Web Gallery Troubleshooting in Bridge

CS4 has moved automatically generated web galleries from Photoshop to Bridge (or maybe this happened in CS3 and I never noticed it). Anyway, now you create a web gallery in Bridge in the Output section. Select the photos you would like to output and then navigate to Output. Choose Web Gallery and go through each section choosing your options.

The problem comes when you need to create your web folder or upload the web folder. Many people (including me) have had trouble with the files actually displaying properly when uploaded to the server, either through Bridge's ftp upload feature or creating a folder they upload themselves.

The solution: Somehow Bridge does not create the permissions properly. My web gallery files are created with permissions for Everyone = "No Access". Unlock the permissions (either using Get Info in the Finder or options in your ftp program) and change the settings for Everyone to "Read Only". Once I reset that, everything works properly.

London Jazz Festival by IWANT design

This is a neat abstract piece. Is it a flower? Is it music waves? Is it people coming together? This creative piece of art could mean many different things. Whatever it is, I like it. Designed by IWANT design.

Creating A Sepia Tone Photo

Here are two great ways to create a sepia tone photo. My favorite way is the second way, using Adobe Camera Raw - something new I learned from Michael Ninness at the InDesign Conference in DC.

If you look at the photos closely, you will see that using the Black & White adjustment in Photoshop puts a lot of color into all areas: highlights, midtones, shadows. Using Adobe Camera Raw gives you a sepia tone with a more authentic vintage effect - the color is applied mostly to the midtones, giving you brighter, cleaner whites and shadows closer to black.

Using the Black and White Adjustment Layer in Photoshop

1. Open your image in Photoshop.


2. Create a new Black and White Adjustment Layer. In the Black and White Adjustment panel, adjust the individual sliders left or right to control how the black and white conversion is applied to the image.


3. In the top corner of the Black and White Adjustments panel, check "Tint". You can edit the default color by clicking on the Tint color box.

Note: Now that I think about it, you could simulate the effect of an Adobe Camera Raw sepia tone by adjusting the Blend If sliders on the Black and White adjustment layer and adding a Hue-Saturation layer underneath set to -100 saturation (desaturate). There are always so many ways to replicate an effect with Adobe products!

Using Adobe Camera Raw in Bridge
Adobe Camera Raw is a great sub application embedded into Adobe Bridge. It's generally used for raw files (hence the name) but it can also be used for any jpg too! So all of the settings like exposure, fill light and color temperature can also be applied to jpgs. Here's how to create a sepia with Adobe Camera Raw:

1. Open Bridge. In Bridge, select the jpg or raw file you would like to edit. To open the image in Adobe Camera Raw, type Cmd + R.


2. In Adobe Camera Raw, go to the row of icons below the histogram and click on the fourth item, HSL/Grayscale. Check "Convert to Grayscale". Adjust the individual sliders left or right to control how the black and white conversion is applied to the image. Arranging your sliders in an "S" curve is a general rule of thumb for a good image.


3. Click on the next menu item (fifth), Split Toning. Adjust the top two sliders, hue and saturation, to apply sepia tone color to the image.


4. Click Save Image in the bottom left corner to save your changes to a .tif file or click Open Image (bottom right corner) to open your jpg with the sepia effect in Photoshop and continue from there. Clicking Done will save the Adobe Camera Raw settings without harming the data in the jpg or raw file (it saves your Camera Raw settings for that image in a special side file).

Thanks to sxc.hu user CDJensen for the image in this example.

Extracting the Original Photos from a Word Document

This is my favorite "use-immediately" tip from the InDesign conference I attended last week in DC. I literally needed to use this technique the first day I was back at work. The InDesign conference was awesome - I'll be sharing my favorite tips from the conference in the weeks to come.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who receives Microsoft Word or PowerPoint documents from clients with photos I need embedded in those documents. In the past, I've tried to copy and paste them into Photoshop which only yields a low res copy. Then I have to go back and ask the client to track down the original jpg or tif files which takes a while. Sometimes the originals are lost and I'm out of luck.

Now I finally know how to properly extract those original photos thanks to Anne-Marie Concepcion of Seneca Design and InDesign Secrets. Of course, garbage in, garbage out - if the client inserted a low res photo all you're going to extract is that original low res photo but at least it's something!

1. Open up your Microsoft document. If it's a Word doc, you're ready for the next step. If it's a Powerpoint file, open a blank Word document. Copy all of the photos from Powerpoint into that new blank Word doc and save the Word doc.


2. Open a new InDesign document. Choose File > Place (Cmd + D), select the Word document, make sure the "Show Import Options" check box is selected and click Open. In the Show Import Options dialog box, check "Import Inline Graphics". Click OK and place the file.


3. Go to your Links panel and select all of the placed photos. Click on the Links panel's flyout menu and choose Unembed Link. In the dialog box that comes up, click No. You will be prompted to select a folder to place the embedded photos. Decide where you want the photos and click Choose. The original photos will be extracted to that file location.

New Yorker Halloween Cover

I like this illustration for it's understated color and ironic message.

2010 calendar from Amy Soczka

Beautiful and simple vector natural art on this calendar featured at Design*Sponge.

Type Around a Sphere and Other Type on a Path Tips

I don't know how long it has existed but I only discovered the Type on a Path dialog box recently. That's the Adobe suite for you - there are always a couple different ways to create the same effect and the easiest, most efficient way is sometimes hard to find. At least I know about it now. These tips work in both Illustrator & InDesign.

Arcing Text around a Circle

I used to create this effect with two circles of different sizes and visually and manually align them so they looked even. This way is much easier:

1. Open a new document and draw circle (hold down Shift while drawing to keep it proportional).


2. Select the Type on a Path tool and click on the circle. Type in your text and center it. With the hollow point arrow tool, move the text center line to the outside top of the circle.


3. With the text still highlighted, double-click on the Type on a Path tool in the toolbar to bring up the Type on a Path dialog box. Select Effect: Rainbow, Align to Path: Center and click OK.


4. Copy the text, Paste in Front and move the text to a new layer. Move this text's center point tot the bottom center.

Wrapping Text Around a Sphere

1. Open a new document and place your world graphic or other round object. Draw a long oval as shown.


2. Select the Type on a Path tool and click on the oval. Type in your text and center it. With the hollow point arrow tool, move the text center line to the inside bottom of the oval.


3. With the text still highlighted, double-click on the Type on a Path tool in the toolbar to bring up the Type on a Path dialog box. Select Effect: Skew, Align to Path: Center and click OK.

CD Artwork

I'm finally catching up on finding and adding cover artwork to iTunes so my albums can be reunited with their covers. It's funny how technology comes in a circle: moving away from artwork to a text only list back to including the artwork again. Here are some of my favorite covers.


Pink Floyd, Pulse - unique and creative concept. Excellent execution considering the album release date: 1995 and Photoshop version at the time: 3.0. Sarah McLachlan, Mirrorball - love the warm tones and textures and flower-like shape.


Jamie Cullum, Catching Tales - The bright red text and funky font make this cover pop. Sarah Brightman, Harem - I love the smooth empty space of the water and the sky. The curls on the text add interesting flair.


Sissel, Into Paradise - I know this technique is probably past its due date by now but I still like the erased title and photo edges. Shiller, Tag und Nacht - (Day and Night in German) simple, graphic, striking.

Random Green Inspiration

Creating Running Heads with Text Variables

This "how to" is very handy for books and other long documents. I was delighted once I learned how to use text variables to automatically generate running heads and maybe you will be too. So much time saved. So many master pages eliminated. No more worrying if I remembered to change the running heads when the chapter title was revised. I'm sure I've only just touched the surface of text variable capabilities and I'm looking forward to exploring more. Here's how to use text variable to create running heads:

1. Open your book or long document in InDesign.


2. In my example, I have a paragraph style called "chapter number" applied to the chapter number and a paragraph style called "chapter title" applied to the chapter title. Make sure your document has a paragraph style(s) applied to the text you want to use to generate the running head.


3. Select Type > Text Variables > Define. You can either modify the available options or click the "New" button. In this example, I clicked New.


4. To create the chapter number text variable: I named my text variable "Chapter Numbers" and chose Type: Running Header (Paragraph Style), Style: the paragraph style named chapter number, Use: First on Page. I inserted a colon and and space in the Text After field. Click OK. Click Done.


5. To create the chapter title text variable: I named my text variable "Chapter Title" and chose Type: Running Header (Paragraph Style), Style: the paragraph style named chapter title, Use: First on Page. Click OK. Click Done.


6. Go to your master pages and create a new text box for your running heads. Select Type > Text Variables > Insert Variable and choose Chapter Numbers. Select Type > Text Variables > Insert Variable and choose Chapter Title. Apply paragraph and character styles to format your text as desired. Make sure the width of the text box is large enough to fit your longest chapter title.