I hope you enjoy these 10 Free Basic Photoshop Tutorials on PDF!

Just click on a lesson or use the Bookmarks tab in Adobe Acrobat Reader to choose a tutorial. You will also nd out about how to get all 60 tutorials on PDF in addition to 250 Basic Photoshop video tutorials. Enjoy! -Orion Williams 9/9/04

Record an Action Discover the Healing Brush Modifying Selections: Part I Modifying Selections: Part II

Discover the Pen Tool & Paths Path Editing Discover the Background Eraser Discover the Polygonal Lasso Tool Discover the Quick Mask Mode Discover the Layer Mask

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Modifying Selections: Part I

When you have made your selection and you have the proper layer selected in the layers palette (here, the layer with the wall if there are other layers) then go to Edit: Copy. This will retain that data of the selected area. Now go to File: New, Press OK when the dialog box comes up to create a new document. This feature has probably been around since the beginning of digital image editing and Photoshop 1.0 Im sure. Its good to learn the shortcuts Ctrl C, Ctrl N and Ctrl V. Its important to note that when you copy a selected area the new document will be created based on the dimension or proportion of the selected area on an X and Y basis. Because the selected area reached the vertical and horizontal limits of the original image, the new document will be created with the same dimensions as the original document. If you want to create a new document you can either Image: Duplicate or select a layer that covers the entire image dimensions such as the background layer by Select: all and making sure the background layer is selected in the layers palette and then you can create an exact dimension copy.

Now that youve pasted it you can see that we did select the background. When you paste it will automatically put that selection onto its own layer.

Well what if we made this selection of the background but wanted to select the woman as the subject? Easy, just right click (when on a marquee or lasso tool) in the original document and then you can choose Select Inverse. This will now select the areas that havent been selected which in this case happens to be the subject and the dead palm trees.

When making selections youll most often want to select the easiest way and use the tools together to get a selection. It all depends on the circumstances. With difcult backgrounds sometimes there is no easy way. The art of the selection will be covered in depth in the upcoming AdvancedPhotoshop.com. Go to the moVe tool in the upper right corner of the toolbar and drag this selection into the new document. Here in the layers palette you can see that I have both of the separate selections on their own layers. To fully understand layers you may want to read about the Basic Photoshop full training here.

After youve made a selection and put it on its own layer and you plan on making more changes to it; you might want to rst make a duplicate copy by dragging it to the new layer icon and work on this version of the layer. With the eraser tool you can go in and clean up areas of the selection that maybe got skipped over before.

Remember that you can change the size of the eraser brush in the options bar or by using the [bracket] keys. On the duplicated layer go ahead and erase the dead palm trees (or whatever is on your sample image). Photos.com doesnt want me actually distributing these images but you can get these same ones with full access from their website. Its well worth it if youre at all serious about Photoshop and especially graphic design.

You can use some more of the basic selection techniques such as right clicking and choosing Similar or grow after using the magic wand tool to select areas of blue that might be remaining.

In using these, once again if you have accidentally selected areas that you dont want selected, you can use subtract from selection in the options bar of the lasso (or marquee tools). Then simply lasso around the area you want selected. See how easy it is for you to learn? Do you have any idea how long it took me to fully understand this simple concept? Good..

You can use the eraser to get rid of these spots but if theyre too small you might want to select them rst ie. with the magic wand tool and then you can Ctrl X them out of the picture to clean it all up.

Now nd another picture which you think would make a great background. Now that you have the foreground subject and youve essentially removed the background, you can pull in another open image with the moVe tool by dragging it in. It will automatically appear above whatever layer is selected in the layers palette. In this case it shows up on top so you will have to move its order in the layers palette to beneath the main subject layer to t in the manually created background space.

In this case the sunset was appear behind the main subject so if this happens to you remember that you have your transform options under the Edit menu. Go ahead and ip it horizontally. Now the sunset appears on the other side where there is breathing room for it to be. This is good common design sense which you probably have, its just good to know the tools to how to do it!

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Modifying Selections: Part II

Here we will continue covering some basic-intermediate selection techniques. Grab the polygonal lasso tool. Since we already have a selection were going to get rid of a certain part of the selection and keep the part that we want to keep.

Choose Subtract from Selection from the options bar. Now go ahead and create a lasso selection all the way around the area that you want to get rid of from the overall selection. It doesnt even have to be pretty AT ALL, as long as you keep the marching ants inside the area.

Now that you have subtracted or deselected that area nd any other areas that you want deselected, go over there and use the same method to enclose off that area to deselect it from the overall selection.

Just work your way all the way around the area you want to deselect. With the polygonal it will draw straight lines and you click to add a point to move it in another direction. Whats weird and cool is that you can click outside of the actual document with the polygonal lasso to help work your way around to the start point to close it off. Try this out.

In this case I am getting rid of the dead palm tree leaves and wanting to retain just the main subject herself. Its important to understand these concepts of knowing how to modify a selection.

Now with the moVe tool, remember that you can move the selection from within the selected area. In this case we already have a duplicate layer on top so were just moving that selected version of her over.

Here you can see in the layers palette Ive turned off the layer and you can see the selection that weve made.

Go back in History to move her back. You can also use Edit: Undo Move.

Now lets do something else. Once you have a selection you can save it a few ways. One of the ways is by right clicking (when on the appropriate tool such as lasso) and choosing Make Work Path...

Under the Paths palette you can see the work path that youve now created. You can see the hard edged line around your subject.

This will convert the selection you have into a Path. A path is one way of storing your selection and takes up a nanobit of space in the total le size because it is basically a mathematical equation. It saves much more space than duplicating and retaining a copy of the layer (fyi).

Arent you glad you dont have to learn all this stuff the hard way? Dont be stubborn like I did. Just keep on learning everything you can Once you have work path you can make it back into a selection by highlighting it and then right clicking and choosing Make Selection... Press enter again if you dont want to feather (add a light blur) and get your exact selection back. In the Paths palette you can click off of the path and onto the empty space as shown to de-select the work path and click on it to re-select or show the work path. Youll want to understand paths and path editing b/c you can make your own work paths (ending up in a selection or a custom shape) from scratch and they are used all the time in vector shapes and design.

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Discover the Healing Brush

The healing brush is just an incredible tool in Photoshop 7 & CS. This tool alone is often worth the price of the software if youre a professional photographer or retoucher. All you have to do is Alt/Opt click to choose a source point (aka sample) from which to heal or replace into with the healing brush. Try it out if you have the appropriate version of Photoshop. Choose a good part of skin that you want to heal into a bad part. And Alt click and then just use the brush to magically heal the bad part. Photoshop does the actual job of somehow replacing and mixing the pixels. Once again you have brush options. You can also choose Pattern instead of sample if you want to really screw up this guys forehead. Photo is from my photos. com collezioni.

It will be up to you as the master of Photoshop and its tools to decide what parts to blend in where. Because the skin tone is generally consistent you can sample from a good part of it to heal a worse part; vs. sample from his hair to heal skin. On the PSDer Disc II: Techniques training I go over this tutorial in full motion right inside Photoshop.

Here you can see a before and after view. I only worked on it for about two minutes. It is so much better than the old school way of selecting with a lasso and copy pasting, the healing brush is just a godsend for all Photoshop users in retouching jobs.

You can create a snapshot in the history palette of where youre at. This saves the current state of the document at the top of the palette. As long as the documents open you can switch between different snapshots.

Here is the result after using the healing brush to heal clear areas into the lacking areas for the touchup job. Its a powerful tool.

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Discover the Background Eraser

Here is a demonstration of the background eraser tool. This tutorial will also morph into how to use it to get a selection. This is by no means my favorite way of getting a selection but the tool itself can come in handy in particular circumstances (such as touching up a nished selection/layer that has pixels left between frizzy long hair).

Get the tool and you can right click or use the options bar or brush palette to choose an eraser brush size. In most cases youll want a large one.

To erase the background simply move the background eraser around. It is the crosshairs in the middle that determine the point of what is going to be erased of everything that is within the circle of the brush. What is actually erased and to what degree is determined by the tolerance % level. In this case of varying greens on the grass Im probably going to have to adjust the tolerance a bit. Its best to use a regular eraser for vast expanses of background that need to be erased and use the background eraser when you want to erase close to your foreground subject that hopefully has a distinct color difference than the background (once again tolerance comes into play). A higher tolerance will erase pixels that are more and more different in color range from the original (or continuous) sample point of the crosshairs (see the sampling menu).

The difference between contiguous and discontiguous is really quite simple. Contiguous will erase everything that is within the color range closest to the crosshairs. If there is something in the way (such as a braid of hair) that breaks up the ow of the closest color range, it wont reach beyond to erase it (even if it is within the reach of the brush). For example here you see that contiguous isnt getting that patch of green on the other side of her.

When you turn on discontiguous (I hate typing that) the eraser will basically jump across the vastly different outside-the-color-range-braid-of-hair over to erase the within-range-color of the patch of grass. Try it out for yourself.

Keep using the magic eraser to go around the outskirts of the subject. Its ok to overlap of course for example with his reddish black hair because its not in the sampling color range and tolerance of the crosshairs.

Heres a spot for a regular eraser which you can use later because the erasing is leaving particles and it is getting too choppy. Remember that you have a lot of tools at your disposal to edit images with. Its important to understand them all.

Heres another example of discontiguous in action. Note how it jumps beyond off color range of the picnic basket to get to the in-color sampling range of the grass inside the handle.

Heres a result of using the background eraser tool. Its pretty accurate for creating a clearly dened foreground object as long as you have a distinct background that separates them. When color ranges are too close together then you get a lot of spilling over and it gets ugly and even tolerance might not save you.

To take it further..I dont use this method anymore..but you could now make an ofcial selection of your work. Grab the Lasso tool (L) and draw a loose selection all the way around the subject.

Now switch to the moVe tool and nudge up once and then down once with your arrow keys on the keyboard. This will close the selection in around the subject.

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Now you can do such things as make a new background layer by creating a new layer and then lling it with a color of your choice using any of my taught methods.

To ll an entire layer youll want to Select: Deselect (Ctrl/Cmd D) the selection and then ll otherwise youll ll the selected area on a new layer. Make sure that layer is beneath the foreground layer in the layers palette. Grab a large regular eraser and just clean up the spots or pixel dust that is left behind on the layer of your foreground subject.

Prepare to ll the background with another color if you want, after clearing up extraneous pixels.

Change the color if you want to, swipe a gradient, pull in a different background image with the moVe tool, add some text, etc. and youre ready for print.

In this case I want you to know I didnt spend the time cleaning up the rest of the foreground layer. Hopefully the designer in you is cringing and thinking what is that ugly red background doing with this nice family?...good youre thinking. (I was in a hurry making 60 of these tutorials in a few days) Now pull in a background picture that would work nice in my other tutorials. I would also recommend a background if you want to keep any grass that would complement the foreground layer and which you could do some radial gradient layer masking to get a perfect blend (zhooommmm). The more I look at this photo the more I wonder what I was thinking. But hopefully you learned the background eraser tool and much more in this tutorial. Check out many more Photoshop tutorials here; theres lots to learn!

Discover the Polygonal Lasso Tool

Get the polygonal lasso tool from the lasso menu on the toolbar. Open up an image of a nice easy to select shape with a few straight lines such as this oriental heating duct.

To use the tool just click at each corner point and drag in a new direction. If you have a perfectly straight line or want one then hold down the shift key when going to your next intersection. You must complete a full lap all the way around to close off the selection properly. Now that youve made a selection of your object, right click and choose layer via copy. This will put (the selection of) the object onto its own layer.

This is pretty standard procedure and not that hard to master but its another important concept to understand and use in practicum. Now that its on its own layer you can grab the moVe tool in the upper right corner of the toolbar and move the layer around (weeee). Youve basically duplicated a part of the image that you wanted to by selecting it (in this case with the polygonal lasso tool) and put it on its own space. The polygonal obviously works well with nice straight lines and corners which need to be selected (such as architecture).

In the rst instance I also added the brick base to the selection. This is how it would look by selecting it by itself. Remember that you can extend outside the bounds of the document and click a point out there with this tool.

Here Im selecting the brick base and then cutting it (Ctrl/Cmd X) Edit: Cut to get rid of it from the new layer on top.

If you hide the background original layer then you can see the oriental lattice oating in midspace.

To create another replica of this red lattice, drag the layer to the new layer icon as shown in the layers palette. Now you have two layers of additional frames. You must fully comprehend and understand this Basic level of Photoshop before you can become a true guru and design the good shtuff (or you could cheat and do the design tutorials anyways).

Discover the Pen Tool & Paths

The pen tool can be quite difcult to actually master when using for advanced drawing including making curved paths but for now Ill give you an introduction to the pen tool and how to use it to make a selection. You can use the pen tool for drawing and creating your own custom shapes/vectors as paths or you can use it to make a selection. Here were going to use it to make a selection but youll be able to understand it enough to make a shape. Choose the pen tool (P).

Make sure that you are on Paths in the middle of the options bar as shown. Since you are going to make a selection, just use it to click in new anchor points along the edges of your subject as shown. Later you can use the pen/path editing tools to make adjustments. Just keep making anchor points around your subject staying as close to the edge as possible. You will have to meet both ends together to close off the path you are creating.

Once you have closed off your newly created work path. You can view it in the Paths palette. When you click off of the Work Path and onto the grey area the Path you made will be de-selected. You can always come back to the Paths palette to turn on or off the different paths for display or editing.

Now, you can right click and choose Make Selection. This will convert the path into an actual selection that you can use. Note: You can also create selections into Work Paths. Photoshop is exible. The work path is just a way of storing (and taking up nanobits of space) your shape or selection (in the form of a custom shape). Now you should have a good understanding of what the pen tool can do. Some people use it to create vector design (yikes) Id rather master Adobe Illustrator.

Here you can see that the Path is highlighted in the paths palette and that Ive Ctrl Clicked on the layer icon to create a selection. Smaller marching ants... Now that youve used the pen tool to make your very rst pen tool selection, go to the layer you need to be on in the layers palette and switch to the moVe tool. Use the move tool to move the selection around then undo it in the history palette. Now you know the basics of the pen tool.

Here is the Move tool moving the path turned selection. Now you could do something like layer via copy to put it onto its own layer and work with (for graphic design or adjusting).

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Discover Path Editing

Now Im going to cover basic path editing. You can use the editing tools to modify your path/shape. This allows you to not only have more control, but to come back at a later time and x something up. Remember that Paths are stored in the Paths palette. If you start creating a path, close it off and then use the pen tool elsewhere on the document it will all be on one path. You can create a new path in the Paths palette by pressing the new path icon; this will help you keep things separate as with layers. The path selection tool allows you to select an entire path or if you have more than one to immediately switch between selecting them. This will also reect in the Paths palette. When it is selected, you can move the path itself around the screen.

There is also the Direct Selection Tool. This tool allows you individually adjust anchor points within your path.

Here you can see the path being moved with the Path Selection Tool.

Under the Pen tool there are some more options. You can Add an anchor point anywhere along the path itself. This is the same as clicking with the pen tool when you were originally making the path and its anchor points.

The delete anchor point tool does just what it says. Just place it right over an anchor point to get rid of it. You can also right click for these options when on the Pen tool (P). When using the tool itself or right clicking you can add an anchor point along the path and delete only when above an anchor point.

You can add or delete anchor points where you see t in order to help you in the making of your path and getting it more accurate for when you want to end up with a selection or your custom shape.

You can also use the Convert Point Tool. This converts regular anchor points into more exible anchor points allowing you to move handles around and to create elliptical parts of paths. This is what really takes a while to...get a handle on.

After you have converted an anchor point you can adjust it in many more ways such as working on top of/creating rounded corners as this chin. You can move and stretch the handle bars to create ellipses. Go ahead and try it out; get a feel for it. You can create some advanced paths (for your selections or shapes) when you have come close to mastering this. With this tool you can go in and make better and more accurate adjustments so you dont have such harsh lines. Switch back to the direct selection tool to gain more control over this editing. Now you can move the entire anchor point with the handles where you want.

After you have converted points that need to have more editing exibility you can then move the handles and the anchor point itself to create the path that you want. Here Im just dragging the curve handle way down to expand the ellipse between two points. If I wanted to I could keep adding anchor points, converting them, move them with the direct selection tool all the way around the entire subject (quite time consuming though). The advantage of the pen tool and paths is that you can save them and come back to x them and they give you the most precise control over shapes and selections.

Remember you could edit a selection by making it a work path, editing it and then convert it back to a selection. This is a lot of editing control and if youre charging clients by the hour then it might work out well for you.

With the navigator you can also grab within the rectangle box and move it around to move the entire image. It looks really cool on a high res image when youre zoomed in..try it out.

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Record an Action
Its fairly easy to record your own action. To start off, go to the actions palette now click on the folder icon. This will create your own set. Give it a name in the pop up window.

Now you can press the New Action icon. Enter a name for your new action (ie. scanned in image size, color balance adjustment, etc.) Now all you have to do is record your action by pressing Record. When you have completed all of your actions (going through your process as you would normally) you can press the Red circle Stop button. You can take your time when recording an action; it only remembers specic commands, not how much time it took you between steps.

Remember that an action is just a set of commands or steps that you would take within Photoshop (it can record about anything you can do). You could record an action to make a simple 2 step image adjustment. By having it as an action in your actions palette, you can just open the other les and instead of having to go through the actual steps it would take to end up with the same result (same process) you can just press one button: Play (on your new action). An action is basically an automation step to simplify your workow (for example if theres a single process you nd yourself doing on many of images); it saves lots of time. Also by recording actions, you can later automate and batch les-many les all at once with the same action or sequence/process. This can save you HOURS of work. Here just record a simple action as Im doing. Im creating an action called imageweb. Once I press record Im going to the Image: Image Size and changing the resolution to 72 for the web. Once I perss OK the step will be recorded (and anything else I do in the dialog box such as change the image width) in the action step. When recording an action you are actually doing the steps you would take on an actual open document and using that as your master.

Once you have completed your steps, just press stop. Actions can be as simple as a one-step process but can still save you time (press one button). Now open another image. With your actions palette open, select your action (just the name of it) which should already be there; and press PLAY. This will run the action on the document youre working on. Instant automation. As a basic Photoshop user moving on, be aware of this tremendous power. Actions can get really advanced with stops, etc. You can even create and run entire batches to create templates out of a folder of les. The possibilities are endless!

Click on the original state of the document to go back to the start.

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Understanding the Quick Mask

This is an important tutorial because it is introducing you to the quick mask. The quick mask is a powerful way to get great selections accurately and its very exible. First start off with the lasso tool and make a very loose selection around an object

Now that you have made a selection, you can view it at any time (and do further editing) in the quick mask mode. To enter the quick mask mode press the icon as shown right here (you can also toggle between regular and quick mask modes with the Q keyboard shortcut). When you enter the quick mask mode you get a rubylith. This shows that areas that are de-selected in Red and the areas that are selected as clear.

You can further edit your selection in process (the quick mask becomes a temporary channel in the Channels palette and is gone when you exit the mode) by a number of ways including selection and lling (combined), gradient and using the brush tool (most common). Select the brush tool while you are in quick mask mode.

You can change the size of your brush in the brush dialog box in the options bar. Basically what youre going to do is paint in the areas that you want to deselect. In order to do this you also have to understand that black must be the foreground color in order to paint in red (dont let this confuse you...if the rubylith was black you wouldnt see anything) to deselect. To RESELECT you use white as your foreground color with the paintbrush. This is a very important concept I refer to often. Black hides pixels. White buys them back. It could take you a long time to get comfortable with this in an operational prociency. I cover dozens of tutorials on quick masking and getting great selections in my Basic Photoshop DVD Training; this will help you fully grasp and know how to use all of these tools like a pro.

Also, when you choose any shade between white and black you will get different levels of opacity in the resulting selection. The closer to black you are the more invisible the pixels and the closer to white the shade of grey, the more visible the pixels will be. White is pure original pixels (buys back) and black is pure hidden (masked) or invisible. Because the quick mask is a grayscale channel, no other colors are involved, just white to black and shades of grey in between. These are what you will paint with in order to select or deselect.

Switch the foreground color to white to retain the selection (clear) of the mountain edge.

Now just take your brush with black as the foreground color and ll in the rest of the sky carefully. The rubylith just shows you the actual job that you are doing. Feel free to lower the size of the brush to get into smaller areas (use the bracket keys [ ] to make the brush size larger or smaller). If you accidentally (or purposefully) spillover and deselect an area with red use the shortcuts of D,X to switch and get white as your new foreground color. With white remember you are buying back pixels, or preserving them in the ultimate selection, so just eraser the red rubylith to where it spills over into your mountain or selection object.

Press the Edit in standard mode button or Q to exit quick mask, delete the temporary channel (which will return once you enter again) and see the selection job that you have created. You can always enter quick mask mode again to keep working on or editing your selection. I much prefer the quick mask mode personally than to edit selections by making them into work paths and using pen editing tools. With the brushes it usually gets a great selection every time with nice clean edges.

It might take a few minutes depending on the type of selection job and complexity (even for pros) but learning this method is really a time saver. Try using the rectangular marquee to get a selection like this (yikes). Remember that you can also combine other selection tools and you can use the gradient tool, making selections in the quick mask mode and then lling with either white or black or your shade of grey. You can also enter the quick mask mode from scratch without rst making any selection (not recommended) and then you can use a large brush to just start deselecting areas to close in around your selection with black as your foreground color.

Here is the view of the quick mask mode in the Channels palette where the temporary channel (grayscale) is created. Note that the black area is deselected and the white area is the selected portion. The rubylith simply allows you to view your selection job in progress. Remember that you can also right click in standard mode (with selection tools such as the marquee...) to choose make work path. This is covered in another tutorial and is another (harder) way of editing your selections/paths. Make sure to go through the Photoshop DVD Tutorials and get lots of experience with quick masking. Its a great way to get a lot of professional work done and fast.

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Discover the Layer Mask

Use the eyedropper tool to get a sample of any color in your document. Click and the sample will not become the foreground color that you can work with.

For this educational tutorial, get an eyedropper sample to get your new foreground color in the color picker. Now drag the background layer of this photo to the new layer icon. This will duplicate the layer so you can change some pixels on. Switch back to the background layer by clicking on it so its highlighted in the layers palette. Now press the new layer icon to create a new and blank layer above the background layer.

Now you can ll this new layer with your foreground color several ways in which I teach. For now go to Edit: Fill and choose the default foreground color and press OK.

This will ll the layer with the new color you have chosen from the eyedropper tool.

Select the original copy you made in the layers palette which should be above the ll layer. Now click on the new layer mask icon.

What you are going to do is simply hide pixels by using the layer mask; theyre still there just hidden. By hiding some of the pixels on this layer you can let the layer beneath blend into this layer.

Grab your gradient tool with black as the foerground color and choose foreground to transparent as shown.

Now simply drag up with the gradient tool from the bottom at a slight angle towards the top (about 3 screen inches worth). Because you are on the layer mask, these pixels will now be hidden.

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In case you didnt know it you are now learning my secret weapon (gradient layer masking). This is the #1 technique that professionals use in graphic design. Its used in 90% of all movie posters (so that should say something). Any beginner can create professional results by mastering this process. Go to the channels palette and view the grayscale layer mask. Once again you can see the black area is the area that you have masked or hidden and the white is the area that is left. The red you see is the rubylith. You can click on and off with the \ key. Or you can turn the eye off in the channels palette to turn the rubylith on and off.

When you are done looking in the channels palette make sure that you reselect the RGB image composite to keep working on the document and layer.

When you right click on the layer mask you have many options to choose from. Try disable layer mask. This will turn it off with an X in the icon and will bring all your hidden/blended pixels back. This is so much better than erasing (using the layer mask).

Right click again and you can re-enable it. Remember that when using layer masks, if you want to keep hiding pixels you must make sure that the layer mask icon itself is highlighted in the layer. Otherwise youll think youre hiding pixels and instead youre on the layer itself instead of the layer MASK. It will take plenty of experience to get used to this. In the Basic Photoshop DVD training tutorials. I go through dozens of tutorials in which I am practically using the layer mask because I feel it is one of the most important things to master as Photoshop designer.

Choose a darker spot with your eyedropper tool.

Now select the ll layer in the layers palette to make it the active layer. Press alt backspace to ll this layer with your new chosen color. Now were getting into design which Im trying to keep strictly for photoshopdesigner.com and photoshopdesign.net but by combining different techniques here you can get a feel for how easy it is to create some nice work (where youre headed). Grab your type tool and just enter some complimentary text that you think would t with the image youve chosen. I have 100s of images from Photos.com that are personal picks (being a visual person) and are of the highest quality. I highly recommend a subscription to Photos.com

Combining a few more things here, go to the Shapes tool (U) and choose a shape. You can also use the yout menu to add All and then choose append. This will load all of the default shapes for you to choose from. In the video tutorials I also show you how to create your own custom shapes or vectors.

After appending, you can see all of the options.

You can have all kinds of fun playing around with these shapes but its really cool when you deliberately start to put together a design. Its then that the individual components start adding up.

To make things simple, just keep the option on shape layers. Now drag across with your chosen shape to the size you think it should be.

Remember that it will ll with your foreground color. If you want to change the color of the shape layer just click the color picker on the upper right in the options bar. Remember that you have lots of tools at your disposal. Go to Edit: Free Transform. Now hold the Ctrl key and angle your object in to the center as shown.

To add some more pizazz to your shape layer you can go to the blending options/layer effects and do smoe fun stuff. Try a gradient overlay and choose one that is close to your color theme. You can also change the angle or scale of the gradient which will apply to the layer. You can also create your own custom gradients. I teach this in some of the other tutorials and in the videos. Here Ive chosen a custom made gradient.

Here is the shortcut to getting the gradient overlay effect.

Here is the result of just a few of these basic Photoshop skills put together. The fun has only just begin. It gets exciting when YOU start harnessing all of the Power that lies in Photoshop with your creativity and new knowledge of Photoshop. Just wait until you see what you can do!

Adobe, Photoshop, and the Adobe Certied Expert logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. in the U.S. & other countries. Adobe Product Screen Shots reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems, Incorporated. BasicPhotoshop.com, AdvancedPhotoshop.com, PhotoshopDownloads.com, PhotoshopDesigner.com, PSDer, iPSD PhotoshopDesign.Net, ClubCast.tv, Discover Photoshop, & DiscoverPhotoshop.com are trademarks of DreamCore Productions, Ltd. U.S.A. NAPP is a trademark of PhotoshopUser.com. Use of other trademarks or logos does IN NO WAY imply endorsement from the respective sources (ie. Adobe) of any products or services. All pages in this eBook are Copyright BasicPhotoshop.com & DreamCore Productions, Ltd 2004 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Fellow Photoshop acionado,

*Are you overwhelmed by the scope and complexity of Photoshop? *Are you feeling limited

because you just dont understand how to put all of Photoshops tools together or know how they work?

*Do you NOT want to spend the expected $100s or $1,000s of dollars just to learn Photoshop? *Are you new to Photoshop and just want to dive-in A.S.A.P.? *Are you tired of tutorials here and there on the internet not giving you the Big Picture of Photoshop and its expansive power? *Do you just want to nally

LEARN everything you can about Photoshop and image-editing as painlessly

as possible?

If so, then keep reading to discover how to handle all that Photoshop has in store for

dont need to look any further...

you! You

Keep reading to nd out more! Throughout this presentation you will see examples of students who have purchased the Basic Photoshop training and those who have submitted entries or left comments on the Basicphotoshop.com site

Here is my rst entry to the contest. I have been learning to restore old family photos to go with my genealogy research. Your lessons have been amazing! By learning to use the Lasso, and other selection tools properly, as well as the Healing brush, Layer Effects and Masking, I am able to bring my ancestors back to life through their photographs to preserve them for generations to come. I would have never believed that I could have done anything like this in Photoshop- never thought I was smart enough! You have taught me well, and I will always draw upon that knowledge as I get better and better!!! This is my second entry, as you see, I am continuing to restore and improve damaged and faded photographs. Some that are over 100 years old now look like they were made yesterday! I cannot tell you how much it means to me to see the faces come alive, and only through your wonderful lessons and teaching was I able to do it. Thanks so much from the bottom of my heart! Wendy Madison wsmadison@bellsouth.net

Welcome to the exciting world of Adobe Photoshop; the worlds #1 image editing standard! You have embarked on (what should be) a fun and enjoyable learning experience and journey. Basic Photoshop Training is a perfect Introduction for beginners. I hope youve enjoyed these free tutorials on PDF.

Hi, Im Orion Williams, webmaster of PhotoshopDesign.NET, and Adobe Certied Expert, Photoshop CS. I believe youre here for a reason...you want to simply LEARN how to use and apply Photoshop. You have denitely come to the right place especially if youre a Photoshop beginner, youll love these video tutorials which Im going to introduce.

I am almost sixty years old,Brasilian(S.LuisMa) .I am very novice at Photoshop, I like to thank you for all the tutorials that you are sharing with us. They are easy to understand even my english is not to good.God bless you. You are the best. Sincerely yours, Maria dos Santos plimplina@yahoo.com.br

Finally you can learn How To:

*Master all the Basics by learning Photoshop from a professional and get your ow going *Quit wasting countless hours of your time getting nowhere with the software or staying stumped *Cut your Photoshop Learning Curve drastically *Edit & retouch your Photos in no time like a pro *Learn at a fraction of the cost of other training programs
I am pleased to announce your ideal learning solution: my Basic Photoshop DVD Training program. Its all the Basic Photoshop Training you need at the lowest price youll nd anywhere to help you become fully procient with and unafraid of learning Photoshop basics!! Much more than just a Photoshop introduction, its comprehensiveness will take you to a level of operational productivity so you can GET RESULTS with your digital image editing. The Photoshop training lays out a solid foundational for you to grow from.

Just follow along with the real-time Photoshop video tutorials as you begin to see and understand how to quickly master the Photoshop basics (saving countless hours of

fooling around or trying out expensive & forgettable programs or classrooms) and move on from there to more advanced technique & designing. If I go too fast you can always rewind and watch lessons (which ones You want to) over again.

Youll be operating smoothly in Photoshop in no time! You will also be

amazed at all of the powerful features that you will now know how to use to be able to edit images, touchup photos, create logos, graphic design and much much more. Knowledge is power and this is a lot of power for you. This Photoshop Training is the shortest learning curve!

If you like my Free Photoshop Tutorials youll love my Basic Photoshop Video Training tutorials. If you KNOW that this is the obvious solution youve been looking for, then Order right below. Go ahead and click on a disc name (below) to nd out more about a certain DVD. I have a 100% 90 day money-back guarantee.

Otherwise feel free to keep reading to nd out a little more about how my Photoshop training has helped others and what it can do for you. Over 50% of my customers come from the free email series because they see the level of quality and training value I am giving them. 8+ Hours of Training and 249 Tutorials to help you learn to use Adobe
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Photoshop. Basic Photoshop DVD Training is perfect for Photoshop beginners or newcomers who just want to get involved and learn

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PhotoshopDesign.NET webmaster & Adobe Photoshop CS Certied Expert: Orion Williams.

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Minimum Requirements for Windows & Macintosh

Must have a DVD Player and DVD software on computer to run. Will also work on TV DVD players (most models). Speakers are required for audio. Training program was produced in Photoshop 7 & CS and applies to all versions of Photoshop (the later your version, the more features you will be able to understand and use that I cover).
When you order you will also receive the Discover Photoshop CS: Bonus CD and all 60 addl tutorials.

Product Details - Over 8 hours of Photoshop Tutorials on 4 DVDs (250 Tuts) - Sturdy 4-pack Slimline DVD case for storing your Discs - User-friendly menu based interface for easy navigation - Intro videos & groovy music to navigate thru DVD menus - Chapter contents inside case - 100% 90 day Money-Back Guarantee - Free Photoshop CS Features & Tutorials Bonus CD (90 minutes) -Just Released: 60 Addl Tutorials on PDF (242 pages) available shortly after you order for download!

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Thanks for the 60 tutorials...that I already received day by

day... As a total beginner I would like to submit 3 or 4 pics that I made in composition. I dont care if I win or not, I am happy that what I obtained is thanks to your lessons and photoshop of course. The results are maybe not so brilliant, but Im sure that with the basic cds and the practice I will obtain much better compositions. I am aware that I will have to study, to practice a lot...but I am 200% convinced that Photoshop is so great that it is impossible to know all the possibilitys of the program. So I will be pleased if only I could know a part of it to obtain what ever I want to do with one or some pictures...That to convince you that I am yearning to learn...

Friendly regards, Roger roger.mortier@pandora.be

I will get you where you need to be and fast-just apply my easy-tolearn training. Soon you will be distributing your Photoshop images and work via email, uploading to the web or publishing in print to share with your friends and colleagues! You (or your employer) will denitely get your moneys worth out of the Photoshop training program itself (and obviously my training) instead of having its full power remain unused and dormant (the way you were with it before my full Photoshop Training program). Your understanding of all the fundamentals and technical processes creates a solid foundation & puts you ahead of most other Photoshop users in the world. This is a great deal of Photoshop help. Because of the internet, audio/video screen capturing, and low overhead, I can duplicate myself as a trainer, so I dont have to charge the one-on-one time like many of the other training resources youll nd (heck I would charge that much for MY oneon-one time). The DVD learn Photoshop video tutorials give you the ultimate Photoshop training experience and allows you to learn more complicated lessons at your own pace. Its a perfect introduction into the depth of Photoshop. Make sure youve signed up above for the 60 free (yes, FREE) lessons Im offering on many basic Photoshop skills! If you havent, make sure you do so now-its absolutely free and you wont want to miss out on what youll learn.

Here are just a few examples of what you will learn with the Basic Photoshop Training DVDs:
-All Adobe Photoshop tools and palettes

-How to operate within the Photoshop environment: from basic to advanced -Creating shapes, lling selections with colors/gradients and more.

for much improved results in a matter of minutes (sometimes seconds)!

-How to touch up and restore photos -Understand & master the power of layers (the fundamental of all digital design)

-Combining multiple tools in getting a quick and fast selection - Use Photoshop Adjustment layers (very in-depth and practical coverage on what you can do to change any layer/image) -Layer sets, linking, saving les, exporting for web, merging (learn how to organize and manage your workow) -Typography & much more! Were talking Mega Photoshop Training here! Everything in the 60 free tutorials on this site & much much more for learning Photoshop!

You can view more specic info on each of the discs at the above order pt.

I dont have any other designs to compare this with because this is my rst original, and the simpleto-understand, comprehensive instruction in these Free Basic Photoshop tips helped me to accomplish it. I had a passing knowledge of most of the tools, but these free instructions helped me to discover new shortcuts and features to the tools I already knew, as well as introducing me to some I had never thought of using or knew the uses for. Orions Basic Photoshop emails opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me and increased my overall enjoyment of Photoshop. Many thanks, Orion, and to all who want to broaden their horizons beyond the Basic knowledge of Photoshop...buy the DVDs! Sandy scardwell@bellsouth.net Each person is unique and has many things to express. What do you have to express? Maybe you just need the right tools! Tools are leverage and knowledge is power (these are Universal Truths). You now have the opportunity to take the bull by the horns with Photoshop as you become its master. Basic Photoshop Tutorials get you there and covers it all to give you that power to use Photoshop effectively.even beyond the Photoshop beginners basics. Whether you want to just edit or touchup your images or do advanced graphic design (and everything in between) you must have a solid grounding in all of Photoshops operations & fundamentals to be effective.
Click Buy Now to start the Photoshop training or keep reading.

Taking on something new or daunting should be as PAINLESS as possible. I dont want you to waste years trying to gure out Photoshop yourself so..Get

Photoshop!

involved & Discover the hidden power of

Nicu Ban
nicuban54@hotmail.com

Nothing happens in anything unless you get involved. Many things are going to go on

without you until you get involved. Ever notice that? Theres no reason to be scared of (or bewildered with) learning Photoshop anymore. Dont keep putzing around with it, if thats what youre doing (itll take forever to learn). You have no excuse to take the leverage of my knowledge and start using Photoshop the right way A.S.A.P.! It will save you countless hours AND dollars so you can ow ahead. This is all the Photoshop help you need. If youre thinking that this might be right for your situation, Im telling you it is. You wont regret it; its nonstop PS Power and the decision should be obviously clear and that youre in the right place at the right time. I offer a 100% money-back guarantee and since offering the program online last year, I STILL havent had a single refund for these complete Photoshop training tutorial discs. Go ahead and read some more testimonials from Basic Photoshop students. Ive trained thousands of students worldwide online. Soon you can be xing up your photographs and getting into digital image editing & graphic design-the easy way.Imagine what you can soon be doing in Photoshop!

So what are you waiting for? Order here for only $49.95 plus shipping. You will immediately receive access
to 60 more Tutorials on PDF (242 pages). Youll also have the option of getting some of my Photoshop Designer upgrades (check it out when you get there) if you want ALL the Photoshop Training you can handle at a great bargain (I get deep into graphic design and more advanced topics) with this Discover Photoshop: Total Package.

in the past I would spend hours trying to x pics, I just xed this one in 10 minutes by watching your CS cd. --john kline

With the Basic Photoshop DVD Training youll also learn how to apply different methods of using tools to achieve the same results to expand your possibilities. You will nally become very comfortable operating within the Photoshop 7/CS work environment-Guaranteed! You will soon be able to teach others Photoshop and digital image editing and youll have saved yourself time and money by learning straight from a pro (me) in the comfort of your space and time. And if youre not satised for ANY reason let me know and Ill give you a refund.

Click here to view (even more) testimonials for my Basic training.

Basic Photoshop is geared towards beginner and intermediate students with an emphasis on using and mastering tools in practical scenarios, establishing good habits and operating efciently within the entire Adobe Photoshop environment. The program will drastically reduce your Photoshop learning curve-guaranteed. The leverage of information is on your side. And that leverage is knowledge and power in your hands to master & learn Photoshop and then start designing. There is no better way to start from scratch or being a novice and learning how to work in Photoshop. This isnt some of the cute clone style tutorials (what I call them in our industry online) thatll teach you a special trick here and there, this is the complete Photoshop video training: how to use everything.

This small investment is the most cost-effective AND comprehensive training youll ever nd on Photoshop. I dare you to nd any other video training program out there that teaches complete Photoshop training at such a low price. 90-day 100% Money Back Guarantee.

This is a cross-platform DVD training program.

It can be played on either Mac or PC (with a DVD drive & DVD software) even though I am teaching in the PC environment. It was recorded (screencaptured with audio) in Photoshop 7 & CS. Most of the training will apply to all versions of Photoshop (the more recent the better).

Whatever your decision, Best Wishes on a productive and healthy career or hobby and make sure youve signed up for the 60 Free Basic Photoshop or via PayPal... Tutorial lessons! You have my personal guarantee on the quality of content for the entire program. I look forward to sharing with you in the Basic Photoshop Educational Training Series and being your mentor. Feel free to reach me via email or phone with any questions and Ill be sure to reply as soon as possible.

Click

Buy Now

to Order Basic Photoshop DVD Training Tutorials

(Now shipping anywhere in the world: note the intl ship option on the next page) or via PayPal...

for only $49.95

+ shipping

You will also have the option of upgrading to my Discover Photoshop: Total Package which includes TONS of Photoshop/Graphic Design related training!

p.s. the 60 free Photoshop Tutorials youre getting by email in the Basic Photoshop Educational Series is a $49.95 value...so when you order now, in
a way, its already paid for itself! They will help you warm up and use Photoshop with ease.

p.p.s. Remember, you get over 8 total hours of on-screen video trainingIN Photoshop and 250 tutorials with Basic Photoshop training.
to offer. Youre guaranteed to love my products or your money back!

Review any of the DVD video tutorials as many times as you like. See exactly how its done onscreen-you see it in real time as I go through the exact movements of what Im teaching. Upgrade to my Discover Photoshop: Total Package-Its simply the best way to really learn all that Photoshop has

Join the many others who have beneted from Basic Photoshop Video Training.

Remember you get immediate access to the 60 Basic Photoshop Tutorials on PDF as a FREE Bonus.
havent ordered yet? Go here For even more info . http://www.photoshopdesigner.com/moreinfo.htm

Still

orion@photoshopdesigner.com

DreamCore Productions Ltd.

5140 Stoney Brook Rd. Rudolph, WI 54475 U.S.A. Business Line #: 715-423-2161

This is my rst attempt at colorizing a B&W picture. The original is a picture of a co-workers grandfather that was taken sometime in the 1950s. Without the tutorials, I wouldnt have known where to start. I am new to using Photoshop and your tutorials have been a great help in understanding what I am doing. Thank you for the immense help.

This is my second attempt at colorizing a B&W picture. The original is a picture of a co-workers husband that was taken in 1969. Thank you for having this contest. Your tutorials have been a great help. Orion, your tutorials are the best. They have been a great help and inspiration in learning to use Photoshop.

Wade Kehner

Still havent made up your mind? When you order now youll also receive access to the complete BasicPhotoshop.com 60 web tutorials on PDF ($19.95 Retail value) without having to wait for them all via email

AND...

BONUS: Discover Photoshop: CS Features CD (Retail Value $15)

Photoshop CS is a Photographer & Designers DREAM with all of the hot new upgrades and features! I take you into an understanding how to use and apply them. There are Hot NEW Photoshop Tutorials on:

Photoshop CS Bonus CD: Additional video tutorials on:

Red eye reduction & replacing color (with the new color replacement tool)
(Watch me turn an evil cat into a friendly cat, repaint a Bahamian Bar and more) -Customizing keyboard shortcuts (new powerful control for advanced users) -The Spanking New File Browser (which also acts as a lightbox) -Automating contact sheets/picture packages (easily create nal productions) -Creating MetaData Templates, entering & programming searchable MetaData (easily search & organize your entire le library: perfect for photographers or designers!) -Using thePhotomerge feature to create picturesque panoramas -The Miracle working New Shadow/Highlight Adjustment (you WONT believe your eyes as I turn pitch black shadow into visible light...imagine what you can do on some of your photos!) -Typing on a path (designers have been asking for it for years) -The new Filter Gallery (preview several lters together) -16 Bit Pixelsupport, Non-square pixel support (for DVD/TV producers) -Layer comps (show your client several versions of a le) & much more!

These 60 tutorials go over many different Photoshop Basics such as using the pen tool, making selections, working with layers, understanding and using tools & menus, etc.

As I really havent got into the real nitty gritty of design, I am submitting 2 entries in the most improved designer area. The originals are in grayscale as they were ads and the entries are in colour but can be easily converted to grayscale for advertising. My rst introduction to Photoshop was in version 6 and the Classroom in a Book for learning. I learned the basics on how to use the program and took a couple of courses on Photoshop but all the courses concentrated on how to use the program but really didnt go into what it could do. I bought different books but couldnt seem to achieve anything more than how to use the program. When Photoshop CS came out, I knew I needed more than what I was getting and I began to check the internet for more creative help. I came upon the Photoshopdesign.net website and tried some of the free tutorials. I wanted to be able to do some of the design effects that were in some of the sample psds. I purchased the Total course and I am still working on them. I am 59 years old and to learn new things takes me more time so I have to do some of the tutorials over and over. Without trying to score brownie points or lie, the Photoshop Designer course has been the most valuable investment I have made in my quest to learn and understand Photoshop. Orion Williams not only teaches what Photoshop can do, he also shows you how to achieve these effects and add variables. He continues your education with free downloads and access to his portfolio which I nd amazing as most designers are so protective of their work. I have learned that you can really organize your work with layer sets (Im still working on understanding layer comps) and the effectiveness of gradients. I have downloaded and installed the freebies for styles, brushes etc. and have used them. I am still experimenting with layer masks but do nd it a lot of fun to combine photos, do some blending and apply layer masks. As I continue to progress with the tutorials, I hope to become more valuable to my company and nd the condence to produce more exciting yers and promotional materials. Tolerances, opacities, ow, ll, the various layer styles and what they mean (overlay, hard light, multiply etc) are all covered. The one complaint that I have (there goes my brownie points) is that you sometimes go too fast but there is always rewind. I also appreciate the subtle humour throughout the tutorials. Who says you cant teach an old dog new tricks. Jackie Graham Minitube Canada

The following testimonial from a customer/student of mine also talks about the Photoshop Designer Package (which you can add to your Basic Training as the Discover Photoshop: Total Package for $139)..
Im not sure if Im ready for this as Im still a newbie, but Ill try this weekend. Anyway, Ive printed and read your Basic Photoshop tutorials and I may say, that I have been doing a part time studies course for 1 1/2 years now on desktop publishing which incorporates Photoshop and this is the only time that I fully understand and got the full grasp of the Basics of Photoshop when I read your manual, much, much better than the school manuals and some Photoshop books that Ive read. Your tutorials are well written and well visually laid out that even a newbie like me will no doubt be able to follow the steps. Now Im excited and wish Ill get your DVDs sooner. So far Ive just studied one of the PSD les and I found them really useful in the sense that it gave me ideas how I could enhance my artwork better, and how to le things in layers etc. I do layering before but I notice that the way you organised your layering in sets is a great help to me in organising my layers. Now it seems that I may nd my part time studies soooo boring. Whats happening is in school the teacher gives us a project brief that we will do (this is on our second stage of photoshop - Certicate 4); gives us a hard copy example and thats about it. We then produce a project and all they do is comment without giving us more information how to enhance our work nor the way it should be done. I once asked regarding those techno art and the only response I got is that I have to start clicking all those other lter tools and be inventive. Its too frustrating to us newbies coz we see posters that are beautifully made and yet the teachers wont give us ideas how its done. So I was just so amazed when I saw all your freebies psd les it really shows everything, actuallly NO NEED for a teacher or the classroom. The only thing I regret is its only now that I happen to stumble to your site. Well sorry for taking up much of your time, Im just so excited on these tutorials and cant help myself giving you a feedback. Cheers and Thanks Nina Liddicoat

Order Basic Photoshop Training or the Total Package here now.

$49.95
Orion Williams is a Member of Great Tutorials! Very informative, easy to understand & professionally done. Thank you! -Jim Ouellette

and has also attended 3 PhotoshopWorld Conferences.

Adobe, Photoshop, and the Adobe Certied Expert logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. in the U.S. & other countries. Adobe Product Screen Shots reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems, Incorporated. BasicPhotoshop.com, AdvancedPhotoshop.com, PhotoshopDownloads.com, PhotoshopDesigner.com, PSDer, iPSD PhotoshopDesign.Net, ClubCast.tv, Discover Photoshop, DiscoverPhotoshop.com & FreePhotoshop.NET are trademarks of DreamCore Productions, Ltd. U.S.A. NAPP is a trademark of PhotoshopUser.com. Use of other trademarks or logos does IN NO WAY imply endorsement from the respective sources (ie. Adobe) of any products or services.

In addition, Orion Williams became Adobe Certied Expert: Photoshop CS after the development of these products or services.
Email me: orion@photoshopdesigner.com with any questions.