Photoshop CS6 One-on-One: Fundamentals

Covers the image editing process from the very beginning and progresses through the concepts and techniques that every photographer or graphic designer should know.

Photoshop CS6 One-on-One: Fundamentals is a concise and focused introduction to the key features in Photoshop, presented by long-time lynda.com author and Adobe veteran Deke McClelland. This course covers the image editing process from the very beginning and progresses through the concepts and techniques that every photographer or graphic designer should know. Deke explains digital imaging fundamentals, such as resolution vs. size and the effects of downsampling. He explains how to use layers to edit an image nondestructively and organize those edits in an easy-to-read way, and introduces techniques such as cropping, adjusting brightness and contrast, correcting and changing color, and retouching and healing images. These lessons distill the vast assortment of tools and options to a refined set of skills that will get you working inside Photoshop with confidence.

1. Opening an Image

• Welcome to One-on-One
• Opening from the Windows desktop
• Opening from the Macintosh Finder
• Opening from Photoshop or Bridge
• Opening an image from Mini Bridge
• Opening through Camera Raw
• Closing one image and Closing All

2. Getting Around

• Navigating your image
• The dark vs. the light interface
• Navigating tabs and windows
• Panels and workspaces
• Zooming incrementally
• Zooming continuously
• Entering a custom zoom value
• Scrolling and panning images
• Rotating and resetting the view
• Cycling between screen modes
• Using the Navigator panel
• Adjusting a few screen prefs

3. Image Size and Resolution

• Digital imaging fundamentals
• Image size and resolution
• The Image Size command
• Common resolution standards
• Upsampling vs. real pixels
• Changing the print size
• Downsampling for print
• Downsampling for email
• The interpolation settings
• Downsampling advice
• Upsampling advice

4. Using Layers

• The layered composition
• Introducing the Layers panel
• Adding, scaling, and aligning layers
• Dragging and dropping layers
• Stack, reveal, and rename
• Opacity, history, and blend mode
• Duplicating a selected portion of a layer
• Applying a clipping mask
• Blending inside a clipping mask
• Finishing off your artwork
• Creating a new layer and background
• Layering tips and tricks

5. Saving Your Progress

• The art of saving
• Four things to know about saving
• Saving layers to PSD
• Saving print images to TIFF
• Saving an interactive image to PNG
• Saving a flat photo to JPEG

6. Crop and Straighten

• Honing in on your image
• The new and improved Crop tool
• Editing your last crop
• Straightening a crooked image
• Filling in missing details
• Using the Perspective Crop tool

7. Adjusting Luminance

• First, there is brightness
• How luminance works
• The three Auto commands
• Automatic brightness and contrast
• The Brightness/Contrast command
• The dynamic adjustment layer
• Editing adjustment layers
• Isolating an adjustment with a layer mask
• Introducing the histogram
• Measuring an adjustment
• Using the Shadows/Highlights command

8. Adjusting Colors

• And second, there is color
• Identifying a color cast
• Correcting a color cast automatically
• Changing the color balance
• Compensating with Photo Filter
• Adjusting color intensity with Vibrance
• Correcting color cast in Camera Raw
• The Hue/Saturation command
• Summoning colors where none exist
• Making more color with Vibrance
• Making a quick-and-dirty sepia tone

9. Select and Edit

• Making selective modifications
• The geometric Marquee tools
• Aligning one image element to another
• The freeform Lasso tools
• Polygonal Lasso tool and Quick Mask
• Cropping one selection inside another
• Creating rays of light
• Quick Selection and Similar
• Making it better with Refine Edge
• Integrating image elements
• Magic Wand and Grow
• Refine, integrate, and complete

10. Retouch and Heal

• Your best face forward
• Content-Aware Fill
• Using the Spot Healing Brush
• The more capable "standard" Healing Brush
• Meet the Clone Source panel
• Caps Lock and Fade
• The Dodge and Burn tools
• Adjusting color with the Brush tool
• Smoothing skin textures
• Brightening teeth
• Intensifying eyes

Conclusion

• Goodbye