The Navigator palette is a small scalable preview palette that shows the entire image together with a highlighted rectangle (1 ) the size, scale and shape of the area currently displayed in the document window (2 ).

A new frame can be drawn (scaling the Image window with it) by holding the Command/Ctrl keys and making a new marquee. The frame can be dragged around the entire image with the Hand tool.

The Zoom tools (3) at each end of the slider can be clicked, the slider can be dragged, or a figure can be entered as a percentage to change view size.

Nearest Neighbor is one of the interpolation methods that is available when resizing pictures using the Image Size feature (1). This option provides the fastest and coarsest results and is only recommended for use with screen grabs or hard-edged illustrations.

It is not a method that works well with photographs. Instead, one of the bicubic options should be used to resize these image types.

The Neon Glow filter, as one of the Artistic group of filters, colors the image with foreground and background hues, adds a glow color and then softens the image.

The filter contains two sliders and a color selection box.

The Glow Size setting (1) adjusts the position of the glow in the tonal range of the picture. Low values place the glow in the shadow areas, higher settings move the glow to the highlights.

The Glow Brightness slider (2) oscillates the picture’s tinting between foreground, background and glow colors.

The Glow Color (3) can be selected by double-clicking (single-click) the color box and selecting a new hue from the Color Picker dialog.

Changing the foreground and background colors greatly alters the nature of the filtered results (4).

The File > New option in both the Photoshop (and ImageReady - not CS3) workspaces provides the user with a new blank document.

The option creates a Photoshop/ImageReady document from the settings selected in the New dialog box.

In Photoshop the dialog (1) has sections for the image’s name, width, height, resolution, mode and background content. You can also choose an existing template from a range of document types from the drop-down Preset menu.

The Advanced section (2) contains options for selecting the color profile that will be attached to the document as well as for choosing the pixel shape or aspect ratio that will be the basis of the picture.

Changes made in the New dialog can be saved as a new document preset using the Save Preset button (3) on the right of the window. The new preset is added to the menu listings and can be used to quickly create documents with the same characteristics in the future.

The New dialog in ImageReady (4) is a little more simplified containing document size and content options only.

To add a new brush to those listed in the Brush Preset palette display the pop-up palette from the options by pressing the down-arrow (1 ).

Select a brush from those listed and modify using the various settings in the options bar. Press the New Preset button (2) in the top right of the palette.

Enter the new brush name in the Brush Name pop-up dialog (3) and click OK. The new brush will be added to the bottom of the list in the palette.

The New Layer button located at the bottom of the Layers palette (1) creates a new blank layer above the currently selected layer when pressed.

The new layer is transparent by default. The results are the same as if the Layer > New > Layer menu item were selected

With the release of Photoshop CS3 the number of features and tools that support Smart Object technology has increased beyond what was available in CS2. One such feature is the New Smart Object via Copy command.

After selecting the layer pick the New Smart Object via Copy command located in the Layer > Smart Objects menu (1). The command duplicates an existing Smart Object layer but doesn’t maintain any links between the embedded content of both Objects. In other words, any changes made to original Smart Object will not be reflected in the copy.

To copy a Smart Object and have the contents of both object layers linked, select the layer and drag it to the New layer button at the bottom of the Layer palette (2). Alternatively, after selecting the object layer to copy choose the Layer > New > Layer via Copy option.

The New Window command creates another image window for the current document. The two windows can be sized, zoomed and moved independent of each other but changes made to one image are reflected in the other.

This feature is most often used to help see the effects of fine detail editing. The view in one window is magnified ( 1 ) whilst the other is kept so that the whole picture is displayed (2 ).

Enhancing or editing activities are performed in the zoomed-in window and the changes checked in the whole display view

The Normal blending mode is the default mode of newly created layers and newly selected brush tools.

When the top layer’s blend mode is set to Normal and to 100% opacity, no part of the bottom layer is visible and no blending of the two layers takes place. The picture parts of the top layer are treated as opaque and therefore cover and obscure all image detail beneath.

The Note Paper, as one of the Sketch group of filters, redraws the photo as textured light and dark tones based on the current selection of fore- and background colors.

The filter dialog contains three sliders that control the look and strength of the effect.

The Image Balance setting (1) adjusts which areas are toned the color of the foreground color and which are converted to the background hue. Low values favor the background color swatch and high settings color more of the picture with the foreground color. The Graininess slider (2) determines the amount of grain that is added to the picture. The Relief slider (3) adjusts the strength of the simulated side lighting falling on the paper surface. With higher values the texture is more pronounced. Changing the foreground and background colors away from their defaults greatly alters the nature of the filtered results.

A feature introduced in version 6.0 that allows you to leave messages around the picture These appear as little notes on the image which, when clicked open, reveal the message you’ve left. Useful if you’re working with a designer who needs to do something with the picture before it goes to print