Lesson 1

Open Image and Copy Background

1. Open Photoshop (From your Start Menu > Programs > Adobe Photoshop Elements or CS5)

2. Open your image by going to the File menu and selecting Open.

3. Choose the File and click Open

4. Make sure the Layers Palette is visible, if not go to Window > Layers

5. Copy your background using the keyboard shortcut CNTRL + J or Command + J

Adjust Levels

1. Click on the Cookie and choose Levels.

Adjust the sliders.

Black = Shadow, Gray = Midtone, White = highlights.

Click OK.

2. Turn on and off the visibility of the Adjustment layers to see the difference.

Crop and Straighten

1. Click on the Background Copy (Layer 1). Click on the Crop Tool in the Tools Palette (keyboard shortcut is C)

2. Draw a crop Marquee around the edges of the image image and pull the corners in to set the area that will be cropped (the area inside the crop mark will be left and the area outside will be discarded)

3. Make sure the Perspective box is not checked

4. To straighten the image, move your cursor just outside the marquee near a corner. Your cursor icon will change to a double-pointing curved arrow indicating that you can rotate the marquee.

5. Rotate and move the marquee so that one edge follows a horizon line.

6. After you get that one edge aligned with the horizon, reposition all four edges to mark the exact crop area.

7. Press Return or Enter on your keyboard to crop the image.

Add a border using the crop tool

1. First select the background color by clicking on the Set Background Color Square in your Tool Palette. Choose your color and click OK.

2. Next make a crop selection and drag the borders outside of the document area.

3. When you're happy with the selection press enter.

You will see a colored border added to your photo.

Rotate & Flip

1. Using the cropped image, go to the 


Image Menu > Rotate Canvas > 180 degrees

2. go to the Image Menu > Rotate Canvas > 90 degrees CW

3. go to the Image Menu > Rotate Canvas > 90 CCW

4. go to the Image Menu > Rotate Canvas > Flip Vertical

5. go to the Image Menu > Rotate Canvas > Flip Horizontal

Merge Down

Click on the Levels Layer and hold down CNTRL + E or COMMAND + E to merge down.

Save the image:

Save your image by going to the File menu -> Save As

(Choose JPEG for finished images, PSD for unfinished images).

For JPEG save the image at the highest size (Size 12).

Advanced Students

watch this video:

http://www.deke.com/content/photoshop-cs5-top-5-common-sense-enhancements

Content Aware Fill (New in CS5)

[Make sure you are working on a Flattened image]

1. Drag out the crop tool to match the boundaries of the image.

2. Rotate the crop tool so that the corners are outside of the image.

3. Click Enter to apply the crop.

4. There should be some spaces that are filled in with the background color, where there was no image. Circle one of those areas using the Lasso tool.

5. Click Delete or Backspace to bring up the Fill dialog box.

6. Choose Content Aware Fill. Click OK.

7. Repeat steps 4-6 for the remaining areas.