Beginner's Guide to Adobe Photoshop

128 Pages·2006·3.26 MB·English

by  Michelle Perkins

ThankstoBarbara,Carey,andChuckforproofreading—andtoallthosewhoseimagesappearinthebook.
ForRon—
Lajoiedevivrec’estdanslesbelleschansons.
Copyright © 2006 by Michelle Perkins
All photographs by the author unless otherwise noted.
All rights reserved.
Published by:
Amherst Media, Inc.
P.O. Box 586
Buffalo, N.Y. 14226
Fax: [phone]
www.AmherstMedia.com
Publisher: Craig Alesse
Assistant Editor: Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt
ISBN: 1-58428-187-1
Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2005937369
Printed in Korea.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or otherwise, without prior written consent from the publisher.
Notice of Disclaimer: The information contained in this book is based on the author’s experience and opinions.
The author and publisher will not be held liable for the use or misuse of the information in this book.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.Getting Started Blur and Distort ..........................72
Introduction ..............................4 Pixelate and Render ........................74
All About Resolution ........................6 Texture and Stylize ........................76
Digital Color Modes ........................8 Liquify ..................................78
Image File Formats ........................10 Lens Correction ..........................80
Styles ...................................82
2.The Basics
The Work Area ...........................12 7.Working with Layers
Opening Images ..........................14 The Basics of Layers .......................84
Working with Palettes ......................16 More about Layers ........................86
Viewing Images ...........................18 Layer Styles ..............................88
Correcting Mistakes ........................20 Special Types of Layers .....................90
Changing Image Size.......................22
Saving Images ............................24 8.Making Selections
Getting Help .............................26 Basics and Tools ..........................92
More Selection Tools .......................94
3.Cropping and Orientation Modifying Selections .......................96
Duplicate, Rotate..........................28 Working with Selections ....................98
Transformations...........................30
Cropping ................................32 9.AddingArtwork
Colors and Brushes .......................100
4.Basic Color and Exposure Painting and Filling .......................102
Adjusting Color ...........................34 Text ...................................104
Automatic Corrections .....................36
Brightness/Contrast .......................38 10.Basic Image Retouching
Other Tools ..............................40 Blemishes, Red-Eye .......................106
Sharpen or Soften ........................108
5.Advanced Color and Exposure Dodge and Burn .........................110
Evaluating Images .........................42
Digital Color .............................44 11.Simple Photo Projects
EyedropperTool ..........................46 Handcoloring ...........................112
Levels—The Basics ........................48 Restoring an Image .......................114
Reading Histograms .......................50 Compositing Images ......................116
Adjusting Contrast ........................52 Web and Print Graphics ....................118
Adjusting the Midtones .....................54 Panoramic Images ........................120
Adjusting the Channels .....................56
The Levels Eyedroppers .....................58 12.Outputting Images
Skin Tones ...............................60 Images in Action .........................122
Curves—The Basics ........................62
Editing Curves ...........................64 Index ..................................124
Contrast and Channels .....................66
6.Filters and Styles
Artistic Filters ............................68
Brush Strokes and Sketch ...................70
CHAPTER ONE
Getting INTRODUCTION
Started
Whether you long to be the next Ansel Adams or just
In this chapter, you’ll
learn the basic terms want to make your snapshots look their best, Photoshop
and techniques you
offers powerful tools for making the most of your images.
need to begin using
Photoshop successfully.
Armed with this infor- L
et’s admit it. We’ve all taken pic- experience with Adobe® Photoshop®. It
mation, you’ll be ready
tures and thought, “If only . . .”— teaches the basic skills needed to design
to make critical deci-
if only Mom’s eyes weren’t closed, if attractive images for use in print, on the
sions about opening,
only that wallpaper wasn’t in the back- Internet,orinanyotherapplicationyou
saving,and using your
ground, etc. With Photoshop (and a lit- can imagine.
image files. tle artistic ability) you’ll never need to
live with these problems again—and the WhatYou Need to Know
fixes often take only a few seconds. While you need no previous knowledge
of Photoshop to use this book, it is
Who Should assumed that you have the basic skills
Read This Book needed to use your computer. You
This book is designed for readers who
have little or no previous
InPhotoshop,it’seasytototally
transformyourimagesininterestingways.
Getting Started
5
TERMSTO KNOW
Color Mode—The term for the set of colors that are combined in various amounts to create all the other colors in
yourimage.
Compression—A system of arranging image data more efficiently (or removing data that is deemed extraneous) in
ordertoreducethefilesize.
FileFormat—The“language”inwhichthedigitalimageiswritten.Tellsanapplicationhowitshouldhandlethedatain
thefiletodisplayitcorrectly.
File Size—The amount of memory required to store and/or process an image.The larger the file size,the more space
requiredtostoreitandthemoretimerequiredtoperformoperationsonit.
Pixel—Thesmallestdiscretepartofadigitalimage.
Resolution—Howclosetogetherthepixels(dots)inanimageare.Expressedasdpi(dotsperinch).
should know how to: save and name lection, an image you have scanned
files, open files, print, etc. Since clear, yourself, or a shot from your digital
step-by-step information on installing camera.
Photoshopisprovidedwiththesoftware For many sections of this book,
itself, you are advised to follow those the sample images are available as low-
instructions carefully (noting the system resolution files for download from the
requirementslistedonthesoftware)and publisher’s web site. To access these,
install Photoshop on your computer visit <www.AmherstMedia.com/down-
before beginning the lessons in this loads.htm>. Click on the title of this
book. bookandenterthepasswordP1823.Be
sure to read the important notes that
Version of Photoshop accompany the images as a PDF file.
This book is specifically tailored for (Most computers come with Adobe®
users of Photoshop CS2, but much of Acrobat®, the software needed to open
the material will also apply to readers this type of file. If you do not have this
who wish to use earlier versions of the program,youcandownloaditforfreeat
software. While most of Photoshop’s www.adobe.com.) The notes in this file
basic tools and functions have remained explainsomesettingsthatyou’llneedto
the same since version 7.0, they have adjust in order to use these images,
been upgraded, supplemented, and to which are low-resolution, instead of the
some degree relocated in CS2. high-resolution versions used in the
preparation of the lessons.
Using This Book
To try out the techniques in this book,
you will need one or more digital
imagestouseas“testsubjects.”Youwill
be best off using a photographic image.
You can use images from a clip art col-
6
ALL ABOUT RESOLUTION
Resolution is one of the concepts that people who are new
to digital imaging usually find the most confusing. Fortunately,
it’s not as tricky as it might initially seem to be.
D
igital images are made up of dots and blurry. Does this mean you should
called pixels. The resolution of an always create the highest-resolution
image tells us how close together those imageyoucan?Well,no.Themoredots
dots are (the dots per inch—referred to in an image, the more the computer has
as the “dpi” of an image). Images with to remember and move around every
dots that are close together are said to time you ask it to do something with
have a “high” resolution (a high num- those dots. This means it will take
ber of dots per inch). Images with dots longer for the image to open, and per-
that are far apart are said to have a forming operations on it will be slower.
“low” resolution. Because it is bigger, you’ll also need
The resolution of an image, to a more space on your hard drive to store
great degree, determines the apparent each high-resolution image.
quality of the image. High-resolution
images tend to look clear and sharp— Which Resolution is Right?
more like photographs. Low-resolution So what should the resolution be? The
images tend to look grainy, speckled, answer is: only as high as it has to be.
WHICH IS BIGGER?
W
hich is bigger,the image on the left
or the one on the right?Actually,it
alldependsonhowyoulookatit.Theimage
ontherightdefinitelycoversmorespace,but
both images are made up of the same num-
ber of identical dots.In the image on the left,
thedotsaretightlypacked,givingitahighres-
olution (a high number of dots per inch).In the image on the right,the dots
are far apart,giving it a low resolution (low number of dots per inch).In the
digital world,how much“space”an image covers makes very little difference.
What counts is how many dots (pixels) it is made of.How many pixels your image should have is determined by what
youwanttodowithit.
Getting Started
7
Theresolutionyour
imageneedstobe
dependsonhow
youwanttouseit.
Theimageontheleft
isat300dpi,perfect
forprintinginabook.
Theimageonthe
rightisat72dpi.This
wouldlookjustfine
onawebsite,butits
resolutionistoolow
tolookgoodinprint.
The precise number will be determined is allow you to turn 50 dots into 500
by what you want to do with the image. dots. If you ask it to do this, the pro-
If you want to use it on your web gram will have to guess where to put
page, you’ll select a relatively low reso- these dots and what they should look
lution—probably 72dpi. This is all that like. Invariably, it won’t guess 100 per-
is needed to create an acceptably sharp, cent successfully, and your resulting
clear image on a monitor. Anything image will appear blurry.
morewouldn’tmaketheimagelookany In a pinch, you might be able to get
better and would increase the time the away with increasing the resolution by
image takes to load. 25percent—butanymorethanthisand
If you want to generate a photo- you’ll probably not like the results.
quality print on your inkjet printer, you
may want to create a file as large as Don’t Just Guess
700dpi. Check the manual that came If you’re not sure what resolution you
with your printer for the resolution it need to create the product you have in
recommends for various print settings. mind, find out before you create your
If you’ll be having someone else file. There’s no point in wasting your
(like a photo lab) print your image, ask time to make complicated refinements
them what they recommend. on an image that turns out to be un-
usable. If you’ll be using your image in
Changing Resolution multiple applications (say you want to
Photoshop will allow you to change the make a print but also plan to e-mail the
resolution of an image. As nice as this photo to someone), create your image
sounds, though, this doesn’t take the at the largest size you’ll need. Make any
place of proper planning. needed corrections to this large file,
Photoshop is great at moving then reduce its size and save multiple
aroundexistingdots(makingthemclos- copies of the image for other uses.
er together or farther apart) and is even
pretty skilled at removing dots (reduc-
ing resolution). What it doesn’t do well
8
DIGITAL COLOR MODES
When we shoot images on film, we tend to take color for granted and
leave it up to the folks at the lab.With digital, we have to know a little
bit more to really make our images shine.
I
f you ever took an art class, you
probably know that combining two
or more colors creates new colors. For
example, combining blue paint and yel-
low paint makes green paint. In fact,
almost all colors are combinations of
some other colors. The exceptions (the
colors you can’t create by combining
others)arecalledprimarycolors.Indig-
ital imaging, the set of primary colors
that are used to create all the other col-
ors in your image is called the color
mode. In this section we’ll take a basic
look at color modes. For more detailed
information on color in photographic
images, see chapters 4 and 5.
Why It Is Important
Thewaythatthecolorsarecreatedinan
imagecanbeimportantforreducingthe
file size of the image (perhaps to make
sure it loads quickly on your web page)
or improving print output. A few com- RGB). Depending on how you want to Toswitchbetween
mon applications and their suggested use your images later, you can convert colormodes,justgo
color modes are noted in the list on the the finished versions to another mode. toImage>Modeand
facing page. You may find other reasons To change the color mode of an image, selectthedesired
to pick one mode over another. gotoImage>Modeandselectthedesir- modefromthepull-
In this book, we will be working ed color mode from the list. downmenu.
almost exclusively in the RGB mode. It
istheeasiesttolearnandoffersthemost RGB Mode
options (most Photoshop features work If your image is in the RGB mode (the
in other color modes, but all work in most commonly used mode in Photo-
Getting Started
9
fact, to quickly convert a color image to
BASIC COLOR MODESAND USES
ablack& whiteone,youcanjustswitch
your image to the Grayscale mode by
RGB—Imagestobeviewedonascreen(suchasthoseusedona going to Image>Mode>Grayscale.
webpageortobee-mailedtofriends);imagesyouarestillwork-
ing on (works in progress);images you plan to print at home or Indexed Color Mode
at a photo lab. Thiscolormodeisusedforimagestobe
CMYK—Images that will be printed on an offset press or using viewed on-screen. It is most useful in
other professional processes. situations where perfect image quality is
Indexed Color—Images that need to load quickly (such as on a of secondary concern when compared
web page) and where perfect color reproduction is only a sec- to load time (how long it takes the
ondary concern. image to appear on-screen). By limiting
the total number of colors in the image
shop), then all of the colors in that to a few hundred (as compared with the
image are made up of some combina- millions of colors in RGB), you can get
tionofred(R),green(G),andblue(B). a pretty good-looking image that won’t
It may be hard to believe, but by com- keep viewers of your web site waiting
bining just those three colors in slightly around for your images to load.
different amounts, you can create mil-
lions of colors. As a result, this is the Bitmap Mode
best mode for working with color This mode uses only black and white
imagesthatyoureallywanttolooktheir pixels (no grays). It’s more useful for
best.Thisisthemodenormallyusedfor line art than photos, but it can create
on-screen viewing (like on the Internet) some interesting effects. To convert to
andmostphotographicprinting(likeon the Bitmap mode, your image must first
an inkjet printer or at a photo lab). be in the Grayscale mode.
Grayscale Mode CMYK Mode
Toinstantlyconvert
Another common color mode used in TheCMYKmodeisusedforprofession-
acolorimageto
Photoshop is Grayscale. As you might alprinting,likeinbooksandmagazines.
ablack&whiteone,
imagine from the name, all of the colors Ifyouneedyourfinalimagetobeinthis
gotoImage>Mode>
(well, tones, to be more accurate) in this mode, it’s best to make all of your ad-
Grayscaletochange
modeareactuallyshadesofgray—exact- justments and enhancements in RGB,
totheGrayscale
mode. ly like a black & white photograph. In then convert to CMYK as the last step.
10
IMAGE FILE FORMATS
They may not seem like much, but those three little letters after the dot
in the file name actually tell you a lot about an image. Better yet, they
tell other programs how to work with the data in your file.
T
hink of the file format as the lan- Photoshopisableto
guageinwhichanimageiswritten. readandwriteawide
Ittellsapplications,likewordprocessing varietyoffileformats.
software or web browsers, that your file
is a picture (rather than a text file, for
example) and how it should handle the
data to display it correctly. The file for-
mat is indicated by a tag (.TIFF, .JPEG,
etc.) after the file name.
Compatibility
If you travel to France and try to speak
Portuguese to the natives, you’ll likely
encounter some problems. The same
thing can happen with some software
applicationswhenyouaskthemtowork
withadigitalfilethatdoesn’tspeaktheir
language. Photoshop is very multi-
lingual; it “speaks” a wide variety of file
formats. Other programs aren’t as well
educated—many recognize only one or
two file formats. If you plan to use your
digital image in a program other than By reducing the amount of memory
Photoshop, read the software’s manual required to store an image (i.e., the file
to determine what formats it accepts, size), compression allows more images
then save your image accordingly. to be stored in a smaller space and lets
them be transmitted over the Internet
Compression more quickly. Sound too good to be
Somefileformatsgiveyoutheoptionof true?Itis(mostly).Imagineyoucrusha
reducing the amount of memory your soda can. It will take up less space, but
computer will need to store an image. it will also never look like it did to begin
This is called compression. with. With digital compression, the