Summary

Chapter 1 : A Quick Tour of Adobe Photoshop

1) Photoshop Interface

• Photoshop for Mac and Windows have slightly different interface
• if you open a menu in menu bar you can see keyboard shortcuts and submenus

2) File Formats

• The common file formats for photoshop user : GIF, JPG, RAW, PSD*, PDF*, PSB*, TIFF* ( * = file formats that preserve layers )

3) Different viewing options

• Palettes are floating windows that provide access to program features
• The Navigator palette helps you zoom in and also see where you are at in an image
• You can zoom in and out of an image by changing the sale bar in navigator palette

4) Toolbox

• Tools can be accessed in toolbox
• Hidden tools are located where there is a small triangle on a tool icon
• Tools can also be accessed by choosing the appropriate key on the keyboard, for example : M is for Marquee, L is for Lasso ,V is for Move

Chapter 2 : Viewing and Managing Documents

1) Color mode

• Color mode ,color space ,color model is the same thing
• Spectrum is the colors that can be seen by the human eye
• The range of colors that can be produced by a process or device is called the gamut
• There are 2 colour modes
• RGB mode:

1. Usualy used for computer monitor
2. Base colours is Red, Green & Blue
3. Additive

• CMYK mode:

1. Usually used for printing inks
2. Base colours is Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, & Black
3. Subtractive

• You can produce different colours by inserting number in RGB color mode bar :

1. (0, 0, 0) is black
2. (255, 255, 255) is white
3. (255, 0, 0) is red
4. (0, 255, 0) is green
5. (0, 0, 255) is blue
6. (255, 255, 0) is yellow
7. (0, 255, 255) is cyan
8. (255, 0, 255) is magenta

2) History palette

• You can undo multiple commands using the History palette.
• The History palette lists recently executed commands with the most recent command at the bottom.
• This palette is really convinient for photoshop users

3) Change on screen image size

• You can change the size at which an image displays on your computer monitor so that users
• Can see the entire image.
• To change the on-screen image size, click Image > Image Size

Chapter 3: Painting and Drawing with Colour

1) Brushes Palette

• Used to repair, modify, or improve an existing picture and also to create new images from scratch
• The Options bar contains settings that control how the painting tools interact with the image.
• The Brushes palette contains an unlimited number of options and settings to create and customize brushes.
• Blending modes affect how paint interacts with the pixels underneath the painted area.
• Opacity affects the transparency of the color, pattern, or effect.

2) Painting tools

• Painting tools are used to add color to an image or to retouch areas of an image.
• Painting tools include:

1. Brush tool
2. Pencil tool
3. History Brush & Art History Brush
4. Color Replacement tool

• Painting tools used to:

1. Add new objects
2. Add colors and shapes
3. Erase portions of an object
4. Retouch/remove portions of an image
5. Paint one object with the surface of another

• By changing diameter, orientation, and brush axes can create some interesting design effect

3) Blend

• Blends/Gradients are smooth transitions between two or more colors.
• You can also choose preset gradients from the options bar

4) Eraser tools

• The Eraser paints in three ways :

1. Background layer – paints with the background color
2. Normal layer – erases all data, making that area transparent
3. Erase to History – restores data from a previous version of the image

• There are 3 types of eraser :

1. The Eraser tools
2. The Background Eraser tool : deletes the background pixels of a layer
3. The Magic Eraser : erases pixels of the same color of the area that was clicked

• The size and shape of the eraser is controlled by the brush preset settings.

Chapter 4 & 5: Making and Manipulating Selections

1) Marquee tools

• Selections are used to protect specified areas of an image from changes
• Holding the mouse button over a Marquee tool icon reveals the Alternate tools available
• Marquee tool will create an area outlined by dotted lines, the dotted lines indicate the selected area
• By setting a Fixed Aspect Ratio, it will “lock” your selection to a specific ratio.
• "Add to Selection” button lets you add a new selected area to the image without removing the previous selected area
• Select>Inverse : selects the unselected areas of the image and deselects the selected areas of the image
• Feathering is used to soften the edges of a selected area
• Keyboard shortcuts we can use for creating selection:

1. M toggles the Rectangular and Elliptical Marquee tools
2. Command/Control-I inverses a selection
3. Command/Control-D deselects a selection
4. Command/Control-H hides the marching ants

2) Lasso tools

• The Lasso tools include:

1. Polygonal Lasso tool creates selections around objects by clicking the objects edges
2. Magnetic Lasso tool tracks the edges of an objects based on shifts in color or tone

• Lasso tool creates selections based on freehand tracing
• Hold Shift to add to a current selection
• Hold the Option/Alt key to subtract from current selection

3) Transforming selection

• Several transformations are available for selections:

1. Scale changes the size of a selection
2. Rotate will spin a selection
3. Skew/Distort stretches and pulls a selection
4. Perspective simulates objects meeting at a horizon line
5. Flipping turns a selection on its horizontal or vertical axis
6. Holding the Option/Alt key while dragging a selection will create a copy of the selected area
7. Press the Return/Enter key to commit the transformation
8. Press the Esc key remove the transformation

4) Saving and loading selections

• Choose Select > Save Selection to save a selection
• Selections are saved as Alpha Channels
• Channels also contain specific image data:

1. Black and White images contain one color channel
2. An RGB image contains 4 color channels
3. A CMYK image contains 5 color channels

Chapter 6 & 7: Working with Layers and Layer Styles

1) Layers

• Layers are used to:

1. Create composite images
2. Create complex projects
3. Correct color
4. Add special effects
5. Repair photos

• The content of layers can be controlled by:

1. Changing opacity
2. Changing stacking order
3. Changing blending modes

• Layer palette contains :

1. Blending mode
2. Lock : Tansperancy, pixels, position
3. Layer visibility
4. Link layers
5. Layer or opacity
6. Text layer
7. Layer effects
8. Layer masks
9. New : layer set
10. Delete layer
11. Adjsutment layer

2) Types of layer

• Normal layers are added on top of the current layer
• Adjustment layers are used to modify an image without affecting the original pixels
• Layer masks protect areas of a layer
• Shape layers contain vector shapes
• Type layer contain text elements

3) Merging and falttening layers

• Merging - combining two or more layers
• Flattening - merges all layers in a document
• You can connect layers to one another by linking them
• Linked layers move together as one unit
• The Merge Layers command will merge the linked layers in the image

4) Layer styles

• Layer styles add special effects to an image
• Several options are available for different layer styles

Chapter 8 : Filters

1) Filter galery

• Filters are specialized tools that allow you to apply special effects to your images
• Filters can be used in several ways:

1. Enhance images
2. Create artwork
3. Add lighting effects
4. Repair damage
5. Improve sharpness
6. Soften harsh details

• The Filter Gallery shows generic previews of the effects of each filters
• Options for filter effects can be found on the right side of the gallery
• You can add more than one filter effect by clicking the New Filter button

2) Creating custom texture with filters

• You can use a combination of filters to create a custom texture
• It is a good practice to create a duplicate of a layer before applying a filter to preserve the original pixels

3) Liquify filters

• The Liquify Filter allows you to push pixels around as if they were wet paint
• The style you can use is :

1. Warp
2. Turbulence
3. Twirl
4. Twirl ccw
5. Pucker
6. Bloat
7. Pixel shift
8. Reflection

• The Freeze Mask protects portions of an image from distortion

Chapter 9 & 10 : Text

1) Type tool

• Photoshop Type is made with vectors
• Vectors are composed of lines and points
• Point text is created by clicking on the image and typing (Click & Type)
• A Text box is created by clicking and dragging to add a text box to the image. (Click & Drag)
• To add type, click on the image with the Type tool

1. Type at the insertion point
2. A new type layer is created

2) Type attributes

• Type attributes are controlled in the Character palette
• Type Attributes include:

1. Kerning
2. Tracking
3. Vertical/Horizontal Scale
4. Baseline Shift
5. Attributes (SuperScript, SubScript, All Caps, Bold, etc)

3) Warp text

• When type layers are linked, they can be moved as one layer
• Type layers can be merged or combined into one layer
• Flattening or merging layers containing type will rasterize the type
• Rasterized type is not editable
• It is always a good idea to save a copy of the file in PSD format to preserve all data
• A paragraph is a series of words created when you start typing and ends when you press the Return/Enter key
• Text can be copied from another application using the clipboard.
• Text from the clipboard can be placed in a text box in Photoshop.
• Text box is contained within a specified region
• Adjusting the space between letters is called kerning.
• The overall letterspacing of words or strings of words is called tracking.
• The overall spacing between lines in a paragraph is called leading.
• The Warp Text dialog box contains 15 options for creating special text effects.
• Warping text allows you to fit text to specific design problems.

4) Use text as clipping mask

• A type mask can be used to add a gradient fill to text.
• The type mask is a selection in the shape of type that can be filled.
• Layer styles can be applied to type layers.
• Layer styles can add drop shadow or bevel & emboss effects.

Chapter 11 : Drawing shapes

1) 3 types of shapes using shape tools

• Three different types of shapes can be created with shape tools

1. Clipping mask is a shape that acts like a cookie cutter.
2. Path shape is like the paths created with the pen tool.
3. Fill shape is created with pixels.

2) Shape Layer

• What is a path?
• Paths are lines and curves that make up the outlines of vector graphics
• Two thumbnails on a shape layer
• The thumbnail on the left is a fill layer, which contains pixels of colour.
• The thumbnail on the right is a vector mask, which contains a vector-based circle shape.
• A shape layer acts like a cut out – cutting the shape out of a layer
• You can load custom shape libraries by using the drop down menu on the options bar