About Photoshop

1. Introduction

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dobe Photoshop CS is the latest in a parade of versions of the world’s leading professional image-editing program since its beginnings, Photoshop has moved far beyond its original purpose as a mere digital darkroom. The program is widely used for prepress photograph preparation; for special effects; to reinterpret photographs as paintings; and for creating graphic elements for use in presentations, video, film, and print projects. Version CS extends the program to make it even more useful for isolating subjects from their backgrounds to create what are called knockouts. In addition, for the first time, Photoshop is fully capable of preparing image for the Web and of creating interactive Web graphics.

2. Run Photoshop

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Go to Start
Point to Programs
Point to Adobe
Click on Adobe Photoshop CS

3. Creating a New Image:

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The New command is used to create a blank image/canvas.

To base the image dimensions and resolution (Photoshop) on the Clipboard contents, if the Clipboard does not contain image data, the image dimensions and resolution are based on the last image you created.

(Photoshop) To base the image size on the default dimensions and resolution or the last entered settings, hold down Alt when you choose File >New.

1. File menu>New
Or,

2. Hold down the CTRL key and double click on blank area.

4. Resolution:

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The number of pixels displayed per unit of printed length in an image, usually measured in pixels per inch (ppi). In Photoshop, you can change the resolution of an image.

In Photoshop, image resolution and pixel dimensions are interdependent. The amount of detail in an image depends on its pixel dimensions, while the image resolution controls how much space the pixels are printed over. For example, you can modify an image's resolution without changing the actual pixel data in the image--all you change is the printed size of the image. However, if you want to maintain the same output dimensions, changing the image's resolution requires a change in the total number of pixels.

- Type the 72 pixel/inch resolution for web and 300 for print.

5. Mode:

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A color mode determines the color model used to display and print images. Photoshop bases its color modes on established models for describing and reproducing color. Common models include HSB (hue, saturation, brightness); RGB (red, green, blue); CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black); and CIE Lab. Photoshop also includes modes for specialized color output such as Indexed Color and Duotone. In addition to determining the number of colors that can be displayed in an image, color modes affect the number of channels and the file size of an image.

- Choose RGB for web and CMYK for print from the mode dropdown list.

- Choose White from the contents and click on Ok.

6. Canvas Size:

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The Canvas Size command lets you add or remove work space around an existing image. You can crop an image by decreasing the canvas area. Added canvas appears in the same color or transparency as the background.

To use the Canvas Size command:

¨ Choose Image > Canvas Size

¨ Choose the units of measurement you want.

Do one of the following:

¨ Enter the dimensions you want the canvas to be in the Width and Height boxes.

¨ Select Relative, and enter the amount by which you want to increase or decrease the size of the canvas. (Enter a negative number to decrease the size of the canvas.)

¨ For Anchor, click a square to indicate where to position the existing image on the new canvas.

¨ Click OK.

7. Open Image: Open Image:

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You can open files using the Open command and Open Recent command. In Photoshop, you can also open files using the File Browser.

There may be instances when Photoshop cannot determine the correct format for a file. For example, transferring a file between Mac OS and Windows can cause the format to be mislabeled. In such cases, you must specify the correct format in which to open the file.

¨ Choose File > Open.

¨ Select the name of the file you want to open. If the file does not appear, select the option for showing all files from the Files of Type pop-up menu.

¨ Ok.

8. Opening and importing images:

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You can open and import images in various file formats. The available formats appear in the File Browser, the Open dialog box, the Open As dialog box, or the Import submenu.......

9. Duplicate Image:

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You can duplicate an entire image (including all layers, layer masks, and channels) into available memory without saving to disk.

¨ Open the image you want to duplicate

¨ Choose Image > Duplicate.

¨ Enter a name for the duplicated image

¨ To duplicate the image without layers, select Duplicate Merged Layers Only.

¨ Click OK.

Or,

¨ Click on right mouse from the canvas title.

¨ Choose Duplicate.

10. Tool Box

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The first time you start the application, the toolbox appears on the left side of the screen. Some tools in the toolbox have options that appear in the context-sensitive tool options bar. These include the tools that let you use type, select, paint, draw, sample, edit, move, annotate, and view images. Other tools in the toolbox allow you to change foreground/background colors, go to Adobe Online, work in different modes, and jump between Photoshop and Image Ready applications.

You select a tool by clicking its icon in the toolbox. A small triangle at the lower right of a tool icon indicates hidden tools. Positioning the pointer over a tool displays a tool tip with the tool's name and keyboard shortcut.

To show or hide the toolbox:

¨ Choose Window > Tools. A check mark indicates the item is showing.

To move the toolbox:

¨ Drag the toolbox by its title bar.

To select a tool:

Do one of the following:

¨ Click its icon or press its keyboard shortcut. If the icon has a small triangle at its lower right corner, hold down the mouse button to view the hidden tools. Then, click the tool you want to select.

¨ Press the tool's keyboard shortcut. The keyboard shortcut is displayed in its tool tip.

Using Marquee tools and their options

The marquee tools let you select rectangles, ellipses, rounded rectangles and 1-pixel rows and columns. By default, a selection border is dragged from its corner.

To show marquee tools:

¨ Press right mouse button from marquee tool.

1. Select a marquee tool:

¨ Rectangle marquee to make a rectangular selection.

¨ Elliptical marquee to make an elliptical selection.

¨ Single row or single column marquee to define the border as a 1-pixel-wide row or column.

With the rectangle, rounded rectangle, or elliptical marquee, drag over the area you want to select. Hold down Shift as you drag to constrain the marquee to a square or circle. To drag a marquee from its center, hold down Alt after you begin dragging.

Marquee tool options bar:

In the options bar, specify whether to add a new selection , add to a selection , subtract from a selection , or select an area intersected by other selections .
Specify a feathering setting in the options bar. Turn anti-aliasing on or off for the rounded rectangle or elliptical marquee.
For the rectangle, rounded rectangle, or elliptical marquee, choose a style in the options bar
Then drag your mouse pointer to working canvas and make a selection

If there is selection:

¨ Shift + Drag = Add selection

¨ Alt + Drag = Subtract selection

¨ Alt + Shift + Drag = Intersect selection

11. To make selection into outline/border:

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¨ Make a selection by any one marquee selection tool.

¨ Edit menu>Stroke

¨ Give width/stroke amount into the width box

¨ Choose a stroke color from the color box

¨ Choose location [inside, center, outside]

¨ Ok

12. Deselect:

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¨ Press Ctrl + D to deselect.

¨ Just click on other space of the canvas with marquee tool.

13. To choose Foreground & background color

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To fill Foreground color into the selection area:

Press Alt + Delete key from keyboard or Alt + Backspace

To fill Background color into the selection area:

Press Ctrl + Delete key from keyboard or Ctrl + Backspace

To change Background or Foreground color:

¨ Click on Foreground color tool from tool box.

¨ From the dialog box choose color and Ok.

Photoshop uses the foreground color to paint, fill, and stroke selections and the background color to make gradient fills and fill in the erased areas of an image. The foreground and background colors are also used by some special effects filters.

You can designate a new foreground or background color using the eyedropper tool, the Color palette, the Swatches palette, or the Adobe Color Picker.

The default foreground color is black, and the default background color is white. (In an alpha channel, the default foreground is white, and the background is black.)

14. Using the Swatches palette

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You can choose a foreground or background color from the Swatches palette, or you can add or delete colors to create a custom swatch library. Creating libraries of swatches can help you group related or special swatches and manage palette size.

15. To display the Swatches palette:

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Choose Window > Swatches, or click the Swatches palette tab.

16. To add a color to the Swatches palette:

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¨ Make the color you want to add the foreground color, and click the New Swatch button in the Swatches palette. Alternately, choose New Swatch from the Swatches palette menu.

¨ (Photoshop) Make the color you want to add the foreground color. Position the pointer over an empty space in the bottom row of the Swatches palette (the pointer turns into the paint bucket tool), and click to add the color. Enter a name for the new color and click OK.

Note: New colors are saved in the Preferences file so that they persist between editing sessions. To permanently save a color, save it in a library.

To delete a color from the Swatches palette:

¨ Drag a swatch to the Trash button.

17. Brush (Painting) Tool:

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Photoshop provides the brush tool and the pencil tool to let you paint with the current foreground color. By default, the brush tool creates soft strokes of color and the pencil tool creates hard-edged, freehand lines. However, you can change these default characteristics by resetting the tool's brush options. You can also use the brush tool as an airbrush to apply sprays of color to an image.

Option Bar:

¨ Specify a foreground color

¨ Select the brush tool or pencil tool.

Do the following in the options bar:

¨ First create a new canvas [size = as your needed]

¨ Choose a brush and set brush options

¨ Specify a blending mode

¨ Specify an opacity

¨ For the brush tool, specify a flow rate.

¨ Drag in the image to paint.

To draw a straight line, click a starting point in the image. Then hold down Shift, and click an ending point.

Define a Brush:

¨ Open a image or draw an image

¨ Select it by using rectangular marquee tool

¨ Edit menu> Define brush>Then give brush name and click on Ok.

Paint with your defined brush:

¨ Click on brush tool from tool box.

¨ Click on option bar “brush style” dropdown list.

¨ Then drag mouse pointer into the canvas.

18. Layer:

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Layers allow you to work on one element of an image without disturbing the others. Think of layers as sheets of acetate stacked one on top of the other. Where there is no image on a layer, you can see through to the layers below. You can change the composition of an image by changing the order and attributes of layers. In addition, special features such as adjustment layers, fill layers, and layer styles let you create sophisticated effects.

Displaying the Layers palette:

Choose Window > Layers

Using the Layers palette:

Layer Palette Menu

The Layers palette lists all layers, layer sets, and layer effects in an image. You can accomplish many tasks--such as creating, hiding, displaying, copying, and deleting layers--using the buttons in the Layers palette. You can access additional commands and options in the Layers palette menu and the Layers menu.

Using the Layers palette menu:

Click the triangle in the upper right corner of the palette to access commands for working with layers.

Creating layers and layer sets:

A new image in Photoshop has a single layer. The number of additional layers, layer sets, and layer effects you can add to an image is limited only by your computer's memory

About the background layer:

When you create a new image with a white background or a colored background, the bottommost image in the Layers palette is Background. An image can have only one background. You cannot change the stacking order of a background, its blending mode, or its opacity. However, you can convert a background to a regular layer.

When you create a new image with transparent content, the image does not have a background layer. The bottommost layer is not constrained like the background layer; you can move it anywhere in the Layers palette, and change its opacity and blending mode.

To convert a background into a layer:

Double-click Background in the Layers palette, or choose Layer > New > Layer from Background.

To add a new layer or layer set using default options:

Click the New Layer button or New Layer Set button in the Layers palette.

To add a new layer or layer set and specify options:

v Choose Layer > New > Layer or Layer > New > Layer Set.

v Choose New Layer or New Layer Set from the Layers palette menu.

v Alt-click the New Layer button or New Layer Set button in the Layers palette.

v Ctrl-click the New Layer button or New Layer Set button in the Layers palette to add a layer below the currently selected layer.

v Set layer options, click ok.

v Name to specify a name for the layer or layer set.

To convert a selection into a new layer:

v Open an image

v Make a selection

v Choose Layer > New > Layer Via Copy to copy the selection into a new layer.

v Choose Layer > New > Layer Via Cut to cut the selection and paste it into a new layer.

Duplicating layers:

Duplicating layers is an easy way to copy content within an image or between images. When duplicating layers between images, keep in mind that the layer's content will appear smaller or larger if it is copied to a file with different resolution

v Select a layer or layer set in the Layers palette.

v Drag the layer to the New Layer button,

Linking layers:

By linking two or more layers or layer sets, you can move their contents together. You can also copy, paste, align, merge, apply transformations to, and create clipping groups from linked layers.

v Select a layer or layer set in the Layers palette.

v elick in the column immediately to the left of any layers you want to link to the selected layer. A link icon appears in the column.

To unlink layers:

v In the Layers palette, click the link icons to remove them.

To delete linked layers:

v To delete the linked layers with confirmation, choose Delete Linked Layers from the Layers menu or the Layers palette menu. Alternately, Ctrl-click the Trash button.

v To delete the linked layers without confirmation, Ctrl-Alt-click the Trash button.

To partially lock a layer:

v Select a layer

v Click one or more lock options in the Layers palette.

v Lock Transparency to confine editing to the opaque portions of the layer. This option is equivalent to the Preserve Transparency option in earlier versions of Photoshop.

v Lock Image to prevent modification of the layer's pixels using the painting tools.

v Lock Position to prevent the layer's pixels from being moved.

Note: For type layers, Lock Transparency and Lock Image are selected by default and cannot be deselected.

To rename a layer or layer set:

v Double-click the layer or layer set's name in the Layers palette, and enter a new name.

v Press Alt and double-click the layer or layer set's name in the Layers palette. Enter a new name in the Name text box, and click OK.

Deleting layers:

Deleting layers that you no longer need reduces the size of your image file.

v Select a layer or layer set in the Layers palette.

v To delete the layer or layer set without confirmation, drag it to the Trash button

Merging layers:

When you have finalized the content of layers, you can merge them to create partial versions of your composite image. The intersection of all transparent areas in the merged layers remains transparent. Merging layers helps manage the size of image files.

Note: You cannot use an adjustment layer or fill layer as the target layer for a merge.

v Make layers link

v Layer menu>Merge or Ctrl + E

Flattening all layers:

In a flattened image, all visible layers are merged into the background, which greatly reduces the file size. Flattening an image discards all hidden layers and fills the remaining transparent areas with white. In most cases, you won't want to flatten a file until you have finished editing the individual layers.

Note: Converting an image between some color modes flattens the file. Be sure to save a copy of your file that includes all layers if you want to edit the original image after the conversion.

v Make sure that all the layers you want to keep are visible.

v Choose Layer > Flatten Image, or choose Flatten Image from the Layers palette menu.
or,

v Click on Layer palette menu and choose Flatten Image.

19. Setting opacity and blending options

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Setting layer opacity

A layer's opacity determines to what degree it obscures or reveals the layer beneath it. A layer with 1% opacity appears nearly transparent, while one with 100% opacity appears completely opaque.

To specify opacity for a layer or layer set:

Select a layer or layer set in the Layers palette.

Note: You cannot change the opacity of a background layer or a locked layer.

v In the Layers palette, enter a value in the Opacity text box or drag the Opacity pop-up slider.

v Double-click a layer thumbnail, choose Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options, or choose Blending Options from the Layers palette menu. Enter a value in the Opacity text box or drag the Opacity pop-up slider.

Note: To view blending options for a text layer in Photoshop, choose Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options, or choose Blending Options from the Layers palette menu.

20. About layer effects and styles:

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Photoshop provides a variety of effects--such as shadows, glows, bevels, overlays, and strokes--that let you quickly change the appearance of a layer's contents. Layer effects are linked to the layer contents. When you move or edit the contents of the layer, the effects are modified correspondingly. For example, if you apply a drop shadow effect to a text layer, the shadow will change automatically when you edit the text.

The effects that you apply to a layer become part of the layer's custom style. When a layer has a style, an "f" icon appears to the right of the layer's name in the Layers palette. You can expand the style in the Layers palette to view all the effects that comprise the style and edit the effects to change the style.

Layer with style

Layer without style

v Choose a layer where you want to add effect

v Click on Add a Layer Style button from the layer palette or double click on layer

v Choose required style and finally click on Ok.

Note: You cannot apply layer effects and styles to a background, a locked layer, or to a layer set.