Advertisment

Spice up your Images with Photoshop CS3

author-image
PCQ Bureau
New Update

The Photoshop CS3 beta is available as a Universal Binary for the Mac OS as

well as for Windows XP and Vista based computers. We discussed the procedure to

download it in the Feb issue (pg118). Meanwhile, Adobe has now made it possible

for Windows users of Photoshop CS2 to get a Mac CS3 beta serial number and vice

versa. Last month we reviewed some of the interesting new features in Tool bar

and Palettes, Curves and how you can smartly convert your color images to black

& white. Let's now look at the other new tools/enhancements that will make life

easier for you.

Advertisment

Applying smart filters



This is one of the major attractions of this release. In previous versions,
after applying a filter to an image, you couldn't go back and modify or edit the

filter settings, or remove the filter effect completely. You couldn't even

reduce or increase opacity or apply blending modes. Now, using a smart filter

you can do all this and more, as many times as you want. To apply a smart

filter, a layer must first be converted to a Smart Object. For creating Smart

Objects, go to file menu and click on 'Open as Smart Object.'

Direct Hit!
Applies To:

Graphics designers, image editors



Price:
Not available



USP: Image enhancement has become a lot easier with new
features added to most of the tools



Primary Link: www.adobe.com


Google Keywords: photoshop

In CS3, when we create a Smart Object, the pixels are always preserved in

their original state and as a result, Smart Objects can now be used to apply

filter effects that are fully editable. Smart filters appear as parameters under

the layer to which they have been applied. To create a smart filter, select the

layer and go to Filter menu.

Advertisment

Select 'Convert for Smart filters.' A smart filter will be applied to that

layer. You can revert back to the original image later on, in case you are not

satisfied with the changes done. Another new feature is the 'Smart filter mask.'

Such a mask, when applied to filters, allows you to adjust the filter's effects

on different areas of an image. It's also possible to rearrange the filter's

positions by clicking and dragging on those.

You can see four different

Smart Filters applied to Layer 1. These can be modified as many times as you

want

Quick Selection tool



CS3 has also made selecting images a lot easier. Earlier, a magic wand tool was
used for selecting areas with the same color (eg, a black hat or a green shirt)

in an image. But this used to take a lot of time what with, say a black hat,

having different shades in the same image. You required a shift key to add

variant patches of the same color. This could also be done by changing the

tolerance. In CS3, you just need to select the Quick Selection tool from the

tools palette and click and drag slightly on the object. The software analyzes

the image to complete the selection automatically. There is no need to press

shift key for adding a new variant patch of the same color, as by default it

adds this variant to the selection mode. If the selection goes beyond the

specified color, it's easy to remove the selection.

Advertisment
CS3 provides you with the

option of choosing either the Quick Selection or the Magic Wand Tool for

selecting areas with the same color gradient. However, it's best done using

the Quick Selection Tool

Refining edges



Another new feature-Refine Edge, offers a quick and easy way to modify edges of
any selection. This is quite useful as in older versions, we had to go to Select

menu and choose expand, contract or feather options for getting a clean edge. In

CS3, just select the Refine Edge tool from the top side of the Main menu or from

the Select menu. In this dialog box you can set options such as Standard looks,

Quick mask, background (black or white) and mask. The Refine Edge dialog box

allows you to set values for smooth, feather, contract options or expand the

current selection using simple slider controls. You can also experiment with the

Radius slider to select irregular or fuzzy edges. The preview shows you the

changes before they are applied.

Using the 'Use Legacy'

dialog, we can increase/decrease the brightness/contrast in even highlight

and shadow areas

Enhancing brightness/contrast



For images that are a little bit washed out and look very flat in appearance, we
can restore some of their natural contours by reducing the brightness of the

image and spiking the contrast a little bit. For this, open the

Brightness/Contrast menu and turn on the 'Use Legacy' box. Here, reduce the

brightness and increase the contrast a little bit. This will show more details

in highlight and shadow areas. This is in contrast to the older versions, which

gave details of the mid-tones but not the highlight and shadow areas.

The feather option in the

Refine Edge dialog box allows you to preview the modified area
Advertisment