This tutorial focuses on the tools worth knowing without getting into the nitty gritty of minutia rarely needed. It assumes no prior Photoshop knowledge, just the ability to learn new skills. Theres three main things you're going to learn:
1. How to work with multiple images at once using layers.
2. How to select out parts of an image.
3. How to color correct.
If you can master those three things, all simple separately, the rest will fall into place.
Before getting into the meat of this tutorial, I want you to know a lots about to be thrown your way in the form of hotkeys and Menu Items. Ultimately, the hardest part about Photoshop is just knowing where everything is. I include videos throughout. If you're confused by anything in the article, the videos are here to supplemant the learning. Also, I suggest you download the keyboard shortcut cheat sheet (pdf) from Trevor Morris Photographics. It's the best on the web.
Below is a screenshot with descriptions of photoshop when opened. In it are various windows, and where to go to find those windows. I've marked hotkeys in red, many which will be covered in detail later. By no means do I expect you to memorize or understand everything in this pic. For now what's important is getting a feel for the program.
Overwhelming chart of what's probably scared you up till now:
Window _>Tools
Let's jump right in.
Open an existing picture :
File _>Open... or Ctrl O
To open a canvas with nothing on it:
File _>New... or Ctrl N
You can drag and drop any picture onto this new canvas.
Here's how to move around:
Ctrl + and Ctrl - zoom in and zooms out or use the zoom tool
(z).
Alt, Ctrl, and Shift further the functionality of every tool. Press them after selecting the tool from the toolbox (After pressing in this example) or after pressing the hotkey (z in this example) What they do shows up in the info window (Img 2). Alt + click zooms out while plain clicking zooms in.
The hand tool (h) lets you move around when zoomed in. Click and hold to move around the image.
Press and hold the spacebar and the pointer immediately becomes a hand . While spacebar is held down you can hold down the mouse button and it works the same as if hand tool was pressed.
To undo an action use Edit _>Undo (Ctrl+Z) and while you're at it look at all of the dropdown menus at top (Img 1). I know they're a bit overwhelming, but even before I teach you the slightest smidgen I'm sure you can figure at least a little out by looking at the titles and guessing at the ones which seem outrageously obvious. Even if you don't initially know how to use them, it's good to know they're there.
Img 1. Drop downs (Browse through these)
Img 2. Tells you what everything does,
Window _>Info Bonus Navigation Tips
Alt+Ctrl+I (Image _>Image Size...) lets you edit Image info such as the size of the image.
Alt+Ctrl+C (Image _>Canvas Size...)lets you edit Canvas info (extend the canvas.)
The History Window (Window _>History) allows for multiple undoes by clicking on previous actions up the list.
Got all that? Let's up the ante and complicate things by adding a second image.
Img. 3 Because we all make mistakes.
