Tool Box

If you used other Adobe products, such as Illustrator or InDesign, you should be familiar with the toolbox in Adobe Photoshop CS4 as it shares some of the tools from these applications. If you are a novice user of Adobe products, you should keep in mind that you might not need to use all of the tools. In this tutorial, only the basic tools will be discussed in depth.

 

Some tools in the toolbar have additional “hidden” tools. These tools have small black triangles in the right-hand corner. To view the “hidden” tools, click and hold down on any tool that has a black triangle in the corner (Fig. 1).

 

Fig. 1. “Hidden” tools

Selection Tools

Marquee-
Selects an object by drawing a rectangle or an ellipse around it.
Click the tool button, choose a rectangular or an elliptical marquee. Drag the marquee over the area of the image you wish to select.


Move-
Used to select and move objects on the page.
Click the tool button, then click on any object on the page you wish to move.






Lasso-
Selects an object by drawing a freehand border around it.
Click the tool button, drag to draw a freehand border around the are of the image you wish to select.




Polygonal Lasso-
Selects an object by drawing a straight-edge border around it.
Click the tool button, click on the starting point on the image, drag to draw a straight-edge border, click and drag again to select the are of the image you wish to select. Double-click to finish.




Magnetic Lasso-
Selects an object by drawing a border that snaps to the edges of the defined area of the object.
Click on the starting point on the image, drag around the are of the image. The tool will make fastening points at the edges. To finish selecting, drag the border to the starting point and click precisely in the point.




 Magic Wand-
 Selects all objects in a document with the same or similar fill color, stroke weight, stroke color, opacity, or blending mode. By specifying the color range, or tolerance, you can control what the Magic Wand tool selects.




 Crop Tool-
 Click the tool button, then click on the area of the image you wish to select.
Selects and cuts parts of an image.
Click the tool button, then click and drag the tool over the part of the image that you want to keep. Resize the selected area dragging the squares at the sides and corners. Click the RETURN key when your crop box is sized correctly.




Slice Tool-
Used to cut images into slices, which can be exported to a web page.

Alteration Tools

Healing Brush-
Corrects small blemishes in scanned photos.
Select the tool, hold down the ALT key and left-click on the base color you need to heal. Then left-click over the blemish.




Brush Tool-
Draws lines of different thicknesses and colors.
Select the tool. Then click on the selected area, drag to draw lines. Use the Options bar to change the Brush, Mode, Opacity, and Flow.




Clone Stamp-
Takes a sample of an image and applies over another image, or a part of the same image.
Select the tool. Hold down the ALT key and left-click on a certain point of the document where you want to start your copy point. Then, put your mouse over whatever part of the new document you want the picture to go to. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse across the page to copy the picture.




Art History Brush-
Paints over an image using the source data from a specified history state or snapshot.
Select the tool, specify the Brush, Blending Mode, Opacity, Style, Area, and Tolerance.




Erase Tool-
Removes part of an existing path or stroke. You can use the Erase tool on paths, but not on text.
Select the tool, click on the part of the image you wish to erase. Drag to erase pixels.




Paint Bucket Tool-
Fills and entire area with a specific color of your choice.
Select the tool. Choose a foreground color in the Color Box. Select an area you wish to apply the color to. Click the tool button, then click on the selected area.




Gradient Tool-
Applies a gradient fill to a selected part of the image or to an entire layer.
Select an area you wish to apply gradient to, click the tool button, choose a fill in the Options bar, click on the starting point, hold the mouse down and drag to the end point.




Blur Tool-
Blurs the sharp edges of an image.
Select an area where you wish to apply the tool. Click the tool button, choose the Brush, Mode, and Strength. Drag the brush along the edges.

 

 

Drawing & Selection Tools

Direct Selection Tool-
Selects paths and path segments.
Select the tool, click anywhere on the path.




Type Tool-
Types text on a page. Every time you click the Type Tool on a new portion of the page a new layer will be created.
Select the tool, click on the page and begin to type. You can specify the font and size in the Options bar. You can also resize and transform the text box by dragging the squares at the sides and corners. Use the Move Tool to move the text on the page.




Pen Tool-
Draws smooth-edged paths.
Select the tool, click on the page, drag to draw a path. Click and drag the anchor points to modify the path.




Rectangle Tool-
Draws a rectangle shape. Other shapes that are hidden in this tool are: Rounded Rectangle Tool, Ellipse Tool, Polygon Tool, Line Tool, and Custom Shape Tool.
Select the tool, click and drag on the page to draw a shape. The shape will be automatically filled with the current foreground color. 

Assisting Tools

Eyedropper Tool-

Takes color samples from colors on the page and displays Tool them in the Color Boxes.
Select the tool, click on the color in the image you wish to sample. The Color Box will display this color.

Hand Tool-

Allows you to move around within the image.
Select the tool, click on the spot on the page, hold the mouse button down, drag to move in the area.

Magnifying-

Magnifies or reduces the display of any area in your image Glass Tool window.
Select the tool, choose Zoom In or Zoom Out in the Options bar, click on the area of the image you wish to magnify or reduce.

Rotate View Tool-

 Rotates the canvas
Select this tool and click and drag outside of the canvas and the canvas will turn. Hold Shift to make sure that the canvas will snap to certain degree points.

Color boxes & Modes

 Color Boxes-

The foreground color appears in the upper color selection box and represents a color that is currently active. The background color appears in the lower box and represents an inactive color.
To change the foreground color, click the upper color selection box in the toolbox.
To change the background color, click the lower color selection box in the toolbox.
To reverse the foreground and background colors, click the Switch Colors icon (the arrow) in the toolbox.
To restore the default foreground and background colors, click the Default Colors icon (the little black and white boxes) in the toolbox.

NOTE: If you are using the Gradient Tool, the currently selected foreground and background colors will be the default colors of the gradient.

Modes-

Edit in Standard Mode and Edit in Quick Mask Mode are used for modifying images in the unmasked or masked area.

Background: පසුතලය, යමක පසුබිම, අපැහැදිලි හෝ අප්‍රධාන තැනක්, කෙනෙකුගේ පසුබිම් තොරතුරු, ආධාරක තොරතුරු, විසිතුරු

PALETTES

Below is the description of the most commonly used palettes in Adobe Photoshop CS4. Palettes used for more advanced image editing will be covered in the Adobe Photoshop CS4 Tutorial -Intermediate.

 

COLOR, SWATCHES, STYLE

The Color palette (Fig. 2) displays the current foreground and background colors and RGB values for these colors. You can use the sliders to change the foreground and background colors in different color modes. You can also choose a color from the spectrum of colors displayed in the color ramp at the bottom of the palette.


Fig. 2. Color palette


 In the Swatches palette (Fig. 3) you can choose a foreground or background color or add a customized color to the library.

 
Fig. 3. Swatches palette

  
The Styles palette (Fig. 4) allows you to view, select, and apply preset layer styles. By default, a preset style replaces the current layer style. You can use the styles in the palette or add your own using the Create New Style icon.

 Figure 4. Styles palette

 HISTORY

 The History palette (Fig. 5) stores and displays each action performed allowing you jump to any recent stage of the image alteration. The alterations should be created during the current working session; after saving or closing the document the History palette clears all the contents. Each time you apply a change to an image, the new state of that image is added to the palette. The History palette can store up to 20 stages. However, you can always go back to the first stage, for example opening the document. It is important to know that once you click on any of the previous stages, all the changes that were made after it will be lost.

 

Fig. 5. History palette

 

 ADJUSTMENTS

 Adjustment layers give you the ability to apply an effect to a group of layers in Photoshop, and then you can edit that effect later, while preserving the original layers.

 

 Fig. 6. Adjustments palette

LAYERS

 Layers let you organize your work into distinct levels that can be edited and viewed as individual units. Every Photoshop CS4 document contains at least one layer. Creating multiple layers lets you easily control how your artwork is printed, displayed, and edited. You will use the Layers palette (Fig. 6) often while creating a document, so it is crucial to understand what it does and how to use it.

A) Layer Visibility -The eye shows that the selected layer is visible. Click on or off to see or to hide a layer.

B) Layer Locking Options -

 Click the checkered square icon to lock Transparency; click the brush icon to lock the Image; click the arrow icon to lock the Position; click the lock icon to lock all options.

C) Layer Blending Mode -
 Defines how the layer’s pixels blend with underlying pixels in the image. By choosing a particular blending mode from the dropdown menu you can create a variety of special effects.

D) Fill - 

By typing in a value or dragging the slider you can specify the transparency of the Fig. 6. Layers Palette color of the image or object.

E) Opacity - 
By typing in a value or dragging a slider you can specify the transparency of the entire layer.

F) Layer Lock - 
The icon shows when the layer is locked and disappears when it is unlocked. Double-click the icon to unlock the layer.

G) Layer Options Menu - 
Click the black triangle to see the following options: New Layer, Duplicate Layer, Delete Layer, Layer Properties, etc. Some of the options are presented as icons at the bottom of the Layers palette.

H) Link Layers – 
Can be used to link layers together.

I) Layer Styles -
 If a layer has a style, an “F” icon shows at the bottom of the Layers palette. Click the little black triangle to see style options.

J) Layer Mask - 
A grayscale image, with parts painted in black hidden, parts painted in white showing, and parts painted in gray shades showing in various levels of transparency.

K) Layer Set - 
This option helps to organize images with multiple layers. Click the icon to create a folder for several layers.

L) Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer - 
Have the same opacity and blending mode options as image layers and can be rearranged, deleted, hidden, and duplicated in the same manner as image layers. Click the icon and select an option to create a new fill or adjustment layer.

M) Create New Layer - 
Click this icon to create a new layer.

N) Delete Layer - 
To delete a layer, select a layer in the Layers palette and drag it to the trash can icon; or, select a layer and click the icon.