Shift-click doesn’t work in Photoshop on my Mac. Any suggestions?

Amysta · June 12, 2009

Hi all,

I am trying to go through the tutorial “Make Your Image Pop” here on dgrin: http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2292454_mjGJs/1

I am stuck at the Threshold adjustment because I can’t seem to shift-click. I’m not sure if this is a preference setting and although I looked, I’m not exactly sure what I should be looking for.

I have a call in to the “Genius Bar”, but I was wondering if anyone else has dealt with this on a Mac and had a solution I could try in the meantime.

Thanks so much!!

Amy

Wil Davis · June 12, 2009

I went through the tutorial yesterday and almost came a cropper in the same place, but was able to try different combinations of Click/Alt/Shift/Ctrl/Left-hand-down-a-bit/Easy-as-she-goes (

) until I got it to work. There are some references in various threads to a slight error made in the original tutorial, and for the most part I think it's been fixed. BTW, I'm using a PC, but I don't know what the originator of the tutorial used. From what you said, I think at that point you're trying to get the black-point and the white-point and mark them so that you can make optimum use of the existing dynamic range by using curves. It can be done using levels or curves, but thresholds show it in b/w and is very easy to get both points quickly. The other threads referred to in the early part of the tutorial explain all this in greater detail.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

- Wil

TonyCooper · June 12, 2009

Amysta wrote:

Hi all,

I am trying to go through the tutorial “Make Your Image Pop” here on dgrin: http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2292454_mjGJs/1

I am stuck at the Threshold adjustment because I can’t seem to shift-click. I’m not sure if this is a preference setting and although I looked, I’m not exactly sure what I should be looking for.

I have a call in to the “Genius Bar”, but I was wondering if anyone else has dealt with this on a Mac and had a solution I could try in the meantime.

Thanks so much!!

Amy

I'm on a PC, but have been using that technique to determine the black and white points for quite a while. There's no need to "shift click". If you have the Color Sampler active (not the eye dropper, the color sampler in the eye dropper fly-out), simply clicking the mouse will insert a number marker. You can insert up to four markers this way.

I just tried using the regular eyedropper, and holding down SHIFT while clicking does the same thing. Possibly you are not holding down SHIFT when you click. It isn't SHIFT then click. What holding down SHIFT does is change the eyedropper to the color sampler.

TonyCooper · June 12, 2009

On this subject, the tutorial covers setting the black and the white points, but not the neutral point. This can be done with Dave Cross's trick.

Delete the threshold layers you've used to find black and white after you've set the points. Then:

1. Create a new layer.
2. Go to Edit>Fill>50 percent gray>OK (an option in the fill dropdown)
3. Change the blend mode of this layer to DIFFERENCE.
4. Create New Adjustment Layer using Threshold.
5. A histogram will appear. Drag the slider all the way left. The image will be all white.
6. Slowly drag the slider back to the right. The first area of black will be the midtone (neutral).
7. With the Color Sampler tool, mark this by clicking.
8. Discard the layer.

You now have the three points that are set in the Curves panel.

TonyCooper · June 12, 2009

One more post and a shortcut to the above posts.

What you are looking for in setting these points are areas of the image that are RGB 7/7/7 (black), 245/245/245 (white) and 133/133/133 (midtone). The steps in the other posts reveal these areas and you place markers to note them.

You can often skip these steps and simply click F8 to open the Info box and use the Color Picker to roam around the image and find the closest match for each. For example, with the Color Picker active, move the cursor around until you find the area closest to 7/7/7 in the Info box reading. That's your black point. That area may be 14/22/11, but it's the blackest point in your image. Do the same for the other two points.

No need to mark. Just click the appropriate place in the Curves dialog when you find the point.

This technique is quicker when there are fairly strong black, white, and midtone points. It's when those points are hard to find that you use the other technique. Usually, black and white are easy. It's the midtone point that is hard to determine. In that case, I correct for black and white with the quick method, and use the Cross method for the midtone point.

Amysta · June 12, 2009

Wil, Tony, thank you so much for all the info. So helpful. I am working with Photoshop Elements, so the features are a little different but after playing around I found a workable solution. Looks like I need to upgrade soon.

Thanks again!
Amy

TonyCooper · June 13, 2009

Amysta wrote:

Wil, Tony, thank you so much for all the info. So helpful. I am working with Photoshop Elements, so the features are a little different but after playing around I found a workable solution. Looks like I need to upgrade soon.

Whoa! Sorry about that. The entire process described is done in order to use the Curves feature of the full versions of Photoshop. Curves is not present in Elements in the same format. I have Elements 5.0, but not the later versions.

Using 5.0, I can use a Levels Adjustment Layer and open the Info box (press F8) to use the eyedropper to look for black, white, and midtone using the RGB numbers. I can't mark them, but I can find them. I can then apply the eyedropper set points in the Levels dialog to make the adjustments.

If I were you, I'd read up on the on-line tutorials on using Levels. Levels isn't quite as good as Curves, but it's a powerful tool. If you can work successfully in Levels in Elements, you can improve your images.

It doesn't make a difference if the Levels tutorial is based on the full Photoshop or on Elements. The same principles apply. You can buy any used book on Photoshop (any version) for the chapter on Levels. Anything by Scott Kelby is recommended.

I use CS4, but also have Elements 5.0 installed. My daughter has only Elements, so I work with it in order to provide her with some tips.

Amysta · June 13, 2009

Thanks again Tony. I realize I should have written I was using Elements in my original post, but I do appreciate your time and willingness to help me out. I have a lot to learn, but I will definitely be looking into the book and author you mention.

Shift-click doesn’t work in Photoshop on my Mac. Any suggestions?

Comments