Contents. Introduction

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2 Contents Introduction 1. Overview 1-1. Glossary Menus 11 File Menu 11 Edit Menu 15 Image Menu 19 Layer Menu 20 Select Menu 23 Filter Menu 25 View Menu 26 Window Menu Tool Bar 28 Selection Tool 27 Rectangular Marquee 27 Elliptical Marquee 27 Move Tool 28 Lasso Tool 28 Polygonal Lasso 28 Magnetic Lasso 29 Magic Wand Tool 29 Cropping Tool 29 Slice Tool 29 Healing Tool 30 Brush Tool 30 Clone Stamp Tool 30 History Brush Tool 31 Eraser Tool 31 Gradient Tool 31 Blur Tool 32 Sharpen 32 Smudge 32 Dodge Tool 33 Burn Tool 33 2

3 1-4. Sponge Tool 33 Path Selection Tool 33 Text Tool 33 Pen Tool 33 Line/Shape Tool 33 Notes Tool 34 Eyedropper Tool 34 Hand Tool 34 Zoom Tool 34 Set Foreground/Background Color Tool 35 Edit Mode Tool 35 Screen Mode Tool Palettes 36 Layers Palette 36 Styles Palette 37 Navigation Palette Adjusting Images Saving Layers Resizing Cropping Erasing Creating Text Backgrounds 58 4, Enhancing Images Brushes Textures Filters Actions Styles Working with Color Changing Color Painting 85 3

4 Photoshop for Artists By Zura Ledbetter 2004 Zura Ledbetter THIS PRODUCT IS NOT ENDORSED OR SPONSORED BY ADOBE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED, PUBLISHER OF ADOBE PHOTOSHOP OR ADOBE ELEMENTS 4

5 Introduction This is not a tutorial for using Adobe Photoshop. It would take a huge manual (and someone more expert than me) to teach you the whole program. This book will teach you in very clear language how to use certain features of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Elements to expand your use of images in your artwork. This book covers what I have learned by trial and error, spending many hours using Photoshop (PS). I love the opportunities it has given me to change, enhance, resize and otherwise manipulate images. Before PS, I was bound by the size and color of images I found in a magazine or book. PS has also provided me with the opportunity to re-use images, as the original is stored on my computer after I download, scan or create it. The possibilities are endless once you learn a few simple skills. The book is divided into chapters and sections. I have tried to make it easy to find certain elements when you need to refer back to the book when you are in the middle of a project. Sections of the book contain links to other sections in order to provide additional information without re-writing the same instructions in several places. When you click on a link and it takes you to another section in the book, please note what page you are on when you click the link, as you will have to go back where you were after you see the linked information. There are many links for you to download images and brushes. They will look like this : here. When you click on these links it will take you to a web page where you can get the images. There will be instructions on the page that tell you how to download them. In this case you will still be on the same page when you return to this document after downloading. Screen shots are included to help you learn the various parts of the Photoshop window. The screen shots are taken in Elements and Photoshop 7 where the process is the same in both programs. If the screen shot is in Photoshop 7 and the process is different in Elements, look for the Elements icon, for specific instructions. 5

6 If image editing is new to you, let me assure you that you can t do anything with your keyboard or mouse that will damage your computer. Follow the instructions in Chapter 1 on saving, and you won t ruin or lose any images. You are invited to be a member of a discussion group that will be a great means of support for you as you learn to use PS. Be sure and post any questions or problems you may be experiencing. And as you learn to do things, share your successes with others. We will also be sharing links to cool things to add on to PS like brushes, actions and styles. Let this group be a great resource for you, and feel free to ask me any questions that you have. To subscribe, send a blank to psforartists-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. 6

7 Chapter 1 Overview The first section of this Chapter is a Glossary. Hopefully, you will be able to refer to this if you come across terms in the book that you don t understand. The rest of this chapter will acquaint you with the menu at the top of the PS screen, the tool bar and its various tools and the palettes. This will be very basic information, so that when we get into the chapters about actually doing manipulation you will have a basic understanding of how to navigate around the Photoshop program. You will notice that there are some items on the menus and palettes that I don t cover. The omitted items are ones that I don t use or don t know about. At the end of this book, you will be given links to web sites that offer free Photoshop tutorials. If you want to further your knowledge after learning the basics in this book, you will be able to go as far as you want to go. My focus here is only for artists that use paper images in their artwork. This book will give you the knowledge of doing virtually anything you d ever want to do to an image. 7

8 SECTION 1 GLOSSARY background The bottom-most locked layer named Background in the Layers palette. You can convert a background to a regular layer. See Tip 1. canvas size The size of the work canvas around an existing image. To change the canvas size, choose Image > Resize > Canvas Size. In Elements, click IMAGE > RESIZE IMAGE. CMYK One of the color spaces used in graphics software. This color space is based on the ink colors used in traditional full-color commercial printing: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and black. In general, it is best to edit your images in RGB color mode because many software features and commands will not be available in CMYK mode. Converting your RGB images to CMYK should be one of the final steps before sending your image to a commercial printer. Although your inkjet printer may use these four colors of ink, you do not need to convert images to CMYK for printing on consumer-level desktop inkjet printers. In the case of desktop printers, the RGB to CMYK conversion is handled by your printer driver. crop Cropping an image is the act of cutting away and discarding the unnecessary portions of the picture. Most photo editing applications include a Crop Tool for this purpose. Using the crop tool involves these steps: selecting the area to keep, refining the selection, and finalizing the crop action by whatever method your software calls for. Once the crop is finalized, the area outside the crop selection is permanently discarded. When cropping a photo, you can create a more pleasing composition by employing the "rule of thirds." handles Handles in graphics software are special points placed around an 8

9 active object that are used to manipulate the object when clicked and dragged with the mouse or other pointing device. They usually appear in the corners and each of the four sides surrounding an object for a total of eight handles. Handles are most often used to resize, stretch and transform an object. Sometimes center handles are also provided for moving or rotating an object. resolution Resolution is a measurement of the output quality of an image, usually in terms of samples, pixels, dots, or lines per inch. The terminology varies according to the intended output device. PPI (pixels per inch) refers to screen resolution, DPI (dots per inch) refers to print resolution, SPI (samples per inch) refers to scanning resolution, and LPI (lines per inch) refers to halftone resolution. Often images are referred to as high resolution (hi-res) or low resolution (low-res). High resolution would be an image intended for print, generally having 300 samples per inch or more. Low resolution refers to images only intended for screen display, generally having 100 pixels per inch or less. Scanner and digital camera manufacturers often refer to two different types of resolution when listing product specs: optical resolution and interpolated, or digital, resolution. The optical resolution is the true measurement of resolution that the output device can capture. Interpolated, or digital, resolution is acquired artificially. 9

10 rasterize The process of converting a vector image into a bitmap image. When you open a vector image in a bitmap-based editing program, you are usually presented with a dialog box of options for rasterizing the image. These options are where you would specify the pixel dimensions, color mode, and resolution of the imported file (see below). A vector graphic can also be rasterized by exporting it from a vector-based application to a bitmap format. Anti-aliasing and dithering are also options that may be offered when rasterizing an image. rgb One of the color spaces used in graphics software. This color space is based on the primary additive colors of Red, Green, and Blue. This is the most common color mode used in graphics software. 10

11 SEC TION 2 MENUS FILE MENU The following options are found in the File Menu. New Use this when you want to create a fresh file. A dialogue box will open that allows you to select the size of the image you want to create. If you choose Custom, you can click on A4, letter, legal and other sizes. If you use the Width and Height option, you can size your image either in pixels or inches. I usually work in inches, because I don t totally understand. pixels. I think that 100 pixels is a little over an inch. The resolution is an important factor to understand. The higher the resolution, the better quality of the image. To post a picture on a web page you want to use 72 pixels per inch. This is the default setting in PS. When you scan images, if you want a very high quality, you want to choose 600 pixels per inch, if your scanner has that option. For printing out images, 300 will give you good quality, but will use more ink. The Contents section of the New Dialogue Box has the choices available for the background of the new image you are creating. White is obvious, the background color is set on the toolbar. A transparent background doesn t show up on a web page or when the image is printed 11

12 This is pretty techie, isn't it? Just think of all the fun you're going to have finding images you thought you couldn't use because they were the wrong sizes! Transparent Backgrounds One way to understand backgrounds is to think of it as the place where you would start on a painting. Sometimes you will start with a clean, new canvas. Other times you might take a magazine picture and begin to work over it. When you start to create something in PS and open a new file, that is like a blank canvas. If you open an image and then change it, that is like using the magazine picture. In the magazine picture example the picture is the background layer. But whoever created that image started with a background. So if you erase something in the picture, you will expose a solid color. That color is what they used for the background or think of it as a canvas painted that solid color. If the person that created that image didn t want a color on their canvas they would have started with a transparent background. Transparent backgrounds are actually see-through. If there is an area in the magazine picture that doesn t have any color, then whatever you place that picture on is going to show through. Let s say you want to put a picture of a boy on a collage. If you make a new file, which is always going to be square or rectangular, then the area of that square that is not the boy is the background. If you put him on a black background, when you print it out, you will have to cut away the black part. If you put him on a transparent background and print him out, the transparent part will let the paper you print on show through. If you print him on a transparency sheet, you will only print the boy. 12

13 The way to recognize a transparent background is that it shows up in PS and gray and white checks. Open Use this to open a file that you have saved on your computer. A dialogue box will open to a default directory. You can choose any directory on your computer. Browse This allows you to browse a folder of images. It shows the thumbnails of all images in a folder you select. Open Recent This function will list the past few files you have opened or saved. In FILE> PREFERENCES you can select how many files it will save in the recent memory. Close Use this to close an image file. (Not the program.) Save This saves your image without giving you the option to change the name or any of the components. Save As This saves your image, allowing you to select file name, format, etc. Place You can use the File > Place command to place artwork into a new layer in an image. In Photoshop, you can place PDF, Adobe Illustrator, and EPS files; in ImageReady, you can place files in any supported format, with the exception of Photoshop (PSD) files containing CMYK images. Print with Preview This allows you to adjust how the image will look when printed. Print When you are ready to print an image, you have several options. You want to select the resolution of the image before you print it. Make sure the image size is correct. When you click on print, the Print Dialogue Box will open. 13

14 In this example, you see the button labeled Properties. With other printers it might be called options or preferences. By clicking this button you can select the quality of the print, whether you want color or black and white (sometimes called grayscale), the number of copies you want, etc. Print one copy This option allows you to print immediately without opening the print Dialogue Box. The printer will use the default printer settings, or the most recently used settings in the current PS session. When you close PS, the printer settings will return to the default that is standard quality print, color printing, and standard type paper. 14

15 EDIT MENU The following options are found in the Edit menu. Not all options are covered here, but the ones you will most likely use in editing images for art are covered. Undo This undoes the last thing you did to the active image. The keyboard shortcut for this is Ctrl z Step Forward If you undo something and want to redo it, click Step Forward. Step Backward This undoes the second to last thing you did, and then each previous thing, one by one. In Preferences you can set how many steps back you want it to go. The keyboard shortcut for this function is Ctrl, Alt, z Fade This option reduced the opacity with the Brush Tool available in Elements Not Copy Copying anything in any program on your computer (if you are using Windows) can be done by highlighting what you want to copy and using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl c. To select an image or part of an image, or even text, to copy within PS, use the Lasso Tool or the Selection Tool. Click on EDIT, COPY, or use the shortcut Ctrl c. Paste After you copy something, you can put it wherever you want. This is called pasting. Place your mouse cursor where you want to put your copied item and click on EDIT, PASTE, or use the shortcut Ctrl v 15

16 When you select an area, you will see small little moving dots around the area. They are called "Marching Ants". If you want to get rid of the ants, use the shortcut Ctrl D for deselect. Cut When an area is selected or Copied you can use this option to get rid of the selected or copied area completely. Copy When you want to move or duplicate a selection of area of an image, or a whole image, you select the area or image and click on this option. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl c. Paste After you have copied an area or image, you can put it where you want it by placing your cursor where you want it, and clicking this option. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl v. Fill This is a great tool to fill an area with a color, pattern or texture. Use the Selection Tool or the Lasso Tool to select the area you want to fill in. Click on EDIT, FILL and the dialogue box will open. You can choose to fill with the Foreground Color, Background Color, Pattern, or black,white or gray.the black, white and gray are obvious. The Foreground and Background colors are chosen with the Tool Bar. The Pattern fill gives a lot of variety and is explained in detail in Chapter 4. This is a tool that is very useful in changing images by addingpattern or texture to certain areas. You can change the dress a lady is wearing from a plain blue dress to a loud floral design. 16

17 Don't you agree that Twiggy looks better in this dress? Am I the only one old enough to remember Twiggy? Transform When you want to change the aspect of an image, you may use the Transform fly-out menu. You can distort, skew or rotate the image. In the image below, I skewed the door to make it look like it is open. Not available in Elements. Original Image Skewed Image Define Brush This is the option that allows you to select anything that you want to make into a brush. There is a whole section on Brushes because it is something you will love to use in your art. They are like digital rubber stamps! 17

18 Define Pattern Patterns can be used to fill any area of an image. You can learn more in the Fill section of this Chapter, and more details are in the Patterns Chapter. The Define Pattern option allows you to choose any selection of any image as the pattern you want to save and use somewhere else. If you would like to learn more about the full e-book, Photoshop for Artists, please go to Thank you, 18