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Fernando Adan: Beginners' Guide To Adobe Photoshop - Page 1 of 4

This document is the beginning of a tutorial to teach absolute Photoshop beginners the basic features and tools needed to start using the program. It introduces layers, selections using different selection tools, choosing and applying colors with tools like the paint bucket and gradient, and provides exercises for readers to practice these skills. The tutorial is designed to be very basic and get readers comfortable with fundamental Photoshop concepts before exploring more advanced features on their own.

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Fernando Adan
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76 views6 pages

Fernando Adan: Beginners' Guide To Adobe Photoshop - Page 1 of 4

This document is the beginning of a tutorial to teach absolute Photoshop beginners the basic features and tools needed to start using the program. It introduces layers, selections using different selection tools, choosing and applying colors with tools like the paint bucket and gradient, and provides exercises for readers to practice these skills. The tutorial is designed to be very basic and get readers comfortable with fundamental Photoshop concepts before exploring more advanced features on their own.

Uploaded by

Fernando Adan
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

Fernando Adan

Beginners' Guide to Adobe Photoshop –


Page 1 of 4
Ever wanted to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop, but had no idea where to
start? The wall of icons and menus can be intimidating.

Most Photoshop tutorials for beginners are really for people who are already
familiar with the program. This tutorial goes right back to the DAWN OF TIME!
:) ...and is designed to help people who are absolute Photoshop beginners.

This basic, thirty-minute tutorial is not a comprehensive instruction manual. It


only teaches you the few simple features you need to know, to start using
Adobe Photoshop. From there, you'll quickly discover most of the other
features of the program yourself.

The images in this tutorial are from Adobe Photoshop 7.0, but they're very
similar to those from newer versions, like Photoshop CS4.

Bookmark this page, load up Photoshop, and we'll begin the tutorial.

 
1 – Creating a New Image, and Setting Adobe
Photoshop's Undo Option
Click File > New, and create a new image of any size you desire.

Press Ctrl+K to bring up the Preferences window.

Change your "Redo Key" to Ctrl+Shift+Z. This enables you to press Ctrl+Z at
any time, to undo the last thing(s) you did. Remember this.

2 – Using Adobe Photoshop's Layers window


The Layers window shows the various layers that your image is made up of.

To make a new layer, click the New Layer button, as shown by the red
arrow.

To work on a different layer, click on that layer. The eyeball will apear next to
that layer.

You can drag layers up and down the list.

Remember – create a new layer for each part of your image. This allows you
to go back and edit the layers individually. Every Adobe Photoshop beginner
at some time makes a masterpiece, only to find out that they did it all on one
layer, and now they can't remove those pink clouds they put on it. :)

3 – Learning about Selection


One of the most important concepts in Adobe Photoshop is Selection.

This is the Rectangular Selection Tool.

Use this tool on your image to select an area of the image. This lets
Photoshop know that that's the area you want to work on.

4 – Adding to a Selection and making a square


To add to a selection, hold Shift before dragging.

Tomake the selection exactly square, start dragging, then hold Shift.

You can press Ctrl+D to "deselect" and remove the selection at any time.
5 – Elliptical Selections and subtracting Selections
Hold down on the Selection Tool on the Toolbar, and choose the Ellipse.

To move the selection, just click inside it and drag.

Holding Alt while selecting subtracts that area from the selection. I've done
that with the Ellipse Selection Tool.

6 – A Selection exercise
If you're following this tutorial in Adobe Photoshop, see if you can make these
shapes.

Other relevant Adobe Photoshop tools


Lasso Tool – Allows you to draw a selection area with the cursor.

Magic Wand – Summons elves. (Also believed to select an area of one


colour.) :P
7 – Choosing a colour
Now that you know how to select an area in Adobe Photoshop, we can look at
some tools that can do something with that area.

Before we get started on colouring your selection, you'll need to pick a colour.

This part of the Toolbox is where you select your colours.

The top square is the foreground colour. If you use a brush or paint bucket, it
will apply this colour.

The bottom square is the background colour. It has various purposes, but it's
also a good place to store a second colour that you're using.

Click on either square to change its colour.


Click the arrow to swap the two colours.
Click the little squares to reset the colours to black and white.

8 – The Paint Bucket and Gradient tools


These two tools share a button on the toolbar. To select one, click and hold.

On a new layer, just click the Paint Bucket tool inside the area of your
selection to fill it with the colour you've selected.

Click and drag from one area to another to fill the area. The point where
you started to click will be the colour of your foreground colour, and the point
where you took your finger off the mouse button will be the colour of your
background colour. The area in between will gradually change from one
colour to the other.

In this case, I went from corner to corner, with the default white and black
selected.

9 – A colour exercise
With what you've learned so far, you should be able to recreate this piece of
hippy history. :)

Remember to create each step on a new layer.

Other Adobe Photoshop tools of interest include


The Text Tool – Just click it wherever you want text to appear. Choose a
font, colour, and size, and start typing.

The Move Tool – Use this tool to drag things around. If you have a
selection, it will drag the contents of the selection. If not, it will drag the
contents of the layer you're on. 

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