Getting Started Adobe Photoshop

About Photoshop:

Adobe Photoshop is hands down, the most popular program for creating and modifying images for the web. Even those who don't have Photoshop can download the tryout version from www.adobe.com and follow much of this tutorial.

Section 1 - Getting Started

When you open Photoshop, the Photoshop desktop appears. The following components should be visible: top menus, options bar, image window, palettes, the status bar, and toolbox.

Menus

Photoshop menus (File, Edit, Image, Layer, Select, Filter, View, Window, and Help) appear at the top of the desktop. Click on a menu name and its menu items will appear.

Options Bar

The options bar appears right below the menus. Options for the tool that is currently selected in the toolbox appear in the options bar. The following example shows options for the Type tool.

Image Window

The image window/s houses the photo or graphic files you plan on editing.

Palettes

You can display or hide palettes by going to the Window menu (please note the layers palette).

The Status Bar

The status bar at the bottom of the Photoshop desktop provides information about your file and current activity.

Toolbox

The toolbox contains the tools you use to work with images in Photoshop. To use a tool, click on its icon in the toolbox. For the most part we will be concentrating on the marquee tool, move tool, paint bucket and color selection palette.