Introduction to Photoshop--

Creating a new file in Photoshop

Go to File > New
If you want a full screen image for Video use the following settings.

Click Okay and youπre done!

Letπs play with the toolbar and see what tools we have at our disposal.

The Marquee tool- is the first tool you will find on the top left of the of the tool bar.

This tool will allow you to create a shape or selection on an image.

Click on the Rectangular Marquee tool and click and drag across your blank canvas to create a square selection that fills two thirds of the screen. Just like the image below. (The selected area has ≥marching ants≤ around the selection.)

We can color in any shape we create by using the paint bucket on the tool bar. Click on the paint bucket (A) and change the color to what you like by clicking on the color picker (B) on the toolbar and choosing a color on the color picker (C) and saying ≥OK≤

(A) (B) (C)

Click on the square with the paint bucket selected and you will paint the square as seen below.

You can use the Move Tool to grab a selection and move it any where around the screen.

Creating Layers

Photoshop organizes all the information about images onto what it calls ≥Layers.≤ Notice the layers palette at the bottom right hand corner of your workspace. What ever is on the top layer affects or covers all layers beneath it.

Create a new layer in your document by going to ≥Layer≤> ≥New Layer≤ and click ≥okay≤

In the Layers palette you will notice that a new layer has been created called ≥layer 2.≤ A layer is active when it is highlighted blue. (Remember: You can only edit selected layers.)

With Layer 2 selected in the layers palette, use the elliptical marquee tool (A) and draw and paint a circle on top of your square as shown below (C).

Make sure to remove your previous selection by going to Select > Deselect before trying to draw your circle. (B)

(A) (B)

(C)

Notice that the Layers Palette has a your circle on Layer 2 and your square on Layer 1.You can turn a layerπs visibility on and off by clicking on the eye icon in the layers palette. Try it.

Gradient Tool

Now we will create a background ≥gradient≤ behind our shapes.
Deselect any selections you might have by going to Select > Deselect.

Create another new layer by going to Layer > New Layer

Make sure to select Layer 3 in the layers palette.

Click on the gradient tool which is under the paint bucket tool.

Notice the tool palette (A) that comes up when the gradient tool is selected. Select a color scheme that you like and make sure the transparency/opacity is set to 100.

(A)

Click and drag the gradient tool across the screen and then let go. A gradient should cover the screen on layer 3 as shown.

In the Layers palette, click and drag Layer 3 below Layers 1 and 2 so that they appear on top of the gradient as shown below (A).

(A)

Resize Photos-

Open Photoshop and go to File>Open and navigate to your saved copy of your picture.

Go to Image>Image size

Notice the pixel value information of the image of yourself. If you wanted to make this image full screen we would adjust the ≥pixel≤ properties to 720x534 for a full screen image for video. Leave the image size of the image the way you found it. ( Remember that enlarging an image too much can stretch the pixel information in an image and make the picture look blurry or aliased)

Make sure to leave ≥Constrain Proportions≤ selected or the height and width perspectives will be changed in the final copy of the image.

Creating Selections

The lasso tools offer 3 ways to select parts of an object you can edit or copy and paste.

The Lasso Tool by itself allows you to draw a selection using the mouse as a pencil. (You must end the selection back to its starting point in order to close the selection on all the lasso tools.)

The Polygonal Lasso Tool will let you make a selection using straight lines and angles. Click on the tool and move mouse to start selection. Click the mouse each time you want to make a corner point. Again you must close the selection in order to complete it.

The Magnetic Lasso Tool automatically puts down a selection along areas of high color contrast by dragging the mouse along. Again you must close the selection in order to complete it

The Magic Wand Tool is a selection that makes selections based on color information. If you select a certain color value, the magic wand will select all the pixels in an image that have that value. ( The fine tune the tool adjust the Tolerance value of the wand)

Create a selection of your face that removes all of the green from the image by using the combination of all the tools above.

BEFORE AFTER

Quick Mask Mode-

Creating selections with quick mask mode is the most precise way to select an image to copy. Sometimes the other selection tools donπt quite get all the color information selected that you want.
Open your image you want to cut out a portion of.
Select quick mask mode on the toolbar just below the color picker.

Set the color picker to black and white by clicking on the overlapping black and white boxes.

Choose the brush tool and select the appropriate size for your brush.

Begin painting out the area you want to remove in red highlighted paint. All the painted area will become the selection you create. You can use the magnifying tool to zoom in closer to precisely select pixels.

If you make a mistake, switch the color picker back to white and you can paint back in the area selected. You can fine tune the selection without having to start over.

Switch back to standard mode and notice the ≥marching ants around all the areas you painted.

Hit delete and all the selected areas outside of the selected are will disappear.

In order to get the selected area to disappear, you need to invert the selection to delete the areas outside of a selection Go to Select > Inverse (A) . And then hit delete on the keyboard and you should up with an image surrounded by transparency like below (B).

(A) (B).

Copy and Paste Images-

Open an image you would like to copy from and make sure the layer is selected in the layers palette.
Use a selection tool like the marquee or lasso tools to choose the part of the image you would like to copy. Each of the tools below can help you select portions of an image.

(The selected portion of an image will have the marching ants around it as below.)

You can select just the transparency of an area by ≥control clicking≤ on the thumbnail of the layer in the Layers Palette.

Select the cutout of yourself from the image and paste yourself into the other image we created like below.

Go to Edit> copy or press ≥apple + c≤ on the keyboard.
Open the image you wish to paste into.
Go to Edit> paste and the selection should paste into the open image.

You may need to resize or transform the object once it has been dropped into the new image.(see Free Transform

Free Transform

Select the layer you want to change in the layers palette
Go to Edit> Free Transform

Grab the small edge points and change the size of the image. ( Holding Shift while you drag will contrain the proportions of your image so it maintains the original dimensions)

You can also rotate the image by grabbing the corners of the image.
Click Return to commit changes to the layer.

Add Filters-

Select a layer or make a selection

Go to Filter> select a filter of your choice.

Adjust the properties on the filter and click okay.

Play around with filters and save the image.

Create a Magazine Cover with your Image
1. Now take your image and redesign the background with text and art work to create a magazine cover.

2. Obects required of a magazine cover include:

a. Barcode ( search for this is google and put it in)

b. Title of the Magazine (Choose a Word of Phrase that you connect with)
c. Sub Headers (titles to stories that might relate to your interests/personality/future?)
d. Format that matches the 11 x 8.5 design of a magazine.

See Samples Below-