Jill, if Windows then: C:\Users\your_user_name\  and right click desktop, but you can rightclick individual files of course. Seems like the is a Windows 7 issue: http://itexpertvoice.com/home/fixing-the-windows-7-read-only-folder-blues/ ... View more

It sounds more like a permissions issue than a Photoshop one.  Ae you saving to a local hard drive or a network?   Check the properties for the save location and make sure they are not set to read only. BTW  I have had global permissions for and entire drive set to read only after moving it to a new system. ... View more

I can't think of any legit reason why CS6 would lock files out.  Have you tried resetting preferences?  (hold down Shift Alt Ctrl as you launch CS6) ... View more

Noel Carboni wrote: There has been a forum problem where the Reply button wasn't available, but it's supposedly fixed now. -Noel There was a news item about a guy with serious forum withdrawl symptoms in Florida! ... View more

There is far too much going on in that image for CAF to have a chance.  Do you have other pictures of the same building you could 'borrow' wall texture from? If you don't have other images, Google 'Photoshop stone texture' and select each panek of the wall in turn, and composite that texture to cover the cups.  Place an empty layer over the stone, and fill it with wall colour sampled from the wall, and set its blend mode to Color.  The untextured light brown colour can be filled with solid color, and noise added to make it look real.  Finally, look for a poster similar to the one behind the cups, and composite that onto the wall. It's a lot more work than CAF, but if you need the shot, then it is completely doable, and should not take long. ... View more

I saw a preview of CS6 from a Photoshop 'expert' recently, where he explained that the new Content Aware Patch tool meant we can now sample the edge of an image without the bleed the OP refers to.   But we have always been able to do that, provided we drag our sampled pixels parallel to the edge we sampled them from.  I know we now have more flexibility, and can drag the sampled area from an edge to the center of the image, but it irked me that he was being simplistic, and filtering reality in order to make his point. Bu@@er!  I'm a Photoshop pedant.  Somebody shoot me. Hmmm....  That won't work because a lot of you guys are worse than me!!! Did anyone follow this link I hid in a post earlier today?  I failed with knobs on. 😞 http://elitebydesign.com/you-know-youre-addicted-to-photoshop-if/ ... View more

Try selecting only the areas that you want CAF to look at for making the fill, and copying them to a new layer.  Then using CAF on that layer. ... View more

Isn't it mostly about images?  That's what Photoshop is all about, and a dark matt, or surround, as often as not gives an impression of crispness and saturation.  I recently got marked down when entering this portrait in a camera club competition because I used an off white matt board, the judge saying that a black matt would have brought out the red hair and the colour of the eyes etc. If you check the portrait on my flickr site, and click on the image, it toggles between a dark and white background, and I think the judge made a fair point.  We never stop learning when it comes to image making. ... View more

Joey Rocco wrote: ...we need bigger interface components in CS6... From what I understand from Chris Cox's previous comments on the subject, unless that is already under way, there is just no way it could happen for CS6.  It is apparently a much bigger undertaking to redo all those icons than the lay person probably thinks.  Noel makes a fair point about screen quality.  Even with my poor sight I can read tiny text on my little iPod Touch which has a 960 x 720 display, but surely most of the large monitors a lot of people now use for Photoshop are high quality.  When I got my 30inch Dell Ultrasharp, I bumped my old 24inch Viewsonic to another system which is set up in the same room, so I still use it and can compare.   Using the Viewsonic is like looking through a mud filter compared to the Ultrasharp, and I think I'd get eye strain if I had to use it for any length of time.  I often think folk like Photographers make poor choices when adding to their kit.  They want lots of lenses, and pay heaps for them, whereas if I started from scratch, a dedicated speedlite would be higher up my list.  We pay huge money for our first install of Photoshop, but struggle to use it on a budget screen.  It makes no sense. ... View more

Joey Rocco wrote: Hi, Noel..I do know of this in the Edit>prefs>interface.  Thanks for the response, though. I really do appreciate it. I'm running CS5 and I have a Dell HD monitor, it is set to 2560 x 1440. I am pretty sure that is the reason why the interface shows things smaller. I like to take full advantage of my card, and the HD monitor when I paint. So, I figure, Adobe should strive for making the icons and text fonts we see on menus and all a little bigger, or as an option. This is exactly the point I was making in the other thread.  My 30 inch monitor with 1920 x 1200 pixels is right on the edge of being comfortable.  With 2560 x 1440 the tool icons are going to be that much smaller on the screen, and I doubt I would be able to see them.  This is the way monitors are going, and Adobe has to keep up with this.  Please please please! BTW  The UI font size adjustment makes so little difference it is hardly worth messing with. ... View more

Noel it does not matter that you have great eye sight, because setting the bar for the likes of you precludes (or at least makes using Photoshop difficult) for all those people who don’t share your great eye sight.  In actual fact, my sight is not at all flash, but I don’t mind the small icons because I know where they are. ... View more

R_Kelly wrote: One way is to go to qiuck mask, Select>All>Edit>Stroke with inside and the amount you want then exit qiuck mask. Hey, that is a pretty cool work around.  Hats off to you! ... View more

As Noel says, Select -> Modify -> Contract   is not available when the entire canvas is selected.  The answer is Select > Transform selection.  This also gives precise control of the changes in the Options bar. [EDIT]  If you are just going to drag a corner handle, don't forget that the Alt/Opt key will cause all four sides to contract by the same amount. ... View more

Not sure what to think about this.  I am sure I won't disable the Preferences setting because I am used to working with size and hardness.   Seems to me if you need to hold down a modifier key to toggle between hardness and opacity, then that same finger could just as easily hit the number keys.    Hmmm... just tried it and it doesn't work. you need to let go of the Alt key to change opacity.  My thinking is that it _might_ be useful to see the affect of opacity change on the fly, but that would not work with using a modifier key with Alt right click, because you are looking at the quick mask colour, but then again, hitting a modifier key could change from quick mask colour to foreground colour, and show its opacity.  That I would find useful. ... View more

If you are talking about the Text in a Photoshop file, then you can copy and paste to Word.  You can also copy and paste an image from Photoshop, providing it is eith a flaterned image, or a copy merged layer. ... View more

But using high values of Smooth and Contrast in Refine edge is going to do a reasonable job.  Otherwise, use the Pen tool to follow the outline, but cut a few corners and make it smooth as you need.  Turn the resulting Path into a selection, and use the Clone tool to fill in the gaps inside the line - invert the selection, and repeat for outside the line. ... View more

Is this a blank Canvas?  In which case Image > Image Rotation > 90° CW If a picture, then as Noel says, use the crop tool.  With the Crop tool selected there is a drop down box from which you can choose precise aspect ratios. But...  There is another, more elegant, and far more powerful way to do it.  Content Aware Scale You could just copy the BG  to a new layer, and use Free Transform to squash it up into a narrower Portrait mode aspect ratio.  but with CAS you can select thos parts of the image you want to remain un squashed, and save the selection.  Then: Ctrl a (selevct the entire canvas) Edit > Content Aware Scale Towards the right of the Options bar use the Protect drop down, and choose the selection you previously saved. Now squash the image by draging the center left or center right handles towards the middle of the image. This was taken five years ago with a Canon 30D, so not that flash an image. But a competition judge suggested it might look better as a portrait mode image, so I used the above technique to produce this: You'll notice that the interesting rock as retained its aspect ratio. ... View more

Having just disagreed about the use of Actions, I absolutely agree about how useful custom Workspaces are.  They are so easy to set up, and you get a button up on the Options bar so that one click of the mouse takes you to the current best workspace.  You cn even fine tune and resave a custom Workspace.   Or just explore the alternative Workspaces Adobe provides as defaults may open your eyes to tools and features you didn't know were available.    Yes Workspaces are solid gold.  Use them. ... View more

Sohow much RAM do have now?  Photoshop became hungry for RAM with CS4, and you need at least 4Gb, and 8Gb is better.  Does Win 7 Ultimate only come in 64 bit? History is there under the Window menu. ... View more

If you are set at JPG, Quality 100, and Optimized, I'd say you were OK. ... View more

Save for Web does it but has a maximum image size.  Not sure what it is, but I just tried it on a 3000 pixel wide image OK. ... View more

I don't know if it has already been suggested back up the thread (too many posts to trawl through) but would one of the specialist keeyboards help? View larger I use a 30inch Dell 1920*1200 monitor, and I have very poor eyesight, but get by OK because like most folk here, I use the shortcuts for tools, or just know where they. But I think a 2560*1600 pixel screen would prove difficult for me, and my 19 inch 1920 x 1200 laptop is already unusable for Photoshop for me. Tom's hardware was discussing 4K and even 8K televisions recently.  That's 3840*2160 for 4K, and 7680*4320 for 8K.  4K is bound to filter across to computer monitors within the next few years - that is to say, possibly within the lifetime of CS6.  They are already talking about a 10 inch display with a 2048*1536 resolution for the iPad3.  I sounds like a bit of a leap for the graphic card manufactuers, but it is obviously doable. So bottom line here, CS6 will have the tool icons issue fixed. ... View more

Noel Carboni wrote: billnor wrote: Yes, I don't know why I can't reply My reflexes are a bit dulled today because I have a supreme headache, but...  Didn't you just reply?   -Noel Oh oh!  The explanation is HERE ... View more

It sounds exactly like what you would expect with Preferences > Cursors set to Full size brush tip.  What do you have set there?  Normal, should bring the size back down to the solid part of the brush, i.e. not showing the overspill from a soft brush tip. Hmmm...  It looks like you might not be able to respond. ... View more

I'll add my name to this feature request. As Pierre says, there just so many ways Clouds and fibres can be employed to creative ends. ... View more

I have a registration on the 'How to Cheat at Photoshop' forums, but have not posted for a while.  Steve is very approachable though, so I'll drop him a line. ... View more