Hello people, welcome to this video! Let's see quickly and shortly all you
need to learn to start basic editing with Adobe Photoshop CC Release 2017.
Please, leave us comments below to improve your future guides!
Photoshop CC is an amazing and outstanding software used to adjust, edit
and manipulate pictures and photos as you like. In this video we will see
everything you need to start with it for the first time, as a beginner.
When you open the software, a startup interface opens, to quickly start
with a new or an existing Photoshop project by using the New... and the
Open... buttons. Let's start with a new and fresh one.
A dialog box opens in order to choose the size and format for the new
Photoshop document. On top, choose between several ready templates, from
Photo to Film & Video. On the right, under Preset Details, you can rename
your document and eventually customize Width, Height, Orientation,
Resolution and the number of bits to dedicate to colors. More below, under
Background Contents, choose the background color to start with, by clicking
on the square on the right. Then, just go to Create.
The Photoshop document just created delimits your working area, where you
will actually draw and edit your pictures and shapes. Its size can be
edited anytime, by using the Crop Tool, inside the Tools bar on the left.
When you enable it, a cropping area is shown, fixing the new size and
content for your document. Click and drag the black nodes on the edges to
edit it as you like. On top, on the Options bar, click on the Cancel button
to undo all, or the checkmark to apply the tool. All that falls outside the
cropping area will be deleted.
Basically, there are two main ways to work with Photoshop: it is able to
adjust and manipulate photos professionally, but also to create vector
images and shapes from scratch. Let's start with the basic tools to edit
and adjust your favorite pictures and photos.
To open a picture, just go to File, Open... and then browse for it. This
will be directly opened on a new document, or tab, as you can see right
above. This is quite good, because the new document will automatically
match the size of your picture.
But, if you want to work with your own document created, you can drag and
drop your picture on it directly from your folder. This is added as a new
object called Layer, as you can see from the Layers panel on the right.
If you don't find a panel on your workspace for some reason, you can reopen
them by going to the Window tab, and clicking on the interested panel that
is missing.
The Layers panel shows the overall content inside your actual document,
including backgrounds, pictures, drawings and even adjustments. Always you
get one and unique layer for each single independent object.
By default, each new Photoshop document starts with a single layer, called
Background, in italics, which is locked by default. Just double-click on it
and apply to make it modifiable.
Also, you can check your document carefully by zooming in and out with your
mouse wheel, while holding ALT down; and pan by holding the Space bar key
from your keyboard.
Let's start with a basic editing, such as how to cut, copy and paste an
object. Let's suppose to have multiple layers on your document. Before
applying any change, you must select an object first, and then the
interested area you want to modify. To do so, firstly select the object
by selecting its layer on the right, and then, use the Selection Tools to
select the area to edit. For example, you can enable the Rectangular
Marquee Tool from the Tool bar, and click and drag to select a rectangular
area on your object. This can either include the whole object or just a
small specific part of it.
When object and selection area are made, you can use CTRL+X, CTRL+C and
CTRL+V to cut, copy or paste. In case you see any checkered area, remember
that this means full transparency, so no pixels. Whereas, if you are not
able to cut the object, just right-click on its layer and go to Rasterize
Layer. After that, you will be able to cut its pixels.
When you paste the selected area, you will add a new independent object
inside your document, so a new layer on the Layers list.
Always check the layer selected on the right. When you cut, paste, or use
any tool, you will always act on that object only, whatever is the
selection area defined.
If you make any mistake, use CTRL+Z to undo your latest action. But, if you
need to undo more than a single action, open the History window from the
Window tab, and go backwards as you like.
You can also cut, copy and paste from the Edit tab on top. Here, you also
have the Copy Merged option, which is quite useful. This allows you to copy
everything within a selection area without looking at the layers you have
selected. This means that you always copy all that is visible within it.
The selection area is so important inside Photoshop that it has several
tools to make it. The Marquee tools just seen are the simplest ones,
creating either a rectangular or an elliptical selection by clicking and
dragging on your document. Both tools are collected inside a unique button,
as you can see by right-clicking on it. This shows the whole list of tools
inside.
The third button from the top collects the Lasso Tools, used to create
freehand selections. For example, the Lasso Tool is completely freehand, by
clicking and holding on as you draw the shape; the Polygonal Lasso Tool
creates customized polygonal shapes, by clicking on your document, and so
fixing each vertex point, one after one; the Magnetic Lasso tool works by
fixing points as well, with the difference that each curve adapts to the
color shapes and gradient seen on the picture.
Both Marquee and Lasso selections can be moved by clicking and dragging
from their inner area.
Also, you have the Automated Selections, all collected inside the forth
button from the top. These make selections in no time. For example, the
Quick Selection Tool selects the parts of the object where you brush on.
On top, on the Options bar, you can regulate the radius size for your
brush, in order to make it bigger (or quicker) or smaller (for more precise
brushes). Remember to undo with CTRL+Z or the History window if you make
mistakes.
You can also use the Magic Wand Tool. This selects in one shot all that
has a very similar color from one point.
In case you need to remove all selections, just enable the Lasso Tool and
click anywhere.
Let's see quickly how to manage your layers. Double-click on a layer to
rename it as you like. Click on the eye icon to hide or show the object
related to such layer. A hidden object can't be either seen or modified at
all. You can also lock a layer by using the Lock buttons on top. These
lock (or block) the possible modifications on a particular layer property,
such as its transparent pixels, visible pixels, position or anything.
Very important is the layers order, from top to bottom. This actually fixes
the order of visibility of everything inside your document. In short, the
layer that is placed on a higher position in the Layers panel corresponds
to a picture that is shown above the other in your document. You can
regulate this order by clicking and dragging a layer up or down
in position.
To delete a layer instead, you can right-click on it and go to Delete
layer, or use the small bin button at the very bottom.
Once your pictures are imported, you can adjust, correct and edit it by
using all the tools inside the Tool bar. Or else, if you prefer, you can
open the Adjustments panel on the right to apply any professional photo
correction, such as color saturation, lightness, contrast and so on. We
won't see these in this very basic beginner tutorial.
Photoshop is also able to create vector objects, such as geometrical shapes
and titles.
At the bottom of the Tool bar, you have the Shape Tools, which are used to
quickly create rectangles, ellipses, polygons and lines, by clicking and
dragging on your workspace. At this point, the Properties window shows up,
showing all the properties for the related object, such as Width and
Height, horizontal and vertical position with X and Y, the first color for
the inner filling, and the second one for the stroke. You can choose to
apply either a solid color, or any gradient or pattern. Remember that a
white color with a red diagonal line means full transparency.
You can also set the stroke thickness, the line style to use, and even the
shape of the vertices. You can find all these settings also on the Options
bar on top.
All these geometrical shapes created from scratch are collected inside the
Layers panel as Vector Layers, with a dedicated icon.
You can also create pieces of text by using the Type Tools. You first have
to click and drag on your document to create a text area, that is a box
that delimits the text distribution. Then, just type inside, regulating the
font style, size, kind and color from the Options bar above. Apply or undo
by using the Commit or the Cancel buttons. Text is represented in the Layer
panel as another kind of vector called Type Layer, indicated with a big T
icon. To edit this title, you have to enable any Type Tool, and click
within the text box.
Let's see now to manage all the objects inside your document.
Any object, such as pictures, geometrical shapes or titles can be
transformed in order to change their position, size and inclination. To
move an object, just hold CTRL down and click and drag it. Of course, you
will move the selected object or layer from the Layers panel.
To make advanced transformations on the selected layer, just go to Edit and
then to Transform. Here you can choose to Scale, Rotate and Skew the
object, by using the nodes that appear on it. If you have any selected
area, you will edit just that part.
While using the Transform feature, you can use the Options bar to type
precisely the values for each of the most important object properties, such
as position, size, inclination and skew. In particular, take a look at the
link button. If enabled, you will be able to size and scale the object
without changing its aspect ratio.
To apply all the transformations, just click on Commit on top.
Let's now save and export the document! To do so, just go to File and then
to Save As.... Here you can choose several kinds of file formats, depending
on what and how you want to export your document. For example, to save your
Photoshop document in full, including all the single layers and their
options and properties, you have to save all as a .psd Photoshop file, in
order to edit it later if you need. If you want to render all the content
as a great picture, choose a .jpg format, and regulate its final quality.
The higher it is, the higher the file size. This file format also renders
all the transparent pixels as a white flat background. To save transparency
as well, choose to render as a .png file format.
This is all to start straight with Adobe Photoshop CC! If you want to
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