🎨Intro to Photoshop and Illustrator Unit 2 – Photoshop Basics: Interface & Tools

What's Photoshop?

• Industry-standard software for image editing, manipulation, and graphic design
• Developed and published by Adobe Systems as part of the Creative Cloud suite
• Used by professionals in various fields (photography, graphic design, web design, and more)
• Offers a wide range of tools and features for creating and enhancing digital images
• Supports multiple file formats (PSD, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, etc.) for compatibility and versatility
• Enables non-destructive editing using layers, masks, and adjustment layers
• Integrates with other Adobe applications (Illustrator, InDesign) for seamless workflow

Getting Started: The Workspace

• The workspace consists of the main window, panels, and toolbars for efficient navigation and access to tools
• The Tools panel contains various tools for selecting, drawing, editing, and manipulating images
  • Grouped into categories (selection, crop, retouching, drawing, type, and navigation tools)
  • Some tools have hidden sub-tools accessible by clicking and holding the main tool icon
• Panels provide access to additional features and settings (Layers, Adjustments, History, and more)
  • Can be docked, undocked, or grouped for customization
  • Easily show or hide panels to optimize screen space
• The Options bar displays settings and options specific to the currently selected tool
• Customize the workspace by rearranging panels, saving custom workspaces, or choosing preset workspaces (Essentials, Photography, Painting)

Essential Tools and Their Functions

• Move Tool (V): Moves layers, selections, or guides within the canvas
• Marquee Tools (M): Create rectangular, elliptical, single row, or single column selections
• Lasso Tools (L): Make freehand, polygonal, or magnetic selections for precise control
• Quick Selection Tool (W): Automatically selects areas based on color and texture similarities
• Crop Tool (C): Removes unwanted areas of an image and straightens or perspective corrects
• Eyedropper Tool (I): Samples colors from an image to set as the foreground or background color
• Brush Tool (B): Paints smooth, continuous strokes with various brush tips and settings
  • Adjust brush size, hardness, opacity, and flow for different effects
• Eraser Tool (E): Removes pixels from an image, with options for brush size and hardness
• Healing Brush and Patch Tools (J): Remove blemishes, dust, or unwanted elements by sampling and blending surrounding pixels

Layers: The Building Blocks

• Layers are the foundation of non-destructive editing in Photoshop, allowing for flexible and reversible changes
• Each layer contains a portion of the image, which can be edited independently without affecting other layers
• The Layers panel displays a stack of layers, with the topmost layer appearing at the top of the stack
  • Layers can be reordered, grouped, or linked for organization and efficiency
• Layer opacity and blending modes determine how a layer interacts with the layers beneath it
  • Opacity controls the transparency of a layer (0% is fully transparent, 100% is fully opaque)
  • Blending modes (Normal, Multiply, Screen, Overlay, etc.) change how the layer's pixels blend with the underlying layers
• Adjustment layers apply color and tonal adjustments without permanently altering the original pixels
• Layer masks control the visibility of specific areas within a layer, allowing for selective editing and compositing

Selecting and Masking Basics

• Selections isolate specific areas of an image for targeted editing or adjustments
• Marquee tools (Rectangular, Elliptical) create simple geometric selections
• Lasso tools (Freehand, Polygonal, Magnetic) allow for more precise or custom selections
• Quick Selection and Magic Wand tools automatically select areas based on color and tone similarities
• Refine Edge (Select and Mask) improves the accuracy of selections, particularly for hair, fur, or complex edges
  • Adjust edge detection, smoothing, feathering, and contrast for optimal results
• Save selections as alpha channels for future use or to create complex masks
• Layer masks use black, white, and grayscale values to control the visibility of specific areas within a layer
  • Paint with black to hide, white to reveal, and shades of gray for partial transparency

Color and Adjustments

• The Color panel allows for precise color selection using various models (RGB, CMYK, HSB, Lab)
• The Swatches panel stores frequently used colors for quick access and consistency
• Adjustment layers apply non-destructive color and tonal corrections to an image
  • Examples include Levels, Curves, Hue/Saturation, Color Balance, and Black & White
• The Properties panel provides controls for modifying adjustment layer settings
• The Eyedropper tool samples colors from an image to set as the foreground or background color
• The Paint Bucket tool fills selected areas with the foreground color, while the Gradient tool creates smooth color transitions
• The Color Replacement tool selectively replaces specific colors in an image while preserving texture and shading

Saving and Exporting Your Work

• Photoshop's native file format is PSD (Photoshop Document), which preserves layers, adjustments, and other editable elements
• Save incrementally (File > Save As) to create version backups and prevent data loss
• Flatten the image (Layer > Flatten Image) to merge all layers into a single background layer for reduced file size
• Export images in various formats (JPEG, PNG, TIFF, etc.) for specific purposes or compatibility
  • JPEG is ideal for photographs and images with smooth color transitions
  • PNG supports transparency and is suitable for web graphics or images with sharp edges
• Use the Save for Web (Legacy) feature to optimize images for online use, balancing quality and file size
• Consider color mode (RGB for digital, CMYK for print) and resolution (72 ppi for web, 300 ppi for print) when saving or exporting

Pro Tips and Shortcuts

• Use keyboard shortcuts to speed up your workflow (e.g., B for Brush, E for Eraser, Ctrl/Cmd+Z for Undo)
• Right-click on tools or panels to access additional options or settings
• Hold the Spacebar to temporarily switch to the Hand tool for canvas navigation
• Use the Zoom tool (Z) with Alt/Option to zoom out or click and drag to zoom in on a specific area
• Press and hold the Shift key while using selection tools to add to an existing selection, or Alt/Option to subtract
• Ctrl/Cmd-click on a layer thumbnail to create a selection based on the layer's content
• Use layer groups to organize and manage complex compositions
  • Click the folder icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to create a new group
  • Drag layers into the group to keep them together and apply effects or adjustments to the entire group
• Experiment with blending modes and opacity to create unique effects or composite images