Adobe Photoshop CS - Determining Necessary Options to Create a New Image File - Task 10

How To Determine Necessary Options to Create a New Image File in Adobe Photoshop CS 

The File ➪ New command is where you set up your digital canvas. How you set your preferences determines not only the basic size of the image, but also in which medium your image can be displayed. While you can always open a new file and change the settings, make sure to set them properly for the intended use of your image.

1. To create a new file, choose File ➪ New. This command brings up the New image dialog box where you can specify the desired settings.

By default, the settings are based on the image dimensions and resolution contained in the Clipboard. If the Clipboard does not contain image data, the image dimensions and resolution are based on the

last image that was created.

2. The first choice offered is an input field where you can enter a name for the image (see Figure 10-1). If you choose not to name your image, Photoshop will still create the new image and use the default title in its place instead.

Figure 10-1: The New File dialog box

3. You can enter a custom size using the Width and Height input fields, and set the Resolution to a value of either pixels per inch or pixels per centimeter. You can also select the size of the image by choosing from a list of preset sizes, which includes commonly used settings for paper sizes, desktop and Web design sizes, and so on, as shown in Figure 10-2.

note

• For Windows operating system users, if you want to match the width and height

of the new image to that of any open image, first go to File ➪ New, then click on

Window ➪ Documents and choose the file you want from the open documents

menu list.

Figure 10-2: The preset sizes available in the New File dialog box

4. Select the type of Color Mode for your image from the drop-down menu. The list of choices includes Bitmap, Grayscale, RGB Color, CYMK Color, and Lab Color. Along with the Color Mode, you can also set the Color Depth for the image: 1, 8, or 16 bit.

5. To choose a color for the background layer of an image, select the color you want from the Background Contents list box. The White option fills the background or first layer with white, the default background color. Select the Background Color option to fill the background or first layer with the current background color. The Transparent option makes the first layer transparent, with no color values.

6. If the options for the Advanced settings are not available for a new document, click the triangle button in front of the Advanced heading at the bottom of the dialog box.

7. You can specify a color profile for the new document by selecting a profile from the Color Profile drop-down menu.

8. If you want to change the aspect ratio of pixels for video output, select an option from the Pixel Aspect Ratio drop-down menu. If you deal mostly with print or the Web, you will want to stick with Square as your selection.

tip

• To create a new image based on the default dimensions and resolution, or the last entered setting,

hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) when you choose File ➪ New

cross-reference

• In order to work from scratch in Photoshop, you need to set up your new image settings correctly.

Also make sure your monitor is calibrated for optimum display. See Tasks 37 and 38 for more

information.

Adobe Photoshop CS - Navigating the HTML-Based Help System - Task 9

 Task 9

Adobe Photoshop CS - How To Navigate To the HTML-Based Help System ?

Sometimes we all need a little help to get us through the lonely, confusing times. And with so many options in Photoshop, we can get lonely and confused more often than we would like. Photoshop comes with an extensive Help System written in HTML, the markup language commonly used to

create Web pages.

So, when in doubt, launch your browser and surf the Help pages until you find

your answer.

1. To access the HTML-based Help System select Help ➪ Photoshop Help. You will notice the Help System, as shown in Figure 9-1, is divided into two areas. In the left frame is the main navigation area and on the right is the content area. There are five text links at the top of the navigation area: Using Help, Contents, Index, Site Map and Search.

Figure 9-1: The initial display of the Help System

2. If you need help in navigating the content of the Help System, click Using Help to show a series of links in the content area that you can click for more information on using the various Help System features.

3. Select Contents for a series of links that enable you to access the contents of the Help System chapter by chapter.

note

• In order to view the Help System, you need to have Netscape Navigator 4.75

(or higher) or Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 (or higher) installed with

JavaScript enabled.

4. Select Index to view the index of the entire Help System. You can scan the Help index much as you would scan the index of this book, looking for keywords.

5. Click Site Map in order to view all topics in the Help System and all entries in the Index.

6. To search the Help System insert the keywords into the input field and click Submit. The results from the search are listed below the search form, as shown in Figure 9-2. Click a link to open the page with the information you want in the content window on the right-hand side.

Figure 9-2: Search results listed below the Help search form

7. In order to navigate within the content window, use the Previous and Next text links at the top and bottom of the content area to return to the previous page or advance to the next page of the help content.

8. Users who are new to Photoshop might appreciate the Tutorials, Tips and Tricks, Color Management Setup and What’s New Information links on the Welcome Screen. By default, the Welcome Screen is displayed when you first start Photoshop (unless you haven’t checked the “Show this dialog at Startup” checkbox). You can also access this screen any time during your current session by selecting Help ➪Welcome Screen.

tip

• The JavaScript powered Search in the Help System is somewhat slow. In order

to speed things up, you might want to forget about the Search and click Index

or Site Map. When the page appears in the navigation window, click in the

window, and then use the browser’s Find command to search for text on the current

page. If the browser finds the text, it scrolls the Site Map to locate the text

you want. You can then click a link to display the topic.

cross-reference

• The HTML-based Help System is definitely a lifesaver when figuring out the

nuances of a large software application like Photoshop. To help other

people work on your images, it’s best to leave a note about key points. In

Task 17, you can learn how to leave a text and audio note.

Adobe Photoshop CS - Setting Memory and Image Cache Preferences - Task 8

Task 8

How To Setting Memory and Image Cache Preferences 

In Adobe Photoshop CS 

To help Photoshop perform better, it’s always good to give it some fine-tuning from time to time. The image cache allows Photoshop to increase rendering times of frequently seen areas of an image. In the Memory & Image Cache preferences dialog box, you can set the right balance between speed and

performance.

1. If you are a Macintosh user, go to the Photoshop menu and select Preferences ➪ Memory & Image Cache (see Figure 8-1). As a Windows user, choose Edit ➪ Preferences and select Memory &

Image Cache. If you are in the dialog box from the previous task, you may select Memory & Image Cache from the drop-down menu at the top of the dialog box.

Figure 8-1: Accessing the Memory & Image Cache dialog box

2. The image cache enables Photoshop to increase screen redraw speeds during the editing process by caching, or storing in memory, previews of an image at various zoom levels. As you zoom in or out on the image during editing, it can then pull up the new redraw from the cache rather than reading it from your hard drive. To change the cache settings, enter an integer between 1 and 8 in the Cache Levels text box under Cache Settings (see Figure 8-2). The lower the cache level, the slower the image window redraws.

note

• Setting Memory Usage to 100% is not really 100% if you slide the maximum RAM amount to be used by Photoshop to 100% in the Windows operating system. This occurs because the Windows operating system needs RAM as well in order

to operate.

Figure 8-2: The Memory & Image Cache dialog box

3. To set a good balance of speed and quicker rendering for Cache Level, stick with the default value, which appears to offer a solid balance of speed and quicker rendering. Setting the cache to a value of 1 disables it—you wouldn’t want to set it that low unless you always work at

100 percent magnification. Setting the cache at its highest setting of 8 causes it to store more preview sizes and would probably not be necessary unless you are working on an extremely large file.

4. Select Use Cache for Image Histograms if you want Photoshop to display histograms faster; however histograms are based on a sampling of pixels and not all of the pixels.

5. Under Memory Usage you can specify the percentage of maximum RAM to be used by Photoshop. However, you should never allocate more than 90% to Photoshop, or you will probably cause your system to crash.

6. Leave the maximum memory used by Photoshop setting at the default 50% at first. While working on images, you can check the Efficiency setting in the status bar from time to time. If you see it

dropping below 100%, you can increase the allocation of memory to Photoshop incrementally until it goes back to 100%.

7. After resetting the memory allocation, you’ll need to restart Photoshop in order for the new settings to be active.

tip

• It’s always a good idea to buy as much RAM as possible for your computer system.

The more RAM you have the better Photoshop (and your other applications)

run, and the faster you are finished with your work.

cross-reference

• Allocating more scratch disks also helps increase response times from Photoshop. 

For more information on Scratch Disks, see Task 7.

Adobe Photoshop CS - Setting Plug-ins and Scratch Disk Preferences - Task 7

?Adobe Photoshop CS,  How To Setting Plug-ins and Scratch Disk Preferences

You might think that, out of the box and properly installed, Photoshop is

ready to go. If you have extra plug-ins or extra hard disk space, it’s not. While

Photoshop is great at handling memory to furnish your digital imaging requests,

it doesn’t know the location of third-party plug-ins and where to find that extra

hard disk space. Before opening up that next image, specify both of those items in

the Plug-ins & Scratch Disk preferences dialog box.

1. As a Macintosh user, you can open the Plug-ins & Scratch Disk preferences

dialog box, shown in Figure 7-1, by going to the Photoshop

menu and selecting Preferences ➪ Plug-Ins & Scratch Disks. As a

Windows user, choose Edit ➪ Preferences and select Plug-Ins &

Scratch Disks. If you are in the dialog box from the previous task,

select Plug-Ins & Scratch Disks from the drop-down menu at the

top of the dialog box.

Figure 7-1: The Plug-Ins & Scratch Disks preferences dialog box

note

• Photoshop continues to use scratch disks until you quit the program.

2. To set an Additional Plug-Ins folder, first select the option next to

the Additional Plug-Ins Folder heading. This opens a dialog box

where you can locate and select the plug-ins folder.

3. After you have selected the folder, you need to restart Photoshop in

order to use the new plug-ins.

4. If you have third-party plug-ins that work only with a previous version

of Photoshop (versions 6 or earlier), you can enter its serial

number in the Legacy Photoshop Serial Number input field.

5. You can assign up to four scratch disks. A scratch disk is a form of virtual

memory Photoshop can use if your system doesn’t have enough

RAM to accomplish a given task. By default, Photoshop uses the hard

drive or partition that the operating system is on as the primary

scratch disk, which can be any drive or portion of a drive with free

memory. You can assign up to 200 GB of scratch disk space on a

given hard disk or partition; the more scratch disk space you assign to

Photoshop, the better the system performs when handling your large

image files. Again, you have to restart Photoshop in order for the

new scratch disk settings to be active.

6. While editing an image, you can find out how much RAM is being

used by the scratch disk in the status bar at the bottom of the image

window. First click the triangle in the status bar.

7. Select Scratch Sizes and you will see two numbers on the status bar,

after shorthand for Scratch Sizes, Scr (see Figure 7-2): The first

number is the amount of RAM Photoshop currently uses to handle

the image; the second number is the total amount of RAM available

to Photoshop.

Figure 7-2: The status bar drop-down menu and the two Scratch Size values

tips

• Scratch disks should only be on a local drive; they should not be accessed

over a network.

• For best performance, select a large and defragmented drive or partition

for your scratch disk. Also, large scratch disks should not be on the same drive 

as the images you are working on.

cross-reference

• Setting plug-ins and scratch disk preferences provides greater control

and flexibility in your work environment. Of course, having more memory and

a larger image cache doesn’t hurt either. For more information on memory

and image cache, see Task 8.

Adobe Photoshop CS - Setting Guides, Grid, and Slices Preferences - Task 6

How To Setting Guides, Grid, and Slices Preferences

 In Adobe Photoshop CS

The default color for guides and slices in Photoshop is light blue. When you are

working on an image that contains the color blue or if you just don’t like the

default color, you can change the color of these helpful guides, grids, and slices to

a more suitable color using the Guides, Grid & Slices preferences dialog box.

1. If you are a Macintosh user, go to the Photoshop menu and select

Preferences ➪ Guides, Grid & Slices to bring up this dialog box. As a

Windows user, select Edit ➪ Preferences and select Guides, Grid &

Slices. If you are in the dialog box from the previous task, select

Guides, Grid & Slices from the drop-down menu at the top of the

dialog box. See Figure 6-1.

Figure 6-1: The Guides, Grid & Slices preference dialog box

2. To change the color of the guides, select from a predetermined list of

colors in the drop-down menu or select Custom to pick your own

color. If you select Custom, Photoshop’s color picker pops up. Select

the color you want and then press OK. The default guide color is

light blue.

3. You can choose among two styles for guides: Lines (default) and

Dashed Lines.

4. To change the color settings of the grid, you can select a color to

your liking from a pre-determined list of colors in the drop-down

menu or pick your own color by selecting Custom. If you select

Custom, you’ll get Photoshop’s color picker (see Figure 6-2), which

enables you to select the color you want. Press OK when finished.

5. You can choose from three styles for the lines: Lines (default),

Dashed Lines, and Dots (see Figure 6-3).

Figure 6-2: Selecting a custom color for guides

Figure 6-3: An example of a grid set to dots with two guides

6. If you want, you can change the intervals of the grid-line. A grid-line

can be placed at any number of units per pixels, inches, cm (centimeters),

mm (millimeters), points, picas, or percent.You can also select

the number of subdivision lines that occur in between each grid-line.

7. You can change the line color for slices, but only to a set of nine colors.

The default color is, once again, light blue.

8. When you create slices with the Slice tool, they are automatically

numbered starting with the first slice at the top left corner of the

image. If you select Show Slice Numbers under Slices you can make

those numbers visible.

tips

• You might want to change the default colors for the slices and guides to a color

that stands out more against image-rich designs.

Try neon green (R: 153, G: 255, B: 0), or any other neon color.

• Keeping numbers on the slices is helpful for a couple of reasons. It helps in

the automatic numbering of file names when creating Web-ready graphics out of 

the Slices. It also makes it easier to update only a slice of an image rather than 

having to rename the images all over again.

cross-reference

• Guides are created after clicking rulers in an image area and dragging them

into view. To learn more about rulers, see Task 26.

Adobe Photoshop CS - Setting Units and Rulers Preferences - Task 5

How To Setting Units and Rulers Preferences In Adobe Photoshop CS

The old builder’s adage “measure twice; cut once” holds just as true in digital

imaging as it does in woodworking. If you don’t measure your images carefully

in the correct units, you might end up with an image that is too small or too

large for your purposes. In the Units & Rulers preferences you can choose your

units for rulers, column sizes, resolutions, as well as the point or pica sizes.

1. If you are a Macintosh user, go to the Photoshop menu and select

Preferences ➪ Units & Rulers to open the Units & Rulers

Preferences dialog box. If you are working on the Windows platform,

choose Edit ➪ Preferences and select Units & Rulers. If you are in

the dialog box from the previous task, select Units & Rulers from the

drop-down menu at the top of the dialog box.

2. In the Units & Rulers preferences dialog box (see Figure 5-1), under

Units, you can select several units for Rulers: pixels, inches, cm

(centimeters), mm (millimeters), points, picas, or percent.

Figure 5-1: The Units & Rulers preferences dialog box 

notes

• It’s recommended that you use pixels for the rulers and points for type.

• Leaving the default print resolution at 300 ppi is acceptable, but check with

your printer or client to ensure you are designing for the correct dimensions.

You don’t want to change measurements during the middle of a project and

realize you need to start over.

3. Under Units , you can select the units for Type: pixels, points, or

mm. A pixel is on grid unit on a computer screen. One point is equal

to 1⁄72 inch and 25.4 millimeters (mm) is one inch.

4. Under Column Size, you can specify the Width and Gutter measurements

for placing images into a desktop publishing program. These

settings enable you to precisely place an image in a set number of

columns.

5. The print and screen resolutions are set under New Document

Preset Resolutions. When you are creating a new image, Photoshop

presents the values you place here as editable settings before creating

the image. These values can be set in pixels per inch or pixels per

centimeter.

6. Under Point/Pica Size you find two options: PostScript and

Traditional. PostScript sets picas at a value of 72 pixels per inch (ppi),

whereas Traditional places the value at 72.27 ppi.

7. Another way to change units is in the Info palette, which also

changes the preference setting. To change the units through

this alternative method, select Windows ➪ Info to open the

Info palette.

8. Click the cross-hairs in the lower left-hand corner of the Info palette.

Select the units you want from the drop-down menu with the available

units will appear as shown in Figure 5-2.

Figure 5-2: The units available from the Info palette

tips

• To access the Units & Rulers preferences while working on an image, press

Ctrl+R to show the rulers and then double-click a ruler.

• Since Photoshop uses PostScript and creates digital files, it’s best to stick

with the PostScript option under Point/Pica Size.

cross-reference

• To see how to measure distance and angles in images, see Task 25.

Adobe Photoshop CS - Setting Transparency and Gamut Preferences - Task 4

How To Setting Transparency and Gamut Preferences 

In Adobe Photoshop CS

The grid has become somewhat of a culture icon to many Photoshop users.
It’s been a part of Photoshop for a long, long time to help users determine
the level of transparency in their images. But now you get the chance to modify
the appearance of this checkerboard-like grid to your own individual tastes.
In the Transparency & Gamut preferences dialog box, you not only get to
define the color for the out-of-gamut warning, but also customize the size of
the classic Photoshop grid.

1. To bring up the Transparency and Gamut preferences dialog box on
the Macintosh platform, go to the Photoshop menu and select
Preferences ➪ Transparency & Gamut. On the Windows platform,
select Edit ➪ Preferences and select Transparency & Gamut. If you
are in the dialog box from the previous task, select Transparency &
Gamut from the drop-down menu at the top of the dialog box.

2. To adjust the size of the checkerboard pattern, select Small, Medium,
or Large from the Grid Size drop-down menu under Transparency
Settings (see Figure 4-1). If you don’t want to see a checkerboard
pattern, select None. You will see a preview of the grid in the preview
square that’s off to the right under Transparency Settings.

Figure 4-1: The Transparency & Gamut dialog box

 

3. The Grid Colors drop-down menu enables you to pick from a predetermined

set of colors and shades for the checkerboard grid pattern.

Your preset options are categorized in two groups: shades and colors.

The first group includes Light, Medium, and Dark options. The

color options include Red, Orange, Green, Blue, and Purple colors.

4. To create a custom-colored checkerboard pattern for the grid, select

Custom from the Grid Colors drop-down menu.

5. Click the swatch colors below the Grid Colors drop-down menu to

bring up the Color Picker dialog box as shown in Figure 4-2. Pick

the colors you want and then press OK. The colors you picked are

displayed in the preview square.

Figure 4-2: Choosing a color for the Photoshop grid

6. If your graphics card supports the overlay of images on top of a live

video signal and you want to make use of this feature, select the Use

Video Alpha checkbox.

7. To change the color that’s used to indicate a gamut warning, click the

Color swatch under Gamut Warning. This brings up the Color

Picker dialog box. Pick the color you want and then click OK.

8. To adjust the opacity of the gamut warning color, enter a percentage

in the Opacity text field or click the triangle and adjust the slider.

tips

• If you don’t like the default sizes for the Photoshop grid, or if the image you are

working on uses whites and grays and it’s hard to tell what’s transparent from the

image, adjust the grid to your tastes.

• Changing the gamut color is always a good idea if you can’t readily discern the

warning color from a color in your work.

cross-reference

• To learn more about out of- gamut warning, check out Task 46 about proofing colors.

Adobe Photoshop CS - Setting Display and Cursor Preferences - Task 3

 How To Do Setting Display and Cursor Preferences in 

Adobe Photoshop CS 

I cons are all over Photoshop. They enable you to quickly pick and choose from a wide array of editing options. In the Display & Cursor preferences dialog box you can choose whether to show channels in color, double the pixels of your images, or use dithering. You can also specify what icons you would like to see while editing an image. 

1. For Macintosh users, go to the Photoshop menu and select Preferences ➪ Display & Cursors (see Figure 3-1). For Windows users, select Edit ➪ Preferences and select Display & Cursors. If you are in the dialog box from the previous task, you may select Display & Cursors from the drop-down menu at the top of the dialog box. 

Figure 3-1: Accessing the Display & Cursor preferences dialog box 

2. In the Display and Cursor preferences dialog box (see Figure 

3-2), under Display, you can colorize each channel component. To have a channel reflect the color it represents, select Color Channels in Color, instead of the default gray-scale representation in the color channels. 

3. If you want to dither colors that your video card cannot render properly, select Use Diffusion Dither. Diffusion dithering is a method to position multicolored pixels in a scattering effect so as to simulate colors. 

4. To speed up preview modes or command tools, select Use Pixel Doubling. The image resolution is halved by doubling the pixels, giving the image a temporary blurry effect that lasts until the preview mode or commands are finished.

notes 

• The only real benefit of changing the channels to reflect the color is that it might help you realize which channel you are operating in. However, keeping the channels set to gray-scale enables you to see the tone of the color more easily: White areas represent portions of the image where the color is at full opacity and the area where it is black is the absence of that color. 

• The only time you might need to select Use Diffusion Dither is when you have a cheap video card on your system or an old laptop. Hopefully that will never happen to be you. 

• While pixel doubling does speed up the preview of an image, it might not be to everyone’s liking due to the jarring effect of having part of your image blurred out. Most computers powerful enough to run Photoshop will have enough processing power to render the file nicely.

Figure 3-2: The Display & Cursor preferences dialog box 

5. Under Painting Cursors you can specify the type of cursor Photoshop displays when you are using the painting tools. These tools include the brush, pencil, art sprayer, color replacement brush, history and art history brushes, eraser, healing brush, rubber stamp, pattern stamp, smudge, blur, sharpen, dodge, burn, and sponge tools. You have three options: Standard, which uses the icon of the current painting tool; Precise, which resembles a cross-hair with a small target pixel at its center; and Brush Size, which indicates the size of the brush currently selected as shown in Figure 3-3. 

Figure 3-3: The paintbrush set at 100 pixels overlaps the image window. 

In this predicament, you should resize the window and continue painting. 

6. Under Other Cursors you have two options: Standard and Precise. This option controls cursor appearance for the non-painting tools, which include the marquee, lasso, polygon lasso, magic wand, crop, slice, patch, eyedropper, pen, line, paint bucket, gradient, magnetic lasso, magnetic pen, measure, and color sampler tools.

tips 

• Select the Brush Size as your painting cursor. The outline you get when painting provides a visual indicator of the brush size you are using. The other brush sizes do not give you this kind of helpful clue, which may come in handy if you accidentally pick a 400- pixel-sized brush. 

• While using a tool in Photoshop, press Caps Lock and the precise cursor appears. Press Caps Lock again and the tool icon pops back.

cross-reference 

• Having the right cursor at the right time in production work can make digital imaging go faster. If you want to see how shortcut keys can make your work go faster, check out Task 21.

Adobe Photoshop CS - Recording Steps in the History Log - Task 2

How To Record Steps in the History Log in 

Adobe Photoshop CS?

There are so many options in Photoshop, you might get carried away and forget what you did when you try to recreate an effect. Or you might need to make notes of how to recreate a certain effect in Photoshop for your coworkers so they can do it on their own (and stop pestering you for once). Photoshop CS enables you to keep a log of all your digital imaging movements. You can manage your history log options in the General preferences dialog box. 

1. If you are a Macintosh user, select Photoshop ➪ Preferences ➪ General. If you are a Windows user, select Edit ➪ Preferences ➪ General. 

2. To keep track of the steps you take in Photoshop CS, select the History Log checkbox (see Figure 2-1). 

Figure 2-1: Turning on the History Log option 

3. Click the Metadata option if you want to save the history log information with the file you are working on. 

4. If you want to save the information to a separate text file, select the Text File option. 

Figure 2-2 shows an example of a history log.

note • Having a history log saved with your image can inflate the file size. The more you manipulate an image, the more actions get recorded.

5. To determine the location of the history log text file, click the Choose button to bring up the Save dialog box. Select a location where you want to store the text file and then click Save. 

6. If you want the history log to be saved both as metadata and as a separate text file, select Both. 

7. To specify the level detail stored in the history log, select Sessions Only, Concise, or Detailed in the Edit Log Items list box. 

Figure 2-2: An excerpt from the history log text file set to Concise 

8. When you are done, click OK to close the Preferences dialog box.

tip • Using the Detailed history log item is a good way to keep notes on how certain effects are created. Instead of writing out instructions by hand, you can have Photoshop write them to a separate text file. Then cut and paste the steps and email them to your Photoshop friends.

cross-reference • To learn more about keeping track of information associating with your digital images, check out Task 17 for attaching notes and audio annotations.

Adobe Photoshop CS - Setting File Handling Preferences - Task 1

How You Can Setting File Handling Preferences In Adobe Photoshop CS ?

How you handle your images after importing them into Photoshop is almost as important as creating the images themselves. In this set of preferences, you can specify how you want Photoshop to manage image previews, file extensions, and work-group functionality. You can also set file compatibility and the number of files that should be displayed in the list of recent files on the File menu. 

1. If you are a Macintosh user, go to the Photoshop menu and select Preferences ➪ File Handling (see Figure 1-1). If you are a Windows user, choose Edit ➪ Preferences and select File Handling. 

Figure 1-1: Accessing the File Handling dialog box on Mac OS 

2. In the File Preferences dialog box, as seen in Figure 1-2, the first set of preferences under File Saving Options concerns image previews. Image previews are small snapshots of the overall image. These images are referred to as thumbnails and allow for easier management of your files. You can set the image preview preference to Always Save, Never Save, and Ask When Saving. 

3. The Macintosh version of Photoshop CS also enables you to select Icon, Full Size, Macintosh, and Windows Thumbnails. Select the Icon checkbox and the program displays the thumbnail as its file icon on the desktop. If you check Full Size, then the program saves a 72 points per inch (ppi) version of the file for use in other software applications that support low-resolution Photoshop images for quicker workflow. If you select Macintosh Thumbnail, you get a preview of the image in an Open dialog box; likewise the Windows Thumbnail option saves a preview for Windows operating systems. 

4. The set of preferences under File Saving Options controls whether the program appends file extensions when saving files. A file extension consists of three (or four) letters preceded by a period at the end of a file name. While not needed for Macintosh operating systems, file extensions help Windows systems determine what kind of application is needed to open the file.

notes • A file saved as TIFF can be larger than 30,000 by 30,000 pixels but is limited to a 4GB file size. The Large Document Format has no file size limit. • The options for maximizing compatibility and adding image previews with the image file increase the overall file size compared to not leaving them on. Be sure to determine what features you need if file size becomes a concern. 

5. If you want Photoshop to ignore the EXIF sRGB tag when you import images from your digital camera, select the Ignore EXIF sRGB Tag checkbox under File Compatibility. The EXIF file provides information that comes from your digital camera and helps programs like Photoshop determine the color space for the digital photos. 

Figure 1-2: The File Handling preferences dialog box 

6. To be reminded about saving a TIFF file with layers, check Ask Before Saving Layered TIFF Files under File Comp-ability. In order to share TIFF files with clients or colleagues working on different platforms, who might not have Photoshop, you would want to make sure not to send a TIFF file with layers. 

7. If you work with large digital images, you might want to select the Enable Large Document Format checkbox. The Photoshop file format (.psd) is constrained to 30,000 by 30,000 pixels, wheres as the Large Document Format (with the extension .psb) supports images larger than 30,000 pixels. 

8. To ensure greater backwards compatibility for your files with older versions of Photoshop, check Always Maximize Compatibility for Photoshop (PSD) Files. 

9. To turn on work-group functionality, select Enable Version Cue Work-group File Management. 

10. The bottom part of the File Handling preferences dialog box enables you to specify how many files are listed in the file menu when you select File ➪ Open Recent. 

tip • While Macintosh systems don’t require a file extension to handle files, in order to exchange files between Macintosh and Windows operating systems you will need to append the file extension to the file name.

cross-reference • You will not see thumbnails on just the desktop or Open dialog box. You will also see them in the File Browser, a new feature in Photoshop 7. Task 11 details how the File Browser handles images.

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