Page 93 - Photoshop User March 2017

used adjustment types, such as contrast curves. If the adjust- ment allows them, near the top of the Properties panel you’ll see a Preset pop-up menu set to Default. This is where you choose your presets. Notice there’s no Save Preset option in this menu; that’s because you’ll find this in the panel’s flyout menu (at the top right of the panel). Make your adjustment, choose Save Preset from the panel’s flyout menu, and now it will be available from the Preset pop-up menu.
ADJUSTING A LAYER EFFECT INDEPENDENT TO THE STYLE
When working with layer styles, have you ever wanted to change the angle of just one part of the style, say bevel, but don’t want to change the angle of the shadow? When- ever you move the direction of one setting, it moves every- thing else, including the style on other layers. If you turn off the Use Global Light checkbox in the Layer Style dialog, you’ll now be able to move each part independently. You can also click-and-drag inside the Angle circle to change the light direction.
RADIAL FILL SCREEN
When you’re in Camera Raw, take note of the Radial Filter tool (in the toolbar, at the top of the window). It’s like a vignette, but way cooler. For starters, you can place it any- where you’d like in an image and change the oval’s angle and shape; but, more importantly, you can apply any adjust- ment to it—not just darkness or lightness. You can also apply the adjustment inside or outside the radial area. But, what if you want a standard vignette? Isn’t it a hassle to drag it around and position it to perfectly fill the image? Just press- and-hold the Command (PC: Ctrl) key and double-click; it will perfectly fill the image.
ADJUSTING THE SIZE OF A LAYER STYLE
When a layer style is created, it’s usually created to perfectly fit the object to which it’s applied. That way, it will look perfect when you’re using it on something exactly the same size and line width. But what if you apply it to an object that’s a little bit bigger or smaller? Yes, it will look odd and not quite fit. It’s really easy to fix, though. Right-click on the layer style in the Layers panel and choose Scale Effects from the pop-up menu. The good thing about this is that all the effects you applied will resize together and not indi- vidually. Now you can make a bigger cake and still keep the recipe intact—not just pile on more flour.
PRESET MANAGER
When working with Photoshop, you quickly realize that there are lots of assets that can help you become more productive and artistic. These little things are called “pre- sets.” They cover the gamut from patterns, textures, gradients, color swatches, brushes, layer styles, and custom shapes. While many of these assets can now be shared in the Creative Cloud Library, there’s one place where you can manage them all: Choose Edit>Presets>Preset Manager. Here, you can manage all the presets in Photoshop.
MOVING JUST THE MASK
Sometimes you want to move a layer mask around without moving the layer. Or, perhaps you desire the opposite: you’d like to move the layer around and have the mask anchored. If you look between a layer mask and its layer thumbnail, you’ll see a little chain icon. Click the icon and it will dis- appear, and at this point, you can drag either the mask or the layer by itself. If you want to reconnect them, click in the area between the thumbnail and the mask again, and the link icon will reappear, signaling that you’re all linked up again.
SELECT LINKED LAYERS
When working with several layers that are linked, you may need to select all your linked layers at the same time— maybe you need to select them because you want to apply an operation, such as merge, delete, or apply layer styles to all the layers. Is there an easy way to do this? (Spoiler alert, of course!) Select one of the linked layers, then Right-click on it and choose Select Linked Layers. All the linked layers are now selected. n
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