

Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Advanced

Saving variations as layer comps


Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Advanced

with Deke McClelland
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  1. 40m 2s
    1. Welcome
      2m 1s
    2. Making Photoshop your default image editor
      7m 43s
    3. Installing the dekeKeys keyboard shortcuts
      8m 10s
    4. Remapping OS shortcuts
      7m 37s
    5. Installing the Best Workflow color settings
      4m 31s
    6. The color settings explained
      6m 54s
    7. Loading the CS5 color settings in Bridge
      3m 6s
  2. 1h 5m
    1. What you can do with Photoshop
      1m 46s
    2. The mission-critical eyes
      2m 44s
    3. Copy Merged and Paste in Place
      6m 52s
    4. Sharpening details to match
      4m 34s
    5. Masking eyes
      9m 22s
    6. Working with clipping-mask layers
      9m 5s
    7. Shading with layer effects
      8m 10s
    8. Color and highlight effects
      4m 2s
    9. Refining layer masks
      5m 43s
    10. Fabricating the highlights in the pupils
      7m 33s
    11. Using a merged copy to sharpen
      5m 34s
  3. 2h 14m
    1. Highlights, shadows, and midtones
      1m 16s
    2. Introducing the Auto commands
      7m 23s
    3. Adjusting Cache Level settings
      6m 8s
    4. Reading a channel-by-channel histogram
      6m 21s
    5. How the Auto commands work
      5m 22s
    6. Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, and Auto Color
      7m 7s
    7. Blending the Auto results
      4m 4s
    8. Introducing the Levels command
      6m 15s
    9. Using Levels as an adjustment layer
      3m 12s
    10. Applying custom Levels adjustments
      6m 8s
    11. Understanding the gamma value
      7m 39s
    12. The futility of Output Levels
      2m 56s
    13. Selections and adjustment layers
      5m 48s
    14. Opening up the shadows
      3m 40s
    15. Previewing clipped pixels
      4m 51s
    16. The black, white, and gray eyedroppers
      5m 7s
    17. Gray card tips and tricks
      6m 5s
    18. Making channel-by-channel adjustments
      7m 29s
    19. Introducing the Curves command
      7m 44s
    20. Curves dialog box tricks
      7m 16s
    21. Curves adjustment layer tricks
      5m 45s
    22. Correcting an image with Curves
      5m 32s
    23. Filling in the highlights
      5m 42s
    24. Neutralizing casts and smoothing transitions
      5m 37s
  4. 1h 46m
    1. The art of enhancing edges
      1m 26s
    2. How sharpening works
      6m 2s
    3. The single-shot sharpeners
      6m 7s
    4. Introducing Unsharp Mask
      6m 19s
    5. Radius and Threshold
      6m 24s
    6. Sharpening colors vs. luminosity
      5m 56s
    7. Gauging the ideal settings
      8m 59s
    8. Unsharp Mask vs. Smart Sharpen
      7m 1s
    9. Using the Remove settings
      9m 30s
    10. The More Accurate checkbox
      6m 8s
    11. Saving your Smart Filter settings
      5m 31s
    12. The Advanced sharpening settings
      7m 52s
    13. Accounting for camera shake
      6m 18s
    14. Sharpening with the Emboss filter
      6m 43s
    15. Sharpening with High Pass
      9m 23s
    16. The new and improved Sharpen tool
      6m 22s
  5. 1h 34m
    1. Edge's evil twin: noise
      1m 12s
    2. Color vs. luminance noise
      7m 21s
    3. Reducing color noise
      7m 45s
    4. Reducing luminance noise
      4m 59s
    5. Relegating an effect to the shadows
      6m 27s
    6. Switching between layer and mask
      6m 59s
    7. The Dust & Scratches filter
      4m 56s
    8. Adjusting shadow saturation
      5m 52s
    9. Combining High Pass with Lens Blur
      6m 57s
    10. Masking a layer of Lens Blur
      7m 34s
    11. Painting away High Pass sharpening
      8m 22s
    12. Building up a noise pattern
      6m 40s
    13. Converting noise to texture
      4m 24s
    14. Bleeding colors into paper
      6m 16s
    15. Matching different noise levels
      8m 31s
  6. 1h 32m
    1. We are the stuff of light
      1m 24s
    2. Applying automatic lens correction
      5m 53s
    3. Introducing Shadows/Highlights
      3m 44s
    4. Shadows/Highlights in depth
      7m 59s
    5. Creating a "bounce" with Gaussian Blur
      4m 43s
    6. Sharpening on top of blur
      7m 3s
    7. Sharpening the merged composition
      6m 16s
    8. Grouping and masking layers
      5m 40s
    9. Adjusting the density of a mask
      7m 14s
    10. Creating a Shadows/Highlights shortcut
      5m 47s
    11. Restoring detail with Shadows/Highlights
      6m 23s
    12. Changing the Shadows/Highlights defaults
      6m 21s
    13. Smoothing skin details with Gaussian Blur
      3m 56s
    14. Smoothing with High Pass
      5m 44s
    15. Lowering contrast with Gaussian Blur
      7m 4s
    16. Inverting a sharpening effect
      7m 5s
  7. 2h 32m
    1. Color becomes monochrome
      1m 31s
    2. Converting an image to grayscale
      6m 49s
    3. Extracting luminance information
      7m 37s
    4. Introducing the Channel Mixer
      10m 23s
    5. Aggressive channel mixing
      9m 42s
    6. Proofing CMYK colors
      7m 49s
    7. Color settings and intent
      7m 6s
    8. Practical Channel Mixer variations
      4m 30s
    9. Saving variations as layer comps
      7m 57s
    10. The default grayscale recipe
      8m 55s
    11. Creating a custom black-and-white mix
      6m 59s
    12. Shadows/Highlights in black and white
      4m 58s
    13. Introducing the Black & White command
      5m 55s
    14. Adjusting Black & White settings
      9m 39s
    15. Mixing a Black & White portrait
      6m 32s
    16. Black & White vs. Channel Mixer
      9m 21s
    17. Adding tint and color
      8m 0s
    18. Introducing the Gradient Map
      7m 10s
    19. Loading custom gradients
      4m 32s
    20. Editing gradient color stops
      9m 58s
    21. Colorizing with blend modes and Opacity
      7m 13s
  8. 2h 10m
    1. Two great commands working great together
      1m 18s
    2. Introducing the Color Range command
      5m 13s
    3. Setting key colors and Fuzziness
      5m 38s
    4. Predefined vs. sampled colors
      3m 57s
    5. The Localized Color Clusters option
      5m 41s
    6. Defining a selection with care
      4m 44s
    7. Introducing the Quick Mask mode
      5m 20s
    8. Testing edges with the Magic Wand
      5m 14s
    9. Hand-brushing a selection
      5m 39s
    10. Saving and loading an alpha channel
      4m 35s
    11. Converting a selection to a layer mask
      2m 46s
    12. Switching between an image and a layer mask
      6m 58s
    13. Protecting elements with a layer mask
      8m 5s
    14. Duplicating and editing a layer mask
      7m 34s
    15. Introducing the Refine Edge command
      4m 46s
    16. Accessing the various Refine Edge options
      5m 35s
    17. Refine Edge's preview options
      6m 21s
    18. The Adjust Edge values
      4m 11s
    19. Edge Detection and Smart Radius
      6m 5s
    20. Using the Refine Radius tool
      8m 8s
    21. Using the Decontaminate Colors option
      7m 30s
    22. Old-school masking adjustments
      7m 7s
    23. Four micro mask adjustments
      8m 33s
  9. 3h 13m
    1. Photoshop's vector exceptions
      1m 11s
    2. Making text in Photoshop
      6m 18s
    3. Creating and editing a text layer
      6m 56s
    4. Font and type style
      7m 35s
    5. Type size and color
      7m 52s
    6. Combining layer effects and type
      10m 57s
    7. Drawing a custom shape layer
      8m 34s
    8. Side bearing, kerning, and tracking
      10m 36s
    9. Point text vs. area text
      8m 26s
    10. Selecting and formatting a paragraph
      5m 19s
    11. Copying and pasting unformatted text
      7m 45s
    12. Creating text inside a custom path
      6m 26s
    13. Creating text along a path
      8m 13s
    14. Adjusting baseline shift
      6m 16s
    15. Drawing a fading arrowhead
      7m 29s
    16. Fading a shadow with a layer
      5m 32s
    17. Logo creation and Fill Opacity
      7m 44s
    18. Stretching a background element
      6m 9s
    19. Drawing with shape outlines
      6m 18s
    20. Combining vector-based shapes
      6m 42s
    21. Masking vector-based shape layers
      6m 7s
    22. Correcting spacing problems
      7m 44s
    23. Drawing the ultimate specular sparkle
      8m 45s
    24. Preparing text for commercial output
      5m 9s
    25. Saving a high-resolution PDF file
      7m 11s
    26. Inspecting the final PDF document
      7m 8s
    27. Saving large poster art
      9m 32s
  10. 2h 36m
    1. What filters ought to be
      1m 25s
    2. Layer effects vs. filters
      6m 14s
    3. Carving with an Inner Shadow effect
      7m 45s
    4. Selling an effect with Drop Shadow
      7m 17s
    5. Creating blurry shadow type
      5m 30s
    6. Saving custom default settings
      6m 22s
    7. Creating a custom contour
      7m 3s
    8. Introducing Bevel and Emboss
      7m 35s
    9. Adjusting Angle and Altitude
      7m 8s
    10. Exploiting global light
      8m 11s
    11. Gloss and edge contour
      5m 8s
    12. Applying and creating layer styles
      6m 45s
    13. Loading, saving, and merging styles
      6m 17s
    14. Creating a textured bevel effect
      6m 56s
    15. Using shadows as highlights
      7m 39s
    16. Combining filters and effects
      6m 58s
    17. Working with random effects
      6m 55s
    18. Smoothing with Gaussian Blur and Levels
      6m 13s
    19. Masking blacks from whites
      4m 37s
    20. Applying liquid styles
      4m 36s
    21. Simulating liquid reflections
      8m 12s
    22. Finessing and cropping a liquid effect
      7m 25s
    23. Initiating a displacement map
      6m 17s
    24. Applying a displacement map
      7m 37s
  11. 1h 12m
    1. Two words: Free Transform
    2. Scale, rotate, and constrain
      6m 30s
    3. Using the transformation origin
      7m 42s
    4. Applying a slant (aka skew)
      3m 37s
    5. The four-point "perspective" distortion
      7m 51s
    6. Two ways to make gradient text
      5m 59s
    7. Building complexity from a simple shape
      4m 42s
    8. Duplicating a series of transformations
      6m 3s
    9. Rasterizing a layer with its effects
      6m 41s
    10. Applying a custom warp
      7m 24s
    11. Blending and softening a warped layer
      4m 39s
    12. Creating spherical highlights
      6m 30s
    13. Using a center-source inner glow
      3m 51s
  12. 2h 42m
    1. Distorting reality
      1m 33s
    2. Extracting a foreground element
      6m 45s
    3. Introducing the Puppet Warp command
      7m 20s
    4. Setting and manipulating pins
      7m 48s
    5. Rotating pins and switching warp modes
      6m 41s
    6. Expanding and contracting the mesh
      6m 11s
    7. Changing the Density setting
      8m 0s
    8. Adjusting the pin depth
      5m 18s
    9. Winding an image into a pretzel
      6m 2s
    10. Applying Puppet Warp to type
      6m 30s
    11. Warping single characters
      6m 25s
    12. Editing puppet-warped text
      8m 24s
    13. Extending an image with Free Transform
      8m 46s
    14. Extracting from a white background
      10m 5s
    15. Tracing a shape with Puppet Warp
      9m 1s
    16. Introducing the Liquify command
      5m 4s
    17. Warp, Twirl, Pucker, and Bloat
      8m 53s
    18. Saving and loading a mesh
      5m 59s
    19. Push, Mirror, and Turbulence
      11m 49s
    20. Lifting and slimming details
      8m 22s
    21. Warping fabric, arms, and legs
      7m 1s
    22. Masking and finessing the results
      10m 8s
  13. 3h 3m
    1. Welcome to the digital darkroom
      1m 44s
    2. Introducing Camera Raw
      7m 40s
    3. Adjusting white balance
      7m 0s
    4. Selecting and synchronizing images
      6m 9s
    5. Making automatic adjustments and saving changes
      7m 19s
    6. Creating and managing snapshots
      8m 23s
    7. Adjusting the Exposure value
      6m 24s
    8. Working with clipping warnings
      5m 5s
    9. Adjusting Brightness and Contrast
      7m 35s
    10. Vibrance, Saturation, and Clarity
      9m 25s
    11. Recovery and Fill Light
      6m 57s
    12. Using the Graduated Filter tool
      7m 2s
    13. Painting edits with the Adjustment Brush
      9m 44s
    14. Straighten, crop, and geometric distortions
      7m 49s
    15. Applying manual lens corrections
      7m 19s
    16. Vignette and chromatic aberrations
      6m 21s
    17. Introducing the Tone Curves
      6m 9s
    18. Parametric curves and targeted adjustments
      6m 26s
    19. Correcting a low-noise photograph
      7m 35s
    20. Sharpening and high-noise photos
      8m 25s
    21. Selective Hue/Saturation adjustments
      5m 34s
    22. Selective Luminance adjustments
      5m 39s
    23. Adding grain and vignetting effects
      5m 23s
    24. Mixing a subjective black-and-white image
      7m 53s
    25. Colorizing with the Split Toning options
      4m 29s
    26. Opening a raw image as a Smart Object
      5m 39s
    27. Camera Raw wrap-up
      8m 38s
  14. 55s
    1. Until next time

Video: Saving variations as layer comps

All right, I am still working inside that same Channel mixes.psd image. I've gone ahead and restored the original saved version of the image. So we're just seeing the background photograph and nothing more. In this exercise, I am going to introduce you to layer Comps, which are great for basically comparing the effect of different layers when piled on top of each other. So in our case for example, let's say I want to be able to compare Sienna 1 (raw), I will go ahead and turn that On, and then I want to compare it to Sienna 2 (burnt). So in other words I am comparing a raw Sienna effect to a burnt Sienna effect.


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Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Advanced
26h 24m Intermediate Aug 13, 2010 Updated Aug 31, 2010

Viewed by members. in countries. members currently watching.



Topics include:
  • Using blend modes, adjustment layers, and layer styles
  • Organizing a layered composition so it is fluid and editable
  • Creating and editing type in Photoshop
  • Using blur effectively
  • Using adjustment layers to add color
  • Combining layers into a clipping mask
  • Working with Camera Raw
Design Photography
Deke McClelland

Saving variations as layer comps


And if you are familiar with oils or acrylic paints, then you know that raw sienna is a yellowish brown and burnt Sienna is a reddish brown. And I want to be able to actually see that happen onscreen but in order to compare the two, I need to turn one Off and then the other On, and as a result I don't get that direct before and after preview, you know what I mean, it's not a side-by-side preview, but I want to be able to see one right after the other without the original image in between which ruins the effect, then I can't really do a visual comparison.

Well that's where layer Comps come in. Basically, at its most fundamental level, a layer Comp says which layers are visible and which layers aren't, and that's it. But just that very simple thing ends up providing a great advantage. So I am going to go up to the Window menu, and choose the layer Comps command, and that will bring up this layer Comps panel, and I'm going to drag the top of the panel up so that we can see every one of these 18 layer Comps that I've saved for you, and they don't take up much space at all and they are saved along with the file, incidentally.

So here is this file that has 13 different Channel Mixer adjustment layers and one Vibrant adjustment layer, notice at the top here, as well as this photographic image of course in the background, and then we also have 18 different layer Comps, but if you take a look at the size of the file down here in the lower-left corner of the window, you can see that it's 8.5 Megabytes/8.5 Megabytes, that means flattened it takes up a 8.5 megs in memory and with all of the Adjustment layers and with all the layer Comps, it also takes up 8.5 megs of memory.

It's as if these other elements take up no room whatsoever. Well they do take up a few K, is what it comes down to, but not enough to really amount to anything. So I definitely recommend, you take a look at these things. They are very easy to work with, very easy to create and here's how they work. Notice I've got this guy called Original. You don't click on it, you can but that doesn't really actually do anything inside the image. What you need to do is click in front of the item and you get this little newspaper icon and that goes ahead and shows you that layer Comp.

And in this case nothing changed because this layer Comp includes just the background image and nothing more. If I click in front of Channels forward then I'm seeing the Background layer along with the R > G > B > R Channel Mixer layer and you might ask, well, why is that Channels forward? Because I'm spinning the Channels forward. I am rolling the red channel into the green channel and the green channel into the blue channel and the blue channel background into the red channel. Half forward is the 50% mix, and notice, now I can compare them directly to each other, just by clicking in front of a different layer Comp, not only that I've got these arrow icons down here at the bottom which allow me to go to the Next Comp forward or the Previous Comp if I like.

So I will click on this right arrowhead to go to the Next Comp in which case we are rolling the channels backward. We are going from green > red > blue > green. And the next one is the half back, so we can compare the 50% version of that very same effect right in a row. Next I have got Portrait booster 1 and that is just as one Portrait booster layer by itself. Portrait booster 2 is the second one by itself. Portrait booster 3 is the two together, just as I showed you.

So again, you can compare those to each other as well. We've got Monochrome warm, and this is where I noticed while I was showing this to you in the previous exercise that there was no way, I could compare these two to each other, and it was time for me to show you the layer Comps that were lying in wait here, because you can see that it's a Monochrome image, but it doesn't look all that warm until you compare it to Monochrome cool, which is obviously quite a bit cooler onscreen here, and then we start working our way into the paint colors. So there is Yellow oxide, all of these are very warm pink colors, so you can think of these as being different sepia tones if you like or antique variations on the image.

So here's Yellow oxide and each one of these transitions progressively more toward red and finally into Magenta. So we go from Yellow oxide to Raw sienna, each one of these is selecting a different layer here inside the Layers panel. Then we go to Burnt sienna, so we can see the two right on top of each other there, and then Red oxide which is getting redder still, finally Violet oxide, and then notice so that you can really see the difference between these guys, I've got Yellow high. Now what in the world's going on there? Well, let's go ahead and scroll up the list inside the Layers panel.

It's Yellow oxide along with my vibrant layer on top. So then I've got Raw sienna high, which is Siena 1 (raw) along with vibrant, and then Burnt Sienna high right there which is Siena 2 (burnt), so in other words these are more highly saturated versions of those variations we saw before, but we are missing a couple. I don't have high vibrant versions of red or violet. So let's go ahead and create those very quickly, don't take any time. Go ahead and turn Off Sienna 2 (burnt) and turn on Red oxide, so make sure Red oxide is turned On and vibrant is turned On as well.

And then let's create a New layer Comp, by clicking on this little Page icon at the bottom of the layer Comps panel and that will bring up the New layer Comp dialog box and I am just going to call this guy Red high, and all we want to apply to the layers is Visibility for now, because we are not doing any special appearance stuff, that would mean Opacity Levels and Blend modes and any layer effects you may have applied including any settings associated with those layer effects. So Appearance conveys a lot. Position is all about moving layers. So you can actually save the horizontal and vertical location of a layer if you want to.

That also doesn't apply to our composition. So we just want Visibility, click OK and now I'll go ahead and turn Off Red oxide and turn On Violet oxide, make sure the vibrant layer is still turned On as well. Click on the little Page icon, up comes the New layer Comp dialog box, go ahead and call this Violet high, like so, and make sure Visibility is just turned On, the other two Off, click OK and you're done. You've actually gone ahead and saved out a couple of layer Comps and now you can work your way through all of these, just by clicking either the Forward button, which is going to take you back to the original image, so it cycles all the way around or you can click on the Previous Comp button here if you want to the left arrowhead to move backwards through these variations.

So there you have it, a file full of Channel Mixer variations that are available to you to inspect and use anytime you like and to check one of them out by the way. I'm going to go ahead and bring up layer Comps for just a moment once again, and I'm going to switch to Burnt Sienna high, because I think that's one of the most successful manipulations of this particular image. To check out what's going on with any one of these, just double-click on the Adjustment layer thumbnail that will bring up the Adjustments panel and then you can see, in this case, I have changed Red to a 50-50 mix of Red and Green.

I have changed Green to 10%, Red, 60% Green, and 30% Blue, and then I went ahead and changed Blue to -10 Red, so a little bit of an aggressive manipulation there, 50% Green, and 60% Blue, and every single one of them is different. You can check them out on your own and decide which ones you like, which ones you don't, drag them and drop them into your own photographs as well. In the next exercise, I'll show you how to use the Channel Mixer to create your own custom black-and-white images.


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