INTRO

Intro: INTRO

This instructable is aimed to help people who are proficient in the basic functions of  a computer. No previous skill in Photoshop is required, so those who have never been exposed to Photoshop will greatly benefit from this tutorial. Specifically, you are going to learn how to resize an image and super impose another image onto it.

STEP 1: SETUP: Step 1

Open up Photoshop using the start menu. The program should be located under the folder “Graphics Software.”  We have supplied a screenshot of our Photoshop configuration that labels the different tools you will be using.    

STEP 2: SETUP: Step 2

In the upper left hand corner, you will find the Menu Bar. Left click File, and a drop-down menu will present itself.  Left click on New, which is the first item on the menu.  A dialogue box will appear with different attributes you can alter.

STEP 3: SETUP: STEP 3

You will find two columns in the dialogue box.  The column on the left requires numerical input from the user.  The column on the right has several drop-down menus that can change the dimensions from pixels to inches, to centimeters, etc.  For this application we are changing the fields into :

Width:              8.5 Inches
Height:            11 Inches
Resolution:      300 Pixels/inch


    •    Once you have set the attributes as stated above, left click OK.  A blank sheet (called the “Canvas”) will appear.

STEP 4: SETUP: Step 4

•     We will be using two pictures from two separate links.  Copy and paste the link below into the URL box of your internet browser and copy the picture from the site.

http://www.everystockphoto.com/photo.php?imageId=3450039  (Picture A)

•    Once the image is copied, return to Photoshop and left click on Edit in the menu bar (top left hand corner), scroll down and select Paste.  You will see a small version of the picture you just copied.  (NOTE:  Once Picture A is added there is an addition to the “Layer Palette” in the bottom right hand corner of the screen)

•    Copy the image from the link below and repeat process used for Picture A. 

http://www.everystockphoto.com/photo.php?imageId=263890 (Picture B)

STEP 5: SETUP: Status Check

You should now see Picture B layered on top of Picture A.

STEP 6: RESIZING: Step 1

•    Locate the layer palette in the lower right hand corner of the window. You will notice that layer 2 is highlighted in blue.  On the layer 2 tab you will see an eyeball icon, which indicates layer visibility in your document.

•    Left click the eyeball of layer 2. You will notice the image of layer 2 disappear.

•    Left click layer 1 to highlight the tab. It should turn blue.

STEP 7: RESIZING: Step 2

•    Locate the vertical toolbar on the left-hand side of the window, referred to as the “Tool Box.” Left click the second icon down, which is a dotted box called Rectangular Marquee Tool.

*If you want to see the name of a tool. Simply hover over the icon and a little yellow box will appear, naming the tool.

STEP 8: RESIZING: Step 3

•    Left click the top left corner of layer 1 image (tiny Shamu) and drag the Rectangular Marque Tool to the bottom right corner, selecting the perimeter of the tiny Shamu picture.

•    Right click the tiny Shamu image.  A drop down menu should appear. Scroll down and select Free Transform. This will outline the image with eight small transform boxes/points.

* If you happen to make a mistake and accidentally select the wrong area or have not selected all of the tiny Shamu picture simply right click the selected area. A drop down menu will appear. Left click Deselect. You will then see the dotted perimeter disappear and you may continue to select the area you desired. (See step 4 to start this process over again.)

STEP 9: RESIZING: Step 4

•    At the top of the window, just below the Menu Bar, a horizontal menu of transform dimensions will appear. Locate the boxes labeled “W” and “H,” indicating width and height.  You will see 100.00% in each box.

•    Change percentage from 100.00% to 700.00% in both W and H boxes by clicking on the white areas. A cursor will appear, allowing you to edit the percentage using your keyboard.

•    Once you have changed the percentage, the tiny Shamoo image transforms into a larger pixilated Shamu image.

STEP 10: RESIZING: Step 5

•    Return to the Tool Box on the left-hand side of the window. Left click the first icon, which appears as an arrow above a cross called the Move Tool.

•    A window will appear asking “Apply the transformation?” Left click Apply. This should clear the pixels of the large Shamu image.

STEP 11: RESIZING: Step 6

•    Return to the Tool Box on the left-hand side of the window. Left click the second icon down, which is a dotted box called Rectangular Marquee Tool.

•    Right click the Shamu image. A drop down menu will appear. Left click Deselect, which is the first option on the menu.

STEP 12: RESIZING: Step 7

•    Highlight layer 2 by clicking on the tab in the layer palette (lower right hand corner of the screen). It will turn blue. There is a blank box within the tab where the eyeball used to be. Left click the blank box and the eyeball will appear, as well as your previously hidden layer 2 image.

STEP 13: RESIZING: Status Check

You should now see a larger Shamu image with a small teddy bear image on top of it.

STEP 14: SUPER IMPOSITION: Step 1

•    In the Tool Box, right click the icon that is the fourth icon from the top, called the Quick Selection Tool. It is a paint brush with a dotted circle around its tip. When you right click the icon, a dropdown menu will appear.  Left click the Magic Wand Tool, the second option in the menu. 

•    Left click the white area around the teddy bear once.  All of the white portions should be highlighted with a dotted outline.

•    On your keyboard, press the delete button. The white area vanishes.  You will see that only the teddy bear remains with the water behind him.

*The Magic Wand selects all of one tone of color…….if the back ground were more complex, you would have to select multiple areas.  This can become hard if two colors are similar in shade. For example, deleting the snowy background that is behind a man in a white coat would take many smaller selections with the Magic Wand Tool.    

STEP 15: SUPER IMPOSITION: Step 2

•    Right click inside the dotted selected area, another drop down menu appears and left click Select Inverse.

•    Then select the Move Tool (the arrow with the cross) in the tool box and left click and drag the teddy bear any where on the canvas. This will select the area around the teddy bear. 

STEP 16: SUPER IMPOSITION: Step 3

•    Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool, the second tool in the Tool Box. Right click the teddy bear. A drop down menu will appear.  Left click Free Transform. At the top of the window, just below the Menu Bar, a horizontal menu of transform dimensions will appear.

•    There is a box with an angle triangle next to it at the top of the window under the Menu Bar, which is called the “Set rotation” box.  Left click inside of it and change it from 0.00 degrees to  -10.00 degrees.  You should see the teddy bear automatically rotate to this angle.  

STEP 17: SUPER IMPOSITION: Step 4

•    In the Tool Box (left hand side of the screen) select the Move Tool, the first tool at the top.  A dialogue box will appear asking “Apply the Transformation?”  Left click Apply. 

STEP 18: SUPER IMPOSITION: Step 5

•    Left click the Rectangular Marquee Tool the dotted box (second tool) in the Tool Box. Right click inside the teddy bear and the drop down menu will appear. Left click Deselect.  

•    In the Tool Box, left click the Move Tool (first tool in the toolbox). Left click the teddy bear image, but do not release your finger from the click, allowing you to hold the teddy bear. Still holding, drag the teddy bear to the whale’s right fin. 

STEP 19: CONGRATULATIONS!

 If you have done everything correctly, then you have made Shamu hold a teddy bear! 

STEP 20: Video

If you got lost somewhere in this instructubles, don't fret!  Here's a video for you to see where you may have gone wrong.  (Copy and paste this link in order to view.)  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwo7E4skoMo

Comments

[riflemanufacturer]

I am a beginning a Photoshop user and although I found this tutorial helpful, I agree with the previous comments about the wordiness of the instructions. When there were pictures, they were extremely helpful and got me out of a few binds. Occasionally I wish the first photo that indicated the locations of tools was repeated in steps where switching tools occurred.

Over all, good job!

[TeamAwesome]

Thank you for your comment. Throughout the drafting of these instructions the team struggled with making the locations of tools clear. We hoped that the constant repetition of the location in our instructions would help, but we really like your idea of repeating the first "glossary" image.

[Dr.Paj]

You should probably include the hotkeys for the tools every time you use the tool's name in the steps instead of putting the same image in every step. For example, "the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) allows you to..."

[Clownmask]

I just had a few comments about this tutorial. The first sentence was awkwardly written. Obviously something is missing in this sentence, which made me re-read this sentence one too many times. Please fix. Also, I think that more pictures along the process as checkpoints would be helpful. In my old age, I cannot read blurred images as well as I used to. Please adjust the resolution of these images for the sake of the older readers. I also wanted to know about general formatting in Photoshop. First, what file formatting extension does Photoshop save in? Secondly, is there a way to convert or save images into other photo file formats (ie jpeg, bmp, png, gif, etc.)? Lastly in regards to the video, a little audio would've been nice to explain the process as an alternative to reading the instructional tutorial. Overall, thanks for the help.

[TeamAwesome]

Thanks for all of your useful suggestions. We have gone back and edited the first sentence. As for the photos, you will find a an italicized letter 'i" in a box above each image, which allows you to view the image in enlarged sizes. This solves the resolution problem. Please make use of the tool.

Concerning your question about general formatting and phote file formats, PhotoShop saves your image as a psp, but you can easily convert this to other formats such as jpeg when you go to save the document in "save as." As to how to do this, please view additional tutorials offered on instructables. This tutorial is simply supposed to teach you super imposition.

Due to technical difficulties the team was unable to include the audio that complimented the video. Thank you for your input.

[CougarChild]

Overall, this was a very helpful tutorial. I was able to super impose the images! However, sometimes the vocabulary tends to be a little too wordy which caused me to re-read some of the steps. (e.g. the first step where you refer to photoshop as a configuration.) Just keep in mind that you are helping people how to figure out a program; they don't want to scrape through (occasionally) wordy instructions. Be as concise and clear as possible
But other than that, awesome job :)

[TeamAwesome]

Thank you for your helpful suggestion. Because we target beginning Photoshop users the last thing we want to do is confuse them even more. We agree that our tutorial was often times wordy. We chose this register so as to seem as credible as possible, however we understand the confusion it can create. Simplicity and clarity will be practiced in our future instructables.

[Seinfield]

You guys did a good job on this. I was able to follow your steps easily.
Sometimes your directions seemed redundant though like how you always said to left-click items. It just seems obvious that you would need to left click something. You only need to emphasize when the users need to right-click.
Also, sometimes things were stated twice in the same sentence like in the hyperlink step. You said "click the hyperlink from the link below". Just watch out for that redundancy.

Good job guys. I liked it.

[TeamAwesome]

Thanks for the reply. We appreciate you pointing out the redundancy in our tutorial. The repetition of "left-click" was simply to be consist and clear, but we understand that it is an obvious instruction. We will keep this in mind for the future.

[Maria_Illustrating]

I have a Mac and have my configuration set up much differently than what you have set up. You did a very thorough step-by-step procedure which would be beyond helpful for a beginner. Being more experienced in the ways of photoshop, I found it wordy, but from a beginner's perspective, I liked the bolding and level of detail you put in.

Good job, TeamAwesome.

[TeamAwesome]

Thank you for your reply. We are glad that the bolding is helpful and stress that the level of detail is meant for beginners.

We always welcome additional suggestions, especially from an experienced Photoshopper.