An alpha channel is a special type of channel that is used to store selections. It enables you to retrieve a saved selection and use it again. You can also copy the selection to another image while the original image is open. The selection can also be edited when the channel in which it is saved is selected in the Channels palette, just as if you were in Quick Mask mode.

The Clone Stamp tool is used to alter an image. This tool takes a sample of an image and clones it to a part of the same image or to another image. The Clone Stamp tool can also take the sample of a part of a layer and clone it over another layer.

Adobe has specified more than fifty seven objectives for the 9A0-036 test, which are grouped under fifteen topics. The following are some important areas in which an individual should possess good knowledge before taking the 9A0-036 test:

1. Using tools efficiently.
2. Identifying when a particular file format is used.
3. Using the Actions palette.
4. Working with Layers.
5. Working with Channels.
6. Working with Paths.
7. Managing color so that an image looks the same onscreen as it is on paper.
8. Analyzing a Histogram.
9. Adjusting the tonality of an image by using an adjustment layer.
10. Adjusting the color of an image by using adjustment commands.

Take the following steps to create a vector mask:

1. In the Layers palette, select the layer to which you want to add a vector mask.

   

2. Draw a work path by using the shape tools or pen tools with the Paths option active in the Options bar.

   

   

   Or, alternatively, select the path in the Paths palette if you want to use an existing path as a mask.

   

3. Choose Layer > Add Vector Mask > Current Path.

   

   Or, alternatively, hold down the Ctrl key (for Windows) or the Command key (for Mac) and click the Add Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layers palette.

After adding the vector mask, the image will look like the one given below:

The painting tools or filters are not available for those layers that contain vector data (type layers, shape layers, and vector masks) and generated date (fill layers). For using the commands and tools on these layers, a user has to rasterize the layers. Rasterizing turns these layers into pixel images. Once a layer is rasterized, the user cannot edit its contents as a vector object, nor can he change it back to a vector object.

The Quick Mask mode enables a user to edit any selection by using a mask. It enables the user to use most of the painting tools and filters to modify the mask.

When a user switches to the Quick Mask mode, a temporary Quick Mask channel is created in the Channels palette, and it disappears as soon as the user switches to the Standard mode. In the Quick Mask mode he can expand or contract the selection by using the Brush tool and distort the edges of the selection by applying a filter. Once the user modifies the selection and switches back to the Standard mode, the new modified selection is active in the image, and he can save the selection in Alpha channels.

The Rotate Canvas command (Image > Rotate Canvas) is used to rotate or flip an entire image. The submenu of the Rotate Canvas command contains the following commands:

• 180^o: It rotates an image by a half-turn.
• 90^o CW: It rotates an image clockwise by a quarter-turn.
• 90^o CCW: It rotates an image counterclockwise by a quarter-turn.
• Arbitrary: It rotates an image by the angle specified.
• Flip Canvas Horizontal: It flips an image horizontally.
• Flip Canvas Vertical: It flips an image vertically.

These commands cannot be applied on individual layers, part of layers, paths, or selection borders.

The Patch tool is used to repair a selected area of an image with pixels from another area of the image or a pattern. It matches the texture, lighting, transparency, and shading details of the sampled pixels to the source pixels. The Patch tool can also be used to clone a selected area of an image.

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Using the work area

• Photoshop enables a user to save the positions of all the open palettes and the File Browser as a workspace. To save the preferred File Browser setup, choose the Window > Workspace > Save Workspace command, and enter the name of the workspace in the Save Workspace dialog box.
• To load a preserved workspace, choose Window > Workspace, and select the workspace from the submenu.
• The Layer Comps palette enables a user to create, manage, and view several versions of a layout in a single Photoshop document.
• The Preset Manager (Edit > Preset Manager) manages libraries of styles, swatches, brushes, patterns, contours, custom shapes, preset tools, and gradients. It enables to change the current set of presets and allows saving custom set.
• The Status bar displays brief instructions to use the active tool and the information about current magnifications and the file size of the active image.
• The Scratch Sizes option of the Status Bar is selected to display the amount of memory being used by the program to process the image.
• The Options bar provides options for the tool that is currently selected in the toolbox.

Importing, exporting, and saving

• The Place command (File > Place) is used to place artwork into a new layer in an image as a Smart Object. It enables a user to place PDF, Adobe Illustrator, and EPS files into a Photoshop document. Initially the artwork is placed with a bounding box that enables a user to move, rotate, or scale the artwork.
• The images can be imported from a digital camera using TWAIN drivers or Windows Image Acquisition (WIA).
• Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) file format supports CMYK, RGB, and Grayscale. It does not support alpha channels, spot channels, vector type, and layers. Paths including clipping paths, can be saved in JPEG format.
• The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) supports only hard-edged transparency.
• The Export command can export paths to be used with Adobe Illustrator. This command exports paths as the Illustrator file format (.ai).
• The Brush tool, the Diffuse filter, and the Smudge tool cannot be used on the type layer. However, a user can apply these tools or commands after rasterizing the layer.
• The filters and painting tools are not available for those layers that contain vector data (type layers, shape layers, and vector masks) and generated data (fill layers).
• A Background layer does not contain vector data. Therefore, it is not required to rasterize a Background layer before applying filters or painting tools on it.
• The Batch Rename option of the File Browser’s Automate menu enables a user to change the names of selected files or all files of a folder with less effort.
• A user can create and apply keywords to the images by using the Keywords tab in the File Browser and use the File > Search command of the File Browser to find out all the images with those keywords.
• The Metadata palette in the File Browser displays information about the currently selected image in the Preview pane. It contains information about file size, date created, image height and width, resolution, color mode, camera data, and other information.

Working with selections

• The Magic Wand tool is a selection tool that is used to select a similar color throughout an image.
• The Magnetic Lasso tool is used to select an object with complex edges against a high-contrast background.
• The Elliptical Marquee tool is used to make selections in an oval and circular shape.
• The Transform Selection command (Select > Transform Selection) is used to scale, rotate, skew, and distort an active selection.
• The Contract command (Select > Modify > Contract) is used to bring the selection border toward its center by a specific number of pixels.
• The Feather command (Select > Feather) softens or blurs the edges of an image by fading them to transparency.
• The feathering effects appear when a user moves, cuts, copies, or fills a feathered selection in an image.
• An alpha channel is a special type of channel that stores selections as grayscale images.
• To edit a selection, select the channel in the Channels palette in which the selection is saved and use a painting or editing tool.
• The Quick Mask mode enables a user to edit any selection by using a mask. It enables a user to use most of the painting tools and filters to modify the mask.

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• When a user switches to the Quick Mask mode, a temporary Quick Mask channel is created in the Channels palette.
• Holding down the Ctrl/Command key and clicking on a layer in the Layers palette selects the non-transparent pixels of the layer. It does not work on the background layer.

Creating and using layers

• The Lock Transparency button in the Layers palette is used to restrict editing on the transparent portions of a layer.
• The Background layer is a layer that is automatically created when a user creates a new image.
• The Layer > New > Background from Layer command converts a selected layer into the background layer.
• The Layer > New > Layer Via Copy command converts a selection into a new layer.
• The Fill setting affects only the contents of a layer. It does not apply to any masks or layer styles that are applied to the layer.
• The Layer > The Layer > Flatten Image command is used to collapse all the layers into a single image. This reduces the size of the file.
• Linked layers act as one unit, but unlike merging, they can be separated at any time. To create a link, simply a user needs to select a layer in the Layers palette and click on the column just before the layer he wants to link with the selected layer.
• Linking two or more layers or layer sets enables a user to apply transformations to their contents together. It also enables a user to move, copy, paste, align, merge, and create clipping masks from all linked layers.
• Clipping masks enables a user to clip a layer by the content of the layer beneath it.
• Holding down the Ctrl key (Windows) or the Command key (Mac OS) and clicking on the layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette will select the visible portion of the layer.
• The Dissolve mode randomly displays the pixels on the active layer and on the layer beneath it.
• The Clear mode makes every affected pixel transparent according to its original opacity.
• The Behind mode allows a user to add a color only to transparent pixels of a layer.
• The shape layer is added automatically to the Layers palette when a user uses a shape tool or a pen tool with the Shape Layer option that is active in the Options bar.
• Layer masks are created to hide or reveal parts of a layer. Adding a layer mask and painting an area with a shade of gray will make that area partially visible.

Using channels

• A spot color channel is a special type of channel that stores information about an additional color to be used in printing. It also stores the location in the image where the color should be applied.
• Color channels are default channels that store information about color elements in an image. Every Photoshop image has one or more default color channels depending upon the color mode of the image.
• Alpha channels can be converted to a spot channel.
• Setting Solidity to 0% in the Spot Channel Options dialog box simulates transparent ink. It simulates on-screen the ink that completely reveals the ink beneath it.
• The Altitude setting in the Spot Channel Options enables a user to set the height of the light source.
• Spot channels can be edited using painting or editing tool.

Managing color

• Characterizing is a term used to describe how a particular device currently reproduces color.
• Assigning a custom scanner profile to the corresponding scanned image improves color matching with the original image a user scanned.
• Converting to a profile (Image > Mode > Converting to a profile) changes the pixel values, but keeps the colors unchanged.
• The Assign Profile (Image > Mode > Assign Profile) command enables a users to remove, reassign, or change color profiles in an image. When a profile is assigned to an image, the interpretation of the pixel values, rather than the values themselves, changes.
• In the Working Spaces section of the Color Settings dialog box, a user can specify the default profile use for each color model: RGB, CMYK, Grayscale, and Spot.
• Soft proof capabilities of Photoshop allow a user to preview how the image will look in the color space of any output device.
• Checking the Paper White checkbox in the Proof Setup dialog box simulates how the image will look when printed on dingy white of real paper.
• Rendering intents are the methods that are used to convert one color space to another.
• Relative Colorimetric is a rendering intent that preserves original colors in an image rather than perceptual.

Adjusting images

• A histogram is used to evaluate an image. It gives a picture of the image key type. When data is concentrated to the right in the histogram, it indicates that the image is a high-key image.
• An overexposed photograph has data concentrated to the right side in the histogram. When the concentration of the data is to the left, the photograph is underexposed; and when it is concentrated in the midtones, the photograph is properly exposed.
• An adjustment layer affects all the layers below it. To restrict the effect of the adjustment layer to a single layer, clip the adjustment layer with the target layer (the layer a user wants to be affected).
• The Desaturate command (Image > Adjustments > Desaturate) removes the color from an image without converting the image to Grayscale mode.
• The Hue/Saturation command works with the hue, saturation, and lightness (brightness) of a specific color component as well as all the colors, simultaneously, in an image.
• The Levels command is used to adjust the tonal range.
• Reducing the value for the white Input Level in the Levels dialog box increases the contrast in the highlight areas of the image.
• The Enhance Monochromatic Contrast option in the Auto Color Correction Options dialog box enables a user to adjust the appearance of an image by increasing the contrast so that highlights get lighter and shadows get darker.
• The resolution of the image is inversely proportional to the size of the image.
• Scaling an image in the Print with Preview dialog box changes the size and resolution of the printed image.
• Selecting the Resample Image in the Image Size dialog box enables a user to change the print dimensions or the resolution, without affecting the other.
• The Shadow/Highlight command enables a user to correct the underexposed and overexposed areas of an image. It corrects lighting in an image by moving the Amount slider or entering a value in the percentage text box for Shadows or Highlights.
• The Color Correction control enables a user to fine-tune the colors in the adjusted areas of the image. This control is available only in color images.

Drawing and editing

• The Custom Shape tool is used to draw any of the vast collection of custom shapes.
• A path can be converted to a selection.
• To create a shape layer, choose the Pen tool, Freeform Pen tool, or any of the shape tools, click on the Shape Layers option in the tool Options bar, and drag the tool onto the image.
• A work path is a temporary path. It appears in the Paths palette when a user selects the Paths button from the Options bar and draws a path in an image.
• To save the work path permanently, double-click on the work path and enter a name in the Save Path dialog box.
• The Path Selection tool is used to select and move paths.
• The Direct Selection tool is used to select individual points or segments anchor points and manipulate them.
• The File > Export > Paths to Illustrator command can export paths for use with Adobe Illustration. This command exports paths in the Illustrator file format (.ai).
• An image-clipping path enables a user to isolate a part of an image and make everything else transparent when the image is placed on another image or printed.
• Edit > Transform Points > Rotate is used only to rotate all selected anchor points. This option is available only when a shape layer and anchor points are selected.
• The Edit > Transform Path > Skew command enables a user to lean or bend the path in different ways.

Painting

• The Magic Eraser tool is used to eliminate all similar pixels in an image to transparency with a single click.
• The History Brush tool restores a previous state of an image by using a specified history state or snapshot as a source data.
• The Brush tool is used to apply the foreground color to an image within the area defined by dragging the tool on the image.
• The Brush Tip Shape option of the Brushes palette allows a user to customize the tip shape of a brush.
• The Shape Dynamics option of the Brushes palette determines how the brush marks change over the course of a stroke.
• The Edit > Define Pattern command enables a user to create new patterns for use with different tools and commands.
• The Options bar for the Pattern Stamp tool contains the Pattern drop-down menu that displays various preset patterns.
• The Angle Gradient button in the Gradient tool Options bar creates shade around the starting point in a counterclockwise sweep.
• The Gradient Editor dialog box contains settings to control the opacity of the color at different locations on the gradient.
• A noise gradient uses a randomly generated series of colors within the range of colors specified by a user.

Retouching

• Filters can not be applied on an image with Bitmap or Indexed Color mode.
• The Extract filter (Filter > Extract) is used to isolate a foreground object and erase its background to transparency on a layer.
• The Threshold setting in the Unsharp Mask filter determines how much pixels must vary from the surrounding area before they are considered edge pixels and sharpened by the filter.
• The Gaussian Blur filter is the most useful filter in Photoshop. It can be used to smoothen a harsh digital image or a scan.
• The Despeckle filter finds out the edges of the objects in an image and blurs the noise in the entire image or in a selected area, except the edges.
• The Liquify command (Filter > Liquify) distorts any area or an entire layer of an image by pushing, pulling, rotating, moving, squishing, reflecting, puckering, and bloating it.
• The Aligned option in the Pattern Stamp tool Options bar ensures that the sampled pixels are applied on an image in continuation, without losing the current sampling point, even though the mouse button is released many times.
• The Healing Brush tool enables a user to repair imperfections of an image by painting with pixels sampled from the same image or pattern.
• The Patch tool is used to repair a selected area of an image with pixels from another area of the image or a pattern.
• The Destination option is selected in the Patch tool Options bar when a user wants to drag the selection border of the sampled pixels to the source pixels so that the newly selected pixels are patched with the sampled pixels.
• The Dodge tool is used to lighten areas of an image and bring out the highlights.
• The Clone Stamp tool takes a sample of an image and clones it to a part of the same image or to another image.
• The Background Swatch option of the Sampling drop-drown menu allows a user to use the background color as a sample color and replace it with the foreground color while dragging the Color Replacement tool on the image without affecting other colors.

Digital camera and video support

• White Balance is the name of a system of color correction that describes the lighting conditions in a photograph.
• The sRGB IEC61966-1 color space has a smaller range of colors. It is very suitable for Web graphics.
• The D1/DV PAL Windscreen (1.42) video supports non-square pixels in the ratio of 1.42:1, i.e., the height of a pixel is 1.42 times its width.

Working with automation

• To resize the image to its original size during action playback, select the Insert Menu Item command from the Actions palette menu and then choose View > Actual Pixels.
• The View > Zoom In command can be inserted into an action by using the Insert Menu Item command from the Actions palette menu.
• Selecting the Step by Step option of the Playback Options dialog box will complete each command and refresh the image before it goes on to the next command in the action.
• The Save and Close option of the Destination drop-down menu in the Batch dialog box is selected to save files in their current location after applying a specific action on them.
• The Folder option of the Destination drop-down menu in the Batch dialog box enables a user to save files to another location after applying a specific action on them.
• The Crop and Straighten Photos command (File > Automate > Crop and Straighten Photos) automatically straightens and separates each image as an individual file from multiple images scanned together.
• The Automate > Picture Package command of the File Browser enables a user to place multiple copies of an image, selected in the File Browser, on a single page.
• The File > Automate > Create Droplet command enables a user to create a droplet from an action.

Working with type

• Leading is the amount of space between lines of text. Leading can be changed by entering or selecting a numeric value from the Leading menu in the Character palette.
• Kerning refers to the space between pairs of letters. With Kerning, a user can fine-tune text appearance by expanding or contracting the space between letters.
• The Indent First Line option of the Paragraph palette enables a user to indent the first line of the text in a paragraph.
• To move text in an image, select type layer, hold down the Ctrl key (For Windows) or the Command key (For Mac OS) and drag the text. This shortcut also enables a user to move text while creating it.
• To create a type that wraps automatically to stay within a specified area, a bounding box is created. To define the bounding box for the type, click and drag with the Type tool.
• Most of the tools and commands cannot be applied on a type layer, but layer styles are available for type layers.
• Either of the Direct Selection and the Path Selection tools will enable a user to flip the text to the other side of the path as well as to move the text along with the path.
• When the text is entered along the path, it flows in the direction in which anchor points have been added to the path.

Outputting to print

• The Print with Preview command that is used to print an image provides printing, output, and color management options. Scaling an image in the Print with Preview dialog box changes the size and resolution of the printed image. It does not affect the document size of the image file.
• The Print with Preview command (File > Print with Preview) enables a user to set the position of an image on a page and preview the image to see how it will look when printed.
• The Print command (File > Print) is used to print an image. It enables a user to print multiple copies of the image.
• Calibrating is a term that describes the color behavior of the monitor. It is the process of adjusting the monitor to ensure that it produces the most accurate color possible.
• A duotone is a grayscale image. To convert an image to duotone, a user will have to convert the image to grayscale by choosing Image > Mode > Grayscale.

Outputting for the Web

• The PNG-24 format supports hard-edged as well as variable transparency.
• The PNG-24 format is suitable for displaying continuous-tone images on the Web, but it produces larger files as compared to the JPEG format.
• The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is suitable for displaying indexed-color graphics and images on the Web.
• The combination of Transparency and Matte options in the Save for Web dialog box specifies how transparent pixels in an image are optimized.
• Slices divide page layout into areas and allow a user to specify independent compression settings to each area.

Take the following steps to create a vector mask:

1. In the Layers palette, select the layer to which you want to add a vector mask.

   

2. Draw a work path by using the shape tools or pen tools with the Paths option active in the Options bar.

   

   

   Or, alternatively, select the path in the Paths palette if you want to use an existing path as a mask.

   

3. Choose Layer > Add Vector Mask > Current Path.

   

   Or, alternatively, hold down the Ctrl key (for Windows) or the Command key (for Mac) and click the Add Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layers palette.

After adding the vector mask, the image will look like the one given below: