Photoshop Basics is a comprehensive, 14-chapter tutorial which is all about Photoshop, a graphics program developed by Adobe Systems, Inc. Learn about the ins and outs of this powerful image editing software by reading through this tutorial guide and have your photos perfectly finished!

In This Guide:

01 - Introduction

Photoshop is a graphics program developed by Adobe Systems, Inc for Windows and Macintosh platforms. Photoshop is used to design and edit photographic images. It is the image-editing tool choice for most designers and publishers and allows you to manipulate pictures and create special effects.You can build complex images from many single images and recolor, retouch, and remove images from their backgrounds.

02 - Get to know Photoshop CS

Photoshop is a very powerful editing program with an incredible array of tools. You will often need to use several different Photoshop tools to create a desired effect, and because of the program's artistic nature, many of the tools require practice and a little imagination to use them effectively.

03 - Working with Documents

A document is also the name given to an image in Photoshop. These can be created in Photoshop or in other programs, or images can be brought into Photoshop from a scanner or by opening existing image documents. Photoshop has a robust set of import filters and can open images from a variety of sources. Photoshop helps you play around with the images to create different effects.

04 - Learn to Draw and Paint

Photoshop has some very powerful drawing tools. The brushes are packed with features that allow you to create your own wonderful and cool works of art, touch up photos and create amazing work.

05 - Working with Layers

Making any kind of a change to an image, such as increasing the size of a font on a heading, or removing a part of an image is a major undertaking, if everything is one flat image. With layers, it just takes a couple of clicks to make such changes. In Photoshop, a layer is always transparent until you put something on it i.e. each layer remains transparent, where no image data appears and other layers will show through.

06 - Advanced Layer Techniques

The layers behave differently depending on the type of layers i.e. raster/ vector based. The manipulations that you make to the objects depend on the type of layers. With a little imagination you can create real interactivity and powerful creative effects.

07 - Channels and Paths

Channels are complicated but that should not stop us from working with it. Using channels you can make better selections, your art will look better than ever and you can create cool special effects.

08 - Working with Text

Though Photoshop is primarily an image editing program, many people have realized the importance and the need to use text with the program. Many text options are included in Photoshop some of them simple and some complex.

09 - Tool presets, Actions and Multiple Images

Productivity and automation are two of Photoshop's greatest strengths. The tool presets work with all the tools in the tool palette. You can choose all the settings save them and recall them for later use using presets.

10 - All About Selections

In Photoshop you can cut out a particular piece of an image/Photo that you would like to work on. The piece still remains a part of the original image/ photo. You use selection tools to select only portions of an image that you want to work on and keep the unselected portions unaffected.

11 - Special Effects

Today most of the major motion pictures incorporate the use of effects in Photoshop. In almost every recently made movie, a great looking poster or magazine, Photoshop was probably used in creating it. Photoshop is being used everywhere in the design and entertainment industries due to the flexibility and the ability of Photoshop to manipulate images with the use of native and third party filters.

12 - Working with Photos

With Photoshop you can get the best out of every photograph, manipulate Photos and create works of art. You may not get the desired shot you want with a camera but you can create amendments and the desired effect using Photoshop.

13 - Photoshop and the Web

Photoshop is one of the best graphics program. Several features are unique to web work. Some of the Photoshop features such as Image Ready help you work more efficiently.

14 - Printing

An introduction to Photoshop printing tools