Adobe Photoshop

Help with the industry standard photo-manipulation and computer graphics programme.

Compositing or 'photo-montage'
Photoshop competitions at worth1000.com.

Ducks on a waterfall or balloons onto a different background. Selecting with lasso and magic wand. Deleting unwanted sky from around balloons and adding a layer mask so that the balloons can be blended into the clouds. Using Ctrl-T or 'show bounding box' to 'Free Transform' selected objects so that they can be resized and rotated.

Using the move tool to drag the contents of one image across to add to a second, creating a new layer on the way. Removing the background using the eraser, magic eraser or magic wand tools. Using the zoom tool to enlarge the area of the image you are working on and then to quickly reduce the image size double click the hand tool to fit the image to your screen or double click the zoom tool to view at 100%.

Introduction to using layer masks.

Dragging a layer to the new layer icon to duplicate it.

Image adjustment using Levels, Curves, Hue & Saturation
Photographs can be quickly enhanced by adjusting Levels (Ctrl-L), Curves (Ctrl-M). Using the 'hue and saturation' option (Ctrl U) to shift colours, variations or using an adjustment layer instead for more flexibility later. Layer effects and styles.

More on layers
This cartoon styled exercise may strengthen your skills

Clipping Groups
Clipping Groups allow you to mask part of your image, leaving a picture inside text or whatever is on the layer below it, simply by alt-clicking on the line between layers.

BOOKLIST

Cloning
Retouching old images or removing blemishes from new ones using the clone and patch tools.

Many ways of selecting the area you wish to alter: marquee, lassoos, magic wand, select by colour range, layer, quickmask, pen tool.

Using the Blur/Sharpen/Smudge and Dodge/Burn/Saturation tools from the Tool Palette.

Filters
Using a range of filters.

Vignettes
Creating a vignette effect. Creating a border around an image by extending the canvas size (Image > Canvas Size) and choosing an appropriate 'background colour'. Users of Photoshop earlier than version CS note that you have to choose this colour BEFORE choosing Image > Canvas Size. We can use the same approach to extend the background in just one direction, very handy to add the back to a greetings card. Resolution issues - 72dpi, 200 dpi, 300dpi.

Save for Web
Saving in a format optimised for the World Wide Web.

Panoramas
using File - Automate - Photomerge... a feature perhaps only available from CS onwards - search for 'photomerge' in the help feature. Classroom example. Other Virtual Reality examples made using RealViz Stitcher at World Heritage Tour and Bridges. About making the examples

Type
Adding and editing type, font styles, colour, leading, alignment, warp text, styles.

Brushes
Photoshop has many different sizes and types of soft and hard edged brushes. Each can be applied using varying opacity and modes. You can even make your own brush shapes and effects.

Animation
using Adobe Imageready, a feature directly now available in Photoshop CS2.

Clipping paths
Using the pentool

Scanning
Information from scantips.com

Selection by Colour Range, Feathering
Using the Select Menu>Colour Range for more subtle selections than the magic wand. The select menu also allows you to feather, anti alias and expand your selection.

Photoshop links

Official Adobe Photoshop site

Student prices on Photoshop and the Creative Suite from Pugh

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