This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Lab 1.1 Exercises
1.1.1 Explore Photoshop's Interface
These exercises assume that you are new to Photoshop, and will open the application and walk you around it, investigating various components on a general level. You may have already explored like this when you first installed the program on your computer. If that is the case, skim the exercises and proceed to the next Lab.
Open Photoshop
Is the Navigator window (Figure 1.1) open by default when you open Photoshop? Observe.
Figure 1.1 The Navigator window..What happens when you slide the zoom slider?
What do the little mountains represent? Experiment to find out by clicking and performing other operations.
Open the file "frank.psd" (Figure 1.2). Select the eyedropper and click anywhere upon the "frank.psd" canvas. What has happened?
Figure 1.2 frank.psd.What happens when you click the eye at the top of the Tools palette? Observe.
Open "venice.psd" (Figure 1.3) in Photoshop. Zoom in to 400% to examine the pixels more closely. How do you think you move in for a close-up view?
Figure 1.3 venice.psd.Perform a transformation to this image from the Menu bar. From the Menu bar choose the Filters menu and select one of the filters listed. Observe what happens.
Your image has been transformed by the filter, but you decide you don't want to keep it that way. What are the two ways that you could undo that transformation?
What do the various tabbed palettes grouped with History show you?
Now select the tool from the toolbar that looks like a little paintbrush—do not choose the little brush with an arrow orbiting it—and make a brushstroke upon your image, not for any practical purpose on the image but to examine the Options. After you have made the stroke, doubleclick on the Paintbrush tool. What do the various tabbed palettes that come up show you?
How can the Photoshop user access other palettes that appear listed under the Window menu?
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Figure 1.1)
Figure 1.2)
Figure 1.31.1.2 Explore Photoshop 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0.
Version 5.0 saw many changes from previous versions of Photoshop, welcome additions to its range of functionality. These features appear in the later versions of the program as well. Let us now explore some of them.
If you've worked with Photoshop extensively in the past, take a careful look at the toolbar (Figure 1.4). Do the buttons' look and feel appear identical to the previous versions?
Figure 1.4 The Photoshop toolbar.Roll the cursor over the tools in the toolbar. How does the interface now educate the novice Photoshop user?
Open "venice.psd" in Photoshop. Choose the Paintbrush icon and make a random swipe upon the image. Choose the Pencil icon and drag a line across the image. Choose the Eraser icon beside it and drag over part of the image, erasing it. If you like, make one or two other actions upon the image with any tool of your choice.
Open the History palette by clicking on the History/Actions palette. If it's not onscreen, choose Show History from the Window menu in the menu bar at the top of your screen. How can you use this function of Photoshop to remove the marks you have made upon your image?
Suppose you are ready to save the work you performed upon a graphic project. Open the File menu on the menu bar at the top of your screen and choose Save for Web.What do all these multiple images and choices presented to you mean?
Click on the little Adobe logo at the lower right bottom of the toolbar, whose Tooltip tells you it is the Jump to command. What takes place?
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Figure 1.4