GETTING STARTED MAKING A NEW DOCUMENT

Accessed with permission from http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~agenad/help/photoshop.html GETTING STARTED MAKING A NEW DOCUMENT To get a new document started, simply choose new from the File menu. You'll get a box like the one to the right that will allow you to name your file, set the image size, the resolution, the color mode, and the background. You can name your file here or leave the file untitled for now. You can also name it when you save the file or save a copy. Because it is common to want to work with several files for one project in Photoshop, you may not even need to save every file you create or open. Photoshop allows you to set the size of your document in pixels (best for the web), inches (often better for print), or other units. It also offers preset sizes to choose from. 640x480 is a safe screen viewing area for almost everyone now, and 800x600 is becoming more commonly viewable. The resolution only needs to be set at 72 pixels/inch for anything that will only be viewed on screen. If you are going to print, you can set it higher. Color mode can be left in RGB for screen viewing, CMYK for printing, or grayscale if you want your image to be in black and white. If you aren't sure what to do, just leave it in RGB Color. What you choose for contents is not very important at this point. If you

choose Background Color it will use whatever color is shown as the background in the toolbar, so if you know you want a specific color, be sure to pick it before you make the new file. CANVAS SIZE VS. IMAGE SIZE Under the Image menu, both Image Size and Canvas Size settings. Changing the Image Size will enlarge or shrink your entire image and canvas. Changing the canvas size will either add more space around your image or cut off parts of the edges in order to get the canvas to the desired size. If you want to do this, you will be given the option of adding or taking away space evenly on all edges or to choose a side or corner to keep, while it adds or cuts on the other side or corner. PREFERENCES In the Preferences, you may want to make changes in the Units and Rulers in order to have pixels as the unit of measurement in the rules, should you choose to view them (select Rulers under the View menu). GRIDS You can also select Show and then Grid under the View menu to get a grid that can help with layout. You can also change the grid settings in the Preferences. GUIDE LINES It is often extremely helpful not to have a whole grid, but to set up a few guide lines to help lay things out evenly. These can even be brought out only very temporarily to be used quickly and move back out of the way. To make a guide line, simply click in the ruler and drag the line out to the desired point. You can make horizontal or vertical guide lines and can have as many as you like. To get rid of a guide line, simply drag it back into the ruler. LAYERS LAYER BASICS One of the most important things to understand about working in Photoshop is the concept of layers. Each Photoshop document starts with a background layer and then additional work can either be done in the background or on other layers above the background. The background does not have as many capabilities as the other layers, so it is often smart to keep the background layer empty and only build on top of it. Layers are managed with the Layer Palette, which is shown to the right.

ADD LAYERS To add a new layer, simply choose New and then Layer from the Layer menu. You can name the layer before clicking OK, which may be helpful later when you are trying to work with multiple layers. DUPLICATE LAYERS You may want to have more than one layer that is the same (at least until you alter one of them. To duplicate a layer, choose Duplicate Layer from the Layer menu. CHANGE THE LAYER ORDER The lowest layer is shown at the bottom of the list. To change the order, simply drag a layer to its desired position. MAKE A LAYER TRANSPARENT To change the level of transparency on a layer, simply select it and change the Opacity value at the top right corner of the Layers Palette. MAKE A LAYER INVISIBLE To make a layer invisible (this is helpful when you are trying to figure out which layer is what), just click on the eye icon to the left of that layer. It toggles off and on. If you save the file as a JPEG when a layer is set to invisible, it will not appear in the JPEG. This can also be useful when you want to save JPEGs of various images that build on each other; instead of constantly using Save As, you can do everything in one file and simply set some of the layers to invisible when you save the JPEGs. LINK LAYERS Often there will be more than one layer that you have positioned in relation to each other and now want to move together rather than one at a time. To do this you can temporarily link them by selecting one of the layers in the Layer Palette and then clicking in the empty box to between the eye icon and the layer name for the others that you want linked. MERGE LAYERS If you want to permanently link those layers, start by linking them and then choose Merge Layers from the Layer menu. This will make the linked layers one unified layer. Once you have done this, you cannot later go back and work with them separately. DRAWING DRAWING BASICS Sometimes you'll want to use Photoshop for drawing. Below are descriptions for some of the basic tools to use. Whenever you have a tool selected in Photoshop 7, the tool property options will appear at the top of the screen under the main menu bar. Always pay attention to these options as they are an important way to expand what you can do in Photoshop. Some of the options are self-explanatory (remember that when you have your mouse on something in Photoshop, you'll usually get a brief text description pop-up),

but others require some experimentation to understand. Don't be afraid to try things. You should note that whenever you want to draw something straight or make a perfect circle or box, you can usually do this by holding down the shift key while drawing it. Also note that some tools take up the same area on the tool bar. These have a little triangle in the lower right hand corner of the tool icon to indicate that if you hold the mouse down over the tool, you'll get a menu of other tools to select. PENCIL AND BRUSH TOOLS The pencil and brush tools work similarly, but the pencil's default is to make a hard-edged line and the brush makes a softer-edged line. You can, however, change these characteristics by resetting the options for either tool. PEN TOOL The pen tool uses paths instead of just drawing whereever your mouse goes. This is more like Illustrator or Freehand, if you are more familiar with those programs. This is useful for making flowing curves instead of the uneven lines you would draw yourself. CLONE STAMP TOOL The clone stamp tool is great for filling in a space in an image where something needs to be covered. When you try to use it, instructions will pop up that are helpful. Basically you take a stamp of an area of the picture that you want to replicate (kind of like getting the ink) and then you can stamp that in the other area. Photoshop 7 has new tools that work similarly that you might want to check out too (i.e. the healing tool). PAINT BUCKET TOOL The paint bucket can be used to fill an area with the color that is currently selected as the foreground color. ERASER TOOL The eraser tool erases on whatever layer is active. You can also use the eraser tool on a layer mask, which can be a helpful trick.

TEXT The text tool (looks like a regular text insert cursor) works like you would expect it to in that the options are all available at the top of the screen, but what you might not realize is that you can have text on multiple layers to get different effects. One nice thing about Photoshop is that you can click and type anywhere without making a text box like you would have to do in a page layout program. Because Photoshop 7 has added a number of useful options for dealing with text (i.e. hanging indents), producing a handout or brochure entirely in Photoshop is now a very viable option. COLOR BACKGROUND/FOREGROUND COLOR SELECTION In the toolbar, you'll see a section that shows the current color selections for the background (in the above example, white) and foreground (in the above example, black. To change these, simply click on the color you want to change and use the color picker to select a new color. COLOR PICKER The color picker is easy to use because it gives you a number of ways to input color choices. If you select Only Web Colors, you'll only be able to choose from the browser safe colors. I often use this simply to be sure to always choose the exact same color. If you are going to be workin with the color more than once, be sure to write down enough of the values to be sure you can get the same color again. EYEDROPPER TOOL If there is a color already on the screen that you want to replicate, you can use the eyedropper tool to select that color from somewhere other than the color picker.

LAYER EFFECTS Effects are things that can be added to one layer at a time. They are especially useful for layers that contain text. To add effects to a layer, select the layer, click on the icon with a circle that contains the letter f in the lower left corner of the Layer Palette, and select an effect. (You'll get the menu that appears to the right here.) An options palette with preview options will appear that will help you choose effects. Once you have effects on one layer, you can simply drag those effects (they will show up under that layer's name) to other layers to duplicate those effects more quickly. FILTERS Filters can also be used to play with images. The best way to learn what the filters can do is to simply spend some time experimenting. Most offer preview options. Otherwise, simply hit undo after applying each filter to go back to your original image. The top-level filter menu is shown at the right. Each of the arrows leads to another menu of filters. LAYER MASKS If you are having trouble getting rid of or hiding part of your image, you may need to try a layer mask. You can select either the section you do or do not want to show and mask that part. Masks export well into some other programs but not all. They are best used when you are problem-solving image exporting or printing. The Add Layer Mask option is under the Layer menu. SELECTING SELECTION BASICS In Photoshop, you will want to use selections to move, copy, cut, and draw parts or all of a layer. The Select menu is shown at the

right and the selections tools are explained below. The options that appear at the top of the screen can be very useful here for altering a selection area's size and characteristics as well. MARQUEE TOOLS The Marquee tools can be used to select a rectangle, square, oval, circle, or single row of pixels either horizontally or vertically. Remember, if you are using the elliptical marquee tool and want a perfect circle, hold down the shift key (same for a perfect square). LASSO TOOLS The lasso tools are for making selections that are less geometrical. The regular Lasso tool selects along the path you draw with your mouse. The Polygonal Lasso tool does a bit more on its own, but still gives you more freedom than the marquee tools. The Magnetic Lasso tool finds edges of contrast to select with the guidance of the your mouse. The closer you are to the edge you want selected, the more accurate your selection will be. You can also click to make anchor points that will help you select the exact edge you want. MAGIC WAND TOOL The Magic Wand tool selects everything that is the same color as the area you click. It can be especially useful for selecting a background or anything that is one solid color. INVERSE SELECTION Choosing Inverse Selection from the Selection menu (shown at the right) will select the exact opposite of what is currently

selected. This is especially helpful if you want to select something that is on a solid colored background: just use the magic wand to select the background and then inverse the selection. SAVE SELECTION AND LOAD SELECTION If there is a selection that you will want to use again, you can save it and load it later to be used again. This saves and loads only the selection path, not the contents. MOVING Whenever you want to move something, whether it is a layer or selection, you need to be sure the part you want to move is active and then select the move tool and click and drag it to the desired position. Also note that the arrow keys can be used to move something one pixel at a time. If you hold down the shift key while moving something, you will only be able to move the object in a straight line in the direction you initially start (horizontal or vertical). TRANSFORMING You can use the Transform option from the Edit menu to change an object. The options for how to change it are shown above. This is an important place to know for changing the size of specific objects within your document. SAVING You will likely want to save two versions of all your images: one as a.psd (Photoshop Document) that you can use to work with more later AND one as a.jpg or.gif to use on the web. If you are only printing the image and not incorporating it into any other documents, either for print or the web, you can just have the Photoshop version. When you save the file as a.jpg or.gif you lose the layers and the ability to easily edit the file later.

SHORTCUTS There are a number of shortcuts (keyboard and otherwise) that can help you work on Photoshop more quickly. Menu items with keyboard shortcuts will include the key combination in the drop-down menus. Pay attention to those you use most and learn the shortcuts. Also notice that the palettes, including the history palette, have little trashcan icons in their lower right corners where you can delete anything that is included in that palette (in the history palette you can trash actions that are beyond the one step undo). As you work more in Photoshop, you'll learn more ways to speed up your work. ADDITIONAL NOTES These instructions were written for use with Photoshop 7. This program is available in all campus computer labs. DACS (Distributed Academic Computing Services) at Purdue also allows Purdue students to access Photoshop 7 from home on PCs. For access, go to https://apps.ics.purdue.edu/login.asp. This workshop is intended only to get you started in Photoshop. This program is perhaps best learned through play. Take time to explore the program's pulldown menus and to figure out what the tools not included in this workshop can do. (If you find this tutorial helpful, please remember to thank Kate directly at kateagena@purdue.edu!)