Adobe Photoshop Tutorial 1
Adobe Photoshop allows for the manipulation or creation of raster image graphics for print or web mediums.
Web Ready
GIF vs. JPEG vs. PNG
Finding a middle ground where you can achieve an desired image quality with a minimal file size is crucial. Downloading unnecessarily large images over the web can be excruciating for a viewer. Or you may be a sadomasochist and enjoy doing this to people. Yikes!
The reason for choosing JPEG for images with more complex color patterns is that this format enables you to save images with millions of colors, whereas the GIF or PNG option restricts you to 256 colors.
The background of a GIF or PNG can be made transparent, so you see the background color of the browser window you're in. Finally, GIF’s can also be animated.
Photoshop will load most any raster image file. You can resave an image file as a different file type.
Go onto the web, find and save an image, and open it into Photoshop.
Navigation
Zoom
(Ctrl + or - Z)
Hold down the ALT key to toggle between zoom-in or zoom-out.
Right click when over the image while in this command. Further options allow Fit to Screen, Actual Pixels, or Print Size. Real helpful!
Pan
(Spacebar or H)
Navigator Window
Gives a reference of zoom factor and area of focus within the entire image.
Selection Tools and Filters
How creatively you use the selection tools will determine how creatively you can use Photoshop.
Marquee (M)
Four tools in one: You can select a rectangle (if you hold down the Shift key, it'll give you a perfect square); go for an oval (the Shift key will make it a circle); select a single row of pixels, or a single column.
Lasso (L)
Draw selection paths freehand with a mouse. If you click and hold, you can change the tool so that you can draw polygons.
Magic Wand (W)
Selects all the same-color or similarly colored adjacent pixels
Adjustable tolerance
To add to a selection, hold down the Shift key and make another selection; your first selection will be added to your second one. To subtract, use the Alt key to make a selection and your second selection will be subtracted from your first.
Use Ctrl+D to Deselect
Select Menu
Most are self-explanatory
Similar selects all the same-colored pixels in the document, even if they're not touching.
Find a second image on the web, save it, and load it into Photoshop. You should have two images open.
With one image, under Select Menu select all, under Edit Menu select copy, and paste it into the other image. A new layer should automatically be made.
Layers
Layers are similar to laying opaque or semi-transparent images onto the canvas.
When you paste a new image onto an existing canvas, a new layer will be created.
You can toggle the layer on/off with the eye icon.
The viewable hierarchy is dependant upon how you organize your layers.
Background will always be your base.
Adjustable opacity allows you to see layer below.
Discard of a layer by grabbing it and putting it over the Gargage Can icon.
You must have the correct layer selected in the layer window in order to modify it.
You can easily toggle between layers by right clicking on top of the image while in the Move command. The layers below will be brought up in the sequence of their order.
Edit
Free Transform (Ctrl + T)
In real time, the image or layer may be adjusted in scale or distortion. You can keep the image in its original proportions by holding down the shift key while resizing.
Transform
Further modifications to the image that are self-explanatory. Fool around with them!
Image
Commands in this menu allow for a more accurate manipulation of color quality or image sizing.
It is with these commands that you can really do some sophisticated color experimentation.
Use in combination with unique selections in the image.
Filters
Self explanatory. Have fun with these. Experiment. Do multiple filters. An idea or motive should support the distortion.
Many other filters can be downloaded from the web or purchased.