PHOTOSHOP LESSON 02
Palettes
Colors
Drawing tools
Options
Chris says: Do you have your screen set up?
Joy says: Yes, it’s set
up
Chris says: Open a canvas, normal settings
Joy says: It’s open
Chris says: Press tab a couple of times. Your palettes will appear
and disappear. Turn them off. Then fool with them, with tab, and with shift tab
until you just have the Toolbox showing.
Chris says: When you get tired of playing, you can also turn the Toolbox
on with Window > Display Toolbox. I put my Toolbox on the right side of the
screen, so it doesn't interfere with my canvas.
Joy says: Yes, that’s
where I have it too
Chris says: We were using the Brush. So type B for Brush, and
you'll see the Brush button is poked in
Chris says: You could also click on it, but I really discourage getting
the habit of doing that. You want to get away from using the Toolbox as soon as
you can.
Chris says: Press F5 to display the Brush palette and choose the
third Brush, top row.
Joy says: Yes I can see
why.. It’s a hard habit to break
Chris says: And since most programs are following Photoshop’s
shortcut keys, it's best to use them when you can.
Chris says: Press D for Default colors -- that's black and white.
Chris says: Press Enter to display the Options palette.
Chris says: If it's not above the Brush palette, then position
them.
Chris says: The Toolbox will just be a reference, so we can see
what tool is being used, and what colors we are using. The Options palette
should always be displayed.
Chris says: Then, on the Brushes palette, find the color tab. You
can bring it to the front with F6.
Chris says: Try F5, F6, F5, F6
Chris says: Then try F6, F6, F6 and F5 F5 F5
Chris says: I always confuse F5 and F6, but it doesn't matter. If
one doesn't work, try the other. F5 is for Brushes, F6 is for color.
Chris says: We need to look at the color palette first, and then
the different drawing tools. After that, we progress to selections.
Chris says: The color palette has two squares, over lapping. The
top/front one is your foreground color, bottom/back is background.
Chris says: Painter, btw, doesn't use a "background"
color -- it uses primary and secondary. But Photoshop definitely uses the
second color as a background color.
Chris says: If you click on the front color (which is black right
now) and it was already selected (had the double outline around it) you get the
color picker.
Chris says: If the square you click on does not have that double
outline, you just switch to it, but if it has the double outline, you bring up
the color picker.
Chris says: You could click either the color squares on the color
palette or on the Toolbox. Same thing happens.
Chris says: Choose the foreground color and display the color
picker.
Chris says: At the top it says, color picker, and then select
foreground color
Joy says: The foreground
is the first box the one on top?
Chris says: Foreground color is the one on the top.
Chris says: The color picker has lots of parts.
Chris says: Left side shows the value range of the current color.
Chris says: Probably red to black, white to black
Chris says: You will see a little circle in the lower left corner.
That represents your current pick.
Chris says: You can just click anywhere in that window to choose a
different value of red
Chris says: Just click in the center of the square.
Chris says: You can drag the circle, but you don't need to. You
can just click where you want to set it.
Chris says: Dead center (or close) is a dusky red.
Chris says: On the bottom of the thing, you see a box that says
only web colors
Chris says: Turn that on and you will see the values that will be
safely displayed on the web. It keeps you from choosing colors that don't
display exactly, but I have never bothered with it.
Chris says: When you turn it off again, you will be back to the
complete value range, but your dot will have moved from dead center.
Chris says: Move it back to about the center again.
Chris says: On the right of the big window, you see a slider.
Chris says: The slider is all the way at the bottom (I assume)
Chris says: That's where you choose the hue.
Chris says: To the right of that is a double window. When you
first opened the color picker, it was showing black top and black bottom
Chris says: Now it shows dusky red top and black bottom.
Chris says: It also shows a little square with a little cube right
above it.
Chris says: The square with the cube is showing you this is not a
color that prints exactly as it displays.
Chris says: If you click on the little square, you'll get the
closest match that will come out of your printer.
Chris says: If you click the bottom half of that window, you
return to the color you started with when you opened the color picker -- black
in this case
Chris says: Below that you see the numbers for this color. Hue
saturation brightness is the first mode
Chris says: Red green blue is below that
Chris says: You should have more red than green or blue, and the
green and blue should be equal values right now
Chris says: CMYK values are displayed
Chris says: The web color hexadecimal value is displayed
Chris says: And even the scientific color definition lab is
displayed
Chris says: We probably have about r 153, g 51 b 51 selected?
Chris says: Right about there, I would assume, if you clicked the
little cube box.
Chris says: The last thing to look at on the color picker is the
custom button.
Chris says: It's on the right of the dialog box.
Chris says: Click it, and you see a new dialog
Chris says: This one has a window at the top that is labeled
"book"
Chris says: If you click that, you see the different color systems
- pantone, etc
Chris says: The reason for all the different color modes is so you
can match colors, in case a client has specific needs.
Chris says: The example I usually give is, if you were designing
for coke, you couldn't use the Pepsi red. You know the differences in your head
-- you recognize those colors, and would know if the can had the wrong shade
Chris says: If you are in the pantone coated system, you can
choose specific colors by typing the number.
Joy says: I can see you
can get very specific with this
Chris says: Just hit some numbers, and you'll see the color
change.
Chris says: Try 5
Chris says: Then try 55 -- typed fast
Chris says: Then try 555 - typed fast
Chris says: I have sometimes just assumed that people knew how to
pick colors -- I don't know why I assume that is genetically coded knowledge.
Joy says: LOL
Chris says: The color palette --
Chris says: There is a little right - pointing triangle at the top of each of the palettes
Chris says: That's where the options are
Chris says: Click it and you see the different modes.
Joy says: Yes, I see it
Chris says: You can change the way the values are displayed
Chris says: But that does not change the mode you are working in.
Chris says: You always want to work in RGB
Chris says: On the menu bar, click image > mode and you'll see
that RGB is checked (or should be.)
Chris says: If you click it there, you do change the color mode
you are working in.
Chris says: When you change the color mode you work in, your
printer won't print out properly, because it expects the values it receives to
be in RGB, and it converts them to CMYK. If you send it CMYK, it converts the
values, and the colors are way off.
Chris says: That's something people do a lot, and it's one of the
common questions you'll see on lists -- why is my color not printing out right?
Tell them to check the mode they are working in, and that corrects the problem.
Chris says: People think because printers work in CMYK, that they
need to work in that mode, and they get themselves in trouble with it. If you
were sending a file to a professional printer, he would tell you what to set
in, because he has different kinds of printers.
Chris says: You can choose a color by clicking anything on the color
palette (the F6 palette). Click on the slider bar, click on the rainbow bar,
click and move the sliders, or change the values in the windows, -- all that
will give you a color
Joy says: So the printer
expects it to be in RGB and converts it,
Chris says: Now switch to the Brush palette - F5
Chris says: The top row of Brushes is "hard" edged
Chris says: The ones below it are soft edged.
Chris says: The Paintbrush is soft-edged to begin with.
Chris says: So with the third Brush from the left, make a mark,
and then with the third Brush, second row, make a mark. To see the difference.
Chris says: Each of those Brushes has settings that you can
change.
Chris says: Double-click on the third Brush, top row
Chris says: You can set the diameter of the Brush in pixels.
Chris says: You can set the hardness -- the edge
Chris says: For these first six Brushes, it is set to 100%, by
default
Chris says: The spacing means, how far the Brush moves before it
sets down a new footprint.
Chris says: These are set at 25% by default. So when the Brush has
moved 1/4 of its diameter, it sets down a new footprint.
Chris says: You can change that, and you get spots.
Chris says: Below that, there is a circle with a crosshair and an
arrow.
Chris says: You can move the dots, top and bottom, of that circle,
to change the squeeze
Chris says: And tilt the arrow to change the angle.
Joy says: Wow
Chris says: Let's set a 13 pixel, 75% hardness, 50% spacing, angle
20, roundness 40
Chris says: Then use it to draw
Chris says: And notice that the appearance is changed in your Brush
palette, too.
Chris says: You can reset your Brushes to the defaults by clicking
the triangle in the upper right corner, and clicking restore Brush defaults
Chris says: Reset Brushes, I mean. That's what it actually says
Joy says: That is so
cool
Chris says: And you can create any Brush you want, and save them
-- not just round ones. But we'll do that another time.
Chris says: Phone ringing -- draw
Chris says: You can switch to the Airbrush by typing J
Chris says: Notice the options that are already set for it
Joy says: Cool
Chris says: Choose the Brush marked 35
Chris says: When the Brushes are too big to display, they show the
number
Chris says: So that one is 35 pixels.
Chris says: For the Airbrush, you need a larger Brush
Chris says: It is always soft edged, and if you hold on one area,
the color builds up
Chris says: It's best to work with a low setting for the Airbrush.
Chris says: Like 10 or 20
Chris says: That's the window that says pressure
Chris says: If you type a 1, you will have 10 %
Chris says: Type 2 for 20%, and so on.
Chris says: Zero gives you 100%
Chris says: You can also type double-digits, like 23, but you must
type very fast.
Chris says: So Brush is hard or soft,
Chris says: AirBrush is always soft.
Chris says: Pencil is always hard.
Chris says: Type n for pencil
Chris says: You won't use this one much.
Chris says: Note its settings.
Chris says: Choose a larger Brush, and mark with it, just to see
what it looks like
Chris says: Notice that all the Brushes have hard edges on the
palette now
Chris says: You can't make soft marks with the pencil, but you can
change its opacity.
Chris says: Set it to 50% (type 5) and then draw again.
Chris says: Now go to the Brush
and set it to 50% and mark, and then the Airbrush, 50% and mark
Chris says: To reset all the tools to their defaults, go to the
options palette, right triangle, and click the reset.
Chris says: Are you using a mouse or a pressure stylus?
Chris says: At the bottom of all three options palettes, there are
some boxes marked size opacity, color
Chris says: If you are using a pressure sensitive pen, you can set
these.
Chris says: Size lets you vary the size of your marks, from
nothing to the set size of the Brush, by pressing.
Joy says:
I don’t have one yet
Chris says: Opacity lets you vary the opacity by pressure
Chris says: And color lets you vary from foreground to background
colors by pressure.
Chris says: If you don't have one, the options are greyed out.
Joy says: I can tell I
need one of those
Chris says: It's like, do you need a Brush to paint, or do you
want to do it with your fingers.
Chris says: The last drawing tool is the eraser.
Joy says: Yes I can see
that
Chris says: The Eraser will erase to the background color.
Chris says: We had white set for the background color, and I don't
think we changed it, so you should erase to white.
Chris says: If you change the background color, you will erase to
that color, instead.
Chris says: That is only for the background layer, the canvas
itself.
Joy says: How do you
change the background color?
Chris says: When we start working with layers, the eraser just
erases what is on the layer
Chris says: To change the background color, click the bottom color
box and then choose a color
Joy says: Ooh ok
Chris says: Same as the foreground color, except you just have to
click the bottom color box first
Chris says: Be sure you set yourself back to foreground color
after you do that, or you will be selecting background colors, and not knowing
why it isn't working right.
Chris says: You can always reset to default by typing D
Chris says: And you can switch the background and foreground
colors by typing X
Chris says: Or you could click on that curvy arrow on the Toolbox,
that points from one to the other.
Chris says: Set the background color to olive green
Chris says: And the foreground color to mauve.
Chris says: Now, on the keyboard, type alt-del
Chris says: Alt-delete will fill with the foreground color
Chris says: Ctrl-delete will fill with the background color
Chris says: These are keys you just need to remember. I always
say, "fill with foreground color - alt-delete)
Chris says: It's not Alt-D or Ctrl-D
Chris says: People usually press those, by mistake
Chris says: Ok. I don't have the kids today, so it was a good
morning to do this. Next time: Selection tools
Lesson End