Image Window: Photoshop's image window is the space where you view and manipulate your image. For more information about the image window, see "Working with the Image Window".

Palettes: Photoshop's palettes appear as a series of floating windows in the work area. They control the behavior of tools in the toolbox or work independently. When you launch Photoshop, the following palettes should open automatically:

Sometimes palettes are open, but hidden from view. Depending on how Photoshop's preferences are set, some palettes may not open automatically. To reset the palette positions in the Photoshop work area so that they are easier to find, follow the steps listed below.

Opening an Image File

After you launch Photoshop, follow the steps listed below to open the scanned image that will be used throughout the tutorial.

1. Select File > Open from the Photoshop menu bar.
2. In the dialog box that appears, click the on the Desktop button.
3. Select the User Space partition (or the drive where you stored the Tutorial_Media folder you downloaded). Click on Open.
4. Select the Tutorial_Media folder, then click on Open.
5. Select the file named "mwp.PSD," then click on Open. Note: The ".PSD" in the image's file name stands for "Photoshop document," indicating that the file has been saved in Photoshop's native file format. For more information about the Photoshop and other file formats, see Choosing a Graphic File Format and Saving Your Work of this handout. The Photoshop file should look like Figure 7 when it is opened.

Making a Backup Copy of Your Image

It is a good idea to make a backup copy of the file you are working on to avoid accidentally deleting it or making unwanted, permanent changes to it. If the backup copy is ruined somehow, you can return to your original image file.

To make a copy of mwp.PSD, follow the steps below.

1. Choose File > Save a Copy from the menu bar.
2. In the dialog box that appears, check to see if Photoshop is configured to save your backup image in the Tutorial_Media folder. If it is, skip to step 6.
3. If Photoshop is not set up to save to this folder, click on the Desktop button.
4. Select the User Space icon (or the drive where you saved the Tutorial_Media folder), then click on Open.
5. Select the Tutorial_Media folder, then click on Open.
6. Type mwpedit.PSD in the Save a Copy: field.
7. Click on the Format pull-down menu and select Photoshop from the choices listed.
8. Click on Save to duplicate your original image.

Photoshop will not automatically open the new file, mwpedit.PSD. You must manually close the mwp.PSD file and open mwpedit.PSD. The following steps describe how to close the original file and open the duplicate.

1. To close the original mwp.PSD image, click on the box in the top left-hand corner of the image, or choose File > Close (command-W) from the Photoshop menu bar.
2. Choose File > Open (command-O).
3. In the dialog box that appears, select the mwpedit.PSD file, then click on Open. Photoshop will open the file and it will appear in the image window.

Working with the Image Window

When you open the "mwpedit.PSD" file, Photoshop displays useful information in the title bars at the top and bottom of the image window. (See Figure 8.) This information includes:

• the name of the image file (e.g., "mwpedit.PSD"),
• the scale (50 percent) of the image,
• the color mode (RGB) in which Photoshop is displaying and managing the image, and
• the size of the image file (2.1 M, where "M" stands for megabytes).

You can easily adjust much of the information displayed in the image window. To enlarge, or change the scale of your file to 100 percent, double-click on the Zoom tool in the toolbox. (The Zoom tool looks like a magnifying glass and is located in the lower right-hand corner of the toolbox.) Notice that while the image resizes to 100 percent, the size of the image window remains the same. To increase the size of the image window, follow the steps below.

Cleaning Up Rough Edges

You should now be able to see all four corners of the mwpedit.PSD image window. When you look at the image, notice that the picture of the man on the park bench appears crooked. This often happens when images are not perfectly aligned when scanned on a flatbed scanner.

Photoshop has a variety of tools for straightening crooked images. One easy way to make a crooked image look straight is to crop out its rough edges. You can use the Rectangular Marquee tool to crop your image.

Cropping with the Rectangular Marquee: The Rectangular Marquee is located in the top left-hand corner of the toolbox. The following steps describe how to use it to crop out sloppy edges in your image.

1. Select the Rectangular Marquee in the top left-hand corner of the toolbox by clicking on it. (You can also type M to select it.) You will use this tool to select the area of your image that you want to keep.
2. Position the mouse over the top left-hand corner of the image. Notice that the mouse pointer turns into a crosshair.
3. Decide how much of the top left-hand edge of your image you want to crop out.
4. Click on the mouse button and, while holding it down, drag the mouse down and to the bottom right-hand corner of the image. As you drag, you will see a dotted selection border appear around the area you are selecting.
5. Keeping the mouse button down, decide how much of the bottom right-hand corner of the image you want to crop out. Resize the selection border until it includes only the area of the image that you want to keep.
6. Release the mouse button when you are finished making your selection.
7. Choose Image > Crop from the menu bar. Photoshop deletes the area outside of your selection.
8. If you are not satisfied with your crop, choose Edit > Undo Crop from Photoshop's menu bar.
9. Repeat the steps described above as many times as necessary until you are satisfied with the cropped image.
10. When you are finished, save your work by choosing File > Save from Photoshop's menu bar. Remember to continue saving frequently to avoid losing your work if Photoshop crashes unexpectedly.

When using the Rectangular Marquee, keep the following considerations in mind:

Making Basic Color and Tonal Corrections

This section describes how to improve or modify the appearance of your image using Photoshop's color and tonal correction tools. In the context of Photoshop, color refers to hues, or what we normally think of as colorred, blue, yellow, purple. Tonal correction tools are used to increase or decrease the range of color valuesdullness, brightness, intensity, luminosity, shadows and highlights. Increasing the tonal range of the colors in an image will make more detail visible. Most of the color and tonal correction tools are accessible via the Image > Adjust... command in Photoshop's menu bar. This tutorial describes how to use three of Photoshop's color/tone correction commands: Brightness/Contrast, Variations, and Levels. Use the Brightness/Contrast command only when you need to make very basic tonal corrections. Use the Variations command when more elaborate color adjustments are necessary. Use the Levels command to increase the tonal range of colors in your image by setting precise highlight and shadow values for your image.

Using the Brightness/Contrast Command: The Brightness/Contrast command lets you make basic adjustments to an image's tonal range. To adjust your image's brightness and contrast levels, follow the steps below.

1. Choose Image > Adjust > Brightness/Contrast from the menu bar. The Brightness/Contrast dialog box will appear.



2. In the lower right-hand corner of the box, click on the box labeled Preview to see the difference in the image as you are making changes to the brightness and contrast settings.
3. You can adjust the brightness and contrast by clicking and dragging the appropriate slider to the left or right to adjust the values. Dragging the sliders to the left decreases the color levels. Dragging them to the right increases color levels. You can also enter brightness and contrast values between _100 and 100 in the box above each slider.
4. Click on Cancel to cancel your changes and close the dialog box. To apply the changes to your image, click on OK.

Using the Variations Command: The Variations command lets you make visual adjustments to an image's color, contrast, and saturation. To use this command, follow the steps below.

1. Choose Image > Adjust > Variations... from the menu bar. The Variations window will appear.
   • The two swatches at the top of the Variations dialog box, labeled Original and Current Pick, show before and after views of the image being adjusted.
   • At the top right-hand side of the dialog box, radio buttons labeled Shadows, Midtones, Highlights and Saturation show which part of the image is being adjusted (e.g., dark, midtone, or light areas).
   • The Fine/Coarse slider below these buttons determines the intensity of each adjustment. Coarse adjustments tend to be more dramatic than Fine adjustments.

   

2. To alter the tonal range of your image, click on the additive (Red, Green, Blue) and subtractive (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow) color swatches, one at a time. You can see the effects of your adjustments in the swatch labeled Current Pick, located at the center of the dialog box.
3. To adjust the brightness of your image, click on the swatches labeled Lighter and Darker, one at a time. You can see the effects of doing so in the swatch labeled Current Pick, located between the Lighter and Darker swatches.
4. To return to the original state of the colors in your image, click on the swatch labeled Original in the upper left-hand corner of the Variations dialog box.
5. When you are satisfied with your color and tonal adjustments, click on OK to apply the changes to your image.
6. To quit the Variations dialog box without altering your image, click on Cancel.
7. Save your work by choosing File > Save from the Photoshop menu bar.

Using the Levels Command: The Levels command, which is a bit more complex than Brightness/Contrast and Variations, lets you make tonal corrections to your image by setting the extreme highlight and shadow pixels in the image. This command is designed to improve the detail in your image. To use the Levels command, follow the steps listed below.

1. Choose Image > Adjust > Levels... from Photoshop's menu bar. The Levels window will appear.
• The Channel pull-down menu lets you choose which channel of your image you want to adjust. When your image is in the RGB color mode, you can adjust four different channels: RGB, Red, Green, or Blue. (For more information about color modes, see Color Models and Modes.)
• The Levels window displays a histogram of the pixels in the image you are working on. The pixels on the left-hand side of the histogram represent the shadows in your image. The pixel that is the farthest to the left is the darkest pixel in your image. The pixels on the right-hand side of the histogram represent the highlights in your image. Similarly, the pixel that is the farthest to the right is the lightest point in your image. The pixels in the middle of the histogram are the midtones in your image.

Color Models and Modes

Photoshop supports a variety of color models via its color modes. A color model is an established method of describing and reproducing color. Photoshop's color modes are based on the most widely accepted color models. They are used to determine how Photoshop defines, displays, and prints colors.

The image you are working on, mwpedit.PSD, was created in RGB mode. (Notice that this is shown in the title bar of the image window. See Figure 8.) You can easily change the image's color mode to Grayscale if you need to manipulate the image in black and white, or to CMYK color if you are planning on printing the image. The following section provides basic descriptions of commonly used color modes in Photoshop, and instructions on how to convert your image into them. Switching an existing image to a different color mode makes permanent changes to the image; you should save a copy of your image in its original mode before making mode changes. Switching back and forth between modes in one copy of an image file is not recommended.

RGB Color mode: Photoshop's default color mode, RGB Color, is based on the RGB color model, which is used to display color on televisions, computer screens, and video projection devices. RGB stands for red, green, and blue, the three primary colors from which all other colors in the visible spectrum can be created. When these three colors are combined, they create the color white.

When Photoshop is working in RGB Color mode, it can generate over 16.7 million colors, all based on some mixture of red, green, and blue. In RGB mode, each pixel is allocated a bit depth of eight. (For more information about bit depth, see Bitmap Image Files.) This bit depth is the equivalent of 256 colors, which range from 0 (black) to 255 (white).

In Photoshop, RGB images have three channels. While it is possible to edit an RGB image channel by channel (using the Channels palette), it is much more common to edit all three channels of an RGB image at once. If you are working on an image that is not already in the RGB color mode, you can convert it to the RGB color mode by selecting Image > Mode > RGB Color from the menu bar. To undo this conversion, immediately select Edit > Undo RGB.

Grayscale mode: Grayscale images have a bit depth of 256 shades of gray, where 0 is black, 255 is white, and the values in between are variations of gray. In Photoshop, Grayscale images have one channel. When you convert an image to Grayscale, Photoshop discards its color information. To convert your image to Grayscale mode:

1. Choose Image > Mode > Grayscale from the menu bar.
2. A dialog box will appear asking you if you really want to discard the image's color information. To discard color information and create a Grayscale image, click on OK in this dialog box. To cancel the mode change, click on Cancel.
3. After converting your image to Grayscale, you can undo the conversion by choosing Edit > Undo Grayscale from the menu bar or by pressing the command and Z keys together immediately after executing the conversion. Note: For the sake of this tutorial, undo the conversion using one of these techniques.

CMYK Color mode: CMYK Color mode is based on the light-absorbing qualities of cyan, magenta and yellow ink on paper. The "K" in "CMYK" stands for black, the color created when the three inks are combined; they absorb all colors and create black. (In the actual printing process, a separate black ink is used to create a darker black.) Convert your image to CMYK Color mode when you are planning on printing your image to a color printer, or if you need to save color separations for a printing press. To convert your image to CMYK color mode:

1. Choose Image > Mode > CMYK Color from the menu bar. Photoshop will convert your image to CMYK color mode.
2. To cancel the mode change, immediately choose Edit > Undo CMYK Color from the menu bar, or press the command and Z keys together. Note: For the sake of this tutorial, undo the conversion using one of these techniques.

Indexed Color mode: When Photoshop works in Indexed Color mode, it uses a maximum of 256 colors (the equivalent of 8-bit color) and creates a single-channel image file.

Indexed Color Example: Follow these steps to convert your image to two colors, white and another color of your choice.

When you view your image at a scale other than 100 percent, it can be difficult to judge the accuracy of your edits and color/tonal adjustments. To view your image at 100 percent, double-click on the Zoom tool in the toolbox. The image window indicates that you are viewing your image at 100 percent.

At 100 percent scale, you may see a distortion called a moir� pattern. This distortion occurs when two patterns are superimposed on top of each other at acute angles. The effect usually happens after a halftone image that was printed on thin, brittle paper (such as magazine or newspaper stock) is scanned. The best way to remove the moir� pattern is to apply the Despeckle image filter. Despeckle is one of the Noise Filters within Photoshop's Filter menu. It works by looking for the edges in an image (e.g., the areas of significant color change) and blurring everything but these edges. This effect blurs the moir� pattern without distorting the detail of the image. To apply the Despeckle Noise filter to your image:

Before you can begin work on the rest of the poster, you must choose a print size and final resolution for your image. The print size of an image is the amount of physical space it occupies on a sheet of paper when printed. The resolution of an image is the number of pixels displayed per unit of printed length.

Resolution: Print versus Monitor

The resolution of a printer is typically measured in pixels per inch (ppi). The resolution of a computer monitor is usually measured in dots per inch (dpi). Monitor resolution, which is more confusing than printer resolution, is determined by two variables:

• the size of the monitor and
• the bit depth per pixel.

Usually, Macintosh monitors have a screen resolution of 72 dpi. The resolution of a PC monitor is approximately 96 dpi. Graphic designers often manipulate image files in Photoshop with resolutions much higher than 72 dpi or 96 dpi. Photoshop makes no distinction between ppi and dpi. As a result, images with ppi values larger than the dpi values of the monitors they are displayed on appear larger than their printed dimensions. For instance, the file you are currently working on was originally scanned at 150 ppi. Its original printing dimensions were 5.593 inches by 5.82 inches. However, when the image is displayed on a 72 dpi Macintosh monitor, it appears almost twice as large.

Resampling Your Image

The poster you are designing in this tutorial can be printed to paper or viewed on the desktop. Normally, however, images meant to be printed are created at a higher resolution (at least 200 dpi; most laser printers support resolutions up to 600 dpi). It is important to plan how and where you want to make your image viewable before you start a Photoshop project. For example, if you know you are creating a graphic that will only be used on the Web, there is no reason to work in a resolution higher than 75dpi; the higher the resolution, the larger the file size, and the slower Photoshop will process commands.

For the purposes of this tutorial, you need to alter the resolution of your image so that it will fit on a computer screen. Altering the resolution of an image is commonly referred to as "resampling." Resampling an image reduces the number of pixels per unit of printed length without reducing the physical dimensions of the image. This sometimes causes a dramatic loss in image quality. In this tutorial, resampling does not dramatically affect the quality of the image you are working on.

Resampling Guidelines: The following are some guidelines to remember when resampling your image.

• Try to pick even multiples of your image's original resolution. For example, if your image has a resolution of 150 ppi and you want to resample it to a lower resolution, resample it to 75 dpi.
• Try not to resample your image to a resolution that is higher than its original resolution. Resampling to higher resolutions usually degrades the image quality.

Resizing Your Image

You will also need to resize your mwpedit.PSD image to reduce the image's print area on paper. Resizing an image, like resampling, can affect image quality. Reducing an image's print area can slightly improve image quality, while enlarging an image's print area tends to degrade image quality. If you plan on enlarging an image, remember to scan the image at a higher resolution than you need for printing. This process is called "oversampling" an image. Note: You should wait until you have completed all adjustments to your image before resizing it.

You can resample an image's resolution and/or resize its print dimensions using the Image Size command in Photoshop. The following steps describe how to use the Image Size command.

1. Choose Image > Image Size from Photoshop's menu bar. The Image Size dialog box will appear.



2. In the Image Size dialog box, you will see five fields. Ignore the Pixel Dimensions fields at the top of the window. You will be entering values in the Print Size fields.
3. Click on the Constrain Proportions and Resample Image boxes at the bottom of the dialog box to select them. When you select Constrain Proportions, Photoshop keeps the proportions of your image the same, regardless of the new values you enter in the Width and Height fields above.
4. In the Resample Image menu, select Bicubic from the pull-down menu.
5. In the Print Size fields, select inches from the pull-down menus to the right of the Width and Height fields. In the Width field, type 4.5. Photoshop automatically calculates a proportional height, which appears in the Height field.
6. Select pixels/inch from the pull-down menu next to the Resolution field. Type 75 in the Resolution field. Notice that altering the resolution of the image decreases the Pixel Dimensions of your file (which are shown at the top of the window).
7. To quit the Image Size window without altering your image, click on Cancel.
8. To apply these changes to your image, click on OK in the Image Size dialog box.
9. To undo the resampling and resizing alterations you made to your image, choose Edit > Undo Image Size from the menu bar.
10. Choose File > Save from Photoshop's menu bar to save your image.

Part 2: Creating New Content

To complete the rest of your poster, you will use Photoshop to create graphic elements that will accompany the mwpedit.PSD file. You should have sketched these elements in your storyboard panels, which are displayed in Figures 3 through 6. In Part 2 of this tutorial, you will learn how to create these elements and combine them with your mwpedit.PSD image to create a finished poster. This section of the tutorial covers the following topics:

Creating a New File

You will begin by creating a new file in Photoshop 5.5. The new file will be an RGB image with a resolution of 75 ppi, and you will save it in the Photoshop file format. The following steps describe how to create a new file with these characteristics.

Copying an Image Between Photoshop Files

This section describes how to copy the mwpedit.PSD image you adjusted in Part 1 into your new Photoshop file. Note: Your mwpedit.PSD file should still be open in Photoshop.

Working with Layers

When you copied the mwpedit.PSD image into your new image file, Photoshop placed it on a new layer in the mwpPoster.PSD file. Layers, like sheets of clear acetate used in traditional paper-based layout, are transparent overlays used to create, edit and organize graphic elements in Photoshop files. Every layer in a Photoshop file can be manipulated independently without disturbing the other layers. As a result, layers are an ideal tool for experimenting with design elements in your image. Layers, which can be manipulated using the Layers palette, can contain type and graphic elements. They can be altered using Photoshop's filters and image adjustment tools. They can also be copied, deleted, turned off, linked, reorganized, and selectively merged together.

When you open an RGB image in Photoshop, the file automatically includes a background layer, which is the first layer in the Layers palette. The Background layer, as the name implies, contains the background of your image file. The background can consist of graphic elements, an entire image, or no pixels at all. In the mwpedit.PSD file you worked on, the background layer included the entire image. In the mwpPoster.PSD file you just created, the background layer consists entirely of white pixels; the copied image is not part of the background.

To work with Photoshop's layers, you will use the Layers palette. This palette, which is shown in Figure 14, usually opens automatically when Photoshop is launched. (Note: It normally appears grouped with the Paths and Channels palettes). If the Layers palette is not open in the work area, select Window > Show Layers to display it. If the Layers palette does not appear after you select Show Layers, follow the steps in "Components of the Work Area" on page 4 to display the palette.

Naming Layers

In the open Layers palette, you should see two layers: "Background," which is filled with white, and "Layer 1," which contains the mwpedit.PSD image. Notice that Layer 1 appears above the background layer (as shown in Figure 14 above). As you create new layers in your image file, it is a good idea to name each layer descriptively. Naming layers will help you manage multi-layered Photoshop files. To rename Layer 1:

1. Double-click on Layer 1 in the Layers palette. The Layer Options dialog box will appear.
2. In the Name field, type mwp image to name your layer.
3. Click on OK when you are finished. Notice that Layer 1 now appears as "mwp image".

Controlling the Visibility of Layers

As you work, you may want to hide a layer from view to see different parts of your design more clearly. You can control the visibility of all layers, including the background layer, using the Layers palette, which is shown in Figure 14. Each layer's visibility is controlled by the eye icon located in the first column from the left in the Layers palette:. The following steps describe how to control the visibility of the "mwp image" layer in your image file.

1. Click on the eye icon next to the "mwp image" layer in the Layers palette to hide the layer.
2. To reveal the layer again, click in the empty eye icon box next to the layer. The eye icon will appear again and the layer will become visible.

Moving Layers in the Image Window

You can move a selected layer, or a selected area within a layer, around the image window using the Move tool. The following steps describe how to do so.

1. Select the layer you want to move in the Layers palette by clicking on it. (When a layer is selected, it is highlighted in a different color than the other layers.)

• If you only want to move a portion of a layer, select the desired layer in the Layers palette, then select the area you want to move with the Rectangular Marquee tool. Click on the Rectangular Marquee tool in the toolbox, then click and drag to draw a selection border over the area you want to move. Note: You can use any of Photoshop's marquee tools to make your selection. For more information about using the marquee tools, see Using the Marquee Tools.

2. Click on the Move tool (black arrow) in the upper right-hand corner of the toolbox to select it.
3. Click on the layer or selection that you want to move. While holding the mouse button down, drag the layer or selection to the desired area in the image window. To nudge the layer or selection a small distance at a time, use the arrow keys on your keyboard.

Creating New Layers

In Photoshop, new layers are added above the active (highlighted) layer in the Layers palette. You will be adding two layers between the Background and "mwp image" layers in your mwpPoster.PSD file. To insert new layers between the two existing layers, you will need to make the background layer active so that the new layers will appear above the Background layer and below the "mwp image" layer. The following steps illustrate how to add these layers.

1. Click on the Background layer in the Layers palette to make it active.
2. Click on the New Layer icon (), which is located at the bottom of the Layers palette. (See Figure 14.) A new layer, labeled Layer 1, will appear above the background layer.
3. Click on the New Layer icon again to add another layer. The new layer, labeled Layer 2, will appear above Layer 1.
4. Double-click on Layer 1 to access the Layer Options dialog box. In the Name field provided, rename the layer by typing bgcolor 2. Repeat this step with Layer 2. Rename this layer bgcolor 1.

Changing the Stacking Order of Layers

You can control the order in which layers are stacked after adding them to the Layers palette. To move a layer to a new position in the Layers palette, simply click on it to select it and drag it to the new location in the palette. The only layer you cannot reorder is the Background layer. The following steps describe how to change the stacking order of the layers in your image file.

1. Click on the "bgcolor 1" layer in the Layers palette.
2. While holding the mouse button down, drag the "bgcolor 1" layer underneath the "bgcolor 2" layer.
3. As you drag the layer over other layers in the Layers palette, you will see a dark black line appear between layers. When you see this line appear between the "bgcolor 2" and Background layers, release the mouse button and drop the "bgcolor 1" layer into place.
4. To preserve the layers you've created in your Photoshop file, you must save it in the native Photoshop file format (.PSD). Since your file is already in this file format, you only need to select File > Save to save your file with the layers intact. For more information on saving with or without layers, see Choosing a Graphic File Format and Saving Your Work.

Working with Color

In Photoshop, you can designate two colors to use with Photoshop's painting and drawing tools. These colors, called the foreground and background colors, are displayed in the color selection boxes at the bottom of the toolbox. (See Figure 15.) The foreground color appears in the box on top, while the background color appears in the box on the bottom. The foreground color is used to paint and draw lines and to fill and stroke selections. The background color is used to fill in erased or deleted areas of an image. You will learn how to reverse, change, and use the foreground and background colors in the following sections.

Switching Foreground and Background Colors

To move the color in the foreground position into the background and move the background color into the foreground, follow the steps listed below.

1. Click on the Switch Colors icon just above the foreground color in the toolbox. (See Figure 15 above.) You can also press the X key to switch the foreground and background colors.
2. To reverse this change, click on the Switch Colors icon or press the X key again.

Selecting Foreground and Background Colors

This tutorial discusses three of the most common ways to select foreground and background colors in Photoshop. For more information about selecting colors in Photoshop, select Windows > Help Contents.... Choose Painting from the Contents box and click on the topic called Choosing the foreground and background colors.

To select a color from your image using the Eyedropper, follow the steps listed below.

1. Select the Eyedropper from the toolbox by clicking on it. The Eyedropper looks like this:
2. Move the Eyedropper over the color in the "mwp image" layer that you want to select.
3. To select a foreground color, click the mouse button once. The desired color will appear in the foreground color selection box in the toolbox.
4. To select a background color, hold down the option key and click on the desired color. It will appear in the background color selection box in the toolbox.

To select a color using Photoshop's Color Picker:

1. Click once on the color selection box whose color you want to change (i.e., the foreground or background box). Photoshop's Color Picker will appear.



2. Notice the small colored square to the right of the color slider at the top of the Color Picker. When you change a color, the new color you are selecting appears in the top half of this box. The color you are changing appears in the bottom half of this box.
3. Click and drag the triangle sliders on the color slider, which is located to the right of the color field, to a color of your choice, or click inside the color field on the left and drag the mouse over the color you want to select.
4. When you have selected a color, click on OK.

You can also select a foreground or background color from the Swatches palette. To do so:

1. If the Swatches palette is not open in your work area, select Windows > Show Swatches from the menu bar. (Note: The Swatches palette may also be grouped with the Colors and Brushes palettes. To bring it to the front of the grouping, click on the tab marked Swatches.)



2. Move the mouse pointer over the color in the Swatches palette that you want to select. Notice that your mouse pointer automatically turns into an eyedropper.
3. To select a foreground color, click on the desired foreground color in the Swatches palette. The color you select will appear in the foreground color selection box in the toolbox.
4. To select a background color, press and hold down the option key. While holding the option key down, click on the desired background color in the Swatches palette. The color you select will appear in the background color selection box in the toolbox.

Filling Selected Areas with Color

Now that you have selected foreground and background colors, you are ready to design the graphics for your poster. This section describes how to use Photoshop's Fill command and Paint Bucket tool to create the two-toned color background of your poster. You will be working on the "bgcolor 1" and "bgcolor 2" layers you created earlier in this tutorial.

Using the Fill Command: You will begin by filling the "bgcolor 1" layer with a solid color. The following steps describe how to use the Fill command to do so.

1. Click on the "bgcolor 1" layer in the Layers palette to select it.
2. Choose Select > Select All from the Photoshop menu bar. (You can also press the command and A keys together.) A dotted selection border will appear around the entire layer.
3. Choose Edit > Fill... from the menu bar. The Fill dialog box will appear.
4. In the Contents section, choose whether you want to fill the selection area with the foreground or background color you have selected. Select either Foreground Color or Background Color from the Use pull-down menu.
5. In the Blending section, type 100 in the Opacity box to set the opacity of the fill to 100 percent.
6. Click on the Mode pull-down menu and select Normal from the choices listed.
7. Make sure that the checkbox labeled Preserve Transparency has not been selected. If there is an X in this box, click on it to deselect this option.
8. Click on OK when you have finished entering your settings. The selection border on your "bgcolor 1" layer will be filled with the foreground or background color you selected.

Using the Paint Bucket Tool: You can also fill areas with color using Photoshop's Paint Bucket tool, which is located in the toolbox. The following steps describe how to fill part of your "bgcolor 2" layer with color.

Creating a Drop Shadow

This section describes how to create a drop shadow for the colored rectangle you created in the "bgcolor 2" layer. A drop shadow can make two-dimensional graphic and text elements look three dimensional, giving depth to otherwise flat artwork. Photoshop 5.5 has an automatic drop shadow feature, which you can access using the Layers menu. To create a drop shadow:

6. Choose File > Save to save your work.

Working with the Type Tool

You are now ready to add type to the mwpPoster.PSD file. You can add type to an image in Photoshop using the Type tool, which is located in the toolbox. The type created in Photoshop is essentially an editable, bitmap image. As a result, when a Photoshop image that includes type is reduced or enlarged, the type may become blurry or pixelated, so use the point size settings in the Type dialog box to get the desired type size. This section describes how to place text into your poster and how to experiment with some of Photoshop's basic type features.

To place type into your poster:

1. Click on the Type tool in the lower right-hand side of the toolbox to select it.
2. When you move your mouse over your image, it turns into a cursor. Position the cursor over the general area in your image where you want to place type, then click the mouse button. The Type Tool dialog box appears.
3. Select a font face for your type from the Font pull-down menu.
4. In the Size field, type a desired point size for the font you selected. Select a large enough font size to make the font visible on the poster.
5. Select a color for your font by clicking on the colored box in the Color field. Photoshop's Color Picker will appear. (For more information about using Photoshop's Color Picker, see Selecting Foreground and Background Colors.) To alter the color of your type after entering it in the type field, highlight it with the mouse, then click on the Color field and change the color.
6. Click inside the box labeled Anti-Aliased to make the edges of your type smooth.
7. In the blank field at the bottom of the dialog box, type the word photoshop, as shown in the final poster in Figure 20. To enter more than one line of type, press the return key to force a line break.



8. To adjust the spacing between lines, type a value equal to or greater than your font size in the Leading field (e.g., for double-spaced lines, type a number twice the point size of your font).
9. Click inside the Preview box to see how your type will look on your poster.
10. To adjust the alignment of your type, choose one of the three alignment options (i.e., left aligned, centered, right aligned). These options are located above the Preview box.
11. When you are satisfied with your type, click on OK. Your type will appear on your poster.
12. Notice that your type appears on its own type layer in the Layers palette. In Photoshop 5.5, type layers are marked with a capital "T" next to the layer's name. To make changes to your type, double-click on the appropriate layer in the Layers palette. The Type Tool dialog box will appear, displaying the type options you entered. Highlight the text you typed in, then change the type settings. Click on OK to apply your changes.
13. To move type after adding it to your poster, click on the Move tool in the toolbox, then make the appropriate type layer active in the Layers palette by clicking on it. Click on the type and move it to the desired location in your image.
14. Repeat the steps above until you have added all the type elements displayed in the example poster in Figure 20. Experiment with the vertical and outline Type tools (hold down the mouse button on the Type tool to see the entire tool set) to achieve various effects. Reorder your type layers so that some words overlap. Use different font faces and sizes to add interest to your poster. For help with rotating, skewing, or distorting your type, see Manipulating Objects.
15. Save your work by choosing File > Save from the menu bar.

Applying Effects to Type

You can apply effects such as drop shadows, bevels, and embossing to your type the same way you would apply effects to other graphic elements in your image. The following steps describe how to apply effects to type.

1. Select the type layer in the Layers palette.
2. Go into the Layers menu and select Effects. Select an effect from the pop-up menu that appears.
3. Enter the desired effect settings in the Effects dialog box that appears.

Rendering Type Layers

You can turn a type layer into a normal layer by choosing Layer > Type > Render Layer from Photoshop's menu bar. When you render a type layer, you turn it into a normal image layer. You must do this before you are able to perform certain manipulations such as applying filters. Once you select this option, you cannot make adjustments to your type using the Type Tool dialog box. For this reason, make sure you are satisfied with the appearance and size of your type before rendering the layer it is on.

Painting and Drawing

Photoshop has a number of tools for painting and drawing images and objects. Photoshop's Paintbrush, Airbrush, and Pencil allow you to make freehand illustrations with paintbrush-, airbrush-, or pencil-like strokes, respectively. You can control the attributes of these tools using each tool's Options palette. You can also use Photoshop's selection tools and the Stroke command to outline selected areas. This section describes how to use the freehand drawing tools and the marquee and lasso tools to add new objects to your poster.

Please Note: Before you begin adding objects to your poster, create a new layer for your objects by clicking on the New Layer icon in the Layers palette. (See Creating New Layers for more information.) Name your new layer "objects." When you are finished creating this layer, click on it in the Layers palette to make it active.

Using the Paintbrush, Airbrush, and Pencil

The following steps describe how to draw objects, including the bullet points shown in the example poster in Figure 20, using Photoshop's Paintbrush, Airbrush, and Pencil tools.

1. Select a foreground color for your graphic using one of the techniques described in Working with Color.
2. Double-click on the Paintbrush, Airbrush, or Pencil icon in Photoshop's toolbox. The Options palette for the tool you have selected will appear automatically in your work area. To create bullet points, double-click on the Paintbrush tool.
3. Set the opacity of your strokes by entering a percentage in the Opacity field. Type 100 in this field to set the opacity of your paintbrush strokes to 100 percent.
4. The Fade field allows you to enter the fade out rate of your strokes. The number of steps that you enter in this field is the number of steps that the tool draws before fading out into transparency. This option can make your strokes look more realistic. Deactivate this option by typing 0 in the Fade field.
5. Choose a brush by selecting Windows > Show Brushes from the menu bar. The Brushes palette will appear, displaying the available brush sizes and shapes for the tool you have selected. To select a brush, click on it. Select a large, round brush to create your bullet points.
6. Draw or paint by moving the mouse pointer to the area of your image where you want to work and then clicking and dragging to create brush strokes. To create a bullet point, click once with the Paintbrush to create a round dot. Repeat this action to add more bullet points to your poster.

Using the Marquee Tools

You can add more graphic elements to your poster using the Rectangular Marquee, the Elliptical Marquee, and the Stroke command. This technique allows you to draw and outline a variety of shapes.

Drawing with the Rectangular/Elliptical Marquee:

1. Make sure that the "objects" layer is active by clicking on it in the Layers palette. If you want to place your shapes on a new layer, create a new layer for your work and name it appropriately. (See Creating New Layers for more information.)
2. Select the Rectangular Marquee, located in the upper left-hand corner of the toolbox, by clicking on it. If you want to use the Elliptical Marquee tool to draw an oval shape, click and hold down on the Rectangular Marquee tool in the toolbox. A pop-up menu will appear, displaying a variety of marquee tools. While holding the mouse button down, move the mouse pointer over the Elliptical Marquee to select it, then release the mouse.
3. Make a small rectangular (or elliptical) shape by clicking on the area where you want to add the rectangle, then dragging down and to the right. A dotted selection border will appear.
4. Choose a color for the outline of the selected area by selecting a foreground color. For more information about selecting a foreground color, see Working with Color.
5. Choose Edit > Stroke... from the menu bar. The Stroke dialog box will appear.
6. In the Stroke section, enter a width for your stroke (in pixels) by typing a number in the Width field. Give your selection a stroke width between two and five pixels, depending on the size of your rectangle/ellipse.
7. In the Location section, click on the Inside, Center, or Outside radio buttons to select a stroke location in relation to the selection edge.
8. In the Blending section, choose Normal from the Mode pull-down menu.
9. Make sure that the Preserve Transparency option has not been selected. If there is an X in the Preserve Transparency box, click on it to deselect this option.
10. Click on OK when you are finished entering your Stroke settings. You will see an outline appear around the border of your selection.
11. To deselect the rectangle (or ellipse) and leave only the stroke outline, choose Select > Deselect from the menu bar.

Using the Lasso Tools

You can use the lasso tools, like the marquee tools, with the Stroke command to create outlined shapes. This section describes how to create outlined shapes using the Freehand Lasso and the Polygon Lasso tools.

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Drawing with the Freehand/Polygon Lasso:

You can scale, rotate, skew, or distort objects and type using commands in Photoshop's Transform menu. The following steps describe how to use Photoshop's Transform commands:

1. Select the Rectangular Marquee from the toolbox by clicking on it.
2. Draw a selection border around the object or type that you want to scale, rotate, skew, or distort.
3. Go into the Edit menu and select Transform.... A pop-up menu will appear, displaying transform options. Select an option (e.g., Scale, Skew, Rotate, Distort) from this menu.
4. A transform box with handles will appear over your selection border.
• To scale an object and maintain its original proportions, hold down the Shift key, click on a corner handle and drag to resize the object.
• To rotate an object, move the mouse pointer outside the transform box until your cursor turns into a curved arrow. When you see this arrow appear, click and drag in a circular motion to rotate your object.
5. When you are finished experimenting, choose File > Save from the menu bar to save your completed project.

For more information about using the Transform menu, choose Help > Help Contents... from the menu bar. Then click on Editing and Retouching in the Contents box and select Transforming objects in two dimensions.

Choosing a Graphic File Format and Saving Your Work

You should now have a copy of your completed poster saved in the native Photoshop file format (PSD). When your file is in this format, all of Photoshop's editing, color correction, and retouching tools are available to you as you work on your file. However, you should save your finished poster in a different file format in order to optimize it for printing, desktop display or Web use. This section describes how to prepare your image file for saving, choose the appropriate graphic file format for your poster, and save it in the desired format. The document Graphic File Formats at a Glance provides more detailed information; see For More Information and Assistance for information about how to obtain this document.

Flattening Your Image File

To save your image file into most graphic file formats, you must save a copy of your image with the layers flattened. Flattening is a process that combines all image and type layers into one layer. This process significantly reduces the file size of your image. This section discusses the two most common ways to save a flattened copy of your image.

Using the Save a Copy Command

You can save a flattened version of your image file by choosing File > Save a Copy... from Photoshop's menu bar. Using this command allows you to preserve the original copy of your image file with the layers intact. This command automatically creates a flattened version of the layered document and gives you access (via the Format pull-down menu in the Save dialog box) to most of the popular graphic file formats available in Photoshop.

Using the Flatten Image Command

You can also flatten your image file by selecting Layers > Flatten Image from Photoshop's menu bar. Photoshop automatically merges all of your layers into the background layer. Use this command if you want to reduce the overall size of your file. However, be aware that once you flatten the layers in your file, it will no longer be easy to alter the individual elements in your poster. The Flatten Image command gives you access to all of the graphic file formats available in Photoshop. You can access these formats by choosing File > Save As... from the menu bar. In the dialog box that appears, click on the Format pull-down menu and choose a file format for your image.

Selecting a File Format

Once you have flattened your image, you are ready to save it into the appropriate file format. The following sections describe how to determine which file format to use based on how you will be displaying your poster.

File Formats for Print

If you plan on printing your image file to a PostScript printer, or if you want to use it in an application that supports PostScript printing such as QuarkXpress or Adobe PageMaker, you should save your poster in either the TIFF or EPS file format. The TIFF, or Tagged Interchange File Format, is a cross-platform format that supports lossless image compression. Lossless compression does not degrade the quality of the original data in your image during the conversion process. The EPS, or Encapsulated PostScript format converts bitmap images into PostScript data. Therefore, EPS is an ideal graphic file format for printing to a PostScript printing device. EPS files can be scaled down without degrading, but they usually do not display well on desktop monitors.

File Formats for Desktop Display

If you plan to display your image on a Macintosh desktop, or if you need to transfer your image file from one graphic layout application to another, convert it into the PICT file format. The PICT, or Picture, file format supports high-resolution images at multiple bit depths (sixteen or thirty-two bits). When formatting PICT files for desktop display, be sure to save your files at a resolution that is compatible with your computer monitor's screen resolution. Most monitors have a screen resolution of 72 to 75 dots per inch (dpi). The PICT file format is useful when creating a CD-ROM, digital video project, or when working with multimedia production applications (e.g., Adobe Premiere).

PICT files can be opened on the desktop of a PC computer; however, the PICT format is not considered to be cross-platform and PICT files are not usually used for display on the PC desktop. If you want to display your image on a PC desktop, try converting your image into either the TIFF or BMP file format. The BMP, or Bitmap, file format is the Windows analog to the PICT file format.

File Formats for Web Use

If you plan to display your image on the Web, you can save it in either the JPEG or GIF file format. The JPEG, or Joint Photographic Experts Group, file format is primarily used to compress continuous-tone images such as photographs or photo-realistic artwork. Because it supports 24-bit color display, JPEG is widely accepted as the lossy format that yields the best overall quality for such images. JPEG also allows you to control the amount of compression used on an image, so you can trade image quality for smaller file size or vice versa.

The GIF, or Graphic Interchange Format, was originally developed by CompuServe and is best used for images with only a few distinct colors, such as icons, buttons, illustrations and line drawings. Being functionally the same as Indexed Color mode, this format supports a maximum bit depth of 8-bit color, or 256 colors or shades of gray. (For more information about Indexed Color mode, see Color Models and Modes.) GIF supports transparency which is ideal for Web use, since it is often necessary to have the background show through certain sections of your graphic.

The PNG file format is a new image format standard that recent version Web browsers support. Since it is new, PNG is not yet used widely on the Web. There are two types of PNG files: PNG-8 and PNG-24. PNG-8 is an 8-bit image compression format that corresponds to GIF. PNG-24 is a 24-bit image compression format that corresponds to JPEG.

To save images for the Web, it is best to use the Save for Web... option under the File menu. This option lets you optimize the images and compare different image formats, quality, and compression settings. To save your image for the Web, choose File > Save for Web... and, using Figure 21 below, follow these steps:

Saving Your Image in a Selected File Format

To save your image in any of the formats discussed in this document, except the Save for Web... function, you must flatten your image before saving in order to include all layers. Follow the instructions in "Flattening Your Image File" on page 26 if you have forgotten how to do this. Then select the appropriate file format from the Format pull-down menu in the File > Save As... dialog box. Type a new name for your image in the field provided.

When naming your image, add the file extension for the file format you are using to the end of your file's name. Here are the file extensions used for the file formats discussed in this tutorial:

Adobe Photoshop is a complex application for image editing and manipulation, which makes it ideal for most graphic design work. Although it is easy to become familiar with this application, it is difficult to master it. This tutorial covered the most popular tools in Photoshop for editing, color correcting, and retouching bitmap images. Despite the specific nature of the activities covered, you should be able to use the techniques described in this tutorial for most of your graphic design projects.

The following Web sites include helpful information about using Photoshop: