Photoshop Training: (Video Included)

Photoshop Training (video included) by Robert Baldwin www.RobertBaldwin.
ca
Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Basic Photoshop training
Written by Robert Baldwin
eBook Contents:
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................. 3 PART 1 - THE BASICS OF PHOTOSHOP.. .......................................................... 4 PART 2 - MAKING A SELECTION. ..................................................................... 8 PART 3 - USING BRUSHES............................................................................. 11 PART 4 - USING LAYER MASKS. ...................................................................... 15 PART 5 - BLENDING OPTIONS........................................................................ 18 PART 6 - LINKS AND RESOURCES................................................................... 22 CONCLUSION................................................................................................ 23
Click here to watch the FREE Training Video
10MinutePhotoshop.com
Copyright IMX Productions 2012
page 2

Introduction
Thanks for downloading Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes. My name is Robert Baldwin and I am a graphic designer at IMX Productions. I have been using Photoshop for many years and what I have come to realize is that you really dont need to know everything in the software to be able to create amazing graphic artwork. Photoshop has literary thousands of tools that you can use to create your design project but really all you need is a handful of them to get the job done. A basic understanding of the program and knowing how to use the primary tools will allow you to accomplish a lot! Whenever I open Photoshop to start a new project, there are 4 main tools that I use ALL THE TIME! In this training series, you will learn the basic layout of Adobe Photoshop and learn how to use those 4 all important tools. From there, you will have a comfortable grasp of the program and be able to design graphic art on your own. lets begin!
Connect with me:

Twitter at @IMXproductions Facebook at facebook.com/robimx YouTube at youtube.com/imxproductions LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/robimx Flickr at flickr.com/imxproductions
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Part 1 - The basics of Photoshop.

Creating a new canvas
A document in photoshop is known as a canvas, its where you will edit and design your work. You can open a photo file (JPG, TIF, etc...) or a previous photoshop document (PSD). Choose File - New to create a new photoshop document. Now you have to choose the size, color mode and resolution of the document. There are some Presets available but if you choose to create your own, simply enter the width and height of the desired canvas and enter the appropriate resolution. Standard resolutions are: 72 ppi 150 ppi 300 ppi web graphics digital prints professional offset printing
lastly, set the color mode to RGB and click OK. ***If printing the design later, color mode should be CMYK but that can be changed later.
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The Photoshop Palettes

The position of these palettes may vary and can be changed. If you do not see these palettes in Photoshop, simply choose the menu option Window - #palettename# to open that particular panel.
Tools Palette
Located on the right side of your screen is the tools panel. Here are your basic tools for use in your canvas. The important tools to mark are the following.
Move Tool (basic tool for selecting and moving objects) Various Selection Tools Rectangular & Circular Marquee Tool Lasso Tool Polygonal Lasso Tool Magneric Lasso Tool Magic Wand Tool Brush Tool Stamp tool Type Tool Zoom Tool Foreground/Background color picker
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Layers Palette
This is the most important panel. In Photoshop, to keep elements separate, you want to create several layers to hold each element (photos, text, etc..) The layers palette, located in the bottom left corner, shows you every layer in your document and their particular order. You can change their order, add masks (See Part 4) and make layers invisible. It is not uncommon for a large project to have over 100 layers, to manage so many layers, you can create groups in the layers palette which is a folder that houses several layers.
History Palette
The history palette is located to the right, right above the layers palette. This palette shows you every action done during that Photoshop session. This is great for undoing a series of unwanted actions or for going back and starting over. Simply click on an earlier action and the canvas will restore to a previous version. *** There is a limit to how many steps back you can take so dont rely too heavily on the history palette, save your work often! *** The history palette shows all action done during a specific Photoshop session. Once you save and close the document, You loose all those actions, once you re-open, the history palette will have reset.
Navigator Palette
The navigator is great when you are zoomed in very close on your canvas and need to move around. You can simply move the little red box around to navigate your canvas instead of having to zoom out and then back in. The navigator should be located at the top right corner.
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Top Menu
In the top menu, you will find all your other options and tools, here are some important menu options:
File - You have Open, New, Save and Print functions. Edit - You will find Undo, Redo, Copy, Paste and other functions Image - You can modify the Color Mode (RGB, CMYK, etc..) you have adjustments options such as Curves, Hue/Saturation, Brightness and Contrast, etc... You also have all your Transform functions (scale, rotate, reflect, etc..) Layer - All you tools and options pertaining to layers can be found here. Tools such as adding new layers, deleting layers, merging layers, flattening your entire canvas, etc.. Select - Once youve created a selection using tools from the Tools Palette, this menu offers you some selection modifiers such as Contract, Expand, Feather, etc... Filter - In filter, you can play around with all sorts of artistic photo filters and image modifiers. These include blurs, distortions, sharpen tools and other cool special effects filters. Many of the options found in the Top Menu are also located in some of the Photoshop Palettes or can be activated with command quick keys. For a complete list of Photoshop Command Keys, click here.
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Part 2 - Making a selection

Making a selection is a very useful tool in Photoshop. There are also a lot of tools that will perform selections. You have your marquee selection tools: Rectangular Marquee, Circular Marquee. You have the Lasso tool for free form selection and the Magnetic Lasso for intuitive selection. Lets explore a few of these tools. There are many reasons for making selections and the most common reason is to remove the background of an image. Open an image where you would like to remove a person (or object) from the background. Choose the Magnetic Lasso Tool
Click and move around the person in the photo to create a selection. Youll notice that the Magnetic Lasso Tool intuitively knows where to select. Its not a perfect selection but it saves us a lot of time! ***Photoshop adds a shimmering dotted line to outline your selection. Now lets refine our selection, choose the Lasso Tool and Zoom in where the Magnetic Lasso Tool did a poor job. Hold down Shift while selecting to ADD to the selection or hold down Alt to REMOVE from the selection. ***While holding down Shift or Alt, you will notice a small + or - sign next to the cursor
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Once you have finished your selection, we will refine it further. We need to slightly contract and smooth out the selection. The reason for this is to avoid a white outline once we remove the background and so the image will blend seamlessly with whatever new background we choose. Choose Select - Modify - Contract and choose 1px or 2px. Hit OK. This is shrink the selection by 1 pixel. Choose Select - Modify - Feather and choose 1px or 2px. Hit OK. This is fade the edge of the selection by 1 pixel.
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Your selection is now complete, there are now 3 options for removing the background. You can simply hit Delete You can Copy and Paste your selection You can Mask your selection. ***The best option*** In the Layers Palette, make sure your layer is NOT the background layer, If it is, simply Double Click on it to release it as the background. Click on the Mask icon to add a mask to the Layer. You will notice that the unselected area has now disappeared leaving only the selected portion of the image. ***A checkered white and gray background is Photoshops way of telling you that you have an empty background.
The advantage of creating a Mask instead of deleting is that it is NOT permanent. A mask simply hides what is not selected, it does not delete it.
page 10

Part 3 - Using Brushes

Click on the Brush Tool in the Tools Palette. Open the Brushes Options box by choosing Window - Brushes
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From this options box, you can choose brush styles and add styling options to them. Lets choose a basic circular brush and draw a line. Notice that the line is solid, this is called Hardness
Now drop the Hardness from 100 to 0 and draw another line, lets see what happens. The brush is now feathered and soft.
Move the Spacing from 0 to about 130 and draw another line. Instead of brushing a single stroke, you are now brushing with spaces.
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Click on Shape Dynamics, move the Size Jitter and Roundness Jitter. We are now adding some random variations to the shape of the brush
Click on Scattering and move up the Scatter level. You can also experiment with the Count level and Count Jitter. Notice that the position of the brush strokes are now randomized.
Finally, click on Other Dynamics and move the Opacity Jitter level. The opacity of your brush will now also be randomized.
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Note that during this whole brush exercise, we were simply drawing a line! You can see the power and versatility of using Photoshop Brushes to their full extent. There are endless possibilities for customizing brushes and brush styles. Also, note that we did all of these effects using a simple circular brush. Imagine what you could do with a graphic brush such as ink splatters, snowflakes, grunge designs, star patterns, etc... There are literary thousands of FREE brushes you can download online. For lots of FREE brushes, check out http://www.brusheezy.com/
page 14

Part 4 - Using Layer Masks

Masks are great way of hiding and blending images without directly altering the original image. You can add a mask by selecting a desired layer and clicking on the Mask Icon in the Layers Palette. Youll notice another layer appears linked to the right of your selected layer. This is the layer mask. Using black and white brushes on the mask, you can control what is visible and what is hidden on the image. ***black color on mask = invisible or Masked out ***white color on mask = visible
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This is why in Part 2, we used a mask for removing the background instead of deleting. By masking out the background, we achieve the same thing but the background remains intact, its simply hidden behind the mask. So if we need to make any alterations to our selection, we can. Simply select the Layer Mask, in the Layers Palette, Zoom In and start brushing with white to reveal whats behind the mask.
Original image
Layer Mask
Layer Mask Masked out image with empty background
Image Layer
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You can also use shades of gray and gradients to blend images together using masks. Simply layer two images one top of the other. Add a Layer Mask to the top image and begin brushing with a Feathered Brush with Low Opacity to slightly reveal what is beneath but not completely.
Top image
Bottom image
Layer Mask to top image
Final blended result
Once again, because we are Masking and not Deleting, the top image of the girl remains intact beneath the mask and can be altered at any time!
page 17

Part 5 - Blending Options

Blending Options are a series of effects and styles you can apply to Layers. Most often, I use these for stylize plain old text. Use the Type Tool to write some text in your canvas. Choose a fun font and make sure the size is fairly big.
Now lets style this text using Blending Options.
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In the Layers Palette, right click your text layer and choose Blending Options. A dialogue box will open with a whole lot of options. Dont be intimidated, you dont need to know all of these options right away.
page 19

Lets take a look a few of the most common options but feel free to experiment with the rest.
Drop Shadow
This adds a shadow dropping behind your text. Using the options provided, you can alter the color, opacity, angle, distance, spread and size of your drop shadow. Play around with these until you like the results. ***Note that with the default settings, Drop Shadow only really works when your text is a much darker color then your background.
Outer Glow
This blending option adds a glowing color around your text. You can alter the opacity, spread and size of the glow as well as the color. ***Note that outer glow works best if your text is a lighter color on a very dark background.
Bevel and Emboss

This gives the illusion of 3D to your text. Experiment with the different types of embossing, switch the Technique around from Smooth, Chisel Hard and Chisel Soft. Each option gives you a slightly different result. You can also alter the size, angle and opacity of the light and shade. This is definitely the best blending option!
page 20

Color Overlay
Use this option to change the color of your text, you can alter the opacity to make the new color blend with the old.
Gradient Overlay
Change the color of your text to a gradient. Use the options to change the color, angle and opacity of the gradient.
Stroke
Add a color outline to your text. Change the size, position (inside, outside, center) and opacity of the stroke.
There are many more blending options available but these are the most common and most used. Especially for text elements, using these simple blending options, you can create some very artistic stylized text.
page 21

Part 6 - links and resources

You dont have to design everything from scratch. There are many free resources on the net if you know where to look! Here are a few I use:
For FREE fonts

http://www.dafont.com/
FREE Photoshop brushes

http://www.brusheezy.com/ **To install brushes, simply download the file (Unzip file if necessary) and copy the .abr file into the Photoshop directory: For Mac: /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS#/Presets/Brushes For PC: /Program Files/Adobe/Photoshop CS#/Presets/Brushes
FREE vector images

http://www.vecteezy.com/
Stock Photos
http://www.istockphoto.com/ **These stock photos will cost you anywhere from $2.00 to $50.00 per image but the quality and variety is excellent!
FREE Stock Photos

http://www.freestockphotos.biz/ **There is a lot less choice than the previous link but the price is right!!
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Conclusion
Thank you for downloading
Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes (eBook and Video training)

You have learned the basic layout of photoshop and the 4 most valuable tools. Now you should feel comfortable enough to play around with the software and create some basic artwork. Obviously, there is a lot more to learn! At 10MinutePhotoshop.com, our goal is to teach you just the necessary tools for accomplishing a specific task and cut out the rest. Check out our other available training series Design a T-shirt in 10 Minutes Click here
Thank you, Robert Baldwin 10MinutePhotoshop
page 23

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Photoshop Training (video included) by Robert Baldwin www.RobertBaldwin.

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Click here to watch the FREE Training Video

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Connect with me:

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Part 1 - The basics of Photoshop.

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

The Photoshop Palettes

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Part 2 - Making a selection

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Part 3 - Using Brushes

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Part 4 - Using Layer Masks

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Layer Mask Masked out image with empty background

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Layer Mask to top image

Final blended result

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Part 5 - Blending Options

Now lets style this text using Blending Options.

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Bevel and Emboss

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Copyright IMX Productions 2012

Learn Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Part 6 - links and resources

For FREE fonts

FREE Photoshop brushes

FREE vector images