PHOTOSHOP: THE BASICS WHS MULTIMEDIA WRITING WORKSHOP JULY 17, 2013

WHY PHOTOSHOP?  Photoshop is the industry standard program for designing and photo editing.  It is the most popular image processing software.  Tutorials are widely available  Strong user community  Though complicated, it’s a very powerful tool once you know how to use it.  Easy to use with other Adobe programs  Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, After Effects, & more  … Basically it’s the best :D

FINDING PHOTOSHOP 1.Go to Finder 2.Click Applications (on the left) 3.Scroll sideways until you see this: 1.Double click the Photoshop folder 2.Double click the Photoshop square

THE PROJECT TODAY  The project is to make a computer wallpaper/background with your name and other shapes.  Finished sample – before & after

CHOOSING AN IMAGE  Background image theme  Google image any famous landmark or landscape.  Ideas: Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls, Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Grand Canyon, etc.  MAKE SURE TO GOOGLE HD PICTURES ONLY. The picture needs to be high quality or it will look blurry and pixelated.  Ask me if you’re not sure! (Try to find at least 1000x1000)  Save it onto Desktop  Open it on Photoshop  Go to Photoshop  ( At the Top Left) File -> Open

EXPLORING PHOTOSHOP  There’s a LOT of buttons.  3 main components of workspace:  Menu bar  Options bar  Toolbox  Palettes  History  Color  Navigator  A whole lot more!  About “Undo”:  In Photoshop, using Undo (Command + Z) multiple times doesn’t work. It “Undoes” the fact that you “Undid”, so the technical term they use is Step Backwards (Command + Option (Alt)+ Z); this is what you will usually use.

EXPLORING PHOTOSHOP – CONTINUED  There’s a LOT of buttons… But don’t worry!  3 main components of the workspace: 1.Menu bar 2.Options bar 3.Toolbox  Palettes  Document windows

THE TOOLBOX

LAYERS  One of the most useful things about Photoshop is layers!  Compare with Microsoft Paint.Microsoft Paint  Layers are just as they sound – different layers of the same picture. Think of scrapbooking. Or a sandwich.

FILTERS  Not exactly like Instagram filters.  They are usually used to edit camera photos – sort of like special effects for pictures.  TRY IT: 1.Go to Filter -> Oil Paint 2.Play around with the sliders on the right. 3.Click OK if you want to keep it; Cancel if you don’t.  There are many other default filters on Photoshop that you can try out.

ADJUSTMENTS  These are more similar to photo editing apps on your phone.  Two ways:  Manual Adjustments  Adjustment Layers  Today we’ll use Manual Adjustments.  TRY IT: 1.Go to Image -> Adjustments 2.Click any of the options and play around with it!  Remember you can Step Backwards by pressing Command + Option (Alt) + Z!

RETOUCH & HEALING TOOLS  Spot Healing Brush  Used to quickly remove spots you don’t want. Like a paintbrush that fixes things automatically.  TRY IT: 1.Use the Spot Healing Brush and “paint” over something you’d like to remove. (E.g. tree, bird, telephone wire)  Blur & Sharpen Tools  Blur vs. Sharpen  These blur and sharpen whatever parts of the image you click and drag over.  There are more retouch tools, but they’re a bit more complicated.

THE TYPE TOOL  Basically a text type tool.  TRY IT: 1.Click on the T in the toolbox 2.Click and drag a box 3.Type in your name 4.Select all 5.Choose any font  Seems simple, but there are more options  Rotate: Hover around a corner, then click and drag to rotate  Warp: Click on the at the top, then play with the options

LAYER STYLES  Layer Styles have options to adjust settings to the image that applies to THAT LAYER ONLY.  Pretty neat!  TRY IT: 1.Right click your Type Layer (your name) 2.Go to Blending Options 3.Check the box next to Drop Shadow 4.Click Drop Shadow (should be highlighted) 5.Play around with the options 6.Try this for any of the styles

FREE TRANSFORM  On Photoshop, you can distort and warp things in literally any direction.  TRY IT: 1.Right click the Type layer (your name) 2.Click Rasterize Type. 3.Go to Edit 4.Click Free Transform 5.(continued on next slide)

 To resize, click on any corner handle and drag.  To rotate, hover around a corner handle and then drag.  To skew, hold onto Alt + Command, then click near the outside of the box, then drag.  To add perspective, hold onto Alt + Command + Shift, then click near the outside of the box, then drag.  To warp, click Edit -> Transform -> Warp -> then drag any handles.  Press ESC to cancel your transformations. Press ENTER to keep them.  Play around with it! You don’t have to use all of them.  If you don’t like any of the adjustments, remember you can Step Backwards by pressing Command + Option (Alt) + Z!

PAINTING TOOLS  TRY IT: 1.Create a New Layer 2.Click on the Brush tool 3.Right click your picture 4.Choose a brush 5.Change Size to 20 px 6.Change Hardness to 30% 7.Draw “hello”

CONGRATULATIONS!  You’ve learned the basics of Photoshop! : )  There is a link to more detailed tutorials on the Weebly site if you want to learn more.  Ask for me for any help!  Feel free to add more to your picture and play around with the options.