Adobe Photoshop is the premier application for editing photos, creating wallpapers and animations. Photoshop contains tools and features that facilitate professional image enhancement, exposure correction, and tonal touchups.
The Basics of Using Photoshop
With so many features, tools, and plugins, using Photoshop can be overwhelming for beginners. If you are just starting, resist the urge to master everything immediately. In this tutorial, we will take you through a few basics for using Photoshop effectively.
Learn How To Create Projects
Our first step will be to create a new project. We recommend having your Photoshop software open so that you can follow along with this guide. Once you open Photoshop, you may see a start screen or a dark interface with menus and icons. The start screen is available on the Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 version.
Creating a new project on the start screen is easy since the command is right there in the middle of the window. To create a project using the main interface:
- Move your pointer to the menu bar at the top left of the window.
- Choose File, then click Newto create a new project.
This command will open a document window. From here, you can name your project, set image dimensions, or choose a preset size. You can also select the color profile and resolution of your new project. Once you name the project and set your preferences, click the Create button. Your new document will open on the Photoshop interface. You can then proceed to add a photo or text to the blank project.
Alternatively, you can choose File then click Open on the drop-down menu to open an image that already exists on your device.
Familiarize Yourself With the Interface
Think of the Photoshop interface as your virtual workspace. From this main screen, you will perform your editing work. The first element you will notice on the interface is the document window containing your image canvas. To the right of the document window, you will see a panel column for color, properties, and layers. You can view the whole list of panels in this column by clicking the Window menu from the top menu bar.
To the left of the image canvas is the tools panel. The tools panel displays a list of icons representing each editing tool at your disposal. You can hover your pointer over the icons to see their names or click on them to view the options each tool has. Some features of the tools panel include contrasting, filtering, cropping, adding text on an image, and more.
There is also an options bar on top of the document window. This bar changes when you select an icon on the tools panel. For example, if you choose the text icon, the options bar will display font options.
The menu bar is at the top left of the interface, and it contains menus like file, edit, layer, and type.
Learn How To Save Your Projects
To save an image, choose File on the menu bar, then select Save As. You can save your image in many formats, including JPEG, PNG, or PSD. It’s best to keep your project in PSD (Photoshop’s native format) if you’re still working on it, then saving in a standard format to share with others who may not have Photoshop installed.
Final Remarks
Using Photoshop might seem daunting when you are a beginner. The best path to Photoshop mastery is practice. You can search for internet images to edit using your browser. And if you are using Opera, enable JavaScript so that the websites you search in run smoothly and quickly. Have fun learning Photoshop!
