Workshop

presented by Computer Based Education Department

Director:  Christopher Cimino

Instructors:

Julianna Melykian

Peter Schmidt

Adam Hochman

Shamim Mollah

Outline:

1. Introduction

2. Overview of Tools

3. Introduction to Layers

3. Selection and Move Tools

4. Layers Basics

6. Type Tool

7. Useful Links

Introduction

Adobe® Photoshop Elements is image-editing software. It is based on the world-standard Adobe Photoshop engine and offers features that directly address the image-editing needs of savvy photo enthusiasts and hobbyists.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 provides the perfect combination of power and simplicity so you can create high-quality images for print, e-mail, and the Web.

Start up screen

When you start up Elements, you will be presented with a startup screen.

This is a good starting point for beginning users.

There are links:

1. To start a "new" image.

2. Look for an existing image on your hard drive

3. Connect to your scanner or digital camera.

4. Tutorials are quick ways to help you learn to use Photoshop Elements

    effectively.

5. Recent Images  - a  list of images you’ve been working on the last time.

 So leave the []checkbox: Show at startup checked

File Browser

Another useful way of managing your image files, window - File Browser

The File Browser lets you view, sort, manage and process image files. You can create new folder, rename, move, delete file and rotate images. You can also view individual file information and data imported from your digital camera (Demo: Window- File Browser).

Overview of Tools

Adobe® Photoshop Elements provides a variety of tools. Some will let you edit and view images, the others will let you draw, paint and type.

There are few rules for using tools:

You must select a tool in order to use it.

Each tool has a letter next to the description that is a shortcut key.

All the tools on the toolbar are divided on 4 sets:

1.  Selection Tools

2.  Drawing & Painting Tools

3.  Image Adjustment Tools

4.  Sampling & View Tools

There are 2 types of tools:

         a.  Bitmap - Selection and editing of individual dots in an image.

             Frequently works based color differences between dots.

         b.  Vector - Allows selection of complicated "paths" and

             disconnected  areas. Frequently used to overlap parts of

             different  images of paint images in the form of letters.

Tools with a small triangle at the corner have a hidden tool.

Marquee and Lasso Tools

      

Type and Healing Brush tools

Stamp and Eraser tool

Brush and Shape tool

Touch tools

Crop tool 

Exercise 1

1. Open crop_exercise.psd  file located in Crop folder.

2. Select the Crop tool, drag a marquee around the image.

3. Rotate the image to straighten it and cut out the unnecessary parts.

Crop tool is used  for the scanned images to fix them if they are crooked after they had been scanned or the dimension of the images is larger than needed.

Drawing tools     

Exercise 2

This exercise is meant to familiarize yoursefl with the drawing and painting tools.

1) Go to Menu Bar Select File->New on the dialog box that appears change preset sizes to Letter, leave everything else, hit enter or return (ok)

2) Select the paint brush. Note the options bar has a menu with a pen or brush stroke, click on that and a brush palette will appear, chose what brush style you like. This example shows the leaf brush style. Try different ones, and change the sizes of the stroke, color.

3. Select the eraser and try to erase your drawing.

4. Now open brush_demo.jpg image.

5. Select the paint brush again and paint over the umbrella, making the effect of leaves being blown away by wind.

Introduction to Layers

Think of layers as stacking transparencies on top of each other, together they look like a single image.

Layers are great! Without them you would be unable to change your mind about something without having to start all over again.

•  Layers give your tremendous flexibility. They let you isolate different parts of an image.

•  Each  layer can be considered a separate image - contained in a single image file and can be edited as discrete artwork

•  Every New Image has 1 layer - Background. It is normally "locked".

•  Every new layer is transparent until you add artwork - unless the layer was created by a PASTE or TYPE operation.

•  You can change the visibility, opacity, style and stack order of the layers.

•  You can rename, merge and link layers.

Exercise 3

Let’s take a look at the Layers Palette.

1. Open collage_end.psd  file located in the Layers folder

2. Drag the Layers palette from the Palette well if it isn't showing up in your window (OR) –Menu Bar Window ->Layers.

3. Examine the Layers palette.

Note that each item: Statue, Doorway and Background are on separate layer.

Note that Background Layer is locked and has 3 icons on it: lock, eye and pen.

4. Now close this file. We’ll come back to this exercise later

Selection and Move Tools

Tools in this category include the marquee, lassos and the magic wand.

Rectangular marquee  ,  elliptical marquee    - used for selecting rectangular and elliptical areas.

Press the Shift key as you drag to make the selection a perfect circle.

Lasso    - makes a freehand selection.

Polygonal lasso  - makes a straight  line selection with a rubber band around an area.

Magnetic lasso   -  makes freehand border that snaps to the edge of the selected area. Use Escape key to cancel.

Selection brush   -  selects  with a variety of soft-edged or hard-edged brushes to define selected areas.

Magic wand   –  selects a range of color determined by the tolerance setting in the option bar.

Move Tool  - To move a selection with the move tool, simply place the pointer inside the selection border and drag to where you want it.

If you want to move a copy of a selection to a new location, leaving the original in place, press the Alt key, and then drag the selection.

TIP:

Once the selection is made – it can be resized and rotated

Exercise 4  

1. Open selection_exercise. psd   file located in Selection folder.

2. Change the background layer to a normal layer (Layers will be explained more later).

3. Use different selection tools to trace different shapes.

4. You can add several partial selections together create a larger selection by holding     down the shift key. You can subtract partial selections by holding down the OPTION key (Mac) or ALT key (PC).

5. Once  you’ve created a complex selection, you can save it by selecting Selection > Save Selection. These complex selections can be reloaded and combined using Selection > Load Selection. These named selections stay with your file until you delete them.

6. Use Move Tool to create “face” using the different parts of the images.

* Remember to place each section in it’s own layer. This makes it easier to edit the image later on.

Layers Basics

Earlier we had an introduction to Layers. Now we can do an exercise to get more comfortable with layers and learn more about the way they work.

Exercise 5

1.   Open collage_start.psd  located in the Layers folder

         2. Also open statue.psd, door.psd, and arc.psd

         3. Select each image and paste them into collage_start.psd

Note that each image pasted becomes a new layer. Make sure the arc is the top most layer and the door is the second layer.

         4. Select each layer in turn and select and position the images to make your collage.

         5. Select the door layer, select the image and then choose Image > Transform > Distort

         6. Distort the image so it has perspective and looks like it is opening inward (move the two right corners up and to the left a little).

TIP:

Professionals usually copy the background layer before doing anything and work up from there, so that the locked background layer is your unretouched image.

If you are doing a lot of complex work on your image, save the version with the layers. But note that it will be only in the photoshop format. If you want to save it as a JPEG, GIF, TIFF or some other format you will have to flatten it first,

MenuBar Layer->Flatten Image but make sure you don't lose your copy with layers. Check the file suffix before you press save!

TIP:

You can be frustrated by trying to work on something that's in a different layer than the selected layer. If nothing seems to be happening, double check which layer is active.

Adjustment Layer

A layer that lets you experiment with color and adjust color tones. You can think of an adjustment layer as a veil through which the underlying layers are seen.

Type tool

By using Type tool you can easily add some text to the image. You can add text in a horizontal line or in a vertical line.

Exercise 6

1. Start  File > New.

2. Choose the elliptical marquee tool from the toolbox (this is a selection tool, not a shape tool)

3. Drag in the empty document window to create a selection.

4. Press Shift key as you drag to make the selection a perfect circle. Press the    spacebar (while still pressing both the left mouse button, and the Shift key) to reposition your selection as you drag.

5. Click on Color picker to choose the foreground color.

6. Chose Edit > Fill and chose Foreground from the menu.

7. Take a look at the Layers Palette. It has Background Layer and it’s locked.

8.  All new documents are created with one Background Layer

9.  Create a new Layer.

10. Select the Type Tool. Position the cursor anywhere on the image, and click, the cursor should be blinking awaiting you to type.

11.   Type word “AECOM”. Note that a new layer has been created, and its named "AECOM"

12. Select the type.

13. Go to the Option bar and select Warp Text option. Adjust the text to have the same curve as the shape you created. You can also change the color too, click on the rectangle of color and a color palette should appear. Clear on any hue that you prefer. Size and font can also be selected on this option bar.

 14.  Choose Type tool again and type “copyright 2004 (your name) ”.

Useful Links

Download Photoshop Elements "free" Try out Version:

http://www.adobe.com/products/tryadobe/main.jsp#product=40

NOTE you will be requested to create an ADOBE user ID to download the product. After downloading and installing, the program will function for 30 days.

Photoshop Elements Tutorials & Tips sites:

From Adobe: http://www.adobe.com/products/tips/photoshopelmac.html

Using Photoshop Elements and a Digital Camera: http://itc.utk.edu/workshops/dm149/default.shtml

Photoshop Elements Tips:

http://www.arraich.com/elements/psE_intro.htm

Photoshop Elements tutorials and more web links: http://www.photoshopsupport.com/elements/tutorials.html

Digital Imaging Sites:

The following links show you that some people have a lot of time to play with digital photo manipulation:

Photoshop Contests:

http://www.worth1000.com/ see for example: http://www.worth1000.com/cache/gallery/contestcache.asp?contest_id=1432 which are hoaxed medical photos

This sight has a couple of Tutorials on photo manipulations using the full version of Photoshop :

http://www.freakingnews.com/tutorial.asp

Expanding Photoshop Elements:

Plug Ins allow you to add commands, operations, and filters to Photoshops current offerings.

http://www.thepluginsite.com/resources/freeps.htm

Contact info:  Office of Computer Based Education  718-430-2870

Email us:  cbe@aecom.yu.edu

cimino@aecom.yu.edu

schmidt@aecom.yu.edu

melykian@aecom.yu.edu

ahochman@aecom.yu.edu