Intro to Photoshop : "Part I"

Photoshop Interface

The options bar contains settings for each tool in the toolbox. The options bar is content sensitive; it changes depending on which tool is selected. This is the only place where tool options are found, except for text and brushes, in which there are palettes with additional options.

Working with Tools

• You must first select a tool to use it.





• Some tools have additional tools beneath them; these are called hidden tools.


• small triangle at the lower right corner of a tool indicates hidden tools.


• To view/select the hidden tools, click and hold down the mouse button on a tool. The hidden tools will display in a fly-out menu.


• To reset a tool to its default settings, right click on the tool icon located to the far left of the options bar. Select Reset Tool to reset the currently selected tool or select Reset All Tools to do just that.

Shortcut Keys

• Photoshop displays the shortcut keys for a function next to its menu listing


• Tool shortcut keys are displayed in parenthesis when you hover over a tool

Palettes


You can show, hide, and reposition palettes as needed.

• Showing and hiding palettes – choose Window > [palette name] to toggle the visibility of a palette.


• To toggle between showing and hiding all currently open palettes press the Tab key.


• To move a palette, drag it by its title bar.


• Palette Menus – most palettes have menus that contain additional commands and options. To display a palette menu, click the black triangle at the upper right of the palette.

Creating a New Document

• To start a new document go to File > New or Ctrl + N.


• Photoshop has several preset sizes defined for you or you can specify your own settings


• You can save your new document settings as a New Document Preset


• As a rough guide, use a resolution of 72ppi (pixels per inch) for web graphics, 96ppi for Power Point presentations, and 200 – 300ppi for print.

Saving Your Work


It is always a good idea to save a working copy of your layered files in the native Photoshop format (.psd) for future editing purposes. You will usually need to export a second copy of the file in an alternate format determined by your intended use. To save a file as a Photoshop document, choose File > Save As. In the ‘File name’ box give the file a name. In the ‘Format’ option box select ‘Photoshop (*.PSD; *.PDD).’ A Photoshop document will maintain its separate layers. Other image formats such as .gif’s, .jpg’s, etc. will create a flattened image. While working on your files save often. File > Save or Ctrl + S.



Image Mode


A color mode determines how Photoshop displays and prints an image. (redDaisy.jpg)

• RGB – good for online and multimedia images


• CMYK – good for images you are going to professionally print.


• Greyscale – (mime.jpg)


• Index Color – needs to be converted to RGB mode before it is altered. Photoshop converts images to indexed color mode when they are saved as a .gif. (somLogo.gif)


• To view the current color mode or to change the color mode of an image, select Image > Mode

Correcting Mistakes

• You can use the Undo or Step Backwards command to correct mistakes. The Undo command allows you to undo your last step while the Step Backwards command allows you to consecutively undo multiple steps.


• To undo your last step choose Edit > Undo or Ctrl + Z.


• To step backwards choose Edit > Step Backwards.

History Palette

• To undo multiple steps use the History palette and step back as many steps as you need to.
• The History palette remembers what you've done to your file and lets you either retrace your steps or revert back to any earlier version of the image. Every time you do something to your image—paint a brush stroke, run a filter, make a selection, and so on—Photoshop saves this change as a state in the History palette.
• However, by default Photoshop only lists your last 20 states (which can be changed in your preferences). When the number of states recorded in the History palette exceeds 20, the oldest states are dropped off the list.
• History states are cleared when you close a document (they will not be remembered when the document is opened at a later time).

Show Rulers

• To show or hide the rulers select View > Rulers or hit Ctrl + R.
• To change the measurement of the rulers simply right-click inside the ruler and select which measurement system you wish to use (pixels, inches, centimeters, etc.)

Rotate / Transform an Image (doctor.jpg)

• If your image is flattened into a background layer you will first need to rename it. To rename a layer just double click on top of the existing name, type in the new name, and hit Enter.


• Select Edit > Free Transform. A bounding box with handles will appear around the image.


• To rotate an image, move your mouse to the outside of one of the corner handles. You’ll notice that the icon changes to an arched, double-sided arrow. Click, hold and drag to rotate the image.


• To resize an image, move your mouse on top of one of the corner handles. You’ll notice that the icon changes to a straight, double-sided arrow. Click on the handle and drag it to increase or decrease the size of the image. Be sure to hold down the Shift key while making this transformation if you want to maintain the image’s proportions.

Crop Tool (scan.jpg)

• To crop an image, select the Crop tool and click and drag a rectangle around the part of the image you want to keep. When you release the mouse button, you’ll see a dashed line with selection “handles” on the corners and middle of each side. The area to be cropped away appears dimmed (shaded).


• Don’t worry about getting your crop selection perfect because you can move, rotate and resize the crop area by dragging the handles.
  1. Click and drag inside your crop area to reposition it
  2. Use the arrow key on the keyboard to move/reposition the crop selection 1px at a time.


• To complete / accept the crop, press Enter or double click inside the rectangle.


• To cancel out of cropping mode press the Esc button on your keyboard.


• Constrain proportions - to make a crop selection a perfect square hold down the Shift key when making your selection.


• Crop to a specific size – specify the dimensions in the options bar. In the options bar you will see fields for Width and Height. Enter a size for each followed by the unit of measurement you want to use (for example, use “in” for inches, “px” for pixels, “cm” for centimeters, “mm” for millimeters, etc.).


• Clear the Width & Height – After you enter a Width and Height in the Options bar, those dimensions remain there. To clear the fields, just click on the Clear button (in the options bar). This clears the Width and Height fields for the Crop tool.

Automated Cropping and Resizing (scan.jpg)
Photoshop has a great little automation tool that will take a scan, that contains multiple images, and straighten and copy each image into its own separate window.
• Scan in or open an image which contains multiple images.
• Select File > Automate > Crop and Straighten Photos

File Size and Dimensions
• To view the size and dimensions of a file, select Image > Image Size.

Resize an Image (doctor_lg.jpg)
• To resize the whole image, select Image > Image Size and change the width and/or height as needed. To maintain the images proportions make sure the Constrain Proportions check box is checked. (Tip: shrinking your image will result in some blurring. How much depends on how much you resize the image. You can counter this by sharpening the image).
• You can change the image size using the Resize Image Wizard – Select Help > Resize Image.
• To resize a layer (not the whole image), select the proper layer then select Edit > Free Transform. Move the handles as needed to resize the image. Holding down the Shift key will keep the image in proportion.

Sharpen a Photo (doctor_lg.jpg)
• Unsharp Mask gives you the most flexibility. Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask

1. AMOUNT - controls the overall amount of sharpening applied to an image


2. RADIUS - Photoshop sharpens an image by looking for edges in the photograph and enhancing those edges by darkening one side of the edge and lightening the other side. Edges are sharp color or contrast changes in an image. The Radius setting controls the width of pixels along an edge that are modified when you sharpen the image.


3. THRESHOLD - The larger the value you give to the Threshold setting, the more contrast an edge must have before it is sharpened. When you set the threshold to 0, everything in the image becomes a candidate edge for being sharpened. At a setting of 0, an image can easily be made to look too grainy. When the threshold is set to 10, Photoshop finds and sharpens an edge only if there is a difference of at least 10 points (in the range from 0 to 255) in the pixel values along that edge.
   

Enlarge Your Canvas Size
• To increase the image area (canvas size) without increasing the existing image select Image > Canvas Size.
• Select the Crop Tool from the toolbar

1. Using the crop tool select your entire image (you may need to zoom out). Once you've created a cropping rectangle with the Cropping tool, you can expand the crop past the boundaries of the image (this lets you eyeball how much and where you want to increase the canvas).


2. To expand the crop, select any of the side or corner points and drag them outside the image area.


3. After you press Enter, the canvas size expands to the edge of the cropping rectangle.


4. Note: if your image contains a background layer (remember, background layers are special layers), then the added canvas will be filled with whatever color is currently set as your background color (which can be found in the toolbox). If your image does not contain a background layer then the added canvas will be transparent.

• Another way to enlarge the canvas is to select Image > Canvas Size. This option will give you precise control of how you enlarge the canvas.


Choosing Foreground and Background Colors

• When you select any of Photoshop’s painting or drawing tools, the color applied to the document will be the foreground color.


• Photoshop also uses the foreground color to paint, fill, and stroke selections.


• Use the Eyedropper tool , the Color palette or the swatches palette to set/change the foreground and background colors.


• You can also click directly on the foreground or background color swatch to get the color picker dialog box.


• When you use an eraser tool on a Photoshop layer, by default, the pixels are converted to transparency. However, when you use an eraser tool on the Background layer something different happens. Since the Background does not support transparency, it replaces the erased pixels with the current background color.
  A. Foreground color box
  B. Default colors icon – sets the foreground to black and the background to white
  C. Switch colors icon – swaps the foreground and background colors
  D. Background color box

Remind Yourself with Notes

• You can add notes and reminders to a Photoshop document using the Notes tool .


• To add a note, click once on the image with the Notes tool and type your message.


• If you type more than can fit in the box, Photoshop automatically adds a scroll bar on the side.


• You can change the note's color, author, font and size in the Options bar.


• Double-clicking on a note opens it (so you can read it) or closes it (minimizes it to just the Notes icon).


• To delete a note, right click on top of it and select Delete Note.


• If you want to delete all the notes in an image, press the Clear All button in the Options bar (the Notes Tool has to be selected in the toolbox).


• If you can't see notes in your Photoshop file but you suspect they're there, make sure the Annotations item is turned on (View > Show > Annotations). When this is off, no Note icons will show.
  

Working with Text

• Point Type - select the Horizontal Type tool, click within the image and begin typing.


• Paragraph Type - click and drag with the Horizontal Type tool to draw a box to contain your text. Your text will flow within the frame, wrapping it to the next line automatically.


• When you are done entering text click the Commit button on the Options bar. Committing the text simply takes you out of text-editing mode.


• Once you have existing type, clicking or dragging with the type tool has one of two outcomes.
  1. If Photoshop find any text near the spot where you clicked, it assumes you want to edit that text, and therefore, selects that text layer and puts you into edit mode.
  2. If no text is in the vicinity of where you clicked then Photoshop figures that you want to create a new layer of text.


• Double clicking on the thumbnail of the text layer will select all text on that layer and place you in edit mode.


• You can access additional formatting options by displaying the Character and Paragraph palettes.
  

Spell Check your Document

• To spell check a layer choose Edit > Check Spelling.
  

Image Magnification

• Images have pixels and computer screens have pixels. When you display an image on your screen, Photoshop has to match image pixels to screen pixels. The percentage in the title bar of the document window tells you how Photoshop is matching those pixels.

• To display a file at 100% choose View > Actual Size, or double click the Zoom tool .
  
• At 100-percent view, each image pixel is represented by a single screen pixel. This view has nothing to do with how big the image will appear in print (or even on the Web, because different monitors have different resolutions).
  
• At any percentage other than 100%, you're probably not seeing an accurate view of your image. At 400 percent, the image is magnified four times. At 50 percent, it's reduced by half, so you're only seeing half the pixels in the image because you're zoomed farther out and Photoshop has to downsample the image on the fly.

Zooming In and Out
Photoshop gives you great flexibility in viewing your images. You can view different areas of the artwork at different magnifications.

• Use the zoom tool to enlarge or decrease you image view. This does not change the actual image size.
• To zoom in select the zoom tool . The pointer becomes a magnifying glass with a plus sign in its center. Click at the center of the area you want to magnify.
• To zoom out select the zoom tool , then hold down the Alt key (Option key for Mac). The pointer becomes a magnifying glass with a minus sign in the center. Click the center of the area you want to reduce.
• Alternate ways to zoom in and out: to zoom in use Ctrl + + (hold down the Ctrl button and hit the plus key). To zoom out use Ctrl + - (hold down the Ctrl button and hit the minus key).
• You can also make a selection with the Zoom tool. The pixels within the selection are magnified to fill the screen.
• To view your document at 100%, double-click the Zoom tool.
• To make the image fit your monitor, double-click the Hand tool

Navigator Palette – getting around your image

• If the Navigator palette isn’t open, select Window > Navigator
  
• The red frame indicates the viewable area of the active image (what part of the image is showing).
  
• Moving the red frame pans the contents of the active window.
  
• The magnification slider lets you change the zoom level dynamically.

Hand Tool

• If an entire image is not visible in the document window, you can navigate the image (bring another area of the image into view) by using the scroll bars or the Hand tool .
  
• With the Hand tool simply click within the image and drag to change which part of the image you are viewing.
  
• Be careful that you do not confuse the Hand tool with the Move tool !
  

Move Tool

• The Move tool physically moves the content of the currently selected layer.
• The Auto Select Layer option in the Options bar selects the layer of the item you click on in the image.