Hi there, this is Unmesh from the PIA and today I'm going to show you how you can use
Photoshop to become a secret agent or a detective.
*Snap*
Actually, we are going to take an image and add a special code to it so that everybody
that opens the image only sees a solid black or a solid white color and nothing else.
But, only the person who has the code and knows how to apply it, can reveal what is
in the image.
How cool will that be?
So without any further ado, let's get started.
So here we are back in the intelligent world of Photoshop and this is the only photo of
the criminal that we have.
And that is Agent 47.
I've been playing Hitman 2 a lot lately.
Anyway, doesn't matter.
So, let's say this is the photo that we want to encrypt and send it to the police department
or anybody you want to send it to just for fun.
All right, so all you gotta do is to go to Image - Mode and then Indexed Color.
Now keep in mind, there is going to be a minimal loss when you convert the Mode to Indexed
Color, but, that's enough to recognize a face.
Alright, let's click on Indexed Color.
Now inside of Indexed Color, you can choose your own palette.
What it does is that it allows you to choose the colors of the image and the maximum number
of colors is 256.
That's why there is a loss of quality.
If you zoom in, it won't have all the colors.
It's just 256 colors.
There are a lot of palettes to choose from.
So, right now we have System (Mac OS), let's zoom out, this is a color palette..System
(Windows), a lot of them.
You can also create your own color palette by clicking on Custom and then choose your
own colors.
So, right here, for the first one we can choose red and all the 256, you can customize accordingly
and then hit OK.
And there are a lot of other presets here as well, like Grayscale, Spectrum, or let's
go ahead and choose Grayscale here, hit OK.
So that is another palette.
Let's not get that advanced.
We're going to get to that later.
But for now, let's choose a simple one, the first one - System (Mac OS).
Just keep in mind that you have chosen System (Mac OS).
256 is the maximum number of colors you can have.
You can choose to Dither.
This will soften it up a little bit.
Let's go for Diffusion and hit OK.
Now we have this image.
Now, all you got to do is this, change the Color Table.
Let's go to Image - Mode and then it's already Indexed Color.
Right here you see Color Table, click on that one, select the top most color right there
on the top most left.
Click and drag to the bottom right.
And the first one we need to choose is white, and if we choose the last one as black, it's
going to be a gradient like this.
But we want to turn this to a Solid Color.
So click and drag, you can turn this to a solid black or solid white.
So if you want to turn this to a solid white, choose the first one white and the second
one white as well.
And then hit OK.
Now, just save the image.
Just that.
That's all you got to do.
So I'm just going to Save As a different name, alright.
So Save As - Secret Agent folder - Agent 47 Encrypted.
Now, let's change the file type from PSD to PNG so that people suspect it less.
Now let's save it.
Large file size is fine.
Just hit OK.
Now we have Agent 47 Encrypted.png.
For your assurance, let me open that file again for you.
So here we are on our File Explorer and we have Agent 47 Encrypted.png - all white.
If you just open the image, it is just white.
Nobody can tell.
However, if you now open this inside of Photoshop, let me just drag it and drop it into Photoshop,
and now if I tell you the code, if I tell you that it was System (Mac OS) and if I tell
you that it was all due to the Indexed Mode, all you got to do is to go to Image - Mode
and just change the Color Table and from Custom, to what was it, System (Mac OS).
Choose that.
And boom.
The image is now revealed.
Hit OK.
Now you want to go a little more advanced, a little more advanced encryption with a file
involved.
That would be cool, wouldn't it be?
Alright, so this is how you do it.
First of all, let me open the original image first.
So, here we are back to the original image.
Let's do the same again.
But this time, it'll all be custom and more secure.
So let's go to Image - Mode and Indexed Color.
And this time, we're going to go a little custom.
So let's choose the palette as Custom and this time, you can take your time to define
every individual color.
I'm just going to do it really, really fast.
So, I'm going to choose the first block right here, first couple of blocks.
So next I'm going to choose these.
The first color I'm going to choose is yellow.
The last one I'm going to choose is blue.
And from here to there, the first color I'm going to choose is, let's go for green, and
the last one, let's go for red, or orange.
Here, I'm choosing my own colors, you can just pick individual colors for individual
blocks to make it more secure.
All right, now for the last one, let's hit Cancel, for this one, let's go for a random
- magenta and blue.
All right.
So these are the colors I have chosen.
Now, before you apply them, let's save it and this, my friend, is going to be the secret
file, the key, that's going to allow people to reveal the image.
Without that, it's going to be a little difficult.
So, let's save this pattern.
You can create as complex patterns as you want.
Click on Save.
Now, I'm going to save it in the same folder for the sake of convenience.
And let's name this KEY.
It's going to be an ACT file.
All right, just hit Save and hit OK.
So this is a custom color set.
Now you can choose Diffusion here, amount 75 is fine, 256 colors.
Hit OK.
It might not look that good depending upon the colors you have chosen.
But it's enough to recognize the image.
Now, let's hide it by going to Image - Mode and then Color Table and from the first one
to the last one.
We're going to choose white, hit OK and..white.
Okay, let's save it as a PNG, File - Save As - Agent 47 Encrypted, and this one is going
to be more advanced, so I'm just going to name it Adv.png.
Alright, let's save it.
It's okay.
For your assurance, let's open the original file again, let's go to our File Explorer,
I'm just going to close it, File Explorer, there you go - Agent 47 Encrypted Adv, if
you open it, all we see is white.
Now, you just got to drag it and drop it into Photoshop.
If you don't have the key file, it's going to be a little more difficult to kind of reveal
what exactly there is.
You might be able to do that, but the image quality won't be as good.
Now, let's go to Image - Mode and then let's change the Color Table.
Let's change it to black body.
It's very difficult to say what there is, right?
Only and only if you have the key, you'll be able to see what exactly is there.
So all you gotta do, you need to give the key to that person who you want to send the
image.
That person needs to load the key, click on Load, s/he needs to go to that folder - Secret
Agent folder - KEY.act - load and only and only then you'll be able to properly reveal
it.
Hit OK and there you go.
And that my friend is how you become a secret agent in Photoshop.
I honestly don't know how this is going to be applicable in your artistic endeavors.
But anytime you want to join PiXimperfect Intelligence Agency, our doors are open and
you can always use this trick to get in.
Anyway, I don't know if I'm making sense, but I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
And if you did, make sure to give us a like and also don't forget to subscribe and not
just subscribe, ring the bell so that you, my friend, don't miss any other future tips,
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forever.
Thanks so much for all the support.
Thank you for watching.
I'll see you guys in my next one.
Till then, stay tuned and make sure that you keep creating.