Photoshop Tools and Features User Log

The purpose of this log is for you to record what tools and features you used in the creation of your digital graphics. You should try to use as many
as possible and you must record how, why and when you used them. You do not need to record repeated actions but each single new action
should be recorded. An example of this would be setting up a new Photoshop file/image which would cover the ranges; Image Settings (all) and
part of Menus (some of). You only need to do this once. Remember that where the e.g. appears in a range, as many of the items should be
covered as possible but not all of them; your tutor will guide you here. Where possible you should also provide a screen dump to illustrate the
action (see sample image below).

Tools and
features
Menus:

How, why and when used.

Open;

You press on the open button if

you want to get a picture or
image that you have saved and
to get it all you do is press file
and open.

save;

You save it so that you don`t

lose any of your work and again
it is simple all you do is click on
file and go down to save.

Screen dump

import;

You import things like videos

that you have saved and you
just click on file and import.

export;

This is if you want to export images

and other things and it is simple just
go on file and export then you will a
few options to choose from.

edit;

What edit lets you do is change the

image up and size and colour with
effects and etc. It is at the top of the
page and easy to find.

view;

View has lots of different options to

do with the screen on photoshop like
zooming in and out and more. It is
also at the top of the page.

help

Image
settings:
size;

This lets you change the size of the

images and you click on image then
size.

width;

Width changes the size of how wide

the image is.

height;

colour mode;

The help selection is self-explanatory,

if you are stuck with something and
need a bit of assistance then you just
click help at the top.

This changes the length of the

images

The colour mode will let you change

from bitmap to greyscale to CMYK to
lab colour.

background;

transparency;

With this you can change the

background from transparent to
white or having a colour that you
created yourself
The transparency is how visible the
image is and gets or it can get rid of
the background of the image.

Drawing tools:
brush;

pencil;

The brush is a tool on Photoshop that

is one of the mostly common ones
the use for drawing with the size
from 0 to 100 and is used for vector
lines.

This tool is for drawing pixel lines and

is great when you are wanting an art
effect but it does take time.

duplicate;

The duplicate is for when you want to

copy a layer that you already have.

clone;

This is best when you need to fix an

image and repair it so that it will look
even
With fill it lets you cover a whole
image with colour

fill;

text;

This lets you type and add text to

your work with all different fonts,
colours and sizes.

line;

This tool will let you make a perfect

straight line and a smooth one
without pixelated dots.
With the shape tool it lets you choose
from a variety of shapes such as:
Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle ,
Ellipses, Polygon, line or your own
custom shape tool.

shape;

zoom;

Paletts, e.g.
colour,
gradients,
layers, object,
brushes,
history, actions,
size, resolution;
Layers, e.g.
copying, saving,
arranging;
flattening;
colour selection,

Zoom allows you to zoom in and out

from the picture and this is really
good for when you are rubbing out
small parts and cutting out stuff etc.

With the colour palette it allows you

to choose from a wide range of
colours and lets you to create your
own. The brush tab will let you
choose from a variety of brush sizes
and brush styles with types of
effects.
On the right there is a layers tab and
with this you can sort out the layers
and put one before the other so one
is like a background and then you
can put them together and get a cool
effect with them.

Colour
selection, e.g.
foreground,
background,
colour swatch,
eyedropper

Editing tools:
Selection, e.g.
marquee, lasso,
magic wand,
magnetic lasso,
deselect;

There is a tool that is called the eye

drop tool and what this allows you to
do is get a colour from an image and
then take it to put onto another one.
You can also create your own swatch
which is a really good help and idea
to do as it is your own and it is easy
for you to create other things with it.
When there is a selected image if you
right click then you press on deselect
and that then means the image will
not be selected anymore and is used
by the magic wand tool, the
magnetic lasso and more.
There is a tool called the marquee
tool and with this you can get the
image and change it to the shape
that you want and so that you can
then you are able to have an
accurate selection of the shape
without the use of any other tools like
the magic wand tool. You can find
this tool on left side of the tool bar.
You can use the lasso tool for a
freestyle selection on an image. You
can use this with the magic wand
tool and select a whole image then
that`s where the lasso tool comes in
and you deselect the areas that are

Transform, e.g.
scale, rotate,
skew, flip; cut;
copy; paste;
crop; trim;
erase; undo; fill

Advanced
tools:
Effects, e.g.
layer effects,
filters, channels;
image
adjustments,

Image
adjustments,
e.g. brightness
and contrast,
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not wanted.
The transform tool is located at the
top under edit and what this does is
allow you to wrap, rotate, scale, skew
and more to the image. There is also
free transformation and what this
does is let you scale the image as
well as rotate it both at the same
time.

One of the best and one of my

favourite effects that I have used and
that I do commonly use is the
gradient tool. This is where you can
get two colours and they merge
together and it creates a really cool
effect that is used for logos and
blending in and more. This is a
personal favourite of mine because it
is that little thing that helps a lot to
make it look so much better.

This allows you to change the

contrast and the brightness and the
contrast by going to the top menu
bar and select image then

hue and
saturation,
colour balance,
gradients,
transparency,
invert; masks;

adjustments the brightness and

contrast. It worked by getting the
right brightness and contrast to the
image and will get the best one of
what will get the colour pop out as
much as possible or it will decrease
the brightness and contrast to more
darker tones.

Paths, e.g.
vector paths,
converting text
to paths; image
slicing.

Vector paths
What vector paths are created with
on photoshop is the pen tool and you
click on a black space that so you
can plot an anchor point and then
you can connect the points together
so it forms a shape. Then you can
use the paint brush tool in order to
make a smooth line over the shape
and this is best when you are
creating smooth and curved lines.

Text o path
The text to path is when you custom
create a particular curve and then
click on the pen tool to get text to
the path

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