I.

Introduction to Adobe Photoshop

NAVIGATING THE WORKSPACE

Adobe Photoshop CS6

Adobe Photoshop CS6 is a popular image editing software that provides a work environment consistent
with Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe ImageReady, and other products in the Adobe Creative Suite.
This tutorial is an introduction to using Adobe Photoshop. Here you will learn how to get started, how to use the
interface, and how to modify images with basic Photoshop tools.

Opening

Begin by opening Adobe Photoshop CS6.

On a PC, click Start > Programs > Adobe > Photoshop CS6, or click on the shortcut on the desktop.

Figure 1.Opening Adobe Photoshop CS6 on a Mac

WORKING WITH THE DOCUMENTS

Setting up the document

Setting up your document correctly from the start will make your job much easier as you work through
your project. This will require some advanced planning. For example, if your final output will be a brochure, you
may need to set up your document to be horizontal and double-sided.

To create a new document, click File > New. This will open the Document Setup dialog box (Figure 2).
 Figure 2. Document Setup
dialog box

Here you will be able to name

your file, set up the correct
page size, and orientation for
your document. Options
include, but are not limited to:

Page Size and Orientation

Change the page size by typing in new values for width and height. Page size represents the final size
you want after bleeds or trimming other marks outside the page. In the Preset dropdown menu you can find such
common sizes as letter, legal, tabloid, etc. Typing in exact values for Height and Width gives you more control
over the size and orientation of your page.

Resolution

Resolution is a number of pixels on a printed area of an image. The higher the resolution, the more pixels
there are on the page, the better is the quality of the image. However, high resolution increases the size of the
file. The standard recommended resolution for printed images is 150 - 300, for Web images - 72.

Color Mode

Choose a color mode that will best fit your project. For example, when making a graphic for a web site,
choose RGB. When making an image for print, choose CMYK.

Background Contents

Choose the background: white, color, or transparent.

When you have entered all of your document settings, click OK.

Opening an image from a disk

 If the image you have is saved on a disk, select File > Open, and then navigate to the disk drive where
your image is saved. Choose the image file and click Open. At this point, you may want to save your image
under a different name so that you can always have the original to fall back on in case of a mistake. To save your
file, select File > Save As and type in the new name of the file in the dialogue box. Now you should be ready to
go.

Interface Layout

Figure 3. Adobe Photoshop Interface Layout

Menu Bar

If you look at the top of the screen you will see the Menu bar (Figure 3), which contains all the main
functions of Photoshop, such as File, Edit, Image, Layer, Select, Filter, 3D, View, Window, and Help.

Tool Bar

Most of the major tools are located in the Tool bar for easy access.

The Image

The image will appear in its own window once you open a file.

Image Name

The name of any image that you open will be at the top of the image window as shown above.
 ACTIVITY SHEET 1.0
I. IDENTIFICATION: Identify the following tools and write the answer on the space.
(10 points)

1. 2.
3. 4.
5. 6.
7. 8.
9. 10.

II. ENUMERATION: Enumerate the correct answer on the answer sheet. (10 points)

1-5. Example of Photoshop panels.

6-10. What are the options under layer style?

THE PALETTES

Palettes

Below is the description of the most commonly used palettes in Adobe Photoshop CS6. Palettes
used for more advanced image editing will be covered in the Adobe Photoshop CS6 Tutorial -
Intermediate.

Color, Swatches, Style

The Color palette (Figure 4) displays the current foreground and background colors and RGB values for these
colors. You can use the sliders to change the foreground and background colors in different color modes. You
can also choose a color from the spectrum of colors displayed in the color ramp at the bottom of the palette.

Figure 4. Color palette

In the Swatches palette (Figure 5) you can choose a foreground or background color and add a
customized color to the library.

Figure 5. Swatches palette

The Styles palette (Figure 6) allows you to view, select, and apply preset layer styles. By default, a preset style
replaces the current layer style. You can use the styles in the palette or add your own using the Create New
Style icon.

Figure 6. Styles palette

History

The History palette (Figure 7) stores and displays each action performed allowing you jump to
any recent stage of the image alteration. The alterations should be created during the current
working session. After saving or closing the document, the History palette clears all the contents.
Each time you apply a change to an image, the new state of that image is added to the palette. It
is important to know that once you click on any of the previous stages, all the changes that were
made after it will be lost.

Figure 7. History palette

Adjustments
The Adjustment layers palette give you the ability to apply an effect to a group of layers in
Photoshop, and then you can edit that effect later, while preserving the original layers.

Figure 8. Adjustments palette

Layers

Layers let you organize your work into distinct levels that can be edited and viewed as individual
units. Every Photoshop CS6 document contains at least one layer. Creating multiple layers lets
you easily control how your artwork is printed, displayed, and edited. You will use the Layers
palette (Figure 9) often while creating a document, so it is crucial to understand what it does and
how to use it.

A) Layer Visibility -The eye shows that the selected layer is visible. Click on or off to see or to
hide a layer.
B) Layer Locking Options -Click the checkered square icon to lock Transparency, click the
brush icon to lock the Image, click the arrow icon to lock the Position, and click the lock icon
to lock all options.

C) Layer Blending Mode -Defines how the layer’s pixels blend with underlying pixels in the
image. By choosing a particular blending mode from the drop-down menu you can create a
variety of special effects.

D) Fill -By typing in a value or dragging the slider you can specify the transparency.

E) Opacity -By typing in a value or dragging the slider, you can specify the transparency of the
entire layer.

Figure 9. Layer palette

F) Layer Lock -The icon shows when the layer is locked and disappears when it is unlocked.
Double-click the icon to unlock the layer.

G) Layer Options Menu -Click the black triangle to display the following options: New Layer,
Duplicate Layer, Delete Layer, Layer Properties, etc. Some of the options are presented as
icons at the bottom of the Layers palette.

H) Link Layers – Can be used to link layers together.

I) Layer Styles -If a layer has a style, an “F” icon shows at the bottom of the Layers palette. Click
the little black triangle to see style options.

J) Layer Mask -Allows you to hide certain parts of the layer, which can then be revealed by using
the paintbrush and the white paint color to expose portions of the layer.

K)Layer Set -This option helps to organize images with multiple layers. Click the icon to create
a folder for several layers.

L)Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer -Have the same opacity and blending mode options as
image layers and can be rearranged, deleted, hidden and duplicated in the same manner as
image layers. Click the icon and select an option to create a new fill or adjustment layer.

M)Create New Layer -Click this icon to create a new layer.

N)Delete Layer -To delete a layer, select a layer in the Layers palette and drag it to the trash
can icon, or select a layer and click the icon.

THE TOOLBOX

Toolbox
 If you used other Adobe products, such as Illustrator or InDesign, you should be familiar
with the toolbox in Adobe Photoshop CS6 as it shares some of the tools from these applications.
If you are a new user of Adobe products, you should keep in mind that you might not need to use
all of the tools. In this tutorial, only the basic tools will be discussed in-depth.

Figure 10. The Toolbox

Some tools in the toolbar have additional "hidden" tools. These tools have small black triangles in
the right-hand corner. To view the "hidden" tools, click and hold down on any tool that has a black triangle
in the corner (Figure 11).
 Figure 11. “Hidden” tools

SELECTION TOOLS

MOVE Used to select and move objects on the page.

Click the tool button, and then click on any object on the page you wish to move.

MARQUEE Selects an object by drawing a rectangle or an ellipse around it.

Click the tool button; choose a rectangular or an elliptical marquee. Drag the marquee
over the area of the image you wish to select.

LASSO Selects an object by drawing a freehand border around it. Click the tool button,
drag to draw a freehand border around the area of the image you wish to select.

MAGIC WAND Selects all objects in a document with the same or similar fill color, stroke
weight, stroke color, opacity or blending mode. By specifying the color range or tolerance,
you can control what the Magic Wand tool selects.

CROP Click the tool button, then click and drag the tool over the part of the image that
you want to keep. Resize the selected area dragging the squares at the sides and corners.
Click the Return/Enter key when your crop box is sized correctly.

EYEDROPPER Takes color samples from colors on the page and displays them in the Color
Boxes. Select the tool, click on the color in the image you wish to sample. The Color Box
will display this color.

ALTERATION TOOLS
Healing Brush - Corrects small blemishes in scanned photos. Select the tool, hold down the ALT
key and left-click on the base color you need to heal. Then left-click over the blemish.

Brush - Draws brush strokes of different thicknesses and colors. Select the tool. Then click on
the selected area, drag to draw lines. Use the Options bar to change the brush, mode, opacity and
flow.

Clone Stamp - Takes a sample of an image and applies over another image, or a part of the
same image.Select the tool. Hold down the ALT key and left-click on a certain point of the
document where you want to start your copy point. Then, put your mouse over whatever part of
the new document you want the picture to go to. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the
mouse across the page to copy the picture.
Art History Brush - Paints over an image using the source data from a specified history state or
snapshot. Select the tool, specify the brush, blending mode, opacity, style, area and tolerance.

Eraser - Removes part of an existing path or stroke. You can use the Erase tool on paths. Text can
only be erased when rasterized. Select the tool, click on the part of the image you wish to erase.
Drag to erase pixels.

Paint Bucket - Applies a color fill to a selected part of the image or to an entire layer. Select a
layer you wish to apply the paint bucket to, click the tool button, click on the starting point, and
click the area you wish to fill.

Blur - Blurs the sharp edges of an image. Select an area where you wish to apply the tool. Click
the tool button and choose the brush, mode, and strength. Drag the brush along the edges.

DRAWING AND SELECTION TOOLS

Path selection - Selects paths and path segments. Select the tool, click anywhere on the path.
Type - Types text on a page. Every time you click the Type Tool on a new portion of the
page, a new layer will be created.

Select the type tool, click on the page and begin to type. You can specify the font and size in the
Options bar. You can also resize and transform the text box by dragging the squares at the sides
and corners. Use the Move Tool to move the text on the page.

Pen - Draws smooth-edged paths.

Select the tool, click on the page and drag to draw a path. Click and drag the anchor points to
modify the path.

Line Shape - Draws a straight line. Other shapes that are hidden in this tool are:
Rounded Rectangle Tool, Ellipse Tool, Polygon Tool, Line Tool, and Custom Shape
Tool. Select the tool, click and drag on the page to draw a line.

ADDITIONAL TOOLS

Hand - Allows you to move around within the image. Select the tool, click on the spot on the
page, hold the mouse button down, drag to move in the area.

Magnify- Magnifies or reduces the display of any area in your image window.
Select the tool, choose Zoom In or Zoom Out in the Options bar, click on the area of the image
you wish to magnify or reduce.
COLOR BOXES AND MODES

Color Boxes - The foreground color appears in the upper color selection box and represents a
color that is currently active. The background color appears in the lower
box and represents an inactive color.

1.To change the foreground color, click the upper color selection box in the
Toolbox.

2.To change the background color, click the lower color selection box in the
Toolbox.

3.To reverse the foreground and background colors, click the

Switch Colors icon (the arrow) in the toolbox.

4.To restore the default foreground and background colors, click the Default
Colors icon (the little black and white boxes) in the toolbox.

Note: If you are using the Gradient Tool, the currently selected foreground
and background colors will be the default colors of the gradient.

ERASER TOOL

The Eraser Tool

The eraser tool shortcut is E. The standard eraser tool has four painting modes to choose
from: paintbrush, airbrush, pencil, and block. These modes work just like their painting tool
counterparts, except for the block tool, which as you can probably guess, is a simple square block.
The difference is, instead of painting the foreground color onto your document, the eraser tool
paints in transparency... Unless your layer is a background, in which case, the eraser tool paints
with the current background color.
The eraser tool options are basically the same as the painting tools, with the addition of one
new option: Erase to history. When you erase to history, it works just like the history brush. Instead
of painting in transparency or the background color, you are painting from the active history state
in the history palette. You can temporarily switch to Erase to History by holding
the Alt/Option key down while the erase tool is active.

The Magic Eraser

The Magic Eraser works just like the magic wand, but instead of making a selection, it
immediately converts the pixels to transparent. It's also very similar to using the paint bucket in
clear mode. The areas to be erased are controlled by adjusting the tolerance and contiguous options.
Clicking once erases all the the pixels that fall within the tolerance range. If the magic eraser is
used on a background layer, the background is automatically promoted to a layer.
This tool is best for when you have a background that is fairly solid in color. It just takes
one click with the magic eraser and your background is gone. In general, though, you'll

need to experiment with the tolerance settings until you get better at being able to eyeball
the correct tolerance level.

The Background Eraser

The background eraser also erases to transparency, but instead of using only the tolerance
range, it continuously samples the background colors in your document as you erase. It's useful
for backgrounds that have a range of colors in the background, but where the background colors
are still distinct from the foreground object you want to isolate. It works best with a fairly large
brush.
To use it you would position the crosshair over the color you want to be erased, and use a
series of single clicks to eat away at the background, or slowly drag along the edges of the object
you're trying to isolate.
The most important thing to remember with this tool is to be very careful to keep the
crosshairs away from the object you want to keep. When using this tool, you may notice some bits
of the foreground object becoming slightly transparent along the edges. You needn't be terribly
concerned with this, because you can always paint those bits back in using the Erase to History
option or the History Brush.
The background eraser is a great tool for quickly isolating an object, but it does have a
tendency to leave stray translucent pixels in the background. You'll almost always want to drop a
solid white background layer behind the object and do some cleanup after using this tool.

ERASE A BACKGROUND

The erase background tool is powerful, but good results are only possible if you understand
how it works. In this tute, we will look at all the options in the tool and use them to extract
backgrounds from our images.

The tool works best if the background is all a similar color, for example, someone against
a solid color or a bright sky.

1. I have deliberately chosen a difficult image, as the girl has flyaway hair that i want to keep.
2. From the toolbox, select the background eraser tool

3. When the tool is selected, the control palette will display the default settings. Select the 3rd
button, Sampling:Foreground Swatch This will only erase the foreground color. Set at
the tolerance to 25%. Make sure Protect Foreground Color is ticked. Selecting the
option Sampling: Foreground Swatch allows you to sample the background color most prominent
in your image, so the eraser will ignore contrasting color pixels.

Choosing to Protect Foreground Color allows you to sample a foreground color to protect from

the eraser.
4. Now we need to sample the background color to erase. Select the background swatch in your
toolbox, and double click to bring up the color panel.
5. Select the background color with the eyedropper; right click to select a 51X51 average. This
will make sure that the area sampled will be larger than just one pixel; so many shades of light
blue will be included instead of just a singular blue pixel. Next, select the foreground to protect
(we will start with the girl’s hair) I will use a 11X11 average for this. Notice the colors on my
background and foreground swatches.

6. Choose a nice big size for the brush. Use CTRL (CMD) and the bracket keys ({}) to change the
brush size.
1. Think of the brush as a sort of magic wand tool, that erases selections based on the color it
clicks on. The more a color is present under the “radius” of the brush, the more Photoshop
will think it is the background color, and erase it.

8. You can now get nearer the edge; just remember that you want more of the color to be erased,
less of the protected colors, under the brush!
9. Notice that to select the more fiddly edges, I am positioning the centre of the brush on top of the
light blue, not the hair.

10. These settings will remain true for similar areas, as soon as we get to areas with different colors,
for example the girl’s blouse, we need to select different colors to ‘protect’ – use the eyedropper
to select the new foreground color, right click to select a 51X51 pixel average.

11. You will need to change foreground and background colors often as you work through the
image.
SAVING IMAGES

Remember to save your work often. Saving frequently lessens the risk of losing the work you have
been doing. To save your Photoshop document, do the following:
1. Click File > Save.
2. Navigate to the place you would like your document to be saved by using the drop down menu and the
navigation window.
3. Enter the name of your document in the Save As text field.
4. Choo se a format to save your project in from the Format dropdown menu. (Figure 12)
5. Click the Save button in the bottom right corner of the dialogue box.
6. Check to make sure that your document is saved in the place you intended.

Note: If you save your file as PSD (default Photoshop saving format) your layers will be preserved, but
the file size will be large. If you save your file as JPEG (a common image format) your layers will
be flattened and become one layer. The file size though will be significantly smaller.

Figure 12. Saving a document

Important Shortcut Keys

Shortcut Key Function

Ctrl+N Create a new document
Ctrl+O Open an existing document
Ctrl+S Save a document
Shift+Ctrl+S Lets you save a document in another format
Ctrl+W / Ctrl+F Close
 Ctrl+Alt+W / Ctrl+Shift+F4 Close All
Ctrl+Z Undo a single action
Ctrl+Alt+Z Step backward (undo a series of action)
Ctrl+Shift+Z Step forward (History)
Ctrl+X Cut
Ctrl+C Copy
Ctrl+V Paste
Ctrl+T Free transform (for scaling and rotating an image)
Shift+Ctrl+N New layer
Ctrl+E Merge layers or flatten image
Ctrl+A Select all
Ctrl+D Deselect
Shift+Ctrl+I Inverse selection
F1 Photoshop help
[ Decrease brush size
] Increase brush size
Ctrl+0 Fit to window view
Ctrl + Zoom in
Ctrl - Zoom out
Caps Lock Change cursor

ACTIVITY SHEET 2.1

This exercise can be solved using the following functions:
Selection Tools, Copy, Cut, Paste, Move Tool

Copy the pictures in paintings.jpg

and paste them into wall.jpg.

1. Save the pictures paintings.jpg och wall.jpg to your student folder. See the chapter Steal a
picture from the net if you're unsure of how to do it.
2. Open the picture paintings.jpg in Photoshop. Use the rectangular selection tool to select the
square painting, and copy it.
3. Open the picture wall.jpg in Photoshop (without closing paintings.jpg). Paste the square
picture onto the wall. Once you've pasted it there, use the Move Tool to place the painting near
the right-hand edge of the wall.
4. Use the elliptical selection tool to select the round painting in the picture pictures.jpg. Cut it
out.
5. Paste the round painting into the picture wall.jpg. Use the Move Tool to place it near the left-
hand edge of the wall.

ACTIVITY SHEET 2.2

This exercise can be solved using the following functions:
Crop

Use the Crop Tool to cut your pictures down to size.

1. Save the pictures crop1.jpg, crop2.jpg and crop3.jpg to your folder. Open them in Photoshop.
2. Use the Crop Tool on the three pictures to cut them the way you think they'll look the best. II.
II. Image Modes & Color Selection

IMAGE MODE

Photoshop makes it easy to see what image mode an image is in, as well as to convert it to
a different mode, if you want. An image mode is simply a method of organizing the bits to describe
a color.
Photoshop reads and writes only a handful of the many different color modes they came
up with. Fortunately, they're the most important of the bunch, at least for those in the world of
graphic arts. Each of the following image modes appears on Photoshop's Mode menu.

Bitmap

David really wishes that Adobe had picked a different word for this image mode. He insists
that all images in Photoshop are bitmapped, but only "flat" black-and-white images, in which each
pixel is defined using one bit of data (a zero or a one), are bitmaps.

One-bit pictures have a particular difference from other images when it comes to PostScript
printing: the white areas throughout the image can appear transparent, showing through to
whatever the image is printing over. Ordinarily, images are opaque, except for the occasional white
silhouetted background made with clipping paths.

The other major difference between the other image modes and Bitmap mode is that you're
much more limited in the sorts of image editing you can do. For instance, you can't use any filters,
and because there's no such thing as anti-aliasing in 1-bit images, you just cannot use tools that
require this, such as the Smudge tool, the Blur tool, or the Dodge/Burn tool.

Bilevel bitmaps are the most generic of images, so you can save them in almost any file
format.

Grayscale

Grayscale files in Photoshop are always either 8- or 16-bit images: Anything less than 8-
bit gets converted to 8-bit; anything more than 8-bit gets converted to 16-bit. Eight-bit is still more
common, although most scanners now allow you to bring more than 8 bits into Photoshop.

With 8-bit grayscale, each pixel has a value from 0 (black) to 255 (white), so there are a
maximum of 256 levels of gray possible. With 16-bit grayscale, each pixel has a value from 0
(black) to 32,768 (white), for a theoretical maximum of 32,769 possible gray shades.

Few capture devices can actually deliver all those gray shades, so 16-bit files usually have
rather a lot of redundancy. But that redundancy translates into editing headroom, so if
 your camera or scanner can capture 12 or more bits per pixel, it's often worthwhile bringing
the high-bit data into Photoshop.

Eight-bit grayscale images are pretty generic, so you can save them in almost any format
this side of MacPaint. You can save 16-bit grayscale images in a number of formats, but if you
add layers, your choices are limited to Photoshop, Large Document Format, PNG, PDF, and
Photoshop Raw, and TIFF.

Duotone

When you print a grayscale image on a printing press, those 256 levels of gray often get
reduced to 100 or so because of the limitations of the press. You can counter this flattening effect
considerably—increasing the tonal range of the printed image—by printing the image with more
than one color of ink. This is called printing a duotone (for two inks), a tritone (for three inks), or
a quadtone (for four).

The key is that the extra colors aren't typically used to simulate colors in the image; rather,
they're used to extend the dynamic range of the underlying grayscale image. Those expensive
Ansel Adams books on your coffee table were very likely printed using three or four (or even five
or six) different black and gray inks.

Photoshop has a special image mode for duotones, tritones, and quadtones, and even
though the file may appear to be in color, each pixel is still saved using only eight bits of
information. The trick is that Photoshop saves a set of contrast curves for each ink along with the
8-bit grayscale image. Creating a good duotone is as much art as science.

Note: If you want to place duotone images in a page-layout application for spot-color separation,
the safest choice is still to save in EPS format, though InDesign supports Photoshop and
PDF duotone-mode files. For more information, see Chapter 10, Spot Colors and Duotones.

Indexed Color

As we said, each pixel in a grayscale image is defined with eight bits of information, so the
file can contain up to 256 different pixel values. But each of those values, from 1 to 256, doesn't
have to be a level of gray. The Indexed Color image mode is a method for producing 8-bit, 256-
color files. Indexed-color bitmaps use a table of 256 colors, chosen from the full 24-bit palette. A
given pixel's color is defined by reference to the table: "This pixel is color number 123, this pixel
is color number 81," and so on.

While indexed color can save disk space (it requires only 8 bits per sample point, rather
than the full 24 in RGB mode), it gives you only 256 different colors. That's not a lot of colors,
when you compare it to the 16.7 million different colors you can get in RGB.
 Another major limitation is that most editing tools won't work in Indexed Color, because
they almost all rely on the numeric values having a relationship to how light or dark the pixel is.
Therefore, you should always do your image editing in RGB mode and then convert to Indexed
Color mode as a last step—the relatively tiny size of Indexed Color images makes them useful for
Web graphics, but not for many other uses.

You can save indexed-color images in Photoshop, GIF, PNG, PICT, Amiga IFF, or BMP
format.

RGB

Every color computer monitor and television in the world displays color using the RGB
image mode, in which every color is produced with varying amounts of red, green, and blue light.
(These colors are called additive primaries because the more red, green, or blue light you add, the
closer to white you get.) In Photoshop, files saved in the RGB mode typically use a set of three 8-
bit grayscale files, so we say that RGB files are 24-bit files.

These files can include up to approximately 16 million colors—more than enough to

qualify as photographic quality. This is the mode in which we prefer to work when editing color
images. Also, most scanners save images in RGB format. High-end drum scanners include "color
computers" that automatically convert files to CMYK mode but RGB scanning is becoming more
common even in shops with these scanners.

If you're producing images for multimedia, or you're outputting files to a film recorder—
to 35 mm or 4-by-5 film, for instance—you should always save your files in RGB mode.

Tip: To RGB or to CMYK

A great philosophical debate rages on whether it's better to work in RGB or in CMYK for
prepress work. As with most burning philosophical questions, there's no easy answer to this one,
but that doesn't deter us from supplying one anyway. If someone gives you a CMYK scan from a
drum scanner, work in CMYK. In all other cases, we recommend staying in RGB for as long as
possible. We discuss this question in much more detail in Chapter 6, Image Adjustment
Fundamentals.
 You can save 24-bit RGB files in Photoshop, EPS, TIFF, PICT, Amiga IFF, BMP, JPEG,
PCX, PDF, Pixar, Raw, Scitex CT, or Targa format, but unless you have compelling reasons to do
otherwise, we suggest you stick with Photoshop (PSD), TIFF, PDF, or EPS.

Photoshop also lets you work with 48-bit RGB files, which contain three 16-bit channels
instead of three 8-bit ones. Layered 48-bit images offer great editing flexibility, so we're using
them more often now.

CMYK

Traditional full-color printing presses can print only four colors in a run: cyan, magenta,
yellow, and black. Every other color in the spectrum is simulated using various combinations of
those colors. When you open a file saved in CMYK mode, Photoshop has to convert the CMYK
values to RGB values on the fly, in order to display the image on your computer screen. It's
important to remember that when you look at the screen, you're looking at an RGB version of the
data.

If you buy high-end drum scans, they'll probably be CMYK files. Otherwise, to print your
images on press or on some desktop color printers, you'll have to convert your RGB images to
CMYK. We discuss Photoshop's tools for doing so in Chapter 5, Color Settings.

You can save CMYK files in Photoshop, TIFF, PDF, EPS, JPEG, DCS, Scitex CT, and
Raw formats, but the first four are by far the most common.

Lab

The problem with RGB and CMYK modes is that a given RGB or CMYK specification
doesn't really describe a color. Rather, it's a set of instructions that a specific output device uses to
produce a color. The problem is that different devices produce different colors from the same RGB
or CMYK specifications. If you've ever seen a wall full of television screens at a department store,
you've seen what we're talking about: The same image—with the same RGB values—looks
different on each screen.

And if you've ever sat through a printing press run, you know that the 50th impression
probably isn't exactly the same color as the 5,000th or the 50,000th. So, while a pixel in a scanned
image may have a particular RGB or CMYK value, you can't tell what that color really looks like.
RGB and CMYK are both device-specific color modes.
 However, a class of device-independent or perceptually based modes has been developed
over the years. All of them are based, more or less, on a color space defined by the Commission
Internationale de l'Éclairage (CIE) in 1931. The Lab mode in Photoshop is one such derivative.

Lab doesn't describe a color by the components that make it up (RGB or CMYK, for
instance). Instead, it describes what a color looks like. Device-independent color spaces are at the
heart of the various color management systems now available that improve color correspondence
between your screen, color printouts, and final printed output.

A file saved in Lab mode describes what a color looks like under rigidly specified
conditions; it's up to you (or Photoshop, or your color management software) to decide what RGB
or CMYK values are needed to create that color on your chosen output device.

Photoshop uses Lab mode as a reference when switching between CMYK and RGB modes,
taking the values in your RGB Setup and CMYK Setup dialog boxes into account. You can save
24-bit Lab images in Photoshop, DCS, EPS, PDF, TIFF, or Raw format. (You can only save 48-
bit Lab images as Photoshop, Large Document Format, PDF, TIFF, or Raw.)

Lab is considerably less intuitive than the other color modes. The Lightness channel is
relatively easy to understand, but the a* and b* channels (pronounced "ay-star" and "bee-star") are
less so. The a* channel represents how red or green a color is—negative values represent greens,
positive ones reds—and the b* channel represents how blue or yellow the color is—negative
values represent blue, positive ones yellow. Neutrals and near-neutrals always have values close
to zero in both channels. Most hardcore Photoshop geeks have a few tricks that rely on Lab mode,
but many of them can be accomplished more easily by using blend modes instead. Luminosity
blending, for example, produces extremely similar results to working on the Lightness channel in
Lab mode.

Multichannel

The last image mode that Photoshop offers is Multichannel mode. This mode is the generic
mode: like RGB or CMYK, Multichannel mode has more than one 8-bit channel; however, you
can set the color and name of each channel to anything you like.

This flexibility can be a blessing or a curse. Back in the days when color scanners cost a
fortune, we used to scan color photographs on grayscale scanners by scanning the image three
times through red, green, and blue acetate, combining the three images into a single multichannel
document that we then turned into RGB. Ah, those were the days.
 Today, many scientific and astronomical images are made in "false color"—the channels
may be a combination of radar, infrared, and ultraviolet, in addition to various colors of visible
light. Some of our gonzo digital photographer friends are using Multichannel mode to combine
infrared and visible-spectrum photographs into composite images of surreal beauty.

We mostly use Multichannel mode as an intermediary step or for complex spot color
images. For instance, you can use it to store extra channels for transparency masks or selections in
other images. Your only options for saving multichannel images are the Photoshop, Raw, Large
Document Format, and DCS formats.

THE COLOR PICKER DIALOG BOX

The Color Picker dialog box allows you four options to set the color: the color field, the
color slider, numeric values, and hexadecimal values. The Color Picker opens when you

go to select a color usingthe Toolbox

Option Definition
Color Field Identify which color will be added by moving a small
circle which appears in the Color Field.
 Color Slider Change the color tone by moving the arrows along the bar
or by clicking inside the Color Slider.
Numeric Values Select a color by typing the numeric value in the group of
text boxes.
Four groups of text boxes appear:

a. HSB (hue, saturation, brightness)

b. RGB (red, green, blue)
c. Lab (lightness, green-red axis, blue-yellow axis)
d. CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black)

Hexadecimal Enter a six digit hexadecimal value representing the color

Values you want.

Using the Color Picker Dialog Box

HINT: The Toolbox is located at the left hand side of the work area by default. If the Toolbox is
not visible, re-select it in the View menu.

1. From the Toolbox, click the FOREGROUND or BACKGROUND color square

The Color Picker dialog box appears.

2. Using the Color Picker dialog box, select the desired color your selection appears in
the Color Preview box.
3. When you have decided on a color, click OK your new color now appears on
the Toolbox in the color square that you clicked in step one.

Moving Between Foreground and Background Colors

The Color Selection box on the Toolbox contains a toggle switch to alternate between
the Foreground and Background colors.
 1. In the Color Selection box, click the TOGGLE SWITCH. The background color has now
moved to the foreground color.

Using the Foreground and Background Default Colors

In addition to your Foreground and Background colors, the Color Selection box on
the Toolbox also contains default black and white colors.

1. In the Color Selection box, click DEFAULT COLORS

The default black and white colors have now become
your foreground and background colors, respectively.

NOTE: Any custom colors you previously selected will disappear.

COLOR, SWATCHES, STYLE

The Color palette (Figure 10) displays the current foreground and background colors and
RGB values for these colors. You can use the sliders to change the foreground and background
colors in different color modes. You can also choose a color from the spectrum of colors displayed
in the color ramp at the bottom of the palette.

Figure 10. Color palette

In the Swatches palette (Figure 11) you can choose a foreground or background color or
add a customized color to the library.
 Figure 11. Swatches palette

Figure 12. Styles palette

III. Selections and Masks

Icon Tool Name (Shortcut Key) Description

Selection Tools
Move Tool (V) Moves selections, layers and guides.
(Note: mark the auto-select box at the Option Bar
when using this tool)
Rectangular Marquee (M) Makes rectangular, elliptical, single row, and single
 Elliptical (M) column selections.
 Single Row (M)
 Single Column (M)
Lasso (L) Makes freehand, polygonal and magnetic selections.
 Polygonal Lasso (L)
 Magnetic Lasso (L)

Quick Selection (W) Lets you quickly “paint” a selection using an

adjustable round brush tip.
Magic Wand (W) Selects similarly colored areas.

Crop and Slice Tool

Crop (C) Trims images.
 Slice (K) Creates slices.

Slice Select (K) Selects slices.

Retouching Tools
Spot Healing Brush (J) Removes blemishes and objects.

Healing Brush (J) Paints with a sample or pattern to repair imperfections

in an image.
Patch (J) Repairs imperfections in a selected area of an image
using a sample or pattern.
Red Eye (J) Removes the red reflection caused by a flash.

Clone Stamp (S) Paints with a sample of an image.

Pattern Stamp (S) Paints with part of an image as a pattern.

Eraser (E) Erases pixels and restores parts of an image to a

previously saved state.
Background Eraser (E) Erases areas to transparency by dragging.

Magic Eraser (E) Erases solid-colored areas to transparency with a

single-click.
Blur (R) Blurs hard edges in an image.

Sharpen (R) Sharpens soft edges in an image.

Smudge (R) Smudges data in an image.

Dodge (O) Lighten areas in an image.

Burn (O) Darkens areas in an image.

Sponge (O) Changes the color saturation of an area.

Painting Tools
 Brush (B) Paints brush strokes.

Pencil (B) Paints hard-edged strokes.

Color Replacement (B) Replaces a selected color with a new color.

History Brush (Y) Paints a copy of the selected state or snapshot into the
current image window.
Art History Brush (Y) Paints with stylized strokes that simulate the look of
different paint styles, using a selected state or
snapshot.
Gradient (G) Create straight-line, radial, angle, reflected and
diamond blends between colors.
Paint Bucket (G) Fills similarly colored areas with the foreground color.

Drawing and Type Tools

Pen (P) Lets you draw smooth-edged paths.

Horizontal Type (T) Creates type on an image.

Type Mask (T) Creates a selection in the shape of type.

Path Selection (A) Makes shape or segment selections showing anchor

points, direction lines, and direction points.
Shape (U) Draws shapes and lines in a normal layer or a shape
layer.
Custom Shape (U) Makes customized shapes selected from a custom
shape list.
Annotation, Measuring and Navigation Tools
Note (N) Makes notes and audio annotations that can be
attached to an image.
Eyedropper (I) Samples colors in an image.

Ruler (I) Measures distances, locations, and angles.

Hand (H) Moves an image within its window.

 Zoom (Z) Magnifies and reduces the view of an image.

TRANSFORMING SELECTIONS IN PHOTOSHOP

Using these tools is easy enough, yet it’s amazing how frustrating it can be sometimes to
draw a selection in exactly the right shape, size and location we need. Often, we click in the wrong
spot to begin the selection, or we wish we had made it wider, taller, further to the left or right, or
whatever the case may be, leading many Photoshop users, especially beginners, to undo the
selection and try again, and again, and again until they finally get it right.

Fortunately, there’s no need to go through all that hassle and frustration because Photoshop
makes it easy to move, resize and reshape selection outlines after we draw them using the
Transform Selection command!

The original image.

I want to select the area around the butterfly, so I’ll grab the Rectangular Marquee Tool
from Photoshop’s Tools panel:
 Selecting the Rectangular Marquee Tool.

With the Rectangular Marquee Tool selected, I’ll click somewhere in the top left corner of
the area I want to select, then with my mouse button still held down, I’ll drag down to the bottom
right corner of the area to draw my initial selection outline around the butterfly, releasing my
mouse button when I’m done to complete the selection:

Dragging out a rectangular selection around the butterfly.

Unfortunately, if we look at my selection outline, we see that I didn’t do a very good job
with my initial attempt. Some of the butterfly is still extending out beyond the top, left and right
edges of my selection:
 My first selection attempt didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped.

What many people would do in this case is undo the selection and try again, hoping they
get it right the next time, but why keep starting over when we can just fix what we already have?
That’s exactly what we can do using the Transform Selection command.

Free Transform vs Transform Selection

Before we look at how to use Transform Selection, it’s important to note the difference
between it and another similar yet very different command, Free Transform. Both are used to
move, resize and reshape selections. The difference is that Free Transform affects the pixels inside
the selection outline while Transform Selection affects only the selection outline itself.

I’ll go up to the Edit menu in the Menu Bar along the top of the screen and choose Free
Transform:

Selecting Free Transform from the Edit menu.

 The Free Transform command places transform handles (little squares) around the
selection, one in each corner and one on the top, bottom, left, and right. We can alter the shape and
size of the selection by clicking on any of the handles and dragging them. Since the

butterfly’s wings are currently extending out beyond the left and right edges of my
selection, I’ll need to make my selection wider. Watch what happens, though, when I use Free
Transform to drag the left side of the selection further towards the left:

Resizing the left edge of the selection with Free Transform.

Since Free Transform affects the pixels inside a selection, all I’ve managed to do is stretch
the image itself. The selection outline, which is what I wanted to resize, didn’t move, and the
butterfly’s wing now extends even further outside my selection than it did before. In many cases
when retouching images or creating photo effects, resizing and reshaping the image with Free
Transform is exactly what we want to do, but not in this case. I needed to resize my selection
outline without moving anything inside the selection. For that, we’ll need the Transform Selection
command.

I’ll press the Esc key on my keyboard to exit out of Free Transform and undo the change.
To access the Transform Selection command, go up to the Select menu at the top of the screen and
choose Transform Selection:
 Go to Select > Transform Selection.

The Transform Selection command also places the same handles around the selection, just
like Free Transform did, but these handles affect the selection outline itself, not the pixels inside
of it. I’ll click on the left handle and drag it further towards the left, just as I did with Free
Transform a moment ago. This time, I’m moving the left edge of the selection outline without
moving the image. The butterfly’s left wing now fits easily within my selection:

Clicking on the left Transform Selection handle and dragging it further to the left.

I’ll do the same thing with the right edge of the selection outline, extending it further to the
right by dragging its handle:
 Dragging the right edge of the selection outline further to the right.

I’ll also click on the top handle and drag it upward to fit the top of the butterfly into the
selection:

Dragging the top Transform Selection handle.

You can move and rotate the selection outline as well using Transform Selection. To move
it, simply click anywhere inside the selection outline and drag it around inside the document with
your mouse. To rotate it, move the cursor outside the selection outline, then click and drag. Here,
I’ve rotated the selection outline a few degrees counterclockwise:
 Rotating the selection outline without rotating the image inside the selection.

When you’re done, press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to accept the changes and exit out
of the Transform Selection command.

With my selection outline now perfectly sized and positioned where I want it thanks to
Photoshop’s Transform Selection command, let’s do something interesting with it. I’ll quickly
copy the selected area to its own layer by pressing Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) on my
keyboard:

The selected area is copied to its own layer above the original image.
 I’ll click on the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:

Clicking the Layer Styles icon.

I’ll choose Stroke from the list of Layer Styles, which I can use to place a simple photo
border around the selected area, giving me a “picture in picture” effect:

Choosing a Stroke layer style.

This opens Photoshop’s Layer Style dialog box with options for the stroke appearing in the
middle column. I’ll set the Size of my stroke to around 13 px (pixels) and change the Position to
Inside, which will give my stroke sharp corners. Then I’ll set my stroke color to white by clicking
on the color swatch to the right of the word Color and selecting white from the Color Picker:
 The Stroke options in the Layer Style dialog box.

I’ll add a shadow to the selected area as well by clicking directly on the words Drop
Shadow at the top of the list of layer styles along the left of the dialog box. The middle column of
the dialog box changes to show options for the drop shadow. I’ll lower the Opacity down to around
60% so the shadow appears less intense, and I’ll change its Angle to 120°. Finally, I’ll set the
Distance to 13 px and the Size of the shadow to 10 px:

The Drop Shadow options in the Layer Style dialog box.

I’ll click OK to exit out of the Layer Style dialog box, and we can see the white stroke and
drop shadow now applied to the selected area in the document window:
 The butterfly now appears to be in its own photo within the larger image.

Finally, let’s quickly convert the original image in the background to black and white. I’ll
click on the Background layer in the Layers panel to select it, then press Ctrl+J (Win) /
Command+J (Mac) to duplicate the layer. Photoshop gives us lots of ways to convert images to
black and white, including the amazing Black And White image adjustment first introduced in
Photoshop CS3, but in this case, I’ll just desaturate the image by pressing Shift+Ctrl+U (Win) /
Shift+Command+U (Mac) on my keyboard:

Creating a copy of the Background layer, then desaturating the copy.

 With the background now desaturated, here’s my final “picture in picture” result which I
was able to create quickly and easily thanks in large part to Photoshop’s Transform Selection
command:

The final effect.

QUICK MASK MODE

Quick Mask is a feature in Adobe's Photoshop image editing software that lets you make
precise adjustments to your image when the "magic lasso" tool just won't cut it. You make these
minute adjustments by masking, or protecting, parts of your image from changes so that you can
add filters, switch colors or use other effects on the unmasked parts of your image. Once you've
finished, you can remove the mask to see the how the changes affected your photo, graphic or
other image.

Instructions

Open your image in Adobe Photoshop. In the example image, I chose an image of several
fruits, but I only want the front pear from this image. So first, choose any of the masking tools that
work best to get an approximate selection of the area you want to mask. As shown.
 Now that you have an approximate area selected, it is time to use the quick mask feature
to make this more exact. Hit the "Q" key on your keyboard. The screen will turn a red color. The
red represents portions of the image not in the selection. Select the Brush Tool (B). You will notice
your colors have changed to the default black and white. Brush in black to remove areas from the
selection. This is basically everything outside the area you want selected. Try to outline your
desired subject closely. If you slip up and accidentally brush over an area you want selected, just
switch the brush color to white and add it back in. Hit the "Q" key again to return to regular mode
and check your progress.

When I have brushed in my mask exactly how I want it, I hit "Q" again to return to the
regular mode and now have a perfect selection to do with as I please. I could cut the pear out and
paste it into a new image. I could select the inverse and change the back ground. I could do anything
I want with just the pear, leaving the other portions of the photo unchanged.

How to Use the Quick Mask Tool

Quick Mask will allow you to create your own complete mask on a picture or subject or it
will allow you to add to a selection made by any of the selection tools.

A practical example is probably the best way to show this tool capability:
 If you look at the picture above, we can quickly make a mask of this sign and convert
that to a selection via Quick Mask. So, go to the bottom of the tools palette and click on the
Quick Mask tool icon or you can make it active by going to Select>Edit In Quick Mask
Mode. When active, select one of your paint tools and paint on the surface of your image,
going over the part you want to include in your selection. As you paint on the surface, a
colour overlay will show you the area you are covering. This can be changed in the options palette
along with the other option of selecting a masked area or a selected area. Double click the Quick
Mask icon for this option palette.

You can change the size of your brush by right-clicking on your image and moving
the Master Diameter slider to the left or right, depending on if you want a smaller or larger
brush. You can also use the Magnifying tool to zoom in, making it easier to select the edge
of your selection. To zoom in, either select the Magnifying tool and click on the image or
press Cntrl and + on your keyboard (if using a PC). To zoom out press - instead of + or
click the tool which has the - symbol in it in the top tool bar. If you go wrong, you can switch the
foreground colour to white and paint over the part that shouldn't be selected to remove it. Or click
on your history tab and go back however many steps you need to to correct the selection. You can
also hit Cntrl + Z on your PC's keyboard to go back just one step. Try making more, smaller brush
strokes than one long one, that way you'll have less to undo and paint over again if you do go
wrong.
 Once you have completed your quick mask, click the Quick Mask icon again and your
mask will be changed to a selection as shown below.
 You can either copy your selection to another layer (Edit>Copy) (Edit>Paste in your new
layer) or remove the background by going to Edit>Cut. If you have a layer called Background,
you'll need to remove it or you won't cut to a transparency when you make your changes. In other
words, it will look like your image is sat on a white background instead of nothing as the below
images show:

Left: On a white default background. Right: Background removed.

You can also use Quick Mask to repair or improve selections made with any of the selection
tools. For example, if you find that the selection tools like the magic wand tool does not select all
of the area you want, switch to quick mask. The masked or selected area will show as a red
transparent overlay as shown previously. As before, black will add to the

selection and white will remove parts of it then when it's complete, hit the Quick Selection
icon to return to the selection.

ALPHA CHANNELS & CHANNEL PALETTE

Working with Alpha Channels

These channels get their name from a process called alpha compositing, which combines a
partially transparent image with another image. (Filmmakers use this process to create special
effects and fake backdrops.) Information about the shape of the transparent area and the pixels’
level of transparency has to be stored somewhere, and that somewhere is an alpha channel.

This is powerful stuff because the same technology lets you save selections. And, as you’ve
know, making selections can take a ton of time. And since clients change their minds
occasionally—“Put the model in front of this bush, and change her hair color while you’re at it”—
the ability to save selections so you can mess with them later is a lifesaver. As long as you save
your document as a Photoshop file (PSD), that alpha channel will always be there for you to use.
That ought to make you sleep better at night!

You can drag alpha channels between documents as long as both documents have the same
pixel dimensions.

Folks sometimes refer to alpha channels as channel masks because, once you’ve made an
alpha channel (as explained in the next section), you can use it to help you adjust certain portions
of your image—kind of like when you use a layer mask.

In fact, creating a layer mask by loading an alpha channel as a selection is the most common
use for alpha channels. That’s because, as you’ll learn on next steps, you can use channels to make
incredibly detailed selections that are tough to get any other way. When you’re in Quick
Mask mode, you’re actually working on a temporary alpha channel.

Creating an Alpha Channel

It can be helpful to think of an alpha channel as a grayscale representation of your selection.

Unless you change Photoshop’s settings, the black parts of the channel are the unselected portion
of your image—also referred to as the protected or masked part—and the white parts are the
selection. And, just like in a layer mask, shades of gray represent areas that are only partially
selected, which means they’re partially transparent.

Photoshop gives you several different ways to create an alpha channel:

Create a selection and then choose Select>Save Selection. Create a selection and then click
the “Save selection as channel” button at the bottom of the Channels panel. It looks like

a circle within a square. Click the “Create new channel” button at the bottom of
the Channels panel. When you do that, Photoshop creates an alpha channel named Alpha 1 and
sticks it at the bottom of the Channels panel. The new channel is solid black because it’s empty.

To create a selection, turn on the composite channel’s visibility to summon the red overlay
of Quick Mask mode so you can see your image. Then grab the Brush tool (B) and paint the area
you want to select white (think of this process as painting a hole through the mask so you can
see—and therefore select—what’s below it).
 Though you can certainly start with an empty alpha channel, it’s usually easier to create
your selection (or at least a rough version of it) on the full-color image before adding the alpha
channel. In most cases, you’ll find it easier to create a selection first (even if it’s rough) and then
add your alpha channel, as shown blow. (That way, you see the full-color image instead of a screen
full of black or red.)

To do that, select something in your image and then, once you’ve got marching ants, click
the “Save selection as channel” button (circled below). Photoshop adds an alpha channel—which
includes your selection—to the bottom of the Channels panel.

Choose New Channel from the Channels panel’s menu. When you choose this
command, a dialog box opens that lets you name the new channel and tell Photoshop how to
display the channel’s info. Straight from the factory, Photoshop shows selected areas (the parts of
your image inside the marching ants) in white and unselected areas in black.
 Partially selected areas, which have soft edges, appear in shades of gray. If you’d rather
see your selections in black and everything else in white, turn on the dialog box’s Selected
Areas radio button. If you want to edit your alpha channel using Quick Mask mode (as described
later in this section), you can change the Quick Mask’s color and opacity here. When you’ve got
everything the way you want it, click OK to make Photoshop create your alpha channel.

Editing Alpha Channels

Once you’ve got yourself an alpha channel, you can fine-tune it just like a layer mask by
painting with the Brush tool or using any selection tool. If you use a selection tool, you can
choose Edit>Fill and then pick black or white from the Use pop-up menu, depending on whether
you want to add to or subtract from your selection (selected areas are white, and everything else is
black).

If you want to reverse the way Photoshop displays the channel’s info—so that your
selection appears in black instead of white—just double-click the alpha channel’s thumbnail in
the Channels panel and, in the resulting Channel Optionsdialog box, turn on the Selected
Areas option. When you do, Photoshop flip-flops your mask’s colors, as shown below.

Double-clicking an alpha channel’s thumbnail in the Channels panel summons the dialog
box shown below, which lets you tell Photoshop to reverse what the mask color (black) represents.
You can also use this dialog box to turn the alpha channel into a spot color or to change the color
and opacity of the Quick Mask overlay.

To do the latter, click the red color swatch, pick a new color from the resulting Color
Picker, and then click OK.
 You can also edit your alpha channel using Quick Mask mode. To do that, in
the Channels panel, activate the alpha channel and then click the composite channel’s visibility
eye, as shown below.

When you do, Photoshop puts Quick Mask mode’s signature red overlay atop your image.
(If you’re editing an alpha channel in an image with a lot of red in it, you won’t be able to see clear
through the mask, so change the overlay color as described earlier.)
If you activate an alpha channel and then turn on the composite channel’s visibility eye
(circled in the image below), you can edit or create a selection from scratch in Quick Mask mode.
In this example, the Brush tool (the white circle beneath the dress brim) set to paint with black is
being used to fine-tune the masked area around the girls dress.
If you mess up and mask too much—by painting with black across part of the dress, thereby
subtracting it from your selection, say—press X to flip-flop your color chips and paint across that
area with white to add it back to your selection (just like you would with a layer mask).
 You can also run filters on an alpha channel, just like you can with a layer mask. Among
the most useful are Gaussian Blur for softening the selection’s edge (helpful if you’re trying to
select a slightly blurred area) and the Minimum filter for tightening your selection.

Loading an Alpha Channel as a Selection

Once you’re finished editing your alpha channel, you can transform it into a selection so
you can actually do something with it. You can summon the marching ants in several ways:
Ctrl-click the alpha channels thumbnail in the Channels panel. Click the “Load channel as
selection” button at the bottom of the Channels panel (it looks like a tiny dotted circle) while
you’ve got an alpha channel active.
Drag the alpha channel onto the “Load channel as selection” button (let go of your mouse
as soon as Photoshop highlights the button). Now you can perform all the amazing color and
lighting adjustments, and they’ll affect only the area you’ve selected.

Deleting Alpha Channels

When you’re finished using an alpha channel (or if you want to start over with a new one),
you can get rid of it by dragging it onto the Delete button (the little trash can) at the bottom of
the Channels panel. Or just click the trash can while the alpha channel is active and then
click Yes when Photoshop asks if you’re sure you want to throw it away.
Channels palette

Lets you create and manage channels and monitor the effects of editing. To Open the
channels pallet choose Windows > Show Channels. The palette lists all channels in the image. A
composite channel first (for RGB, CMYK, and Lab images), then individual color channels, spot
color channels, and finally alpha channels. Appearing to the left of the channel name, a thumbnail
of the channel’s contents automatically updates as you edit the channel.

To Show/Hide a channel:

Click in the eye column next to the channel to show or hide that channel.

To select a channel:

Click the channel name. Shift-click to select (or deselect) multiple channels.

To edit a channel:

Use a painting or editing tool to paint in the image. Paint with white to add to the channel;
paint with black to remove from the channel; paint with a lower opacity or a color to add to the
channel with lower opacities.

Duplicating channels:
You can duplicate any channel within or between images. (For example, duplicate an
image’s channels to make a backup before editing the channel. Or duplicate alpha channels to a
new image also to create a library of selections that you can load into the current image one by
one—thus keeping the file smaller.). You can duplicate a channel using the Duplicate command
OR duplicate a channel by dragging.

To duplicate a channel using the Duplicate command:

• In the Channels palette, select the channel to duplicate.
• Choose Duplicate Channel from the Channels palette menu.
• Type a name for the duplicate channel.
• For Document, do one of the following:

1. Choose a destination. To duplicate the channel in the same file, select the channel’s current
file.
2. Choose New to copy the channel to a new image (creating a multichannel image containing a
single channel), type a name for the new image.
• To reverse the selected and masked areas in the duplicate channel, select Invert.
• Click OK.

To duplicate a channel by dragging:

• In the Channels palette, select the channel you want to duplicate.
• To duplicate a channel within an image, drag the channel into the image window or onto the
New Channel button at the bottom of the palette.
• To duplicate the channel into another image, make sure that the destination image is open.
Then drag the channel into the destination image window.

Deleting channels

Complex alpha channels can substantially increase the disk space required for an image.
So you may want to delete alpha channels you no longer need before saving an image. When
deleting a channel from a file with layers, photoshop prompts you first to flatten the visible layers
and discard hidden layers (if any) before deleting the channel. This is necessary because removing
a color channel converts the image to Multichannel mode, which does not support layers.

To delete a channel with no confirmation: Select the channel in the Channels palette and
then do one of the following:
• Alt-click the Trash button ( )
• Drag the channel name in the palette to the Trash button.
• Choose Delete Channel from the Channels palette menu.

To delete a channel with confirmation: Select the channel in the Channels palette and then
click the Trash button at the bottom of the palette. Then click Yes.

To hide/change the size of channel thumbnails

Choose Palette Options from the Channels palette menu and select a display option.
• Click a thumbnail size. (Smaller thumbnails reduce the space required by the Channels
palette—helpful when you’re working on smaller monitors).
• Click None to turn off the display of thumbnails.

Click OK.
 ACTIVITY SHEET 3.0
This exercise can be solved using the following functions:
Selection Tools, Selection Types, Color Balance

Use the Selection Tools to Select different parts of the

picture. Colorize the parts using the Color Balance
function.

1. Save the picture color.jpg to your folder and open it in Photoshop.

2. Use a Selection Tool to carefully select the iris and pupil of an eye on the girl to the left (that's
the "inside" of the eye, the ring of color and the black dot).

3. Now set the Selection Type to Add To Selection and select the other eye as well. Read more
on Selection Types under Selection Tools: Basics and Fancy Tricks in the Tools chapter.

4. Use the Color Balance function to change the color of the girl's eyes. When you're done, turn
off the selection by Deselecting it.

5. Repeat this procedure with everything in the picture. Use different Selection Types on your
selection where it fits. When you use Color Balance, try switching between Shadows, Midtones
and Highlights. This will give you some very different results.
 ACTIVITY SHEET 4.0
Turn a Photo into a Collage of Polaroids with Photoshop

Step 1: Duplicate the Background Layer

Step 2: Add a New Blank Layer between the Two Layers
Step 3: Fill the New Layer with Black
Step 4: Add a New Blank Layer
Step 5: Drag Out A Rectangular Selection As The Inside Of Your First Polaroid
Step 6: Fill the Selection with Black
Step 7: Create a Clipping Mask from the Filled Selection
Step 8: Add another New Blank Layer above “Layer 2″
Step 9: Drag Out another Rectangular Selection as the Border of the Polaroid
Step 10: Fill the Selection with White
Step 11: Add a Drop Shadow Layer Style
Step 12: Rotate the Polaroid
Step 13: Group All Three Layers Which Make Up the Polaroid
Step 14: Duplicate the Layer Group
Step 15: Move and Rotate the Second Polaroid with the Free Transform Command
Step 16: Add, Move And Rotate More Polaroid as Needed