9717215 Photoshop Basics

8/3/2019 9717215 Photoshop Basics

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Table of Contents:1. Basics1

LayersToolkitFiltersLayer ModesLayer Masks

2. Improving Color6Color Balance

LevelsCurves3. Retouching8

Clone & HealSmooth & Soften

4. Sharpen12SharpenUnsharp MaskHigh Pass

5. Light13Screen/Multiply

6. Art & ExperimentRed EyeSpecial Effects

2004 George Chen.All rights reserved. All leftsignored. All images arecopyright George Chenunless otherwise noted.

Tips , Tr icks , and Bas ics(or, Photoshop in a hat)

George Chen

1. Basics: LayersPhotoshop is a layers based graphics program. What does that mean? It means thatPhotoshop gives you the ability to divide your artwork up into layers, so you can isolatewhat you do to an image. See the following image:

See how each layer on the Layers Palette marks off a different part of a picture. Theeye icon on the left of each layer makes the layers visible or invisible. Observe.


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See how by making layer 5 invisible, the dark blue becomes invisible. Layers mayseem tedious at first, but once you get the hang of them, youll be able to see howhelpful they are.

1. Basics: ToolkitIn Photoshop and all Adobe programs, you have a toolkit/toolbar for easy access to alyour tools. In Photoshop 7, it looks like the image on the right. Note how most of the

tools have a small arrow at the bottom. Selecting that arrow will bring up more tools.Quickly, here are the tools and their functions, going left to right:

Marquee Tool: Selection of items for deletion or movingMove Tool: Self explanatoryLasso Tool: Select a portion of an item to manipulateMagic Wand: Auto select a portion of an image with the same colorCrop Tool: Self explanatoryExacto Knife: Cut shapes

Heal Tool: Used with cloning toolBrush Tool: For painting

Clone Tool: Clones portions of the image to place elsewhereHistory Brush: Reverses last action in certain parts of the imageEraser: Self explanatoryGradient Tool: Self explanatoryBlur Tool: Self explanatoryDodge Tool: Lighten a certain area

Path selection tool: Select paths drawn by the penText Tool: Self explanatoryPen Tool: Draw paths, curves, etc.Polygon Tool: Draw vector shapes

Notes Tool: Make notesEyedropper: Selects color on an imageHand Tool: Move objectsZoom Tool: Self-explanatory

Color selection: Color on top (blue) is foreground, Color on bottom (white) isbackground

The rest of the menu you really dont need to know. We will only be using about 10 ofthese tools frequently.

1. Basics: FiltersFilters are fun, fast ways to get exciting effects, however, novices often overuse them.Therefore, try to limit your usage of filters, and blend them into the imageappropriately. Well be using filters later, especially in enhancing images, so right nowthis will be a quick introduction. Note that there are far too many filters for me to giveyou examples of each, just experiment with them when you have free time. When weget to modes youll be able to see ways in which you can blend your filtered layers toget better effects, as well as playing with their transparency.


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Now for the filters menu. Notehow the filters are divided intosections, and within eachsection, the filters are listed.Some filters create whole newimages while others only modifythe image that you are workingon. Once again, experiment with

them to see what they can do.Often, these filters will havepreview images so you can seethe result before you apply thefilter. Warning, some of thesefilters use up a lot of memory,especially on large images. Thismeans that they will slow thecomputer down and maysometimes freeze it. Watch whatyoure doing carefully, and save

often.

1. Basics: ModesModes are ways in which layers canbe placed on top of each other tocreate some pretty interesting eThe modes menu is found on the topof the layers palette (in this image itsays Normal). There are severalmodes you can chose from, some ofthe most common ones are

demonstrated below.

ffects.

(credit: PhotoshopGuru)

Note: One of the best things to do with Modes is use them in combination withtransparency (opacity). Thus you can minimize the effect as needed. Often, a layermode at full opacity provides too harsh of an image. So, what can you do with layersmodes? Heres a sample:


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1. Basics: Layer MasksLayer Masks are very simple tools to master but can also be very effective. Essentially,a layer mask is a cover that specifically reveals only parts of an image. This is excellenwhen you want to fade two images together. Note that in the mask mode, you may onl

use grayscale. Depending on what mode you pick (Reveal All or Hide All), the areasthat are white or black will be the areas revealed. Most often, gradients are used.Example time:

+ =

How is this accomplished?

Step 1. Find your images:


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Step 2. Apply Layer Mask

Step 3. Apply Gradient

Its as simple as that.


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2. Improving Color: Color BalanceWhen a photo is shot, sometimes thecolors do not come out the way youwish, perhaps too much red and notenough blue. With Photoshop, theres nneed to retake the photo.

he

The image on the right has too much red

in it. So much in fact, that the leaves arecolored red. You may want to use theimage like this. But for the purposes ofthis exercise, lets look at the colorbalance tool.By simply altering the color values for

Cyan,Green, andBlue, youcan seehow the

image haschanged.The leavesbecomeclearer, tpetals lessred incolor. Bybalancingthe color,you can

moreaccuratelyportray animage asin real life.

2. Improving Color: LevelsLevels are Photoshop's method for stretching the contrast of an image. The RGB levelsare a measure of how light or dark a pixel is, additionally the Red, Green, Blue,channels separately have their own levels of how red

green or blue a pixel is. The graph that is displayed whenadjustment levels shows the number of pixels in theimage relative to the level. Adjusting levels can changehigher saturation and more contrast. Levels aresomething that provides a quick fix for brightness andclarity in images, but can make the picture incredibly dirtyand unusable. Therefore, use levels at a minimum,instead, try the techniques discussed later in thishandbook. (See Section 5: Light)So what do levels do? Lets take image one on the right


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(yeah thats Jeff). To it well apply auto Levels,which automatically balances out the RGBlevels in the image. The result:There you can see the problems with levels. Alittle speck of dust on the camera lensbecomes highly visible. In addition, the sat the back of the auditorium was supposeto be crme colored, instead its blue. Note

that Jeffs shirt becomes a pure white. This iessentially what levels do; they take thebrightest object in an image and make itwhite while adjusting all other parts to thesame levels.

creend

s

If you need to use levels, do it manually. Bringup the levels menu (Image > Adjustments >Levels) By moving the sliders toward thepeak, the image becomes lighter. Moving it towards the low end will darken the image

Remember, Levels aregood for small

adjustments. If you overdo it youll get imageslike the image below,

making it unusable.

2. Improving Images: CurvesCurves are yet another way Photoshop allows the user to adjust light balance in animage. Curves canenhance shadows withlittle influence on thehighlights, making it very

useful to perfect photos.Note that curves can besaved if you find that aparticular shape workedfor you, but also knowthat each time a curve isloaded you shouldprobably play with it a bit to make sure it works for your image.

Example time:See the image without a curve above (Its Orly!)


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By applying a positive curve, the imagebecomes lighter. See image.

A negative curve, then, would make theimage darker. Correct.

Altering the curve can produce somevery interesting effects. Experimentwith curves, but also note that thesecan also damage your photo like levelsdo. However, if you combine the use ofcurves, levels, and lighteningtechniques, you can take almost anyphoto and make it useable.

3. Retouching: Clone/HealOne of the things that takes a good photo and makes itbad is an excess of distractions in the background. Oneway to remove distractions from the backgrounds of pis the cloning and healing tools. However, these tools cabe difficult to master, so be sure to have plenty of practiceSay we take

hotosn

.this image to the right. The red coke cup

ore,

he clone tool, or rubber stamp tool, is found on the toolkit.

detracts from the images focus of the student. Therefwe can use the clone and heal tools to try and remove it.

TFirst, find an area to clone, or copy, that is about the same color and lighting of the


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Skin:1. Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer. Now you

have two copies of the picture, one on topof the other.

2. Go to Filter > Noise >Dust & Scratches.Play with the radius settings until theimperfections in the image start to

disappear. Dont worry about the fact thatthe background also begins to appearblurry. Select ok.

3. Note how everything has become blurry.So now, lets bring the details back out.Use the eraser tool to erase the areaswhere details should be showing (eyes, mouth, hand, etc.) Tip: Use thefeather brush for this. Adjust the brushsize as needed.

clothing,

fer

4. Now, reduce the opacity of the layer toabout 50-80%, depending on how strongyou want the skin retouching to be. Nowwere done with the skin, so lets move onto the eyes.

Eyes:1. To work most effectively with the eyes,

zoom in to about 300% or so.

2. Say you wanted to change the eyes coloror enhance it. Create anew layer and selectthe color you want touse. Paint in the area othe eye. Set your LayMode to Hue.

3. Create another layer ontop and paint white inthe areas where

reflections (or thesparkle) would be. Setthe layer to Overlay.

4. Zoom all the way out and look at theresult. If youre not satisfied, do it over orplay with the opacities. Were done withthe eyes; lets move on to the lips.

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9717215 Photoshop Basics