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Listed below are descriptions of the tools in the toolbox.

The tools

The marquee toolis used to make rectangular and elliptical selections within the

image.

The lasso toolis essentially the same as the marquee toll, except that the lasso tool

enables the user to define the selection freehand. This tool is especially helpful in

isolating irregularly-shaped objects surrounded by other objects.

The magic wand toolmakes selections based on the color similarities of adjacent

pixels. This tool is useful in selecting part of an image without tracing the outline with

the lasso tool.

The move toolis used to move selections by dragging the mouse.

The hand toolis used to scroll through an image that does not fit in the active

window.

The zoom toolis used to magnify an image (not to change its size). This tool can alsobe used in conjunction with the Option key on the keyboard to zoom out.

The cropping tooldiscards the remainder of the image outside of the region selected

by the tool.

Thepaint bucket toolfills in areas that are adjacent to the point you click with thecurrent foreground color.

Thegradient fill toolcreates a gradual transition from the foreground to the

background color.

The line toolpaints straight line segments. Properties of the lines, including width and

arrowheads, can be changed by double-clicking on the line tool in the toolbox.

The eyedropper toolis used to sample and match colors in an image.

The eraser toolerases pixels and changes them to the same color as the background

color (usually white).

Thepencil toolcan be used to color individual pixels.

The airbrush toolis used to apply a diffused spray of the foreground color on the

image.

Thepaintbrush toolpaints soft-edged strokes of the foreground color.|The rubber stamp toolsamples a part of an image and can place an exact copy of that

sample elsewhere.

Thesmudge toolsimulates the effect of dragging a finger through wet paint.The blur/sharpen tools blur or sharpen parts of an image.

The dodge/burn/sponge tools can lighten, darken, or change the saturation of part of

an image.

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Beginners' Guide to Adobe Photoshop Page 1 of 4Introduction to Photoshop

Ever wanted to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop, but had no idea where to start?

Most Adobe Photoshop tutorials (including my own) are for people who are already familiar

with Adobe Photoshop. This tutorial goes right back to the DAWN OF TIME! :) ...and isdesigned for the Adobe Photoshop beginner.

This basic, thirty-minute tutorial is not a comprehensive instruction manual. It only gives youthe very basic features you need to know to start using Adobe Photoshop. From there, you'llquickly discover most of the other features of the program.

The images in this tutorial are from Adobe Photoshop 7.0, but they're very similar to thosefrom earlier versions of Photoshop.

Let's get the tutorial started...

Click File > New, and create a new image of any size you desire.

1 Setting Adobe Photoshop's Undo option

Press Ctrl+K to bring up the Preferences window. (In Adobe Photoshop 5.0, you'll need toclick on the Settings tab, on the File menu.)

Change your "Redo Key" to Ctrl+Shift+Z. This enables you to press Ctrl+Z while working to

undo your last actions. Remember this.

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2 Using Adobe Photoshop's Layers window

The Layers window shows the various layers that your image is made up of.

To make a new layer, click the New Layer button, as shown by the red arrow.

To work on a different layer, click on that layer. The eyeball will apear next to that layer.

You can drag layers up and down the list.

Remember create a new layer for each part of your image. This allows you to go back and

edit the layers individually. Every Adobe Photoshop novice at some time makes amasterpiece, only to find out that they did it all on one layer, and now they can't remove thosepink clouds they put on it. :)

Selection and Manipulation

3 Learning about Selection

One of the most important concepts in Adobe Photoshop is Selection.

This is the Rectangular Selection Tool.

Use this tool on your image to select an area of the image. This lets Photoshop know thatthat's the area you want to work on.

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4 Adding to a Selection and making a square

To add to a selection, hold Shift before dragging.

To make the selection exactly square, start dragging, then hold Shift.

You can press Ctrl+D to "deselect" and remove the selection at any time.

5 Elliptical Selections and subtracting Selections

Hold down on the Selection Tool on the Toolbar, and choose the Ellipse.

To move the selection, just click inside it and drag.

Holding Alt while selecting subtracts that area from the selection. I've done that with theEllipse Selection Tool.

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6 A Selection exercise

If you're following this tutorial in Adobe Photoshop, see if you can make these shapes.

Other relevant Adobe Photoshop tools

Lasso Tool Allows you to draw a selection area with the cursor.

Magic Wand Summons elves. (Also believed to select an area of one colour.) :P

Colouring Your Selection

7 Choosing a colour

Now that you know how to select an area in Adobe Photoshop, we can look at some tools thatcan do something with that area.

Before we get started on colouring your selection, you'll need to pick a colour.

This part of the Toolbox is where you select your colours.

The top square is the foreground colour. If you use a brush or paint bucket, it will apply thiscolour.

The bottom square is the background colour. It has various purposes, but it's also a goodplace to store a second colour that you're using.

Click on either square to change its colour.Click the arrow to swap the two colours.Click the little squares to reset the colours to black and white.

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8 The Paint Bucket and Gradient tools

These two tools are on separate buttons in Adobe Photoshop 5.0, but share a button in AdobePhotoshop 6.0 and Adobe Photoshop 7.0. To select one, click and hold.

On a new layer, just click the Paint Bucket tool inside the area of your selection to fill itwith the colour you've selected.

Click and drag from one area to another to fill the area. The point where you started toclick will be the colour of your foreground colour, and the point where you took your finger off

the mouse button will be the colour of your background colour. The area in between willgradually change from one colour to the other.

In this case, I went from corner to corner, with the default white and black selected.

9 A colour exercise

With what you've learned so far, you should be able to recreate this piece of hippy history. :)

Remember to create each step on a new layer.

Other Adobe Photoshop tools of interest include

The Text Tool Just click it wherever you want text to appear. Choose a font, colour, and

size, and start typing.

The Move Tool Use this tool to drag things around. If you have a selection, it will dragthe contents of the selection. If not, it will drag the contents of the layer you're on.

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Blending Options & Special Effects

10 Adding Effects

Now that you know the basics, it's time to start adding some easy special effects.

To demonstrate Adobe Photoshop's special effects, here's an unembellished button for awebsite.

Each part of this image is on a separate layer.

11 Key Adobe Photoshop Blending Options

In the Layers list, right-click on a layer, and select Blending Options (Adobe Photoshop 6.0 &Adobe Photoshop 7.0) or Effects (Adobe Photoshop 5.0.)

This is a picture of the left-hand portion of the Blending Options window that will appear. (Thewindow is much smaller in Photoshop 5.0.)

Drop ShadowSelecting this option will make your layer cast a shadow on layers below it.

Bevel and EmbossMakes the layer like a block of gold bullion - raised in the centre, with edges that slope down.(This is a good effect for creating buttons.)

TextureMakes the surface of the layer look like it's made of wood, stone etc. Use the "Overlay"setting.

StrokeStroke is just another word for "outline". A Stroke is useful to make an object stand out fromits background. (In Adobe Photoshop 5.0, this option doesn't exist. Use Outer Glow as analternative.)

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12 The end result

Other than using some of the Blending Options, nothing else has been done to this button.

It's really that easy.

A final few Adobe Photoshop features

Zoom: Press (Ctrl and +) to zoom in. Press (Ctrl and -) to zoom out. This is very useful ifyou're a bit of a pixel pirate :)

Transformation:To Transform (resize/rotate/distort) an object, press Ctrl+T. To Transform aselection, click Select > Transform Selection. Use the Shift key while transforming to stop theimage distorting.

"Special Message"

I hope this tutorial has helped you get the idea of Adobe Photoshop. You can now face the"wall of random icons and palettes" with confidence. :)

Displacement

It's easy to make a coloured block of text, or a simple diagram (e.g. a flag), but to make it looklike it's actually real, you'll need to follow these steps:

1 Setting Up

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Take your object (Australian flag in this case), and make some space around it, by clickingImage > Canvas Size, and putting in a greater height and width for the canvas.

2 Creating a Gradient

Now make a new image, the same size as your first image.

Select the "Gradient" tool, and edit the gradient (Click on the visual representation of thegradient, or click on "Edit" on the Options tab.) Put in lots of black and white markers, as I'vedone in the image (this will make your gradient produce black and white bars).

3 Applying the Gradient

Hold down Shift, and apply the gradient across your new image from left to right.

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4 Softening the Gradient

Click Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and blur your image a bit. This image is now your"displacement map". Save this image (I generally use the name "dispmap.psd").

5 Applying the Displacement Map

Now go back to your original flag image, and click Filter > Distort > Displace. Put 0% in"Horizontal Scale" and 5% in "Vertical Scale". (You can go higher if you want the waves to bebigger.) When it asks for a file, select your displacement map. (This will distort your imagedepending on how dark the displacement map is at that point.)

6 Bringing in the Displacement Map

Now grab your displacement map image, and drag it onto your image. Use the arrow keys tonudge the displacement map until it covers the whole image.

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7 Using an Overlay to Create Some Light

Change the displacement map layer's Mode from Normal to Overlay, and reduce its opacity(75% is good).

Voila, a funky flag. Scroll up and compare this image to the first one, and you'll really noticethe difference.

This technique can also be used to make realistic curtains, ribbons, and banners.