TABLE OF CONTENTS

e&p of design the interface

toolbar workspace palettes

the tools

move tool marquee tool lasso wand tool/quick selection crop eyedropper healing brush brush & clone stamp history brush eraser gradient tool smudge/sharpen tool dodge/burn tool pen tool text tool selection tools

line tool object rotate tool camera rotate tool hand "grabber" tool zoom tool

photo retouching

color correction brightness, contrast, and saturation wrinkle/acne removal content-aware lters and lens correction keys to success manipulation with a purpose lters blending options clipping mask vs. eraser adjustments reference technique

photo manipulation using effects

Blending together digital painting

photoshop vs. illustrator nal tips

e&p of design

e&p of design
[ elements & principles ]

before you take any photos or start on sketches for a composition, it is important to rst take into consideration the elements and principles of design. making sure you use them is critical for good compositions and efcient communication with the viewer.

the elements
line
implied line an imaginary line created by difference in color or value or texture contour line an outline

color

complementary colors colors directly opposite of each other on the color wheel analogous colors colors next to each other on the color wheel neutral colors colors not found on the color wheel
e.g. earth tones, black, white, gray e.g. yellow & orange, blue & green, red & purple e.g. orange & blue, red & green, yellow & purple

shape

organic shape irregular shape that utilizes curves geometric shape regular shape with dened edges static shape a shape at rest dynamic shape a shape with visible or implied motion positive space space occupied by an object negative space the remaining space left unoccupied by the object the quality of a surface either physical or implied a three dimensional object how light or dark a color is tint when white is added to a color e.g. light blue is a tint of blue shade when black ofis added to a color e.g. navy blue is a shade blue

space

texture form

value

the Principles
unity
a feeling of completeness achieved through good composition

balance

how elements are distributed throughout the piece symmetrical balance elements are distributed evenly in relation to the imaginary line running down the center of the piece asymmetrical balance elements are distributed unevenly in relation to the imaginary line running down the center of the piece an implication of movement often created through the repitition of elements repitition of an element throughtout a piece conict created by opposing elements often through the use of color
(light vs. dark or cool vs. warm)

rhythm

pattern

contrast

movement emphasis

how the viewers eyes are guided throughout a piece visual prominence often used to create focal points

good compositions often combine several elements and principles to create an effective and aesthetically pleasing piece. be mindful of which elements and principles will work best in your piece to communicate your message or instill emotion and captivate the viewer. take time to search the internet for good design. whether it is an excellently designed website or a piece someone did, study it and take note of what draws you to the composition. surround yourself with good design and you will quickly and subconciously pick up was to solve problems in design and how to improve your own work.

Visual examples

implied lines

vs.

contour lines

complementary colors

vs.

analogous colors

Visual examples
(continued)

organic

vs.

geometric

shape

vs.

form

positive space
(black in this picture)

vs.

negative space
(white in this picture)

The interface

extensions drop down menus options

(related to the tool being used)

(tools)

toolbar

canvas

the interface

the toolbar

move tool marquee tool lasso wand tool/quick selection crop eyedropper healing brush brush clone stamp history brush eraser gradient tool smudge/sharpen tool dodge/burn tool pen tool text tool selection tools line tool object rotate tool camera rotate tool hand "grabber" tool zoom tool
switch foreground and background colors make foreground and background colors Black and white

foreground color background color

quick mask mode

the palettes

workspace

[ managing your workspace ]

having a customized workspace in photoshop is an easy way to enable you to work faster and more efciently. photoshop comes with a couple preset workspaces, like essentials and design and painting, but it is easy for you to make your own. the workspace is comprised of the palettes (windows) you choose to have open while you are working. a few of the most commonly used palettes are the layers, swatches, paths, brush, brush presets, color, and history palettes. the palettes serve to make it easier for you to make adjustments in your piece.

palettes
3d

[ what are their functions ]

(a)

lters (a) lter objects already created tools (b) tools to control the lighting, material, camera angle, etc. for rendering creation settings (c) settings for creating a new form

(b)

(c)

actions

action list list of actions that can be performed customization with the boxes next to each action, you can customize whether a action can be performed or not and also whether or not there will be dialogue to go with performing the action recording (c) using the tools at the bottom of the palette, you can record a sequence of actions to be performed, for example, putting on a vignette and adding a lter. after recording this sequence, it can be played back later for when you need to perform the same sequence
from left to right

adjustments
brightness/contrast adjusts how bright the brightest brights are, how dark the darkest darks are, and how much contrast there is between the light colors and dark colors. levels the levels are a more controllable way to adjust the brightness and contrast

the levels offer the ability to better control how dark the dark colors are. as you slide the black slider to the left, the midtones become darker and some turn black. moving the grey slider will control how dark the colors located between black and grey are and how light the colors between white and grey are. moving the white slider will have the opposite effect as moving the black one. curves the curves allow you to adjust the contrast using curves instead of a at line like most adjustments use. for example if you move the black slider in the levels, it makes most colors darker. in the curves, you can control it to make some of the dark colors lighter while making some light colors darker

exposure exposure operates very similar to brightness, but does not preserve the highlights. as exposure is increased, highlights transform into white patches. offset mostly adjusts the midtones, but as the slider is brought closer to the left the highlights are are also effected. gamma correction is used to prepare images for viewing on the internet and also to increase the contrast in the midtones. vibrance vibrance controls the exhaggeration of color in an image. when the vibrance slider is slid to the left, the image loses color and can even come close to becoming a black and white image. the saturation slider works in a very similar way, but with a larger impact. the saturation slider has the ability to make an image black and white or make every color conform to the vibrant roygbiv spectrum.

hue/saturation the hue/saturation palette allows you to control the colors of the image. moving the hue slider will move the colors around the color wheel in a sense. complimentary colors remain complimentary, but instead of being orange and blue moving the slider may make them green and red. the saturation slider works the same as it does in the vibrance palette. the lightness slider also works the same as the brightness slider in the brightness/contrast palette. checking the box next to colorize will make the image values of a single color, changed by adjusting the hue slider. color balance color balance helps to eliminate problems that arise when a factor (normally lighting) makes an object that is originally one color take on a different hue.

black & white the black & white palette enables the ability to control specic colors and how close they are to white or black. clicking auto will take the colors to what the program senses they should be at in the image. checking the box next to tint will apply a tint to the image. the color of the tint can be controlled by clicking on the box to the right of the word tint. photo lter photo lters act as they would in a camera. they can make the colors in the image warmer or cooler depending on the color and density of the lter. changing the color of the lter will effect how the image is tinted. this tinting does not act as strongly as the tint option in the black & white palette and gives the ability to control the density. the density is merely how strong the lter (tint) is. common lters used are

the sepia lter and the warming and cooling lters. channel mixer the channel mixer allows you to control the amount of red, green, and blue present in an image. this especially comes in handy when converting an image to a black & white image. if you check the box next to monochrome, it turns the image into a black & white image. with the image converted, you can further control how light or dark the greys are by moving the slider of the correlating color(s). invert invert does not have a window of its own, it merely inverts the colors of the image. this will give an appearance similar to that of a negative. posterize posterize takes values and groups them into a range of values based on the number of levels. each range is represented by the median value. as the number of levels decreases, the range becomes larger and vice verse.

threshold threshhold works in a similar manner to posterize, but there are only two ranges of values that create a black & white image. as you increase the threshold, more values are added to the black section and more are taken from the white section and vice verse. this is useful for value mapping on vector, painting, or even graphite/charcoal portraits. gradient map while using the black & white adjustment will make the image black & white, using the gradient map allows you more versatility in colors. the gradient map applies the colors of the gradient to the values of image (see gure below).
original with gradient map scale of values

gradient map

selective color selective color allows you to adjust the appearance of specic colors in an image. for example you can make all of the reds darker or lighter or saturated or muted without changing the appearance of any other color. you can change the appearance of multiple colors in one adjustment layer.

adjustments are also available to be changed in the image>adjustments drop-down menu or the at the bottom of the layers palette. the difference between using the adjustments in the menu and adjustments from the layers or adjustments palette is using the menu does not create an adjustments layer. creating an adjustments layer allows those adjustments to be edited later on.

animation

action list the animation palette provides a timeline for basic animation, such as change in adjustments overtime. using other software for animation is strongly recommended.

brush
the brush palette offers the ability to control the use of the brush. not only do you have the standard size and hardness controls, it also has controls for the shape if it is the standard brush. the bristle

brushes are able to be customized in terms of the density, length, thickness, stiffness, and angle of the bristles. brushes can also be selected in this palette.

brush presets

the brush presets palette allows you to control which brushes are loaded and the default size/hardness they will be set at when they are selected. it allows you to group brushes together and be saved as a group. the brush presets palette allows you to control which brushes are loaded and the default size/hardness they will be set at when they are selected. it allows you to group brushes together and be saved as a group.

brush presets