What is PhotoShop?

Photoshop is a digital image editing application for the internet or print, and text management tool. Basically, it is a kind of raw material to create images. Every picture we’ve seen (such as posters, book covers, magazine pictures, and brochures) has either been created or edited by Photoshop.

The Photoshop consists of five main components: the Application Bar, the Tools Panel, the Options Bar, the Document Window, and the Panel Dock. One important thing about using Photoshop is that using it is very similar to that of other products in the Adobe Creative Suite, for example Indesign and Illustrator.

Photoshop files have default file extension as .PSD, which stands for “Photoshop Document.” A PSD file stores an image with support for most imaging options available in Photoshop. These include layers with masks, color space, CMYK mode (used for commercial printing), transparency, text and etc. This is in contrast to many other file formats (e.g. .JPG or .GIF) that restrict content to provide a predictable functionality.

A PSD file has a maximum height and width of 30,000 pixels, and a length limit of 2 Gigabytes. Photoshop files sometimes have the file extension .PSB, which stands for “Photoshop Big” (also known as “large document format”).

In addition, Acrobat generated PDF files (portable document files).  PDF is not the friendliest file system as it is not converted for some type of technological devices.

Mac Plus:

Announced in January 1986, the Mac Plus was the answer to complaints that the original Mac was not expandable. It doubled the ROM of the 512k from 64 kB to 128 kB, and increased the RAM to 1 MB (expandable to 4 MB). It was the first Mac to include a SCSI port, allowing for a variety of external peripherals, and was the first mac to use the now familiar platinum case color (although it initially shipped in beige). The Mac Plus originally sold for $2600, and was sold to educational markets as the Mac Plus ED.

The Principles of Photoshop:

1- Text amd Image Management

2-File Formats (.jpg, .gif, .png)

3- Layering

4-Color Systems

5- Text

First of all, (.gif ) files are ideal format, but Google doesn’t search for that file, it sees that .gif file as a graphic image. (.jpg) is a photograph files. Those files are made smaller. If those files are blown up, they will be lossy. (.png) file includes images that can be bigger.  The entire principle of Photoshop is layering. Layering is the format of PSF files. Layering is a key concept in Photoshop.

The Important Elements to Know:

CMYK: are print colors;

RGB: are screen colors; are designated, its values are not just in hexadecimal. It has 256 colors per primary colors.

White: is the brightest color on a black background in Photoshop.

Text: It becomes a graphic in Photoshop, or final output. They will not be readable.

What is the difference between RGB and CMYK?

RGB is more vibrant than CMYK. The image in CMYK will not be as vibrant as it is displayed in RGB files. It runs from 0 to 255.

1-The Application Bar/Text Menu:

The Application Bar is located, and runs across the top of the screen. It contains the old menu bar, along with a number of other controls, for example a drop-down zoom menu. The menu bar contains controls for managing and editing files, manipulating images, managing layers, and more.

2-Tools Panel/Operational Menu:

The menu runs across on the left side is called operational menu.The Tools Panel contains a collection of tools for creating, selecting, and manipulating images. Tools that have a similar function are grouped together.

In fact, Photoshop is used by professionals. When you open a recent file, open recent. Edit on the application menu includes many functional tools. In order to work in Photoshop, you need to double-click on the picture and remove italic symbol on it. Tybol (eyeball), when you click on eye ball, you can make the picture invisible. Eye-ball designates the image whether we see or not.

When you press Ctrl+R, and it brings out ruler. when you right click inside the ruler, you can decide the size of the picture. Meanwhile, pixels are used for websites/digital, and inch is used for print. You can press on the F14 button on the keyboard, and you can paste the image on the Microsoft Word program.

Constrain proportion is for default. PowerPoint is 96 DPR. The internet resolution is 75. Print is 100 and above, if you want your image to look good. When you click on the image you are working on and choose image size, you can change the resolution of the image. The image resolution has a huge impact on the size of the file.

Ctrl+ Z is used for undo. When you click on the window, and choose the history on the application menu, so you can see what you have done before. If you save your file in different name, you will have different layers, so when you undo couple times and if you make a mistake, your image will not be deleted.

The History on the application menu is an undo tool (Ctrl+z). You can click on the color picker on the operational menu on left side. In color picker, you can designate the pixels and color values for each color.

Photoshop gives you background and foreground colors to work on. Moreover,  Shift key helps you move your picture up and down. You can also use keyboard arrows instead of using mouse to be able to move the images. By the way, by pressing Ctrl+N you can create a new layer. When you press on Ctrl+A, you can select the image. when you create a guide with ruler, you can click on the view on the application menu; and you can choose clear guide, after that those will be deleted. Image-mode shows RGB colors that the image is supposed to be.

3-Options Bar:

The Options Bar is located below the Application Bar. The options change depending on the tool you have selected.

4-Panel Dock:

A vertical dock of panels is located on the right of the workspace. Panels help you manage and edit your images, allowing for quick and easy access to the most common controls for a particular task. By default, three panels will appear when you open Photoshop: the layers, adjustments and styles panels.

Creating a New Image:

To create a new image, follow these steps:

1. Click File from the Application Bar.
2. Click New. A dialog box will open to define the following elements of your image:

• Name –  to name your image.
• Size – to predetermine the width and height of your image. Furthermore, you can customize your own size using many types of measurements including pixels, centimeters, inches, and millimeters.
• Resolution – to set the image resolution. A resolution of 72 (pixels per inch) is generally used for Internet images. If you wish to use your images for print or video, they will need to be a higher resolution.
• Color Mode – to control the color mode of your image. The standard color mode is RGB (Red Green Blue). You can also choose to create your image in grayscale, and more. Some modes will limit your color range.
• Background Content – to choose the initial background color of your image.

1. Click OK.

 Opening an Existing Image:

To open an existing image, follow these steps:

1. Click File from the Application Bar.
2. Click Open.
3. Navigate to your saved file.
4. Click Open.

Saving an Image:

To save an image, click File and then click Save.

What is Layer:

Layers are a basic concept you need to understand when working with Photoshop. Each time you add something to your image (for example text or shapes), Photoshop will create it as a layer.

WORKING WITH LAYERS:

The Layers menu is located on the right of the workspace, in the palette dock. All of your layers are displayed in hierarchical order on the Layers palette. You can lock and hide layers, create new layers, work with layer groups, and format your layers.

The Layers Palette

Layer Lock – to lock a layer, or specific features within a layer. Eye icon – to hide a layer. You can still work on a layer even though you can’t see it. The Paintbrush icon – indicates which layer is currently selected. A layer must be selected before you can make any modifications to it. You can also rearrange layers.

SELECTION TOOLS:

Marquee tools include a Rectangular Marquee tool (default), which makes square and rectangular selections. The Elliptical Marquee tool makes circular and oval type selections. The Single Row Marquee and Single Column Marquee tools select a single row or column of pixels.

Changing the Size of an Image:

Changing the size of an image is one of the most common tasks in Photoshop. Whether you want to enlarge a small photo into a larger one, the place to start is the Image Size dialog box. To access the Image Size dialog box, follow these steps:

• Click Image from the Menu Bar.
• Click Image Size. The Image Size dialog box will open.

If the Constrain Proportions box is checked, the other value will change automatically. The Constrain Proportions option ensures that you won’t distort your image when you resize it.

Why are some colors really prominent in Photoshop?

I would like to talk about the recent article from the New York Times. The article is about the color blue. The people living in ancient times, they were inspired to describe what they had seen by the beauty of the sky and water they saw. Additionally, the famous cave paintings at Lascaux and surrounding sites, which date back some 20,000 years, are notably lacking in blue.

The first stable blue color was used in the ancient world came from lapis lazuli, a semiprecious stone mined in Afghanistan beginning about 6,000 years ago. The Egyptians prized all things lapis, combining it with gold for the tombs of the pharaohs.

Lapis color is like a Pollia, the world`s shiniest fruit grown in the Central Africa, its pigments dominates the appearance of the color of the fruit and reflects its color in the brightest way.

References:

http://www.washington.edu/lst/help/graphics/photoshop/preferences