AV News 191 - February 2013
From the Layers Palette image you may
notice that a 'Layer 1 Copy' is now
present. On this layer the two highlights
close and to the left of the top hat have
been removed by selecting them and
using a paintbrush loaded with colours
'picked' by the 'Eyedropper Tool' to match
their surroundings. By doing this on a
separate layer the original 'Background'
and 'Layer 1' copy of the original remain
unscathed. Now to add a little Vibrancy to
the foreground figure ensure the selection
is active then invert the selection
(Shift+Ctrl+I) click on the 'Vibrancy
Adjustment Layer' icon, note the vibrancy
mask has automatically inverted to allow
edits to the foreground figure. By moving
the 'Vibrancy' control slider to the right
increase the value, in this case to +25.
To complete the editing process the foreground figure in his cape and hat
need sharpening, but to ensure that we can return to this edit at some future
time a 'Smart Object' will be created and edited. Again ensure the selection
is active then invert the selection (Shift+Ctrl+I) then create a new mask layer
from this inverted selection. Right mouse click on this layer within the 'Layers
Palette', from the ensuing menu select 'Convert To Smart Object'. The Layer
icon will now contain a 'Smart Object' symbol in the lower right corner.
Sharpening may now be undertaken by using the normal 'Unsharp Mask'
facility from within the 'Filter' menu. This will add two sub-icons entitled
'Smart Filters' and also Unsharp Mask.
When the editing is complete the work should be saved in native .PSD
format. When re-opened all adjustments will remain intact on their
appropriate layers and further adjustments may be made or undone while
retaining the original
image unscathed.
On paper this
process may seem
complex, in reality
it's simple and only
took around eight
minutes to edit this
example image with
this process solely
to
demonstrate
'Adjustment Layers'
and 'Smart Objects'.
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