Second Quarter - PHOTOSHOP!!!

You already created a few Photoshop Exercises (remember the picture of a flower? "Nine of Me" and the "Leaf Brush" exercise?) These exercises must be in the Server. The goal is to start getting you used to the Photoshop Toolbox and the different features the program offers to help you create great "digital art." Practice using different Filters (especially the "Artistic" Filters) and enhancing your pictures, going to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast or Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation (or just pressing the Command-U - Keyboard Shortcut). You can also "Desaturate" a picture - convert it into a Black & White picture by going to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate (or pressing Command-Shift-U).

You should re-create what you did before to practice again what we did in class. First, select a picture of a flower - from the iLife06 folder or from the internet. It should be a picture with good resolution (so that when you make it bigger you don't see the pixels right away).

Using the "Magnetic Lasso Tool" select your flower. Practice selecting images with this tool until you become more proficient. It takes a little while to get used to it. If you make a mistake and want to go back, just press the Delete/Backspace key. Once your item (flower in this case) is selected - you should see the selection as intermittent little lines around your image - then create a layer of your flower. To create a layer you can press: Command-J. If you look at your layers palette, you see the layer of the flower, as a separate layer from the background.

Get used to duplicating layers, by dragging them into the “create a new layer” icon, next to the little trash can on your Layers Palette. (If you don’t see the Layers Palette > go to Window on the Menu Bar and select Layers).

Once you have the layer of the flower, you can desaturate just the background. Select the Background Layer (it should be highlighted - light blue) and press Command-Shift-U - this will turn your background Black & White. Afterwards, you may want to add a filter to your background: go to Filters > Artistic > Poster Edges or other.

If you want to change the colors of your flower, select the Flower Layer and press Command-U. The Hue/Saturation window will appear. Play with the sliders and see what happens. Change the color and appearance to your liking. You may also duplicate the flower, reduce its size with the Free Transform feature (Command-T) and move it to another area of your picture.

Save your work as a JPEG and put it in the Server in your Digital Applications Folder. Save it as “Flower Power.” You may also want to practice adding text, selecting the Type Tool (T) and adding a word or a quote. Pay attention to the toolbar on top, you may want to change the color or size of your font or the font itself. If you double-click the text layer (Layers Palette) you can go to the "Layer Style" window to change the Blending Options - click Drop Shadow and see what happens, click the words Drop Shadow and you can change the sliders in the Drop Shadow window - move the Distance, Spread and Size sliders and see what happens.

You should now have another folder in the server called “DA 2^nd Quarter.” You can place your Photoshop exercises there. Leave them as PSD files in your computer, in case we need to change things in the future, or add extra layers. The following exercises are found in iLife06 under PHOTOSHOP > in the 2ndQExercises Folder:

1. Exercises No. 1 - “Flower Power” (1 & 2) - Exercises where you selected a picture of a flower, selected the flower using the Magnetic Lasso Tool, created a layer of your flower, desaturated the background (converted it to black and white) and added an "artistic" filter (poster edges, plastic wrap or other). You had the option of enhancing the color of your layer using the Hue/Saturation window and changing the color, improving or lightening it. You were also able to duplicate your flower, shrink it and move it. Save as a JPEG and place in the Server in your DA 2^nd Quarter Folder in your Digital Applications Folder in the Server.

2. Exercise No. 2 – “Magical World Exercise,” which you can find in iLife06 in the PHOTOSHOP folder, under "2ndQExercises." You must select a "Magical" background from the Magical World folder in iLife06 or from the Internet - like a "Magical" forest or any other interesting background of your choice - and add at least 6 different images to it: fairies, mushrooms, flowers, gnomes, unicorns, Disney characters, butterflies, Humpty-Dumpty, or other. I recommend that you select these images using the Magnetic Lasso Tool with feathering of at least 1 px (under "Feather" on your Photoshop Toolbar you should enter 1 or 2 px before you select the image) - your images will look better this way. Read the instructions carefully and get creative! Once done, save your creation as a JPEG in the Server.

3. Exercise No. 3 - In this exercise you will practice how to add one image to another. I suggest that you select a flower and then add a face or other image to its center. Instead of using the Magnetic Lasso Tool, you are to use the Elliptical Marquee Tool. I also suggest that you change the feathering to 1 or 2 px before you do your selection. You can lower the opacity of your image by changing the percentage under “Opacity” in the Layers Palette or practice selecting the different options in the Layers Palette (small window or box right below the Layers tab).

4. Exercise No. 4 - This exercise is called the "Feathered Vignette." You will learn how to create this "cool" effect on your pictures, which is ideal for portraits. Practice this technique several times, until you understand it well and try to remember the different steps - I will ask you this in a future Quiz or Test. You will also use this technique in Exercise No. 5. You can also find this exercise in iLife06.

5. Exercise No. 5 - This exercise is called "Creating an Old Photo." Here you will learn to use the Noise Filter and the Burn Tool, besides working with Levels. You will also practice other techniques we already learned. Find it in the iLife06 folder, like the other exercises.

Now, you have plenty of Photoshop Exercises to complete. Remember: for the instructions, go to iLife06 under PHOTOSHOP in the 2ndQ Photoshop Exercises Folder. If at any time you want to check the Adobe Photoshop CS3 Revealed Textbook, please do so. I will place these books in the Mac Lab's Bookcase, where the iLife06 books are. Help each other, learn from one another, and complete as many exercises as possible. Thanks for your cooperation!

You should start becoming very familiar with the "Toolbox or Tools Palette." We already worked with the following tools: the Rectangular Marquee Tool (when you selected the pictures of yourself that you scanned), the Magnetic Lasso Tool (when you selected the flower in our first exercise to create a layer), the Move Tool (when we moved the flower to a different Photoshop Document) and a few others. Some of you have also used the Eyedropper Tool, the Brush Tool, the Crop Tool, the Paint Tool and the Eraser Tools. On Nov. 5th I'll teach you how to use the History Brush. Become familiar with these tools and practice using them in several exercises. Check the paper I gave you on the Adobe Photoshop Tools.

You should also review the Keyboard Shortcuts handout I gave you before. I need you to add another shortcut: Command-W (to Close).

I need you to learn how to use "layers" in Photoshop. You should read Lesson 5, page 1-24 of the Adobe Photoshop CS3 Revealed textbook. A layer is a section of an image that can be manipulated independently. Remember, we have used the Command-J shortcut to create layers. You can also go to Layer on the Menu Bar and select "Layer > New > Layer via Copy." When a layer is highlighted, you can duplicate that layer by going to Layer > Duplicate Layer... The Layers palette on the right side of your screen displays all the layers in an open file. You can use the Layers palette to create, copy, delete, display, hide, merge, lock, group or reposition layers.

Layers in Photoshop are like individual sheets of clear plastic that are in a stack. When you select a layer in the Layers Palette, that layer is "active." Only one layer can be active at a time. The name of the active layer appears in the title bar of the image window. Changes affect only the "active layer" even though you view the whole image in the image window. You may find it useful to hide layers while working in Photoshop. All you have to do is click on the "Visibility Icon" or eye on the left side of the layer.

The first textbook exercise you will complete for me is on page 1-39. You can find the file PS 1-3.psd in the Server in iLife06 under "DataFilesforStudentsPS." Skip the sections: "Use organizational and management features," and "Examine the Photoshop window." Just find the file and practice the instructions under "Use the Layers and History palettes." Also complete the section "View and print an image." Save this file as Zenith Design Logo as a JPEG in the Server in your Digital Applications Folder. You should have a folder called DA 2^nd Quarter under your name in the Server (DigitalApps).

The second Textbook exercise you'll be working on is on page 1-41. The PS 1-4.psd file is also in the "DataFileforStudentsPS" folder in iLife06. This exercise teaches you how to move layers. Save it as a JPEG in the Server as Cooking.