Making Meaning Matter - Photoshop
From Help Wiki
Collage, Scale & Copyright
Finding images for re-use
Find images whose copyright has been set as free to use or modify
- Use Google Image search and expand the Search Tools and select Usage Rights
- Choose the appropriate filter, keeping in mind that the most restrictive of the license "noncommercial reuse" will probably yield the most results More about usage rights
- Open the image you want to use (looking for the largest version available) and right click to Save Image As
- Opening a file File > Open and navigate to your file. Never open a file over the network (if your file is on Orca, first copy it to your local hard drive).
- Intro to basics Photoshop interface elements
- navigating an image
- Zoom: Cmd +/-
- Hand tool: Space Bar (used to move around an image)
Image size and resolution
- What is a pixel? Zoom all the way in on your image.
- What are the dimensions of your image?
- Go to Image > image Size to see the overall size in pixels of your image
- Resizing photos for various usages including: Web, email attachment, and print
- What is the resolution or pixel density of your image? Why does it matter? See more in discussion depth on resolution.
- Cropping - using the crop tool to remove portions of the image outside of the crop selection
- You can set the image size to crop to in the properties bar i.e. 400 px (remember the px)
Saving your work
File > Save as. Choose Photoshop as the file format. This will create a uncompressed Photoshop native image file format (.psd). It's a good idea to keep an uncompressed copy of your images.
Working with Layers
- What are layers in Photoshop?
- Create new layers
- Hiding and linking layers
- Copying between layers
- Duplicating layers
- Adjustment layers
- Clipping layers
- Layer masks
Working with selections
- intro to selection tools: marquee, lasso, magic wand etc.
- Extract an object from the background
- adjusting selections
- copying selections to another layer
Saving for web
- Saving for web: File > Save for Web & Devices
- Choose the highest quality with the best (smallest) file size.
