The document provides instructions for arranging a workspace in Adobe Photoshop and using various tools. It describes opening a new project with an A4 template, deleting the background layer, and creating folders for layers. It then explains how to make and manipulate shapes, text, and use brush tools. It also covers the magic wand tool, burn tool, and using Lightroom to edit photos by straightening, adjusting shadows and lights, and more. The document ends by discussing using existing materials like a bee PNG in a music poster, and creating new materials like a sonder festival logo.
1. Task 2 Adam Paterson
Arranging a workspace
To Start off with Adobe Photoshop, the way I arranged my workshop was by
opening the program and not using any of the presets and using manual controls.
I pressed the “New…” tab so that I could start a new project
After the menu comes up I then changed the document type from US Paper to
International paper so that I could get an A4 template. This meant that I would
be able to print it off at home or at college as I have a printer in A4 and the
college printers primarily print in A4
After the document opens I then unlocked the background layer and deleted this.
The reason I do this is because I like to have a transparent background so that a
full coloured layer isn’t the background and that I can change the background to
whatever I want. Say for example if it were a compilation of 4 different images, it
would be useless to have another layer clogging it up. I then created folders in
my layers panel for organizational methods so that I know where all my layers
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are based off their location on the document and the relevant folder for them.
After this I am ready to start making my product.
Using Tools on Photoshop
Making Shapes and Shape Manipulation
To make a basic shape in
Photoshop you go to the task bar
along the left hand side of the
workspace. Then over the shape
menu you click and hold down to
select which shape you would like
to use. In this case I will use a
rectangle shape and show the
different mechanics of the
property variables.
After you have selected a shape,
a crosshair will replace your
cursor. Clicking and dragging
this over your workspace will
make the outline of a shape. By
letting go of the left click the
shape will appear. To make
more mathematically accurate
lengths, by holding Shift when
you click and drag will make a square box that gets bigger from the anchor point
being the bottom left of the shape. And by holding Alt you make a square shape
that gets bigger as if the anchor point is the middle of the shape.
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When you make a shape a box
will appear that is the Properties
of that shape. They include
interchangeable variables such
as shape (Width and Height),
Colour, Lines, Type of lines etc.
To
change
the
colour of
the
shape,
click on
the
furthest
left
coloured
box on
the properties menu. Off this you can select any colour off the colour pallet, or
any colour you have on your computer by using the dropper to select that colour.
By changing the colour it means that there is more creative control over what
you want your graphics to look like. To change the entire background of the
image using a colour properties change can dramatically change the mood of the
creation.
To add a gradient
to your image
press on the tab
that has a
gradient from
Black to White.
From here there
are a range of
different
gradients. For a
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better visual at it, I chose the ugly looking tri coloured gradient. But from this we
can see the colour spread a lot more easy. The colour banner at the bottom of the
page that is a strip going across controls how far your gradient is. If you want
more yellow and less red, you would drag the yellow tab closer towards the
middle and this is the same for any gradient changes.
To change the
outline on the
box, by
pressing the
box that has
originally a
line struck
through it, to
signify that
the colour is Null by choosing a colour will make an outline going around the box.
To make this line thicker you must adjust the slider to make it be really subtle or
to be a thick border around the shape.
You can also
change the type
of border, if you
want a jaded
border that
isn’t a complete
one, you can
change it by
pressing the
drop down menu for changing this entity. You can also change to little dots all
surrounding the border of the shape.
Making Text and Text Manipulation
To get a text entity you must
go to the text box menu on the
sidebar panel. Dropping the
menu down will reveal other
ways of making the text work.
In this example I will use the
more common Horizontal type
tool
By clicking on the workspace a Blinking
type cursor will appear. This is where you
can type your text. The way of doing this is
so that you do not need excess space so
that your work doesn’t require that you
change the text box size over and over to
compensate for the extra room.
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Where as in this way of making text,
by clicking and dragging a text area
tool. Text can only be put in the box
that is provided. Where as before, the
text could go on and on, as there is no
safe space that the border walls end
so the text does not know where to
stop. Only where to start and carry
on.
To edit basic text variables, when the
text layer is selected in the Layers
panel, at the top taskbar there are
different changeable variables. Such
as font. The way in which font works
is by pressing on a drop down menu
and selecting the name of your font
by either typing it in, or by hovering
over the font name of your choice
and getting a preview with the text you have typed. Font size is also there, which
is more manual and means you have to select the font size before you get a
preview. You can also hover over the Two T logos next to font size and toggle the
size, which gives you a preview and also uses font sizes that are not defined in
the drop down menu. There is also colour options that work the same as the
rectangle, and positional menus that let text be left, centered or on the right. The
very end panel is the Properties menu, which reveals more text changes.
In the character panel. There are
still options for the above-
mentioned variables but also
more advanced ones to. Text
spacing when vertically stacked
on this example is set to (Auto)
which means the spacing is
natural and what we are used to,
bringing it to a negative brings
the two lines closer together, and
making the number increase
makes the lines separate giving
more room between each line.
Option VA with a horizontal
arrow below it is used fro spacing
between lettering, this can be
used so that text can be bunched
together. The T with a vertical
arrow is used to stretch lettering
without pixilation so that the image quality is much sharper than just dragging
the layer upwards, and the T with a Horizontal arrow is the same function but by
stretching text horizontally. And the Panel of T’s under these all control
typefaces, such as Bold, Italics, and Underline Etc.
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The paragraph tab is a small
extension on the basic one we are
given. It allows more ways for us
to manipulate the paragraphing of
our text, and also give us
mathematical manual controls so
that paragraphing can be accurate
when placed on such things as a
border for example, where text
will need to be contained within a
certain area.
Brush Tools
The brush tool is used to apply
manual drawing over a layer. In
this instance I am using a new
layer, selected by choosing the
Page layer button the bottom of
the layers panel. The reason why I
choose this instead of drawing on
the layer itself is because I would
rather feel like I’m drawing over a
transparent layer, than directly
adjust the layer I’m working on.
After I created the layer I then went to
the tool panel and selected the brush
tool. There are other tools but for this
example I will use the most common
brush tool.
.
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The properties menu will open up when
you select the brush tool. The circle
crosshairs at the top left is about the nib
on the end of the brush. By dragging the
sides in the pen becomes narrower like
an old quill pen. Where as it is now is
more of a round finish that we are
accustomed to. We can also adjust the
size of the brush so that the lines are
thicker or thinner, the sharpness of the
brush so that there is no softness on the
edges and it becomes more hard on the
layer. We can also choose to put on a
custom brush that changes the end and
has an effect on the way that the brush
writes on the page.
To draw on the
layer, your
cursor is the
brush pen. It is
recommended
that you use a
graphics tablet
to write and
draw as you
have more of a
handheld feel to
when you draw.
You can also
change the colour using the colour picker on the sidebar, which is
interchangeable at any point and does not effect and previous strokes.
To remove any errors or
strokes, you may want to
either undo the error in
the panel, or you can use
the erase tool also on the
sidebar, which is used to
erase anything on a layer,
this must be used
carefully so that any
wrong layers or parts of a
layer are erased.
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Magic Wand Tool
The magic wand tool is a way of selecting an area of colour that is the same
colour. The way this works is by making a mask around the borders of where a
colour change is depending on its
colour. The reason why people use this
is because they want to clip a part of a
picture maybe to put a background in
or just to make a PNG.
When you select the
magic wand tool and
press on a certain area,
the area that has the
same colour is
highlighted, ready to
clipping of that colour
meaning that any
borders are left
untouched and all the
colour in a certain area
is highlighted. This can
be deleted, moved,
removed, drawn etc.
The other tool available
here is the quick
selection tool which
works like the magic
wand tool; but instead
clips only certain areas
of the same colour
unless you click more
and select the whole
area. This is a manual
way of using a magic
wand tool and makes
more accurate and
intricate highlighting.
Brightness and Contrast changes with Burn Tool
The use of the burn tool is more to directly
effect photos more than most layers as it
involves changing the brightness of an area
so that it makes the composition look a lot
more better rather than increasing the
whole images brightness or contrast, its just certain parts of an image
which gives more manual control.
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When you press the burn tool a cursor
like the brush appears and using the
same appliances as that we can set the
hardness and size of the brush. From
here we can brush over certain parts
of the image we want to change. The
first image here is without burn,
where as the second one is. Notice the
difference in shadowing and contrast
as the burn is applied, bringing out
more detail and making it look more
correctly exposed.
Image Manipulation
10. Task 2 Adam Paterson
For my image manipulation I use Adobe Lightroom over adobe Photoshop. I use
this because I can see all my photos in a Showreel and select which one I want to
choose and not have separate files for them all across Photoshop. This is much
more easier when you are working with a batch of photos aswell. For This
example I will use an image I took. I took the image in a RAW format that means
it was directly editable to change the exposure and more features than I would
be able to a JPEG File.
I started off by straightening the image so that the horizon line is at a flat 180
degree. I do this because I want the image to look straight. I could do every edit
possible but if the photo is not straight it would loo strange, as if you need to tilt
your head to look at it. I do this by going to the above Transform panel and
changing the rotation and scale so that the horizon lines are straight.
I then went to the tone curve line and dropped the shadows, this meant that the
darks in the image really come out more and are more obvious. In an image that
is already bright with no dark hotspots, by dropping the shadows and darks to
really low it doesn’t affect the overall dark look on the photo.
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I then gradually dragged up the light tones, as the image was already rather
bright (As you can see on the histogram) this was only a light touch, just to bring
out the highlights and make the image look less dull in the lights than it did
before.
Using Existing Materials
Existing
materials are
useful because
they offer a
way of gaining
materials that
you do not
have to create
yourself, save
time and effort
along with
getting a
professionally
looking
outcome if the
materials you use are of a professional quality. For my poser, I used a
Manchester Bee as an existing material. A quick Google search helped me find a
PNG that I found was perfect for my music poster.
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I found a PNG of
the bee, which
was perfect for
my poster; it was
Bold, soft on the
edges and curved.
Giving a chilled
tone to it rather
than it being
straight edged
and looks sharp.
I put this into
my music
poster menu
and moved it
up the top
layer on my
layer panel on
the layer
menu. I then
added ruler
guidelines on
the rectangle
borderlines
that were 0.5
cm from them
to give a safe
space
between the
two entities. I
then shrink
these images
to a suitable
size and put
them in each
corner.
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Using new materials
I used new materials by re
creating a sonder poster that
I couldn’t find online. It
consisted of the sonder
meaning in a circular logo
along with the logo aswell.
I started off by getting a
PNG file of the sonder logo
itself, going on Photoshop
and stripping the main
parts away from each other.
So I had a PNG of just
SONDER and a PNG of
FESTIVAL so that they were
detached.
I then made a circular
background similar to the one
used in the other logo. On top of
that I then dropped my SONDER
PNG on top of that and then the
festival one just under it. I
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resized the festival size just because there is a subtle change in text placing on
the original logo itself where festival is just shorter in width and smaller in
height aswell when it is under the SONDER logo.
I then dropped lines on either
side of FESTIVAL just so that
there was no dead space, and
offered as a differential barrier
between the masthead title
above and what was going to
appear below. I then added a
text box and set the
paragraphing to centralize the
text. I then typed out the
definition of sonder, along with
the fact it was a noun, and
resized the text so it gave some
extra room between it and the
outsides of the circle background.