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Tips, Tricks, and Basics

(or, Photoshop in a hat ☺)

George Chen

1. Basics: Layers
Photoshop is a layers based graphics program. What does that mean? It means that
Photoshop gives you the ability to divide your artwork up into layers, so you can isolate
what you do to an image. See the following image:

Table of Contents:
1. Basics…1
Layers
Toolkit
Filters
Layer Modes
Layer Masks
2. Improving Color…6
Color Balance
Levels
Curves See how each layer on the Layers Palette marks off a different part of a picture. The
3. Retouching…8 eye icon on the left of each layer makes the layers visible or invisible. Observe.
Clone & Heal
Smooth & Soften
4. Sharpen…12
Sharpen
Unsharp Mask
High Pass
5. Light…13
Screen/Multiply
6. Art & Experiment
Red Eye
Special Effects

© 2004 George Chen.


All rights reserved. All lefts
ignored. All images are
copyright George Chen
unless otherwise noted.
See how by making layer 5 invisible, the dark blue becomes invisible. Layers may
seem tedious at first, but once you get the hang of them, you’ll be able to see how
helpful they are.

1. Basics: Toolkit
In Photoshop and all Adobe programs, you have a toolkit/toolbar for easy access to all
your tools. In Photoshop 7, it looks like the image on the right. Note how most of the
tools have a small arrow at the bottom. Selecting that arrow will bring up more tools.
Quickly, here are the tools and their functions, going left to right:
Marquee Tool: Selection of items for deletion or moving
Move Tool: Self explanatory
Lasso Tool: Select a portion of an item to manipulate
Magic Wand: Auto select a portion of an image with the same color
Crop Tool: Self explanatory
Exacto Knife: Cut shapes

Heal Tool: Used with cloning tool


Brush Tool: For painting
Clone Tool: Clones portions of the image to place elsewhere
History Brush: Reverses last action in certain parts of the image
Eraser: Self explanatory
Gradient Tool: Self explanatory
Blur Tool: Self explanatory
Dodge Tool: Lighten a certain area

Path selection tool: Select paths drawn by the pen


Text Tool: Self explanatory
Pen Tool: Draw paths, curves, etc.
Polygon Tool: Draw vector shapes

Notes Tool: Make notes


Eyedropper: Selects color on an image
Hand Tool: Move objects
Zoom Tool: Self-explanatory

Color selection: Color on top (blue) is foreground, Color on bottom (white) is


background

The rest of the menu you really don’t need to know. We will only be using about 10 of
these tools frequently.

1. Basics: Filters
Filters are fun, fast ways to get exciting effects, however, novices often overuse them.
Therefore, try to limit your usage of filters, and blend them into the image
appropriately. We’ll be using filters later, especially in enhancing images, so right now
this will be a quick introduction. Note that there are far too many filters for me to give
you examples of each, just experiment with them when you have free time. When we
get to modes you’ll be able to see ways in which you can blend your filtered layers to
get better effects, as well as playing with their transparency.
Now for the filters menu. Note
how the filters are divided into
sections, and within each
section, the filters are listed.
Some filters create whole new
images while others only modify
the image that you are working
on. Once again, experiment with
them to see what they can do.
Often, these filters will have
preview images so you can see
the result before you apply the
filter. Warning, some of these
filters use up a lot of memory,
especially on large images. This
means that they will slow the
computer down and may
sometimes freeze it. Watch what
you’re doing carefully, and save
often.

1. Basics: Modes
Modes are ways in which layers can
be placed on top of each other to
create some pretty interesting effects.
The modes menu is found on the top
of the layers palette (in this image it
says ‘Normal’). There are several
modes you can chose from, some of
the most common ones are
demonstrated below.

(credit: PhotoshopGuru)
Note: One of the best things to do with Modes is use them in combination with
transparency (opacity). Thus you can minimize the effect as needed. Often, a layer
mode at full opacity provides too harsh of an image. So, what can you do with layers
modes? Here’s a sample:
1. Basics: Layer Masks
Layer Masks are very simple tools to master but can also be very effective. Essentially,
a layer mask is a cover that specifically reveals only parts of an image. This is excellent
when you want to fade two images together. Note that in the mask mode, you may only
use grayscale. Depending on what mode you pick (Reveal All or Hide All), the areas
that are white or black will be the areas revealed. Most often, gradients are used.
Example time:

+ =
How is this accomplished?

Step 1. Find your images:


Step 2. Apply Layer Mask

Step 3. Apply Gradient

It’s as simple as that.


2. Improving Color: Color Balance
When a photo is shot, sometimes the
colors do not come out the way you
wish, perhaps too much red and not
enough blue. With Photoshop, there’s no
need to retake the photo.
The image on the right has too much red
in it. So much in fact, that the leaves are
colored red. You may want to use the
image like this. But for the purposes of
this exercise, let’s look at the color
balance tool.
By simply altering the color values for
Cyan,
Green, and
Blue, you
can see
how the
image has
changed.
The leaves
become
clearer, the
petals less
red in
color. By
balancing
the color,
you can
more
accurately
portray an
image as
in real life.

2. Improving Color: Levels


Levels are Photoshop's method for stretching the contrast of an image. The RGB levels
are a measure of how light or dark a pixel is, additionally the Red, Green, Blue,
channels separately have their own levels of how red
green or blue a pixel is. The graph that is displayed when
adjustment levels shows the number of pixels in the
image relative to the level. Adjusting levels can change
higher saturation and more contrast. Levels are
something that provides a quick fix for brightness and
clarity in images, but can make the picture incredibly dirty
and unusable. Therefore, use levels at a minimum,
instead, try the techniques discussed later in this
handbook. (See Section 5: Light)
So what do levels do? Let’s take image one on the right
(yeah that’s Jeff). To it we’ll apply auto Levels,
which automatically balances out the RGB
levels in the image. The result:
There you can see the problems with levels. A
little speck of dust on the camera lens
becomes highly visible. In addition, the screen
at the back of the auditorium was supposed
to be crème colored, instead it’s blue. Note
that Jeff’s shirt becomes a pure white. This is
essentially what levels do; they take the
brightest object in an image and make it
white while adjusting all other parts to the
same levels.
If you need to use levels, do it manually. Bring
up the levels menu (Image > Adjustments >
Levels) By moving the sliders toward the
peak, the image becomes lighter. Moving it towards the low end will darken the image.
Remember, Levels are
good for small
adjustments. If you over-
do it you’ll get images
like the image below,

making it unusable.

2. Improving Images: Curves


Curves are yet another way Photoshop allows the user to adjust light balance in an
image. Curves can
enhance shadows with
little influence on the
highlights, making it very
useful to perfect photos.
Note that curves can be
saved if you find that a
particular shape worked
for you, but also know
that each time a curve is
loaded you should
probably play with it a bit to make sure it works for your image.

Example time:
See the image without a curve above (It’s Orly!)
By applying a positive curve, the image
becomes lighter. See image.

A negative curve, then, would make the


image darker. Correct.

Altering the curve can produce some


very interesting effects. Experiment
with curves, but also note that these
can also damage your photo like levels
do. However, if you combine the use of
curves, levels, and lightening
techniques, you can take almost any
photo and make it useable.

3. Retouching: Clone/Heal
One of the things that takes a good photo and makes it
bad is an excess of distractions in the background. One
way to remove distractions from the backgrounds of photos
is the cloning and healing tools. However, these tools can
be difficult to master, so be sure to have plenty of practice.
Say we take this image to the right. The red coke cup
detracts from the image’s focus of the student. Therefore,
we can use the clone and heal tools to try and remove it.

The clone tool, or rubber stamp tool, is found on the toolkit.


First, find an area to clone, or copy, that is about the same color and lighting of the
area you’re trying to cover. Hold down the “ALT”
key and select that area. Then, start painting over
the image. Note that if you keep painting, the
object you are trying to remove seems to
reappear. This is caused by the object getting in
the way of your cloning path. Thus, you must
continuously “ALT + Click” to select areas and
painting.

This may be time consuming, but if done correctly;


your image will appear like the image on the left.
But now it’s time to heal the image, because, if
you look closely, the area we have cloned over
looks rather rough.

Select the healing brush from the toolkit (It looks


like a bandage) and use the brush to paint over
the small awkward area. Done repeatedly, the
shadow becomes more natural looking, like in this
image.

3. Retouching: Smooth and Soften


This chapter should be subtitled: how to give a digital makeover. In this chapter you’ll
learn how magazines make celebrities look their best without covering them with
makeup. Now, this skill won’t be needed a lot in what we do, but it’s good to know.
Also, don’t overdo it. There will be a point where the person will look just plain fake.
That’s a good sign that it’s time to stop trying to retouch the image.
This section is divided into subsections: skin, eyes, and mouth. Note that in retouching,
you should be patient. It takes a long time to do a good retouching job.
Let’s take a casual school image:
Skin:
1. Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer. Now you
have two copies of the picture, one on top
of the other.

2. Go to Filter > Noise >Dust & Scratches.


Play with the radius settings until the
imperfections in the image start to
disappear. Don’t worry about the fact that
the background also begins to appear
blurry. Select ok.

3. Note how everything has become blurry.


So now, let’s bring the details back out.
Use the eraser tool to erase the areas
where details should be showing (clothing,
eyes, mouth, hand, etc.) Tip: Use the
feather brush for this. Adjust the brush
size as needed.

4. Now, reduce the opacity of the layer to


about 50-80%, depending on how strong
you want the skin retouching to be. Now
we’re done with the skin, so let’s move on
to the eyes.

Eyes:
1. To work most effectively with the eyes,
zoom in to about 300% or so.

2. Say you wanted to change the eye’s color


or enhance it. Create a
new layer and select
the color you want to
use. Paint in the area of
the eye. Set your Layer
Mode to Hue.

3. Create another layer on


top and paint white in
the areas where
reflections (or the
‘sparkle’) would be. Set
the layer to ‘Overlay’.

4. Zoom all the way out and look at the


result. If you’re not satisfied, do it over or
play with the opacities. We’re done with
the eyes; let’s move on to the lips.
Lips:
Now, you shouldn’t need to fix the lips unless
in extreme situations, but here goes. First,
let’s take a look at the picture after the skin
and eye retouch.
1. Zoom in on the lips in the image, once
again, about 300%.

2. Find the proper color you


want (try using the
Eyedropper), and begin
painting it on a new layer
with a small feather
brush.

3. Set the layer to ‘Overlay’


or ‘Hard Light’ and set
the opacity to around 10-
30%. Any more and the
image looks fake.

4. Zoom out and look at the result.

There you have it. A digital


makeover. Let’s do a before
and after shot. The before is
on the left half, after on the
right half (the red line divides
the two). Note how subtle the
changes are. Makeovers don’t
have to completely change the
image, just try to improve it.
Now, if you really wanted to do
something crazy, apply the
same techniques and change
the hair color and more!

Next, let’s look at how to try and clean up a blurry image.


4. Sharpen: Sharpen Filter
The sharpen filter is only good for small blurs. Do
not try to use it on fairly blurry images; it will only
screw up the image and leave a lot of artifacts
(pockmarks). Let’s use this image for the section:
Now, the
sharpen tool is
located under
Filters >
Sharpen >
Sharpen. Using
the sharpen
filter too much
will result in an
image looking
like this: Note
how artifacts
have appeared in the image, thus rendering it
unusable. The maximum amount of times you
should use the filter is about 2 to 3.

4. Sharpen: Unsharp Mask


One technique for sharpening images is the
Unsharp Mask Filter, which is found in the
Filters Menu > Sharpen >Unsharp Mask. By
playing with the settings on its menu, you can
slowly bring out the image. By using the filter
to enhance the image on the right, the
highlights have been improved and the
minimal blurring around the subject.

4. Sharpen: High Pass


This technique is by far my favorite and the
newest one that I’ve learned. To do this trick,
duplicate the image (Layer > Duplicate Layer).
Now run the
High Pass
filter and
adjust the
layers so you
see the bare outlines of the image. When
you’re done with that, it should look like
the gray image. Give the filtered layer a
mode of ‘Overlay’ and you’ll be all set.
What’s great about this technique is that
it can be applied to images that already
seem sharpened to bring out the details
even more. This makes for the best
quality picture you could create. Let’s
take a look at this in action.
Take this image of Julia. Already, it looks pretty
clean and crisp. In fact, you could probably use
the picture right now. But when we apply the
High Overpass technique we can see the
improvement in the details.

Before the filter:

After the filter:


See how all the details
have been pulled out of the
image. The only problem is
that some other details
that we don’t want have
also been pulled out. To fix
that, simply erase the parts
you don’t want on the layer
with the High Pass.

5. Light: Screen/Multiply
So in addition to using Levels and Curves,
there are a few other ways to brighten an
image without totally destroying it. These
techniques is the same thing for both
screen and multiply, though screen is for
lightening images, while multiply is for
darkening images. I’ll just give one
example.
Take this image; it’s a bit too dark.

Lightening the Image:


1. Duplicate the image layer
2. Set duplicated layer to ‘Screen’
3. You’re done!
To darken the image, simply change the layer
mode to ‘Multiply’ instead of ‘Screen.

6. Art and Experiment: Red Eye


Removal
By now, you should be able to accomplish the basics in Adobe Photoshop. In this last
section, I’ll present a small tutorial on removing red eye, and then provide a few links
to get you started.
1. Zoom into the eye of the image that has red eye.
2. Create a new layer. Use the eyedropper to pick up a color from the iris of the
eye. It should be a fairly gray tint with a hint of the eye color.
3. Paint over the red part of the eye on the new layer, being
careful not to paint over the eyelids. Be sure to paint with a
feathered brush. Set the layer mode to ‘Saturation’
4. If that leaves the eye looking flat and hollow, duplicate the
saturation level and set it to
‘Hue’
5. Extra tip: If you need to
enhance the colors of the eye,
go ahead and do so. See the
‘digital makeover’ section if
you need to review.
The final product should look
something like the image on the left.

6. Art and Experiment: Special Effects


Virtually any photo trick you can imagine can be done with Adobe Photoshop. In
addition, the methods I have given you here are the methods that I have found best to
work for me. You may find a better way for yourself. Photoshop allows you the flexibility
to come up with so many ways to achieve the same result. Here are a few links to help
you get started in special effects.

http://www.planetphotoshop.com
http://myjanee.home.insightbb.com/tutorials.htm
http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/Photoshop/1
http://www.n-sane.net/tutorials.php

infinitexperiment : : http://gchen.netfirms.com

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