The Ocean Ripple filter, as one of the Distort group of filters, applies a rippled distortion to the whole of the picture surface. In this way it can create similar looking results to those obtained with the Glass or Ripple filters.

The filter contains two slider controls.

The Ripple Size setting (1) adjusts the scale of the wave-like ripples that are added to the picture. Low values create smaller, less dramatic ripples.

The Ripple Magnitude slider (2) determines how far each ripple is distorted. High settings create a greater level of distortion in the final result.

The Offset filter, as one of the Other group of filters, displaces the picture within the image window. The filter contains two slider controls plus several options that determine how the offset areas are dealt with. The Horizontal and Vertical sliders (1) adjust how offset the picture is from its original position. The greater the values the larger the offset will be. The Undefi ned Areas options (2) determine how the space left in the image window when the picture is repositioned will be treated.

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.

Set to Background – This options fi lls the gap left in the image window with the current background color.

Repeat Edge Pixels – The pixels at the edge of the repositioned picture are repeated to the edge of the image window

Wrap Around – The picture is wrapped around the image window so that the edges that are cropped due to the repositioning are added back into the picture on the opposite side.

Omni is one of the lighting types featured in the Lighting Effects fi lter. The Omni style shines light in all directions, creating a bright center and then a sharp fall-off of light intensity.

This light type is great for highlighting a specifi c part of a scene whilst reducing the brightness of the rest of the picture.

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Move the light by click-dragging the light’s center. You can decrease or increase the size of the Omni light source by clickdragging one of the light handles.

Adjust the characteristics of the light source by changing its properties. The brightness of the light is determined by the Exposure (1) and Intensity (2) sliders.

As well as the extensive help and tutorial resources that are contained within the Photoshop program itself, extra tutorials, hints, tips and tricks can be found online.

Select the Help > Photoshop Online menu item (1) to take you to the Adobe web pages dedicated to your favorite photo-editing program (2).

Alternatively, CS2 users can click onto the colored feathers icon (3) at the top of the toolbar. This will take you to the same web pages

Although many images you make, or enhance, with Photoshop will be printed right at your desktop, occasionally you might want the option to output some prints on high quality photographic paper. The File > Online Prints option in Photoshop (1) and the Tools > Photoshop Services > Photo Prints in Bridge (2) provides just this ability.

Using the resources of Kodak’s Easy Share Gallery (previously www.ofoto.com) in the USA, Europe and the UK, Photoshop users can upload copies of their favorite images to the company’s site and have them photographically printed in a range of sizes (3). The fi nished prints are sent to you via the mail.

This service provides the convenience of printing from your desktop, with the image and tactile qualities of having your digital pictures output using a photographic rather than inkjet process.

The opacity setting can be adjusted for a range of tools and features in Photoshop. It is a setting that controls the transparency of an object or layer. A value of 100% is completely opaque (not transparent at all), whereas a setting of 0 % means that the layer or object is completely transparent. Brush opacity slider (1). Layer opacity control (2). New for CS3 is the ability to change the opacity of Smart Filter effects (3). Double-clicking the filter settings entry in the Layers palette displays the Blend Mode and Opacity controls.

The File > Open option presents you with the standard Windows (1) or Macintosh (2) file browser. From here you can navigate from drive to drive on your machine before locating and opening the folder that contains your pictures. You can refine the display options by selecting the specific file type (file ending) to be displayed (3) and, as we have already noted, you can also choose the way to view the files.

In the Windows example, the thumbnail view was selected so that it is possible to quickly flick through a folder full of pictures to locate the specific image you are after. In CS2 it is also possible to switch to the new Adobe Dialog (3) for opening and saving actions.

On the odd occasion that a specific Windows file won’t open using the File

> Open command you can try to open the file in a different format. Do this by selecting the File > Open As option and then choosing the file you want to open (1). The feature is used if a file has an incorrect file extension or no file extension at all. After making this selection pick the desired format (2) from the Open As popup menu, and click the Open button. This action forces the program to ignore the file format it has assumed the picture is saved in and treat the image as if it is saved as the file type you have selected.

If the picture still refuses to open, then you may have selected a format that does not match the file’s true format, or the file itself may have been damaged when being saved.

The controls in Adobe Camera Raw 4.0 can now be applied to TIFF and JPEG files as well as Raw captures. JPEG or TIFF files can be opened in Photoshop CS3 using the File > Open As option with Camera Raw format selected, instead of the default (JPEG or TIFF).

These file formats can also be opened into ACR from Bridge by right-clicking on the image’s thumbnail in the Content area and then selecting the Open in Camera Raw option.

Photoshop CS3 continues the march towards full non-destructive editing workflows with the inclusion of many new features supporting Smart Technology. One such feature is the easy way that you can now open almost any file as a Smart Object directly from the File menu (1).

Unlike the case with CS2, where picture files were placed into existing Photoshop documents to create a Smart Object, the File > Open As Smart Object command creates the document and embeds the picture file in a Smart Object layer in a single action.

Raw, TIFF or JPEG files that are being enhanced in Adobe Camera Raw can also be opened directly in Photoshop CS3 as a new document containing a Smart Object layer. Holding down the Shift button changes the default Open Image button to an Open Object option (3) which, when clicked, transfers the picture to Photoshop, creates a new document and embeds the picture in a Smart Object layer.

Alternatively, Raw files can be imported as new Smart Object layers directly from Bridge into open Photoshop documents, by highlighting the file in the Content space, and then selecting the File > Place > In Photoshop option.

First introduced in CS2 (and continuing for CS3) was the ability to convert Raw files to other formats using a stand-alone version of Camera Raw. No longer was this utility merely part of the process of opening a Raw file in Photoshop. It became possible to open candidate files directly into Adobe Camera Raw from inside the Bridge workspace.

The files are first selected in the browser and then the Open in Camera Raw option is selected from the File menu (1) or by right-clicking the thumbnail and then choosing the same option from the pop-up menu ( 2 ). The file is then opened in the Camera Raw dialog and is ready for processing.

In addition to using this option for processing individual files, multiple pictures can be added to the Camera Raw dialog (3) by firstly selecting the thumbnails and then choosing File > Open in Camera Raw.

As you browse, open and edit various pictures from your folders Photoshop keeps track of the last few files and lists them under the File > Open Recently Edited Files menu item (1).

This is a very handy feature as it means that you can return quickly to pictures that you are working on without having to navigate back to the specific folder where they are stored.

By default Photoshop lists the last 10 files edited. You can change the number of files kept on this menu via the Recent file list setting in the Edit > Preferences > File Handling window (2). Don’t be tempted to list too many files as each additional listing uses more memory.

New for CS3 is the File > Open Recent > Clear Recent option (3). This command removes the current Open Recent entries from the menu.

The skill of making a highly visual site that downloads quickly is largely based on how well you optimize the pictures contained on the pages of the site.

• • Firstly, the pixel dimensions of the image need to be reduced so that the image can be viewed without scrolling on a standard screen. This usually means ensuring that the image will fi t within a 600 × 480 pixel space.
• • Secondly, the picture is compressed and saved in a web-ready file format. There are two main choices here: GIF and JPEG.

The process of shrinking your pictures for web use involves two steps

The best way to optimize your pictures for web use is via the Save for Web (File > Save for Web) option in Photoshop.

This feature provides before and after previews of the compression process as well as options for compression (1) and reducing the pixel dimensions of your pictures (2), all in the one dialog.

Using the feature you can select the file format, adjust compression settings, examine the predicted file size and preview the results live on screen.

Long bar beneath the menu bar, which displays the various settings and options available for the tool that is currently selected.

The bar also contains the palette well (1), in CS2, and the Go to Bridge button (2).

The Output Levels controls (1) in the Levels dialog sit at the very bottom of the feature.

By moving these black and white point sliders inwards, you are compressing the full tonal range of the picture

The result is a less contrasty photo. Such a change may be necessary to suit the requirements of a particular printer, or just to reduce the contrast of a picture taken on a sunny day.

The Overlay blending mode is one of the group of Overlay modes which combine the effects of both the Multiply and Screen modes. Colors of the top layer overlay the bottom layer’s pixels but the highlight and shadow tones of the bottom layer are preserved.

There is no change when the bottom layer is blended with a 50% gray top layer.