Photoshop is one of the premier graphic software packages used by a lot of people. Here you will find an introduction on what the Adobe graphic software is about and how you can use it for your projects. You will be able to learn the secrets that can help you master this software so that your projects will appeal to others.

Photoshop is not one of those software programs where you can easily start on your own. You may want to take your time while using it because you don’t want to go too fast while learning the ropes. You will learn how to add images, and other tips that you need to know in order to become a professional in graphics.

There are so many things to do with this graphic software, but it’s important to know the basics first before you start diving into more advanced features and functions. When you learn to do one thing, you can move on to other tasks.

In order to get started, you must open the Photoshop software. You will see the Photoshop desktop. Within the desktop, you will find the following categories: title bar, menu bar, options bar, status bar, toolbox, image window and palettes.

Within the title bar, you will see the name of the software, along with the most recent name of the file (if there is one). Each time a file is created, the extension will end with “.psd”.

The menu bar will have different commands to use for your file, such as edit, image, layer, select, view). There are other commands, but the commands mentioned are some of the ones that are used most often. You will find the options bar above the menus.

The toolbox bar has tools that are used for images that are in the graphics software. You can only use one tool at a time. In order to activate it, you must click on the corresponding icon. These tools are used for many of the Photoshop projects. Here are some brief details on the ones that most people use:

Hand – Dragged in order to move an image around.

Move – To move a certain area, you must click and drag.

Zoom – Zoom in and out by clicking or dragging.

Crop – To do this, you must click and drag that certain area; to execute the crop, press Enter; to cancel the crop, use the Escape key.

Marquee – The selected images will be clicked and drug

Type – Using the type tool, click the image where you want to include type.

Brush – Used for painting brush strokes.

Eraser – Gets rids of areas that have solid colors.

Dodge – This tool is used for to lighten any picture wherever you select it.

Burn – This tool is used to make certain areas on your image darker.

Wand – This tool is used for colored areas. You can use it to select, erase, color or adjust.

At one point or another, you will use these tools from the toolbox bar. They can help you when you’re creating images, designs or other drawings. The more you use them, the easier it will be for you to utilize them when the time comes. They can help to enhance the beauty of your work.

Palettes
You can use palettes to do different things with Photoshop. You can show or hide certain ones by going to the window menu and selecting a palette name. Palettes are placed into different groups.

For instance, one group would consist of layers, channels and paths. If you need to move a palette group, you can do so by dragging the blue bar that is located at the top of the group. If you want to shrink a palette group, click on the blue bar twice. Using the close box (“X”), you can hide a palette group if you wish.

The palettes have tabs and they can be moved around by dragging them. If you don’t want to do that, then the palettes can be mixed into other groups. Or if you want to place them in a default setting, you can do that also.

This graphics software also has rulers that you can use to see the measurements of your image. You will be able to tell whether it’s too big or too small. If you want to change the size, click on the ruler twice, or you can use the “Preferences” command. You can change the measurement from pixels to inches.

Using the status bar, you will have information regarding the current file that you’re working on. You will be able to view and use one of the tools. The status bar shows which tool that you have chosen to work with.

Using Images

How To Get Images Into Photoshop

You will need to have an image in order to create a file. There are several ways that this can be done.

If there is a file that already has an image, then click File, Open or File and then Browse. Most files that have images will open in Photoshop.

Create a new file. Click File and then New. Choose a name for the new file and go to the Preset menu and enter the information requested.

Scan an image from a computer into Photoshop by clicking File and then Import.

How To Move An Image Around

You can move an image around in Photoshop when you are in the editing stage. In fact, you will be able to multi-task as you zoom in and go around it. As you’re editing, you can zoom in and out to see what you need to do as far as adjustments are concerned. In order to do this, you should use the zoom and hand tools, and also the palette that is used for navigating.

Click or drag the image using the zoom tool. The more your zoom in, the more the image size will increase and get larger. You will be able to see how much the image has increased by looking at the status bar. If you want to see it in its entirety, click on the zoom icon twice. Use the ALT key to get out of the zoom function.

The hand tool is used to go around the image while you are still zoomed in. You can drag the hand in order to do this. If you want to move the image using the Navigation function, click Window and Show Navigator.

If you want to see more than one window of an image, click Window, Arrange and New Window. This setup will help you to get in close up to an image, or at least part of it. You will also be able to see another window while you are looking at the first image.

Size of Image, Resolution and Print Size

You will probably want to know more about sizes of images, resolution and print size. You can do that by using the dialog box for Image Sixing. In Photoshop, you need to open an image. Select Image, Image Size and you’ll see the dialog box.

Pixels or picture elements make up digital images. There is only one color in each pixel. The number of pixels in an image has to do with width and height. This also correlates with how large or how small you can see the display on the computer screen. In the “Document Size” function, using width and height allude to how large or small the image will be when you print it.

Printing Images

When you want to print an image in a larger size, you should decrease the resolution. If you need to change the size of an image before you print, make sure that the “Resampling Image” box is not checked. While increasing the size, the resolution will decrease if you increase the width and height. If you do the opposite of this, then the result will be the opposite.

If you’re printing an image for leisure use, using a resolution of 72 ppi can work. However, if it is more on the line of newspapers and newsletters, you will need increased resolutions starting at 150 to 200 ppi. For magazines, the resolutions would be higher, from 250 ppi on up.