Rotate View tool

A long-desired feature from other leading digital painting tools is the Rotate View tool, which allows you to rotate the document canvas to make otherwise uncomfortable strokes with a digitized art tablet perfectly natural. Press the R key or click-and-hold the Hand tool at the bottom of the Toolbox and select the Rotate View tool. Click-and-drag on the document until you reach your desired placement. For precision and consistency, you can also enter rotation numerically in the Rotation Angle field in the Options Bar. Click Reset View in the Options Bar, or double- click the Rotate View tool in the Toolbox, to return to normal orientation.

Transform selection

That selection not exactly how you want it? Don't want to go all the way back into the path and modify it? No problem. Just go to the Select menu and choose Transform Selection and you can manipulate the selection just as you would with the Free Transform tool.

Speedy clipping mask

Sometimes a masked layer is just an Option-click (PC: Alt-click) away. Simply click-and-drag the layer to be used as a mask directly above the layer to be masked. Press-and-hold Option (PC: Alt) and hover your cursor over the horizontal line separating the layers. The cursor (hand) becomes a Clipping Mask icon; just click on it to convert the layer above into a mask.

Invert to alpha

When working with vector- created art and the source art is unavailable, modifying the art to create a logo can be a pain, to say the least - particularly when it's flattened and the background needs to be knocked out. A careful combination of Invert (Command-I [PC: Ctrl-I]), Color Balance (Command-B [PC: Ctrl-B]), and layer Blending Options (Control-click [PC: Right-click] the layer name) can yield simple background knockouts of one- or two-color logos without making a mess.

Glow/Bloom effect

In the same composition, use Select>Color Range>to select the high-lights of the base image. Be generous with the Fuzziness, as detail won't be an issue. Copy the selection to a new layer (Command-J [PC: Ctrl-J]) and set its blend mode to Screen, which works kind of inversely from Multiplyóblacks become invisible and whites are added. The result is a simple bloom or glow effect.

Get into Dodge

Anyone who's used Photoshop CS3 (or prior) versions and tried to com-posite a human subject into an existing light setup knows that they eventually hit a wall with Levels, Curves, Color Balance andóeven in desperate situations - Brightness/Contrast adjustments to match the environment. Careful use of the Dodge tool (O) in the right tone range can allow you to simulate key- and fill-light spill on your superimposed objects. [The Dodge and Burn tools are more darkroom-like in Photoshop CS4-Ed.]

Only shades of gray

A simple tip to creating believable retro imagery is never to use 100% black or white tones in the artwork. The retro look often relies on distressed or faded artifacts, and a foundation of grays in a subtle tonal spectrum can enhance the vintage believability. Unlike using Desaturate (Image>Adjustments>Desaturate), Image>Adjustments>Black & White gives you control over speci?c color values, tinting, hue and saturation as well as some presets with which to experiment.