photoshopHelp

Photoshop Measurement Utility

Annette writes,
I work in the forensics field and often taken close up pictures that contain a ruler or/scale.  It is very important that the photos are printed so that the scale/ruler is exactly the same size.  For instance, a fingerprint photographed with a scale that indicates it is one inch long, when printed needs to be exactly one inch long. In the darkroom, I would just use a scale that is exactly like the one in the photo, and adjust the enlarger head until they line up exactly.  When the image prints, the scale is perfect. Is there any way to accomplish this using Photoshop.  So far the only way I have been able to accomplish this is to print out a bunch of different pictures changing the image size until finally I am able to match the
rulers.  Any help would be so appreciated.

Hi Annette,
I just ran across a utilty program called Caliper from Iconico that's designed to measure screen elements in a variety of increments including inches. It works by calibrating the tool with a known measurement and then basing subsequent measurements on the calibration. I have not used this tool extensively, just a quick go-around with the demo, however it has received high marks from the NAPP and from what I can tell, should suit your purposes. Check out the demo and let me know how it works.

Resolution Resolution

Rahul writes,
When I give print command in photoshop 7 it gives me  this annoying message "The image is larger than the paper's printable area; some clipping will occur" every time . If  I select "fit  to media" it gives print preview larger than the image size (length) what should I do?

Check to make sure the resolution setting is appropriate for an ink jet printer. My guess is that the current setting is 72 ppi. To change the setting:

• Choose Image > Image Size
• The Image Size dialog box appears.
• Deselect the Resample Image option.
• Change the resolution to a value somewhere between 200-300ppi.
• Click OK.

That should do it.

Warning Will Robinson

Photoshop provides plenty of safety nets for the wary user. They usually materialize as helpful dialog boxes that say things like "Are you sure you want to do this?" and "Is that what you're wearing" After awhile, they can become annoying, so if you're like most people, you start selecting the Do Not Show this Dialog Box Again Please, I Get it Already option. Thank goodness they're gone.

Then one day you begin to wonder about that warning dialog. What exactly did it say? Was it really important? Did you ever read it? Never fear, you can always retreat.

Choose Edit > Preferences > General

and click the Reset All Warning Dialogs button located at the bottom of the box. All warnings will now appear at the appropriate times. Every last one of them.

Digital Dust Bowl

Everyone checks their lens to make sure it's clean and dust-free. Have you ever looked at the inside of your lens cap? All those small, semi-enclosed spaces are the perfect place to harbor a digital camera's worst enemy, dust. Get a can of compressed air and clean that thing out.

Late Migrator

Tina writes,

Because I did desktop publishing I work on a Mac and have all the requisite DTP software: PS, QuarkXpress, Illustrator etc. I've been away for a few years so I haven't upgraded my system to OS X. My new digicam requires OS X to download my CD that came with it. The question is, if I load OSX will it either 1. make my software obsolete to the point that I have to spend hundreds un upgrades and/or 2. will I be able to access my files and docs from OS 9.2?

No, you won't have to pay hundreds, it's probably more like thousands. Don't panic. You can do it slowly if you must. Heres why. In the early releases of OSX, Apple built-in a Classic mode that would run 9.2 apps within OSX. OSX would recognize a 9.2 program and launch an emulator (Classic mode)to run the program. It worked well, although it was slow to launch, and possessed a general sluggishness in operation. The problem is that the latest releases of OSX DO NOT support Classic products. It has been quite some time now since the switch. If you have an early version of the OS (10.2 or earlier I think) you're OK. Here's how I solved the problem: I partitioned space for both Operating Systems and, depending on what I was working on, would start up in that OS. Not very elegant, but it worked, until I finally moved everything up. You can access and share files between the different Operating Systems, although the file hierarchy will be a lot different than what you're used to. I hope I haven't scared you.

Color Mode Mishap

Dave writes,

I hope you can help me. Everytime I open a new file the foreground color is gray. What's wrong?

Check the color mode. My guess is your image is in Grayscale mode.

Choose Image > Mode > RGB

Now you can take advantage of all 24 million colors.

Depth of Field of Dreams

Recently, I heard a client lamenting the lack of depth of field he was getting in his spontaneous digital portraits. If he was photgoraphing two people, one would inevitably be in-focus and the other out. Having only ever worked in Program mode he new nothing of this thing we call aperture. Here's what to remember:

• Most good lenses have a variable lens aperture.
• The bigger the aperture number (eg.f 22)  depth of field is increased.
• The smaller the aperture number (eg.f 2.0) depth of field is decreased.
• When depth of field is increased (higher aperture number) more will be in-focus.
• When depth of field is decreased (lower aperture number) less will be in-focus.

Reducing depth of field is great for a portrait of a single person. It helps to eliminate distracting elements in the background by blurring them.

Increasing depth of field is great for a landscape where you might want everything from the foreground to the background to be super sharp.

Lastly, my client friend, venture out of Program mode, into sayyyyy...Aperture Priority mode. in AP mode you can force the camera to use whatever aperture you need to get the job done. It accomplishes this by adjusting the shutter speed to accomodate what's really important to you, aperture. That's a priority.

Plug-in Plea

Crystal asks,
I'm new to this Photoshop game and I'm not sure how to do the plug-in thing can you help??? 

Plug-ins came in a variety of flavors. Special FX filter are probably the most popular type of plug-in. Fire, clouds and smoke can be custom created using Photoshop and plug-in software from companies such as Alien Media and Corels KPT. Both package an Installer with their collections, making installation a snap. To manually add a simple plug-in,

Choose Program files > Adobe > Photoshop CS2 > Plug-ins

You can deposit an entire folder of related plug-ins right into the Plug-ins directory. You could also drag and drop a single plug-in filter into the Filters folder located inside the Plug-ins folder. Either way you'll need to re-start Photoshop for the program to recognize the additions. After re-start, check the Filters menu for your new plug-in/s. I hope I've helped.

Grid Size Preferences

Radhika writes,
I came across your site using Google - thanks for answering all the questions I've picked up a lot of good tips, now I have a question regarding the default Grid Size
Choose View > Show > Grid (Ctrl+')
When the grid appears it always seems to be too big for my needs.
Is there any way to change the grid size? Thanks a lot

Grid Size is controlled in the Preferences.

Choose Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grids & Slices The Guides, Grids & Slices dialog box appears. In the Grid section choose a Color:, Style:, and Gridline Every: for grid spacing. You can even create Subdivisions for increased accuracy.

When you're satisfied, click OK.

Photoshop Web Templates

Deb writes,

Hi there, the folks at PhotoshopSupport.com suggested I contact you with
my question. (They were stumped.) I hope you can help me. :-)

Ok, here's my problem/question:I uploaded a PhotoshopCS2 generated web photo gallery (template used is"centered frame 1 - feedback") successfully. The problem I am having isthat when I hit SAVE FEEDBACK, it fails to do so. Should I not be seeing the feedback comment on that slide when I return to it? If not, thenwhere is it being saved? I'm confused. I've exhausted the Adobe Forums and my host-server support. I'm hoping you can tell me what's wrong. I'd appreciate any help you could provide.

I tried the template you reference,

• Choose File > Automate > Web Photo Gallery
• The Web Photo Gallery dialog box appears.
• Select Centered Frame 1-Feedback from the dropdown menu.
• Browse to a folder of images
• Choose, or create, a Destination folder for your files.
• Check out the Options (including Security) I used the default settings.
• Click OK.

The web pages and files are created and placed in the folder you designated previously. When Photoshop is finished, the Web Gallery will open automatically in your default browser. As far as I can tell, the feedback is not saved once the browser is closed. That means when you Quit or Exit the browser software, the feedback clears. It will save the info long enough for it to be e-mailed. Not perfect, but hey, it's free.