Lesson 1: Getting Started
When people think of Photoshop they think about taking their digital images and getting the red-eye out, making everything the right color and improving the overall appearance of the image. While that is not ALL Photoshop will do, it is certainly very good at it! In this lesson we are going to introduce you to the Photoshop environment and some of the basic skills you will need to be able to do anything you want to do with Photoshop. We will also explore a collection of tools that will get you started with your photo correction and editing. Although you will not use these tools on every picture, these will be the ones you turn to most often.
Lesson 2: Selections and Layers
One of the most important skills you can have in Photoshop is the ability to use all the selection tools to select parts of your image you want to modify. In this lesson we will introduce you to the selection tools and in later lessons we will show you additional techniques you can use for selecting parts of your image for editing. This is a first look at the tool and the project is set up to "work right the first time". Don't despair if these do not work as cleanly on your images. We will learn more about refining selections in a later lesson. After selections, Layers will be the next most important features of Photoshop you will learn. Layers allows you to break up your editing into parts to create the final image. In some cases you may put parts of an image or drawing onto a layers so that you can edit it separately. In other cases you may make changes to an image on a layer so you can go back and change your mind later. This latter feature is one I use quite a bit!
Lesson 3: Correcting and Enhancing Digital Photographs
In this lesson we are going to explore ways we can improve our images in Photoshop. We'll start by looking at the Camera Raw features for improving the overall appearance of the image. We will also look at tools we can use in Photoshop for fixing highlights and shadows, removing red-eye, fixing distortion and combining images.
Lesson 4: Masks, Channels and Types
In this lesson we are going to first look at masks and channels. Masks allow us to hide parts of an image without affecting the image itself. This can be a handy way to crop an image or combine parts of several different images. I like this feature because it is non-destructive and I can always go back and adjust the masking if I need to. Next, we will explore channels. Channels are like layers in that different pieces of information are stored in each channel, but they contain the color information for the overall image. We will use channels to create a selection in order to create a shadow. Finally, we will be working with text. We'll add point, path and paragraph text to our project and look at how to format the text and use it for special effects.
Lesson 5: Vector Drawing
Up until now we have focused on the Photoshop bitmap tools, the selection tools, paint brushes, and editing tools all work with individual bits of an image. This lesson explores the vector side of Photoshop. The Pen Tool is not the only vector creation tool in Photoshop. Any of the shape tools can also create vector shapes. The vector shapes can be used to create selections, masks or paths. Even text can be converted to a vector shape. Keep in mind that although you may create a shape using a vector tool, the shape will become a bitmap when you are finished. Ultimately Photoshop is a bitmap editing tool. For vector editing you will need to use something like Adobe Illustrator. While the web uses mostly bitmap graphics, there is still a need for vector graphics in design work. We will take a look at the differences between the two formats and why you might choose one format over the other. The pen tool is used to create paths and can be used to create selections or shapes. It may take some practice to get comfortable with it, but it's well worth the time investment.
Lesson 6: Layering and Compositing
In this lesson we are going to explore working layers. We will work with Adjustment layers, filters and building images from multiple pieces. We will explore the Photomerge tool for combining multiple images into a panorama.
Lesson 7: Producing Output
In this lesson we explore getting our images out of Photoshop to be used for their ultimate purpose. We will first look at slicing our Photoshop images and saving them to be used as a web page. We will see also how to save a simple image to be included in a web page or emailed to a friend. Next. we will look at creating printed output. We will look at how we may need to adjust the image to CMYK format and what issues we may encounter. We will also look at the Print command and options.
Lesson 8: Painting with the Mixer Brush
In this lesson we take a look at Photoshop as a painting tool. We will look at the mixer brush for creating paintings in Photoshop and look at how we can turn a photograph into a painting.
Lesson 9: Advanced Topics
In this lesson we will look at two very unique features of Photoshop - video editing and 3D.
Lesson 10: Putting it All Together
You made it! You have now had a chance to work with most of the tools Photoshop offers. Now it will be up to you to practice what you have learned and apply it to the work you plan to do with Photoshop, whether it is photo retouching or creating original works of art. This lesson will allow you to use the tools you have learned in this class to create a project of your own. You can fix a photo or create art of any kind.