1.

Getting to Know the Work Area

Lesson overview
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to do the following:
• Open image files in Adobe Photoshop.
• Select and use tools in the Tools panel.
• Set options for a selected tool using the options bar.
• Use various methods to zoom in to and out from an image.
• Select, rearrange, and use panels.
• Choose commands in panel and context menus.
• Open and use a panel in the panel dock.
• Undo actions to correct mistakes or to make different choices.

This lesson will take about an hour to complete. Download the Lesson01 project files from
the Lesson & Update Files tab on your Account page at www.peachpit.com, if you haven’t
already done so.
As you work on this lesson, you’ll preserve the start files. If you need to restore the start
files, download them from your Account page.
 PROJECT: BIRTHDAY CARD DESIGN

As you work with Adobe Photoshop, you’ll discover that you can often accomplish the
same task in several ways. To make the best use of the extensive editing capabilities in
Photoshop, you must first learn to navigate the work area.

Starting to work in Adobe Photoshop

The Adobe Photoshop work area includes menus, toolbars, and panels that give you quick
access to a variety of tools and options for editing and adding elements to your image. You
can also add commands and filters to the menus by installing third-party software known
as plug-ins.
In Photoshop, you primarily work with bitmapped, digitized images (that is, continuous-
tone images that have been converted into a series of small squares, or picture elements,
called pixels). You can also work with vector graphics, which are drawings made of
smooth lines that retain their crispness when scaled. You can create original artwork in
Photoshop, or you can import images from many sources, such as:
• Photographs from a digital camera or mobile phone
• Stock photography
• Scans of photographs, transparencies, negatives, graphics, or other documents
• Captured video images
• Artwork created in drawing programs
Starting Photoshop and opening a file
To begin, you’ll start Adobe Photoshop and reset the default preferences.
1. Double-click the Adobe Photoshop icon on your taskbar (Windows) or dock (Mac
OS), and then immediately hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or
Command+Option+Shift (Mac OS) to reset the default settings.
If you don’t see the Photoshop icon in your taskbar or dock, choose Start > All Programs
> Adobe Photoshop CC (Windows) or look in the Applications folder (Mac OS).
2. When prompted, click Yes to confirm that you want to delete the Adobe Photoshop
Settings file.

Note
Typically, you won’t need to reset defaults when you’re working on your own
projects. However, you’ll reset the preferences before working on most
lessons in this book to ensure that what you see onscreen matches the
descriptions in the lessons. For more information, see “Restoring default
preferences” on page 4.

The Photoshop work area appears as shown in the following illustration.

 A. Menu bar
B. Options bar
C. Tools panel
D. Workspaces menu
E. Panels
On Mac OS, the application frame keeps the image, panels, and menu bar together.

Note
This illustration shows the Mac OS version of Photoshop. The arrangement is
similar on Windows, but operating system styles may vary.

The default workspace in Photoshop consists of the menu bar and options bar at the top of
the screen, the Tools panel on the left, and several open panels in the panel dock on the
right. When you have documents open, one or more image windows also appear, and you
can display them at the same time using the tabbed interface. The Photoshop user interface
is very similar to the one in Adobe Illustrator®, Adobe InDesign®, and Adobe Flash
Professional®—so learning how to use the tools and panels in one application means that
you’ll be familiar with them when you work in the others.
There is one main difference between the Photoshop work area on Windows and that on
Mac OS: Windows always presents Photoshop in a contained window. On Mac OS, you
can choose whether to work with an application frame, which contains the Photoshop
application’s windows and panels within a frame that is distinct from other applications
you may have open; only the menu bar is outside the application frame. The application
frame is enabled by default; to disable the application frame, choose Window >
Application Frame.
 3. Choose File > Open, and navigate to the Lessons/Lesson01 folder that you copied to
your hard drive from the peachpit.com website. (If you haven’t downloaded the
files, see “Accessing the Classroom in a Book files” on page 3.)
4. Select the 01End.psd file, and click Open. Click OK if you see the Embedded
Profile Mismatch dialog box.

The 01End.psd file opens in its own window, called the image window. The end files in
this book show you what you are creating in each project. In this project, you’ll create a
birthday card.
5. Choose File > Close, or click the close button (the x next to the filename) on the
title bar of the image window. (Do not close Photoshop.)

Using the tools

Photoshop provides an integrated set of tools for producing sophisticated graphics for
print, web, and mobile viewing. We could easily fill the entire book with details on the
wealth of Photoshop tools and tool configurations. While that would certainly be a useful
reference, it’s not the goal of this book. Instead, you’ll start gaining experience by
configuring and using a few tools on a sample project. Every lesson will introduce you to
more tools and ways to use them. By the time you finish all the lessons in this book, you’ll
have a solid foundation for further explorations of the Photoshop toolset.
Selecting and using a tool from the Tools panel
The Tools panel is the long, narrow panel on the far left side of the work area. It contains
selection tools, painting and editing tools, foreground- and background-color selection
boxes, and viewing tools.

Note
For a complete list of the tools in the Tools panel, see the Appendix, “Tools
panel overview.”

You’ll start by using the Zoom tool, which also appears in many other Adobe applications,
including Illustrator, InDesign, and Acrobat.
1. Choose File > Open, navigate to the Lessons/Lesson01 folder, and double-click the
01Start.psd file to open it.

The 01Start.psd file contains the background image and a ribbon graphic that you’ll use to
create the birthday card that you viewed in the end file.
2. Click the double arrows just above the Tools panel to toggle to a double-column
view. Click the double arrows again to return to a single-column Tools panel and use
your screen space more efficiently.
3. Examine the status bar at the bottom of the work area (Windows) or image window
(Mac OS), and notice the percentage that appears on the far left. This represents the
current enlargement view of the image, or zoom level.
4. Move the pointer over the Tools panel, and hover it over the magnifying-glass icon
until a tool tip appears. The tool tip displays the tool’s name (Zoom tool) and
keyboard shortcut (Z).

5. Click the Zoom tool icon ( ) in the Tools panel, or press Z to select it.
6. Move the pointer over the image window. The pointer now looks like a tiny
magnifying glass with a plus sign in the center of the glass ( ).
7. Click anywhere in the image window.
The image enlarges to a preset percentage level, which replaces the previous value in the
status bar. If you click again, the zoom advances to the next preset level, up to a maximum
of 3200%.
8. Hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (Mac OS) so that the Zoom tool
pointer appears with a minus sign in the center of the magnifying glass ( ), and then
click anywhere in the image. Then release the Alt or Option key.
Now the view zooms out to a lower preset magnification, so that you can see more of the
image, but in less detail.
9. If Scrubby Zoom is selected in the options bar, click anywhere on the image and
drag the Zoom tool to the right. The image enlarges. Drag the Zoom tool to the left
to zoom out.

When Scrubby Zoom is selected, you can drag the Zoom tool across the image to zoom in
and out.

Note
You can use other methods to zoom in and out. For example, when the Zoom
tool is selected, you can select the Zoom In or Zoom Out mode on the options
bar. You can choose View > Zoom In or View > Zoom Out. Or, you can type
a new percentage in the status bar and press Enter or Return.

10. Deselect Scrubby Zoom in the options bar if it’s selected. Then, using the Zoom
tool, drag a rectangle to enclose part of the rose blossom.

The image enlarges so that the area you enclosed in your rectangle now fills the entire
image window.
11. Click Fit Screen in the options bar to see the entire image again.
You have used the Zoom tool in four different ways to change the magnification in the
image window: clicking, holding down a keyboard modifier while clicking, dragging to
zoom in and out, and dragging to define a magnification area. Many of the other tools in
the Tools panel can be used with keyboard combinations and options as well. You’ll have
opportunities to use these techniques as you work through the lessons in this book.

Zooming and scrolling with the Navigator panel

The Navigator panel is another speedy way to make large changes in the
zoom level, especially when the exact percentage of magnification is
unimportant. It’s also a great way to scroll around in an image, because the
thumbnail shows you exactly what part of the image appears in the image
window. To open the Navigator panel, choose Window > Navigator.
The slider under the image thumbnail in the Navigator panel enlarges the
image when you drag to the right (toward the large mountain icon) and
reduces it when you drag to the left.

The red rectangular outline represents the area of the image that appears in
the image window. When you zoom in far enough that the image window
shows only part of the image, you can drag the red outline around the
thumbnail area to see other areas of the image. This is also an excellent way
to verify which part of an image you’re working on when you work at very
high zoom levels.

Brightening an image
One of the most common edits you’re likely to make is to brighten an image taken with a
digital camera or phone. You’ll brighten this image by changing its brightness and contrast
values.
 1. In the Layers panel, on the right side of the workspace, make sure the Rose layer is
selected.
2. In the Adjustments panel, which is above the Layers panel in the panel dock, click
the Brightness/Contrast icon to add a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer. The
Properties panel opens, displaying the Brightness/Contrast settings.
3. In the Properties panel, move the Brightness slider to 98 and the Contrast slider to
18.

The image of the rose brightens.

In these lessons, we’ll often instruct you to enter specific numbers in panels and dialog
boxes to achieve particular effects. When you’re working on your own projects,
experiment with different values to see how they affect your image. There is no right or
wrong setting; the values you should use depend on the results you want.
4. In the Layers panel, examine the Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer.

Adjustment layers let you make changes to your image, such as adjusting the brightness of
the rose, without affecting the actual pixels. Because you’ve used an adjustment layer, you
can always return to the original image by hiding or deleting the adjustment layer—and
you can edit the adjustment layer at any time. You’ll use adjustment layers in several
lessons in this book.
Layering is one of the fundamental and most powerful features in Photoshop. Photoshop
includes many kinds of layers, some of which contain images, text, or solid colors, and
others that simply interact with layers below them. You’ll learn more about layers in
Lesson 4, “Layer Basics,” and throughout the book.
5. Click the double arrows at the top of the Properties panel to close it.
6. Choose File > Save As, name the file 01Working.psd, and click OK or Save.
7. Click OK in the Photoshop Format Options dialog box.
Saving the file with a different name ensures that the original file (01Start.psd) remains
unchanged. That way, you can return to it if you want to start over.
You’ve just completed your first task in Photoshop. Your image is bright and punchy and
ready for a birthday card.

Sampling a color
By default, the foreground color in Photoshop is black and the background color is white.
You can change the foreground and background colors in several ways. One way is to use
the Eyedropper tool to sample a color from the image. You’ll use the Eyedropper tool to
sample the blue of one ribbon so that you can match that color when you create another
ribbon.
First, you’ll need to display the Ribbons layer so you can see the color you want to
sample.
1. In the Layers panel, click the Visibility column for the Ribbons layer to make the
layer visible. When a layer is visible, an eye icon ( ) appears in that column.

A ribbon with “Happy Birthday” written on it appears in the image window.

2. Select the Ribbons layer in the Layers panel so that it’s the active layer.
3. Select the Eyedropper tool ( ) in the Tools panel.
4. Click the blue area in the Happy Birthday ribbon to sample a blue color.
The foreground color changes in the Tools panel and the Color panel. Anything you draw
will be this color until you change the foreground color again.

Working with tools and tool properties

When you selected the Zoom tool in the previous exercise, you saw that the options bar
provided ways for you to change the view of the current image window. Now you’ll learn
more about setting tool properties using context menus, the options bar, panels, and panel
menus. You’ll use all of these methods as you work with tools to add the second ribbon to
your birthday card.

Using context menus

Context menus are short menus that contain commands and options appropriate to specific
elements in the work area. They are sometimes referred to as “right-click” or “shortcut”
menus. Usually, the commands on a context menu are also available in some other area of
the user interface, but using the context menu can save time.
1. Select the Zoom tool ( ), and zoom in so you can clearly see the lower third of the
card.
2. Select the Rectangular Marquee tool ( ) in the Tools panel.
The Rectangular Marquee tool selects rectangular areas. You’ll learn more about selection
tools in Lesson 3, “Working with Selections.”
3. Drag the Rectangular Marquee tool to create a selection about 1/2 inch tall and 2
inches wide, ending at the right edge of the card. (See the illustration below.) As you
drag the tool, Photoshop displays the width and height of the selected area. It’s okay
if the size of your selection is a little different from ours.
Selection areas are shown by moving dotted lines, sometimes referred to as marching ants.
4. Select the Brush tool ( ) in the Tools panel.
5. In the image window, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) anywhere in
the image to open the Brush tool context menu.
Context menus vary with their context, of course, so what appears can be a menu of
commands or a panel-like set of options, which is what happens in this case.
6. Select the first brush (Soft Round), and change the size to 65 pixels.

7. Click anywhere outside the selection to close the panel.

8. Drag the cursor across the selected area until it’s fully painted blue. Don’t worry
about staying within the selection; you can’t affect anything outside the selection as
you paint.

Note
Clicking anywhere in the work area closes the context menu.

9. When the bar is colored in, choose Select > Deselect so that nothing is selected.
The selection is gone, but the blue bar remains.

Selecting and using a hidden tool

Photoshop has many tools you can use to edit image files, but you will probably work with
only a few of them at a time. The Tools panel arranges some of the tools in groups, with
only one tool shown for each group. The other tools in the group are hidden behind that
tool. You’ll use the Polygonal Lasso tool to remove a triangular notch from the color bar
so that it matches the ribbon at the top of the card.
A small triangle in the lower right corner of a button is your clue that other tools are
available but hidden under that tool.
1. Position the pointer over the third tool from the top in the Tools panel until the tool
tip appears. The tool tip identifies the Lasso tool ( ), with the keyboard shortcut L.
Select the Lasso tool.
2. Select the Polygonal Lasso tool ( ), which is hidden behind the Lasso tool, using
one of the following methods:
• Press and hold the mouse button over the Lasso tool to open the pop-up list of
hidden tools, and select the Polygonal Lasso tool.
• Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the tool button in the Tools panel
to cycle through the hidden lasso tools until the Polygonal Lasso tool is selected.

• Press Shift+L, which cycles between the Lasso, Polygonal Lasso, and Magnetic
Lasso tools tools.
With the Lasso tool, you can draw free-form selections; the Polygonal Lasso tool makes it
easier to draw straight-edged sections of a selection border. You’ll learn more about
selection tools, making selections, and adjusting the selection contents in Lesson 3,
“Working with Selections.”
3. Move the pointer over the left edge of the blue color bar that you just painted. Click
just to the left of the upper left corner of the bar to start your selection. You should
begin your selection just outside the colored area.
 4. Move the cursor to the right about 1/4 inch, and click about halfway between the top
and bottom of the bar. You’re creating the first side of the triangle. It doesn’t need to
be perfect.
5. Click just to the left of the bottom left corner of the bar to create the second side of
the triangle.
6. Click the point where you started to finish the triangle.

7. Press the Delete key on your keyboard to delete the selected area from the colored
bar, creating a notch for your ribbon.
8. Choose Select > Deselect to deselect the area you deleted.

The ribbon is ready. Now you can add a name to your birthday card.

Setting tool properties in the options bar

Next you’ll use the options bar to select the text properties and then to type the name.
1. In the Tools panel, select the Horizontal Type tool ( ).
The buttons and menus in the options bar now relate to the Type tool.
2. In the options bar, select a font you like from the first pop-up menu. (We used
Minion Pro Italic, but you can use another font if you prefer.)
3. Specify 32 pt for the font size.
You can specify 32 points by typing directly in the font-size text box and pressing Enter or
Return, or by scrubbing the font-size menu label. You can also choose a standard font size
from the font-size pop-up menu.
4. Click once anywhere on the left side of the colored bar, and type Elaine. Or you can
type a different name, if you like. Don’t worry if the text isn’t positioned well; you’ll
correct that later.

The text is the same color as the bar you typed it on. You’ll fix that next.

Tip
You can place the pointer over the labels of most numeric settings in the tool
options bar, in panels, and in dialog boxes in Photoshop to display a “scrubby
slider.” Dragging the pointing-finger slider to the right increases the value;
dragging to the left decreases the value. Alt-dragging (Windows) or Option-
dragging (Mac OS) changes the values in smaller increments; Shift-dragging
changes them in larger increments.
Using panels and panel menus
The text color is the same as the Foreground Color swatch in the Tools panel, which is the
blue color you used to paint the bar. You’ll select the text and choose another color from
the Swatches panel.
1. Make sure the Horizontal Type tool ( ) is selected in the Tools panel.
2. Drag the Horizontal Type tool across the text to select the full name.
3. Click the Swatches tab to bring that panel forward, if it’s not already visible.
4. Select any light-colored swatch. (We chose pastel yellow.)

Note
When you move the pointer over the swatches, it temporarily changes into an
eyedropper. Set the tip of the eyedropper on the swatch you want, and click to
select it.

The color you select appears in three places: as the Foreground Color in the Tools panel,
in the text color swatch in the options bar, and in the text you selected in the image
window.
5. Select another tool in the Tools panel, such as the Move tool ( ), to deselect the
text so that you can see the text color.

That’s how easy it is to select a color, although there are other methods in Photoshop.
However, you’ll use a specific color for this project so that it matches the text in the other
ribbon. It’s easier to find it if you change the Swatches panel display.
6. Click the menu button ( ) on the Swatches panel to open the panel menu, and
choose Small List.

7. Select the Type tool and reselect the text, as you did in steps 1 and 2.
8. In the Swatches panel, scroll about halfway down the list to find the Light Yellow
Orange swatch, and then select it.

9. Select the Move tool ( ) again to deselect the text.

Now the text appears in the orange color.

Note
Don’t select the Move tool using the V keyboard shortcut, because you’re in
text-entry mode. Typing V will add the letter to your text in the image
window.

Undoing actions in Photoshop

In a perfect world, you’d never make a mistake. You’d never click the wrong object.
You’d always correctly anticipate how specific actions would bring your design ideas to
life exactly as you imagined them. You’d never have to backtrack.
For the real world, Photoshop gives you the power to step back and undo actions so that
you can try other options. You can experiment freely, knowing that you can reverse the
process.

Note
The Undo command isn’t available if you’ve already saved your changes.
However, you can still use the Step Backward command and the History
panel (covered in Lesson 9), as long as you haven’t closed the project since
you made the changes.

Even beginning computer users quickly come to appreciate the familiar Undo command.
You’ll use it to move back one step, and then step further backward. In this case, you’ll go
back to the light color that you originally chose for the name.
1. Choose Edit > Undo Edit Type Layer, or press Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Command+Z
(Mac OS) to undo your last action.
The name returns to its previous color.
2. Choose Edit > Redo Edit Type Layer, or press Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Command+Z
(Mac OS) to reapply the orange color to the name.

The Undo command in Photoshop reverses only one step. This is a practicality, because
Photoshop files can be very large, and maintaining multiple Undo steps can tie up a lot of
memory, which tends to degrade performance. If you press Ctrl+Z or Command+Z again,
Photoshop restores the step you removed initially.
However, you can often use the Step Backward and Step Forward commands (in the Edit
menu) to move through multiple steps.
3. Once the name is back to the color you’d like it to be, use the Move tool to drag the
name so it’s centered in the blue bar.
4. Save the file. Your birthday card is done!
More about panels and panel locations
Photoshop panels are powerful and varied. Rarely would you need to see all panels
simultaneously. That’s why they’re in panel groups, and why the default configurations
leave many panels unopened.
The complete list of panels appears in the Window menu. Check marks appear next to the
names of the panels that are open and active in their panel groups. You can open a closed
panel or close an open one by selecting the panel name in the Window menu.
You can hide all panels at once—including the options bar and Tools panel—by pressing
the Tab key. To reopen them, press Tab again.

Note
When panels are hidden, a thin, semitransparent strip is visible at the edge of
the document. Hovering the pointer over the strip displays its contents.

You already used panels in the panel dock when you used the Layers and Swatches panels.
You can drag panels to or from the panel dock. This is convenient for bulky panels or ones
that you use only occasionally but want to keep handy.
You can arrange panels in other ways, as well:
• To move an entire panel group, drag the title bar to another location in the work
area.
• To move a panel to another group, drag the panel tab into that panel group so that a
blue highlight appears inside the group, and then release the mouse button.
 • To dock a panel or panel group, drag the title bar or panel tab onto the top of the
dock.

• To undock a panel or panel group so that it becomes a floating panel or panel group,
drag its title bar or panel tab away from the dock.

Expanding and collapsing panels

You can resize panels to use screen space more efficiently and to see fewer or more panel
options, either by dragging or clicking to toggle between preset sizes:
• To collapse open panels to icons, click the double arrow in the title bar of the dock
or panel group. To expand a panel, click its icon or the double arrow.
 • To change the height of a panel, drag its lower right corner.
• To change the width of the dock, position the pointer on the left edge of the dock
until it becomes a double-headed arrow, and then drag to the left to widen the dock,
or to the right to narrow it.
• To resize a floating panel, move the pointer over the right, left, or bottom edge of the
panel until it becomes a double-headed arrow, and then drag the edge in or out. You
can also pull the lower right corner in or out.

Note
You can collapse, but not resize, the Character and Paragraph panels.

• To collapse a panel group so that only the dock header bar and tabs are visible,
double-click a panel tab or panel title bar. Double-click again to restore it to the
expanded view. You can open the panel menu even when the panel is collapsed.

Notice that the tabs for the panels in the panel group and the button for the panel menu
remain visible after you collapse a panel.

Special notes about the Tools panel and options bar

The Tools panel and the options bar share some characteristics with other panels:
 • You can drag the Tools panel by its title bar to a different location in the work area.
You can move the options bar to another location by dragging the grab bar at the far
left end of the panel.
• You can hide the Tools panel and options bar.
However, some panel features are not available or don’t apply to the Tools panel or
options bar:
• You cannot group the Tools panel or options bar with other panels.
• You cannot resize the Tools panel or options bar.
• You cannot stack the Tools panel or options bar in the panel dock.
• The Tools panel and options bar do not have panel menus.

Finding resources for using Photoshop

The following resources can help you take your explorations even further, answer
questions you have, and help you resolve any issues you encounter as you work on your
own projects:
Adobe Photoshop Help and Support: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop.html is where
you can find and browse Help and Support content on Adobe.com.
Adobe Creative Cloud Learn & Support: https://helpx.adobe.com/support.html
provides inspiration, key techniques, cross-product workflows, and updates on new
features.
Adobe Forums: https://forums.adobe.com/welcome lets you tap into peer-to-peer
discussions, questions, and answers on Adobe products.

Changing interface settings

By default, the panels, dialog boxes, and background in Photoshop are dark.
You can lighten the interface or make other changes in the Photoshop
Preferences dialog box:
1. Choose Edit > Preferences > Interface (Windows) or Photoshop CC >
Preferences > Interface (Mac OS).
2. Select a different color theme, or make other changes.
When you select a different theme, you can see the changes immediately. You
can also select specific colors for different screen modes and change other
interface settings in this dialog box.
 3. When you’re satisfied with the changes, click OK.

Review questions
1. Describe two types of images you can open in Photoshop.
2. How do you select tools in Photoshop?
3. Describe two ways to zoom in to or out from an image.
4. What are two ways to get more information about Photoshop?

Review answers
1. You can scan a photograph, transparency, negative, or graphic into the program;
capture a digital video image; or import artwork created in a drawing program. You
can also import digital photos.
2. To select a tool in Photoshop, click its icon in the Tools panel, or press the tool’s
keyboard shortcut. A selected tool remains active until you select a different tool. To
select a hidden tool, either use a keyboard shortcut to toggle through the tools, or
click and hold the tool in the Tools panel to open a pop-up menu of the hidden tools.
3. Choose commands from the View menu to zoom in on or out from an image, or to
fit it onscreen, or use the zoom tools and click or drag over an image to enlarge or
reduce the view. You can also use keyboard shortcuts or the Navigator panel to
control the display of an image.
4. The Photoshop Help system includes full information about Photoshop features plus
keyboard shortcuts, task-based topics, and illustrations. Creative Cloud Learn
provides inspiration, key techniques, cross-product workflows, and updates on new
features.