP DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

select the Movie Prime flare at 25% Brightness, and

click OK.
This filter will always render the gleam lines at an
angle. The best way to get them to be horizontal is to
fold the layer into yet another smart object (Layer>Smart
Objects>Convert to Smart Object), and then use Free
Transform to rotate the layer so the brightest gleam line
is horizontal. Press Enter to commit the transformation.
Set the blending mode to Screen to render the
black pixels invisible and, finally, add a Hue/Saturation
adjustment (Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation). Check
the Colorize option, set the Hue to 53 and Saturation
to 44, and click OK. Use the Move tool to position the
center of the flare at the top right of the “T” in “ATOM.” within that dialog well beyond the familiar defaults.
Don’t be afraid to explore and craft something new
If you tend to avoid layer styles because the default and exciting. n
Bevel & Emboss and Drop Shadow are tired and over-
used, you’re not wrong! But there’s a lot of capability

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 111 
 LESA SNIDER
BEGINNERS’ WORKSHOP

CREATING COLORED STUDIO LIGHTING

Bathing the subject of a photograph in colored studio lighting can completely change the mood and feel of
the image. And, thanks to Photoshop, you don’t even need a real studio to get it done. In this column, you’ll
learn how to use Gradient Fill layers to add diagonal pink and blue studio lighting to a portrait. This technique
is easy, flexible, and full of creative potential. Let’s get started!

©Adobe Stock/Dima Aslanian

STEP ONE: Choose File>Open and navigate

to a photo, such as this free one from
Adobe Stock. (If you’re starting in Lightroom,
select a thumbnail in the Library module
and then choose Photo>Edit In>Edit In
Adobe Photoshop 2022.) This technique
looks especially good on portraits with
a dark background, but feel free to try it
on anything.
If you’d like to download this image to
follow along, click this link, log in with
your Adobe ID, and click the License
for Free button. This will download the

 112 

image to your computer as well
as add it to your Libraries panel
(Window>Libraries). Double-click
the image in the Libraries panel to
open it in Photoshop.
STEP TWO: Click the half-black/half-
white icon at the bottom of the Layers
panel and choose Gradient. This cre-
ates a Gradient Fill layer, which we’ll
Step Two use to make one of the studio lights.
 BEGI N N E RS’ WORKSHOP
STEP THREE: In the Gradient Fill dialog
that opens, click the down-pointing
triangle to the right of the Gradient
preview (circled). In the Gradient
Picker panel that opens, click the
triangle to the left of the Basics folder
and then pick the second thumbnail
(also circled), which is the Foreground
to Transparent gradient (don’t worry
about the color because we’ll change
it in the next step). Click an empty
spot inside the Gradient Fill dialog to
close the Gradient Picker. Next, make
sure the Style menu is set to Linear,
change the Angle to around 150°, and
then change the Scale to around 15%
(for a harder transition edge). Keep
the Gradient Fill dialog open.
STEP FOUR: Now let’s change the
gradient color. In the Gradient Fill
dialog, click atop the Gradient pre-
view (circled). In the Gradient Editor
that opens, double-click the leftmost
color stop below the horizontal gra-
dient preview bar (also circled).
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 113 
  HOW TO

STEP FIVE: In the Color Picker

that opens, drag the slider on
the vertical rainbow bar into
the light-blue range, and then
click within the large square to
choose a color (a hex value of
#65b7e7 was used here, which
is circled). Click OK to close
the Color Picker and then OK
again to close the Gradient
Editor, but leave the Gradient
Fill dialog open.

STEP SIX: Now we’ll reposition

the gradient so it starts on one
side of the subject’s face. With
the Gradient Fill dialog open,
click atop the image and drag
leftward so the gradient starts
just to the right of her nose. If
the gradient refuses to move,
just click the down-pointing
triangle to the right of the
Scale setting (circled) and then
try dragging again. Click OK to
close the Gradient Fill dialog.
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 114 
 BEGI N N E RS’ WORKSHOP

STEP SEVEN: Near the top left

of the Layers panel, change the
blend mode menu to Color, and
then lower Opacity to around
75% (both settings are circled).

STEP EIGHT: Now repeat the

previous steps to create a pink
diagonal light. To save time,
start by pressing Command-J
(PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate the
Gradient Fill layer.

STEP NINE: Double-click the

duplicate fill layer thumbnail
(circled), which is named
Gradient Fill 1 copy. In the
resulting dialog, change the
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Angle to around –30° and

then click atop the gradient
preview (also circled) to open
the Gradient Editor.

 115 
  HOW TO

STEP 10: In the Gradient Editor,

double-click the left-most color
stop below the gradient pre-
view bar (circled). In the Color
Picker that opens, drag the
slider on the vertical rainbow
bar into the pink range, and
then click within the large
square to choose a color (a hex
value of #df65e7 was used here,
which is also circled). Click OK
to close the Color Picker and
then click OK again to close
the Gradient Editor, but leave
the Gradient Fill dialog open.

STEP 11: To reposition the pink

gradient, click atop the image
and then drag rightward so
the gradient starts on the left
side of her face. Here again, if
the gradient refuses to move,
click the down-pointing trian-
gle to the right of the Scale
setting (circled) and then
try dragging atop the image
again to move the gradient
start point. Click OK to close
the Gradient Fill dialog.

That’s all there is to it! Here’s

the before and after version.
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Before After

 116 

As mentioned earlier, this technique is incredibly
flexible. You can fine-tune it by adjusting layer Opacity
and/or by changing the color of the lights. To do the
latter, simply double-click a fill layer thumbnail to
reopen the Gradient Fill dialog, click the Gradient
preview to reopen the Gradient Editor, and then edit
the color stop.
APPLY TECHNIQUE TO ANOTHER PHOTO
In addition, you can easily apply this technique to other
photos (this one is also free from Adobe Stock, which you
can find by clicking here). To do that, save the original
document as a Photoshop file (choose File>Save As
and pick Photoshop from the Format menu), and then
Shift-click to activate both fill layers in the Layers panel.
Next, open another photo in Photoshop and then drag
the fill layers from the Layers panel from one document
onto the filename tab of the other document (hold the
cursor over the tab until the focus switches to that
image, and then drop the layers directly into the image).
Alternatively, you can press Command-C (PC: Ctrl-C)
to copy the layers in one document, activate the other
©Adobe Stock/master1305
Before
After
 BEGI N N E RS’ WORKSHOP
document, and then press Command-V (PC: Ctrl-V) to
paste the layers.
If you apply this technique to another photo, you may
need to adjust the positioning of the gradient starting
point on one or both of the fill layers like you did earlier,
but what a timesaver!
MASKING OUT THE LIGHTS
And last but not least, if you want to hide the colored
lights from part of the photo, you can use the layer mask
that came along with each fill layer. For example, to
hide the lights from the background, you could select
your subject (Select>Subject), inverse the selection to
the background (Select>Inverse), activate each fill layer
mask, press X until the Foreground color is black, and
then press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the
selection with black (though that negates the look of real
studio lights). The possibilities are many!
Until next time, may the creative force be with you all. n
KELBYONE .COM
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 RICK SAMMON
PHOTO EFFECTS

GOT QUESTIONS?
PHOTOSHOP HAS THE ANSWERS!
Spoiler alert! This isn’t a technical, detailed step-by-step, how-to article on how to enhance your images
in Photoshop. Rather, it’s more of a philosophical homily on how Photoshop can help you create the
images you see in your mind’s eye.

ALL IMAGES BY RICK SAMMON

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  PHOTO EFFECTS

I had other titles in mind for this article: “Awaken the

Artist Within with Photoshop,” “Don’t Delete,” “Reality
Leaves a Lot to the Imagination,” and “Before-and-After
Adventures in Photoshop.” But “Got Questions? Photoshop
Has the Answers!” won out.
Here’s the basic idea: After you open an image and
before you start playing with all the cool sliders in Photo­
shop, ask yourself the following questions:
• W hat don’t I like about this image?
• H
 ow can I rescue overexposed highlights
and blocked-up shadows?
• Would changing the mood help?
• H
 ow can I get rid of that distracting
background or change that background?
• C an this shot be saved?
• Is there an image within the image?
If you take your time and use what Ansel Adams called
your best photo accessory (the 12 inches behind your
camera), I’m confident, due to the power of Photoshop,
that you’ll wind up with more creative images and a higher
percentage of keepers.

WHAT’S THE FIX?

The photo, taken in St. Augustine, Florida, that opens
this article is an example of questioning myself when
I opened the original image on my computer. Here’s the
original image to the right.
I succeeded in capturing the peak of action, as well
as a nice expression on the rider’s face but, because
the action happened in low light (before sunrise),
and because I was so excited about the shoot that
I mistakenly shot at too slow a shutter speed (1/50th
of a second), both the horse and rider’s heads have
Original image
motion blur. The photo also had a bit of noise, due to
the low light.
I asked myself, “What’s the fix?” Well, the quick fix was
to apply two Photoshop plug-ins, Topaz DeNoise AI and
Topaz Sharpen AI. These before-and-after closeups show
the results of running those plug-ins, plus everything
I discuss in the list below. KELBYONE .COM

Left: Original image; Right: After applying Topaz DeNoise AI, Topaz Sharpen AI, and Photoshop edits

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  HOW TO

Before After

The image had other problems: HOW CAN I ISOLATE THE SUBJECTS?
• T he rider’s face was too dark, which I fixed by This is one of my favorite images from a recent shoot
using the Dodge tool (O). at Myakka River State Park in Florida. The scene would
have been impossible to reproduce on film.
• I couldn’t see the hair on the horse’s body
because the shadows were blocked up, which
was remedied by applying Clarity and Texture
in Adobe Camera Raw to those areas using
the Brush in the Masking tools.
• T he sky was beyond boring, so I replaced it
using one of the stock sky choices in Photo-
shop’s Sky Replacement feature (found under
the Edit menu). I know! Using a stock sky isn’t
the best option, as other photographers may
use the same sky. Rather, it’s best to use one
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

of your own sky photographs. I used the stock

sky, for now, because I don’t have a sky that
fits the color and mood of the original image.
So, Scott Kelby, please forgive me for using
the stock sky.☺
• F inally, I cropped the image for more impact.
Final

 120 

Above is the original image. My main questions: How
can I isolate the two beautiful birds, an egret and roseate
spoonbill, from the distracting background; and how
can I get rid of the small spoonbill’s butt and the other
bird’s chopped off head in the foreground? Cropping
and cloning would eliminate the smaller birds, but let's
take a closer look at how I fixed the background and
made the two main subjects stand out. The basic idea
was to increase the contrast range.
STEP ONE: First, I used the Object Selection tool (W)
set to Lasso Mode in the Options Bar to draw a loose
 PHOTO EFFECTS
selection of the egret. Photoshop’s AI then worked
its magic to select the egret. If you have Object Finder
turned on in the Options Bar, Photoshop automatically
tries to determine all the subjects in the image. Once
it’s done (it can take a few seconds), if you hover
your cursor over a subject, it will be highlighted in
blue. So all I had to do to add the spoonbill to the
selection was hold the Shift key and then click once
on the spoonbill.
As you can see in the screenshot below, the lower
part of the egret’s legs, as well as the water between the
spoonbill’s legs, weren’t selected. That wasn’t a big deal,
as those areas were dark anyway, and I knew that, by using
a small brush size, I could work on them independently.
STEP TWO: Next, I went to Select>Select Inverse so the
background was selected instead of the birds. Once
selected, I reduced the exposure on the background
using a Curves adjustment layer (Layer>New Adjustment
Layer>Curves), which used the selection to create a
mask. In the Properties panel (Window>Properties),
I pulled the center of the curve down toward the
bottom-right corner. Just a small adjustment makes
a big difference.
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  HOW TO
STEP THREE: Then I wanted to apply a Gaussian Blur
(Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) to create a depth-of-field
effect. I clicked back on the Background layer in the Layers
panel to make it active, pressed Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to
duplicate it, and then Command-clicked (PC: Ctrl-clicked)
the layer mask thumbnail on the Curves adjustment layer
to reload the selection. At that point, I could apply the
Gaussian Blur just to the background.
STEP FOUR: As a final step, I inversed the selection again,
used the Dodge tool to lighten the birds’ faces and necks,
and applied a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to boost
the colors in the birds.
As long as we’re talking about questions and answers,
I’d like to insert a Photoshop joke here: “How many
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022
Final
 122 
Photoshop instructors does it take to change a lightbulb?”
Answer: “Ninety-nine, and one to screw it in.” The point
of this joke? There are many ways to reach the goals you
want to achieve in Photoshop.
HOW CAN I CHANGE THE MOOD?
Here’s another “keeper” from my Myakka shoot. Honestly,
I call this a “Dumb Luck” shot because of the ballerina-like
position of the beautiful bird’s wings. (Scott Kelby calls
this a “Getting Even Shot,” that is, getting even for all
the times we go out as photographers and everything
seems to work against us, such as light, weather, and
subject.) What added to my “luck,” however, was being
prepared with the right gear for fast-paced action (a
Canon EOS R3 with a Canon RF100–500mm lens), and
observing the bird’s behavior, which as KelbyOne instructors

Juan Pons and Moose Peterson know is key to getting
good wildlife photographs.
The original image has many of the same problems
as the previous straight-out-of-the-camera shot. After
I made similar adjustments, I found myself questioning
the mood (due to the dull brownish water) of the image,
as mood matters most in photographs.
Original
To change the mood, I changed the Color Balance
(Image>Adjustments>Color Balance) by boosting Blue
and Cyan. Yes, the egret took on a bluish cast, which
I like because the end-result picture looks as though it
could have been taken at night.
As a final step, I used the Dodge tool to lighten the
bubbles behind the magnificent bird.
CAN THIS SHOT BE SAVED?
Here’s a favorite photo safari image. It captures an intimate
moment between a mommy cheetah and her cute cubs.
Original
 PHOTO EFFECTS
The original has one main problem: the animals are
backlit and in the shade, resulting in a flat picture with
little contrast and color.
In looking at the original I asked myself these questions:
• H
 ow can I convey that intimate moment
most effectively? Cropping for a close-up
was the answer.
• H
 ow can I fix the lighting? Adding Contrast and
Vibrance in Camera Raw was the solution.
• H
 ow can I get a clearer image? Surprisingly,
Dehaze in Camera Raw was the answer.
• H
 ow can I create a nice mood? Applying the
Duplex filter in Nik Color Efex did the trick.
• H
 ow can I draw more attention to the animals?
Applying the Darken/Lighten filter in Nik Color
Efex let me achieve that goal.
Final
Well, my friends, have fun working and playing in Photoshop.
Don’t delete. Remember that reality leaves a lot to the
imagination, so enjoy your adventures in Photoshop. n
KELBYONE .COM
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 SCOTT VALENTINE
PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND

CREATING CUSTOM CROP OVERLAYS

The overlay feature in Photoshop’s Crop tool is a great way to use common composition guides when
cropping your photos. You have diagonals, rule of thirds, golden ratio, golden spiral, triangles, and a basic
grid. To activate these overlays, choose the Crop tool (C) and, in the Options Bar, click the drop-down
menu just to the right of the Straighten option.
Scott Valentine

While this is a great help when you’re ready to crop
your photo, what if you just want to explore different
options without actually cropping? Guide layouts work
well for grids and rule-of-thirds compositions, but
even these are generally locked in to the current size
and orientation of your canvas. Having an overlay of
various composition guides would really be handy, so
let ’s build a golden spiral and see how we can put it
to good use before we crop!
Note: You may be wondering why not simply use guides,
especially for rule of thirds and grids? Great question, and
I’m glad you asked! When guides are created from the
menu, they use the canvas edges to calculate their relative
positions. If you’re going to crop, transform, and rotate, the
guide layout isn’t much use up front on the original image.
STEP ONE: The golden spiral is built from a special sequence
of numbers called the Fibonacci sequence. All we need
to remember about it for Photoshop purposes is “13
minus 8.” With a rectangular image open, create a new
guide layout (View>New Guide Layout) with 13 columns
along the long edge, and 8 rows along the short edge.
Ensure that Clear Existing Guides is checked, and there
are no gutters or margins.
The idea here is to build a series of boxes from these
guides. While they won’t be perfect squares, they’ll

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  PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND

represent the correct ratio. I’ll refer

to each area enclosed by guides
as a “unit” for clarity, so the grid
shown here is 13x8 units.

STEP TWO: Create a blank layer at

the top of your layer stack.

STEP THREE: Select the Rectangu-

lar Marquee tool (M) and ensure
snapping is set to on (View>Snap).
Starting from the bottom-left corner
of your document, drag out a selec-
Step One
tion of 8x8 units. That should be
the complete short edge, and just
over half of the long edge.

STEP FOUR: Stroke the selection

(Edit>Stroke) with 20 px and a bright
color, making sure the Center option
is selected for Location. Click OK.
Note: I’ve lowered the opacity of the
image to make the selected area
easier to see.

STEP FIVE: Repeat the process using

the next size down in the Fibonacci
sequence. You have that memorized,
right? If not, here’s the trick:

• 13 - 8 = 5
• 8 - 5 = 3
• 5 - 3 = 2
• 3 - 2 = 1
• 2 - 1 = 1

Each square will start from

where the previous one left off so,
in this case, since we created an
area of 8x8 units on the left, the
next will be 5x5 at the top right, then
3x3 at the bottom right, etc. Here’s
a map of the pattern, showing the
order and starting and ending point
of each marquee selection. Stroke
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each selection region, then move on

to the next. The order is important!
Press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D)
when done to deselect. Arrows showing which direction to drag each marquee selection

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  HOW TO

STEP SIX: Use the Curvature Pen tool

(nested with the Pen tool [P] in the
Toolbar) and start clicking (don’t drag!)
each of the intersections in the same
order. The image here shows where you
should click each point and the order in
which you should click. The Curvature
Pen tool will automatically create curves
that are close enough. Again, it won’t
be a perfect golden spiral, but it will be
close enough for our purposes.

Numbers indicate clicking order with Curvature Pen

STEP SEVEN: Once the path is com-

plete, switch to the Brush tool (B) and
choose a round brush with the Size at
20 px, Hardness at 100%, and no other
options. Again, use an appropriate color
for visibility over your image. Go to the
Paths panel (Window>Paths) and, at
the bottom, you’ll see a solid outline of
a circle. Click that icon to stroke the path
with the current brush settings.

The green line represents the resulting path from clicking with the Curvature Pen tool

STEP EIGHT: At this point, you can turn off

or clear the guides and path. You should
be left with a spiral and the outlined grid
pattern. Now the fun begins! Notice
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

that the spiral seems to have nothing

to do with the content of the image, so
we need to transform it. Right-click on
the spiral layer in the Layers panel and
choose Convert to Smart Object so
we can work nondestructively. Finally,
double-click the name of this layer and
rename it “Spiral.”

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  PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND

STEP NINE: Now we can treat the golden spiral layer like
any other layer and transform it to our heart’s content.
For this hummingbird image, I want to start by rotating
the guide 180° (Edit>Transform>Rotate 180°). The image
still doesn’t quite work, though.
Tip: We’re going to use the Image>Crop command
shortly, and for that to work properly, the composition
guide needs to be aligned with the actual canvas edges.
Stick to using the Rotate and Flip commands under the
Edit>Transform menu, then you can fine-tune by rotating
the image layer instead. That
keeps the guide layer perfectly
aligned with the canvas.

STEP 10: After some additional

transform commands (scaling
and stretching in particular),
I have the image elements
more or less where I want
them. At this point, if I were only
interested in cropping I could
have simply used the Crop tool
straight away. So why bother
with this particular technique?

STEP 11: Now that I have my

cropping guide, I can see more
clearly that there are some
problem areas, specifically
the vertical lines. Rather than
fiddling with the crop overlay,
I can simply transform the image.
Make a copy of your photo
layer (Command-J [PC: Ctrl-J]),
convert it to a smart object,
and use Edit>Free Transform
to adjust the perspective of
the image as needed. After a
little straightening, it’s time to
actually crop the image.

STEP 12: Command-click (PC:

Ctrl-click) on the Spiral layer
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to load it as a selection, then

use Image>Crop to perfectly
fit the image bounds to your
composition guide.

 127 
  HOW TO

RETOUCHING AND DESIGN

Pexels/Tolga Ahmetler

Keeping a composition guide visible can also be used to help

other retouching choices, such as using dodge and burn to
lead the viewer’s eye to a specific area. This image of leaves
can be spiced up a bit with a little composition dodge-and-
burn goodness.
And, of course, using guide overlays is a great way to
manage design work as well (see next page).

LESS THAN TECHNICAL

Keep in mind that the spiral we created above isn’t technically
perfect because the aspect ratio doesn’t create perfect squares
when we divide them up. You certainly could start by making
the canvas size into a golden ratio (it’s called “phi” in case you
want to research this online), but the point of these guides is to
give you some kind of reference and consistency, not to ensure
technical accuracy. There’ll always be more to composition
than hair-fine alignment and math.

Original image
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

Using the overlay to guide dodge-and-burn choices Final cropped image

 128 

The general approach of creating a visual guide can
be applied to the other popular composition methods
and stored in a CC Library for use whenever you need.
Some of the guides don’t lend themselves well to scaling,
though. A popular one for laying out diagonals uses
lines that must always meet at the corners of the image,
but also maintain orthogonality or a right angle. If you
transform the guide and change the aspect ratio, the
guide becomes far less accurate.
 PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND
Pexels/Mary Nikitina
I’m sure there are those of you thinking that you could
find some templates online and use blend modes, or
just trace the guides. Okay, if you want to take the
easy way out, that ’s certainly fine. But consider the
wow! factor when you sit down at someone else’s
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workstation and whip up a Fibonacci spiral in a few
seconds (just remember “13 minus 8”!). And really,
what ’s the point of working in Photoshop if we aren’t
out to impress someone? n
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 DAVE CLAYTON
DESIGNING IN PHOTOSHOP

LET’S DO THE TYPE WARP!

If you’ve been following my tutorials, you’ll know I love retro/vintage effects and anything typographical.
So this issue we’re going to look at some type-warping techniques in Photoshop to give your images
and designs that little extra. So many Photoshop users don’t realize how much they can do with type,
and how easy it is to stylize it with the built-in effects. So get Photoshop fired up and let’s start creating
some fun type designs!

WARP FACTOR 1 STEP TWO: ADD TYPE

Thanks to Photoshop’s wonderful versatility,
we can warp text in several different ways.
In this first method, we’re going to warp
it manually.
STEP ONE: CREATE NEW
DOCUMENT
Start a new document (File>New) that’s
1920x1080 px at 300 ppi and RGB Color
(just for the purpose of this tutorial; if you
wish to print, select a print output size
and CMYK Color). Click Create.
Grab the Type tool (T), press D to set your
Foreground color to black, click in your
document, and type the word “PHOTO-
SHOP” in Bebas Neue Bold (available
from Adobe Fonts with your CC subscrip-
tion by going to Type>More from Adobe
Fonts), or any bold font you have on your
system, at 126 pt. You can also adjust the
tracking to bring the letters a little closer
if you wish by selecting them with the
Type tool and using the tracking setting
(space between letters) in the Properties

 130 
  DESIGNING IN PHOTOSHOP

panel (Window>Properties). We’ve set tracking to –10. Tip: With the letters make a really funky design for a sticker
selected, hold the Option (PC: Alt) key and tap the Left or Right Arrow key or logo. In this example, we’re going to
on your keyboard to change the tracking. Press Enter to commit the type. replicate the style of the famous Nirvana
album, Nevermind, where the word
STEP THREE: PREPARE FOR WARP “Nevermind” was warped to mimic
Right-click the type layer in the Layers panel and select Convert to Smart being under water. So, using a free
Object. You can’t use warp on live text using this method but you can on image from pexels.com that you can
a smart object, enabling you to edit the type at any time by opening the find here, go to File>Place Embedded,
smart object. navigate to the downloaded image,
and click Place. Use the bounding
STEP FOUR: box to resize the water image to fill
ADD BACKGROUND IMAGE the canvas, and press Enter to commit
Ideally, you’re warping the text for a specific it. Drag it below the type layer in the
reason, such as to fit a particular shape or to Layers panel.
Pexels/Pixabay

STEP FIVE:
BEGIN WARPING
With the type layer selected in the
Layers panel, either press Command-T
(PC: Ctrl-T) to activate Free Transform,
Right-click inside the bounding box, and
choose Warp, or you can go directly to
Edit>Transform>Warp. You’ll see the
bounding box has a small node at each
corner, and each node has two warp
control handles that move independently
of each other.

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 131 
  HOW TO
Now, using the handles and clicking-and-dragging
anywhere within the type, start to pull and push it
around to reshape the word. The warp control is very
powerful, giving you full control over your type as if it
were putty. (Warning: Like anything in Photoshop, if you
push the warp too far, you’ll start to see some pixelation
problems, but done judiciously, it’s a great tool.) Once
you’re happy with warp, click the Commit Transform
checkmark in the top Options Bar or just press Enter
on the keyboard.
Even though you’ve now committed the warp, you
can always go back and refine it. Just activate the Warp
command again and you can continue to reshape the word
right from where you left off. That’s how to warp manually.
STEP SIX: ADD EFFECTS
What if you wanted to keep this warp, but change the
word? Just double-click on the type layer’s thumbnail in
the Layers panel to open the smart object in a separate
file, change the word using the Type tool, and then save
the file and close it. Note: If your new word is longer than
your original word you may need to change its tracking or
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022
 132 
size so it still fits inside the smart object. In this example,
we changed the word to “NEVERMORE.”
To finish, we’ll add a subtle outer glow layer style. With
the type layer active, click on the ƒx icon at the bottom
of the Layers panel and select Outer Glow. In the Layer
Style dialog, use the following settings and then click OK.
• Blend Mode: Normal
• Opacity: 50%
• Noise: 50%
• C
 lick the gradient thumbnail, double-click the left
color stop below the gradient ramp, click on a
light-green color in the water to sample it, click OK
to close the Color Picker, and click OK to close the
Gradient Editor.
• Technique: Softer
• Spread: 50%
• Size: 50 px
• Range: 100%
• Jitter: 0%
• Leave everything else at their defaults.
  DESIGNING IN PHOTOSHOP

WARP FACTOR 2
Now let’s take a look at another method for
warping text. This time we’re going to use one
of the built-in warp effects to make a banner
ribbon for a logo or crest.

STEP ONE: NEW DOCUMENT

Start another new document (File>New) that’s
once again 1920x1080 px at 300 ppi and RGB
Color. Using the Type tool, type the word
“PHOTOSHOP,” again using Bebas Neue Bold
(or any bold font you have on your system) set
to black. Set the font size a little smaller this
time at 80 pt.

STEP TWO: ADD CUSTOM SHAPE

To begin our design, we’re going to use a
custom shape for one of our elements. Before
we do that, however, click the Eye icons next
to both the type layer and Background layer in
the Layers panel to hide them for now so we
can see what we’re doing without distraction.
To access custom shapes, click-and-hold on
the Rectangle tool (U) in the Toolbar and, at the
bottom of the stack of flyout tools, you’ll see
a blob, which is the Custom Shape tool. Once
selected, go up to the Options Bar and make
sure the Tool Mode is set to Shape. Now you
could use the Custom Shape Picker to select
your custom shape while you’re here in the
Options Bar, but we’re going to use the Shapes
panel instead by going to Window>Shapes.
The reason we’re using the Shapes panel is
that we’re going to use an older shape that’s no
longer visible by default in the Custom Shape
Picker because newer versions of Photoshop
decided to hide those old custom shapes. So,
if you don’t see a set (folder) in the Shapes
panel called “Legacy Shapes and More,” just
click on the flyout menu at the top right of the
panel and select Legacy Shapes and More,
which will automatically add this set to the list.
Expand that set, then expand the All Legacy
Default Shapes set, followed by the Symbols
set. Select the crest shape as shown, which is
Sign 6. Holding the Shift key, click-and-drag in
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your document to draw a crest that’s around

672x678 px. Then, in the Properties panel
(Window>Properties), set the Fill to No Color,
and change the Stroke to black at 50 px.

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  HOW TO

STEP THREE: WARP

THE TYPE
Now make your PHOTOSHOP
type visible again by clicking
where its Eye icon used to
be in the Layers panel, and
make sure it’s the topmost layer
in the layer stack. If you just
want to warp the type itself,
double-click the type layer’s
thumbnail in the Layers panel
to select all the text, and then
in the Options Bar, you’ll see
an icon for Create Warped Text
(it’s a T sitting on a curve). Click

that icon to activate the Warp
Text dialog.
From the Style drop-down
menu, select Rise, set the Bend
value to 50%, and click OK. Use
the Move tool to drag the type
into position. Even though the
text now has a wave, it’s still
live type.
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022
This design still needs something
else, however, so this is where we’ll
try something a little different. Let’s try
creating a rectangular shape around
the type first and then warping the
type and a shape at the same time, so
press Command-Z (PC: Ctrl-Z) to undo
the warped text before moving on to
the next step.

 134 

STEP FOUR: WARP THE TYPE & SHAPE
Select the Rectangle tool (U) and draw a rectangle
around the type. This will be our ribbon. Move it below
the type layer in the Layers panel but above the crest
layer. In the Properties panel, set its Fill to white and
Stroke to black at 50 pt. Also, click on the Sign 6 layer
in the Layers panel, and then set its Fill to white in the
Properties panel.
Click on the type layer and then Shift-click the Rectangle
layer so they’re both selected in the Layers panel. Right-
click on either layer and select Convert to Smart Object,
which will combine both layers into a single smart object.
Press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) for Free Transform
and, up in the Options Bar, you’ll now see a similar icon
Background: Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels
 DESIGNING IN PHOTOSHOP
to the Create Warped Text, except this time it’s a small
grid shape sitting on a curve. Click this icon to activate
the control for warp.
To the left of this icon in the Options Bar, click the
drop-down menu for Warp, select Rise, and set the Bend
value to 50 to match the previous wave of the type, but
this time it will warp the smart object instead. Click the
checkmark in the Options Bar, or press Enter to commit
the warp. Use the Move tool to position the banner.
Once you’ve mastered warping text and shapes, you
can then drop in backgrounds; change the colors of
the Fill and Stroke of the shapes, as well as the text;
and add effects to the shapes to give the design more
impact. And it’s all completely editable.
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  HOW TO

WARP FACTOR 3
In this last example we’re going to use Perspective Warp
to create a folded effect.

STEP ONE: ADD BACKGROUND

Start another new document that’s once again 1920x1080
px at 300 ppi and RGB Color. This is going to be
another combined warp, but this time we’ll use Per-
spective Warp on an image and type. Of course, you
can do this on just the type using the same method.
I downloaded an Adobe Stock image of a brick wall,
which is simple enough to find online or you can
shoot your own (you can find the image we’re using
by clicking here). Place this image into your new file
and size it to fill the image.

©Adobe Stock/ParinPIX
STEP TWO: ADD TYPE
Next, click on the Foreground
color swatch near the bottom
of the Toolbar, set the color
to #ffedc9, and click OK to
close the Color Picker. Grab the
Type tool and type the words
“PHOTOSHOP WARP” at 35
pt in the font of your choice.
Press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J)
multiple times to duplicate
the type layer, and use the
Move tool to stack them in
two columns as shown here
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

until the text fills most of the

frame. With the top type layer
active, Shift-click the image
layer to select all the type
layers and the image layer.
Right-click on one of the
selected layers and choose
Convert to Smart Object.

 136 
 DESIGNING IN PHOTOSHOP

STEP THREE:
SET UP THE WARP
Before we begin creating
the warp, let ’s set up
some guides to help us.
Go to View>New Guide
Layout and, in the New
Guide Layout dialog, set
Columns to 5 (you can
use more if needed). Make
sure everything else is
turned off or set to 0, and
click OK.
With the smart object
layer active in the Layers
panel, go to Edit>Perspec-
tive Warp (you’ll see a
little pop-up window with
instructions on defining
planes). Now click-and-
drag out the first warp
plane starting at the far
left guide just above the
top of the canvas down
below the canvas to the
second guide (it should
snap to the guides). Then
click at the third guide just
above the canvas at the
same approximate height
as the first warp plane,
and drag down and to the
left to the bottom right
point on the original warp
grid. This will snap the
new grid to the first grid.
Repeat this three more
times so that you have
five warp planes that are
all connected.
KELBYONE .COM

 137 
  HOW TO

STEP FOUR:
WARP THE CORNERS
Go up to the left side of the Options
Bar and click Warp, which enables
the perspective control. You can
now click-and-drag control points
to distort both the text and wall
to make corners. Click-and-drag

every other point as shown here to

make zigzag patterns at both the
top and bottom of the image to get
a realistic perspective warp. You
can set manual horizontal guides
to help line up the perspective by
pressing Command-R (PC: Ctrl-R) to
show the rulers and dragging down
guides from the top ruler. Press
Enter or click the checkmark in the
Options Bar to commit the warp.

Now you have a realistic folded

wall and text.

You can go back into the type layer

in the smart object and add some
distressed effects to the type using
the Blend If sliders in the Blending
Options section of the Layer Style
dialog (check out my tutorial on
recreating a Banksy style stencil
effect in the April 2021 issue of
Photoshop User).
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

So that’s three cool ways to warp

text and create some fun looks to
accompany your images in your
design projects. There’s so much
more under the hood of the Type
tool and type effects that I’ll be
covering in future tutorials. n

 138 
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 TERRY WHITE
PHOTOSHOP Q&A
Q. 
Sometimes when I go to the Properties Q. I ’m about to buy a new computer to run
panel, the Remove Background quick Photoshop. Can you recommend which
action button isn’t there. Why is that? one I should get?
A. 
Remove Background is a quick action in Photoshop, A. I f I had to say which questions come up the most
and it can be found in the Properties panel (Win- often concerning Photoshop, this one is probably
dow>Properties) as well as the Discover panel (click in the top three. It’s also one of the hardest ones
the search/magnifying glass in the upper-right corner to answer because it’s a balancing act between
in the Options Bar). When you go to the Properties recommending the best performer for the amount
panel, the Remove Background button will only of money you’re willing to spend. It’s also a matter
show up if you have a regular layer selected, not the of what kind of Photoshop work you’ll be doing.
Background layer. Simply converting your Background Will you be working on high-resolution images all
layer to a regular layer by clicking its lock icon in the time with lots of layers? That’s a very different
the Layers panel will make the Remove Background level of need than the person who does retouching
button appear. If you run it from the Discover panel, with only a few layers.
however, it will run even if you haven’t converted Then there’s the platform question. Are you
your Background to a layer yet. going with a PC or a Mac? Do you care which
one? How long do you want it to last before having
to upgrade to a newer model? If you upgrade
every couple of years, then you may be able to
get by with a lower-end computer since it doesn’t
have to last 5–6 years. If you keep the same
computer for 3–5 years, then I’d most likely rec-
ommend a higher-end configuration because it
will last longer considering the changing demands
of the operating system and Photoshop in the
years to come.
Rather than picking a specific model, it’s always
easier to recommend the fastest processor, with the
most RAM and storage that you can afford. RAM
is the first thing on which I’d spend money, and I’d
go with at least 32 GB of RAM. Then you’ll want a
fast GPU (graphics processing unit) because many
ALL IMAGES BY TERRY WHITE, EXCEPT WHERE NOTED

of Photoshop’s operations are now aimed at the

graphics processor to relieve stress off the CPU
(central processing unit).
A fast CPU is the next most important thing,
and more cores will benefit Photoshop too. Also,
make sure you get a fast enough and big enough
hard drive. The more RAM you have, however, the
less important it will be that you have a super-
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

fast hard drive because it won’t be using virtual

memory as much.
If you’re getting a Mac, there’s a significant
speed advantage in the new Apple Silicon Macs
over the previous Intel generation. You may find a
great deal on the Intel models, but you’re giving
up on speed.

 14 0 
  PHOTOSHOP Q&A

Q. 
How can I place a new image

©Adobe Stock/Farknot Architect

on a smartphone screen if the
screen is at an angle in the photo?
A. 
T his is a compositing trick that we use all
the time. You have a device screen that you
want to put your message on but rarely is
the screen flat. In this example, I started
with a stock image of someone holding a
smartphone and then did the following:

1. I took a screenshot from my iPhone

and placed it on top of the stock
photo in Photoshop.

2. N
 ext, I pressed Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T)
for Free Transform, Right-clicked inside
the bounding box, and chose Distort.

3. W
 hen in the Distort mode, I dragged
the corners of the screenshot to match
the screen on the phone, and pressed
Enter to commit the transformation.

4. S
 ince the phone’s screen has rounded
corners, I needed to mask the sharp
corners of the screenshot, so I tem-
porarily hid the screenshot layer by
clicking its Eye icon in the Layers panel.

5. W
 ith the phone image layer active
in the Layers panel, I used the Quick
Selection tool (nested with the Object
Selection tool [W] in the Toolbar)
to select the white screen of the
stock photo.

6. Then I made the screenshot layer active

again, and clicked where its Eye icon
used to be to make it visible.

7. F
 inally, I clicked the Add Layer
Mask icon (circle in a square) at
the bottom of the Layers panel
to mask the screenshot using the
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selection so that it fit inside the

rounded corners of the screen.

 141 
  HOW TO
Q. W
 hile using the Clone Stamp tool
I accidentally brought up the Clone
Source panel. This looks interesting.
What’s it for?
A. T he Clone Stamp (S) has been around since the
beginning of Photoshop, and the Clone Source panel
(Window>Clone Source) was added back in the CS
days. It really adds a lot of power to the Clone Stamp
tool, especially if you have a lot of cloning to do. At
the top of the panel are five Clone Source icons. Each
one can be assigned a different source in your image.
Click the first Clone Source icon at the top of
the panel, and then Option-click (PC: Alt-click) on
an area of your image to make that the source for
the first brush. Now click the second Clone Source
icon in the panel, and Option-click (PC: Alt-click)
on another area of the image to make that area the
source for the second brush. You can do all five, if
needed. Now, as you use the Clone Stamp tool, you
can switch sources just by clicking any of the five
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022
Clone Source icons in the Clone Source panel.
 142 
Q. 
In the last issue, you mentioned a
way to run Photoshop plug-ins on an
M1 Mac that weren’t native by running
Photoshop in Rosetta mode. Are there
any other features that aren’t yet
native on M1 Macs?
A. 
Yes, there are a few more features as of the date
of this article that haven’t been made native yet on
Apple Silicon Macs. Here they are:
• Import, export, and playback of embedded
video layers
• Shake Reduction filter
• Preset syncing
• Share an Image/Quick Share
• Opening or placing U3D formatted files
• Starting Bridge from Photoshop menus. n
If you have a Photoshop question that you’d like Victoria Pavlov
to answer in the pages of Photoshop User magazine, send it
to letters@photoshopuser.com.
 Since Lightroom first launched 15 years ago, Scott Kelby’s
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers
has been the world’s #1 top-selling Lightroom book, and in this latest
version, Scott did his biggest update ever, sharing all his newest techniques,
insights, and invaluable tips using his award-winning, plain-English style that
makes learning Lightroom easy and fun. This is the first and only book to bring
the whole process together in such a clear, concise, and visual way. There is no
faster, more straight-to-the-point, or more fun way to learn Lightroom.

| kelbyone.com | newriders.com | #kelbyonebooks

 REVIEWS GET THE SCOOP ON THE LATEST GEAR

3 Legged Thing QR11 2.0

 Arca Swiss-Compatible Universal L-Bracket | Review by Dave Williams

The QR11 2.0 L-Bracket by 3 Legged Thing is a universal system designed to simplify
the process of switching your camera from landscape to portrait orientation, and it
does its job perfectly. Because of this, it’s difficult to write a lot about this product to
review it, but here goes!
It’s available in two sizes: Standard and Full Body/Gripped. The latter is for Company: 
3 Legged Thing, Ltd
taller cameras, but they both have the same size base. Both are made up of two
pieces that can be separated using the provided Toolz, which means that storage
Price: Standard: $59.99;
is optimized if you need to break it up to fit into a tight space. There are two 1/4"- Full Body/Gripped: $69.99
20 female threads on the vertical piece so you can attach items to it, such as a
camera sling, microphone, or anything with a 1/4"-20 male thread. The side piece
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

Hot: Does its job perfectly

is detachable so that it can be reversed, allowing access to ports and connections
on a variety of cameras.
The plates will mount to a 3 Legged Thing Airhed, or to any Arca-Swiss Not:
compatible clamp on your ballhead in either orientation, which is why this item
is necessary in most photographers’ gear. In a world where it’s tough to balance
the importance of tall versus wide photos, particularly when shooting for social
media where tall photos always win, it’s important that we can quickly switch
between the two. Doing so with a QR11 makes it so simple it can be done in

 14 4 

“In a world where it’s tough to
balance the importance of tall
versus wide photos, particularly
when shooting for social media
where tall photos always win,
it’s important that we can quickly
switch between the two.”
 REVIEWS
seconds with minimal variation to the perspective, and
no hindrance to the weight distribution of the camera
over the tripod.
The whole point of an L-bracket is to enable photog-
raphers to move easily between landscape and portrait
orientation while maintaining the horizon line. Where a
lot of L-brackets are simply a hunk of metal without a lot
of thought having gone into them, the 3 Legged Thing
QR11 2.0 seems to have been designed with careful
consideration given to a photographer’s needs, including
the newly added cut-out “notch” on the base plate that
affords access to the pull-out LCD screens available
on most new camera models. The thing that really sets
it apart from competitors is the price point versus the
KELBYONE .COM
build quality. The engineering and the thought that has
gone into it is on point, and at around one third the cost
of the nearest competition, it’s getting a solid 5 stars
from me. n
 145 
  REVIEWS

Topaz Labs Sharpen AI v4.0.2

 Intelligent Sharpener Gives You Tack-Sharp Yet Natural Photos | Review by Dave Williams

Topaz Labs has a range of software aimed at helping us fix photographic problems,
and the launch of their AI range is really helping to make these fixes quite special.
The machine learning of the AI in each of their apps (and plug-ins) identifies and fixes
problems in images, including in the new Sharpen AI version 4. The results are quite
mind-blowing, to be honest! When you load a photo into Sharpen AI, it first sets its Company: Topaz Labs
algorithms to work to ascertain what it thinks you’re looking at fixing, and it usually
gets it right the first time. There are tricks and techniques we can employ using Adobe
Photoshop to sharpen our photos, and I teach those techniques, so it does feel strange Price: $79.99

succumbing to a piece of software and potentially doing myself out of work; but I have to
say that Sharpen AI does a fantastic job while retaining a natural look in photos, unlike Hot: Excellent use of AI to achieve
a lot of techniques that we previously used. the best results
Sharpen AI can fix motion blur, focus blur, and the general softness caused by lens
blur, helping images to stand out. It does this while applying various corrections to
Not:
different areas of an image. Perhaps the most important application of Sharpen AI is to
fix our mistakes and salvage photos that weren’t previously usable. To test this, I used
a photo that I took in Norway of the northern lights over a small town. Embarrassingly
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

for a professional photographer, the photo is out of focus. I’d already gone over a series
of techniques I was aware of in other software and I’d given up. So, I used the Sharpen
AI Out of Focus – Very Blurry Sharpen Model to see if I could salvage the image, and
it worked. It isn’t perfect, but it’s no longer resigned to the hard drive; it’s good enough
for a social media post.
The software is intuitive and, therefore, easy to use, as is the Photoshop plug-in.
Exporting images is equally simple. Topaz Labs offers an exceptional range of software
at great prices. I’m very happy with the Topaz Labs Sharpen AI v4.0.2 software and I’ll
be using it in my regular workflow moving forward. n

 146 
  REVIEWS

© Ausra Babiedaite

Capture One Live

 Live Sessions with Clients and Team Members | Review by Erik Vlietinck

Photographers working with clients or in a team will like Capture One Live. With
Capture One Live, clients can follow what you’re editing or adding when shooting
images tethered, give star ratings, filter which images they want to see, and give a
photo a color code like the ones you can give in Capture One Pro.
It works simply by setting up an album in Capture One and then dragging Company: Phase One
images to it that you want to share. Then you click the Live button, set up a
password, click Start Sharing, and your photos appear on a webpage literally
Price: $9.99/month
instantly. Copy the link and send it to your clients and you’re set to collaborate
on that album.
The link stays live for seven days and everything that you do on either side of Hot: Works in real time with a
decent Internet connection;
the connection is sent in real time. The client can give an image a star rating in
clients can immediately see
their browser, and you’ll see that star rating appear in Capture One instantly. If you edits and new images; ratings
change anything to an image while the client is viewing the photos, they can see and color coding work exactly
your edits instantly too. as in Capture One

When you add images to the album, a large Download icon appears on the Live
web page so your client can keep on following what you do. As there are currently Not: The ability to annotate or
no communications possible via the Live sessions, it pays off to agree upon what communicate would earn
color codes will mean. this 5 stars

If you close Capture One while the other side is still rating, you must click the
Resume Sharing button when you launch Capture One Pro the next time. You must
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resume sharing before the expiration date, though, as you cannot extend a Live
session beyond its expiration date.
It all worked well, and I can see Capture One Live as an extra selling point for
photographers active in the fashion and commercial industries. n

 147 
  REVIEWS

OWC miniStack STX

 Mini Companion Becomes First Certified Thunderbolt 4 Storage Solution | Review by Erik Vlietinck

The miniStack from OWC has long been a Mac Mini companion device. The newest
version is the miniStack STX, featuring storage and Thunderbolt 4 expansion.
The miniStack STX has the same form factor as the earlier miniStack models
and as a Mac Mini, but it comes in black and has a universal SATA HDD/SSD
and an NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD slot. Both can be used, even in RAID, so you Company: OWC
can expand your Mac Mini’s storage capacity to a level that previously
was useful only if you owned an Intel Mac Pro. The miniStack STX also has
Price: $599 (as tested)
three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C type ports to hook up USB drives, displays, A/V
mixers, cameras, and tablets, as well as supports charging 60W notebooks
via Thunderbolt or USB-C. It comes with a power brick and, while the top Hot: Storage capacity;
speed; form factor;
is glossy black plastic, the sides are in black aluminum. The back is home
expansion capability
to the power port, a Kensington lock slot, and four Thunderbolt 4 ports,
one of which is designated as the one to connect to your Mac, but no
USB-A ports. Not: Fan noise
When I hooked up the STX to my iMac, it was clear it isn’t as whisper-quiet as
OWC’s recent storage units. The noise from the fan is definitely audible in a quiet
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

office, although it isn’t high-pitched, and will be silent enough for most people.
My 2-TB SSD test unit’s performance was good, but by no means comparable
with OWC’s fastest. Still, a write speed of about 680MB/sec and read speed of
more than 750MB/sec is fast enough for anything from photo editing to small 4K
video projects.
The miniStack STX is also Apple Time Machine and Windows File History
ready, and can be used with Thunderbolt or USB-equipped Macs, PCs, iPads,
Chromebook, and Android tablets. n

 14 8 
  REVIEWS

© Jérome Galland

DxO PureRAW2 DxO PureRAW2 — Zoom

DxO PureRAW 2
 Versatility, Speed, and Support for Fujifilm X-Trans Cameras | Review by Erik Vlietinck

PureRAW 2 from DxO allows users to pre-process images without leaving Lightroom,
and it now supports Fujifilm X-Trans cameras. There’s also improved OS integration
with access via context menus, and with an iMac you won’t notice, but on a Windows
PC the app now supports HiDPI displays.
PureRAW was awarded the EISA Best Advanced Photo Software 2021 prize upon
Company: DxO
its release, and version 2 builds on this success, offering new features and greater
efficiency. The performance improvement I was excited about, though, didn’t materi-
alize. PureRAW 2 got stuck on “About 1 second remaining” for well over a minute, just Price: $129; upgrade $79
like the first version did. You’ll see the promised speed bump only on Apple Silicon
machines and on the latest Windows computers.
Admittedly, speed isn’t everything. Integration with editors and even the Finder Hot: Improves even near-perfect
are features that support a smoother workflow. And guess what? Lightroom Classic shots; DeepPRIME keeps
users can Right-click on a number of RAW files and have DxO PureRAW 2 process getting better; X-Trans support;
the images, creating newly enhanced Linear DNG files back into the same folder, dazzling number of camera/
lens modules
without having to step outside the application.
If you don’t have Adobe products on your system, you can now simply Right-click
an image file and select PureRAW. This works with Windows File Explorer and macOS Not: Lack of modules for older
Finder. On macOS, it goes beyond just opening the file with PureRAW as you get cameras, even the ones
access to some seven Quick Actions. that you’re bound to use
Of course, the biggest news is for Fujifilm X-Trans camera users. DxO PureRAW 2 for a number of years
supports RAW files from X-Trans sensors, bringing the truly significant benefits of
DeepPRIME to Fujifilm X-T photographers. Finally, it also has a host of new camera/
lens combinations.
KELBYONE .COM

The update to the Optics Modules of DxO PureRAW brings the total number of
supported camera and lens combinations to more than 70,000. Alas, it’s only new
combinations that keep being added. The Hasselblad HD50 that I once tested, still
isn’t available. Some newer models are. n

 149 
  REVIEWS

Win in the Age of Video

 Paolo Kernahan and Narrisa Mandol | Review by Peter Bauer

The subtitle of this publication is “The Foolproof Video Marketing BluePrint for Publisher: No Fuss Video Series
Bigger Audiences, Reliable Income and Dynamic Business Growth.” The authors,

both former journalists (print and broadcast), look at integrating video into mar- Pages: 190

keting for virtually any enterprise. The focus is on creating video-related marketing
Price: $7.99 (Kindle)
strategies. The book does look at video both as a marketing tool and as a product

in and of itself. For years, photographers have been integrating video into their

“product line,” especially for special events, such as weddings. Using those skills

to help create better marketing tools seems like a no-brainer. While the authors
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

don’t go into detail on how to create video content, they do include links to 10

blogs and online videos that cover everything from equipment to lighting to audio

to scripting and speaking naturally on camera. You’ll also find a link to PDFs for

generating content plans and strategies.

 150 
  REVIEWS

Shoot! Photography Made Easy

 Simone
Soldà (author), Vera Carbone (translator)
Review by Peter Bauer
Publisher: Self-published
There are things to like about this book; for example, there’s lots of common-sense

information. It’s a little tough to read, however, seeming to be a rather literal

Pages: 37
translation from the original Italian. (If you speak Italian, you may find the author’s

YouTube interesting; he’s quite entertaining.) In addition, the lack of example Price: $9.90 (Kindle)

photos is a major drawback. Once you get used to the linguistic style, you may

discover that the author does an excellent job of succinctly describing the primary

aspects of photography. He covers the mechanical workings of cameras and

lenses, exposure, composition (and the basic “rules” of composition), focus and

depth of field, file formats, and postproduction. Perhaps the most interesting

sections are ”Photography as a language” and “Photographic culture.” The

author’s concluding paragraph presents this short book as an introduction to an

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introduction—a starting point from which you’ll begin your study of photography. n

 151 
 COLIN SMITH
PHOTOSHOP TIPS
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another enticing episode of “Photoshop Tips.” I’m feeling a little
tipsy this month, so I’ve provided some timesaving tips for you in this issue. Fortunately, my tips are
better than my puns. Bon appétit!

ROTATE AND REVERT

ALL IMAGES BY COLIN SMITH | PHOTSHOPCAFE.COM

If you draw or paint a lot in
Photoshop, you know that it’s
easier to paint with the arc
or your arm, and it’s difficult
to get a smooth brushstroke
when you’re going against the
arc. For this reason, artists
often rotate their paper while
drawing. You can do the same
with Photoshop. Tap the
R key for the Rotate View
tool and you can click-and-
drag to rotate your canvas to
make it easier to work with.
Okay, that’s a feature, not
really a tip. Here’s the tip:
Instead of struggling to put
the canvas back to its orig-
inal orientation, or reaching
for the Reset View button in
the Options Bar, just simply
tap the Esc key at any time
to reset the canvas.

DON’T STACK IT,

SMART OBJECT IT
You can get some great
results by duplicating a layer
and changing the blending
mode of the duplicate. This
is an easy way to increase
contrast and tone in an
image; but did you know
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022

there’s a more efficient way

to do the same thing? Rather
than duplicating the layer and
doubling the size of your
document, try this instead.
Right-click on the layer in
the Layers panel and choose
Convert to Smart Object.

 152 
  PHOTOSHOP TIPS

Press Command-L (PC: Ctrl-L) for Levels. Don’t make
any changes to the Levels; just click OK. The image will
still look the same, but now you have access to a little
slider icon to the right of Levels in the Layers panel.
Double-click the slider and you’ll see a Blending Options
dialog appear. Change the blending Mode to something
like Overlay and adjust the Opacity to suit your tastes.
You now have the equivalent of two layers, as well as a
layer mask, all while working on a single layer.
TRANSFORM AGAIN
There are times when you need to repeat a transformation
on multiple layers. Say, for example, you’re scaling and
rotating multiple thumbnails. Press Command-T (PC:
Ctrl-T) for Free Transform, scale and rotate your object,
and press Enter to commit the transformation. To apply
LAYER STYLE CONTROL
Layer styles are a quick way to dress up images and give
them a little kick. Here’s an interesting thing, though:
They’re based on the original image boundaries and
not added layer styles. What do I mean? Click on the
ƒx icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, and add a
wide Stroke layer style to a layer. Now, with the Layer
Style dialog still open, try to add a Drop Shadow.
Notice that you have to really add a lot of Spread to
the shadow for it to appear, because it’s applying the
shadow to the original contents of the layer and not
to the Stroke that you just added. So it’s really difficult
to get a subtle shadow at this point.
Here’s a trick to help you apply any layer style to
the entire stroke outline instead of the original art. First,
apply the Stroke and click OK to close the Layer Style

this exact same transformation to any

layer, select the layer in the Layers panel,
choose Edit>Transform>Again, and this
same transformation will be made on the
other layer.
You can really ramp this up by adding
a shortcut. If you hold down the Option
(PC: Alt) key when choosing this menu
command, a duplicate of the layer will
be created with the transformation. If you
keep repeating, you can build out fanning
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shapes like wings or kaleidoscopes. It’s

really fun. The keyboard shortcut Com-
mand-Option-Shift-T (PC: Ctrl-Alt-Shift-T)
does the same thing.

 153 
  HOW TO

dialog. With your layer selected in the Layers panel, press

Command-G (PC: Ctrl-G) to place the layer into a group.
Now apply a Drop Shadow layer style to the group and it
treats the original Stroke layer style the same as pixels.

CONTENT-AWARE CROP
With today’s social media, there are probably many
times when you need to change the orientation of an
image; for example, you need to turn a landscape into
a portrait-oriented image for posting on Instagram.
Sometimes you can crop into the image no problem.
Other times you can use Content-Aware Scale. But
there may be times when you need to use the Crop
tool to crop larger and expand the boundaries of your
image. Once you’ve done that, you’ll end up with solid
colors (based on your current Background color) on any
side of your image where the crop boundary extended
beyond the canvas.
Perhaps you use the Clone Stamp or Content-Aware
Fill to populate those solid color areas for a seamless
reshape, but Adobe sneaked an option into the Crop
tool that people have overlooked. When you choose
the Crop tool (C key) look up at the Options Bar, and
you’ll see a box named Content-Aware. If you turn on
that option and crop larger than the canvas boundaries,
Photoshop will automatically apply Content-Aware Fill
on those empty areas. This is also really useful when
you’re using the Crop tool to straighten an image and
need to fill those corners.
FORGOT TO FEATHER?
Selections are useful for many tasks, particularly for
masking out shapes. It’s important to have the right edge
quality for convincing results. Many times, a little bit of
a soft edge will blend in your masks in a convincing
way. In Photoshop, a soft edge is called a feather. So,
maybe you painstakingly made your selection and now
you want to feather it. But did you know that if you enter
a Feather setting into the Options Bar after making
the selection, it won’t do anything? You have to add a
Feather before drawing the selection. But how do you
know how much feathering you’ll need?
PHOTOSHOP USER > APRIL 2022
(PC: Ctrl-click) on the mask thumbnail, and the feath-
ered selection will be loaded. You can choose Select>
Save Selection if you need the selection later. Choose
Select>Load Selection to turn it on when you need it.
LOCK TRANSPARENCY
There may be times when you want to paint on an
irregular-shaped layer and preserve the transparency.
If you just paint on a layer, you’ll apply paint on the
entire area; it doesn’t matter if there are existing pixels
there or not. You could go ahead and load a selection
to protect the transparent areas, as most people do;
however, you could try some neglected tools in the
Layers panel, called Lock tools.
If you turn on the first option with the checkerboard
pattern, it will lock the transparency of the layer, and
now you can paint on the areas that contain pixels
only and not on the transparent areas. The other lock
options are Lock Image Pixels so you can’t paint on the
layer, Lock Position so you can’t move the layer, Prevent
Auto-Nesting to keep the layer from going into or out
of a frame or artboard, and then the Lock All padlock
which locks the layer entirely. These options are well
worth exploring. n

I suggest that you make your selection first with

no feather. Then, click the Add Layer Mask icon (circle
in a square) at the bottom of the Layers panel to add
a layer mask. The mask will have a hard edge. Double-click
on the mask thumbnail in the Layers panel to open the
Properties panel and, in the Masks settings, adjust the
Feather and you can visually see its effects now. If you
need the selection for something else; Command-click

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