Getting Started in Photoshop

Photoshop’s interface can be a confusing place to first time users. This lesson will show you what’s what, and how to navigate through the behemoth which is Photoshop. Before starting, please take note that I will be demonstrating how to use Adobe Photoshop with Version 9 (Adobe Photoshop CS2). If you are using another version of Photoshop, you should have very little trouble following along, as very little as changed in regards to interface and basic functionality in the past few versions.
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Getting Started in Photoshop Getting Started in PhotoshopPhotoshop’s interface can be a confusing place to first time users. This lesson will showyou what’s what, and how to navigate through the behemoth which is Photoshop.Before starting, please take note that I will be demonstrating how to use AdobePhotoshop with Version 9 (Adobe Photoshop CS2). If you are using another version ofPhotoshop, you should have very little trouble following along, as very little as changedin regards to interface and basic functionality in the past f ew versions. Some graphicalfeatures may look a bit different, but overall you should experience very little, if anyproblems!The Welcome ScreenWhen you first open Photoshop, you’ll likely be presented with the “Welcome Screen”:The Welcome Screen is a great area for new users to see what’s possible with AdobePhotoshop, but really isn’t necessary by any means. If you’d like to stop the WelcomeScreen from popping up on the start, you can unmark the “Show this dialog at startup” inthe lower left corner. The Welcome Screen will always be available for viewing later onif you go to Help > Welcome Screen.To begin working with Photoshop, Close out of the Welcome Screen.The Work AreaUpon first glance, Photoshop can be a big and scary place. Let’s break the Work Areainto smaller components to make things easier to understand:A. Menu Bar – An organized menu area categorized by the type of task being handled.B. Options Bar – Contains options for the currently selected tool.C. Tool Bar – Contains a wide selection of available tools in Photoshop, as well as theForeground Color, Background Color, and other features.D. Document Window – The Containing Window of a document being worked on insideof Photoshop.E. Active Image Area – The Document Window contains the Active Image Area (Shownin White above). This is the area an artist works in.F. Navigator – A small version of the current documents active image area. Used fornavigating large images, or when zoomed in.G. Color Palette – A palette used to select foreground and background colors forpainting / drawing with.H. History – Constantly updating record of previous changes made inside of a document.Can be used to reverse steps taken (Undo).I. Layers – If Photoshop were a giant cheeseburger, layers would be the toppings &condiments. Layers in Photoshop allow you to work on a single canvas, letting somethings appear above or below others.This is just a glance of what the innards of Photoshop are like . We’ll cover everything inmore detail in subsequent lessons.Creating a New DocumentTo create a new document in Photoshop, select File > New from the Menu Bar.A dialog box will appear such as the one shown below:A. Document Name – Set the document name here (optional).B. Presets – Choose a document size from a list of presets.C. Document Dimensions – Set the width and height of the document here.D. Document Units – Set the units of the dimensions of the document. Pixels should beyour typical choice for any work you’re displaying on the web or on a monitor.E. Resolution – Set the Resolution of the document. Resolution typically means thenumber of dots (or pixels) per inch. In printing, you typically want a high value here (300or higher), which will also increase the documents size. However, f or web based work, oron-screen work, 72 is the default resolution.F. Color Mode – Set the color mode of the document. Unless you are doing specialprinting, you typically will be working with RGB Color (Red/Green/Blue).G. Background Contents – Set up the background for your document.The dialog shown above would create an 800x600px document with a white background.The document name would be “Document Name”, and the resolution would be perfectfor on-screen work.Saving and Closing a Photoshop DocumentTo save a Photoshop Document, select File > Save from the Menu Bar. When saving, besure to enter a file name you will recognize, and also select “Photoshop (*.PSD)” as theformat. Doing so will ensure that the document will retain it’s Photoshop DocumentAttributes and Layer Data so that you may work with it later. Note that PSD’s are notcompatible with web browsers or other applications, and you will need to save in anotherformat for such uses. We will cover that in another lesson.