The Photoshop Computer

Learn how to choose the right hardware to build your own computer optimized for Adobe Photoshop CS2 and learn how to tweak Photoshop to take advantage of the new hardware.

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Operating System

When selecting a computer, the first step is to select the operating system. There are two main operating systems to use:

• Mac OS ®
• Microsoft ® Windows ®

Deciding which operating system to use is based on your preference. If you're upgrading your computer, stick with the same operating system so you don't have to purchase another license for the software you already have. Otherwise, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Which operating system am I most comfortable with?
2. Is there any software I need to use that's only available in a specific operating system? (ex. Apple Aperture)

{mostip}Photoshop does not perform its best when used with Microsoft Windows Vista RC1. Although Photoshop is compatible with Windows Vista RC1, there may be some performance issues. For example, opening the "Save for Web" tool takes longer to load than Windows XP. With that said, keep in mind that Windows Vista is currently still being worked on and many bugs and tweaks should be resolved in the finalized version.{/mostip}
{mosimage}{mosimage}

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64-bit

64-bit computing allows Photoshop to use approximately 3.5 GB of RAM. If you will be using more than 2GB of RAM, make sure that you use a 64-bit operating system such as Mac OS X, Windows XP 64-bit Edition, or Windows Vista 64-bit Edition. Generally, we recommend investing in 64-bit hardware and software to adapt to the new generation of computers.

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RAM\Memory

RAM (Random Access Memory) is a major factor in determining the speed of Photoshop. For the current generation of computers, we recommend a minimum of 1 GB of RAM. Keep in mind that your operating system and other running software will also be using your RAM.  RAM is relatively cheap and is generally the best performance gaining hardware for your money.  

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Capacity

How much ram do you really need? This depends on your usage. If you're working on large files with many layers, you'll need to get more RAM. However, if you're using Photoshop just for simple task such as resizing photos and correcting color and you don't have a lot of programs running in the background, 1 GB of RAM should be enough. Here's a method to determine how much RAM is required:

1. Run Photoshop and open a typical file you usually edit. For example, if you edit high resolution digital images a lot, open a high resolution photo.
2. Make sure that your document isn't maximized. You can ensure that it isn't by choosing Window> Arrange> Cascade.
3. On the bottom of the window, locate the ► arrow. Click on the ► arrow and choose Show> Efficiency. The status bar beside the ► button shows the efficiency. If your computer has enough resource to display the image, the efficiency should be 100%. Anything lower means that more RAM may be beneficial.
   {mosimage}
   
4. Try opening several of your typical Photoshop files. If it stays at 100%, it means that your current system has enough RAM. Use this to judge how much RAM you'll need for your next computer. For example, when I ran the test, I opened 7 high resolution photos and my efficiency dropped to 72%. Because my current system has 1 GB of RAM and the efficiency was at around 72%, I can conclude that 2 GB of RAM is a safe amount of RAM to get on my next computer.

Note: When using Photoshop on a 32-bit computer or operating system, Photoshop is only able to use 2 GB of RAM. Photoshop is able to use around 3.5 GB on a 64-bit system. Some version of Windows® requires modifying the boot.ini file to allow Photoshop to use up to 3 GB of RAM. The 3GB switch may not work with all computers. For more information, search the Microsoft support page for "3gb".

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High Speed RAM

There are many types of RAM available; some reaching speeds of 1111 MHz such as the Corsair XMS2 Dominator PC2-8888. It's disappointing to say that using 1111 MHz RAM is not much different than using a 667 MHz RAM on a current-generation computer. The speed RAM can operate depends on what your entire system supports.  This means that you should only purchase the fastest RAM your computer will be able to use. Unless you have extensive knowledge with computer hardware and plan on overclocking your computer, there's no reason to purchase in top of the line RAM.

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ECC (Error Correction Code)

Some types of RAM you may bump into will have the acronym ECC on its name. This simply means that the RAM will automatically detect and correct errors that may arise during the data transmission. ECC RAM is slower and much more expensive than normal RAM and isn't necessary for Adobe Photoshop. They're meant for critical tasks so we don't recommend using ECC RAM.

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Combining Two Photos for New Effect

Combining two photos to create a new look is a fun way to learn various techniques. We’ll learn how to use the Circular Marquee tool from the center, adjusting the opacity of a layer, creating a path from a selection and adding text along it in the process. Let’s get started.

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Preview of Final Results

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Combining Two Photos Photoshop Tutorial

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Step 1

Open the support file in Adobe Photoshop, an image from NASA in the public domain.

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Step 2

Open an image of a person holding a circular object, such as a ball. This one is by Ronald Bloom and available through iStock at http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=277310.

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Step 3

Now in the earth photo, click-and-drag a ruler guide from the top and bottom, halfway across so it’s in the middle. In the earth photo, subtract the entire length by 2 to get where the cursor needs to be exactly. Note: if rulers aren’t showing, press Command-R (PC: Control-R).

After drawing the ruler guides, hover the cursor over the center of the photo, where the two guides cross. Hold Option (PC: Alt) and click-and-drag the mouse. Hold Shift to maintain proportion. Once the Elliptical Marquee tool is around the earth, release the mouse button then the keys.

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GIF, JPEG, or PNG

Discover the differences between the three main web graphic formats and learn the pros and cons of each format.

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Overview of Web Graphic Formats

Here's a quick overview of the three main web graphic formats (we're excluding Flash here, since it requires a plug-in, though we agree it is becoming a fourth major format): GIF, JPEG, and PNG. We'll compare the three formats, then use and display actual images saved in those formats (images courtesy of PickleZone.com).

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Let's begin with a quick comparison table:

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format)	JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)	PNG - 8 & 24 (Portable Network Graphic)
Originally developed by CompuServe in the '80's, this format offers a maximum of 256 colors, is still used for simple animations, and is "lossless" -- does not introduce pixel noise into images. Web art books recommend this format to keep clean edges around illustrations & text -- though PNG offers the same advantage.	Professional photographers and programmers worked out this solution (early '90's) to incorporate millions of colors in an image with a range of compressed file sizes depending on how much quality you wish to retain -- the smaller the file, the lower the quality.	Developed in the late '90's to offer improvements on both GIF and JPEG formats, the 8 bit PNG offers a maximum of 256 colors, but with a wider range of transparency options*. 24 bit PNG, offers millions of colors, like JPEG, but cannot reduce file size as much as JPEG because this format uses "lossless" compression methods.

{mostip image=tipon}Some transpareny options built into PNG formats are not implemented in Internet Explorer 6 or below. {/mostip}

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Create Custom Photo Brushes

When you think of creating custom brushes in Adobe Photoshop, you usually think of creating basic shapes and paths with the pen tool and then creating a brush from those shapes. But we can also use photos and convert them into brushes as well for unique designs in web sites and print designs. They also can make aesthetically-pleasing backgrounds.

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Preview of Final Results

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Create Custom Photo Brushes Photoshop Tutorial

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Step 1

Open Photoshop and open a photo to use as a brush. It should be something that would work in a pattern, where the content of the photo is obvious as various sizes. I'm using this "blue angel wing" I found on iStockPhoto. IT should be relatively large, perhaps 1000 pixels for both width and height. If you create a brush at a small size, setting the brush to a larger size than originally created will cause it to lose resolution. But making it smaller is no problem, just like resizing a photo.

© ISTOCKPHOTO/DON WILKIE
Optional: You can download this file to use at http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=130023 or use a similar one.

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Step 2

To first define a brush, we need to select the area. Click the Rectangular Marquee tool on the toolbar.

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Step 3

Click-and-drag a selection around the photo. We don't need to remove the white pixels first because they will be transparent in a brush.

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Step 4

Go to Edit>Define Brush Preset.

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Step 5

Name the brush something that matches the image, and click OK.

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Step 6

Now that we have the brush defined, go to File>New and create a new file at 1024 x 768. Click OK.

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Step 7

Click the Brush tool on the toolbar.

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Step 8

Click the arrow on the Options palette which will bring down the brush styles and size options. Scroll down and click the brush we just created. You can change the size here, or change it by pressing the left and right brackets to make the size smaller or larger. Bring the size of the brush to something much smaller, such as 100.

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Step 9

Go to Window>Brushes to bring up the Brushes palette. This palette has a lot of options for the Brush tool. Change the Shape Dynamics to these settings by clicking on Shape Dynamics then sliding the sliders. The brush can rotate to a certain degree as we brush. Try various settings as the preview shows how the brush will look.

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Step 10

Change the Scattering to the settings shown here. Scattering does just that—scatter the brush as we brush. Try various settings as the preview shows how the brush will look.

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Step 11

Change the Hue Jitter to 12%, because we want to somewhat adjust the hue as the brush is clicked-and-dragged, but within a certain range. Setting it to 100% would cause it to include the entire color range.

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Step 12

Now for the fun part: click-and-drag with the Brush tool in a curve.

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Step 13

Whatever color is selected in the Foreground in the toolbar is the color of the brush. You can have a jitter between the foreground and background color as well as hue jitter from the foreground color.

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Step 14

If you create a second curved brush path like this, click on New Layer on the Layers palette first, so that we can adjust the layer blending mode on the Layers palette. In this example, I adjusted the top layer blending mode to Multiply.

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Step 15

Try various photos and converting them to brushes using the same steps here. Brushes with added Shape Dynamics and Scattering can help create a unique background, such as this one created with a photo of Polaroids.

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Step 16

This one was created with a scan of tape. Besides creating unique paths, backgrounds are often created with such brushes.

©ISTOCKPHOTO/DAVE RAU.

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