Beginning Adobe Photoshop Guide

Doug Lawhead College of Arts and Humanities Nov. 30, 2005 Beginning Adobe Photoshop Guide version CS / 9 Marquee Selection Tools Creates rectangular or oval selections Mover Tool Moves layer, selection or guide Freehand Selection Tools (Lasso) Creates freehand selections Magic Wand Selects similar pixels Slice Tool Slices images for the Web Crop Tool Crops the canvass Brush Applies brush strokes Healing Brush Corrects flaws in images History Brush Restores pixels from a designated state Clone Stamp Copies imagery Eraser Erases pixels Gradient Tool Copies imagery Blur/Sharpen Tool Blurs/sharpens edges Burn/Dodge Tool Darkens/lightens pixels Path Selection Tool Selects Paths Type Tool Creates type on imagery Pen Tool Draws curved or straight paths Line/Shape Tool Draws lines/shapes Notes Creates non-printing annotations Eyedropper Samples colors from images Hand (Mover Tool) Moves an image in its window Zoom Magnifies pixels Foreground Color Square Background Color Moves an image in its window Default Colors Quick Mask Mode Standard Mode Standard Windows Jump to ImageReady Switches to ImageReady application Full Screen (No Menu Bar) Full Screen (With Menu Bar) 2 In this portion of the class you will learn how to set up your workspace. 1. Set up the workspace. From the Window menu select Tools, Options, Color and History. A checkmark appears next to the words when they are selected and their palettes should be visible on the Desktop. Select Rulers from the View menu. This will place a measuring scale on the top and left side of imagery and is a feature you may find helpful. 2. From Edit > Preferences (Photoshop > Preferences in Mac OSX) select Display and Cursors. A window opens where you may adjust how the cursor is displayed with various tools. For painting tools select Full Brush Tip and click on the Show crosshair in brush tip option. This will show the exact size, shape and center of all painting tools when one is in use. For other tools, select standard. This will show the icon for the cursor when the tool is in use. In the following lesson you will learn how to crop and repair image flaws. 1. From the training files, open the file named cars1.jpg. If a window titled Embedded Profile Mismatch appears, click on OK and continue. 3 Tip: If you ever wish to change the default color settings in Photoshop select Color Settings from under the Edit menu, then from the Working Spaces, RGB scroll menu select the desired color setting. In most situations for the WWW, these settings are not a factor. However, if photos are being prepared for commercial publication on paper (other than from a desktop or local laser printer) you may need to adjust the RGB setting as well as the working space, gray and spot dot gain, and the color management policies. Your printer contractor should be able to suggest settings that work best on their press. You will notice that there are flaws on the photo. Also, there are solid black and solid white areas at the edges, and the horizon is slightly crooked. In the next step you will fix the horizon, crop the image and then repair the flaws. It is critical that these steps be completed before making any color correction adjustments to the image. 2. Select the crop tool from the Toolbox. Drag the cursor across the photo to make a crop box. Do not worry about being precise at this point. This crop box may be adjusted by placing the cursor on one of the boxes at the corners or middle of each side. Drag one of the vertical sides so that it is on or very near one of the vertical pipes in the fencing. Release the mouse button and move the cursor outside the crop box. Notice that the 4 cursor changes to a hooked shape. When the cursor takes this shape you may rotate the crop box and straighten horizons by dragging the cursor outside the crop box. Use this technique to align an edge of the crop box with one of the fence poles, and then place the cursor on one of the grab points and size the box to what you want to keep in the image. (Make sure none of the solid black or solid white areas on the edges are included in the final crop.) Position the cursor within the crop box and double click to crop the image. 3. Save the image as a tiff format file. Now we will use the Healing Brushes to repair the flaws in the photo. 4. Right click the Healing Brush icon in the Toolbox. We will be using the Spot Healing and Healing Brush tools. These tools quickly remove imperfections from photos by painting sampled pixels while also texture, transparency, lighting and shading of the saqmpled pixels to the pixels being “healed.” The Spot Healing Brush automatically samples from around the retouched area and determines what to heal and how to do it. The Healing Brush requires the user to first select sample pixels to use. First, select the Healing brush tool. In the Options Bar, below. Set the brush size to 20, Hardness to about 50 percent, and spacing to about 25 percent, Mode on Normal, Source as Sampled and click on the Aligned option, as shown below. 5 Position the cursor on the track surface to the right of the white scratch so that the crosshair in the center of the brush aligns with the black line that runs through the scratch. Press Alt/click or Option/click to select the area to be sampled. . Now, place the cursor so that the crosshair is on the intersection of the white scratch and the black line. Press the mouse button and drag the cursor up and down the scratch to remove the scratch. TIP: Pressing the Caps Lock key with any tool will change the cursor to a crosshair (+), allowing the user to make very precise sampling selections, repairs and crops. Now, we will begin fine-tuning the color balance and other image adjustments, such as contrast. Make sure the Preview button is clicked on in the interfaces associated with the following tools. 5. Select Image > Adjustments > Levels. In the window that opens, click the “Auto” button. This will set the black point and white point in the image. These are marked by the black and white keys under the graph. The middle key controls values of the middle tones. Slide the middle key to the left until the image improves. Black Point Key Midtone Key White Point Key 6 6.Select Image > Adjustments > Color Balance. Here the user may make fine adjustments to the color balance of the image in each level (highlights, middle tones, shadows). In theory, the levels adjustment in the previous step balanced the black and white points, but the middle tones often need adjustment. Experiment with the buttons and sliders. For this image, Midtone Color Levels of +8, +8 and –4 are probably close. 7. Select Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast. Experiment with the sliders to see the effects of moving them. In this image, +2 Brightness and +7 Contrast is probably a good starting point. 7 8. Digital images, even those taken with a digital camera, tend to lack sharpness. Selecting Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask can compensate for this. The cursor becomes a square when over the image. The area in the square appears in the Unsharp Mask preview window when the mouse is clicked. An Amount of 40 percent and Radius 1.2 pixels is typically a good starting point when using this tool. 9. Select the Burn tool from the toolbox. In the Options Bar create a soft-edged brush about 75 pixels in diameter. Select highlights in the Range box and set the Exposure at about 7 percent. Drag the cursor over the very bright areas on the cars to “burn down” the excessive highlights. 10. Save the image as a tiff file. 8 In this lesson you will learn how to size and save the image for the WWW. Care must be taken to insure that a photo intended for use on the WWW is of an appropriate resolution and physical size. In most cases, there is no need to post photos on the WWW that have resolutions greater than 72 ppi (pixels per inch) because this is the most common resolution of computer monitors. Also, higher resolutions mean the file is larger and will take the user longer to download. As for physical dimensions (width and heigth), keep in mind that the image should easily fit within a web browser when displayed on a monitor. In other words, think small. 1. Select Image > Image Size. 2. The window shown above right opens. Make sure the “Constrain Proportions” and “Resample Image” boxes are checked on. “Bicubic” should be selected in the scroll box at the bottom of the window. Leave the “Pixel Dimensions” standards set to pixels. If you wish, set the “Document Size” standards to inches. This may help you visualize the finished image. The “Resolution” standard should be set to “pixels/inch.” 3. Change the width in the Document Size section to 2 inches. Note the changes in the Pixel Dimensions section as shown below. The photo will now be 300 pixels wide in a web browser. (Optional… change the resolution to 72 ppi. If the resolution is not changed now, it will be automatically changed in the next step. 9 4. Save the image by clicking File > Save for Web. (If you simply save the image it may not be properly formatted, and selecting Save As may not produce the best result for your purposes.) By selecting Save for web the photo’s resolution is automatically adjusted to 72 pixels per inch. 10 5. Click the “4 Up” tab as soon as the Save for Web window opens. This will display examples of the image. The original is in the top left. A high quality version is in the top right, medium quality is at the bottom left and a low quality version is at bottom right. The quality value of each view is determined by the numeric value in the “Quality” field on the right side of the window. By default, GIF format versions are displayed for the high, medium and low quality versions. These need to be changed to jpeg format. To select jpeg versions, click on the high quality version then select jpeg from the scroll menu on the right side of the interface. 4-Up Tab Browser preview scroll Optional: Change the file format and quality values, then click “2 Up” then “4 Up” to see how this affects the size and download times of the different versions displayed in the window. The size and download time is in the lower left of each quadrant of the window. You may preview the image in a browser by selecting a browser from the small scroll button in the lower right of the window. After experimenting, return the format to jpeg with high, medium and low quality levels set in the appropriate fields. 6. Select the version that fits your needs by clicking on it. 11 7. Click the “Save” button and a normal save interface opens. Navigate to the directory you wish to use and click the Save button. _______________________________________________________ Working with selections In this exercise you will select a specific portion of a photo and make correction enhancements to that area. There are several selection tools. All are located in the top two rows of the Toolbox. The magic wand is controlled by a tolerance set in the options bar. Clicking on the photo with this tool will select all pixels that meet the tolerance parameters that are also in contact with the location of the cursor when the user clicks the mouse. The Marquee tools are primarily used to make selections shaped like rectangles, squares, ellipses, and circles. Pressing the shift key while using the rectangle or elliptical tools will select a perfect square or circle. Pressing the Alt (Mac Option) key while using these tools will cause the selection to be drawn with the cursor’s initial location as the center of the shape. The Lasso tools allow you to draw shapes. The Lasso can draw curves by dragging the cursor. The Polygonal Lasso is used to make selections that have straight edges. Clicking on the photo will define the start point of the selection. Move the mouse and click again to define the first edge of the selection. Add as many sides as are needed. When the cursor returns to the start point a small circle appears next Magic Wand to the cursor. Clicking at this point will complete the polygon. The Magnetic Lasso has tolerances that are controlled in the options bar. This tool will “sense” pixels and snap to shapes in the photo based on the settings in the options bar. 1. From your training files, open the file named driver1.jpg. 12 2, Select the Magic Wand from the toolbox. Enter 15 in the Tolerance box in the Options Bar and click on Anti-aliased and Contiguous. Click on the black padding inside the driver’s helmet. If necessary press the shift key and move the Magic Wand to padding that was not selected and click until nearly all of the padding in the helmet is selected as shown below. Take care to not select part of the man’s hat as shown below. If part of the hat is selected click on the Lasso tool in the toolbox, press the Alt key (Option on a Mac) and carefully draw around the hat to deselect it. Under Select > Feather enter 4 as the Feather Radius. 3. Select the Lasso from the toolbox. Press the shift key and carefully use the Lasso to draw between the selection lines and around the driver’s face to add the face to the selected area as shown below. 4. Press Control + h in Windows or Command + h on a Macintosh. This will hide the selection line and make it easier to observe the area of transition between the selected area and the rest of the imagery in the following steps. 13 5. Acquire the Levels. Adjust the white point key until its Input Levels value is about 150. Slide the Midtone value to about 1.20. 6. Open the Color Balance controls. Click the highlights button and make adjustments to the highlight areas of the selected imagery, then click the midtones button and do the same. 7. Open the Brightness/Contrast adjustment control. Adjust as needed and click OK. 8. Deselect the selected area of the image and Save the image. There are three ways to deselect a selected area. Click on Deselect under the select menu, press the Command + D keys, or click on the photo with any selection tool except the polygonal and magnetic lassos or the single row and single column marquee tools. 14