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Hong Kong Baptist University

College of International Education (CIE)

GECR1001 Essentials of Information Management Technology
Photoshop CS6 Lab 1


Basic Editing with Adobe Photoshop
A. The Adobe Photoshop Workspace
B. Simple Editing
C. Simple Adjustment
D. Work with Layers
E. Adjustment Layers
F. Flatten an Image


A. The Adobe Photoshop Workspace

1. Start the Adobe Photoshop, and open the image hongkong.jpg
Go to File>Open


2. Hide and show different components of the workspace: Window, Adjustment, Color, and
Layers
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Deselect an item to hide it


Panel collapsed


Drag to make panel floating
3. Click and then select 'Reset Essentials', the layout is back to the original look

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4. Change the viewing size of the image. Click the magnifying glass .


Try Actual Pixels, Fit Screen, and Fill Screen and notice the difference.



B. Simple Editing

1. Zoom in the image to Actual Pixels
2. Resize an image


Change the unit from pixels to percent. Try to shrink the image by resizing it to 50%.
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3. Rotate an image

CW = Clockwise, CCW = Counter-clockwise

Rotate the image in an arbitrary angle by mouse control
Double-click the lock in the Layer Panel

Click OK to form a new layer

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The image changes from Background to Layer 0 and the lock disappears


Go to Edit>Transform>Rotate


Small boxes appear at four corners of the image


Drag the corner to rotate the image

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Click on the option bar to confirm the rotation.


4. Crop an image. Select the crop tool

Drag the area. Right-click and select Crop

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5. Using Undo function

Use Ctrl-Z to undo one step. Use Alt+Ctrl+Z to undo further steps.
6. Open the History Panel: Window>History

7. You may click on an upper entry to undo several steps
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C. Simple Adjustment
1. Open the History panel and undo all actions.

2. Change the brightness/contrast
Go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast


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Brightness: Positive value for brighter pictures
Negative value for darker pictures
Contrast: Positive value brighter parts get brighter and darker parts get darker
Negative value the difference between the brighter parts and darker parts
gets smaller
Click Cancel to continue.
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3. Use the Levels adjustment
Go to Image>Adjustments>Levels...

Adjust the sliders to change the brightness in different ways.
You have a better control of the brightness in the middle level.




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4. Convert to a black-and-white picture
Go to Image>Adjustments>Black & White ...


Try the different preset choices for a black-and-white picture


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5. Save image.
Go to File>Save As...

Give a new name, e.g., hongkong-bw.jpg. Notice that the format is JPEG.
Choose a quality level and then click OK.


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D. Work with Layers
1. Download and open PS2-1.psd

2. Examine the layer panel. Hide and show individual layers by clicking on the eyes


3. Change the value of Opacity to less than 100. The layer looks transparent.
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4. A layer can be locked to disallow changes. A lock icon appears besides the layers name


Add a new layer from another image.
5. Download and open PS2-2.psd
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6. Select the image: Go to Select>All
7. Copy the image: Go to Edit>Copy
8. Click the tab of the first image PS 2-1.psd

9. Go to Edit>Paste. The yellow balloon is pasted to PS2-1.psd as new layer.


10. Drag the yellow balloon to position it wherever you like in the picture.
You may need to click the move tool if necessary
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11. Drag the new layer in the Layer Panel to rearrange the order of different layers.




E. Adjustment Layers

12. Select Layer 1. Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Brightness/Contrast...
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13. An adjustment layer is created. Give it a name and then click OK

14. The adjustment layer is created on top of Layer 1. The adjustments panel shows the
brightness/contrast control

15. The change of brightness/contrast layer affects all the layers below it

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16. To limit the effect to only Layer 1 (the layer immediately below the adjustment layer), click
the third icon from the bottom left.



17. You can easily apply or remove the adjustment (brightness/contrast) effect by showing or
hiding the adjustment layer.



F. Flatten an Image
18. To merge all layers into one: Go to Layer>Flatten Image
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19. To save the PSD file: Go to File>Save as.
You may enter a new name.
20. If you want to save as a JPG file, you need to choose JPEG at the Format option



Summary of Functions
Reset workspace: Essentials>Essentials
Resize image: Image>Image Size
Rotate image: Image>Image Rotation
Undo: Edit>Undo (or Ctrl-Z or Alt-Ctrl-Z)
Brightness/contrast: Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast
Levels: Image>Adjustments>Levels
Convert to black-white image: Image>Adjustments>Black & White
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Save a new image: File>Save As
Opacity = level of transparency
Show and hide a layer
Lock a layer to prevent it from being edited
Flatten an image: Layer>Flatten Image

Reference(s):
1. Reding, E. E. (2012) Adobe Photoshop CS6 Revealed. Delmar Cengage Learning.
2. - Some images used in the handout are obtained from the Internet

YouTube Videos --- Photo Retouching ()
1. Extreme Photo Retouching (2:28) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4wI_o8gyxA&mode=related&search
2. Dove Evolution (1:15) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U