The following pages are intended to be a brief overview of the Photoshop 6.0 program for the educational benefit of the Art and Photography students of Moeller High School.  All images and information are derived from the Adobe Photoshop Help Pages.  For complete information please follow the link to the Adobe Photoshop 6.0 Help page.

Cropping images

  Cropping is the process of selecting and removing a portion of an image to create focus or strengthen its composition. You can crop an image by either hiding or deleting. If the image only has a background layer, you can only delete.

Hiding conceals the cropped area outside of the rectangular selection. The cropped area is still in the image file and can be made visible by moving the layer with the move tool. You can use this feature when creating animations with elements that move from offscreen into the live image area.

Delete discards the cropped area outside of the rectangular selection.

An image with a hide crop applied, and repositioned using the move tool.

An image with a delete crop applied, and repositioned using the move tool.

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Changing the size of the work canvas

  The Canvas Size command lets you add or remove work space around an existing image. You can crop an image by decreasing the canvas area. Added canvas appears in the same color or transparency as the background.

To use the Canvas Size command:

1 Choose Image > Canvas Size.

2 Choose the units of measurement you want. The Columns option measures width in terms of the columns specified in the Rulers & Units preferences.

3 Enter the dimensions in the Width and Height boxes. A new file size appears.

4 For Anchor, click a square to indicate where to position the existing image on the new canvas.

5 Click OK.

Original canvas, and canvas added to top of image

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Using the Liquify command

  The Liquify command makes it easy to manipulate areas of an image, as if those areas had been melted. You work with a preview image of the current layer, using special tools to warp, twirl, expand, contract, shift, and reflect areas of the image. An optional warp mesh shows distortions from the original.

You can "freeze" areas of the preview image to protect them from further changes, and "thaw" frozen areas, making them editable. You can also use several reconstruction modes to fully or partially reverse the distortions--or to extend the distortions or redo them in new areas. When you're finished, you can apply the changes to the actual image.

Note: The Liquify command is available only for 8-bit images in RGB Color, CMYK Color, Lab Color, and Grayscale image modes

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Using the other retouching tools

  You can retouch images using the smudge, focus, toning, and sponge tools.

Note: These tools cannot be used with Bitmap, Indexed color mode, or 16-bit-per-channel images.

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Using the smudge tool

  The smudge tool simulates the actions of dragging a finger through wet paint. The tool picks up color where the stroke begins and pushes it in the direction you drag.

To use the smudge tool:

1 Select the smudge tool ( ).

2 Choose a brush size from the pop-up palette in the options bar. To learn more about using pop-up palettes, see Using pop-up palettes.

If a brush is too large to fit in the palette, it appears as a smaller brush with a number indicating the actual diameter in pixels.

3 Specify a blending mode and pressure. (See Setting options for painting and editing tools.)

4 Select Use All Layers to smudge using color data from all visible layers. If this is deselected, the smudge tool uses colors from only the active layer.

5 Select Finger Painting to smudge using the foreground color at the beginning of each stroke. If this is deselected, the smudge tool uses the color under the pointer at the beginning of each stroke.

6 If you are using a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet, specify the effects of stylus pressure. (See Specifying the effect of stylus pressure (Photoshop).)

7 Drag in the image to smudge color.

Press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you drag with the smudge tool to use the Finger Painting option.

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Using the focus tools

  The focus tools consist of the blur tool and the sharpen tool. The blur tool softens hard edges or areas in an image to reduce detail. The sharpen tool focuses soft edges to increase clarity or focus. For information on other ways to adjust sharpness, see Sharpening images and Improving performance with filters.

To use the blur or sharpen tool:

1 Select the blur tool ( ) or sharpen tool ( ).

2 Choose a brush size from the pop-up palette in the options bar. To learn more about using pop-up palettes, see Using pop-up palettes.

If a brush is too large to fit in the palette, it appears as a smaller brush with a number indicating the actual diameter in pixels.

3 Specify a blending mode and pressure. (See Setting options for painting and editing tools.)

4 Select Use All Layers to blur or sharpen using data from all visible layers. If this is deselected, the tool uses data from only the active layer.

5 If you are using a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet, specify the effects of stylus pressure. (See Specifying the effect of stylus pressure (Photoshop).)

6 Drag over the part of the image you want to blur or sharpen.

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Using the toning tools

  The toning tools consist of the dodge tool and the burn tool. Used to lighten or darken areas of the image, the dodge and burn tools are based on a traditional photographer's technique for regulating exposure on specific areas of a print. Photographers hold back light to lighten an area on the print (dodging) or increase the exposure to darken areas on a print (burning).

To use the dodge or burn tool:

1 Select the dodge tool ( ) or burn tool ( ).

2 Choose a brush size from the pop-up palette in the options bar. To learn more about using pop-up palettes, see Using pop-up palettes.

If a brush is too large to fit in the palette, it appears as a smaller brush with a number indicating the actual diameter in pixels.

3 Select what to change in the image:

·  Midtones to change the middle range of grays.

·  Shadows to change the dark areas.

·  Highlights to change the light areas.

  4 Specify the exposure for the tool. (See Specifying opacity, pressure, or exposure.)

5 If you are using a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet, specify the effects of stylus pressure. (See Specifying the effect of stylus pressure (Photoshop).)

6 Drag over the part of the image you want to modify.

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Using the sponge tool

  The sponge tool subtly changes the color saturation of an area. In Grayscale mode, the tool increases or decreases contrast by moving gray levels away from or toward the middle gray.

To use the sponge tool:

1 Select the sponge tool ( ).

2 Choose a brush size from the pop-up palette in the options bar. To learn more about using pop-up palettes, see Using pop-up palettes.

If a brush is too large to fit in the palette, it appears as a smaller brush with a number indicating the actual diameter in pixels.

3 Select how to change the color:

·  Saturate to intensify the color's saturation.

·  Desaturate to dilute the color's saturation.

4 Specify the pressure for the tool. (See Specifying opacity, pressure, or exposure.)

5 If you are using a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet, specify the effects of stylus pressure. (See Specifying the effect of stylus pressure (Photoshop).)