Chapter 4
IN THIS CHAPTER
Mommy, where do pictures come from?
Keeping track of your images
Putting pictures on paper
Sharing your work
In this chapter, I show you how to get images into Photoshop from your digital camera and your scanner and then how to keep those images organized on your hard drives and discs. I discuss the basics of printing your images on inkjet printers (and alternatives) and tell you some things you need to know to make sure that you get the prints you expect. I also explain how to prepare images for sending by e-mail.
Artwork in Photoshop originates in one of three ways:
If you double-click a file and Photoshop doesn’t launch or the wrong program launches, you need to either launch Photoshop manually and use the File ⇒ Open command or associate the file format with Photoshop. (Check your operating system’s Help for info on associating file types with specific programs.) If you open images through Bridge:
If you have the hardware, you can remove your camera’s memory card, memory stick, or other media from the camera and insert it into a slot right on your computer. You can also use a card reader, which is a small device designed to read camera storage media. Transferring via the Mac Finder or Windows is often faster than (and usually just as reliable as) transferring using the camera manufacturer’s software.
After the images are safely stored on your local hard drive (or a high-speed external hard drive), you can open them in Photoshop by using one of the methods that I describe earlier in the chapter. Depending on your color settings, you might see a warning that the image’s color profile and the profile that you selected as your RGB working space don’t match. You may see a simple OK/Cancel option or you’ll see the embedded profile and the working profile, and you’re given three options (as well as a Cancel button, which won’t open the document):
Generally speaking, you want to convert to your working space so that you see the most accurate color on your monitor. You might want to preserve the embedded profile if you’ll be returning the image to the originating computer after looking at or working on it. The third option disregards all color profiles and works with uncorrected color. This is a good choice when working with images that you’ll later use with a non-color-managed program, such as a web browser or presentation program. (Without color management, you see the image as it will appear in the other program.) You can disable the color mismatch warnings in Photoshop’s Edit ⇒ Color Settings dialog box.
When opening an image that includes text, you might also get a message warning you that the type layers need to be updated. Generally speaking, you want to update them unless the image contains fonts that aren’t available on your computer. And don’t forget about the Type ⇒ Add Fonts from Typekit command to get missing fonts.
You place a photo (face down) on the glass of your scanner. You push a button. It automatically appears on your computer screen. That’s scanning at its most basic. You can save that file to your hard drive and use Photoshop’s File ⇒ Open command to bring it into Photoshop for editing.
On Macs, Photoshop’s File ⇒ Import ⇒ Images from Device command enables you to scan right from Photoshop, right into Photoshop. It can also be used to download images from cameras or card readers. (Windows users have WIA Support on the File ⇒ Import menu.) The scanned image can open in Photoshop as a separate file or as a layer in the currently active document. The Import Images from Device dialog box is shown in Figure 4-2.
To the right in Figure 4-2, you see a column of options available when working with a scanner. You can elect to scan as color or grayscale (the Black & White option), set the resolution and print dimensions, rotate the image, and elect to identify separate photos placed on the scanner’s glass. In addition to JPEG, available file formats include TIFF and PDF (as well as a number of other formats you’ll likely not use for scanning). Other available options include manual color correction (do it in Photoshop instead), three levels of sharpening (again, a task to be done in Photoshop), and descreening to remove moiré patterns (discussed later in this chapter).
When you’ve finished scanning, choose File ⇒ Close or use the shortcut ⌘ +W/Ctrl+W to close the window — no Quit or Cancel button is available.
Before scanning an image, you need to make some decisions:
If your scanner’s software doesn’t offer you the option to input final dimensions in inches, just pixels, you may need to calculate the size. By determining how many pixels you need beforehand, you eliminate the need to resize the image in Photoshop (and the possibility of image degradation). Many scanner interface windows let you input the final size and resolution you need right in the scan window. If you find the need to calculate scan resolution manually, here’s how:
Measure the original.
Before placing it on the scanner’s glass, measure the original image. If you’re using only part of the image, measure that part. (Be careful not to scratch the original with your ruler!)
Do the math.
Divide your required pixel dimensions (Step 1) by the physical dimensions of the original (Step 2). The result is your scan resolution. (If you get different numbers for the width and height, use the larger and expect to do some cropping in Photoshop.)
Unless you spent thousands of dollars on your scanner, you probably want to forget about the scanner software’s color and tonal correction capabilities — Photoshop gives you more control. However, here is one thing that scanner software does much better than Photoshop, and it’s a capability that you should use when appropriate: moiré (pronounced, roughly, mwah-RAY) reduction. A moiré pattern is a visible rosette pattern created by the pattern of dots placed by the printing press to reproduce color.
When you need to scan a color image or artwork that comes from a book, magazine, or newspaper (or other material printed on an offset printing press, such as product packaging or signs), you want to use the scanner’s software to reduce moiré. When you let the scanner know the pattern is there, the scanner’s software compensates for the pattern and smoothes the scanned image (as you can see in Figure 4-3).
The moiré reduction feature in your scanner’s software might not be immediately recognizable. It might be labeled Descreening, or it could be a choice between Color (Photo) and Color (Document). As always, refer to your hardware’s User Guide for specific guidance.
If rescanning is out of the question and you have a moiré pattern to reduce in Photoshop, blur the image enough to disguise the problem, and then paint with the History Brush to restore areas of critical detail in the image.
Because digital photography doesn’t have a significant per-shot cost (as did shooting film), people certainly have a tendency to shoot more. And more. And more. You find experimental shots, this-might-be-interesting shots, special effects shots, and (at least in my case) the same shot over and over and over again. They build up on your hard drive.
It’s pretty easy to stay organized after you choose a system. The hard part is actually deleting those digital photos that you really don’t need to keep — you know, out-of-focus, shot at a bad angle, Aunt Betsy’s eyes were closed and her mouth was open, the 400th shot of the dogs sleeping all curled up, the 401st shot of the dogs sleeping all curled up, and the like. It takes discipline! (Or an external drive, USB storage, and for older computers, an optical drive that can burn CDs and/or DVDs.)
I generally recommend using a subject-based organization scheme, such as the one shown in Figure 4-4. For example, inside the main folder named AllVacationPhotos, you might have subfolders with names such as London-Feb2017, NHL_ 31CityTour, or perhaps BackyardCamping _Sept_2016. (Notice that none of the folder names use empty spaces or characters other than letters, numbers, a dash, and an underscore, which minimizes the possibility that Photoshop or another program won’t be able to find a file.)
You can use external drives or USB storage (or your computer’s CD/DVD drive if it has one) to create folders of images. This not only provides you with a reliable backup (assuming that you store the devices or disks correctly and handle them carefully), but it can also free up space on your hard drive. Your folder/subfolder structure can also be used when creating your discs.
Adobe Bridge, the asset-management program for Photoshop and other Adobe programs, is a separate program in the Creative Cloud Manager. You can open Bridge independently, or you can choose File ⇒ Browse in Bridge from Photoshop’s main menu to launch Bridge — seen launched in Figure 4-5. If you choose Bridge’s Preferences ⇒ Advanced command, you can elect to have Bridge launch automatically whenever you log in to your computer.
Here are a few tips for working with Adobe Bridge:
Select multiple images in Bridge. You can have multiple images active by clicking and Shift+clicking (or ⌘ +clicking/Ctrl+clicking) the image thumbnails. You might want to select multiple images and then assign the same keywords to all the selected images at once.
All right then, you’ve arranged a hierarchy of folders and subfolders. You’ve sorted your images into those folders. You’ve assigned ratings and labels to the images. However, you still have no idea which is which on the File ⇒ Open Recent menu. Filenames such as _MG_1907.CR2
and PB270091.jpg
don’t tell you much about the image content, do they? Use Bridge’s Tools ⇒ Batch Rename command (as shown in Figure 4-8) to assign more meaningful (and informative) names to your files. Select content from each field from the pop-up menu or type in a field. Click the + button to the right to add more elements or variables to each name.
Also keep in mind that you shouldn’t type a period (.) into any field. That character should be used only before the file extension. And, as a wonderful keep-us-from-creating-problems-for-ourselves improvement, Batch Rename automatically adds the file extension for you.
In the very recent past, the subject of printing images from Photoshop required a huge number of pages. Thankfully, improvements in hardware and software make printing much easier. Monitors are well calibrated out of the box, printers reproduce color more accurately, and inks and papers last for decades. Yes, things have come a long way in a short time. But before you click the Print button, you should make sure that your image is ready to print. Will it fit properly on the page and in the frame? Are the pixels small enough that they blend evenly into the overall picture? Will the colors you envision be the colors that appear on paper?
Aspect ratio is the relationship between the width and height of your image. An image in landscape aspect ratio is wider than it is tall, and an image in portrait aspect ratio is taller than it is wide. Although digital cameras capture in a variety of aspect ratios, including 3:4 and 4:5, DSLR (digital single lens reflex) cameras typically use a 3:2 aspect ratio: One side is 1.5 times the size of the adjoining sides. Typical print (and picture frame) sizes are 8x10 inches (a 4:5 aspect ratio), 5 x 7 inches (5:7), 4 x 6 inches (3:2), and 3 x 5 inches (3:5). In Figure 4-9, the 3:2 aspect ratio is outlined in green, 5:7 is shown in yellow, and 4:5 is red.
In Photoshop, you can change the aspect ratio of your image with the Canvas Size command (if one dimension is already correctly sized), the Crop tool, or the Rectangular Marquee tool with the Image ⇒ Crop command. With the Crop tool selected and WxHxResolution selected in the menu to the left in the Options bar, you can enter specific dimensions and a target resolution in the three boxes to the right of the menu. Drag the tool, position and adjust the bounding box, and then press Return/Enter to execute the crop. Whatever is within the bounding box is resampled to the exact size that you specify on the Options bar. If you crop with Canvas Size or Crop commands, you may need to use Image ⇒ Image Size to specify the desired print resolution. (And see Chapter 2 for information on Photoshop’s Content-Aware Scale command.)
As soon as you activate the Crop tool (use the shortcut C or click the tool icon in the Toolbox), a bounding box appears around your image. You’ll also see a variety of options in the Options bar. (See Figure 4-10.) The top inset shows the various preset aspect rations available in the Options bar. Note the option WxHxResolution — select it to crop to a specific size and resolution. The left inset shows the variety of overlays available, including Grid, visible over the image in Figure 4-10. The lower-right inset, opened by clicking the gear-shaped button in the Options bar, provides options on basic Crop tool behavior.
Also notice that while the image is being slightly rotated during the crop process, the Crop tool’s bounding box doesn’t rotate; it’s the image behind the bounding box that rotates. To the right in the Options bar is the Delete Cropped Pixels option. When Delete Cropped Pixels is selected, the pixels outside the bounding box are deleted, but when deselected, those pixels are hidden and can be restored with the Image ⇒ Reveal All command.
When creating a cropping selection with the Rectangular Marquee tool, you can change the tool’s Style pop-up menu (on the Options bar) from Normal to Fixed Ratio or Fixed Size. Generally speaking, use Fixed Ratio and drag the marquee to encompass that part of the image you want to retain. When the selection marquee is how and where you want it, choose Image ⇒ Crop.
Chapter 2 presents you with an in-depth look at resolution as it pertains to digital imaging. As a quick refresher, keep these points in mind when thinking about printing your images:
In the past few years, reproducing accurate color from monitor to printer has become much easier. Although the process of color management still strikes fear into the hearts of many, the actual need for complex hardware and software to control color is greatly reduced. Why? Simply because computer manufacturers recognized that we, the consumers, wanted better color. Monitors ship from the factory calibrated and accurate. Printers use smaller droplets and better inks. Software does a better job of communicating color.
For most Photoshop users, accurate color is important. After spending hours tweaking an image’s appearance on-screen, surely you want the print to look exactly like the monitor. Here’s how to get that great color:
When you’re ready to output your image, choose Photoshop’s File ⇒ Print command.
A large, one-stop-shopping Print Settings dialog box opens (see Figure 4-11).
Select your printer and the number of copies you want to print.
In the Position and Size section, you can center the image within the printer’s margins or offset the print. You can also elect to scale the image to fit the paper rather than printing at the image’s actual size. (The Printing Marks, Functions, and PostScript Options sections of the Print Settings dialog box are used almost exclusively by print shops.)
Click the Print button.
This takes you from the Photoshop Print Settings to the actual Print dialog box. If you want to print at a later time, click the Done button to record your settings in the image’s metadata.
Print.
Make sure the correct printer and paper size are selected and click the Print button to send the image to the printer and starts the actual process of putting ink on paper.
If your prints don’t match your monitor, first evaluate your monitor’s settings. Open an image with known color values (you know what the image should look like) in a non-color-managed program. You might, for example, open Microsoft Word and choose Insert ⇒ Picture ⇒ From File to add an image with known color values (or a downloaded color chart) to a blank document. Use the monitor’s controls to make that image look the best possible, and then print. If the image prints accurately, great — you’re all set.
If the monitor looks great but the print is strange, first try cleaning and calibrating the print head, and then print from Photoshop. And take another look at the Print dialog box to make sure that you’re selecting the proper paper and color settings. (Again, refer to the User Guide for your printer for specific instructions.)
If your work (or play) requires extreme color fidelity, a number of companies offer hardware and software that regulate color. You can create custom profiles for monitors, printers, and even scanners and digital cameras. Although not inexpensive, skillful handling of these tools (in accordance with the User Guides!) can not only results in better prints, but also reduces the amount of aw-shucks wasted paper and ink from bad output. If you fall into this category, explore the current offerings from X-Rite (www.xrite.com
), PANTONE (www.pantone.com
), and Datacolor (www.datacolor.com
).
Many Photoshop folks use an inkjet printer to put their photos on paper. Although inkjet printers are the most popular and perhaps the most practical, you do have alternatives. If, for example, your work consists mainly of brochures and flyers rather than photos, a color laser printer might better fit your needs. The initial cost of a high-quality color laser printer is generally higher than all except wide-format inkjets, but the cost per page is much lower. Color laser printers generally don’t print photographs as well as a mid- to high-end inkjet, and the prints aren’t archival (they won’t last for a whole lot of years without fading), but such prints might be just fine for sharing snapshots among friends and family. Take a look at the User Guide for the specific printer you use to set up your job correctly.
Dye sublimation printers use rolls of film impregnated with dyes to reproduce prints. Prices for these printers range from less than $200 to several thousand dollars. The quality and longevity of the prints is generally tied to the price.
Here’s another output alternative available to virtually all Photoshop users. Burn your images in JPEG format (highest quality, 300 ppi) onto a CD or other removable media and take it to the local photo lab. Alternatively, use an online service with which you upload your JPEGs to the service’s web service to order prints. (Check with the lab or service to see whether you need to use the sRGB color profile for your images.) You’ll get back glossy or matte prints at the size(s) requested. And the cost per print can be substantially less than using your inkjet printer. The local photo lab is often a great alternative for stacks of vacation photos and family reunion shots that need to be sent to a whole passel of kin.
Photoshop offers a number of nifty ways to make it easy to share your images with others. (And, of course, you might simply send a CD of JPEG files to a friend or client with instructions to double-click each one to view the images.) However, there are certainly more elegant ways to showcase your talents. Images can also be uploaded to a variety of social media sites and you can e-mail links to those pages to anyone with whom you want to share your work. Photoshop’s File ⇒ Share command give you direct access to a number of ways to share images (see Figure 4-12).
Portable Document Format (PDF), the native file format of Adobe Acrobat, has become an incredibly useful and near-universal format. It’s hard to find a computer that doesn’t have Adobe Reader (free software to open and view PDF files) or another PDF-capable program (such as the Mac’s Preview), and that helps make PDF a wonderful format for sharing or distributing your images. Photoshop offers PDF Presentation in the File menu. Read about PDF Presentation and the very useful Contact Sheet II feature in Chapter 16.
While not officially supported by Adobe (despite the plug-in’s name), you can add the optional Adobe Output Manager to Bridge to create both PDF presentations and web galleries:
https://helpx.adobe.com/bridge/kb/install-output-module-bridge-cc.html
(Make sure that Bridge is up to date; choose Help ⇒ Updates.)
Remember, too, that you can send images via email. Keep in mind, however, if you like these folks enough to send them your images, you probably want to keep their friendship. And to that end, you want to be a responsible emailer —you don’t want to send out an e-mail attachment so large that it disrupts service for the recipient. (“Hi Marge. You know those images from your vacation that you e-mailed me on Tuesday? They’re still trying to download. Yeah, today is Saturday. Anyway, why don’t I drive up to Maine and look at the snapshots — it’s probably faster than waiting for the email.”)