Using Adobe Photoshop CS: A Comprehensive Guide to Image Editing with Photoshop, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Photoshop

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Using Adobe Photoshop CS

Image Editing software

Basic concepts

What is Photoshop?, other options, types of image files, The Photoshop workspace (toolbox, options bar, palettes)

Other options

• Adobe Elements (basic, cheaper version of PShop) - $
• Corel Paintshop Pro - $79 (similar to Elements)
• MS Photodraw/ PhotoEditor – often free
• Software that comes with digital camera

Types of image files 1

• .psd
  • Native Photoshop file, usually needs to be saved as other type
  • New images, layered images start as .psd
• .gif
  • Good for web, used for simple images, large eras of flat color
  • Often good for B & W
  • Supports transparency
  • Lossless
• .jpeg
  • Good for web, used for photos or complex coloration (e.g. – gradients)
  • Slightly longer to download (decompression time)
  • Lossy
  • Doesn’t support transparency

Color modes

• Image, Modes
  • RGB is almost always best bet
    • Default choice
  • CMYK for high end professional printers
  • Grayscale for B&W
  • Index greatly reduces file size
  • IMPORTANT: If Photoshop is not allowing you to use a tool, change mode from index to RGB
  • 8 - bit is usually adequate
    • It’s per channel, so you’re actually talking about 24 bit image in RGB mode
    • 16 - bit only for very high resolution pictures
      • Very large file size

The Photoshop workspace

image Options palette toolbox History palette Layers palette

The options palette

• Just below the Menu choices
• Changes depending on which tool you’ve chosen from the toolbox
• Allows greater control of that tool by changing settings Options palette for paintbucket tool

The palettes

• 19 palettes available from the Windows menu
• Only need a few up all the time
  • Toolbox (already discussed)
  • Options (already discussed)
  • Layers
    • One of the main reasons Photoshop is so versatile
    • Layer images on top of other images – mix text, photos, shapes by superimposing them
  • History
    • Ctrl + Z only works for the last thing you did
    • History palette lets you go “back in time” step by step - particularly useful when you’re first learning Photoshop, so you can back out of a bad decision
• Pull up others (e.g. Character for text, Styles for special effects)

as needed

Opening an image: the file browser

• If you know exact name of file…
  • File, Open
  • Web sites often have huge numbers of images
  • 1 images folder – gets bigger and bigger
• For large libraries of images, or non-descriptive file names…
  • Window, File browser
  • Gives thumbnail of every picture in folder
  • Allows fast ways to browse, sort, flag, rotate, delete, etc.

The File browser

Thumbnails Folder browser Metadata Rotate Flag Search Delete

Cropping an image 2

• When you’re happy with crop, double-click inside it - Cursor will change to solid black triangle
• The cropped image will be displayed
• Rename the image (so you don’t overwrite original image) and save it - AFTER you’ve saved it, when Photoshop asks if you want to save changes, say “no” (it’s counter- intuitive, but you’ve already saved a version of your image) - We’ll discuss save options in a few minutes

Resizing an image 1

• For web: smaller image = smaller file size = faster download time
  • Also lower file size by compressing when saving
• Web images are measured in pixels
  • Actual size depends on resolution
  • Design with 800 x 600 in mind
    • 640 x 480 (1%)*
    • 800 x 600 (29%)*
    • 1024 x 768 and higher (68%)*
  • Your specific audience might skew higher or lower *these numbers are notoriously hard to track accurately

Resizing an image 3

• Image menu, Image Size
• Make sure “Constrain proportions” is checked to avoid stretching - Link icon appears
• Change width (in pixels), height will automatically change
• Use document size box for print (set in inches, not pixels)
• Save as new file name, so as not to overwrite original image

Saving images 1

• General rule:
  • Photos, complex images save as .jpegs
  • Cartoonish images with large areas of flat color save as .gifs
  • Many exceptions, so try both options and compare side by side (using 2-up or 4-up)
  • .png is not supported by all browsers, so try to avoid
  • Transparency supported by .gif, but not .jpeg
• Goal is to find a compromise between file size and image quality - Lower file size = lower image quality