› › FROM THE EDITOR> KELBY ONE.COM
[ 7 ]All my best,Scott Kelby
KelbyOne President & CEO
Editor & Publisher, Photoshop UserAs I write this, our Photoshop World conference in
Las Vegas is just over two weeks away (and right now
I’m off the coast of the Faroe Islands where I’ve been
shooting for a few days—I guess I’d better head back to
the office to get ready). There’ll be lots of fun stuff at
the conference, and if you haven’t signed up yet, it’s not
too late. Head over to photoshopworld.com now, and
we’ll see you at The Mirage Las Vegas (August 21–23,
2019) for the biggest and best Photoshop training event
on the planet.
Switching gears for a minute, I was recently talking
with another photographer here on my trip, and some-
how, we started talking about Wacom tablets. The
conversation started with his asking how to assign the
center button on his mouse to change brush sizes in
Photoshop. I asked him why he was using a mouse
when he could be using a Wacom tablet instead, and
then he could assign the Touch Ring on the tablet to
brush size (well, it’s what I do and I love it). He said he
had a tablet—the latest one, in fact—and he tried it for
a week or so and then gave up on it. I hated to hear
that, because tablets are the retoucher’s pro tool for
sure, but sadly, I’ve heard this same story played out so
many times before. Users try a tablet for a week or so,
and then give up and go back to their mouse.
Using a pen (something most of us have used since
our school days) should be so much more natural than
using a mouse, which is clunky and imprecise (to say the
least). But after talking to many users, I think I’ve found
out why this happens, and I’m hoping that, after folks
read my solution, they’ll go to their closet, dust off that
tablet, and try again, because it can unlock a whole new
way of working that, once you’re comfortable with it
(and it only takes a week or two with my method), you’ll
wonder why you waited this long.
Unfortunately, my fix for this would make the folks
at Wacom absolutely cringe (or worse), but here’s what
I’ve found the problem is: pressure sensitivity, which is
on by default. That seems like a good thing (and it is),
but it shouldn’t be on by default, because it creates a
learning curve that makes using a tablet awkward at
first. I’ve heard people say it felt like starting all overagain. It shouldn’t be like that. It should instantly feel
better, more comfortable, more natural, but it doesn’t,
because with pressure sensitivity turned on, Photoshop
tools no longer respond the way they used to. Brush-
strokes look different and everything just feels kinda
weird, so after a week or so of struggling, some folks
just give up and go back to their familiar mouse.
My fix is simple: When you first start using your
tablet, turn off pressure sensitivity. That way, your tools
work exactly as they did before, but now you’re using
a pen, and it feels great, precise, familiar, and awesome.
In a week or two, when you’re hopefully addicted to the
pen, turn pressure sensitivity back on to unlock that next
level of control. Getting used to your tablet first, and then
turning on its secret weapon, you’ll fall hopelessly in love
with it, and it will be that awesome accessory you bought
it for in the first place.
Just turn pressure sensitivity off in Photoshop’s
Brush Settings panel by clicking on Shape Dynam-
ics in the list of options on the left, and setting each
of the three pop-up menus that say “Control” to
Off. Then, go to the Toolbar, click on the Healing
Brush, and click on the Brush Picker in the Options
Bar. By default, Size at the bottom of the Picker is set
to Pen Pressure. Change that to Off. Do the same
thing for the Spot Healing Brush. Give that a try for a
week or two and let me know what you think in the
KelbyOne Community.
I’m looking forward to seeing a whole bunch of
you soon in Las Vegas, and I can’t wait to share lots of
new techniques with you at the conference—it’s going
to be epic!USING A PEN TABLET WITH PHOTOSHOP
A Note from Scott