Photoshop Level 2 Tutorial

By , Lead Web Designer
Site assembled by Donald Debona
Updated July 2004 by Jon Shih

Note: This tutorial was written for version 5.5 of Photoshop. More current versions of the program are now available. The information in this tutorial should remain useful in newer versions, although some of the detailed specifics may change.

Photoshop: Episode II

This class picks up where the Photoshop 1 class left off. If you haven't taken Photoshop 1, took it a long time ago, or want to refresh your knowledge from that class, you may want to go through the Photoshop Level 1 Tutorial, then come back here.

A quick ‘fresher

By now, you should have a pretty good basic understanding of the toolbar and some of the tools (Marquee, Crop, Move, Lasso, Paintbrush, Hand, Zoom, Color Picker). You should also know what a palette is, and what some of them do (Options, Layers, Brushes). And you should have used some menu commands (Copy, Paste, Free Transform, Image Size).

In this tutorial, we will cover a few new tools, including Magic Wand, Rubber Stamp (a.k.a. "Clone"), Paint Bucket, Blend, Eyedropper, Pen and Smudge…and some new commands, including Stroke, Fill, Sharpen, Brightness/Contrast, Scale, Shadow and Bevel. Last time we went through a fairly dry recitation of bunches of tools. This time, we'll learn about them as we go, by putting together a make-believe banner graphic for the Department of Departmentology.

This tutorial will give you some experience, and will expose you to many features. Spend time experimenting with your own copy of Photoshop. Play around with each tool, palette and menu until you have a sense of what each can do. As you work and encounter obstacles, don't let them stop you. Try this and that until you get the result you want. "Undo" is your friend.

Version patrol

The version of Photoshop we're using today is 5.5. The latest version is 7.0. Although many details will be different in newer versions, the basic ideas are the same.

Where do I get Photoshop?

Photoshop is available via CWA (campus wide agreement) at a major discount. For details, go to Purchasing Department page on the Adobe products.

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