Basic Edits in PHOTOSHOP

Basic Edits in PHOTOSHOP

FILE>OPEN , find image to open.

CTRL M-­‐ CURVES Adjusts the lighting of the entire image. (RGB) Place cursor in center of grid, slightly move up and to the left.

To Correct coloring: (G) if image is RED….click cursor in center of grid and use up arrow to add GREEN. (B) move cursor up to reduce yellow in image, move cursor down to add yellow.

CTRL L –LEVELS 3 arrows under histogram represent the values in the image.

HISTOGRAM: Far left (black arrow) DARKS Middle (gray arrow) medium tones Far right (white arrow) high lights.

The histogram should go all the way across. If it doesn’t pull arrow in to get to the start of the black area.

(ADD MORE HIGHLIGHTS by moving white arrow to left, make darks stronger by moving black arrow to right. *Before adding darks it’s a good idea to move center (gray)arrow to left to lighten entire image then pull in the black arrow to strengthen darks. This avoid FAKE COLORS.

If an image is too bright or DULL CTRL U-­‐ SATURATION….ONLY MESS WITH CENTER BAR!!!

Take to left to DEsaturate and to the right to SATURATE. Think of a sponge-­‐ full of water is SATURATED with water…like a photo SATURATED with color.

SHIFT + CTRL + U = DESATURATE This will make your image Black and White. Once image is black and white Levels will need to be readjusted. When working with B&W images, its best to desaturate first then adjust lighting.

Making Cutouts.

Use POLYGONAL LASO to outline image.

Shift + Ctrl + I : SELECT INVERSE> This will select everything EXCEPT your image.

Choose background eraser. (Eraser with scissors) Click once on the part of the image you want to erase then hit DELETE. CHECKERBOARD MEANS THE BACKGROUND IS EMPTY!!!

Then CTRL D to deselect!

If edges of cutout are choppy use eraser (settings: choose appropriate size and make sure hardness is at ZERO) carefully go around entire image to soften edges.

SAVE AS PNG FILE! If you save as a JPEG file it will flatten your image and the background will turn white….

Make sure you always SAVE AS so you keep the original file!