Expert: Glen Demers - 8/24/2011

Question
QUESTION: Good day
I am working on learning photoshop elements 9 by my self. During the process of writing a letter i came to some road blocks and had the following questions:
1. How do you center images, lines, and an entire page with text & images. I know of the center button which i pressed but i did not see any effects on the page. Can you possibilty tell me what did i do wrong?
2. Where can i find pantone color numbers and how do i input these numbers onto the photoshop color swatch to select the color i require? In others words i want to find relevant pantone colors by name and number and then find them in photoshop elements 9.
3. How do i ensure spacing in between lines is uniform if i type text into different boxes encompassing different paragraphs and move them around. In other words, how do i control the spacing in between lines and paragraphs to vary it or to ensure consistency?
4. How does one prevent text from moving too much left and coming off of the canvas when i type a sentence?

Regards,
Sunil H. Mahabir
Pembroke Pines, Florida

ANSWER: Hi Sunil,

The bet way is to start by dragging some guides onto your canvas for the margins of your letter. Then drag a text box to fit the margins. All the text you type will be constrained to this box and you can use Photoshop's Character and Paragraph palettes to adjust your text. Make sure you select some or all your text and then apply the different settings. The Leading will control spacing between lines and should be equal to or greater than your type's point size.

Click on the foreground or background color proxy in the toolbar to bring up the color picker. Once it is open click on Color Libraries and select the Color Book you wish to use.

It's not as easy in Photoshop to center objects as it is in a layout or drawing program, that is why it's so important to set up a grid or guides before you begin.

Hope this helps,
Glen Demers
Adobe Certified Expert, Photoshop 7
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com

For more Photoshop tips please visit our help pages here: http://www.bestprintingonline.com/photoshop.htm

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QUESTION: Glen
Thanks for the answers. Had further questions.
1. What is the LEADING that is supposed to control the spacing between lines? And what icon do i use to access it.I cant find this icon to select the leading.
2. As for the color i came upon a box that has all of the colors in a gradient fashion and another with all of the colors in boxes. However it does not tell me the names of the colors and the numbers that conform to Pantone. Where can i find this information. What are the steps to get to the color names that conform to Pantone.
Regards,
Sunil

ANSWER: Hi Sunil,

The leading options are accessed by clicking on the icon in the toolbar that looks like two small letter A's one on top of the other. You will have to select the type tool first. It is in the toolbar and looks like the letter T.

I looked into Photoshop Elements and it doesn't support Pantone colors. You can get a chart here and input the Pantone colors in RGB mode and save them on a custom color palette.
http://goffgrafix.com/pantone-rgb-100.php

Hope this helps,
Glen Demers
Adobe Certified Expert, Photoshop 7
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com

For more Photoshop tips please visit our help pages here: http://www.bestprintingonline.com/photoshop.htm

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QUESTION: Thanks!
Have one final question. Is there a way with the color chart or any links i can use to find the code if i have name of the colors. Does the website have the names of the colors as well?
Regards,
Sunil

Answer
Hi,

Pantone identifies all their colors by number. They have color names for some basic colors such as Green or Orange.

They may have names in their palettes of fabric dye colors or house paints, but I'm not familiar with those products and they'd be hard to match in print as well.