Learning Your Digital Workstation

Mac OS and Adobe Photoshop

Knowing Your Desktop

Menu bar

Applications dock

Trash

Trash

To select multiple files hold down your mouse and drag a box over them. Drag selected files to the trash can icon.

Empty Trash

How to Open Applications

Finder (the face)

In DockLaunchpad

Launchpad

The Finder – All Files and Applications

The Finder – Open Applications

The Finder – Pictures

Make a new folder for every project. Give them names that will make sense to you.

Making a New Folder

Can’t right click? Hold down the CONTROL KEY and click in your pictures folder. This dropdown will appear:

Preview and Open PhotosBridge looks like this. If it isn’t already in your dock, open it in Launchpad or Finder

Bridge is linked to Photoshop. It lets us easily preview photos and open them directly into Photoshop

Bridge

This is what you see when you open bridge. Since your photos are in your pictures folder, you will want to click that.(Unless they’re somewhere else like desktop or downloads, but they should live in Pictures)

Bridge

When you find the folder you want to preview, double click to open it and this is what you will see.

Bridge

Click filmstrip for a bigger preview.

Ready to open in Photoshop? Double click the thumbnail.

Photoshop

This looks busy. Feel free to minimize the bridge window….

Photoshop

That’s better. Now what?

Photoshop Tools

Menu bar

Delete layer

New layer

Layer panel

Menu Bar

Select File in the menu bar. Here you can:Save (always choose Save As)Open filesAnd Print

Menu Bar

Select Image in the menu bar. Here you can:Resize Rotate your image

Menu BarI don’t recommend editing this way, but there are some auto edit options.Note: if you try levels after this it’ll be weird.

Menu Bar

Window shows you what’s visible in your workstation. I recommend checking History. It will let you go back step by step if you make a mistake.

Menu Bar

View will let you zoom in or out, but there’s a shortcut:

Hold command and hit + to zoom in

Hold command and hit – to zoom out

The Toolbar

There are a lot of tools and features.

Get familiar with some basics.

The Toolbar

CropColor Picker/ eye dropper

cursor

The cursor is your mouse. Keep this checked when not using other tools to avoid accidentally using something you don’t want.

The crop tool looks like a pair of brackets. It crops your picture, and can also help straighten an image.

We used the color picker to set points for color adjustments. It has a fly out window to change between the eyedropper and the color picker (the one with the crosshairs)

Crop

To crop, select the crop tool and drag a box over the area you want to keep. Hit Return on your keyboard or hit the checkmark above.

To cancel hit the no symbol.

A shortcut to undo anything is command z on your keyboard

Crop Straighten

Hover your mouse over a corner until a curved, double pointed arrow appears. Rotate your image as needed. Use the Grids to help you.

Hit return or the checkmark to finish.

More Tools

Clone stamp – paints with pixels from a different part of your image to cover unwanted things/ make things disappear. It’s pretty helpful and we will learn this as a class.

Layers PanelDo all your editing in Layers!Do all your editing in Layers!

It is non-destructive, which means your original image stays the same in case you ever need it, or need to undo your changes.

When you open a brand new image this is what you see. This is a background layer. It’s a good idea to copy your background layer before you start editing. Here’s how:

See this icon to the left of the trash? Click and drag your background layer to that icon.

Layers PanelNow you have a copy. Because it is on top of your first background, you won’t see the background below it, but it’s still there just in case.

To make a new layer for editing, click the black and white circle in the middle. This window pops up. Select which edit you will make from this list.

Layers and MasksI chose levels from the list.The levels layer is selected so it is blue.

See that white box? That’s a layer mask. If it’s white it means ALL Visible. So, every change you make in levels appears on the image. If it’s black that means NOTHING visible. None of the adjustments will show up. We will learn more about editing layer masks in class.

Clicking the box to the left of it, with the slider and graph will let you edit the layer, in this case levels.

To turn a layer off, click the eyeball next to it. Click again to turn it back on.

Resizing and Saving ImagesPhotoshop Basics

#1 Choose Image > Image Size.

Constrain ProportionsTo keep the original ratio of width to height measurement, make sure that the Constrain Proportions option is checked.

Check ResolutionFor printing you want your resolution to be around 240 to 300 pixels/inch. (If you need to change it, uncheck Resample Image, change

the resolution, then recheck it)

Change width and heightMake sure Resample Image is checked, then you can change the height and width if you need to.

File > Save As….

Will you come back to it? Save it as a .psdSaving it as a

photoshop document will save all your layers so you can change them later.

Save files this way unless you need to upload it to the internet or put it in an email.

then….

Need to upload it? Save it as a .jpgJPEG or jpg files are

smaller files, and what most images on the internet are. If you need to save it this way, a good idea is to save it as a copy.

That way you’ll have a jpg to put online, and the psd to keep in case you want to make changes.

Quality: 7 or higher