Photoshop for Novices                                                            

Please refer to reader!!!

Outline:

working with tools

You select a tool by clicking its icon in the toolbox.
A small triangle at the lower right of a tool icon indicates hidden tools.
Positioning the pointer over a tool displays an 'Alt' tag containing the tool's name
and keyboard shortcut.

To show or hide the toolbox:

Choose Window / Show Tools or Window / Hide Tools.

To move the toolbox: Drag the toolbox by its title bar.

To select a tool:

• To select a visible tool, click its icon or press its keyboard shortcut.
• To select a hidden tool, position the pointer on the visible tool and hold down the mouse button until the tools list appears. Then, click the tool you want.
  

back to top

Tools Basics

The Toolbox contains 4 main sections of tools. Some tools are used often,
others are more specific.

1. The first section contains selection tools, the move tool and the slice tool.
   Marquee tools make rectangular, elliptical, single row, and single column selections.
   Move tool moves selections, layers, and guides.
   Lasso tool can be used as a freehand selection tool, as a polygon (straight lines) selection tool or as a magnetic selection tool that sticks to an outline..
   Crop tool cuts images
   Slice tool slices images into pieces to reduce their download time on the internet.
   
   

2. The next section contains the painting and retouching tools.
   Paintbrush tool paints brush strokes (paintbrush and pencil are under one icon)
   Pencil tool paints hard-edged strokes.
   Airbrush tool paints soft-edged strokes.
   Eraser tool erases pixels to transparency if transparency in the layers palette is unlocked and to background color if transparency is locked.
   Paint bucket tool fills areas with the foreground color.
   Gradient tool (underneath paint bucket) creates gradients

3. The third section contains shape/vector tools.
   Shape tools are vector based and create new layers by default.
   Direct selection tool selects anchor points
   Text tool creates text
   Pen tool creates and modifies anchor points and paths (see hidden tools)
   Shape tool creates shapes which are based on paths

4. The fourth section contains general tools, which help organizing the workflow:
   Note tool gives you a little window to take notes.
   Eyedropper tool samples colors in an image (also called color picker)
   Hand tool moves an image within its’ window.
   Zoom tool magnifies and reduces the view of an image. To zoom out hold the apple or alt key.

To set Preferences for the tool pointers

When you select most tools, the mouse pointer matches the tool's icon. The marquee pointer appears by default as cross-hairs, the text tool pointer as an I-beam, and painting tools default to the Brush Size icon.

Under Edit/Preferences you can choose to set your cursor appearance to:

·          Standard (displays the tool icon)

·          Precise (displays  cross-hairs )

·          Brush (displays the actual brush size)

The standard view is the default .

back to top

Selections

Making selections in Photoshop is as important as creating imagery.
It’s the first step of image manipulation. There are several ways to make selections,
which you will choose according to the situation.

The selection tools accessible through the toolbar are:

Note:These tools are bitmap selection tools . They select areas of pixels.
As we start to work with vector graphics we will use the path selection tool.

Using the Select menu in the menu bar

You can use commands in the Select menu to

To select all pixels in a layer within the canvas boundaries:

1 Select the layer in the Layers palette.

2 Choose Select / All. (Apple/A)

To deselect selections, do one of the following:

Note: If an area is selected (marching ants) the rest of the image "locked". Even if you highlight a new layer the selection will be relevant and you will only be able to use tools within selection.

Apple/D: always deselect after you finished editing.

back to top

The Options Bar

The options bar is located right underneath the menu bar.
Most tools have options that are displayed in the tool options bar.
The options bar is context sensitive and changes as different tools are selected.
Some settings in the options bar are common to several tools
(such as painting modes and opacity), and some are specific to one tool
(such as the Auto Erase setting for the pencil tool).

To display the tool options bar do one of the following:

Note: You can double-click the title bar at the left edge to collapse the options bar, showing only the tool icon.

Example: Lasso options bar

To return a tool or all tools to the default settings:

Other users might have chosen some specific settings for one or more tools.
You might try to use a tool and it doesn't’t work the way you expect it to.

To reset the tool to its default settings do one of the following:

back to top

Color

In the toolbar, underneath the hand and magnification glass are the color icons ,
which always display a fore and background color.
Use the little arrow to switch foreground to background.

The foreground color is the color most tools will work with.
The eraser erases by default using the background color.

By clicking on the little black/white icon you can switch to black and white.

To choose a new color:

To choose a new fore or background color double click the foreground
or background color icon.

The color picker window opens.

Use the slider to choose a color value. If you click in the orange part of the slider
the big window will display all shades of orange from yellow to red, which are available.
Choose a color by clicking in an area with the cursor. You will see the color displayed in
a color field.
Click ok.

When creating images for the Internet use only Web safe colors !!!

Not every computer displays millions of colors. The display varies from platform to platform
and from browser to browser. There is a limited amount of colors, consistently displayed
under all conditions. These colors are all part of the web safe color palette. When you choose
a new color in Photoshop and are working for web purposes make sure
the little web safe check box is checked in the color picker window.

back to top

Creating new images

The File/New command lets you create a blank image.

To create a new image:

Choose File / New. The image dimensions and resolution displayed in the
New Image window are based on the last image that was created.

Click OK.

back to top

• The background layer is always locked. You can’t move it.
  By double clicking and naming it in the properties window you can unlock
  and move it.
• The red dot layers are linked= if you move one red ball in the document window
  all of them will move.
• The eye icon shows that all layers are visible.
• With the move tool you can directly move the object in the image if the layer is highlighted.

History palette

The History Palette keeps track of the commands applied to a file.
The History Palette lets you undo multiple steps .

Under Edit/Preferences the number of memorized history steps can be defined.

Advanced
There are two different kinds of history: the non-linear and linear mode.
The history mode can be changed in the options window of the history palette.

Non-linear state is useful if you want to keep certain steps in your history palette and clean out others because that will not affect your latest state.

To clear history and win memory, go to edit/purge/history.

back to top

Image size + canvas size

Image size: changes size of the image, pixels will be added or deleted.
Canvas size: image remains same size but space around the image will be added or taken away.
Crop : cut off unnecessary space around the sides. Use the crop tool.
Rotate canvas: turn the whole image.

back to top

Filters

To use a filter, choose the appropriate submenu command from the Filter menu.
These guidelines can help you in choosing filters:

·  The last filter chosen appears at the top of the menu.

·  Filters are applied to the active, visible layer.

·  Filters cannot be applied to indexed-color images.

·  Some filters only work on RGB images.

back to top

Color modes

A gamut is the range of colors that a color system can display or print.
The spectrum of colors seen by the human eye is wider than the gamut
available in any color model.

A color that can be displayed in RGB mode may be out-of-gamut,
and therefore unprintable, for your CMYK setting.

Photoshop automatically brings all colors into gamut when you convert
an image to CMYK. But you might want to identify the out-of-gamut colors
in an image or correct them manually
before converting to CMYK.

In RGB mode, you can identify out-of-gamut colors in the following ways:

RGB: the RGB gamut contains colors that can be viewed
on a computer or television monitor (which emits red, green,
and blue light)

All options and filters in photoshop are accessible
It makes most sense to work in the RGB mode

CMYK: The CMYK gamut is smaller, containing only colors that can
be printed using process-color inks. You will convert your RGB file
into CMYK if you want to print it

Index: color palette of 256 colors, no layers, web palette

back to top

About bitmap images and vector graphics

Computer graphics falls into two main categories - bitmap and vector.
You can work with both types of graphics in Photoshop; moreover,
a Photoshop file can contain both bitmap and vector data.
Understanding the difference between the two categories
helps as you create, edit, and import artwork.

Bitmap images--technically called raster images use a grid of colors
known as pixels. Each pixel is assigned a specific location and color value.
For example, a bicycle tire in a bitmap image is made up of a mosaic of pixels
in that location. When working with bitmap images,
you edit pixels rather than objects or shapes.

Bitmap images are the most common electronic medium for continuous-tone images,
such as photographs or digital paintings, because they can represent subtle gradations
of shades and color. Bitmap images are resolution-dependent--that is, they contain
a fixed number of pixels. As a result, they can lose detail and appear jagged if they
are scaled on-screen or if they are printed at a lower resolution than they were created for.

Bitmap images are good for reproducing subtle gradations of color, as in photographs.
They can have jagged edges when printed at too large a size
or displayed at too high a magnification.

Vector graphics are made up of lines and curves defined by mathematical objects called vectors.
Vectors describe an image according to its geometric characteristics. For example,
a bicycle tire in a vector graphic is made up of a mathematical definition of a circle drawn
with a certain radius, set at a specific location, and filled with a specific color.
You can move, resize, or change the color of the tire without losing the quality of the graphic.

Vector graphics are resolution-independent--that is, they can be scaled to any size
and printed at any resolution without losing detail or clarity. As a result,
vector graphics are the best choice for representing bold graphics that
must retain crisp lines when scaled to various sizes--for example, logos.

Vector graphics are good for reproducing crisp outlines, as in logos or illustrations.
They can be printed or displayed at any resolution without losing detail.

Because computer monitors represent images by displaying them on a grid,
both vector and bitmap data is displayed as pixels on-screen.

back to top

Vector Tools

Creating and working with vector graphics replies choosing a different set of tools,
because vectors are defined by paths and anchor points. One section in the toolbar
contains those tools we use to create, select and modify graphics and Text
based on paths.

To apply certain Filters to text or shape layers the layers  need to be rasterized:

Layer/Rasterize/Type

The Path Palette is the window where all paths are stored if saved.

In the Path Palette you can turn selections into paths or paths into selections, add clipping paths to a layer and save paths as work paths.

Anti- aliasing

The Anti-alias PostScript option removes jagged edges from a pasted
or placed selection by making a subtle transition between the edges
of the selection and its surrounding pixels.
Turning off this option produces a hard-edged transition between pixels.
To make text look very crisp you might want to uncheck anti-aliasing.

back to top

More about Layers and the Layers palette

The more complex your images get, the more you will work within the layers palette.
You can apply a wide range of modifications to your images by altering
the layer information in the palette.
You need to learn to distinguish between different types of layers:

Bitmap layers: The basic layer

Shape layers: Layer that contains vector shapes.
The icon shows a cut out on solid background.
(These layers are based on layer clipping paths)

Text layers: Layer that contains vector text. It’s signified with a “T”.
Layer effects: are visible as sub layers after being applied to a layer.

Layer effects

Can be applied to every layer by double-clicking the layer.
A window opens that gives many attributes to choose from,
which you can apply to the layer = objects on the layer.

To apply effects check the style you want to apply and then double click
the word next to the check box. That takes you to a new window where
you can specify attributes of that effect.

After you click ok you will see a layer style added to the parent layer in the layers palette.

In the layers palette there are more layer specifications available (top to bottom):

Blending modes:
A choice of modes to blend top layers into lower layers.
The appearance depends on the mode and on the pixels top and lower layers contain.

Opacity:
You can modify the opacity of each layer. Use the slider to increase or decrease transparency.

Locking modes:

Layer drop down window (arrow on the right side of the palette)
Many commands are also available in the drop down menu as well as
in the context menu under Layer:

Merge layers: merges top layer with lower layers.
Merge visible: merges visible layers.
Flatten image: merges all layers.

Icons on the bottom of the layers palette:

1.        Add layer style

2.        Add layer mask

3.        Add layer set

4.        Add adjustment layer

5.        Add new layer

6.        Delete layer



back to top

Copying and duplicating

back to top

Compression + Optimization: Save for the Web

A psd file is a large file because it contains layers which add to the information = size of the file

To upload an image to the web you need to compress it: usually you make it a gif or jpg.
These are two different ways of compression but what they share is that your file will contain
only one layer. The compression merges all the layers and reduces the file size.
Also compressing images means to reduce color information.
jpg compression is different than gif compression.

gif compression: Shapes, illustrations, graphics are good for gif compression.
Reduced to 256 colors.

jpg compression: use for Photographs and images with gradients and feathered shapes.

back to top

Save/save as/ save for web

Save: saves a psd file

Save as: saves a copy. There are many options what extensions you want
to add to the copy. It depends on your goals.

Save for web: saves an optimized gif or jpg.

To compress an image in Phtotshop you go to File/ Save for Web.

If you choose 4up you see 4 windows. The first window is the original.
The other three windows display three different choices of compression.
To choose a new setting select a window and modify current settings.

Just try different compression modes and look at the file sizes in the save for web window.
That’s often convincing enough to make a decision.

On the bottom of each window you can see the file size and the seconds this file will need to be visible (approximately) on the Internet.

 
Note: remember to always first save your psd file in case you need to edit it because
due to the compression process you loose all your layers.

back to top

Resolution and Image Size:
An image contains a given number of pixels and its dimension and resolution
are interdependent.

The screen resolution is always 72 ppi and so an image with a high resolution
will be displayed larger on the screen than an image with the same dimensions
but a lower resolution. If you have an image of 5x6 inches with a resolution
of 600ppi it’s display on the screen will be accordingly large because
it displays it with a resolution of 72ppi.

File size : is the size of the image referring to its dimensions
and it’s resolution at the same time. The file size is displayed
in the Image Size Window as Pixel Dimensions.

You can change the image size via resolution or dimensions.
Always remember that your screen resolution remains 72ppi
and will display accordingly.

Under Image/Image size you can check and modify the file size (pixel dimensions),
print size (document size) and resolution.

Resampling:

When you resample up (or increase the number of pixels),
new pixels are added based on color values of existing pixels,
if the resample box is checked. If you downsample with the
resample box checked pixels will be taken out.

That happens either if you change the  resolution or the dimensions.

Choose bicubic (best quality) Resampling refers to changing
the pixel dimensions (and therefore display size) of an image.

Note: Modifying the image size without resample box checked will maintain the file size
but might decrease the quality of the image .Modifying the image size with resample box
checked will alter the file size but might increase the quality of the image.

Knowing that, remember that the image dimensions you see on the screen
are relative and depend on many factors:

• Monitor resolution (alters the size of a pixel)
• Screen resolution (is always 72)
• Image resolution

All of the above combined with image dimensions.

Note: To view the print size of an image select the magnifier, Cmd/click in the window
and choose print size from the drop down menu.

back to top

Image adjustment

All Photoshop and ImageReady color adjustment tools work essentially the same way:
by mapping an existing range of pixel values to a new range of values.
The difference between the tools is the amount of control they provide.

The Brightness/Contrast, Auto Levels, Auto Contrast, and Variations
commands change colors or tonal values in an image but are not as
precise or flexible as the high-end color adjustment tools.
They provide a quick and simple way to make overall adjustments.

back to top

Adjustment Layers

Adjustment layers are applied to layers similar as layer styles:
but they adjust all the layers underneath and can be edited
easily by double clicking the adjust icon in the layer or choose layers/change layer content .
Applying an adjustment layer keeps the file more flexible than adjusting the layer directly.

Note: The adjustment layer has to be merged to be effective.
It’s a temporary layer and if it doesn't’t get merged the adjustment will not be effective.

If you select only parts of the layer the adjustment will only be applied to the selection.

Create an adjustment layer:

Click the black and white circle icon on the bottom of the layers palette.
The 'Alt' tag says “new fill or adjustment layer”.

Choose an adjustment mode like brightness/contrast.

back to top

More tools

History brush: draws history state by selecting a snapshot in the history palette.

Rubber stamp: draws a copy of a defined area

Gradient: applies gradient to selected area or shape.

Smudge+Dodge: retouching tools.

Move tool: Auto select layer and set bouncing box

Context menu:

Edit/Fill: change fill

Edit/Stroke: edit stroke width

Edit/Transform: choices of scale, rotate….

Edit/Free transform: scale, rotate….

back to top

Masks

Masks are used to create complex and exact selections,
which isolate an area that you want to protect or apply changes to.
Because these selections can be time consuming they can be saved
as alpha channels or clipping paths and are accessible any time through those palettes.

Quick mask

Quick Mask mode lets you edit any selection as a mask while viewing your image.
The advantage of editing your selection as a mask is that you can use
almost any Photoshop tool or filter to modify the mask = selection.

Also your selections can become very complex.

To enter the quick mask mode you click the icon underneath the color icons in the toolbox.
The color icons will change to black and white: black adds to the mask,
white subtracts. The mask itself displays in a transparent red.
Click the icon next to the quick mask icon to view selection.

For example, if you create a rectangular selection with the marquee tool first,
you can enter Quick Mask mode and use the paintbrush to extend
or contract the selection.

Start with a selected area and use Quick Mask mode to add to or subtract from it.
Alternatively, create the mask entirely in Quick Mask mode.
Color differentiates the protected and unprotected areas.
When you leave Quick Mask mode by clicking on the square
next to it in the toolbox the unprotected areas become the selection.

To create a mask:

1. 1 Using any selection tool select the part of the image you want to change.

2.       
    2 Click the Quick Mask mode button in the toolbox.