Introduction
Welcome to the fascinating world of Photoshop. It will give you great personal satisfaction to learn the essentials of Photoshop and use your skills in ever more creative ways. In this book, you will start by learning the fundamentals of the design process, get acquainted with Photoshop’s user interface, and then get a primer on digital imaging. You’ll then learn how to paint, draw, and write the Photoshop way and how to accurately select pixels, work with layers and masks, design and apply styles, create comps, shape paths, employ smart objects, apply adjustments, and use filters. You’ll learn how to develop photos in Camera Raw, how to retouch images to make them more perfect than they are in reality, how to merge multiple photos into panoramas and high dynamic range images, and finally, how to manage color and create output that looks as close as possible to how it appears onscreen.
Who Should Read This Book
The list of potential Photoshop users is long, and it includes photographers, graphic and web designers, painters, architects, businesspeople, scientists, students, hobbyists, and many more. Essentially anyone who uses images in their work—or wants to—should read this book. No experience is required, and I do not assume you have any skills with software other than being able to surf the Web and send email.
What You Will Learn
You will gain skills by completing projects, making it incredibly easy to learn the essentials of Photoshop simply by following the exercises step-by-step. Therefore, I recommend you start at the beginning and work your way through the book in a linear fashion. Even experienced users might pick up a few tips along the way, and complete novices and those with intermediate skills alike will appreciate my architectural background as I build a firm foundation for you first and then proceed to construct everything you need to become a productive Photoshop user in the course of the journey that this book represents.
What You Need
To complete the projects in this book, you will need Adobe Photoshop CS6 or Photoshop CS6 Extended. See www.adobe.com/products/photoshopfamily.html for more information about the Photoshop family of software.
What Is Covered in This Book
Photoshop CS6 Essentials is organized to provide you with the knowledge needed to master the basics of digital imaging:
Chapter 1: Design Basics This chapter delves into essential composition principles—ways of seeing rather than just looking—while discussing the design process and such important topics as intellectual property rights. It also includes a photography and scanning primer.
Chapter 2: Getting Acquainted with Photoshop’s User Interface Just as you need to know about an automobile’s pedals, shifter, switches, buttons, knobs, and levers do to drive a car, so too must you understand Photoshop’s menus, bars, workspaces, tools, panels, tabs, and icons—collectively called the user interface—in order to successfully use the program. This chapter familiarizes you with Photoshop’s user interface.
Chapter 3: Digital Imaging Fundamentals Fundamental concepts such as pixels, colors, channels, modes, aliasing, bit depth, canvas size, image size, resolution, and much more are covered in this chapter, which will help you to understand what’s really going on in Photoshop behind the scenes.
Chapter 4: Painting You’ll learn how to create gradients, select paint colors, use brushes, paint with a tablet, paint from history, and use the mixer brush in this chapter. Painting skills are used for more than painting—you’ll use what you learn here to select pixels, retouch photos, and work with layer masks in later chapters.
Chapter 5: Drawing Here you will use vector tools to create crisp clean lines, rectangles, circles, and other geometric shapes. You’ll learn how to manipulate shapes and paths to create complex custom shapes typical of most graphic design projects.
Chapter 6: Writing In this chapter, you will learn not only how to create single-line and paragraph text, but also the basics of typography so that what you write will be readable and look good. You’ll learn how to fine-tune type and use text as a mask for special effects.
Chapter 7: Selecting Pixels Selecting pixels is the key to manipulating portions of images. You will learn how to select pixels with marquees and lassos, draw with vector tools, paint raster selections of varying opacity, select by color, and use Quick Select and Refine Edge to make accurate selections.
Chapter 8: Working with Layers and Masks Here you will learn how to use layers to split images up into different movable portions that can be blended with each other in a variety of ways. You’ll learn the basics of masking, which means hiding content on layers selectively.
Chapter 9: Using Layer Styles and Comps By learning how to design and apply layer styles, you open new vistas of creativity. In this chapter, you’ll apply layer effects, work with layer styles, and use layer comps to record all the layers styles, positions, and visibility settings.
Chapter 10: Transforming Paths, Layers, and Smart Objects By learning how to position, orient, scale, align, distribute, and deform layers and paths you will gain essential graphic design skills with tools that play roles akin to the roles glue, scissors, and a photocopier with an enlarger play in traditional media.
Chapter 11: Adjusting and Filtering This chapter teaches you how to assign adjustments and filters directly to images as well as how to use nondestructive methods with adjustment layers and smart filters. In this chapter you’ll learn about tools that give you fine control over the final appearance of most all digital images.
Chapter 12: Developing Photos Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) is the interface you will use to develop your RAW photos. You’ll make global development decisions as well as localized adjustments all within the nondestructive and parametric environment of ACR. In addition, you will learn how to use Adobe Bridge as a digital light box to review and tag your shots before developing them.
Chapter 13: Retouching Photos Not all pictures are perfect as seen through the camera viewfinder. In this chapter you will learn how to retouch photos to remove unwanted elements, remove blemishes, selectively control exposure, redirect attention with blur, and add special effects.
Chapter 14: Merging Photos By combining multiple exposures of the same subjects, you will be able to expand dynamic range and create panoramic photos. In addition, you will stack images to get rid of all the moving objects, such as removing all the pedestrians or cars from a busy street.
Chapter 15: Working with Color From the concept of gamut to color spaces and profiles specific to printers and the papers they print on, you’ll learn how to manage, correct, adjust, and proof color to maintain all of its vibrance.
Chapter 16: Creating Output No matter what type of project you are working on, there comes the time when you must supply deliverables. This chapter focuses on creating the print or electronic forms of output that you will ultimately require.
The Essentials Series
The Essentials series from Sybex provides outstanding instruction for readers who are just beginning to develop their professional skills. Every Essentials book includes these features:
- Skill-based instruction with chapters organized around projects rather than abstract concepts or subjects.
- Suggestions for additional exercises at the end of each chapter so you can practice and extend your skills.
- Digital files (via download) so you can work through the project tutorials yourself. Please check the book’s web page at www.sybex.com/go/photoshopessentials for these companion downloads.
The certification margin icon will alert you to passages that are especially relevant to Adobe Certified Associate in Visual Communication with Photoshop CS6 certification.
How to Contact the Author
Wiley strives to keep you supplied with the latest tools and information you need for your work. Please check their website at www.wiley.com for additional content and updates that supplement this book. Enter the book’s ISBN—978-1-118-09495-2—in the Search box (or type photoshop cs6 essentials), and click on the product to get to the book’s update page.
If you have any questions or comments about this book, I encourage you to contact me by visiting my website ScottOnstott.com and using the web contact form there.
