USING ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ™

USING ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ™ Adobe Photoshop™ is by far the most popular brand of software in the graphic design industry. It is used in advertising, package design, publishing, professional photography, as well as in digital mediums like web site design, interactive multimedia, video games, and even for producing graphics seen on television or video and DVDs. Photoshop™ has hundreds of tools, menus, and features that allow us to do very creative and/or very technical edits to a visual project. We can also work with layers, which allows us to arrange things on top of one another. Once we have created an image that we like, we can also save it in several formats that can be used for different purposes. For example, the images used on a web site should not be used in print production, and images created for print production can’t be used for web sites. We will not be able to cover every single feature that Photoshop™ has, but you will certainly enjoy a wide variety of projects that will help you learn how to create your own visually exciting graphic designs. During the school year, we will practice several techniques in Photoshop™, as well as other design software like Adobe Illustrator™. This packet should be brought to class at all times as a quick reference for how certain tools work. To open Photoshop™ in our lab, you can either go to its location on your computer: MacIntosh HD>Applications>Adobe Photoshop CS> then double-click on the icon shown below OR you can double-click on the same icon on the Dock, (which is at the bottom of your screen). If Photoshop’s icon is not there, ask the teacher for help to add it. 1 Once Photoshop™ is open, you will probably see a few small windows scattered around your screen. Each window has a unique purpose, and we will cover some of those in this packet. Creating a New Photoshop™ Document To create a brand new document, go to the ‘File’ menu at the top of the screen and select ‘New…’ or hold down the command key (apple) and the ‘N’ key. The window pictured below will appear to ask you what settings you want for the new document: You can name the document at the top, and in ‘Preset’ there are various settings that you might use to determine what size you want, but most designers need a specific set of dimensions. NOTE: When setting the Width and Height, it is very important to pay attention to the units of measure shown on the right (they are ‘pixels’ in the diagram above). If you selected 500 inches, the document would be to huge for Photoshop to handle, and it will probably run very slow or eventually crash. The teacher will usually tell you what size to make your projects, and which units of measure to use. The resolution and Color Mode might be reset depending on what your image will be used for. Web graphics usually have a resolution of 72 and are in RGB Color Mode. Images used for print usually have a resolution of 150 or higher, and their Color Mode is usually CMYK, not RGB. (The teacher will tell you what settings to use for various projects). 2 Using the Tool Palette If you do not see the window shown in the diagram below, go to the ‘Windows’ menu then select ‘Tools’ (it should be at the very bottom of the menu). Here are the names for the various tools and important notes: Tool Palette Special Notes about the Tool Palette: #1 Whenever you select a tool on the tool palette, look at the top of your screen and you will see a horizontal panel of options that are available while working with that tool. #2 If a tool icon has a black arrow in its lower right corner (like the Marquee Tools for example) it means that there are other tools available there that are not displayed. Hold your mouse down on the icon and a menu will appear with all of the other options you can select under that tool. #3 Each tool has unique purposes. We will use some more than others, and some we will not use at all. Go to the next page to see a description of what each tool does. Marquee Tools Lasso Tools Crop Tool Healing Brush, Patch Tool, & Color Replace Clone Stamp Tool and Pattern Stamp Tool Erasers Blur, Sharpen, and Smudge Tools Path Selection Tool Pen Tool Notes Tool Hand Tool Move Tool Magic Wand Tool Slice Tool Brush and Pencil Tools History Brush Tool and Art History Brush Tool Fill Tool and Gradients Dodge, Burn, and Sponge Tools Text Tools Shape Tools Eyedropper Tool Zoom Tool Switch Foreground and Background color Background color Foreground color Normal mode or Quick Mask Mode Photoshop view modes Work on image with Adobe ImageReady 3 Marquee Tools The Marquee tools allow you to select a specific part of an image, as shown on the right. Any effects that you add will only occur within the selected area. It is also helpful if you want to select part of an image, copy it, then paste it in a new layer or in some other document. The marquee tool can be round or rectangular. If you hold down the shift key while drawing with the rectangular marquee tool, it will make either a perfect square. Hold down the shift key while drawing with the elliptical marquee tool for a perfect circle. You can move the marquee area by clicking inside of it then dragging it. To deselect the area, click outside of it or hold down the command (apple) key and the ‘D’ key on your keyboard. Area selected with Marquee Tool Move Tool The Move tool is only used to move around separate layers. When you have a project that contains several separate layers and you wish to arrange them in your composition, this is the tool you will use. On the options panel at the top of the screen, you can select ‘Auto-select Layer’ so that when you click on an object, its layer is automatically selected. (If this feature is off, you will need to manually select the layer that you need in the Layers window). You can also select ‘Show Bounding Box’, which will create a box around the image on a single layer and would allow you to stretch the selected image. If you ever use the Move tool while an area is selected, it will be cut out and moved (called a ‘Nudge’) Lasso Tools The Lasso tool is similar to the Marquee tool because we use it to select part of an image, but the difference is that it allows us to draw the selected area we want (see image at right). The round lasso tool works just like a pen. The Polygonal Lasso works with lines. Each time you click, it creates a new line until you join back to where you started. It’s better for tracing around straight edges like buildings, etc. (Watch out! The Polygonal Lasso tool can get tricky. If you get stuck in it and have lines everywhere, hit the ‘esc’ key in the top left corner of your keyboard to escape.) To deselect the area, click outside of it or hit Command (apple) + ‘D’. Area selected with the Lasso Tool Magic Wand Tool Area selected with the Magic Wand Tool The Magic Wand Tool is also used to select parts of an image, but it isolates the selected area by the color where the mouse was clicked. In the image at right, the Magic Wand Tool was used to select part of the sky. When using the Magic Wand Tool, pay attention to the ‘Tolerance’ setting at the top of the screen. 32 is the default number. A low number (15 or below) will pick only very specific colors. A higher number will select multiple colors. The maximum value is 255 which would select the entire image. 4 Special Note: The Marquee, Lasso, and Magic Wand Tools are all used to select parts of an image. If you select one part of an image with any of these tools, you can still select other areas with the same tool or another selection tool by holding down your shift key while selecting the different parts of the image. You can also swap the selected areas by holding down Shift +Command + ‘I’ Crop Tool The Crop tool is used to take an existing image and trim it down only to a selected rectangular area. When you select it, you draw a box over the area you wish to isolate. The area to be trimmed out will get dark, but the part to remain will have a normal appearance and will be surrounded by a bounding box (see middle image below). You can adjust the bounding box until you get the exact area you wish to crop. Click on the Crop tool’s icon in the Tool Palette again. A window will appear asking if you wish to crop the image. Select ‘Crop’. The dark area will be subtracted and only the area inside of the bounding box will be left. You can undo the Crop tool, but if you save the cropped image, the subtracted area is permanently deleted. Original image Selected Crop area Remaining image Slice Tool The Slice Tool is mostly used in web design. We will not utilize it in Beginning Graphic Design. Healing Brush, Patch Tool, and Color Replacement Tool Each of these tools may require some experimenting to get used to them. The Color replacement tool works like a paintbrush, except it replaces the colors it finds in the image with whatever color is currently selected in the Foreground Color box on the Tool Palette. Paintbrush and Pencil Tools The Pencil tool is basic in that you simply select a color and size for the Pencil then draw with it. The Paintbrush tool is much more sophisticated. If you experiment with all of the settings, you can create a wide variety of brush effects that resemble traditional painting and airbrushing. 5 Clone Stamp Tool and Pattern Stamp Tool The Clone Stamp tool can be used to copy a selected area then anywhere you click that image will be reproduced. First, you must pick a brush size in the options at the top of the screen. That brush size will be the size of the area to be copied. Position the mouse over the area you wish to clone, then hold down the Option key on your keyboard and press the mouse to copy the area. Now if you click somewhere else on the image, your selected area will appear. If you drag the Clone Stamp tool, a larger portion of the original image will be drawn. The Pattern Stamp tool works like a paintbrush, but it adds a selected pattern (see the Pattern options at the top of the screen, and view more by clicking on the small, circular arrow button). History Brush Tool and Art History Brush Tool These tools are fairly complicated. You are welcome to experiment with them but we probably won’t use them very often in Beginning Graphic Design. Eraser Tools The eraser tools are best used with layers. If you use the eraser on a Background layer, it will add whatever color is displayed in the Background color box on the Tool Palette. When you erase part of a layer, the area on the layers and background behind it will be revealed. The standard Eraser can be set with various types of brushes for different effects. You can also experiment with the ‘Background Eraser Tool’. The Magic Eraser tool works just like the Magic Wand tool, but instead of selecting a cluster of matching colors, it deletes them from the current layer. Paint Bucket and Gradient Tools The Paint Bucket tool can be used to ‘fill’ an area with whatever color is selected in the Foreground box of the Tool Palette. If you switch its ‘Fill’ mode to ‘Pattern’ then it will fill the affected area with whatever pattern is currently selected at the top of the window. To fill an area, you simply click on it with your mouse. The gradient tool has more advanced options (available at the top of the screen). To apply a gradient, you must click on one part of your image, then drag the mouse to another part of the image. When you release the mouse button, the gradient area will appear. You can re-draw the gradient at any angle you wish. By default, the Gradient tool will transition between the color in the Foreground color box and the Background color box on the Tool Palette, but other gradient color varieties are available in the options, as well as types of gradient patterns. Blur, Sharpen, and Smudge Tools These tools operate like brushes, but they apply specific effects. The Blur tool will start blurring the area you are painting on. The Sharpen tool might be used to make a blurry area more defined. The Smudge tool’s effect is similar to finger painting. When using the Smudge tool, adjust the ‘Strength’ option at the top of the screen for varied effects. 100% will smear around until you let go of the mouse, but values less than 20% will barely cause a smudge mark. 6 Dodge, Burn, and Sponge Tools These tools operate like brushes, but they apply specific effects related to color modifications. Depending on what settings are applied to the Dodge and Burn tools, they affect either the dark, middle, or lightest parts of the image when you paint over it. The Dodge tool will lighten the area, the Burn tool will darken the area. The Sponge Tool has two options: Saturate and Desaturate. If Desaturate is selected, the Sponge tool will gradually remove the colors in the image, eventually reducing it to a black and white appearance. Saturate will keep brightening the colors, but if used too long, it often results in distortion of the colors. Path Selection Tool and Pen Tool These two tools involve working with clipping paths, a feature that we will probably not cover in Beginning Graphic Design. Text Tool The Text tool allows us to add words to our presentations. For easiest results, select the color you want the text to be first, then select the Text tool. Click where you want the text to start. A cursor will appear. Set the font and font size you want. If you decide to change the font or color, select all of the text with the mouse until it is highlighted then make the adjustments. You can also create vertical text as well as text that becomes a mask (to be demonstrated in class). Each time you start a new text field, it will be added to your project as a new layer. Shape Tools The Shape tools can be used to create various geometric shapes, or place pre-existing shapes and depending on the settings that you select, they can add other interesting elements to your project. The shape tools have slightly more advanced functionality than some of the other tools, so many of their unique functions and abilities will be demonstrated during class. Notes Tool The Notes tool is a feature that designers can use to create internal signals for colleagues or clients, etc. We won’t be using it in Beginning Graphic Design. Eyedropper Tool The Eyedropper tool allows you to click anywhere on the image, and the color under your mouse will be assigned as the Foreground color. This is helpful for matching colors that already exist in your image without having to guess and pick them out in other windows. Hand Tool and the Zoom Tool The Hand tool is only operational when you have zoomed in on your image. It allows you to drag the image (called ‘scrolling’) to get other parts of the image into the visible area on screen. The Zoom tool allows you to magnify your image for close-up detail work. You can either click on the image itself until you get the desired magnification, draw a box around the area you wish to magnify or hit Command and the ‘+’ sign on your keyboard (Command and the minus sign will zoom out). 7 Special Note: Any of the tools that function with brushes (such as the Paintbrush, Pencil, Eraser, Dodge, and others) can be controlled for stability. If you want to paint a perfectly straight line from left to right or top to bottom, or at 45 degree angles simply hold down the Shift key on your keyboard, then hold down the mouse button and move your brush. It is also possible to draw straight lines from one point to another by clicking at the starting point, then hold the shift key down and click at the second point, and Photoshop™ will automatically apply the brush effect along a straight line from the first point to the second point. Foreground and Background Color Controls The Foreground color is very important while using the Tool Palette. It determines what color will be applied to many of the selected tools, such as the Paintbrush, Text, Paint Bucket, and others. There are several ways to select a color in Photoshop™, which will then be assigned as the Foreground color (see options 1 through 3 below). Shows the Foreground color, which can be set by any of the steps below. The curved arrow swaps the Foreground color with the Background color Resets the Foreground color to black and the Background color to white Shows the Background color, (can’t be selected with the Eyedropper tool) How to Select Colors in Photoshop: Any of the options below will select a color and assign it as the Foreground color: #1) Use the Eyedropper tool by clicking on an existing color in your image. #2) Go to the Window menu and select either Color or Swatches. The Color window has has sliders that can help pinpoint a color. Swatches has small boxes you can select. #3) Double-click on the Foreground color box (also works for the Background box) to access the Color Picker window, shown at right. This window allows you to either click on the color of your choice, or type in the values for RGB, CMYK, LAB, or HSB that will generate the color needed (used by professional designers). 8 Other controls on the Tool Palette: Edit in Standard Mode Screen Modes Edit in ImageReady Edit in Quick Mask Mode Edit in Standard Mode This is the normal work mode for Photoshop™, the ‘Quick Mask Mode’ is the other option (see below) Edit in Quick Mask Mode This feature allows you to brush over a section of your image then eventually select it. When this mode is selected, you can click on the Paintbrush, Pencil, Text, or Shape tools too add content (it will always appear to be red). When you click back on Standard Mode, the area(s) around your red items will be selected (like Magic Wand, Marquee, Lasso, etc.) Then you can apply effects inside of those selected areas. This selection process is called ‘Masking’ Screen Modes There are three viewing options, Standard, Full Screen with Menu, and just Full Screen. These are just preferences of how Photoshop™ will display your project on screen. The Standard Screen Mode is probably the most common. Edit in ImageReady Graphics for web sites are often prepared using Photoshop™, and ImageReady is another Adobe product that helps specialize the graphics for web use. We may use this later in the school year. 9 Working with Layers One of the most exciting functions of Photoshop is that it can layer multiple images to create one final composition. Images on their own layers can be separately adjusted in infinite ways, yet still be part of the overall composition. To manage Layers, we use the Layers window, which can be accessed by either going to Windows > Layers, or by hitting the F7 key at the top of your keyboard. (The Layers window is pictured in the diagram on the next page). Special Notes about Layers: • Any new layer that gets created will be inserted in front of the currently selected Layer • • Anytime you copy and paste in Photoshop™, the item that you paste will be inserted onto its own new layer New Layers can also be added in the Layers menu under New>Layer, by using shortcut buttons on the Layers window itself (see next page), or by pressing the Shift, Command, and ‘N’keys at the same time. It is helpful to name each layer according to its content. You can affect the positioning and size of an individual layer in the Edit menu under the Transform options which include rotation, scaling, or flipping the image. When you finish a transform operation, click on the Tool Palette and Photoshop™ will ask if you want to apply the transformation. Click on ‘Apply’ to accept it, ‘Don’t Apply’ to return to Transform mode, or ‘Cancel’ to exit the Transform mode. The layer at the top of the Layers window is the extreme foreground of your composition, the layer at the bottom of the Layers window is the extreme background. Layers can have their opacity adjusted at values between 0% and 100%. You can hide individual layers by clicking on the boxes along the left side of the Layers window where the eyes appear on each layer (see next page). If the eye is not visible in the Layers window, then that layer is currently hidden. Click the empty box to make it visible again. When using the Text or Shape tools, they are added as special layers. If you need to convert them to a basic image layer, go to Layers>Rasterize> then select Type for Text or Shape for Shape tool objects. Layers have their own set of effects which can be added through the Layers menu under Layer Style or with shortcut buttons on the Layers window itself. To delete an unwanted layer, go to Layer>Delete>Layer, or select the layer in the Layers window then click on the trash can icon (see next page) then select ‘Yes’ in the window that appears on your screen. Layers can be combined using Layer > Merge Down (or Command + ‘E’). The selected layer will be combined with the layer directly beneath it. • • • • • • • • 10 The Layers Window Eye symbols represent a visible layer Text Layer (extreme foreground) Layer Opacity Control Layer Effect (Outer Glow) Background Layer (Can be converted to a normal layer by double-clicking on it then selecting ‘OK’) Click here to add a new layer Click here to delete the selected layer The sample project above shows many Layer features in use. Notice that the composite image has the word ‘Lynx’ in the extreme foreground, and the photo of the lynx as the extreme background. There are also two Text layers in the project. The paw print also uses the Outer Glow effect to outline the paw symbol. See the image below for other Layer Style effects that can be applied (in this case the effects were applied to text). 11 Other Windows to Check Out The History Palette When working with most modern computers and software, we are used to having an ‘Undo’ feature that allows us to correct little mistakes. Photoshop™ makes this even easier with the History Palette, which goes back several steps. After working for a while, your History Palette will fill up with a list of descriptive events that were recorded while you were working. If you are ever working for a while and decide you want to go back several steps, try this unique window! The Image Menu Windows There are several options inside of the Image menu that lead to many useful windows, such as: Image > Mode This window is where images can be converted to formats like Grayscale (black and white only), RGB (mostly for web or screen display graphics), and CMYK (for professional printing). Image > Adjustments > Brightness / Contrast This window allows you to manipulate the lightness, darkness, and contrast of a selected area, a single layer, or your entire image. Image > Adjustments > Hue / Saturation This window allows you to manipulate the color output levels of a selected area, layer, or your entire image. Mostly used for color correction, but sometimes create wild visual effects too. Image > Image Size This window has multiple options that allow us to change the dimensions and resolution of the image we are working with (explained in more depth later) Image > Canvas Size This feature allows us to resize the space of the Photoshop™ image itself. We can add additional workspace to keep adding imagery, or reduce the size of the available workspace. Image > Rotate Canvas Sometimes we acquire images that are upside down or oriented with the bottom part of the image on the left or right side. This feature allows us to flip the image the way we want it, or even to flip the image itself (caution—text will be backwards). Each of these windows are useful for making various adjustments to your images. We will work with these windows in future projects and assignments. The Filter Menu There are several settings in this menu that you can experiment with to quickly get dynamic visual effects on your images. It simply lends itself to great artistic exploration. 12