PHOTOSHOP

By now you should be familiar with the “basics” of the Photoshop Program – the image-editing program. You should be comfortable importing images in Photoshop (Go to File > Open > find your picture or Go to File Browser > find your picture). You should be comfortable using some of the tools from the “Toolbox” (especially: the Move Tool, the Magnetic Lasso Tool, the History Brush Tool, and the Eraser Tool), as well as some of the Photoshop “Filters” –especially the “Artistic Filters” – and other commands in the Menu Bar (like “Edit”, and “Image”).

(Photoshop is a powerful image editing application with a wealth of tools and commands for working on digital images or bitmaps. There are utilities for retouching, color correcting, cropping, rotating, resizing and more. There are also over 90 functional and creative filters, like: blurring, rendering and texturising, that can be applied either to the entire image or selected areas within images to create special effects.)

Under “Edit”, we can use: Undo, Step Forward, and Step Backward. Under “Image”: Adjustments (Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation, and Desaturate).

You should know how to create “layers” by selecting an item, person, animal or other and using Command-J.

You should know how to apply different filters on an entire picture, on certain layer/s, or on certain items only (like the Artistic Filters: Dry Brush, Plastic Wrap, Poster Edges , and others…)

Become familiar with all the Photoshop Tools from “The Toolbox”:

Rectangular Marquee Tool - Makes a rectangular selection and provides access to the Elliptical, Single Row, and Single Column Marquee Tools

Move Tool - Moves selections, layers, and guides. (Or click “V”)

Lasso Tools - Draws free-hand segments of a selection's border and provides access to the Polygonal Lasso Tool and the Magnetic Lasso Tool

Crop Tool - Removes unwanted portions from an image

Brush Tools - Paints brush strokes onto an image and provides access to the Pencil Tool and Color Replacement Tool

History Brush Tool - Paints a copy of one image state or snapshot of an image into your current image's window. It also provides access to the Art History Brush Tool

Eraser Tool - Erases pixels wherever the mouse is clicked. It also provides access to the Background Eraser and Magic Eraser Tools

Dodge Tool - Allows you to darken or lighten areas of an image. It also provides access to the Burn and Sponge Tools

Horizontal Type Tool - Allows you to insert text onto an image. It also provides access to the Vertical Type, Horizontal Type Mask, and Vertical Type Mask Tools

Eyedropper Tool - Allows you to get colors from an image to designate as a new background or foreground color. It also provides access to the Color Sampler and Measure Tools

Hand Tool - Moves an image within its window

Zoom Tool - Magnifies or reduces the view size of an image

Remember that to find other tools under those visible ones, you must click your mouse and drag the insertion point upwards – while in the proper tool block. Also, to deselect something you selected you can use Command-D and to undo you last step, you can use Command-Z (the Command Key in Apple Computers is the “Apple” Key – in Windows is the “Control” Key).

You already created your first Photoshop Exercise (“Fall Exercise No. 1”) – we inserted the face of an animal on a fall leaf. If you want to improve your exercise (to get a better grade) you can create a new one using the same techniques learned. 1) Select a big fall leaf. 2) Select an animal picture. 3) Open your Photoshop Program > Import your pictures until you have two pictures showing on your screen. 4) Using the “Magnetic Lasso Tool” select the face of the animal. 5) Create a layer of the face (Command-J). 6) Using the “Move Tool” move the face to the leaf picture. If the face is too big – you can use the “Free Transform” command to make it smaller (Command-T or Edit > Transform > Free Transform). Remember to press the Shift Key while shrinking your picture to keep the same proportions. You can also turn your picture around by selecting the curved arrows on the side of your “Free Transform” box-enclosure. 7) Now you can reduce the Opacity on your Layer Window to lighten your animal face. 8) Go to “Image” > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and change the color of the animal face to blend it better with the leaf. 9) Using the “Eraser Tool” – Soft Brush No. 75 or other and Opacity 30 – 40% – erase the edges of the animal face to blend it with the background even better. Save both as PSD file (Photoshop File and as JPEG). 10) Download finished exercise, as JPEG, into your folder in the Digital Applications Folder in the Server. It should be named “Fall Exercise No. 1.”

* We will have a Test on Photoshop the middle of November (before our Thanksgiving Vacation) *

Learn these Commands:

Command-D
Command-Z
Command-J
Command-T
Command-U

By November 2 you should have five Photoshop Exercises in your Digital Applications Folder in the Server, for Mrs. Feld to grade. Ask Mrs. Feld for the Exercise Paper.