In order to have a fully color controlled environment you must have all devices displaying or printing color, profiled. How is this accomplished? Color management software (CMS) takes readings from your specific devices and compares their color with reference files of what color "should be" as defined by the ICC. For example, to profile a scanner you would scan in what is called an IT8 target. This scan is then compared with a reference file by the CMS. The differences between what the reference file says the color should be, and what the color your device actually output is meat of the profile. Basically, a profile says what's not perfect about your particular device. If your scanner always seems to scan things in a little green, or your printer always seems to print things with a magenta cast-these are the things that are taken into account when color profiling your devices. To complicate matters a little further, this process also takes into account the differences in color between various paper and ink combinations.

In your CMS you should be given the option to save your printer target for printing within your chosen graphic app. If asked choose not to apply a profile when opening. In Photoshop choose File>Print with Preview. Change the Output dropdown to Color Management. Under Source Space choose Document. Under Print Space choose Profile: Same as Source. You are now set up in Photoshop to print your profile target. You aren't done yet! Now go into your printer driver software and set any color options to none, or zero, or whatever shuts off any color changes by the driver. Now print your target.

I would recommend using Relative Colorimetric as your Rendering Intent when doing the Convert to Profile step and when printing with Print with Preview out of Photoshop. Rendering intents control how the profile is applied to either the scanner or printed image. Relative Colorimetric has proven to be the best in my testing. Read the documentation that came with your CMS in order to learn more about the other available rendering intents.

However, Adobe Photoshop today has gone beyond image editing. Today, the software is labeled as an image manipulation tool. This somehow gives people the impression that Adobe Photoshop actually gives them a greater degree of freedom than other image-editing programs available today. In fact, it actually does. If sight is reality, then Adobe Photoshop can help you create any reality that you want. With Adobe Photoshop, you will be able to create images of other worlds. You will be able to capture the beauty of the universe inside a glass jar. Your creativity will be unleashed. That's how much Adobe Photoshop can change your life. In the world today, one can easily observe the impact that Adobe Photoshop has wrought on culture. Just like Google, Adobe Photoshop is now being used by people as a verb. When a person is said to be photoshopping something, it is always assumed that the person is editing an image of come sort, whether he or she is actually using Adobe Photoshop or not.

However, like almost any other person who has been held back by the fear that the Photoshop CS might be too sophisticated and complicated to be learned, there is a need to first familiarize with the basic and the advanced functions of the software. Even Adobe Systems recognize the fact that its Photoshop CS offering is challenging to use. Do not fret. There are now numerous ways on how you could easily and conveniently get a tutorial for the software. You would logically not be able to learn how to use the computer program for yourself. However, there are many centers and firms that aim to provide crash courses and lessons for the initiative. Find a personal tutorial center for Adobe Photoshop within your community. Usually, such centers train and educate people about many other computer programs as well. Enroll in such sessions. You would be left to decide whether you would prefer the classroom setup or the personal instruction or the one-on-one session.

Perform non-destructive scaling with Smart Objects. You know how it is: You try to make an imported object larger, and it goes all blurry and pixelated. With Smart Objects, that's a thing of the past, because you can scale, warp and rotate vector graphics in a non-destructive way. Do neat things in perspective with the new Vanishing Point feature. With Vanishing point you can cut and paste in perspective. Now you're able to turn a photograph of a wall into a "virtual art gallery" with all the pictures correctly skewed, or move a window from one side of a building to another and, because the perspective is correct, have it look like it's always been there. You can also draw lines that taper off into the distance - wide nearest the camera, narrow further away - just like in "real life". Get more accurate printing. With Photoshop CS2, the people at Adobe have improved the printing workflow. Now it's even easier to configure your inkjet printer to get more accurate colour printing.

PhotoshopSecrets for Wacom Tablets & Photoshop: This is a great Photoshop video tutorial if you are a tablet user. Currently, this is probably the most comprehensive, allowing you to learn how to use all the tools and features available with Adobe Photoshop. This tutorial video is authored and taught by Colin Smith and Weston Maggio of Photoshopcafe and Wacom Technology, respectively. Both are experienced trainers so you'll find the lessons well-paced and relevant. This DVD ROM tutorial has more than 120 minutes of 800x600 video. It's easy to navigate and you can click on any lesson you like without any trouble while still controlling the playback. If you prefer to learn on your own, just click on the lesson files and play the video clip of your choice on your own free time.