Photoshop CS3 Easter Egg: A Bruce Fraser Tribute

Beloved community member celebrated in interesting Splash-screen easter egg

The first Photoshop CS3 Easter Egg has been found, and it’s a witty tribute to a recently-lost member of the graphic design tribe.

Bruce Fraser, well-known color expert and respected Photoshop pioneer, passed away in 2006. He has been memorialized by the current developers in a cleverly-hidden way in the CS3 release. To find Bruce, you have to go to the “ALT-splash” screen.

Let’s take the red pill, and see how far down the rabbit hole goes.

Finding Bruce

To see Bruce, here’s what you do (Mac-Specific instructions):

• Bring up the “ALT-Splash” screen by holding down (on the Mac) ALT-CMD whilst selecting Photoshop>About Photoshop from the Menu Bar. The “ALT-Splash” screen will appear, identifyng Photoshop CS 3 by its development code-name, “Red Pill”.
• Take a screenshot (with either Shift-CMD 3 for a full screenshot or Shift-CMD-4 for a section of the screen).
• Load this screenshot into Photohsop CS3.
• Open the Levels command dialog (Menu Bar>Image>Adjustments>Levels). Grab the Input Black Point slider, a small black triangle stop found at the lower left-hand corner of the Input Levels histogram, and slide it all the way over to the right.
• Watch Bruce appear.

Bruuuce!

See the Kitty Paws?

Another image that can be found in the Red Pill splash image is the pawprints of the Electric Kitty. This feline, a feature of Photoshop easter eggs for many versions now, is just visible in the Red Pill image itself. Using levels, you can see him a bit better, and also see his pawprints. With the screenshot still loaded:

1. Reset the Levels dialog (hold down the OPT key; the “Cancel” will change to a “Reset” button. Keep the OPT key held down and click the “Reset” button
2. This time, hold of the Input White Point slider (which should be at the lower right-hand corner of the Input Level histogram) and heave it all the way to the right.
3. You’ll see the kitty in the pill a bit better, and his pawprints will appear in lurid red in amongst the credits.

Darn Cat walked across my work again…

HT to Photoshop News for uncovering this gem.