(Exercise) Photoshop Intro

Introduction

In this exercise we'll talk about introducing you to Photoshop. Here's what we'll be doing:

  • attempt to triage any technical issues with Photoshop installation and opening
  • talk about what a pixel is, and what a "raster" image is
  • talk about DPI
  • talk about creating a new file
  • look at Photoshop, just take it in.
  • look at layers (naming, grouping)
  • talk about selecting and moving stuff
  • talk about cropping
  • talk about blending modes
  • talk about levels
  • talk about saving

what is a pixel?

A pixel is a picture element that is to say, a pixel actually has no set size or form

An image of a color changing square meant to be a "pixel"

A pixel can be square, rectangular, or in more abstract forms we can think of pixels as round elements of an image.

For the purposes of this class, a "pixel" is part of a "raster" image, and is, almost always square. Raster is not actually secretly a compound word but refers to the "raster scanning" Of older television monitors.

Because pixels do not have a set size, when we create an image with a certain amount of pixels, we have to determine, the DPI, or "dots per inch." Generally you want to target these numbers:

  • 72 DPI "normal" screen quality
  • 96 DPI "retina" screen quality (because the pixels are too small to see individually)
  • 150 DPI low print quality
  • 300 DPI high print quality

These are typical standards you should follow, or will typically be asked to provide. Besides relating to standards, they also have a relationship to the associated hardware (printers and monitors).

The point here is that you should strive to have good images, and that while you can scale images up and down, you can "subtract" resolution, but you cannot add resolution (without some kind, say machine learning).

What is Photoshop?

Photoshop is a program, now owned by Adobe, designed to create and manipulate raster images.

It was made by this guy and his brother:

You may recognize him from holding a reflective ball in the behind the scenes of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

What we'll go through in class

I will go through the following in class, and add more specific material here if there are unforeseen issues, or back fill any content that may be helpful to include later.

  • talk about creating a new file
  • look at Photoshop, just take it in.
  • look at layers (naming, grouping)
  • talk about selecting and moving stuff
  • talk about cropping
  • talk about blending modes
  • talk about levels (adjustment layers)
  • talk about saving

Links to some other "basic"-level tutorials if that is helpful

The following are not necessarily endorsements but mainly meant to provide a number of sources for you if you don't like listening to me talk or want something to watch outside of class.

"Photoshop for Beginners", from Envato+ Tuts

"Adobe Photoshop for Beginners Basic tool (Clear Explanation) Part 1" from Maestro Grapiko

Photoshop Basics - The Fundamentals of Photoshop for Beginners 2021 | Masks, Layers & Blend Modes from That Tog Spot