The Beginner's Guide to Photoshop

Step by Step

The following instructions outline the basic uses of Adobe Photoshop 5.0, which is now in version 8. Although these directions apply specifically to legacy versions of the software, the general procedures are similar for new releases of the software. The topics listed below were chosen with students of English 419 Multimedia Writing, English 420 Business writing, and English 421 Technical writing in mind. Not only will this program help these students in these classes, but knowledge of this program will be an impressive addition to their resumes.

Students in English 420 and English 421 will use Photoshop to create graphics to publish to the web and to design visual elements for various written work. These students may want to create logos, headlines, borders, and altered photographs, and Photoshop is a great tool for these purposes.

Learn how to do these tasks:

• Opening Adobe Photoshop
• Starting a new document
• Changing file formats
• Resizing images
• Selecting images
• Cropping images

Opening Adobe Photoshop

Mac Interface

1. Click and hold on the Apple icon at the top of the screen
2. Select Standard Software
3. Select Adobe Photoshop

PC Interface

1. Click on the Start button on the Start bar.
2. Select Standard Software
3. Select Design tools
4. Select Photoshop 5.0
5. Select Adobe Photoshop 5.0

Getting the Ball Rolling

Starting a New Document

Unlike in other programs, starting Photoshop does not automatically start a new document when you launch the program. You need to start a new document yourself.

1. Click on the File menu.
2. Choose New.
3. Input a name for your file.
4. Type your desired page dimensions into the fields provided.
5. Click OK

Opening a Document that Already Exists

1. Click on the File menu.
2. Choose Open.
3. Browse the menus to find the file you want to open.
4. Click OK

Changing file formats

Using Photoshop to Change the File Extension of an Image

See page on changing file formats [Connect this link to the file format changing group page.]

Resizing Images

Changing the Actual Size of a Graphic

1. Click the Image menu.
2. Select Image size from the menu.

Enter your desired dimentions in inches or pixels in the appropriate fields.
NOTE: Changing one field will automatically change the other to preserve the proportion of the picture if the Constrain Proportions box is checked.

Selecting an image

Using the Marquee Tool

1. Select the Marquee Tool from the toolbar.
2. Click and hold down on the Marquee icon.
3. Choose your desired marquee shape from the flyout menu.
4. Click and hold the tool in the upper-left hand corner of the area you want to select.
5. Drag the tool to the lower-right hand corner of the area you want to select.
6. Release the mouse button.
7. To add another region to the area already selected, hold down the shift key and draw another lasso around the additional area with the mouse.
8. To subtract a region from the area already selcted, hold down the option key (for Mac) OR the alt key (for PC) and draw another lasso around the area to be subtracted.

Using the Lasso Tool

1. Select the Lasso tool from the toolbar.
2. Click and hold the tool on a spot on the edge of the area you want to select.
3. Drag the tool around the area you want to select.
4. Release the mouse button.
5. To add another region to the area already selected, hold down the shift key and draw another marquee around the additional area with the mouse.
6. To subtract a region from the area already selcted, hold down the option key (for Mac) OR the alt key (for PC) and draw another marquee around the area to be subtracted.

Cropping images

Using the Marquee Tool

1. Select the area of interest with the marquee tool.
2. To remove the selected area, choose Clear from the Edit menu.
3. To remove everything but the selected area, choose Crop from the Image menu.
   Note: If you accidentally delete something, you can get it back my choosing Undo from the Edit menu.
   
   Using the Lasso Tool
4. Select the area of interest with the lasso tool.
5. To remove the area inside the lasso, choose Clear from the Edit menu.
6. To remove the area outside the lasso, choose Inverse from the Select menu. Then choose Clear from the Edit menu.