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Hidden Power Monthly
October 31, Vol.7
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The Newsletter for Elements Users


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In this issue:
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Links
Catching Up
Long Answers (7)
Lots of questions on Color Management this month!
1. How To Embed Printer Profiles
2. Why Use Elements OR Photoshop?
3. Using No Color Management
4. Book Recommendation for Beginners?
5. How do I make a drop shadow?
6. I Don't Get Better Color with Color Management?
7. How Do I Match Color On Screen?
Short Answers (8)
Using Photoshop books with Elements? Get the scoop.
Other info on scaling/transforming selections, levels
and curve corrections, editing paths, getting a PS6
demo for your action writing, and what unzip utility
to use.


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LINKS
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The Hidden Power website:
http://hiddenelements.com

The Hidden Power forum:
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&forumid=142

The Hidden Power newsletter archive:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hpe

Free Hidden Power Tools:
http://hiddenelements.com/freetools.html

Or from Adobe:
Mac: http://share.studio.adobe.com/axAssetDetailSubmit.asp?aID=7531
PC: http://share.studio.adobe.com/axAssetDetailSubmit.asp?aID=7516

Get the Hidden Power book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0782141781/newwriting/

Buy Elements:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006ANW9/newwriting/


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CATCHING UP
--------------------------

Still working on the new book The Hidden Power of Photoshop CS, but winding it
down.

See the book here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0782142559/newwriting/

Photoshop CS:
(full license) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000DBOAX/newwriting/
(upgrade) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000DBOBZ/newwriting/

This book in no way changes my interest in Elements, in fact it suggests to me
that people using Elements are the ones who really are in need of the most
assistance, guidance and tools! I'll be dedicating some time to a Hidden Power
update in November.

I again ran out of month to finalize the Healing tool. It is done, tested,
works...I just need to make an installer and send it off to a few more trusted
testers. I hate to promise November, but will be surprised myself if it doesn't
get done! Thanks to those who have even offered help. Apologies to those I have
not gotten back to personally. It is such a hectic time...

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS: please either go to the forum and ask them, reply to this
newsletter, or send them to me directly. It is easiest to get things in the
newsletter if you just reply! The forum will get you quicker answers most of the
time.

Feel free to let me know about tool, action and other Elements enhancement
requests!


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LONG ANSWERS
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1. How To Embed Printer Profiles
2. Why Use Elements OR Photoshop?
3. Using No Color Management
4. Book Recommendation for Beginners?
5. How do I make a drop shadow?
6. I Don't Get Better Color with Color Management?
7. How Do I Match Color On Screen?

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1. How To Embed Printer Profiles
-
> Though I have been through your section on Color Management, I
> can't see how to embed profiles with my image that are not sRGB
> or Adobe RGB. Can you expand on embedding profiles in Elements,
> or isn't it possible? I want to make some prints at COSTCO and they
> suggest using a specific profile.

I am not big on embedded profiles, but you can do it if you want. I'd be glad
for some feedback if you try the technique. Let me know what happens when you
test this out.

You can assign profiles using Print Preview.

1. Open the Print Preview and check the Show More Options box.
2. Choose Color Management from the drop list.
3. Select the printing space (the following is from Adobe's help):

"*Choose Same As Source if you want the printer to print the color of the
image's
color profile without converting it. This option will not take any printer
profiles into
account.

*Choose Printer Color Management or PostScript Color Management if you want
to manage color conversions using the print driver. PostScript Color
Management is
only available when printing to a PostScript device.

*If available, choose a predefined color profile for your printer. These
profiles are
installed with graphics applications and print drivers. Choosing a predefined
profile
will result in an automatic color conversion when printing."

It would seem the last one is the one you want.

4. Click the Print button.
5. Set up the Print dialogue by choosing the proper Printer and Presets. select
other
options (number of copies, etc).
6. Click Save as PDF.

The profile will be saved with the PDF, which should be able to be transported
to the desired printer. You may need to install a postscript driver in order to
access the profiles you want to use--if you are embedding a profile for use with
a service. You can download Adobe's postscript print drivers from their site. If
you need to change the format of the resulting PDF file, you need to change
color management to retain the embedded profile while doing a conversion of file
types.

Of course, many will claim this is impossible...though it seems to be built
right into the program--and may be considered somewhat hidden, and mostly
unadvertised.

Do let me know if you have trouble with this. There are other possible
solutions.


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2. Why Use Elements OR Photoshop?
-
> Photoshop is pretty cool photo-editing package. I've been using it
> for a while. I recently got a new camera that came with Elements, and
> it seems to have fewer features. I dont really care for photo editing
> and I used it very rarely. Why should I bother with Elements?

If you aren't using image editing, you aren't getting the most out of your
digital images.

Elements has fewer features than Photoshop, but that doesn't mean it is an
amateur or subordinate editing program. Photoshop has a lot of bells and
whistles that people who are not professional graphics people (designers,
pre-press) may never need. If you are editing digital images, it is a great
package without a lot of the bulk that can actually get in the way or be
daunting. many of the features commonly believed not to be in the package are
really there--either in hiding or other forms. My book and tools can help you
get to them. The functions include Curves, channels, vector editing, playing
actions and creating CMYK files. Most people will tell you you can't do any of
these with Elements. It just isn't true. See the website for more info, and some
free tools for elements users: http://hiddenelements.com . I use elements at my
regular job as a professional, by CHOICE. I used the extra money in the budget
that would have gone to Photoshop for a system upgrade.

In contrast to your stance on image editing, I use image editing ALL THE TIME. I
don't know if there is an image that I print which is not in some way adjusted
for color or sharpness. Image editing is not just transposing heads, but getting
the most of the images you take -- every day. It would be a rare case that the
images you take are perfect. You might
want to do some simple adjustment, remove some dust or debris, or even just
crop an image...With the opportunities offered to improve images (without
chemicals and bother like one has in a darkroom), I am not sure why you would
want to forgo the opportunity. The digital darkroom is just a superior means of
enhancing your results, and once you get the hang of it, it is a great way to
enhance even casual shots quickly. There is nothing along these lines that
Elements CAN'T do.

I use both Photoshop (at home) and Elements (at work) daily. If you don't need
to do volume CMYK, 16-bit editing, heavy web design and action recording, you
probably don't need to spend the additional money on Photoshop and the costly
upgrades that go with it (the Photoshop CS upgrade is 3 times the cost of a new
Elements license).


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3. Using No Color Management
-
> > Embedding profiles is far less important than good
> > correction. Choosing your working space might be a
> > little over-rated as well.

> What you say about color management holds true... unless
> you start using third-party papers or third-party inks. When
> you use the default papers and inks, you are using color management,
> whether you do so consciously or not. When you select the paper
> type, the printer driver (at least with Epson printers) automatically
> selects the correct profile.

I think it holds true anyhow. I didn't say you wouldn't use color management (at
some level you have to, but it is thankfully a transparent one), what i said was
turn it of (No Color Management is Adobe's selection). This means to me: don't
embed a profile. My suggestion is to not do it until you want to learn about it.

What you do in your printer driver is not the same as damning your image with a
profile (ok, that's a little strong)...you don't key the image to a specific
printer, you tell the driver where you are going. That same image won't need to
be confused if going to another printer (or paper, or ink), the driver should
take it there. Putting the
profile in the image is making it a backseat driver -- as far as I am
concerned. It seems the manufacturer and the device should be better geared
toward getting a result than some profile I create, unless I do it with some
very good print calibration package. Not everyone is interested in that (barring
people who get paid a lot of money for it -- and they'll be the first to tell
you I am wrong). To me, it is about getting results. Most people solve initial
problems by REMOVING the complexity of profiling in the image.


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4. Book Recommendation for Beginners?
-
> Richard,
> I have your book and it may be a little over my head
> as i am an absolute beginner. What book would you
> recommend for beginners?

First thing, the manual. I know that may sound hokey, but there is enough there
to get you started using the tools and understanding how they behave. Make a
list of the tools you think you need to learn and tackle 3 or so a week -- just
to get familiar with them.

Once you have a good bunch of tools under your belt, make a list of projects you
want to complete. This might start with some simple things like removing red-eye
from a few photos or doing some basic color correction. You can make these
projects up from things you actually want to do. Don't start with really hard
stuff like "Make my husband/wife look like Robert Redford/Holly Berry", try to
pick some realistic, simple corrections...use the internet to search out some
tutorials, and employ the tools you've got in your belt to make the corrections.

Once you've gotten this far, ask questions about more interesting projects, and
get a good book (I'd say "you have one" but have to leave that to you to
decide). Many books are written so that you will outgrow them, some are not. I
wouldn't waste money on the former.

I guess starting out warrants it's own tutorial...I'll hopefully have some time
around December to take that on in some fashion. If anyone wants to contribute
questions for ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS, please send them to me: thebookdoc@....


-
5. How do I make a drop shadow?
-
> I am just looking to make a drop shadow, but don't see how to do it.
> Can you give me a hint as to where to start?

There are actually several ways to do this, both using Hidden Power tools and
not. The idea in any case would be to get whatever you want to create a drop
shadow behind separated from the rest of the image by selection, and then apply
a Layer Style or the Hidden Power Drop Shadow tool.

For example:

1. Use the lasso to select the object.
2. Copy (Cmd/CTRL+C)
3. Paste (cmd/CTRL+V). This creates a new layer with the copied content.
4. Open the Layer Styles palette (choose Layer Styles from the Window menu),
Select Drop Shadow from the category list, and click one of the styles.

Customizing drop shadows is a bit more involved. My free tools (Hidden Power
Actions III) can help you create these more complicated effects quickly. The
tools create the shadow in a different layer so you can manipulate it
separately, rather than depending on the static Layer Style to do it for you.

Get the tools from the Adobe site here, if you don't already have them:

Mac: http://share.studio.adobe.com/axAssetDetailSubmit.asp?aID=7531
PC: http://share.studio.adobe.com/axAssetDetailSubmit.asp?aID=7516


-
6. I Don't Get Better Color with Color Management?
-
> First of all, let it be understood that I am a techno-idiot.
> That being said, I thought the main purpose of doing color
> management was to get the screen image and the printed
> photograph to match as closely as possible. You seem to suggest
> I don't have to use it, even though all the other books seem
> to say you do. Please, what am I missing?"

First, I've been getting results with images since before there was such a to-do
about color management (or Photoshop), having worked with digital images since
about 1984 (really 1981, but not in a professional setting, or with professional
graphics equipment). Not all authors have had the same opportunity.

The hope, idea, and theory of color management is that it will produce better
color, but the relative complexity of getting it to work correctly is a hurdle.
Some jump it easily, and most do not. The FACT is: If you have done great
correction to your image, the difference in results with color management
between devices should be fine tuning (the difference between the CMYK ink color
from one device or manufacturer to the other, and paper types and qualities from
one to the next are keys for these adjustments -- effectively changing what
you've corrected in your image behind the scenes). If you are getting wildly
wrong results, you need to correct a more fundamental problem before achieving
better results. You can get great prints with AND WITHOUT color management
playing magician behind the scenes.

The problem is, defining color management incorrectly is worse than not using it
at all, and defining it will USUALLY require understanding why you are using it
and exactly what you want to accomplish. Just turning it on doesn't make it
work. It needs the right settings and the right profiles, which means you need
to be able to set it up right. and, regretfully, that part isn't easy.

There is all sorts of conflicting information about color management and what it
does. I think you'll find a sensible approach will get you further with less
groans and wasted paper. When you are ready to graduate to using a complete
color-managed workflow, there will be time to set one up later to help improve
your results when you have time to study up and implement it correctly. However,
even that may not improve much if you know all your options.

In a way, if you don't know what color management is doing, working with it can
be like leaving a scalpel in reach of an infant. It is a fine tool, as long as
you know what to do with it. The kid may grow up to be a great surgeon, but
right now they will possibly cause more damage than good.


-
7. How Do I Match Color On Screen?
-
> My output colors don't match my screen.
> Do you have any idea of how to
> correct this problem with the color?
> A friend of mine has been telling me to use
> Color Management, and sort-a making fun
> of me that i don't.

One of the hardest (perhaps impossible) things to do is consistently match your
RGB view on screen to what you see in print. RGB is a different color set than
CMYK, based on similar but reversed theory. RGB being based on light rather than
absorption is more efficient. In short, there is not a 100% accurate conversion
between RGB and CMYK NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO. You can get better results (and
worse ones), but you need to have a system.

1. Calibrate your monitor (Adobe Gamma) and create a monitor profile.
2. Check your printer manual for recommended printer settings and
media (don't expect to get great results from paper not made for
printing).
3. TURN COLOR MANAGEMENT OFF. (In my estimation, if you can't get
decent results without it, you can't improve them with it).
4. Correct your image to how you would like it to print (keep in mind
what you see on screen is RGB and perhaps more vivid than print).
5. Print using recommended printer settings.
6. Check your print against the screen.

At this point, I would try making LAYERED corrections to the image to best make
it match the result in print. Optimally this will use curves, and perhaps
multiple corrections.

When you get the screen looking like the proof, SAVE THE ADJUSTMENT LAYERS.
These can be used on other images to give you an idea of what the printout of
other images will look like. You can apply them by dragging to the image you are
about to print. Shut them off before printing. Add adjustments with the print
adjustment layers on to affect change in the output. If you add adjustments shut
off ONLY the preview layers before printing.

Once you can get results this way, then I would start adding back any color
management if you are so inclined. Color management and profile use is not
necessary for getting better results.

Usually you can get back at a person using color management by asking them why
they made a particular choice, or exactly why it is superior. Some will know, or
at least have an explanation, but most won't. I learned technique before there
was formal color management (or adjustment layers...um, or layers), and really
HAD to do it without. Since, I have not been convinced that it is superior.

The weighted difference toward promoting color management strategy is more
likely that there are a bunch of people making LOTS of money training people to
use it and providing expensive equipment and profiles. The time they spend
making not using color management as dispicable as dandruff (quite a marketing
scheme there...) is well spent on return for their investment. They have reason
to amke a clatter. I can't make much telling you color management isn't all they
say, as there is nothing to sell...my trumpet can't play over the orchestra.
I've helped more people cure problems by turning it off than stepping through
how to use it.

This is not to say management is bad...it can potentially do good things.
However one gets results with consistency is right. There are benefits to
embedding and not. It is certainly nothing to take or dish out ridicule over. I
am of the opinion that fundamentals work before enhancements. I consider
increased levels of color management enhancement. Some enhancements you never
really need, if you know the right technique.


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Short Answers
---------------

-
1
-
> When doing levels corrections for color (page 95+)
> What am I looking for as you move the middle slider when
> adjusting levels for individual RGB channels? Or, is it best
> just to leave it alone?

Unless you know of a specific target you are trying to achieve, I would leave
the middle slider on the separate channels alone and move the RGB composite
middle slider to adjust the brightness -- AFTER correcting Red, Green and Blue
black and white sliders. Other corrections of the middle sliders will just be
guessing, and that is also something you are probably better off correcting with
Curves (page 99+).

-
2
-
> I now use the HPE curves function for tweaking my images - great
> tool! One thing that would be excellent would be to include a drop-
> down box on the curves window to allow selection of the individual
> RGB channels, like in the levels window. I know that I can do an RGB
> separation and then apply curves to each layer separately, but a
> direct choice would be much more convenient. Any chance that this
> might be possible?

I have provided access to a Curve tool that already exists in Elements. It is in
Adobe's code and is created by Adobe for use in Elements. I might be able to
create a new interface, but have not tested those possibilities. The advantage I
see to NOT going in that direction is that all the code you use has been tested
by Adobe...I just help you access it.

Everything that is convenient is not necessarily better. Learning to work the
Hidden Power way actually gives you a leg up over people who use more automated
tools as you have to really understand what you are doing. when you do, the
tools become less important.

-
3
-
> When I make a Marquee tool selection and let go of the
> mouse button, I can't resize the selection to fit the
> object I need and have to start again. Is there a way
> to change the size of the selection?

Do this (with the selection still active):

1. Create a new layer.
2. Fill with white and set opacity to 0%.
3. Resize using transform.
4. delete the layer created in step 1.

You need the layer content to allow you to use transform to resize...but you
don't need to see it or keep it once you've made use of it.


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4
-
> In the next version of the Hidden Powers cd, I would like
> to see paths, and Alpha channels be added to it.  Also make
> paths into a selection feature could be very helpful to
> alot of Photoshop Elements 2.0 users.

If you mean a pen tool, that will be unlikely, unless Adobe adds some pen tool
capabilities. However, I show how to edit paths in the book, and how to edit
them using selections (see chapter 8)...I also show how to save and load alpha
channels (which you already have if you have PE2...instructions on page
161-162). Paths to a selection (and type to a selection) are in the Hidden Power
tools as well (see Chapter 8). I think I've got you covered!


-
5
-
> I've been using Katrin Eismann's book and yours together
> and I find it a powerful combo. One thing I can't seem to do is
> Transform a selection. How do I do that?

See short Answer #3!

I'd be glad to field any other questions having to do with using specific
Photoshop books along with Hidden Power, if anyone has the time to ask.
Personally the Eismann book
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735713502/newwriting) coupled with mine
is a pretty powerful combo for advanced Elements use. I've heard from many users
that use them together.


-
6
-
> In your newsletter I read:
> PS6. This demo does not expire, is free, and will allow you to save
> actions which you can then play in Elements using the Hidden Power
> actions III interface.
> I searched for that free demo version of Ps6, but could't find it.
> Can you give the URL?

Regretfully there is no URL. Adobe removes older downloads. There is a
possibility that you can find the download on freeware CDs, perhaps a shareware
site, or other resource. I know other users have downloaded it and have it
available. if some of those would come forward with where they got it, I'd be
glad to list in the coming newsletter! Let me know: rl@....


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7
-
> had some trouble unzipping the free tools on my Mac. I tried Maczipit, and it
> worked. I also used Aladdin 6.5.1 and it worked. The one that failed was
> Aladdin 6.01.

All decompression utilities are not alike. Even if they say the 'unzip' they may
unzip using differing technologies. Thanks for the info!


-
8
-
> Thank you Richard for another great newsletter.
> I found many items to be very helpful.

Keep asking good questions. That makes it easy!


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Do let me know about questions and comments, and let me
know what you think about the newsletter. rl@...
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Brought to you by Richard Lynch
in conjunction with The Hidden power of Photoshop Elements 2

http://hiddenelements.com

Copyright © 2003 Richard Lynch
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