Introduction to PhotoShop

For this session you will learn how to create new documents in PhotoShop and start using a range of tools.

We shall complete something similar to the following image.

Below is a screen grab of the PhotoShop workspace.

For this session in using the program, we shall go through a brief guided tour and then make a start on using the painting tools.

For a PC user, PhotoShop can take a little while to get used to as it doesn't follow the same layout as most PC based applications. PhotoShop started life on the MAC and as such inherits its design from that platform. Once you get used to the layout, the use of the program eventually becomes quite intuitive.

The Menu Bar

At the top of the program window is the menu bar

This provides you with access to the commands in the program and will probably provide the most confusion until you get used to using the program.

The Toolbar

On the left of the programs interface is the toolbar.

Here you will access tools such as brushes, erasers, selection and clone tools.

Notice that some of the buttons on the toolbar have a small triangle on the bottom right like so

This symbol indicates that there are additional options which may be accessed by holding down the mouse on the button, like so...

To get you started in using the program, we shall concentrate on a single button in the toolbar, the brush tool

Basic Painting

The first task is to create a new PhotoShop file.

From the main menu, click on File then New...

The new file dialogue allows you to specify various aspects of the new image such as height width and colour depth.

The simplest way to use it is to select a preset from the preset combo box.

From the preset combo select web and 640 X 480

Notice that PhotoShop has entered suitable default values into the other fields of the new file dialogue.

The width has been set to 640, the height to 480. Notice that the resolution has been set to 72 pixels per inch (dpi) which is ideal for screen based graphics. Notice also that the colour mode has been set to RGB which is suitable for the Web.

Press Ok and the new blank document will be created for you.

Make sure that the brush tool is selected by clicking on it with the mouse.

Now move the mouse over the new document and hold it down to draw on the canvas.

What happens depends very much on what settings the brush currently has, but it may look something like this...

Let us (correctly) assume that this is not the effect you are after.

At any point in PhotoShop you may undo your work by pressing CTRL and ALT together then pressing Z.

Do that now and revert back to a blank document.

Let’s suppose that we want to change the colour of the brush.

Notice the following section on the toolbar...

The square on top of the second white square allows you to select the foreground colour, in this case our brush colour.

Click on the black square and you will be presented with the colour picker.

The colour picker allows you to select from the available range of colours.

Select a new colour and then scribble on your document just to prove that it works.

When you have done scribbling, undo your efforts back to a blank document.

Creating the Holiday Picture

The first step in creating the holiday picture is to draw the sky, sea and sand.

Notice at the top of the program there are various selection tools allowing you to adjust the settings of the brush.

To select a suitable brush click on the down arrow next to the brush on the far left

In this case we shall select the airbrush with 50% flow.

If the brush isn't the colour you want then use the colour picker to change it.

Select blue for the sky and draw it on the picture to about half way down.

What you will find is that it is quite hard to control the mouse and the bottom edge of the sky will not be straight. There are much better tools for this sort of task we shall look at later on.

Select a slightly different shade for the sea and then a suitable colour for the beach.

Select a suitable yellow, hold the mouse over the sky.Press the mouse for a little while to spray the sun in place.

The reflection of the sun is achieved in the same way but by only holding the mouse down for a short period.

We are now going to draw the seagulls.

On the top of the program select the brush preset picker.

Slide the master diameter slider down so that the brush is smaller.

Select a suitable colour and draw in the seagulls.

Another option which changes the way that the brush works is to draw in a different mode.

The best thing to do with these settings is to play with them and see what they do.

For the mode select soft light

And draw a hint of reflecting light on the surface of the sea.

Text in PhotoShop

Once you have finished your picture, you may then add the text.

The text tool is located on the toolbar - the letter T.

If you click on the tool you will then be able to click anywhere on the document and start typing your text.

It is a good idea to select the properties for your text prior to typing anything at the top of the PhotoShop window.

Using the Clone Tool

The next thing we want to do is to add a palm tree to our picture. Rather than spending ages drawing a suitable tree by hand we shall use the following tree image taken off the internet.

As well as giving us a chance to use the clone tool we may also introduce a few other tools and techniques in Photoshop.

The clone tool allows us to copy an image from one place and duplicate it in another. This may be carried out within the same image or across different images.

With more than one image open in Photoshop the interface implements tabs allowing you to switch between different pictures. This works fine until you want two pictures sitting next to each other.

If you drag on one of the tabs and pull the tab down the screen using the mouse you may place the images side by side. Having a large monitor or two monitors is a big help here.

If we locate the clone tool we may have our first go at using it.

The clone tool is located on the tool bar...

The first step in using the tool is to select the source image we want to clone. In this case the palm tree...

If you hold down the ALT key and click once with the mouse on the palm tree you will set the area that you wish to clone.

Notice how the mouse pointer changes to a target...

One you have identified the area to copy, switch over to the postcard picture and start drawing.

You should see something like this start to emerge...

There are a few obvious problems:

  • This is quite hard to control using the mouse
  • We are picking up the white background from the image
  • The tree is a little too big for the postcard

If you keep pressing ALT – CTRL Z you will revert back to the original image.

What we shall do is perform a little pre processing on the palm tree to see if we are able to improve the result.

Selecting and Removing the White Background

In order to address the problem of picking up the white background of the image we shall remove it and make it transparent.

The simplest tool for doing this is the magic wand tool...

If you click once now on the white background of the tree you will see that the whole area is selected...

If you press delete on the keyboard you will remove this background. You wont’ see any change yet as the background of the image is still showing through.

In the layers turn off the background by clicking the eye icon next to the layer...

Becomes

The next thing we shall do is make the image slightly smaller. To remove the selection right click on the image and select Deselect

Now resize the image by selecting Image – Image Size

Change the image size to 75% of original...

Now apply the clone tool to the postcard image using the processed image as the source.