Photoshop CC for Photographers: Intermediate

Step up your Photoshop skills with refined layers and masks, Smart Filters, blending modes, and features to dramatically improve your photographs and maximize your efficiency.

This installment of Photoshop CC for Photographers goes beyond the basics and focuses on the features and techniques that will dramatically improve your photographs and maximize your efficiency. Photographer and teacher Chris Orwig first illustrates the strengths of Bridge, the Adobe Photoshop companion program, as an organizational tool and a device for batch processing photographs. He then moves on to mastering Photoshop, starting with layers—targeting, moving, and merging them with greater speed and efficiency. Then learn how to make better selections, refine their edges, and paint in adjustments, as well as increase the color accuracy of your images with Levels and Curves. Plus, learn to work with blending modes, apply creative color effects, and use the Burn and Dodge tools to improve contrast—a classic photographic technique updated for the digital age. Chris also covers correcting perspective and distortion, creating photo composites and panoramas, and working with DSLR video in Photoshop.

Introduction

• Welcome
• Using the exercise files

1. Filtering and Finding Your Photos with Bridge

• Optimizing your workflow with shortcuts
• Rating, filtering, and finding the keepers more quickly
• Using Full Screen mode to select the keepers
• Minimizing the interface to better evaluate the images
• Finding recently viewed folders and images
• Viewing subfolders and searching for specific images

2. Organizing Your Photos with Bridge

• Moving and renaming folders
• Quickly renaming one or more images
• Duplicate, Copy, and Move
• Rejecting and deleting files
• Grouping images into collections and smart collections
• Using Review mode to create a collection of keepers
• Stacking images into groups

3. Working Faster with Bridge

• Resizing images quickly with Image Processor
• Batch processing multiple files at once
• Creating a contact sheet

4. Increasing Color Accuracy

• The importance of using daylight-balanced lightbulbs
• Correcting color casts using Camera Raw
• Correcting color casts using Levels and Curves
• Masking away color problems in specific areas

5. Becoming an Expert with Layers

• Shortcuts for copying layers and layer style effects
• Changing fill and opacity
• Creating layer clipping masks
• Using layers to create a two-image layout
• Shortcuts for creating new layers
• Increasing the size of the Layers panel
• Selecting layers with more speed
• An advanced way to select and reorder layers
• Merging and flattening layers down
• Merging all layers to the top

6. Making Better Selections and Masks

• Working with the Quick Selection tool
• Improving the edges of a mask and masking shortcuts
• Refining mask edges with the Maximum filter
• Using Color Range to build a mask
• Copying masks from one layer to another

7. Creating Hand-Painted Masks

• Working with Quick Select
• Making gradient and hand-painted masks
• Creating smoother transitions with a gradient mask
• Making advanced tone corrections with hand-painted masks
• Selective sharpening with a hand-painted mask
• Removing small blemishes quickly

8. Discovering the Power of Blending Modes

• Introducing the magic of blend modes
• Using the Soft Light blending mode to increase visual impact
• Using multiple blending modes for the best results
• Improving underexposure
• Stacking blending modes together
• Create a saturated soft-glow effect
• Using Smart Filters to add a film-grain effect
• Using blending modes to remove white or black
• Creating a sepia-toned look with the Color blending mode
• Blending mode shortcuts

9. Color Creativity

• Using the Replace Color adjustment
• Adjusting color with Replace Color, Hue/Saturation, and masking
• Becoming an expert with the Hue/Saturation controls
• Removing targeted colors with Hue/Saturation
• Making complicated color changes easy with Hue/Saturation
• Introducing how to change color with Selective Color
• Using Selective Color to enhance and change colors
• Using Color Balance to create vivid color
• Combining Color Balance and Curves to create dramatic color

10. Master the Art of Burning and Dodging

• Introducing the Dodge and Burn tools
• Improving a black-and-white landscape photograph
• Brightening and darkening a color photograph
• Dodging and reducing shadows in a portrait
• Burning and dodging with the Brush
• Burning and dodging with gradient tools

11. Creating an HDR Image

• Selecting the files and launching HDR Pro
• Finishing the image with Photoshop

12. Applying a Creative Look with HDR Toning

• Creating an HDR effect with HDR Toning
• Achieving a high-contrast, edgy portrait look
• Creating a desaturated effect

13. Increased Flexibility with Smart Filters

• Introducing Smart Filters
• Applying Smart Filters
• The advantages and disadvantages of using Smart Filters

14. Using Camera Raw as a Smart Filter

• Enhancing your photographs using Camera Raw
• Correcting exposure and color with Camera Raw
• Fixing an overexposed sky with Camera Raw and masking
• Masking in Camera Raw adjustments
• Selective sharpening with Camera Raw and masks

15. Applying Creative Effects with the Blur Gallery

• Changing focus with the Blur Gallery (CC 2014)
• Applying multiple focus areas (CC 2014)
• Using Tilt-Shift Blur on a portrait (CC 2014)
• Becoming more advanced with Tilt-Shift Blur (CC 2014)
• Creating a specialized effect with Field Blur (CC 2014)
• Using Field Blur to sharpen focus area (CC 2014)
• Adding spin motion with Spin Blur (CC 2014)
• Getting started with the Path Blur filter (CC 2014)
• Adding speed motion with Path Blur (CC 2014)

16. Making Perspective Corrections

• Using the Lens Correction filter
• Correcting difficult distortions with Lens Correction
• Using Upright in Camera Raw to easily correct distortion
• Digging deeper into the Camera Raw lens correction controls
• Fixing difficult issues easily with Camera Raw
• Correcting distortion in an architectural photograph
• Using the Camera Raw lens correction controls for creative results
• Using Puppet Warp to correct perspective
• Correcting distortion with Perspective Warp (CC 2014.1)

17. Combining Multiple Images Together

• Combining the best expressions in two group photographs
• Combining smaller elements from one frame to another
• Combining two photos with movement
• Using Photomerge to combine two images together
• Creating a panoramic photo from multiple frames
• Correcting distortion with the Adaptive Wide Angle filter
• Cropping, filling in the gaps, and making final panoramic adjustments

18. Saving Your Photographs

• Exploring when to save as TIFF, PSD, or JPEG
• Preparing an image for the web
• Saving an optimized JPEG for the web

19. Working with Your DSLR Video Files in Photoshop

• Opening up a video file in Photoshop
• Editing a video clip and adding type
• Adding and modifying transitions
• Using adjustment layers and adding an audio track
• Creating a project with multiple clips
• Adding cross-dissolves and fades, and creating custom shortcuts
• Customizing the workspace to review your project
• Exporting your project

Conclusion

• Additional resources and newsletter