A Digital Demo--Page One, Image Basics Kalamazoo College Richard Koenig Office Location: Light Fine Arts 203, Phone: 337.7003 To digital page To my homepage

For some demo images to use today, click here. Basic Photoshop Photoshop Screen Layout Grab the image and drag over to the desktop Don't double click on the image file, as that will have it open in Preview Drag the file over the Photoshop alias (PS) in the launcher Navigating Around an Image Title-Bar: size based on screen resolution: "100%" Also up there: mode and bit-depth At the bottom if you hold you mouse down: size and resolution Also look at the tool box on the upper left, and palettes on right Image Fundamentals Photoshop is raster-based (as opposed to drawing programs) File size equals width x height x color depth RGB: 3 channels of grayscale Color files will be three times as large as a grayscale one of the same resolution Remember to SAVE as you go Use "save as" to keep many versions of something without altering your master Image Optimization use the above image for this tutorial Rotate and crop--do this with the tool first (rotate, then crop) Adjust lightness--menu bar, image, adjustments, levels Look at histogram: a graphical representation for the distribution of pixels at various levels of gray in a grayscale image. Move the little markers (triangles) below the histogram: move the end markers to where the main information begins. Color balance--menu bar, image, adjustments, variations Sharpen--menu bar, filter, sharpen, unsharp mask Please leave this set at: Amount: 50% Radius: 1.0 pixel Threshold: 0 levels Retouch--rubber stamp tool to fix any glitches Name and save--use tif or psd as master, jpg for web or to save space For others see the site: file formats Image Basics mode, new, select all, cut, paste, color picker, fill, blending modes, layers Duplicate an image Drag "littlerich.jpg" from this page and open image in photoshop First, change the mode to rgb, so we can play with color Menu bar, image, mode, rgb Select all (using shortcut--use command "a", this selects the entire image) Copy (command "c" copies the selection) Make a new file: menu bar, file, new, ok The size here will match what you've copied Paste (again using shortcut--command "v" pastes the selection) Now we have two with which to play Give a wash of cool color to first image Tool box, color picker (notice foreground/background/switcheroo) Double click on the foreground color Select a dark blue (look at slider and selector circle) Back to image, select all Menu bar, edit, fill Look at foreground/background, opacity, and blending mode Fill this layer with your blue color on "soft light" blending mode at 100% opacity Hit OK Change the second image round now Menu bar, image, adjustments, invert (makes it a negative) Menu bar, image, rotate canvas, flip horizontally Give it a wash of warm color tool box, color picker, select an ochre Select all (command "a") Menu bar, edit, fill (use soft light again) Synthesis Click on either image Menu bar, image, canvas size Move anchor point to right or left, then double the width Click on the other image, select all, copy Back to first, wide, image and paste Layers Menu bar, window, show layers--look at layers palette Active layer is blue Look at small trash can, small menu, what's visible (eye icon) Activate top layer Tool box, move tool (arrow keys to tweak) Menu bar, layer, flatten image Note color difference here: warm/cool Complimentary colors--opposite on the color wheel Remember to save and re-name your files at this point File Format Primer Now that we're "saving" images, let's take a moment to talk about file formats. Here are some of my favorites and what I use them for... PSD Photoshop Document: This is what I use as my master file format (such as when a project is in progress, particularly with layers). JPG Joint Photographic Experts Group: this format will compress and therefore hurt quality, but really reduces size of file. Use for the web (where you can choose a progressive scan setting) or for final use (don't save repeatedly as quality will further degrade). GIF CompuServe Gif or Graphics Interchange Format: this format works with a limited color palette (known as "indexed color") but does very well for straight text work (graphics) and animation. It also supports transparency. PNG Portable Network Graphic: this open-source format has gone a long way repalacing Tiffs and Gifs. It also has a setting for progressive scan if needed (as possible with jpgs). TIF Tagged Image File Format: This is a high quality format and is the industry standard with printing and publishing. EPS Encapsulated Postscript: this is what I use when saving vector graphics.

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