Photoshop Tutorials

The Adobe Photoshop program has so many uses; it is nearly impossible to pick favorites. Everyone who uses the program has their own favorite set of uses, because everyone uses the software program as their own objectives for using it.

Photoshop was first developed as software to design and edit images that were to be printed. It allows users to edit images several times over and save them repeatedly without losing any quality, so they were of a high enough standard to print. This use is still probably the most common, although recently, the Adobe Photoshop brand has branched out to include more applications that allow users to edit film and create professional quality DVDs.

The number one use of Photoshop is editing photos. Everyone has heard people claim that the reason celebrities always look so fabulous is because magazines make liberal use of Photoshop editing! But Photoshop is not just for airbrushing. It has a wide variety of uses in editing photographs, from fixing flaws, like red eyes or blurs, to cropping and refocusing photos. It is possible to crop something from one photo and add it to another, or use the color tools in Photoshop to brighten up a dull picture. Photoshop has revolutionized photography for professionals and amateurs alike; many photographers can hardly remember life without it.

A second popular use for Photoshop is creating graphics for web sites. Designers are limited only by their own imaginations. Photoshop allows designers to incorporate photos, clip art, and vectors and images of their own creation they draw using the pen tool to create the graphic that they have in mind. Because Photoshop uses so many file formats, designers can save their designs in files specifically suited to their task, be it web design or printing.

Graphic designing for print media purposes is a third common use for Photoshop. This can have a number of applications, from magazine and newspaper layout to designing images to be printed on items like mugs, buttons, shirts, or almost anything. Photoshop allows users to take an image and bend it to see what it will look like on the scale of and in the shape of the item it will be printed on, and then edit it accordingly. This tool is invaluable to magazine designers as they lay out text and images together and to clothing designers who want to see how images work on their items.

A fourth popular use for Photoshop is collaborations. Because you can save files numerous times without losing quality, and because the file formats are compatible on nearly every operating system, Photoshop users of all sorts can collaborate with co-workers all over the world. And the collaborations are not all about work, either. A popular game has grown out of Photoshop technology called Photoshop Tennis, in which two designers send an image back and forth to each other, each making a change each time, for a pre-set number of rounds. At the end of the game, an independent judge declares who made the most valuable contributions.

A fifth use for Photoshop is sharing digital photos. Photoshop allows users to download right from their digital cameras to the program and make large batch alterations, and then save these photos in compressed files so they are easy to share.

A sixth important, if specialized, use of Photoshop is creating 3D animation. Pixar format is supported by Photoshop and has been used to create many Disney movies, like “Toy Story.” Though every Photoshop designer does not use this feature, it has made an important impact our culture.

Adobe Photoshop software has revolutionized the world of art and graphic design. This software program can do everything from editing pictures to completely creating new images, and everything in between. It is compatible with almost every operating system out there, and turns tasks that used to take hours or days into tasks that take seconds. The sheer scope of what the program can do, however, makes it daunting. There are just so many applications, tricks, and techniques that it often takes users a lot of time and a lot of practice to master the program. In fact, designers who have been using Photoshop for years are still discovering new ways to do things. To get the most out of the software, you have dive right in there and get your feet wet, but it can be hard to even know where to begin. Experts suggest new users keep the following tips in mind to make their first experiences flow smoothly.

First, new users should recognize that there are many shortcuts to moving around within the program. For instance, to move layers around, you do not have to open your “move control” application. If you hold down the “control” key on a PC or the “command” key on a Mac, you can move layers by dragging them where you want them to go with the mouse. You can also open new documents by double clicking on the Photoshop gray background screen instead of going to “file” and then “open.”

If you want to select all of the pixels in an image to adjust the opacity, but not select the entire background of the image as well, hold down the “control” or “command” key and open the “layers palette.” Then, click on the layer you want within the palette. Even if the background is on that layer, only the image pixels will be selected. Opening the layer palette will also let you copy layers from one document to another. Just use your mouse to drag the layer across to the document in which you want to place it. And if all of those palettes are blocking your view of your image, click the “tab” key on your keyboard, and they will disappear. When you’re ready for them again, just hit “tab” one more time.

If you want to get a closer look at your image and work on it without the tool bar and menu bar being in the way, click the “F” key on your keyboard. This will take you into full screen mode. When you’re ready to go back to the normal editing screen and make some changes, just click “F” again.

When choosing colors, you can bring up the color menu easily by click “I” on your keyboard. This opens your “eyedropper tool.” Click on the color of your choice, and that color will be your foreground color. If you want to switch it to your background color, hit the “alt” key. You can also go back to the default black and white foreground and background by clicking “D” and switch those colors by selecting “X.”

Drawing straight lines can be easily accomplished if you hold down the “shift” key while you use your mouse to draw the lines. This trick can also help you stay in the lines when “coloring” using your paintbrush tool.

These tips will give you a good basic bag of tricks to work with when you’re getting to know your Photoshop program. Much of how you use the program depends on what you’re using it for, so plain old trial and error will tell you which parts of the program will be most important to you.

When you’re new to Adobe Photoshop software, learning the ropes can be daunting. It seems like there are so many new things to learn that you almost do not know where to begin. Masking is a good skill to learn as soon as you start learning how to operate Photoshop. It allows you to do something very important when you are new to the program, and that is make edits to your images without permanently changing them. That way, if you make some changes that you don’t like, you can easily remove them. There are many masks within the Photoshop program, like fluid masks, quick masks, selection masks, and sharpening and unsharpening masks. The most common mask with the widest variety of uses, however, is the layering mask. It is relatively easy for new users to manage by following just a few steps.

A layering mask is exactly what the name sounds like - it is a mask that is only applied to one layer of an image. To put a mask on a layer, first, open your layer palette. Highlight the layer that includes the material that you want to put a mask over, and drag that layer onto the layer palette. Now, you will need to click on your “add vector mask” button, which is at the bottom of the layer palette dialogue box. If you have correctly applied the mask to the right layer, a white icon will be next to that layer’s name in the list of layers in the palette.

If you want to take away part of the mask so part of the layer is visible, open up your “paint brush tool.” With your paintbrush, “brush away” the parts of the mask you don’t want, to revel the image underneath. If you want to do away with your mask entirely, use your mouse to click the white icon next to your layer, and simultaneously hold down the “shift” key on your keyboard. A red “X” will cross out your white mask icon, showing you that you have correctly disabled the mask.

If you need to select the image under the mask, without moving the mask, you can do this in the same way you would when you make any selection. With the appropriate layer open, hit your “control” key, if you are using a PC, or your “command” key, if you’re using a Mac. All the images on that layer that are masked will be selected.

Sometimes, you may want to be able to move the image and the mask independently of each other, or make edits to one without editing the other. To do this, you need disconnect them from each other. Simply click on “link” in the palette menu, and they will be disconnected. To reconnect them, click “link” again. To view the mask alone, click on “alt” on a PC or “options” on a Mac, and the mask will appear alone, so you can judge better the edits you are making to it.

These steps are the basic tools you will need to work with layer masks in Photoshop. Exactly how you use the masks, and how often, will depend on what kind of work you are using the program to do. The main benefit to these masks is in the fact that they allow you to make edits to your image without permanently applying them. Many Photoshop applications include so-called “destructive edits”, which means once you apply an edit, the image is forever altered. For a Photoshop newbie, layer masks are a great way to make edits while you’re still learning the program without damaging your source material.

Let your creativity flow with Photoshop. Whether you are a digital designer or just someone who loves to create stunning images, Photoshop is for you. The best way to explore all of the wonderful tools that Photoshop has to offer is to play around and see what you find. Create amazing image using a number of tools. Create a hybrid image from two separate sources using morphing. The end result will be an image that is somewhere between the two images you started with. Since you already have Photoshop at your fingertips, you don’t have to spend money purchasing additional software to create morphs. When creating morphs you want to be careful of the endless variables. Since a morph or hybrid of two images there is a lot of room for variance.

The effect of the morph is based on displaying both objects with good clarity. Whoever is viewing the image will not have the benefit of the images you began with. To begin morphing find two images you would like to combine. Keep the image elements separate and create a new document. Next place the image elements in the new document. Create a visual comparison of the two elements by using opacity. Make rough general adjustments and fix the image detail in or replace whatever elements you see fit. Give your image light and shadow effects and flatten the image and save it.

You will probably want to feather the selection based on the resolution. What images you choose is up to you but you may not want to pick completely opposed images. Once you have your images, create a new document that is about 20% bigger than the largest image. This way you will be able to move the shape and objects around. Copy the objects into the new document with the selections you created while the selection is active you can simply copy the original and paste it. If you choose this route, you might want to use the Layer Via Copy function. To compare images use the opacity. After that review the comparative size, contours and detail. By doing this comparison, you can make note of the differences in morphed images.

To fade one image into another, you will need to bring at least two pictures together on one document. Apply a layer mask and edit a layer mask. Next you will open the picture and click File>New to create a new document. Expand the document to a much larger size than you will need. Later on, if you need to, you can reduce it. Pick the move tool from the toolbox and drag the component pictures individually from their original spots to the new canvas. Both images will automatically make their own layers. Click on File>Save As and name your file. Do not convert the file from psd. format. Next, move your picture to the spot you want it at. Type V for the move Tool and pick the correct layer. Then drag the image to the spot where you would like it. Your pictures should overlap some but you are right on track if your pictures are on top of one another. Click on Ctrl-s to save.

Next, go to the layer palette and look for the gray background and a white circle in the center. Go to the first layer and choose the Add Layer Mask icon in the palette. Click on the white box and you will see the small layer mask icon. That means it is time to draw the layer mask opposed to the actual layer. Pick a drawing tool like a large soft brush. If you type D the default colors of black and white will be used.