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Photoshop Basics

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Introduction

For this project, you will be learning the basics of Photoshop Elements. Photoshop is a standard program used by graphic designers to complete projects involving photo manipulation and layout and design work. We are going to be using Photoshop Elements which is a simpler, easier version of Photoshop.

In this introduction to Photoshop, we will be learning the basics of the program, how to open new images, and how to use the tools available to edit photos.

Guide

  1. Start by opening Photoshop. You will see the icon on your desktop. When you initially open the program another window will pop up. Click on Photo Editor.
  2. Before we begin playing with the Photoshop tools, we need to set the program up. Begin by putting the program in Expert mode by clicking Expert at the top of the screen. Next click on the Layers button in the bottom right corner to make sure you have layers open.
  3. Now that we have Photoshop set up, our first job is to find a picture we want to edit. Go to Google and search for an image that you would like to manipulate or play with. In general we will try to avoid using Bing as it often gives problems that Google does not.
  4. Once you find an image you want to use there are two ways of opening it. Please note that either one may work best depending on the file type and that you may have to try more than one file.
    1. Right click on the image and click “save image” and save it into your pictures. Back in Photoshop, click on File>Open and open the image that you have saved.
    2. Right click on an image, and click “copy image”. Now, instead of opening it, you will go to File>New>Image from Clipboard and it should open.
  5. Once your image is open, your job is to play with the tools to manipulate and change it. The most important tool is the colour selection tool. On the left tool panel you will find black and white currently selected. The top colour is your foreground and will be used for most tools. To change them, click on the coloured box.
  6. Below is a list of some of those tools and what they do. Note that these are just some of the tools, and that when you select one you have more options at the bottom of your screen. To view more of the tools, please see The Adobe Photoshop Help Guide.

Key Concepts

  • Photoshop Tools – What do the various tools in Photoshop do?
  • Photoshop Filters – How can we use filters to manipulate and change images?
  • Layers – How do we use layers in Photoshop to edit multiple images?

Resources