Photoshop 101: What You Need to Know!

Since the dawn of time, man has been both fascinated and confused by technology. One such misunderstood technological wonder in today's world is known as "Photoshop". In this Instructable, I will attempt to teach you the basic tools that Photoshop has to offer!

Fear not, the world of Photoshop is less daunting than one may think. All you need is a computer, and according to a Opinion Research Corporation's CARAVAN poll, 76% of American adults own their own computer. It is also unlikely that you would be reading this Instructable if you didn't at least have access to a computer.

OK, now I will tell you EXACTLY what I will cover in this Photoshop Instructable!
-An in-depth look at the basic tools, as well as more advanced usages of these tools (marquee tool, zoom, move tool, quick select tool, crop tool, brush, and erase). I will use a possible Photoshop project to further explain the uses and importance of certain tools.
-I will also cover some tips and tricks that I have learned

Materials:
Computer - You probably already have one of these

-And-

Photoshop - You have a higher chance of not owning this as it is quite pricey if you don't get a student discount.
(or)
Gimp - I know it isn't as good as Photoshop, but it is a FREE ALTERNATIVE to Photoshop, I have provided a link to their website.

If you find this Instructable helpful, feel free to visit my forum topic with other tutorials that I have created in order to help you figure out the basics of Photoshop. It is looking a bit sparse right now, but I plan on expanding in the very near future.

Step 1 And so it Begins: Getting Started

First things first, you can't Photoshop a picture without first creating a Photoshop document. What you want to do is select File>New... and set your canvas size.

-Tip- If you copy an image from the internet, the size of the canvas will be the EXACT same size as the image you coppied. If you copy a 345x892 pixel image from the interwebs, that is going to be the size offered to you in the New... window.

I chose to re-size my canvas size to 1000x1000 pixels just to make it a nice box to put whatever comes to mind into it. I looked up puppies in Google images, and was about to make this Instructable about the basics of Photoshop, with puppies being my lab rats, but decided a car would be much easier for demonstration purposes. It is easier to Photoshop because you do not have to worry about hairs. I find Photoshopping something with hair to be more difficult, and not suited for a basic tutorial.

Once you find the right image, copy and paste it into the canvas (Ctrl+V for PC, Command+V for Mac)

Comments

[Dr.Paj]

Feel free to tell me if I confused you with any of my wording, or if I went too fast on one section or another. Feel free to make a suggestion on how I should demonstrate the "Future Tools" that I listed in the last step.

[mathman47]

Hey just keep it coming. I'm a 100% newbie to PSE9, having just installed it yesterday. Any and all help is appreciated. Can you suggest any good, basic books? The one I bought is a little advanced.

[fogman103]

Photoshop for dummies is pretty easy for me to understand.

[Dr.Paj]

I've never actually used a book to learn Photoshop, I've basically learned everything I know from tutorials online. I can then use the techniques and tools that were demonstrated in those tutorials for a completely different looking Photoshop. I'll link a few good sites that have beginner tutorials, and more complex advanced Photoshops

Here is a site that has a small selection (compared to the next link) of Photoshop Tutorials. I've linked what they describe as "beginner" tutorials, so that should be where I would advise you to look at first.

This site has more advanced tutorials, but the end result is usually really professional looking, even if the tutorial wasn't all that difficult. This site has a ton more tutorials than the first, but some are quite complex.

Another tip for finding good tutorials is to just google something that you are interested in, like a style of Photoshop like "grunge", "typography", or "retro". I like these 3 because they are simple, but give a very recognizable look to your posters. I like these styles because I create some posters for organizations around campus sometimes.

A good google search that I use to find interesting and informative Photoshop Tutorials is: [insert keyword here] photoshop tutorials
An example of this search would be: Amazing Photoshop tutorials
You would be surprised at what pops up. At the top of the list in google are usually a collection of 35-100 Photoshop tutorials in a long list that can be described as amazing, or the other keyword that you used in your search.

I hope this information helps, I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you the names of any good tutorial books, but I have always learned best from doing, so I prefer to look up a tutorial, follow it exactly, and then use the skill and tools that I learned in that tutorial to create something unique.

[Dr.Paj]

Wow, I just now realized how horrible that last paragraph/sentence is... anyway my next tutorial will probably combine textures and typography in order to create a poster of some kind.

If you thought that this instructable helped you out at all, I have a previous instructable that focuses less on the tools, and more on the outcome HERE. In it, I'm basically digitally hanging an Instructables banner on the side of a building, as well as showing you how to adjust some photo settings to make a picture really stand out.

[mathman47]

Thanks again. Who says the Internet is just filled with creeps and is all porn? I certainly will check the tutorials out. I'm going to the library later today so I'll see what they have. I already pay taxes so I might as well save my money,especially since you provided so much.