CS 70.11A - Photoshop 1 Hands-on Exercises 1 – Photoshop Basics

1. Getting started a. Open a web browser and do one of the following: • Go to www.santarosa.edu/~bpurcell and then click on the Hands-on Exercises link • Go to our course syllabus and then click on the Hands-on link in the nav bar b. Open the 01_photoshop_basics folder. c. Save portland_art_museum09.psd and petaluma_riverfront_revival03.psd to the Desktop by right-clicking on each file name. d. Open Photoshop, but not the images yet. e. Open this PDF file. You may wish to resize the Photoshop and PDF windows so that each is easily accessible. Nothing needs to be turned in from our lab time today. I will ask for volunteers to discuss the results of the activities listed below.

2. Getting help Since I can’t always take class time to help people individually, if you think you might need help, please consider sitting next to someone who is more adept in Photoshop. Likewise, if you are done before others, please help someone else. Please do not use our lab time for activities other than this exercise.

3. bar From Photoshop, use the File menu to open the image files from the Desktop.

4. Options bar • Select the Magnetic Lasso tool. Note how the Options bar has several settings that affect how the tool works. • Select the Brush tool. Notice how the settings in the Options bar have changed. • Practice changing the numeric value for the Opacity option of the Brush tool by: o typing a value o using the o scrubbing o using the arrow keys, try also holding down the Shift key o using the mouse wheel, try also holding down the Shift key • Switch to the Pencil tool and change its Opacity value. Draw with the Pencil. • Switch back to the Brush tool. Does Opacity have the value that you set with the Pencil tool or the value that you set with the Brush tool? Hint: each tool remembers its own options settings. • Change the Brush tool Mode value. This is an example of a pop-up menu. • Change the brush tip (second from the left). This is an example of a Picker.

5. , panels and docks • Use the Window menu to display the Info panel. • Use the Switcher to change the workspace from Essentials to Photography – notice how the panels change.

Bruce Purcell • ©2012-2015 • Collapse all of the panels in the right-most dock. Expand those panels back to the way that they were. • Drag out the Layers panel by its to make it free-floating. It creates a new panel group. • Resize that panel group. • Drag the Channels panel so that it joins the panel group to which the Adjustments panel belongs. • Click on the Workspace Switcher button and select New Workspace to save your new panel configuration. Name it Handson1 and save it for later use. • In the Workspace Switcher, click on Essentials. • Load your saved Handson1 workspace. When would it be useful to save a custom workspace?

6. Tab and Shift-Tab • Hide the panels and Options bar by pressing the Tab key. Press it again to make them visible. • Now try the Shift-Tab keys. What is the difference between Tab and Shift-Tab? • Make some panels appear temporarily by moving the mouse to the edge of the screen.

7. Context menus • Right-click on a layer in the Layers panel. Notice what appears. • Select the Brush tool and right-click on image. • Select the Zoom tool and right-click on image. • Do you see why they are called context menus?

8. • What is the current view magnification? • What will be the approximate size of the document when it is saved? • What do the left and right Doc numbers tell us?

9. Reset Photoshop to its default values after it is launched • Reset the tools - right-click on leftmost icon in the Options bar and then Reset All Tools. • Reset the workspace – click on the Workspace Switcher and select the default workspace Essentials. Notice that the Info panel is still displaying. Click on Reset Essentials to get back the default Essentials workspace. • Reset the foreground and background colors – click on the black and white icon just above the Foreground/Background color chips

10. Help > Photoshop Support Center (CC) • Use the above command to go to adobe.com. Click on the cyan PHOTOSHOP HELP button. Notice, but do not click, the Help PDFs heading to the left and the Photoshop CC (October 2014) link. At home you want to use this link to open and save photoshop_reference.pdf, a great learning resource. • Under the What's New category, click on the New features summary (October 2014) link. Scroll down and briefly look at some of the changes in the various Photoshop CC 2014 releases.

Bruce Purcell • ©2012-2015