Photoshop is so powerful that it has become a verb! Known as one of the most famous software applications globally, it is also recognized for being difficult to learn—but today, we will dispel that notion. Despite being over 20 years old and continuously evolving, the software interface remains simple, logical, and user-friendly. Today, Mytour will guide you through the basics and how to explore advanced features in Photoshop CS6.
Open Photoshop. If you don’t have Photoshop yet, you can download a free trial version from
Adobe.com. Click the
Try It button on the right side of the page. You’ll get a 30-day full-feature trial to determine if Photoshop is the right fit for you.
Open a document.Command and clickCtrl and clickclick here
Select the Marquee tool (shortcut key:MClick and hold the mouse button on the Marquee icon, and a menu will pop up with options: Rectangular marquee (default) for rectangular selections; Elliptical marquee for circular and oval selections; and Single (row/column) marquee to create 1px-wide selections vertically or horizontally.Now, choose the Rectangular marquee, position the cursor somewhere on the top-left of the image, then click and drag the mouse. You’ll see the selection area expand with pixel values displayed on the right. Drag toward the center until the values are approximately W: 300 H: 200 (width 300, height 200), then release the mouse.
Select the Lasso tool (L).Click and hold the mouse button to draw a selection around the small white sailboat on the left-center of the window. When dragging to the bottom of the boat, release the mouse—the selection will automatically complete. Now, press Command-D (Mac) or Control-D (Windows) to deselect. Note that this works for all selections.Press Shift-L. The cursor will change to the Polygonal Lasso tool. (Pressing Shift with a tool shortcut cycles through related options). The black arrow at the top-left corner of the Polygonal Lasso cursor indicates the click point.
Press the Escape key anytime to cancel the selection.Press Shift-L again to switch to the Magnetic Lasso tool. Like other lasso tools, the click point is marked by the black indicator at the top-left of the cursor.Give it a try: click and drag the mouse along the waterline at the bow (front) of the boat, then gently trace around the object. As you move, the selection will follow the cursor and cling to the boat!
Select the Quick Selection tool (W).
To subtract from the selection, simply hold down the Option (Alt) key, and the tool will temporarily switch to its exclusion mode (you’ll see the tool icon change at the top of the screen when the key is pressed).
Choose the Crop tool (C).
Notice how the overall center of the image shifts. Click Undo (Command-Z for Mac or Control-Z for PC) to revert the image to its original size. If multiple changes have been made, you can step back through the edit history using Command-Option-Z (Control-Alt-Z).Perspective crop. Instead of a simple rectangular crop, Perspective Crop allows you to adjust the symmetrical angles of the image while cropping. This tool is incredibly powerful, fascinating, and worth exploring, but it’s an advanced feature that deserves detailed coverage in more specialized tutorials.The Slice tool, part of the Crop menu, is designed to divide images for use on web pages. Like Perspective Crop, this is an advanced feature that should be discussed in detail in appropriate tutorials.
Select the Text tool (T).
Font family. Like all font menus, this one lets you choose your desired font. You can select from the list or type the font name, which will auto-fill as you type. For this tutorial, select the Helvetica font.Font style. Related font styles (if available) for the font family (such as Bold, Italic, Light, Medium, etc.) will appear in this dropdown menu. If the menu is grayed out, no customizations are available for the current font family. In this example, select "Regular."Font size. This option adjusts the size of the font. You can enter text at a specific font size or choose from a small list of sizes. To quickly, flexibly, and easily change the font size, click and hold the mouse on the T icon to the left of the field, then drag left or right: the size will change significantly.Antialiasing.
Justification. The icons say it all: this option aligns all text on the selected layer to the left, center, or right.Color. This color box defaults to the foreground color when you first select the Text tool. To change the text color, select the text layer, the Text cursor, or any part of the text in the field. Click the color box, choose a color, and any selected text—along with all future text—will display in the new color. Note: If you select a multi-colored text field, the color box will show a question mark (?). All other text attributes will appear as blank fields.Warp.
Panels. The Panels button opens two additional panels: Character and Paragraph, allowing you to fine-tune the appearance of your text.
Create a custom-sized text field.Type a few sentences into the box. Don’t worry if the text is too large or too small. Once you’re done typing, press Enter. If the text is too small, use the Font Size adjustment box (at the top) to enlarge it. Conversely, if the text is too large, use the Font Size box to shrink it.
Close the window. Save the file or discard changes as desired. Additionally, you’ll always have an unedited version available.
Create a new document. In the New dialog box, set the Width to 1024 pixels, Height to 768 pixels, and the background contents to white.
Select the Brush tool (B).The Brush menu includes the Pencil, Color Replacement, and Mixer Brush tools.
- The Pencil tool draws lines of varying thickness. While you can use different brush tips, the Pencil tool lacks anti-aliasing: you’ll see the pixels clearly.
- The Color Replacement tool is highly effective for replacing one color (or a range of colors) with another.
- The Mixer Brush blends different colors together, much like an artist mixing paints on a palette.
To see the difference between Opacity and Flow, set Opacity to 50%, then scribble without releasing or clicking the mouse. If you choose red, you’ll see a small pink spot. If you release the mouse and start scribbling again, the new strokes will overlap the old ones, becoming darker. The color will be lighter at the start of each new stroke. Transparency is added per stroke, not throughout a single stroke. Now, reset Opacity to 100%.Set Flow to 25% and Opacity to 100%, then scribble again. When examining the strokes, you’ll notice the color gradually intensifies until it becomes fully red. Transparency quickly reaches 100% from the start. With Flow at 100%, the full color is applied to the canvas immediately.Once you’re done experimenting, clear the canvas by pressing Command-Delete (Control-Delete). The canvas will be filled with the background color. If you press Option-Delete (Alt-Delete), the canvas will be filled with the foreground color.
Select the Shape tool (U).
When you release the mouse, the polygon will be filled with the color you selected, and the border will adopt the stroke properties you’ve set.
Choose the Paint Bucket tool (G).
Press the D key to reset the Foreground and Background colors to default, then press Command (Control)-Delete to clear the canvas and fill it with white.
Select the Gradient tool (G).
Similar to the Paint Bucket tool, you can apply a gradient with various blending styles to the image. Experiment with each gradient and observe how they influence the color transitions.
Close the Gradient Editor.Reset the sample image.LayersWindows
Select the Clone Stamp tool (S).Choose a brush
Use the Size slider to set the brush tip to 50.Set the clone source.
If you want a real challenge, try removing the mast. Use a smaller brush tip and clone sources close to the mast.
EditDefine Pattern...
- If you check the "Aligned" box, the pattern will align evenly like a chessboard, even if the brush strokes overlap.
- If you don’t check "Aligned," the pattern will be created with each click, resulting in a more natural look.
- If you check "Impressionist," you’ll get random color dots from the pattern. The size of the dots depends on the brush tip size.
Select the History Brush tool (Y).HistoryWindow
The white sailboat you cloned water over earlier is now gone? But we’ll bring it back! After selecting the History Brush, use the Brush palette to set the brush tip size to 100 and hardness to 100%.
Use the History Brush to restore the image to its original state.
Select the Spot Healing Brush tool (J).With the Spot Healing Brush, choose a round brush tip with a size of 50 pixels and hardness of 50%.
Choose the Dodge tool (O).After selecting the Dodge tool, set the brush tip size to 50 and Hardness to 50%. On the right side of the brush panel, set Range to "Highlights" and Exposure to 50%.
Select the Pen tool (P).
Note that the handle remains in place. Now, click and hold the mouse at the stern (rear) of the boat along the waterline, and drag upward toward the middle of the ship’s rear. Don’t release the mouse yet.
The outline around the ship might look like the image below, loosely connected to the boat. Now, we’ll fix it using the Direct Selection tool.
Choose the Direct Selection tool (A).white
You’ll notice that only the right handle moves, and the path between the top anchor point at the bow and the point you’re editing will start to align closer to the ship’s hull. Drag the handle toward the middle of the ship and release the mouse.Click on the bottom anchor point at the stern. When the handles appear, click on the right handle and gently drag it upward. You’ll see the path begin to align with the waterline. Adjust this handle and the left handle of the first anchor point until the path closely matches the waterline.
Make a SelectionPathsWork Path
Note: If you wish to save this path for future use, double-click on Work Path, assign it a name, and press Enter. The path is now saved within your document.
Buzz
