Today's Feature Adjusting Layers

Adjusting Layers

Every Photoshop user at some point or the other needs to adjust the properties of their images. Properties like color balance, levels, hue/saturation or something as simple as brightness and contrast. Usually, we all would apply the change on the image or the specific layer itself, which is a very easy way to do it. However, sometimes we need to revert back to the original image, which can cause problems, especially if you have done a lot of other arrangements to the image in the meantime. Sound familiar? That’s why today, we are going to talk about how to apply the changes and still be able to revert to the original image. Makes sense? In other words, if you want the world to appear all rosy , isn’t it better to wear pink glasses instead of going around and painting everything pink? If you're still confused, just follow along with me!

We are going to use the picture given below to follow some of the examples.



First off, with the adjustment layer feature, there are a total of 12 adjustments you can make to any image.



You can create a new adjustment layer by clicking on the adjustment layer icon in the layers palette or you can go to the Layer, New Adjustment Layer menu. Once the menu pops up, you can select any of the 12 options to create the specific adjustment layer. The adjustment layer appears above the image layer and its effect can be turned on or off by clicking once on the “eye†icon towards its left on the layers palette. To remove the layer, simply delete it. To alter any properties of the adjustment layer , simply double click once on the adjustment layer thumbnail (that’s the small circle with half black, half white) to open the specific dialogue box, which lets you tweak the settings.



An adjustment layer affects only the layers below it and has no effect whatsoever on the ones above it. If you are working with only a few layers, it’s a good idea to position the layers in such a way that the adjustment layer is above the layer which is to be affected by it. Keep everything else above the adjustment layer. However, a problem may arise when you are working with multiple layers, but don't worry, there’s a solution for that too. The effect of an adjustment layer can be limited to only one layer by creating a clipping group. Before doing this, you must ensure that the adjustment layer is above the layer to be affected. Press Ctrl + Alt + G on the keyboard. Make sure that your mouse pointer is over the border between the adjustment layer and the “to be affected†layer and left click once.



Now, in the case above, the adjustment layer will only affect the Layer 1. Anything we put on Layer 2 will appear in its original form. There’s also another way in which you can limit the effect of the adjustment layer on the layer below it. This is accomplished by painting on the layer mask. To do this, click the layer mask thumbnail on the adjustment layer.

Once you do that, you will notice that the colors in the color palette have switched to black and white. It’s rather simple. Take the paintbrush and paint black color on the parts of the image where you want the original form of the image to remain as it is. Paint white over the part that you want the adjustment layer to affect. Don’t be scared to paint over it, as this image mask is editable at any given point. For example, in the picture below, I used the channel mixer adjustment layer to turn my image to black and white from colored. Then later, I painted with black paint on the layer mask to turn one of the sails of the boat back to its original color. So, the left sail is unaffected by the adjustment layer, while the rest of the image is under its spell.

Similarly, you can lessen the effect of the adjustment layer on the image as a whole by simply playing around with its opacity settings. This works just like it does on any other regular layer. If you want to have a bit of fun, you can play around with the blending mode for the adjustment layer.



Now, we have figured out how to create the adjustment layer and how to work around it. The final step is to learn the 12 different options that can be used with the adjustment layer. Some of them are self explanatory, but I will shed a little light on the others right now.

The levels and the curves sub options perform almost the same function. Both of them let you adjust the tonal range of the image. The difference is that the curves option lets you do so in a detailed manner. As any professional photographer will tell you, this function has been a life saver for many, time and time again. The best thing to do is play around with it. Select all the different channels (i.e. red, green and blue) and play around with the settings to see how it impacts the overall image.

Color balance is probably the easiest one to master. It lets you mix the combination of colors present in your image. You can specify how much of these different colors go into shadows, midtones and highlights. It works exactly as it looks. Try different color mixes on an image to see instant results.



This is what I got after playing around with the color balance setting:



The hue/saturation option lets you adjust how much color is present in the image. Reduce saturation to get rid of the color from the image and increase saturation to make it appear just "like a hippies van right out of the 60s!" The lightness option in the same dialogue box lets you decide how bright or dull you want the image to be.

The channel mixer seems pretty similar to the other effects in the list in many ways. However, one way in which it distinguishes itself from the rest is in the creation of black and white images from colored. In the channel mixer dialogue box, there’s an option which says monochrome. Checking that little box converts your image to black and white. Further on, you can tweak the color settings to create different effects.



The gradient map should be used when you intend to do something artistic with the image. As is the job of a gradient, this function overlays the image with the colors of the gradient. Give it a shot, it can give pretty groovy results sometimes!

The photo filter does to the image what using a filter does to a camera. If you want to make the image appear rosy, just apply the photo filter and choose a rosy color to go along with it.

The invert option reverses the colors present in the image. There are no settings to go along with it. It is either applied or not applied. If you want to get the film negative effect on an image, you should use this filter after converting the image to black and white.

The threshold effect lets you convert any image to black and white. You can use the settings to determine how much of the image is black and how much of it is white. This is a pretty self explanatory function.

The last one in the list is posterize. This function lets you flatten the image colors. There’s only one setting for this, which is the tonal level. In plain simple words, lower the setting value and fewer colors will appear in the image.

Now, also remember that you can use more than one adjustment layer for any particular image. You can have a color balance layered on top of a photo filter and top it all off with a hue/saturation layer. As I have said earlier too, the best way to learn about all these options is to play around with them. No matter which one of these sub options you use to improve your image, the basic functionality with respect to the working of the adjustment layer remains the same.

Phew! That was a long one, wasn’t it?! Some of this might seem confusing at first, because you won’t use all the effects at all times. To sum it up, use adjustment layers when you want to tweak the image without affecting the original picture. This is the best way to enhance your images! Go give this a spin!

Quick Tips Drag and Drop to Open in Windows 7

Drag and Drop to Open in Windows 7

Sometimes you might want to open a file with a specific program, but you don't necessarily want it to open with that program every time. So what do you do?

Follow me, Windows 7'ers!

Just Right-Click on the program you'd like to use for limited file viewing (Notepad, in my case) and choose "Pin to Taskbar".



This will put what is essentially a quick launch-like icon on your task bar. Now, locate a file you'd like to open, hold Shift, and drag it to the icon you pinned to your taskbar.



This trick also works in Windows Vista, although you won't need to pin anything to the taskbar. Just make sure the program you want to use to open stuff is in your quicklaunch and follow the same steps.

Computers 101 Q: What is this funny word, "CAPTCHA" I keep seeing all over the Internet?

Q:
What is this funny word, "CAPTCHA" I keep seeing all over the Internet?

A:
Yes, CAPTCHA is rather odd sounding, but it's something we all have to deal with on the Internet from time to time. CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing [test to tell] Computers and Humans Apart. It's basically a kind of response test used with computers to determine if a user is human or not.

In other words, when you're on certain Web sites, have you ever had to type in a series of letters and numbers in order to continue on? If so, that's a CAPTCHA test! The code is sometimes distorted or it will have a design behind it that makes it a little harder to read. It's something like this:



CAPTCHA tests are usually used on sites that allow you to do your shopping online. Even sites like MySpace and Ticketmaster, among others, use them a lot too.

Now, I know what you're probably thinking. Yes, CAPTCHA tests are sometimes hard to solve, but they are there for our own good. They are mainly used for security, especially on Web sites that require you to enter in your personal information. See, sometimes hackers use what are called bots to attack users. The bots are generated by computers and in reality, computers are unable to solve the CAPTCHA tests. Only humans can type in the right code and continue on, so that really helps in keeping you safe. So, while it's true that these tests can be quite a nuisance, I always feel better when I see them. I know I'm in good hands when I do. I'm sure you'll think differently about them now too!

MS Office Corrupt Word File = Lost Document... Maybe Not!

Corrupt Word File = Lost Document... Maybe Not!

Every try to open an MS Word document only to have the program tell you that it can't open the file because it's corrupt?

Come on, if you use Word with any frequency then I'm betting that you've run into this gem a time or two.

Made your day, didn't it?

I mean, what better way to spend your time then to start the whole thing over again. Hope you have a good memory.

Or, maybe you could try one of these options:

Word comes with an Open and Repair option - so let's find that one first.

When you go to the Open dialog box (File menu / Office Button, Open choice) and select the corrupted file you'll find that the Open button becomes active and has a down arrow on the right side.

Click it and choose Open and Repair.



If that one doesn't take care of business then give this a try...

Back in the Open dialog box select your corrupt file and then in the Files of type drop down list choose "Recover text from any file".



You may lose formatting during the repair / recovery process but it's a lot better than losing all the information.

Hopefully one of those two maneuvers will save you a lot of time, tears and pain when the dreaded "can't open the file" message appears.

Computers 101 Q: Someone was telling me that they just bought a bigger hard drive. I am almost embarrassed to ask this, but what’s a hard drive?

Q:
Someone was telling me that they just bought a bigger hard drive. I am almost embarrassed to ask this, but what's a hard drive?

A:
Don't be embarrassed; it's an awesome question!

I don't know about your computer, but my computer has an enormous amount of "stuff' on it. Pictures, videos, software, downloads, documents of all kinds…when it goes down I go into a panic attack. Well, you know all of that "stuff" you have on your computer? You know it's on your computer somewhere, and that somewhere is your hard drive!

The hard drive - which is short for hard disk drive (HDD) - is what stores all that "stuff" I was talking about. You may be thinking, "But what about a floppy disk? What about my CDs? They all hold my data, too", and you would be right. The hard drive, however, is the most permanent of your computer's storage methods. When your computer is turned off, all of your data is there, safe on your hard drive.

Without getting too technical (and believe me, I am not going to get technical; hardware makes my brain go numb), the "disk" part of hard disk drive refers to the actual disks inside the hard drive. The disks inside are actually what holds the media. They are located on a spindle, which is rotated by an electric motor, which causes the disks to spin. The faster the motor, the faster they spin; the faster they spin, the faster the data is retrieved. Thus a hard drive and its quality is very important to your computer. Below is cutaway of a hard drive.



So how much does a hard drive really influence your computer? Let's take a look.

1.Performance.
The hard drive is very important when it comes to overall system performance, especially when it comes to working with large amounts of data, graphics, video editing, multitasking, etc. How fast your computer boots is directly related to hard disk speed.

2.Storage Capacity.
The bigger the hard drive, the more "stuff' it can hold. Enough said.

3.Newer software support.
With all of the new (bigger, better, more) software coming out today, your hard drive has to be able to handle it; thus the critical quality component I was referring to earlier.

4.Reliability.
There is absolutely without a doubt nothing worse than a hard drive failing and losing all of your "stuff". You can replace hardware, but losing everything on your computer has got to make this part of a hard drive's use the most important of it all.

So there you have it – a very brief summary of what a hard drive is and its importance. I did not go into all of the millions of details of how it is assembled and what goes where because frankly, I am just one of those people who care about the very basics of a computer, and when talking about hard drives and how they are made my eyes glaze over because the only thing I really care about is where my "stuff" is at.

Quick Tips Windows Command Prompt Color

Windows Command Prompt Color

Here's a trick from back in the day for all of you long time computer users. It may not seem too useful, but I still think it's fun!

Depending on which version of Windows you use, you're going to want to open a command prompt. Windows XP users will go Start>Run, type Command and hit OK. Windows Vista and 7 users will just type Command into their Search Bar and press Enter. This will open the command prompt.

Now, in that window type:

color /?

This will bring up instructions on how to change your command window colors. Just type color and a combination of two values to change your command prompt colors around!



Want things back to the boring old way? Type color again and hit Enter. There, you're all back to normal!

Tip of the Day Troubleshooting Tips for reviving an Internet Connection

Troubleshooting Tips for reviving an Internet Connection

If your Internet is down, you probably can't read this! It would be better if you save this page locally for a rainy day! This page will also give you a better understanding of what goes behind the scenes that makes your net... work…!

At first you need a brief introduction of how your Internet works. You, as the user, are given a cable modem or DSL Modem from your service provider (ISP) that connects to the network either via coax (thick cable) or your phone line. The modem, in turn, establishes a connection with the ISP's network. The network has a DHCP server that gives the modem an IP address. That address is accessible from the Internet (Public IP). If you have no clue what I am talking about, then please read the article that addresses IP found here.

Now, either you connect your computer, wired or wireless, to that modem or connect a wired or wireless router so you can share your connection to multiple machines/devices.

Are you still with us?

If you are plugged directly into the modem, it will give you a private IP address that is NATed out to the public IP.
If your setup is such, then it will be easy unless you are going to switch computers. Due to security restrictions, you will need to restart the modem to give the machine an IP address. We recommend you get a router, which will allow you to swap machines and share the net with multiple machines.

Now lets move on to how to troubleshoot. Take a deep breath! Now let us take the plunge…

What do you mean by 'the Internet's down'?

After you go through the normal steps of denial, rebooting, blaming your ISP, rebooting, cursing…. Check out these steps:

1. Before you do anything else, first restart your modem and then wait for it to come back online. Once that is done, restart your router.
2. If you don't have a router, reboot your computer and then the cable modem.
3. Once all the modems lights are lit and the activity lights are blinking, the net should be back up. If all the lights do not come on, check that all your cables are secure and then call your ISP.
4. Open a new browser window and try to get the site: http://www.adershdev.com/. If the site comes up, it is good. If not, continue reading.
5. Go to Start>Run and type in CMD
6. Type Ipconfig /all
7. Make note of your default gateway and DNS servers.
8. Ping your default gateway. Do you get a response?
9. Ping one of the DNS servers. Do you get a response?
10. Type ping www.adershdev.com. Do you get a response?

If all else fails, you could use traceroute to find out where you are getting stuck. Traceroute is a command which can show you the path a packet of information takes from your computer to one you specify. It will list all the routers it passes through until it reaches its destination, or fails to and is discarded. In addition to this, it will tell you how long each 'hop' from router to router takes. To do this, just go to Windows, select Start > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt. When a window pops up, enter the word 'tracert', followed by a space, then the domain name. If it timed out after line 1, you would know there was a problem connecting to your ISP in which case you will not be able to access anything on the Internet. It is generally recommended that if you have a website that is unreachable, you should use both the traceroute and ping commands before you contact your ISP to complain. More often that not, there will be nothing your ISP or hosting company can do about it.



Similarly, there are a number of network issues where there are two DHCP servers giving out IP addresses. If you have a router, you need to make sure it is in the same internal range as the cable modem. If your ISP router is 192.168.1.1, make your router .2. And if possible, disable the DHCP on the original. That should do the trick most of the time.
Best of luck!

Q: Why are some of my images showing up as a red x when I try to view them? It's so frustrating!

Q:
Why are some of my images showing up as a red x when I try to view them? It's so frustrating!



A:
Good golly, I sure do get a lot of questions about this! I'm glad that I finally get to set the record straight about the mysterious (and annoying) red X, once and for all! Here's a list of the top reasons for the red X and some potentially potent solutions!

Reason 1 – Your anti-virus or firewall might be set to disable web bugs. What is a web bug, you ask? Nothing important; just a teeny, tiny image used for statistic tracking on websites. Sometimes this setting prevents other images from being shown.

How you fix it: Go into your anti-virus settings and look for a setting called "Disable Web Bugs" and uncheck it. Not all anti-virus programs have it, mind you, so you might have to explore a bit!!

Reason 2 – You Internet Explorer security settings are set too high.

How you fix it: In Internet Explorer go to Tools>Internet Options and then click on the Security Tab. From there, take a look and see what your security level is at. I keep mine at Medium-High, which allows for most of what I want, and little of what I don't. Gauge how you use the Internet and where you go to adjust this accordingly.

Reason 3 – Windows XP Service Pack 2 introduced a feature called "Block images and other external content in HTML e-mail" This is a big one, and since it's automatically turned on in programs like Outlook Express, it's probably the most common.

How you fix it: For Outlook and Outlook Express you can fix this by clicking the info bar at the top of the message body. This is just a per-message thing, however. If you want a more permanent solution, click on Tools>Options>Security, and then uncheck the "Block images and other external content" check box. Click OK, and revel in visual amazement!

Quick Tips Clean That Screen!

Clean That Screen!

I've gotten a couple of questions recently concerning the upkeep of LCD screens. Those flat-panel beauties are a joy to look at, for sure, but once the power is turned off all sorts of streaks, smudges and other detritus appear. How is one to keep their super-cool, modern monitor looking it's best without permanently damaging it with harsh chemicals?

Well, let me tell you.

There are cleaning kits, which will run you about $12, and apart from setting you back a few bucks, they don't offer cleaning power any more substantial than a four dollar rag and some good ol' H2o. What you'll need to buy is a microfiber cloth, which can be found at your local mega-mart or drugstore. Run it under some luke-warm water and wring that puppy out, and when I say wring it out I mean make sure that it's just barely moist. This is important, because if you're dripping water all over the screen the consequences could cost you another monitor, so be careful!

Make sure the monitor is turned off (obviously!) and wipe it down, making sure to be as gentle as a lamb. In no time you'll have a nice, spotless screen and peace of mind in knowing that you saved some money, too!