Photoshop basics
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Contents |
[edit] Pending Deletion
The information in this page is no longer needed. It is not linked to from the Photoshop Department, and it's contents have been split up into several pages, each covering a specific tool. I feel that it is safe to delete this page.
[edit] Photoshop Basics
In Photoshop there are so many tools its often hard to even begin to learn it. With 37 basic tools and countless other more detailed ones, There are about 3 that are most vital. But before going on, please read the intro first. (This is less of a lesson and more of a extended introduction, but covers many necessary points for future lessons)
[edit] The Marquee Tool
The Marquee is almost doubtless the most used in photo editing, and is used widely in rendering too. It "targets" a section so most tools will only effect the portion.
[edit] The Tool
First click on the Marquee tool 
and scroll over your image or blank canvas (Blank page, recognized by checkerboard background). Click, and drag over the image to select it. This area is now individually effected by any tools. If you press the delete key now, it will only delete that area and if you use the copy or cut tools, only that area will be cut or copied. If you right click on the button you will get a option bar with "rectangular Marquee tool" "Elliptical Marquee tool" and "Single row/column" on it. Each of these makes a different shape of selection. At the top of the screen, you will see the "Feather" option. Enter a number of pixels there and it will soften the edge of your selection, and is extremely useful in photo editing, as almost all photos have some level of blur. In most cases these tools will do everything you need them too, but sometimes you will need the lasso tools.
[edit] The Lasso Tools
When you get into the higher level photoshoping techniques, you will often need a more detailed selection edge. For this the Lasso Tool is more suited. First, click on the lasso tool 
and scroll over your canvas. Then click and hold the mouse, and trace what you wish to select. That area will be selected when you let go of you mouse. In almost all ways other then shape it is identical to the Marquee tool. Variations include the Polygonal lasso tool, which you use by selecting points and the area between then will make up the selection edge, and the magnetic lasso tool, which is a sort of "AI" lasso tool.
[edit] More Advanced Marquee Features
The marquee tool is capable of making very complicated selections often including 2 or more completely different areas. You can do this with the tools we discussed or you can use other tools used for selection.
[edit] Other Selection tools
- The Magic Wand Tool: Found next to the lasso tool, this selects all of one color. At in the menu bar for this tool you will notice a "Tolerance" box. At 0 tolerance it will only select that exact color and at higher numbers it selects a wider range.
- Select layer transparency: This can be accessed by right clicking on any layer. It selects the shape of a layer.
[edit] Advanced use of selection tools
Most of the selection tools have ways they can be used more widely. This covers some of the more common ones.
- Adding and subtracting from selections: Useing key combonations, you can add and subtract from a selection with any of the selection tools. Simply hold "Shift" to add to a selection or "Alt" to subtract from a selection and over the effected area.
- Other features: Most of the other options are covered in later lesions or earlier in this description.
[edit] The paint bucket tool
This tool is another of the most commonly used tools in both rendering and photo editing. It fills the inffected area with a color and is often used to create an infected background. It is also one of the more straight-forward tools in Photoshop, and is relatively simple to use in most cases.
[edit] The Tool
Start by clicking the paint bucket icon 
. It will automatically use your current foreground color. Then goto the top of the page and find "tolerance". This works the same way as it does with the magic wand tool. Click where you want to fill with the color and it will automatically fill the selected area with your color. (It will fill like this: . . a.) It is a very basic, but useful tool. But sometimes you will wand a gradient, for that use the...
[edit] The gradient Tool
This is the more complicated brother of the paintbucket tool. It works by having one color of fill fade into the other. It has many features, and we will only cover the most common here.
[edit] Basic Gradient
Right click on the paintbucket button and click on "Gradient Tool". Now, set your background and foreground colors. Click and hold were you want the gradient to begin and move your moues to were you want it to end. Then let go of the mouse button. you should now have a basic gradient.
[edit] More Advanced gradient use
[edit] Picked Colors
Right click on the picture of a gradient on the top of the screen (Under "Photoshop") and you should get a menu. Click on one of the stoppers on either side of the gradient and pick your color or click one of the options above it. then click ok.
[edit] Gradient type
You can also change how the gradient acts. Look to the right of the picture off the gradient and you will see 5 or so pictures. These change how the gradient acts. The picture gives a pretty good idea of what it will change.
[edit] Note
If used correctly, Gradients are much more realistic then the paintbucket. Just don't over do it, as that ruins most pictures.
[edit] The Eraser Tool
Almost everyone knows what an eraser does. It removes a section of a picture. It can be very easy to use if used basically, or very complicated if used to its full potential.
[edit] The Tool
Start by clicking the eraser tool 
. Then scroll over to the Image and click + drag to remove portions of the image. It can be that simple.
[edit] Complicated Options
You already have seen how to use the basic eraser. But this tool can do much more then just remove squares.
[edit] Mode
The mode option sets the eraser to act as a block, a brush, or a pencil. A block acts as a simple square eraser, a brush acts a brush with varying opacity, and a pencil acts as a 1px*1px eraser.
[edit] Brush
The brush, unlike the other options, requires a little more explanation. Next to "Mode" you will see the "Brush" option. This allows you to set the shape. This is explained further in the Brush lesson.
[edit] Opacity
This sets how much it erases off the picture. at 100%, it removes everything it touches, and at 0% it removes nothing.
[edit] Summary
In this lesson you have learned some basic tools. Please return to the Photoshop Department for more lessons.
