Photoshop: a guide to key tools and techniques

Media Studies involves both print and video work. While Final Cut Pro X is the main software you will use for video editing, for image editing it is Photoshop.

Use the guides below to help you develop your skills with Photoshop, a skill that should come in handy for many other subjects and opportunities outside of school too! There is also a Photoshop iPad app.

After you watch a quick runthrough you will be aiming to create a slightly silly image like this by following the steps in the PowerPoint and summarised below:

10 STEPS TO COMPLETE TODAY'S PRACTICE TASK

1. Create a new folder in My Documents called Media
2. Save the 4 images (below the PowerPoint) into this (just right-click and save link as, and check its saving into the Media folder)
3. Open Photoshop! (Start-All programs-Adobe Cs6-Photoshop or type Photoshop into the Mac finder: the little magnifying glass top right)
4. Set up a new document (File, New), changing (1) the name to Elephant practice; (2) Preset to international (A4 should appear, then the preset will switch to show 'custom'); (3) swapping the width and height settings (W to 297mm, H 210mm); (4) Background contents transparent.
5. SAVE THE DOCUMENT RIGHT AWAY!!! (File, Save As, select your Media folder) IF YOU GET A POP-UP ASKING IF YOU WANT TO KEEP COMPATIBILITY, CLICK OK.
6. Open the 4 images into Photoshop using either the 'MiniBridge' tool or the simpler File-Open. Read 'THINGS THAT TEND TO GO WRONG' (bottom of the post) if you can't see the MiniBridge option...
7. Add these to your Elephant practice document by right-clicking on the layer for each of these in turn; duplicate layer; and select which document to add it to.
8. Resize and reposition the images. Put the Coke ad layer underneath the elephant layers, resized to fill the frame.
9. Have a go with the magic wand and eraser tool to get rid of the background from the simplest image (on the desk). Use the eyeball (click it off) on the Layers toolbox (on the right) to get other layers to disappear! If you feel confident enough, have a go at one or both of the other 2.
10. Save it as a jpg or png file (File-Save As). .

At this point you can either help others, and develop useful transferrable skills, or have a go at the additional tools illustrated in the PowerPoint: opacity, text, filters... 

THE POWERPOINT WITH SCREENSHOTS
You can have this open in your iPad or on the computer.

Please try to check this (or ask a neighbouring student!) before you put your hand up to ask a question that is probably answered in the guide! Check out the 'Things That Tend To Go Wrong' list further down this post; most issues can be solved by looking at this!

Photoshop starter elephant compressed from DB3igs

SAMPLE IMAGES
Save the following 4 images to your Media folder. You will find that the elephant images range from very simple and quick to edit (removing the background) to very complex and time-consuming!



Right-click on each image, save link as, and make sure it goes into your Media folder! Check they're saved as images.

The background for your practice image; you will stretch this ('free transform') to fill the frame

The simplest image to remove the background from...

A more complex image to delete the background from

A much more complex image to remove the background from! You will need to zoom in and carefully use the eraser tool for this one!!!

THINGS THAT TEND TO GO WRONG...
From experience, these are the fixes to the most common problems students encounter...

1: YOUR DOCUMENT IS THE WRONG SHAPE OR SIZE
CHECK: have you saved the 'Elephant practice' file, using the settings provided? You will see it listed as a document tab if you have. Are you working in the right document? When you open the images through MiniBridge or File-Open, they open in new documents; you need to copy them into your saved Photoshop document by using the duplicate layer/select document step.

You should see 'Elephant practice.psd' on the tabs of open files. This is the document you need to copy (duplicate) the images/layers into

2: YOU CAN'T SEE THE MINI BRIDGE OPTION
CLICK: Window-Extensions-Mini-Bridge

3: YOU CAN'T SEE THE LAYERS TOOLBOX
CLICK: Window-Layers. You've closed it, it needs to be re-opened.

4: NOTHING IS HAPPENING WHEN I CLICK/MOVE THE MOUSE OR 'THERE ARE NO PIXELS' MESSAGE

MULTIPLE CAUSES + possible solutions!!!

(A) Try Select-Deselect and see if this helps...

(B) Can you see the circle/tick options? If so, you need to click one before you can use other tools. You were probably in free transform mode.

(C) The wrong layer is active, or the eyeball is off! The active layer changes colour in the Layers toolbox. The active layer below has the eyeball off, so there's nothing on screen to work with!

5: 1-3 DIDN'T HELP!
CHECK: Click on Window-History, and try deleting one step at a time from the bottom up (see if it now works/is fixed/reset). You can also undo a single step by clicking Edit-Undo or CTRL+Z.
...

WANT TO TRY OUT MORE PHOTOSHOP TRICKS n TECHNIQUES?
You can find yet more Photoshop tips here, where I run through how to take a damaged photo and touch it up using the clone tool and more... You can also use the Photoshop tag from the tag cloud to find more guides and online links. I also add posts on my MediaTechTips blog on Photoshop for A-Level students.