Hacking Photoshop CS2

483 Pages·2005·29.465 MB·English

by  Shangara Singh

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Hacking
Photoshop® CS2
Shangara Singh
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Hacking
Photoshop® CS2
Shangara Singh
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Hacking Photoshop® CS2
Published by
Wiley Publishing,Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis,IN 46256
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing,Inc.,Indianapolis,Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN-13:978-0-7645-9788-6
ISBN-10:0-7645-9788-4
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
IK/SZ/QZ/QV/IN
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About the Author
Shangara Singhhas written and designed exam study aids for the Adobe Certified Expert
product proficiency exams for Adobe Photoshop and co-authored exam study aids for Adobe
Illustrator and Macromedia Dreamweaver (www.examaids.com).He regularly answers
Photoshop questions on various lists,forums,and from his Photoshop ACE Web site.He has
also served as technical editor for books on the use of Photoshop in Web site design and digital
photography.He brings his extensive experience as a director of photography,a lighting designer,
a photographer,and a Web and print designer to bear on all his visual work.
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Credits
Executive Editor Project Coordinator
Chris Webb Kristie Rees
Senior Development Editor Graphics and Production Specialist
Kevin Kent Clint Lahnen
Stephanie D.Jumper
Technical Editor Heather Ryan
David Creamer
Quality Control Technician
Copy Editor Brian H.Walls
Susan Christophersen
Book Designer
Production Manager Elizabeth Brooks
Tim Tate
Proofreading and Indexing
Editorial Manager TECHBOOKS Production Services
Mary Beth Wakefield
Cover Design
Vice President and Executive Group Anthony Bunyan
Publisher
Richard Swadley
Vice President and Publisher
Joseph B.Wikert
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To all my friends who have given me shelter,
encouragement,and spiritual sustenance
over the years.
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Introduction
A
great number of people come to Photoshop to fix their images and end up being mar-
ried to it,doing a thesis on it or,at the very least,pulling out their hair and swearing
never to go near a computer ever again.Photoshop is a tough beast to tame by using
logic or clicking here,there,and everywhere in the hope of breaking it in,throwing a saddle on
it,and riding into the sunset.
Sadly,there is no magic spell for mastering or taming Photoshop.If there were,there would be
less need for books such as this one,Hacking Photoshop® CS2.No,the only sure formula that
seems to work involves learning the basics and then adding to your base knowledge some of the
secret handshakes known to the experts ...and that’s the raison d’êtreof this book.It’s written
with the sole intention of imparting insider knowledge that will help you to understand what
Photoshop is capable of and help you speed up your workflow by revealing some of these
“secret handshakes.”
Whom This Book Is For
This book is for people who have a working knowledge of Photoshop and wish to expand
it exponentially.It delves into the nooks and crannies of the interface,the tools,commands,
filters,and their employment.It covers the different ways that a task can be performed in
Photoshop and invites you to make connections and to discover your own techniques for
solving problems.Although squarely aimed at Photoshop CS2 users,people using older ver-
sions of Photoshop can make use of the majority of the hacks and tips contained in the book.
How This Book Is Organized
The book has 18 chapters full of “hacks”—tips,tricks,mods,and customizations designed to
help you get the most out of Photoshop.
(cid:1) Chapter 1,“Optimizing Performance”—This chapter deals with managing your
resources and squeezing the maximum performance out of Photoshop.
(cid:1) Chapter 2,“Hacking the Work Area”—This chapter is all about customizing your
entire work area and saving the changes for future use.
(cid:1) Chapter 3,“The Fine Art of Using Palettes”—This chapter provides insights into
Photoshop’s palettes,some of the secrets that they hold and ways for you to enhance
your productivity.
(cid:1) Chapter 4,“Browsing with Bridge”—This chapter helps put Bridge’s viewing modes
and file-sifting capabilities to work for you.
(cid:1) Chapter 5,“Hacking Preferences and Documents”—The hacks in this chapter show
you how to handle Preferences and how to increase your productivity and streamline
your workflow when working with documents.
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