CS2- is there away to do Temp,exp,Shadows ect in 1 Working Pallette

[aocc]

AS you can see by the title I am trying to find an Pallette in the Free Version of PP CS2 which would allow me to adjust all the usual suspects (Temp,exp,Shadows Bright,contrast ect ) from 1 palette.
Just downloaded PPCS2 and all the tutorials show all the tools on the left handside as a given but I`ll be a monkeys uncle if I can find it??

Cheers
Andrew

[John King]

Generally, if you left click on the header bar and hold, you can drag stuff around where you want it to be. Can be a bit tricky at times ...

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BTW, you can download the full CS2 manual as a PDF file. I have this printed and bound as two A4 volumes, as well as the PDF file.

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Further, you have to be aware that PS's graphical user interface pre-dates both Apple and Windows GUI, so conforms to neither 'system'!

[ameerat42]

AO.
There ISN'T one. It doesn't use such a palette. However, there are shortcut keys that you will soon learn.

The MAIN controls you want for color and tonal adjustments are under Image - Adjustments. See the image below,
where I have enlarged some items by 150%. By and by I can give you a heap of preference settings for you
to set.

NB: Photoshop is a truck to drive. It'll take time...
Edit: Oh, and... get to know the main shortcut, like Ctrl-L for Levels. STRANGely.there isn't a shortcut for the
eminently useful SHadow/Highlights, but you can add your own. I used Ctrl-/ (forward slash). I'll tell u how later.
Am.

A PS screen
PS-screen.jpg

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OK, some updates and terms.

The "Palette" you referred to is called a Dialog. You open up dialogs by the various commands.
Palettes in PS are strickly those little boxes full of coloured swatches (that I have all closed).

How to add "Ctrl-/" to open Shadows/Highlights dialog...
1. Go to "Edit - Menus" (You will see instructions, but...)
2. Click the visibility button (little triangle) for "Image"
3. Scroll down to "Adjustments" and then the desired item - Sh/Hi
4. Click in the blank space next to it and open a little entry box
5. Hold down the Ctrl key and then hit the "/" key.
This will assign Ctr-/ to open the Sh/Hi dialog.

Repeat for other items as desired, then click OK to save.

[aocc]

" There ISN'T one. It doesn't use such a palette. However, there are shortcut keys that you will soon learn."
Well thank all the little fishes for that!!!! I thought I was going Mad.
I have worked out the adjustments bit I just thought if I could get them in 1 spot on the side (like all the other software) it would make life easier.
Thanks for the heads up on setting a shortcut.
John. I have started to go through the PDF Manual but it is heavy going I do believe it might take me awhile to get this sorted.

Cheers
Andrew

[Cage]

I'm a 'jump-in the deep end' sort of bloke and I'd be opening up an image and playing with it in "Adjustments' per Am's screenshot above. Only when all else fails will I read the Manual.

Probably 90% of your PP will be in that screenshot. Plus your image re-sizing too.

PS: You might find some useful info here. https://www.adobe.com/support/downlo...jsp?ftpID=3607

[John King]

John. I have started to go through the PDF Manual but it is heavy going I do believe it might take me awhile to get this sorted.

Haha, Ao.

It's light reading, like Blatner & Fraser's "Inside Photoshop CS" ... ... I must have a thing for pain, I've read the latter from cover to cover a couple of times!

Having said that, I have always used the Adobe PDF as a reference manual, rather than reading it from cover to cover.

A book that I highly recommend is Scott Kelby's "Scott Kelby's 7 point system for Adobe Photoshop CS3/5".
Another is Schewe & Fraser's "Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS5".

Neither are expensive (less than $50 each).

Kelby's book comes with a free download of sample images that are then worked on through each of the book's 21 (?) chapters, one chapter per image. It's gold.

Schewe and Fraser addresses how Bridge and Photoshop work (and together ... ). Much better starting book than the PDF. Also gold.

I use ACR as my primary PP tool. I view PS as an add-on to ACR, rather than the other way around.

[ameerat42]

Just for my tastes, I find cluttered screens (such as PS default) very annoying. I WANNA SEE the picture.
SO I have set it like you see above (blank, except for the toolbox).

The settings for the "Edit - Preferences" in PS are OK, with only a couple of exceptions (for me). These are:
35 History states (against ?20), and Round brushes in the display instead of swirly lines (v. minor).

The changes you make to the Preferences will be applied on the next start of PS. Rather importantly, as I've found,
these settings are stored in a file called:
Adobe Photoshop CS2 Prefs.psp

This is tucked away in... (a particular location of which details later).
Occasionally PS throws a wobbly and ???SOMEHOW??? the default settings come back. Cluttered screen, etc.
It is good to copy out a "Prefs" file somewhere like the Desktop, from where you can copy it back to the proper
location. Otherwise, you have to go through and set everything back as you like it.

Let me know what operating system you have and I can give you the right location. It is different between Win 8 and Win 10.

BTW, have you read Tolstoy's WAR AND PEACE? - If not, don't worry, and just keep reading this thread.

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I've just seen the preceding posts.

Cheapest - and sanest of the lot, and yes, I have seen many books on Photoshop - is what you find in
the Help menu item of Photoshop itself. (F1 key is a shortcut to the main part), but have a look at the selected topics
under Help itself.

I mean, many such books are fine - for trying to interpret the books themselves. Who wants to wade through badly written
prose with oodles of Hints, Tips, Warnings, and all that jazz thrown in? And you can just ask here, too.

[John King]

Cheapest - and sanest of the lot, and yes, I have seen many books on Photoshop - is what you find in
the Help menu item of Photoshop itself. (F1 key is a shortcut to the main part), but have a look at the selected topics
under Help itself.

Agree completely.

I mean, many such books are fine - for trying to interpret the books themselves. Who wants to wade through badly written
prose with oodles of Hints, Tips, Warnings, and all that jazz thrown in?

That's exactly why I recommended both these books - they aren't full of such BS! I might not agree with Kelby's choice of settings, but his methodology is brilliant ... Schewe and Fraser is more oriented towards the overall use of the tools, but is clear, concise and excellent in that way.

And you can just ask here, too.

Hmmm. There are undoubtedly many experts here, including, to some degree, myself. However, these things are often best explained by one person, not a multitude. It is also often good to have a 'recipe' that one can follow until one feels confident enough to develop one's own recipe/s. Just IMHO, FWIW.

[aocc]

WOW For a start a big thanks to one and all......Cage. I am a Jump in kinda Bloke as well.(Ikea. No instruction. Easy -As ) But saying that I am also abit lazy so I do like to get things right.....quickly.
John. i have noted those two books and will be looking for them. The help bit in PP is quite good and helping a bit.
amerrat. I haven`t read WAR & PEACE but its was on my to do list! Until they made a mini-series on TV.... Oh happy days.
I run windows 8 on my PC and Windows 10 on my Laptop (PC wont play with Win 10 )
So Back to plan A. "get into it and see what happens" While I read through everything .

Thanks again..
Ps I am sure I`ll be asking more questions.

[ameerat42]

Well, whichever you have it on, here are the locations.

For Win 8.x
C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Photoshop\9.0\Adobe Photoshop CS2 Settings\

For Win 10
C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Photoshop\9.0\Adobe Photoshop CS2 Settings\

Hmm! They look the same!!! I do not have Win 8.x anymore. I'm SURE they were slightly different.
If you have PS on a Win 8.x machine you might have to verify the location yourself.

[John King]

^ I think that the location - as you have posted - remains unchanged from Vista onwards.

XP -> Vista is when the idiots ah, programmers, at MS decided to change their original poor choice of pathnames in NT for the current equally poor choice ... .

[ameerat42]

Hmm! It's just that I made a point of recording the "new" location I found in Win 10. ??? or ????, or maybe ??.
(Now I'm not sure if that was the case)

[John King]

Windows NT was designed to be completely hardware independent (HAL.DLL - the Hardware Abstraction Layer - handles all the h/w interfaces at all levels ... ), and the current pack of dolts seem to be doing everything in their power to make it h/w dependent!

Oh well, just par for the course for our species ...

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Gidday Ao

WOW For a start a big thanks to one and all......Cage. I am a Jump in kinda Bloke as well.(Ikea. No instruction. Easy -As ) But saying that I am also abit lazy so I do like to get things right.....quickly.
John. i have noted those two books and will be looking for them. The help bit in PP is quite good and helping a bit.
amerrat. I haven`t read WAR & PEACE but its was on my to do list! Until they made a mini-series on TV.... Oh happy days.
I run windows 8 on my PC and Windows 10 on my Laptop (PC wont play with Win 10 )
So Back to plan A. "get into it and see what happens" While I read through everything .

Thanks again..
Ps I am sure I`ll be asking more questions.

Good on you, mate. PS2 is a very powerful and complex program. It will do heaps, and the price is right!

And I'm sure that there will always be someone here who can help straighten out the wrinkles. The better you equip yourself, the more you will gain from such help. All the best in your endeavours. I have been using PS for more than 10 years and don't consider myself very expert at using it at all!

[aocc]

Well I am glad all you chaps know what you are talking about............ I think my head just exploded

[ameerat42]

If you're trying to learn PS and your head DIDN'T do that then you'd be MAD

[farmmax]

So long as your internet connection can stand it, don't forget youTube has 1000's tutorials, including very basic ones to get you started.

When I started on Photoshop 6, there weren't all that many tutorials online, and youTube didn't exist. In the end I bought Photoshop 7 for dummies, and started at page 1 and worked through the entire book. It had lots of examples and and I worked through the lot. The pen tool took a lot of head scratching, and at that stage I couldn't really see a need for it, but I persevered. Thank goodness, the pen tool is very handy

The problem with Photoshop's own help, is if you don't speak the lingo, how on earth can you look it up in help? Once you know the lingo, help can be good.

[Cage]

I've found this mob quite easy to follow if you need a hand for a specific task. http://www.photoshopessentials.com/

[aocc]

I have found you tube has heaps of tutorials But they all use PP speak and have a different page layout to PPCS2. Which makes following even the basic stuff (which I have a pretty good handle on) seem quite complicated.

[ameerat42]

They'd be using CS6 or CC (creative cloud). Some are narrated rather hastily, I've found.
In a search, actually use "CS2" There might be some useful ones about still.

Eg: searching "smart sharpen in cs2"
gives this, amongst others: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOUCI2k2Hso

(Clear, but cripes! - What a TWANG!)

[Cage]

Here is a whole heap of CS2 specific stuff. http://www.photoshopessentials.com/s...=CS2&sa=Search