› ›photoshop user› february 2016050
DEPARTMENT ››Photosho p Tips
boost your productivity and creativity
I have a grab bag full of tips for you this issue. I decided,
rather than have a theme, I’d do it shotgun style and provide
a variety of tips, so there’s something for everyone. Yup, even
you. I hope you enjoy these and they serve you well.Colored Layer
There are lots of times when you may need a plain colored
layer in Photoshop, for example, to unify the color in compos-
iting. When making a colored layer in Photoshop, don’t just
create a new layer and fill it with a color; instead, it’s better to
use a Solid Color adjustment layer, Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid
Color. For starters, it will keep the file size smaller. Also, it’s
easy to change the color: Just double-click its layer thumbnail
in the Layers panel and choose a new color from the Color
Picker. The adjustment layer isn’t only faster, but it’s more
flexible. One other thing is if you increase the size of your
document, the adjustment layer will continue to fill the page.Copy Multiple Layers Across Documents
Since last year’s update to Photoshop CC, you can now drag-
and-drop multiple layers and adjustment layers between
documents in tabbed view. Select the layers you want to
copy in the Layers panel and drag them up to the tab of
the document to which you want to copy them. When the
window opens, release the mouse button, and you’ve com-
pleted the move—no U-Haul required.Lock Brush Settings
I use a Wacom tablet
all the time and I love
it. One thing I don’t
love is when pressure
sensitivity is turned on
for brush size when
I don’t need it. You can
turn it off, but as soon
as you choose another
brush preset that, by
default, has pressure
sensitivity turned on for
size, it comes back onbecause brush presets override local settings. You can over-
ride this override, though—how meta! Go to the Shape
Dynamics section in the Brush panel (Window>Brush) and
turn off Pen Pressure in the Control drop-down menu for
Size Jitter. To apply this setting to all brushes, click the little
padlock next to Shape Dynamics and it will be locked, even
if you change brushes.Change Brush Opacity
To set the opacity of a brush, press a number key on your
keyboard. They’re in 10% increments, so just press the 1 key
for 10%, the 5 key for 50%, etc. For 100%, press the 0 key.
If you quickly type in two digits, such as 2 and then 5, you can
dial in an exact opacity.Force that Type Tool
If you work with a lot of text in Photoshop, one thing you
might find frustrating is adding new text to a text-heavy
page. When you click with your Type tool, instead of cre-
ating new text, it selects existing text. Annoying! If you’re
clever, you lock the underlying text layers so they won’t be
selected. If you’re super-clever, you’re reading this column
and about to discover a faster fix: Hold down the Shift key
while clicking with the Type tool and a new text layer will be
created—every time!Sharpen the Photo, not the Noise
Have you ever sharpened a photo just to find that all you’ve
done is drawn attention to the noise? Here’s the thing:
Digital noise is usually more apparent in the shadows.
Before you go off and create some elaborate workflow
with Blend If, let’s just use the tool Adobe has provided
us: Smart Sharpen. Go to Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen,
expand the Shadows/Highlights section, and fade the
shadows. Voilà! Done.Cleaner Selections with Color Range
Color Range (Select>Color Range) is a great tool for making
selections; you just click on a color and adjust the Fuzziness
to clean up the selection. The only thing is that sometimes
it leaves little unselected spots on the shadows or highlightsCOLIN SMITH