Title Details

Jennifer Smith is cofounder of American Graphics Institute as well as a Certified Technical Trainer. She is a member of the AGI Creative Team, which develops and delivers training programs for creative, marketing, and communications professionals globally.

Starting up

About Photoshop Digital Classroom 1

Prerequisites 1

Adobe Photoshop CS6 versions 1

System requirements 2

Starting Adobe Photoshop CS6 2

Resetting Adobe Photoshop CS6 preferences 3

Loading lesson files 5

Working with the video tutorials 6

Setting up for viewing the video tutorials 7

Viewing the video tutorials with the Adobe Flash Player 7
Additional resources 8

Lesson 1: Exploring Photoshop CS6

Starting up 9

Experimenting with new Vector capabilities 11

Filling a vector shape with a pattern 12

Adding a mask to a Vector layer 16

Using the new brush tips 16

Saving the new Brush 18

Adding strokes to vector images 19

Cloning your new snowflake 22

Adding Text layers from another document 23

Updating text styles 27

Cropping an image 27

Self study 29

Review 29

Lesson 2: Getting to Know the Workspace

Starting up 31

Opening an existing document in Mini Bridge 32

Discovering the Tools panel 34

Selection, Cropping, and Measuring Tools 34

Retouching and Painting Tools 35

Drawing and Type Tools 35

Navigation Tools 35

Accessing tools and their options 36

Using panels 40

Putting the panel system to use 41

Choosing other panels 43

Expanding and collapsing your panels 44

Customizing your panels 45

Hidden tools 47

Navigating the image area 50

Using the Zoom tool 50

Using the Hand tool 52

Tabbed windows 53

Maximizing productivity with screen modes 54

Self study 57

Review 57

Lesson 3: Taking Advantage of Adobe Bridge

Starting up 59

What is Adobe Bridge? 60

Navigating through Bridge 60

Using folders in Adobe Bridge 62

Making a Favorite 65

Creating and locating metadata 67

Using keywords 69

Creating a Metadata Template 70

Opening a file from Adobe Bridge 72

Searching for files using Adobe Bridge 72

Searching by name or keyword 73

Using the Filter panel 74

Saving a Collection 75

Automation tools in Adobe Bridge 76

Batch renaming your files 76

Additional Photoshop Tools 78

Automated tools for Photoshop: Web Photo Gallery 79

Saving or uploading your Web Gallery 81

Automated tools for Photoshop: PDF contact sheet 83

Changing the view 85

Self study 87

Review 87

Lesson 4: Photoshop Basics

Starting up 89

Opening an existing document 91

Understanding document settings 91

Viewing an image’s size and resolution 91

Combining the images 93

Using Copy and Paste 93

Dragging and dropping to copy an image 93

Transforming and editing combined images 95

Changing the size of a placed image 96

Removing a background 97

Understanding the stacking order of layers 98

Refining the edges of copied images 99

Adding text 100

Saving files 101

Understanding file formats 101

Choosing a file format 102

Saving a JPEG file 102

Saving for print 103

Changing the color settings 103

Adjusting image size 105

Saving a Photoshop PDF file 106

Self study 107

Review 107

Lesson 5: Making the Best Selections

Starting up 109

The importance of a good selection 110

Using the Marquee tools 110

Creating a square selection 113

Creating a selection from a center point 115

Changing a selection into a layer 116

Working with the Magic Wand tool 118

The Lasso tool 120

Adding to and subtracting from selections 121

Deleting from the selection 121

Saving a selection 123

Feathering the selection 123

Using the Quick Selection tool 125

Making difficult selections with the Refine Edge feature 126

Using Quick Mask 128

Saving selections 131

Copying and pasting a selection 133

Using the Pen tool for selections 134

Using the Pen tool to select an area of an image 137

More Pen tool selection techniques 139

Converting a path to a selection 143

Self study 144

Review 144

Lesson 6: Painting and Retouching

Starting up 145

Setting up your color settings 146

Color primer 146

Understanding color gamut 146

The RGB color model 147

The CMYK color model 147

Working in the RGB mode 148

Editing color settings 149

Selecting colors 152

Starting to paint 154

Using the Color panel 155

Using the Brush tool 156

Changing opacity 158

Save time—learn the shortcuts 159

Using the Brush Presets 160

Using the Airbrush feature 162

Creating a Border using the Bristle brushes 164

Applying color to an image 165

Changing blending modes 167

The Eyedropper tool 168

Retouching images 171

Using the Clone Stamp tool 171

Repairing fold lines 173

The History panel 175

The Spot Healing Brush 176

The Healing Brush 176

Using the Patch tool 178

Using the Clone Source panel 179

Cloning from another source 182

Self study 184

Review 184

Lesson 7: Creating a Good Image

Starting up 185

Choosing your color settings 186

Opening the file 187

Why you should work in RGB 188

Reading a histogram 189

Making the Curve adjustment 190

Defining the highlight and shadow 192

Locating the White and Black Point 193

Inputting the white and black point values 193

Adjusting the midtones 199

Setting the neutral 202

Sharpening your image 205

Comparing your image with the original 207

Taking care of red eye 208

Using the Camera Raw plug-in 209

Using Camera Raw controls 213

Saving a DNG file 215

Reopening a DNG file 216

Self study 217

Review 218

Lesson 8: Getting to Know Layers

Starting up 219

Discovering layers 220

Getting a handle on layers 220

Creating a new blank file 220

Naming your layer 222

Selecting layers 225

Tips for selecting layers 226

Moving layers 228

Changing the visibility of a layer 229

Using masks in a layer 229

Preserve transparency 231

Creating a composition 235

Moving images in from other documents 235

Creating a layer mask 237

Editing the layer mask 238

Cloning layers 241

Aligning and distributing layers 242

Applying filters to layers 243

Creating a type layer 244

Applying a layer style 247

Creating a clipping mask 248

Testing out the new Filter for the Layers panel 250

Self study 251

Review 251

Lesson 9: Taking Layers to the Max

Starting up 253

Making color changes using adjustment layers 254

Refining the adjustment layer mask 257

Adjusting the Hue/Saturation layer 261

Adding a pattern fill layer 262

Defining the pattern 262

Applying the pattern 263

Using the Black & White adjustment layer 265

Adding a tint 267

Applying a gradient to the adjustment layer 268

Layer styles 269

Creating the text layer 269

Applying the Outer Glow layer style 271

Applying the Bevel and Emboss layer style 274

Changing the shading 275

Changing the fill opacity 276

Saving the style 277

Accessing the style 277

Self study 279

Review 279

Lesson 10: Getting Smart in Photoshop

Starting up 281

Creating a composition using Smart Objects 282

Opening an image as a Smart Object 283

Converting a layer to a Smart Object 286

Placing a Smart Object 288

Editing a Smart Object 288

Editing the contents of a Smart Object 291

Modifying multiple Smart Object layers 293

Replacing the contents of a Smart Object layer 295

Working with Smart Filters 297

Modifying a Smart Filter 301

Self study 303

Review 303

Lesson 11: Using Adobe Photoshop Filters

Starting up 305

Filter basics 306

Starting to use filters 306

Using the Clouds filter 306

Fading your filter 308

Using the Filter Gallery 309

Applying filters in the Gallery 311

Taking advantage of Smart Filters 313

Applying a Smart Filter 313

Smart Filter options 316

Enabling and disabling effects 318

Using a filter effects mask 319

Using the Vanishing Point filter 323

Building your own perspective planes 325

Building an attached plane 326

Self study 328

Review 328

Lesson 12: Creating Images for Web and Video

Starting up 329

Changing your units of measurement 332

Creating the web page 333

Adding the Text 334

Adding Style to the text 335

Creating the text for the links 336

Positioning and distribution of text 337

Creating slices 338

Slicing it up 341

Selecting and combining slices 342

Applying attributes to your slices 343

Using Save For Web 345

Optimizing the image slices 349

Saving files for video 350

Creating animation 352

Working in Frame mode 352

Saving an animated GIF 356

Creating animation for HD video 357

Working in Timeline mode 357

Self study 364

Review 364

Lesson 13: Introducing 3D

Creating a 3D object 366

Confirming that you can use Photoshop 3D features 366

Locating the GPU/OpenGL preferences in Photoshop CS6 366

Getting an image ready for 3D 367

Wrapping the image around a soda can 368

Positioning the soda can in 3D space 372

Adjusting materials and lighting 374

Working with light sources 375

Animating the soda can 376

Exporting your animation 378

Creating 3D Text 380

Applying materials to the 3D mesh 383

Rendering and Rasterizing your 3D images 384

Exporting your 3D image 386

Self study 387

Review 387

Lesson 14: Photoshop CS6 New Features

Starting up 389

New Look and Feel 390

Sketch and paint with new brush tips 391

New content-aware tools 393

Investigating the Content-Aware Move tool 394

Stroke and fills 395

Layer panel improvements 398

More options for creating patterns 399

New and improved 3D features 401

OpenGL is now required 401

Better tool unification 401

3D Widgets 401

3D Merge improved 401