Basic Photoshop tools for beginners. Tools in Photoshop. Photoshop interface

Tools in Photoshop allow you to do any work on images. There are a huge number of tools in the editor, and for a beginner, the purpose of many of them is a mystery.

Today we will try to familiarize ourselves with all the tools located on the toolbar (who would have thought...). There will be no practice in this lesson; you will have to check all the information for functionality yourself in the form of an experiment.

All tools can be divided into sections according to their purpose.

1. Section for highlighting sections or fragments;
2. Section for cropping (cropping) images;
3. Section for retouching;
4. Drawing section;
5. Vector tools (shapes and text);
6. Auxiliary tools.

The instrument stands apart "Move", let's start with it.

Moving

The main function of the tool is to drag objects around the canvas. In addition, if you hold down the key CTRL and click on an object, the layer on which it is located is activated.

Another feature "Movements"— alignment of objects (centers or edges) relative to each other, the canvas, or a selected area.

Selection

The selection section includes "Rectangular area", "Oval area", "Area (horizontal line)", "Area (vertical line)".

This also includes tools "Lasso",

and smart tools "Magic wand" And "Quick Selection".

The most precise of the selection tools is "Feather".

1. Rectangular area.
   Using this tool, rectangular selections are created. Pressed key SHIFT allows you to maintain proportions (square).

   

2. Oval area.
   Tool "Oval area" creates selections in the form of an ellipse. Key SHIFT helps to draw correct circles.

   

3. Region (horizontal line) and Region (vertical line).
   These tools draw a 1 pixel thick line across the entire canvas horizontally and vertically, respectively.




4. Lasso.
   
5. Magic wand.
   This tool is used to highlight a specific color in an image. It is used, in particular, when removing solid-colored objects or backgrounds.

   

6. Quick selection.
   "Quick Selection" in his work he is also guided by the shades of the image, but involves manual actions.

   

7. Feather.
   "Feather" creates a path consisting of anchor points. The contour can be of any shape and configuration. The tool allows you to select objects with the highest accuracy.

   

Cropping

Cropping– cropping images to a specific size. Crop crops all existing layers in the document and resizes the canvas.

The section includes the following tools: "Frame", “Perspective Crop”, “Cutting” and “Selecting a Fragment”.

Retouch

Retouching tools include Spot Healing Brush, Healing Brush, Patch, Red Eye.

This also includes Stamps.

Drawing

This is one of the most extensive sections. This includes “Brush”, “Pencil”, “Mix Brush”,

"Gradient", "Fill",

and erasers.

Vector tools

Vector elements in Photoshop differ from raster ones in that they can be scaled without distortion or loss of quality, since they consist of primitives (dots and lines) and fill.

The vector tools section contains Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, Line, Free Shape.

We will also place tools for creating text in the same group.

1. Rectangle.
   Using this tool, rectangles and squares are created (with the key pressed SHIFT).

   

2. Rectangle with rounded corners.
   Works exactly the same as the previous tool, but the rectangle gets rounded corners of the given radius.

   

   The radius is adjusted on the top panel.

   

3. Ellipse.
   Tool "Ellipse" creates ellipsoidal vector shapes. Key SHIFT allows you to draw circles.

   

4. Polygon.
   "Polygon" helps the user draw geometric shapes with a given number of angles.

   

   The number of corners is also set in the top settings panel.

   

5. Line.
   This tool allows you to draw straight lines.

   

   The thickness is set in the settings.

   

6. Any figure.
   Using a tool "Free figure" You can create shapes of any shape.

   

   Photoshop has default shape sets. In addition, there are a large number of custom figures available online.

   

7. Text.
   Using these tools, inscriptions of horizontal or vertical orientation are created.

   

Auxiliary Tools

Auxiliary tools include “Pipette”, “Ruler”, “Comment”, “Counter”.

“Outline Selection”, “Arrow”.

"Hand".

"Scale".

We looked at the basic Photoshop tools that can be useful in your work. It should be understood that the choice of a set of tools depends on the area of ​​activity. For example, retouching tools are suitable for a photographer, and drawing tools are suitable for an artist. All sets are perfectly combined with each other.

After studying this lesson, be sure to practice using the tools to fully understand the principles of Photoshop. Learn, improve your skills and good luck in your creativity!

The current release of Photoshop has more than a dozen new features that significantly expand our choices when working with images. Sharpening tools, Camera Raw filters, improved vector tools, CSS attribute copying, improved 3D toolbar, textured coloring, and more are now available in the new version of the Creative Cloud graphics editor.

New Smart Sharpen filter

The new Smart Sharpen filter (Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen...) makes it possible to sharpen images while minimizing noise and ghosting. In the filter dialog box, you can control the Amount, Radius, Reduce Noise parameters and choose what type of blur you want to remove.

In addition to this, you can control the sharpness level of shadows and highlights.

The image below shows part of the image before and after applying the Smart Sharpen filter.

The Smart Sharpen filter supports CMYK color mode. In addition, you can control the sharpness of individual channels, for example, the alpha channel.

Improved Image Size function

(Intelligent upsampling)

The Image Size panel (Image > Image Size) now includes a new Preserve Details option, which allows you to improve sharpness as you increase image size.

For clarity, we enlarged the image of the Cracked clay ground twice, using the Preserve Details function of Photoshop CC and the Bicubic mode of Photoshop CS5. It should be noted that there are tangible differences.

Adobe Camera Raw as a filter

Use the new Adobe Camera Raw plug-in as a filter (Filter > Camera Raw Filter) directly in Photoshop CC. Camera Raw filter settings such as temperature, exposure, contrast and others can be applied to many file types, such as PNG, videos, TIFF, JPEG.

The filter can be applied to any image layers. Camera Raw contains many useful photo editing tools, which are described below.

Spot Removal Tool

This tool works like the familiar Healing Brush Tool. You just need to paint over the unwanted element in the photo, then select an area that can serve as a source for replacement.

When the Spot Removal Tool is selected, the Spot Removal tab appears with settings for controlling the tool. Here you can select the replacement type for the selected area - Heal or Clone. The restoration matches the texture, lighting, and shadow of the specified area to the selected replacement area. Cloning changes the selected area to the area selected as a sample. You can also choose the brush size and transparency level.

The Visualize Spots feature allows you to detect defects that are not visible on the monitor screen when working with, but may appear when printing high-resolution photos. Selecting this option will display the image in the Camera Raw filter preview window. You can now use the Spot Removal Tool in Visualize Spots mode to clean up the image.

Radial filter

The Radial Filter tool allows you to select oval areas in which you can make image corrections both inside and outside the selected area. You can place multiple radial filters on images and apply different settings to each one. So, for example, I applied a radial filter to the photo Couple walking on the beach. Reducing the exposure outside the selected area creates a vignette effect in that area, which helps focus attention on the subject.

Vertical mode

The Upright function in the Camera Raw menu (Camera Raw dialog > Lens Correction > Manual tab) allows you to automatically straighten the image. Upright mode automatically corrects the perspective of objects in a photo. There are four correction modes: Auto (Automatic) - balanced perspective correction, Level (Horizontal) - perspective correction to the horizontal, Vertical (vertical) - perspective correction to the vertical and Full (Full) - a combination of all previous modes.

Here's what an image of New York City looks like before and after using this tool.

The new Aspect slider allows you to change the appearance of the image horizontally or vertically. Moving the slider to the left changes the horizontal aspect, while moving it to the right changes the vertical aspect of the photo.

Reduces blur from camera shake

This feature automatically reduces image blur caused by camera shake. Reducing blur is possible with several types of camera motion, such as linear motion, arc motion, circular motion, and zigzag motion. To apply the filter, use Filter> Sharpen> Shake Reduction (Filter> Sharpening> Image Stabilization). Photoshop automatically analyzes the area of ​​the image that is best suited to reduce shake blur, determines the nature of the blur, and extrapolates appropriate corrections to the entire image. The corrected one is shown in the filter dialog box.

To further improve sharpness, you can identify and examine blur marks in new areas.

For best results, place areas where there are edges with high contrast.

New 3D features

You can use any drawing tools to color the 3D model. Using the selection tools, you can identify specific areas of the model that need to be painted. The 3D menu commands allow you to hide part of the model in order to gain access to its internal parts for painting. Similar coloring was available in earlier versions of Photoshop, but now it is much easier to use. Let's see how this can be done. We create a model using 3D presets (3D> New Mesh from Layer> Mesh Preset> Donut (3D> New mesh from layer> Mesh set> Torus)).

Now double clicking on the Donut Material in the Layers panel will open a new document with a 2D texture.

When painting a 2D texture, for example, using the Paint Brush Tool, we will be able to observe in real time how the 3D model is being painted.

Photoshop CC has an enhanced 3D panel that has a tree structure representing root and child objects.

It is possible to perform various actions with 3D objects: deleting, changing order, changing direction, adding new objects, duplicating, creating examples of objects (connected or separate) and groups of objects. You can access these commands from the context menu.

Resizable Rounded Rectangles and Copying CSS Attributes

If you create a shape using the Rounded Rectangle Tool or the Rectangle Tool in Photoshop CC, then in the Properties panel you can change the radii of all corners at once or each one individually.

Now you can copy the CSS code of a particular rectangle and paste it into the code editor.

Selecting multiple shapes and paths

In this version of Photoshop CC, we can simultaneously select multiple paths, shapes, and vector masks in the Paths panel. You can also duplicate and delete by using the appropriate commands from the pop-up menu windows of this panel.

This material opens a whole series of articles devoted to the basics of working in the most popular graphics editor Adobe Photoshop. Today we will get acquainted with the program interface and some primitive operations with images.

Introduction

Even if you are the most notorious newbie in the computer world, you are probably already familiar with the word “Photoshop”. Among computer users, it has long become a household word and is used almost always when it comes to processing photographs and images. For many, the term “Photoshop” has become synonymous with words such as “photo processing”, “photomontage”, “photo editing” and others. But in fact, “Photoshop” is not a process, but an image processing program, the first version of which was developed and released by the American company Adobe Systems back in 1990.

Today, Adobe Photoshop is the most advanced graphics editor that works primarily with raster images consisting of colored dots (pixels). However, this product is constantly being improved and in the latest versions, developers are increasingly providing the application with various vector tools. Thanks to its rich features and user-friendly user interface, Photoshop is very popular among both professionals and ordinary users.

For what purposes can this program be used? Highly professional processing of digital photographs and images; creating images and website designs of varying complexity; working with 3D files; design of postcards, calendars, multimedia discs and business cards; Converting files into various graphic formats is just part of what the mighty Photoshop can do. You can spend many months or even years learning all the functionality of this application.

Despite all its many capabilities, the main purpose of Adobe Photoshop is image editing. Over the many years of its existence, the program has developed, acquired new capabilities, acquired advanced functionality, but at the same time it has always remained and remains a graphic editor. Essentially, the workflow in Photoshop can be summed up in just a few words: you take an image or snapshot, then edit the selected image and finally save the finished result to a file or print it.

Of course, in the series of materials “Photoshop for Beginners” we will not study the editor professionally, but will only get acquainted with its basic capabilities. But trust that this will be enough for you to perform most of your daily tasks when working with images or photographs. In the future, having taken your first steps and understood the basic concepts, you can continue to improve and master more complex functions of the program.

Before we start mastering Photoshop, I would like to immediately say a few words about the methods of distributing this application. It probably won’t surprise anyone if I say that it’s paid. But the price... The cost of one license is over 25 thousand rubles, which of course is beyond the means of most ordinary users. However, recently, Adobe has switched to a new method of distributing its products - by subscription. Now, to use its programs, including Photoshop, you will have to pay a subscription fee of 600 rubles monthly. The only respite for users may be the 30-day free period of use after the first installation of the application.

And one last thing. It is important to learn to work in Photoshop by understanding your actions, and not performing them mechanically, simply following written instructions. To do this, the user must have at least a basic understanding of the basic types and characteristics of digital images. Therefore, if you do not yet know what raster graphics, resolution and image format are, then before you start studying the capabilities of a graphics editor, read the article.

Installation

Probably the first question that most users have is where to get or download Adobe Photoshop. Currently, the latest version of this graphics editor is Photoshop CC, which is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud cloud package. You can download a free 30-day trial version of this product from the official website of the developer. As for previous versions of the program - Photoshop CS6, CS5 or earlier, you can download their distributions using any search engine for the request: “download photoshop”.

If you download an application from the manufacturer’s website, then to install it you will be asked to download and run a special small utility that will help you install the program in a few simple steps. However, to successfully install the application you will need to go through a short procedure at registration.

If you downloaded the disk distribution package of the previous version of the program (CS5 or CS6), then find a folder in it called Adobe CS(5/6) and run the Set-up.exe file located inside it. Then simply follow the instructions of the installation wizard.

When you first launch the graphics editor, you will be asked to either enter a license key or activate a 30-day trial period during which you can use Photoshop for free.

In some cases, the original copy of the program may come with tools for hacking it (key generators), which can only be used at your own peril and risk, since their distribution is illegal.

Program interface

After launching Adobe Photoshop for the first time, you will see the main program window, which has several areas.

At the top of the window there is main menu bar programs and control Panel(in CS5). Moreover, they can be located either in one line or below each other. Everything will depend on the size of the application window.

The control panel is divided into three areas. The leftmost one at the bottom includes the following elements:

• Menu icon for managing the active program window (PS).
• Icons for launching additional Bridge applications (Br, Mb).
• A button responsible for displaying auxiliary elements (grid, guide lines and rulers).
• Button for selecting the scale of the open document.
• A drop-down list with commands for organizing multiple documents.
• Button for switching screen modes.

In the middle part of the control panel there are buttons for selecting the program’s working environment. The working environment in Photoshop refers to a specific location on the screen of application control interface elements (windows, panels, palettes). By default it is installed in the editor Primary work environment, considered universal for all types of work. In addition to it, the developers also offer us several specialized working environments designed to work in certain areas (3D, Drawing, Animation, Photography, and so on). To switch between them, you can use the arrow icon. And finally, each user can independently customize the interface to their own taste and create their own working environment. At the initial stage we will use the main working environment.

On the right side of the control panel there is a CS Live button, when clicked, a drop-down menu opens with access to Adobe thematic online services.

Adobe Photoshop CS6 no longer has a control panel as such. All that remains of it is the PS button and a modified switch between working environments.

Immediately below the menu bar and control panel is located Properties panel current instrument.

The next most important control in Photoshop is Toolbar, located by default along the left edge of the program window. It contains icons of working tools, as well as buttons for selecting foreground/background colors, turning on/off editing in the “Quick Mask” mode and changing the screen display mode (in CS6).

By default, all icons on the control panel are located one below the other in one column. But you can put them in two columns by clicking on the small arrow button at the top of the panel. You can also unpin it from the left edge and place the panel anywhere by dragging the mouse pointer over its header.

Along the right edge of the application window there is a system for placing various panels or, as they are also called, palettes, which, like tools, are actively used when creating and processing documents. Palettes are rectangular windows that can have several tabs at once, in each of which you can scroll through the contents. In addition, like regular windows, you can collapse and expand palettes, resize them, or move them anywhere on the screen. At the same time, to expand the working space of the document, all right panels can be collapsed into icons using the button with two arrows located above them. Clicking on it again will open the panels back.

The set of panels that appears on the right side of the screen depends on which one was selected working environment. As we already noted, by default in Photoshop it is installed Primary work environment, in which three main panels are displayed at the right edge of the window: Color with an additional Swatches tab, Adjustments with an additional Styles tab, and Layers with two additional tabs Channels and Paths. To the left of them, but already in the form of icons, are the History, Properties, Symbol and Paragraph panels. If, for example, you switch to the Drawing environment, then the following panels will be displayed on the right in open form: Swatches, Navigator, Brush Sets, Layers, Channels and Paths, and in the form of icons: History, Brush, Clone Source and Tool Set. Thus, by switching between environments, you can quickly change the current set of panels based on the direction of work.

Photoshop is a very feature-rich program containing many commands. Therefore, to make it easier to call the most popular ones, you can use hotkey combinations. This will significantly speed up your work in the editor and save you from searching for the necessary actions in its voluminous menu.

Creating and opening a document

Working in Photoshop begins by creating or opening an existing document. To create a new document in Photoshop, select the item at the top File and then in the drop-down menu the command Create(Ctrl + N). Immediately after this, you will see a dialog box in which you can set a number of parameters for the newly created document.

First of all you need to enter the values Widths And Heights the created image. The units of measurement you can choose from are Pixels, Inches, Centimeters (default), Millimeters, Points, Peaks, and Columns. Subsequently, you can always change these values, as well as all the others.

Permission The document must be selected based on the purposes for which you plan to use the image in the future. The default resolution is 72 pixels/inch and is suitable for most digital graphics applications. Higher resolution settings may be needed for images intended to be printed on printers or printing houses.

Color mode There is no need to change without special reasons. Suitable for most computer images ColorsRGB 8 bit, which is installed by default. We will also not touch additional parameters, such as Color profile And Pixel aspect ratio.

The last main parameter you can set for a new image is its Background content. By default, the background is set to white. You can also choose any other color or make it transparent. A transparent background appears as a checkerboard pattern and is the most versatile choice.

When all parameters are specified, click on the OK button. After this, a blank document of a given height and width will open in front of you, which in Photoshop is called canvas.

And yet, most users use Photoshop at home to edit ready-made images. In order to open the desired file in the program, use the command of the same name Open(Ctri + O) from menu File.

Next, a dialog box will appear in front of you in which you need to find the required document on your computer, select it and click the button Open. The selected image will then appear in the Photoshop workspace. You can also open the desired file by simply dragging its icon into the application window.

Document handling modes

Adobe Photoshop has three modes for working with documents. Switching between them is carried out using the main menu item View and the options in it Screen Modes. This can also be done using a special button located at the very top of the program screen.

The first, most basic mode is called "Standard window" and installed by default. In it you can open and work simultaneously not only with one, but also with several documents at once. In this case, each image will open in its own tab.

The bookmarks bar is located at the top, immediately above the work area. The active tab, which contains the document you are directly working with, is highlighted from the others in light gray. At any time, you can unpin the desired tab from the panel, after which it will transform into an independent window. To do this, just hover your mouse cursor over it and drag it in any direction. You can also return the tab to its place by moving its header back to the panel area.

In the following mode "Full screen with main menu" The bookmarks bar, scroll bars and status bar are removed from the screen, which somewhat expands the workspace. But at the same time, working in this mode is possible only with one image.

Finally, you can select full screen mode, called "Whole Screen", where initially all panels will be hidden. To call the toolbar or panels on the right, just move the mouse cursor to the desired edge of the screen. You can also press the Tab key, after which all panels, the tool properties bar and the main menu will appear on the display. As in the previous case, you can work in full screen mode with only one document. To return to standard mode, use the F or Esc key.

If you open several images at once in Photoshop, by default they will be displayed on the screen strictly one at a time, each in its own tab. But sometimes during work it is required that several documents be displayed on the display at once. For example, this is convenient when you want to transfer a fragment of one image to another window by simply dragging the mouse.

To control the display of all open windows in the application, there is an option Arrange, located at point Window main menu. You can also display all documents in CS5 using the button Organize documents located at the top of the program window on the control panel.

Using this command, you can arrange working images on the screen in any way convenient for you: in vertical or horizontal tabs, in a grid, in a mosaic, in a cascade, in groups, and others.

Saving an image and changing its format

As with many other applications, two commands are used to save the work done: Save(Ctrl + S) and Save as(Shift + Ctrl + S). You can find them in the same drop-down menu File. The first time you save a document, the effect of both commands will be the same. A dialog box will open in front of you, where you will be asked to select the name, location and format of the file. In the future, the team Save used to save all changes to the current document. The action Save as Select this if you want to make another copy of the file by changing its name, type, or location.

Despite the fact that Photoshop is an advanced graphic editor, it can also be used for quite simple, but at the same time very popular operations with images. In particular, this concerns the ability to quickly convert graphic files from one format to another, for example, in order to reduce their size.

Open any image in Photoshop and select the command File - Save As. In the dialog box that opens, click on the arrow in the field File type. You will see a drop-down list containing more than four dozen different graphic formats. Select the appropriate one and click the button Save. Thus, if necessary, in a matter of seconds you can change the image format, for example from PNG to JPEG, TIFF, GIF and many others.

Resizing an Image

Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editor primarily designed for creating and processing the most common type of image - raster. Recall that raster images are a rectangular grid consisting of dots (pixels), each of which corresponds to a specific color value. Thus, the main qualitative characteristic of any raster image is resolution, which shows how many pixels it consists of. It is clear that the higher the resolution, the higher the image quality.

However, for high quality, as a rule, you have to pay with an increased file size. Of course, modern hard drives have large capacities and allow you to store photos and pictures in the best quality without much inconvenience, without worrying about the lack of free space. But there are often situations when too high an image resolution becomes a problem.

For example, let's imagine a situation where you want to publish your photos online or send them to friends by email. In the first case, a large file size can cause serious difficulties for users when opening your images from website pages. In the second, the files may simply not be sent due to certain restrictions imposed by the mail service on their size. Also, do not forget that processing large-sized images imposes increased demands on computer performance. Therefore, when working with digital images, you often have to change their resolutions in search of the optimal balance between image quality and file size.

It is important to understand that the resolution and quality of the image are formed during its creation and depend on the settings you choose in the editor, as well as during the scanning or photographing process. And although in the future you can increase the resolution of the picture, its quality will not improve. Therefore, initially it is better to create high-resolution photographs, and then, if necessary, lower it, but not vice versa.

So let's get down to business. First, let's open any image using the command we already know Open from the menu File.

As an example, we will use this image with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels and a size of 3.26 MB. For obvious reasons, on this page you see a smaller copy of it. You can use any other photo for training.

After opening the document in the program window, select the option in the top main menu Image, and then in it the item Alt+Ctrl +I).

In the window that opens, there are two areas with the specified dimensions. The upper area reflects in pixels or percentages the current resolution of the image with which it is displayed on the monitor screen. This is what interests us in the first place, since here you can change the size of the picture if it is being prepared for further digital use, for example, publishing on the Internet, viewing on a computer, or adjusting it to fit the size of a desktop picture.

To change the document size, enter any appropriate value in the width or height field. Another parameter will change proportionally, since initially in the lower part of the window in the item Maintain proportions There is a check mark that can be unchecked if necessary. Immediately after changing the width and height values, in the upper part of the window you can see how the file volume will change after this procedure.

Below the dimension of the digital image, another size is displayed that the drawing will have, but not on the monitor screen, but after printing on the printer. They can be specified in more familiar quantities - centimeters, millimeters, inches and others. In this case, the print resolution is set separately. If you do not plan to print the image you are working with, then there is no need to change these settings.

By default, the print resolution is set to 72 pixels/inch. As we have already noted, this resolution is standard when viewing an image on a computer monitor, but if we are talking about high-quality printing, then it is better to make its value equal to at least 200 pixels per inch. The standard resolution for photo laboratories is 300 dpi.

To achieve the desired resolution, you must either change the width or height of the print, or set its value manually (then the width and height will change automatically). However, if you do not want to resize the digital image, then uncheck the box Interpolation.

After entering the desired image width and height, click the button OK for the accepted changes to take effect, and then save the image in a new file.

In our example, lowering the initial image resolution to 1600 x1200 pixels led to a halving of the file size - from the original 3.26 MB to 1.57 MB. At the same time, visually, without strong scaling, no difference between the two pictures is visible on the monitor screen, as you can see for yourself.

There is another way to resize an image in Photoshop - geometric. This is done using the option (Alt+Ctrl +C), also located in the menu already familiar to us Image.

As in the previous case, we are again asked to independently select the required width and height of the image. Let's do it and see what happens. Set the horizontal and vertical dimensions again to 1600 x 1200 and click OK.

As you can see, the image was simply proportionally cropped along all edges to the size we specified. That is, in this case, we do not change the resolution of the drawing, reducing the number of points of which it consists, while preserving all its contents, but directly the physical dimensions of the width and height of the canvas on which the drawing is located. In this case, the resolution remains unchanged, since along with a decrease in the number of pixels, the content of the image also decreases.

Now let's go back to the window and see what other interesting possibilities this tool provides us. Firstly, you can enter the dimensions of the visible part of the image, both in absolute values ​​and in relative ones. For example, if you need to increase the canvas by 10 cm in width, then check the option Relative and enter in the field Width the number “10”, choosing centimeters as the units of measurement. To reduce sizes, you must enter negative values.

Secondly, you can specify the direction in which the canvas size will change. The switch is responsible for this function Location, made in the form of a square divided into nine sectors. To see clearly how this works, enter any arbitrary image size values ​​that differ from the original ones. Next, click on any sector, and you will see how arrows will show which sides of the picture will be changed and how.

By default, the central sector is active. This means that when you resize the image, each of its sides will be enlarged or reduced in equal proportions. For example, if you want to reduce the image by 100 pixels in width and 50 in height, then in this case it will be cropped 50 pixels on the left, 50 on the right, 25 on the top and 25 on the bottom. If you choose the option as in the left picture, then 100 pixels on the right, 25 on top and 25 on the bottom will be cropped. Well, in the right version, the image will be cropped by 100 pixels from the top and 50 pixels from the left.

Once the appropriate sizes and applications have been selected, click the OK for the changes to take effect.

To achieve the desired image size, often both tools we have discussed are used in combination. For example, let's imagine that our task is to prepare an image of a tree for printing on 15x10 cm photo paper. We know that our digital image is 2560 pixels wide and 1600 pixels high, which means we are dealing with an aspect ratio of 16 :10. We need a 15:10 ratio, so first our image needs to be cropped to 2400 pixels in width.

To do this, open a window in the field Width enter the value 2400 and press OK. After this, our image will be cropped by 80 pixels on each side, without much damage to the overall composition. Next, select the command. Since we are preparing a drawing for printing, check the box Interpolation can be removed so as not to change the digital resolution of the image. In the print dimensions, set the width value to 15 and check that the units of measurement are set to centimeters. In this case, the height value will automatically change to the 10 cm we need, and the resolution to 406.4 pixels/inch, which is excessive even for very high-quality printing. Now, after clicking OK, our image will fully meet the necessary requirements and is ready for printing.

Rotate and flip an image

Another simple, but often popular operation with an image is its rotation and reflection. Therefore, in Photoshop these functions did not go unnoticed by developers.

To rotate the canvas in any direction, use the option in the menu Images.

After hovering the mouse cursor over this item, a drop-down menu with all available commands will open in front of you, including:

• Flip the image 180 0 .
• Rotate the image clockwise and counterclockwise by 90 0 .
• Arbitrary rotation at any angle.
• Reflect the canvas horizontally and vertically.

As you can see, all the team names speak for themselves, so comments here will probably be unnecessary.

Conclusion

This concludes our first acquaintance with Adobe Photoshop, in which you learned what basic elements the program's user interface consists of, and also learned some basic operations with a graphic document (creating, opening, saving, changing format and size, rotating and reflecting ).

In the next article we will talk to you about how you work with image fragments in Photoshop, and we will look at methods for scaling them, as well as tools responsible for selecting different areas of the document.

09/21/13 7.1K

The vast majority of all web designers use one of the most powerful graphics packages, Photoshop, as their primary tool. It contains huge functionality.

Today, Adobe Photoshop has become so rich in various possibilities that you should use it. It is no exaggeration to say that he is the most famous graphics editor in the world. For the past 20 years, developers have been improving their brainchild, making it more and more perfect with each new version.

The tools in Photoshop are very powerful and versatile. They allow you to edit images, crop and resize them, create graphic effects, and much more. All designers need support for the CMYK color scheme and the excellent editing tools that the editor provides.

This article covers the basic and some advanced tools of Photoshop. Although this article may not seem interesting to professionals, it will be a very good help for beginners in getting to know this software package. I hope this article will cover the basic functions quite clearly.

Basic Photoshop Tools

The Toolbox is located on the left side of the Photoshop workspace. Some icons contain several tools at once, which can be accessed by holding the left mouse button over the desired icon.

1. Eyedropper Tool

   This tool is used to quickly take a color sample of any pixel in an image to decide whether it is suitable for you to use or not. This tool allows you to, for example, take a sample of skin color or sky. The eyedropper can sample a color anywhere in an open image, while also providing some other functionality.

   
   Select the eyedropper from the toolbar and try taking different colors from the images. The secondary color changes with each eyedropper click on the image. In addition to sampling a single pixel, the tool can average 3 by 3 pixel areas, 6 by 6 pixel areas, or larger areas if you require it.

2. Type Tool

   This is perhaps one of the most powerful and sought-after Photoshop tools with enormous potential. It is used to create vector outlines of fonts. There are several variations of this tool. Tool " Vertical text» is useful, for example, for entering Chinese and Japanese hieroglyphic writing, or for artistic purposes for ordinary text. The horizontal and vertical text tools have similar attributes.

   

   
   The Text tool is used for both paragraphs and single lines. The “Text Mask” tool selects the outlines of the text after it has been entered. The appearance of the typed text can also be changed using the tools: " Text along the outline of a shape», « Text along selection outline" And " Text along selected curve" Tool " Text along the outline of a shape» allows you to create text that follows the outline of various shapes that you can select from a drop-down list. " Text along selection outline» makes it possible to enter text along the contour of a randomly selected area. " Text along selected curve» places the text along the drawn curve.

3. Burn Tool

   The hotkey for calling this tool is the button of the Latin letter “O”. "Dimmer", as the name suggests, is designed to darken areas of an image. White and light pixels are darkened by this tool, which looks like a hand. The more times you use Darkener on one area, the closer it gets to black. Left-click and hold over the corresponding icon on the toolbar to select “Dimmer" (see image below). Next, select a brush from the set in the drop-down list on the top panel.

   

   
   Now you can adjust the brush size as you wish, choose the range of influence of the tool (dark, medium, light tones). The “Dark Tones” range allows you to affect only the dark areas of the image, “Mid Tones” affects only areas of medium brightness, and the “Light Tones” range, accordingly, allows you to darken only the lightest areas.

   You can also adjust the exposure (Image>Adjustments>Exposure) to control the amount of correction made by the Burn tool. A lower value gives more control over dimming. To use the tool, simply drag the brush where you want to darken the area of ​​the image. If you are not satisfied with the result, then press the key combination Ctrl+Z to cancel the action.

4. Dodge Tool

   You can lighten the area with the Dodge tool. Once selected, you can specify the degree and nature of the tool's impact by changing the brush type and tonal range. The extent of the impact of the Brightener can also be determined by the exposure settings. The procedure for using this tool is similar to the “Dimmer” tool.

   

   
   Select the “ Lightener” tool from the toolbar and set the desired brush type and size using the drop-down list in the panel at the top of the program window. Then, select the range of exposure: dark, medium or light tones. You can then change the exposure to adjust how much the tool affects the image. Use Clarifier only on small areas. This tool only allows you to modify existing images and cannot be used to create them.

5. Smudge Tool

   This tool is designed for lubrication and uses a warping effect. This tool blurs pixels in a way that is similar to using watercolors, and has its own settings. We recommend using the Smudge tool on small areas for a natural-looking effect. If you overuse it, you may lose the necessary image details.

   

   
   First, open the image you're going to work on, select the Finger Tool from the Tools panel, and make adjustments in the Options Bar to achieve the desired effect. You can select the brush type and size from the drop-down list. Next, select a blend mode and change the blur intensity by entering an exact number or moving the slider. Low intensity values ​​give a softer blur effect. Start painting with your brush in the selected area to give the image the desired effect. You can either add small details or radically influence the picture. After making changes, be sure to save the file.

6. Blur Tool

   This tool can be used to restore images and create artistic effects, such as the effect of a soccer ball moving. Blurring can also be used to focus the viewer's attention on specific elements. This is achieved by reducing the contrast between adjacent pixels. The Blur tool is used in a similar way to the Finger tool.

   

   
   Go to expert mode in the graphics editor and open the image. Select the Smudge tool from the toolbar. Next, select a brush type from the drop-down list in the options bar. Adjust the blur area using the brush size slider. Use the blur filter if you want to blur the entire background while leaving the foreground object sharp.

   Select the blending mode and intensity of the tool in the options bar to set the desired blur options. If the image consists of several layers, you can check the option " Sample from all layers"so that neighboring pixels are taken from all layers when blurring. Apply the Blur tool in the desired areas and do not forget to save the file after making changes.

7. Content Aware Fill Tool

   This tool, based on image analysis, can remove unwanted elements from it (for example, debris from sand). This helps correct complex, detail-rich images.

   

   
   First, make a copy of your image so you don't have to make any changes to the original. Two identical layers will appear in the Layers panel, the original image will be located at the bottom of the list and labeled “Background”. A copy of the image will be edited. Circle the area that you want to replace or delete using the “ Selection Tool»(Selection Tool) from the toolbar. You can also hold down the left mouse button over the "Lasso Tool" (Lasso Tool) and select other selection tools, for example, "Magnetic Lasso" or " Polygonal lasso", depending on the shape of the object.

   Next, press the F key on your keyboard to enter full screen mode for simplicity and select the object by moving the cursor close to the object's boundaries. After that, go to the menu " Edit>Fill..» Select from the drop-down list « Content-aware» and click OK. Photoshop will fill the selected area and the object will be deleted. If the object you want to remove is very large, you may need to break it down into smaller pieces and process them separately.

8. Puppet Warp Tool

   This is an extremely useful tool for making minor changes to the image you are editing. First, upload an image and very carefully select the desired object. Using the Pen Tool, trace the area around the object as accurately as possible, ending at the starting point and forming a loop. With the Pen tool selected, right-click on the resulting shape and select “ Create a selected area..."(Make a Selection).

   

   
   Enter a value for the parameter " Feather radius» (Feather Radius), then press OK. Next, select the “Area” (Marquee Tool) by right-clicking on the selection and selecting “Refine Edge..” (Refine Edge) to final select the area.

   Select the object precisely and click " New layer with mask"(New Layer with Mask). Now you have two layers: one contains the object, and the other contains the original image from which this object will be removed. Go to the menu " Editing>Puppet Transformation» (Edit>Puppet Warp) and transform the object, placing the key points as needed. Drag them using the Alt+click combination to change the shape of the object as required.

9. Marquee Tool

   The “Area” tool is designed to select areas of rectangular, ellipse, or column shape. You can access it by holding the left mouse button over the tool " Rectangular area» on the toolbar.

   

   
   Select one of the tools and select an area on the image. If you hold down the Shift button while making a selection, another area will be created and joined to the existing one, forming a whole selection. If you hold down the Alt button, then when selecting, the new area will be subtracted from it when it intersects with the existing one. You can create an area in the shape of a rectangle, ellipse, square or circle by holding down the Alt and Shift keys while selecting.

10. Clone Stamp Tool

    This tool is used to retouch imperfections such as bruises and abrasions. It uses user-selected pixels and replaces edit areas with them.

    

    
    Open the image you are editing and select the Stamp tool from the toolbar in Expert mode. After that, select the brush type and size from the drop-down list. Next, select a blend mode from the options bar. Use the Opacity slider in the options bar to make the cloned elements more transparent.

    Then, check the Aligned option for a constant offset relative to the clone source being cloned. Select the option " Take a sample from all layers"(Choose the Sample All layers) if you want the sample for cloning to be taken from all visible layers.

    You can also use the " Substrate cloning» (Clone Overlay) to align the object with the underlying image. Use the Alt key + click on the image to select the object to be cloned, and then left-click to apply cloning in the desired area. Don't forget to save the edited image.

11. Save for Web and Devices tool

    By selecting the menu " File>Save for Web and Devices..» (File>Save for Web and Devices..), you can prepare photos and images for viewing on various devices. With the file open in full screen mode, select this tool. On the left side of the screen you will see the original, and on the right you will see the image with the quality settings applied.

    

    
    By setting the settings, find the optimal size for the web image. In addition, you can reduce the file size in the file saving dialog box (JPEG, GIF, PNG 24 and others are available, as well as final image quality settings). Select the image zoom level or enter an exact zoom level. Set the zoom to 100% and switch between different settings to get the best quality/size ratio.

12. Crop Tool

    The image canvas size can be cropped using the Crop tool. You can either increase or decrease its size. Open an image and select this tool from the corresponding panel. You can also press the Latin key “C” to quickly call up the frame.

    

    
    Select a rectangular area and adjust its size using black dots located along the contour of the frame. You can select a blend mode from the drop-down list in the toolbar. Press Enter or Return to complete the cropping and set the new canvas size to the same size as the selected frame.

13. Magic Wand Tool

    Using this tool, you will be able to select an area with a similar color or brightness. You can also highlight areas with complex edges, such as the edges of buildings against the sky or trees.

    

    
    Select " Magic wand", holding the left mouse button over the tool icon " Quick selection"(Selection Tool). In this case, all pixels adjacent to the selected point are selected. You can also select the comparison mode and adjust the “Tolerance” parameter, which shows how close the selected pixels will be in characteristics to the one that was clicked on.

    In case of a multi-layered image, select the option " Take a sample from all layers» (Check the Sample Merged) in the options panel so that the sample is taken from all layers, and not just from the active one. Comparison options include RGB value, hue, brightness, and opacity. The Tolerance setting allows you to define the selection area and tells Photoshop how close the selected pixels should be to the original one you clicked on.

14. Healing Brush Tool

    This tool is very similar to the cloning tool. It also transfers pixels from one area to another. However, this tool takes into account the dark, mid and light tones in the area being treated. Textures and colors from the original area are used to realistically restore the other.

    

    
    Go to full screen mode and open the image you want to restore. Select the tool " Healing brush» (Healing Brush Tool) on the toolbar. You can adjust the hardness and diameter of the brush in the options bar, and choose the round, angle, blending mode and offset to achieve the most realistic effect. The source can be either a sample taken or a specific template. Select the “Aligned” option for a constant displacement of the sample and the “All Layers” option, which allows you to take into account all visible layers of the image. Alt-click on the area from which the sample will be taken for restoration and then, while holding Alt, click and drag the mouse cursor to restore the damaged parts of the image.

15. Move Tool

    This tool helps you move an image, layers, and individually selected elements. Open the image and select the Move tool icon in the corresponding panel. A form with control elements will appear around the object. With their help, you can resize and rotate the image or move it.

    

    
    When you resize the image, it stretches/shrinks to fit the frame. If, when resizing, the frame intersects the border of another object, then it is fixed on it in order to perform the most accurate adjustment of the images.

    This publication is a translation of the article “ A Beginner's Guide to Photoshop Tools", prepared by the friendly project team

    Good bad

    Looking at the latest versions of Photoshop, one could ask the question: “Well, what more could you want from a graphics editor?” Or even like this: “Does it make sense to update the program to version CS 6?” In fact, the latest version has many new tools specifically for photographers, and in this material we will look at the five most useful and convenient ones.

    Adaptive Wide Angle Filter

    This filter was designed with fisheye and ultra-wide angle lenses in mind - it's one of those features you don't realize you need until you start using it. It allows you to correct photos taken with wide-angle lenses, achieving a more natural perspective. The ability to process composite images such as panoramas is very impressive.

    Then we go to Filter > Adaptive Wide Angle Filter and add stop lines to define the elements that should be straight in the result. The filter performs processing based on the EXIF ​​metadata embedded when using the Photomerge function, so the panorama or composite image needs to be using the CS6 version.

    

    This feature is a must-have for photographers whose interests lie in landscape photography and architecture.

    HDR processing in Adobe Camera Raw 7.1

    The latest version of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) 7.1 allows you to process 32-bit HDR TIFF images just like regular ones RAW , JPEG or TIFF files. This is a huge leap compared to HDR toning in Photoshop, which is difficult to master and use. The most interesting settings are the Basic panel, which clearly takes into account the needs of processing images with high dynamic range.

    

    The updated version of ACR 7.1 allows you to process 32-bit TIFF -images created in programs such as Merge to HDR Pro or Photomatix, if the image layers are merged. Using sliders is no different from the same actions when processing a simple raw file.

    

    This is the final version, with the toning settings adjusted to bring out detail in both the shadows and highlights.

    Blur Tools

    Some of the processes in PhotoshopCS 6 can be completed faster than before. This allowed us to create a new set of blur filters. New custom blur effects - Field, Iris and Tilt-Shift - are much faster and more accurate than the old Lens Blur filter.

    

    Rooftop view of San Francisco at night, original image.

    

    Here Radial Blur was used to apply a blur radiating out from the store Macy's in the center. In Photoshop CS6, you can quickly adjust this blur in real time by changing the position of the sliders in the Blur Effects and Blur Tools panels.

    

    The settings used in the example are shown here, but the results will be different if you experiment with the Light Bokeh and Light Range sliders. Unfortunately, these tools cannot be used on layers with smart objects.

    In the example below, the Iris Blur filter is replaced with Tilt-Shift. With Tilt-Shift blur, you can adjust the Distortion slider, which partly allows you to create realistic images that imitate the effect of real Tilt-Shift lenses.

    

    Patch tool in content-aware fill mode

    One of the major updates in Photoshop CS5 was the Content-Aware fill mode. mode ), which allowed automatic filling of the selected area using information about adjacent areas of the image. Menu Edit>Fill>Content-Aware Fills (Edit>Fill>Content-Aware). The new version of Photoshop has added a content-aware fill mode for the Patch tool. Now you can decide from which area to make a “smart” fill. In addition, there are 5 adaptation methods from which you can choose after applying the fill and choose the most accurate calculation result.

    

    This image has a lot of beautiful, organic details - a great opportunity to try out a new tool. Select the Patch tool, select the unwanted object, and then manually specify the area from which you want to copy the fill information. We also have an additional option to select the most suitable algorithm.

    

    

    One of the keys to success lies in using the customization options menu, to the right of the Patch menu.

    The images below show how using this option you can change the fill result based on the content: