In today’s world of advanced technology hardly anything is limited in terms of how it can be shaped, adjusted or modified one such thing is the way in which pictures can be edited. Adobe Photoshop is a multimedia software that is used to edit, enhance and modify digital images. The range of changes that can be made are almost limitless and task that were once impossible for previously processed pictures can now be easily modified with just the click of a mouse. While the Adobe Photoshop is in some sense complex and has a lot of layers, this article will strive to provide you with the needed information so the reader will be able to use the software.
Things you will need
- Computer system
- Adobe Photoshop
Instructions
- Make sure your computer has at least 1GB of memory, a video/graphic card and a good amount of hard drive space. The Adobe Photoshop software requires a lot of computer speed and power. If your computer specs are not up to par you may have to consider getting a new computer or upgrading it.
- Purchase the Adobe Photoshop software from an electronic store or an online store. When you have received it, follow the procedure and install the software. When this is complete open the program by going to the desktop and then double click the Adobe Photoshop shortcut icon or go to ‘Start’ then ‘Program Files’ and then to Adobe and Adobe Photoshop.
- When the program opens, start a new editing session by going to the menu, click File and click ‘New’ and insert the necessary criteria for the session such as the size and colour of the background image. You may adjust the preferences by pressing Ctrl+K. Then you can insert a digital image by going to ‘File’ again and ‘Open’, source the image file and click ok.
- When the image is inserted and on display there are numerous amounts of options for you to choose form to edit. The one which we will discuss in this article is the ‘Filter’ option which allows you to add various interfaces to your current digital image. Go to the main menu and click ‘Filter’ then a list will drop down showing several categories to choose from. Some of effects under filter are brush strokes, artistic, blur, noise, distort, pixelate and more. You can preview the options and then when you have found the effect you want to apply click ok.
- Adjustments to these preselected effects can still be made to modify its intensity, hue or contrast. Play with the settings until you are pleased with your result and then click ‘OK’ and the effect will be applied to the photo. You can undo or redo changes that you have made while you go along by using the undo or redo button or the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z respectively. The more effects you apply and use on the picture, the more memory and hard drive space that will be used up.
- When you have finished editing and modifying all the pictures you need, go to the main menu, go to ‘File’ and ‘Save the Project’ or Save the Project as’ so the Adobe Photoshop file will be saved that it can be accessed and modified again at later date.
- To the right side of Adobe Photoshop, there is a toolbox, displaying another set of tools that can be used for editing such as marquee, move, brush, history tool, eraser tool, dodge tool, burn tool, type tool, wand tool and type mask tool. All these tools can be used to create designs, composites or drawing that can either be done on their own or applied to other digital images.
Do’s and Don’ts
- While you are using Adobe Photoshop, always save your work. If not you risk losing the file and you may have to start over the whole process again.
- Check the websites and stores for all the newest and latest plug-in effects that can be used with Adobe to give you different features, looks, fonts etc.
- Find Adobe Photoshop tutorials to that go more in depth on its concepts and teach you a wide variety of techniques to expand your understanding of the program. Getting better at using the program also requires a lot of practice.
- If you are really interested using Adobe Photoshop on a professional level, there are courses offered at various Colleges and Universities that go in depth with how to maximize its use. You can search for these courses online or through different brochures.
