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PhotoShop classes can be taught using both versions 4 and 5. I've even had quite a few students who use the Limited Edition, and while a few features are missing, they do well enough in class. Regardless of which program you own, you are welcome in these classes.
WARNING! Some students are confusing Adobe Photoshop Deluxe with Adobe Photoshop.
Deluxe is a much simpler picture editor, used to crop, remove redeye, and make other simple alterations. Photoshop is a professional level, full-featured, complex image editor. If you have any questions about the program you are using, please contact the instructor.
Mac Users: Photoshop looks a little different on the different platforms, but the commands for running it are nearly identical. Of course you have to use a Command key instead of a Control, etc., but I'm told this doesn't make too much difference, if you practice.
This is a reference book. It explains each facet of the program.
(Required text for Intro to PhotoShop classes. Be sure you buy the book for the program version you will actually be running!)
As tutorials, I also recommend
Inside PhotoShop by Gary and Barbara Bouton,
PhotoShop f/x, and
Learning PhotoShop by Sherry London, from the Waite publishing group.
WARNING Photoshop 4 Enhanced, and Photoshop 5 In Depth are the same book!. The In Depth book is updated for version 5, but the text and examples are all the same. I've also had trouble with wrong instructions in the book, and with the disk for the Photoshop 5 In Depth book - images are missing. I still highly recommend this book - just don't buy it twice.
Current Projects Check this area for projects, tutorials, and examples of student work.
Shortcut Keys A list of the most useful shortcut keys for Photoshop Versions 4 and 5.
Lesson 1
Class One Objectives
In Lesson 1 you received many handouts and a short list of shortcut keys to memorize.
Double click background = open an image
Ctrl-Double click background = open a new canvas
Ctrl-A= Select All
Ctrl-D= Deselect
Ctrl-Z= Undo
B=Brush
D=Default colors
E=Erase
F=Full page
J=Airbrush. (For ps4 users, A=Airbrush.)
X=Exchange foreground/background colors.
Z=Zoom tool (not yet fully discussed.)
Ctrl-0 (zero)= view entire image.
Ctrl + (plus)= zoom larger
Ctrl - (minus)=zoom smaller
Key Lecture Points
Photoshop is an Image Manipulation program. It is used to correct, change, distort, and create infinite effects on photographic type images. Other kinds of graphic programs are used for other purposes, such as 3D effects, animations, digital painting, and architectural type drawings.
Photoshop provides keyboard shortcuts for most of the things you'll need to do. They are also available by clicking the Menu bar or the Toolbox. But as you work with Photoshop, you'll find that moving your cursor out of the image to click the menu or the toolbox just doesn't work well for artists. You will want to rely more and more on the keyboard shortcuts. This will let you keep your cursor on the image while changing the tool, brush size, etc.
Most keyboard shortcuts are the same for PS4 and PS5. Where there are changes, I will be sure to point them out to you.
Your homework assignment: use the drawing tools (Brush, Airbrush and Pencil). Erase using the eraser, or Undo. Change colors using the Color Palette. Change brush sizes using the Brush Palette. Save and print your work. Bring it to class.
JPEG is a graphic image format, created to compress pictures so they could be transported on disk. It is a "lossy" format, and if you continue to open, work on, and save a JPG image, the image data will degrade.
JPEG is the format of choice for rastered images on the Internet. The resolution should be 72 dpi. This provides a small file that opens quickly and yet displays perfectly.
Tips
If your paint tool isn't making a mark on your canvas, press Ctrl-D (deselect). Also, check the color palette to be sure you aren't painting white on white.
Open a new canvas by ctrl-double clicking the program's grey background. Set the size to 6 inches by 6 inches. Set the resolution to 72. Set color mode to RGB. Set Background to White.
Move a canvas with click-and-drag on the title bar.
Size a canvas with click-and-drag on the canvas frame. (You will see a double-headed arrow. Hold down the mouse button and move to resize.
Gain a little extra room by moving the toolbox to the right size of the screen and mashing the Windows Taskbar so that it can't be seen. Another option is to move the taskbar to the left side of the screen. (This is the way I do it. You will develop your own preferences.)
Lesson 2
Lesson Two will be primarily devoted to creating simple selections.
The selection tools are Marquee, Lasso and Wand. (M, L, W)
Use them to create areas with marching ants around them (marquee outlines).
Add to a selection by holding down the Shift key.
Subtract from a selection by holding down the Alt key.
To deselect, press Ctrl-D, or click outside the selection (you must still have a selection tool chosen to deselect this way.)
To move the selection but not the pixels, click and drag inside the selection with a selection tool. (M, L, W)
To move the pixels click inside the selection with the moVe tool. ( V = moVe.)
Layers
We'll be looking at layers much more closely in the next class.
Read your textbook, if you want to prepare.
Display the layers palette by pressing F7.
Create a new layer by clicking the icon at the bottom of the layers palette. It's next to the trashcan.
You can work on a layer (make it active) by clicking on it. The active layer turns blue on the palette.
You can make a layer invisible by clicking its eyeball out.
You can only work on a visible layer.
You can create a selection, switch to an empty layer, and then paint within the selection.
Get rid of a layer by dragging it to the trashcan at the bottom of the layers palette.
Merge layers with Ctrl-E. (This merges your active layer with the layer beneath it.)
Key Lecture Points
In this class, you began with a blank canvas. Then, with the rectangular marquee and the eliptical marquee, create selections on the background layer. Fill these selections with the foreground color by pressing Alt-Del.
Next we opened an image and used the Wand to select the background. You may have to set the tolerance for the Wand higher or lower, to get the best selection. Lower numbers select a smaller range of shades; higher tolerance settings select a broader range.
To select a background that is separated into different areas (like the background behind the flowers that was also between the flower stems) hold down the shift key. Then click on the new area with the Wand. The new area will be added to the selection. To subtract an area (like the pale green stems, if you click on them by mistake) hold down the Alt key and click on the area. It will be subtracted from your selection.
You can use more than one selection tool to create a selection. Select the Wand and click on the background. Switch to the Lasso and hold down the Shift key. Now you can rope in areas that you want to add to the selection. Hold down the Alt key and rope out areas that you want to subtract from the selection.
We used the selection tools to "draw" a simple picture and filled the areas with color. You can also use the Brush to paint within the selection.
A selection is an active area of your image. You can do things to it. The rest of the image (the unselected part) is MASKED, or protected. No changes can be made to a masked portion.
We added a new layer to the image and filled it with color. Then we used the elliptical marquee and drew an oval in the center of the canvas. We feathered this selection to about 30 pixels (we used 10 and then 20) and then deleted the selection. The result is a vignette, a softly blurred "hole" in the matting around your image.
Homework
Create an image called Boxes.jpg. The image should consist of about ten rectangles of various shapes and sizes, filled with different colors. Use the lasso and the wand to select the rectangles and change their colors. Try feathering the selection before filling, to see what happens.
Open an image. Any photo will do, but a landscape or a floral might be best. Use the wand to select a color area. Then click Select > Similar. Feather the selection and fill it with a different color.
Read the assigned chapters in your text (colors, selections and layers.)
If you run out of things to do, email me. I'll think of something.
Lesson 3
Class Three Objectives
Lesson Three may seem like a lot of information to cover in one sitting. That's because it is. Here's a review list:
Cropping Little Dan
Open the crooked picture, or one with areas you want to cut away. We used cropdan.jpg.
Choose the crop tool.
Click and drag in the image
Rotate crop marks (click and drag the rounded handles)
When the outline fits the image, press Enter.
Using Photoshop 5, you can add canvas around an image using the Crop tool. Press C to select the Crop tool (or click and hold on the Marquee on the Toolbox. When the flyout menu appears, click the Crop tool.)
Click and drag the crop marquee around the picture.
Drag the picture frame to enlarge it, so that there is grey space around the image.
Resize the Crop marquee by dragging the handles outward. This will enlarge the area around your picture.
When the marquee is the right size, press enter. The area you added will be filled with your background color.
Creative BrushWork
Display your brush palette and open a clean canvas.
Choose the smallest brush (shift-[ ) and draw the brush shape you want to use. For this exercise, just draw a squiggle.
Select your squiggle (use the marquee or the lasso).
Click the small triangle at the top of the brush palette.
Click Define Brush.
Remember to deselect (Ctrl-D) and choose the Brush Tool again (B).
Double-click your new brush to set the brush spacing.
Feathering Selections
Create a selection.
Click Select - Feather.
Set the number of pixels you want to make feathery.
Remember that feathering the selection is cumulative. If you feather by 5 pixels, and then feather by 2, you've increased the feather.
The marquee lines (marching ants) outline only pixels that are 50% or more selected. It is possible to have a selection that doesn't show up on the screen.
To hide those creeping ants, use Ctrl-H.
Once you've created a selection, you can fill it with color (Alt-Del, or Ctrl-Del), you can Delete it, you can apply filters, or you can copy it to a new layer (Ctrl-J).
Changing the Gloomy Hotel to Sunnydale Inn
Create a backup layer (drag the background to the New Layer icon.)
Select the first part of the image that you want to work on. (Use the magic Wand to select the sky.)
Add to or Subtract From your selections by holding down the Alt key or the Shift key. (Alt, plus a click with the Wand, will add more area to the selection. Shift, plus a click with the Wand, will reduce the area.)
Ctrl-J the selection to a new layer. Fill it with a lovely sky blue. Adjust the apply mode and the transparency until you are satisfied with the result.
Continue to copy additional parts of your image to new layers. Paint them and change the apply modes.
To combine a layer with the layer below it, press Ctrl-E.
Note that when you combine layers, the effects of your apply modes are often changed, without your wanting them to be. To overcome this,
Create a new layer
Make only the layers you want to combine visible
With the new layer active, press Ctrl-Shift-Alt+E.
Click beneath the gradient window to place the color markers (the "crayons").
Select the color marker you want to change.
Click the color box and choose a color.
When you've set the colors you want on your gradient, switch to the Transparency edit page.
Set the markers beneath the gradient line.
Select each marker and type a transparency value for it.
Quick Mask
Open the image from which you want to create a selection.
Loosely select the object. Use the Wand or Lasso, or a combination, but don't worry about being precise.
Switch to Quick Mask mode (Pressing Q toggles the mode.)
When you switch to Quick Mask, your colors will change to Black and White. The mask is painted in with Black, and painted out with White.
Select the Brush (B). Check the options palette. The Brush should be set to 100% opacity, NO wet edges, Normal mode.
Begin to paint. Switch colors by pressing X (Exchange Colors.)
The areas painted black (it will look red, and is called a rubylith) will not be selected. Areas painted white, which look unaltered, will be selected.
Invert the colors with Ctrl-I. This will show whether you have created the selection you want.
When you have the rubylith surrounding your selection, press Q to leave Quick Mask mode. You will see the Marching Ants around your selection.
You can treat the selection any way you choose. One option is to use Ctrl-J to copy the selection to a new layer.
Compositing Images
Open Garden and Woman
Use the move tool to put the woman into the Garden image.
Use QuickMask to paint the woman with rubylith.
Delete the background. The woman is no longer putting dinner into the microwave, she is picking flowers.
Compositing Images, 2
Open Dad and Son, and Sky1.
Click the layer mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.
Paint out the sky. Paint in any parts of the dad and son that you paint out by mistake.
When the image looks exactly right, click the trashcan. Then click Apply. The parts of the image you painted out will be discarded.
If you have several layers that you want to merge, but they are in different modes, do this:
Create a new layer. Be sure it is the active layer.
Turn the eyeballs off for layers you don't want to merge.
Press Ctrl-Shift-Del + E.
A snapshot of the visible layers will appear on the new layer.
Lesson 5 - Output
Lesson 5 concentrates sending your images to your printer, or publishing them on the Web.
With the moVe tool, drag the cookies onto the box. Name the layer Cookies.
With the Wand tool, select the white background from around the cookies. Press Delete to get rid of it.
Duplicate the Cookies layer (Drag the layer to the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette.) Name the layer Shadow.
You now have a sandwice: Background, Shadow, Object.
On the Shadow layer, turn on Preserve Transparency.
Fill with a dark color. (Alt-Del) You can use the Eyedropper (I) to pick up the dark color from the shadow on the cookies.
Turn off Preserve Transparency. Blur the shadow (Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur) The amount of the blur is up to you, and depends on the resolution of the image.
Use the move tool to drag the shadow so that it is in the right relationship to the cookies.
Repeat the exercise using the Shoes and Blue Silk files. You should use a QuickMast to select the shoes.
Class Projects will vary, according to special interests of each class group, but the features and skills will be presented in this general order.