Description

This course is an exploration of Photoshop’s Pen Toolset and Paths.  The course will cover the creation, manipulation, and many uses of vector paths within Photoshop.  Students will become familiar with using Photoshop’s Paths for a variety of real world tasks such as vector drawings, logo creation, clipping paths, cutouts and other effects that can be accomplished with Paths.  Detailed step by step instructions as well as video examples provide the means for students to take control of this powerful but intimidating tool.

Skill Level

Beginner to Intermediate

Software Requirements

• Photoshop CS or above

Hardware Requirements

• Windows or Mac capable of running Photoshop CS or above.
• Graphics tablet is helpful but not required

Course Gallery

Before Class

The Pen tool in Photoshop is one of the most avoided tools by the most Photoshop users.  It may be explored or played with while using the program, but many users find in unintuitive and cumbersome to make a part of their normal workflow.  There tends to be a strange level of intimidation regarding the Pen.  This course is meant to change that.  At the culmination of this class students should be as comfortable with the Pen as with any other tool in Photoshop.

Week One

The Pen is mightier than the sword, or the brush, or the clone stamp tool, or even the filter menu.

This week we’ll delve into what exactly the Pen does that is different than anything else in Photoshop, and why you’d want to use it.  We’ll explore the interface and get some hands on time in Path wrangling.

Week Two

Now cut that out! Remove an object from a background without the Magic Wand tool!

Remove an object from a background without the Magic Wand tool!

This week we’ll see why the Pen is the “Anti-Magic Wand” tool.  We’ll use it to cut an object out of the background of an image.  We’ll explore the techniques the pros use and develop an efficient work flow for quickly creating precise clipping paths, and discuss why that’s a good thing.

Week Three

Illustrating in Photoshop, learning to draw a logo that can be scaled to any size without smudging

Learn to create tight vector illustrations in our favorite image editor.  In a program where pixels reign supreme, the vectors tools are often forgotten.  This week we’ll dust them off and see that Photoshop can draw!

Week Four

Keeping it real, practical path projects and Professional Pen practices

This week we’ll cover some real life applications of the Pen techniques and explore some of the secret tricks of the pros.

Possibly Related Courses

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• Introduction to Digital Painting in Photoshop
• Mastering Image Correction
• Creative Photo Effects 1
• Introduction to 3D for Photoshop
• Illustrative Image Design

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• Digital Painting With CS5
• Introduction to Digital Painting in Photoshop

Description

Whether you are just starting out on your wonderful digital photo adventure or you have already ‘dipped your toes’ in the digital pool and now want to throw abandon to the wind and jump feet first into the creative pond, this course will give you a rock solid foundation!

One of the most common questions asked by fresh, keen image makers when faced with their first picture in Photoshop is “So, now what do I do?”. This course will answer that question and many more. From first opening your camera or imported image; to saving it as a fully corrected and clean digital file ready for more advanced work; this course will guide you through the various steps required in an easy to learn way.

Skill Level

Beginner

Software Requirements

• Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Vista or Apple Mac OS X operating system
• Adobe® Photoshop® CS3* or above (Many of the methods taught can be applied to other earlier versions of Photoshop and other software.)

Hardware Requirements

• A computer capable of running Adobe Photoshop
• Mouse and keyboard input devices

Course Gallery

[View with PicLens]

 

Before Class

Knowledge of the standard Adobe graphical user interface.

Week One

Getting started

• Digital Images-Vector or Raster
• Image “Modes”
• Bitmap
• Grayscale
• Bit Depth
• Why is Bit-Depth Important?

Week Two

Getting to work

• Opening an Image in Photoshop
• File formats
• Which format to use?
• Analyzing the Image
• The Info Palette
• Assessing Tones and Colors
• The Eyedropper Tool
• Color Samplers
• Histograms
• What is It?
• Analyzing images with the Histogram
• Assessing Exposure
• Assessing Image “Mood”
• Lost Tones and Posterization

Week Three

Preparing a New Image

• The Rotate Canvas command
• The Ruler tool
• The Crop Tool
• Cropping with Perspective
• Blemishes and Artifacts
• Types of Blemishes
• The Editing Tools
• Spot Healing Brush
• Healing Brush
• Clone Stamp Tool

Week Four

Saving a Clean Image

• Choosing the right file format for saving
• Adjustment Layers and Layer Masks
• Dodge and Burn tools
• Hue and Saturation
• Replace Color
• Making Selections
• Color Editing
• Localized Editing

Possibly Related Courses

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• Creative Photo Effects 1
• Introduction to the Pen Tool
• Introduction to 3D for Photoshop
• Illustrative Image Design
• From Traditional to Digital-Painting Fundamentals

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• Creative Photo Effects 1

Description

Should Photoshop  include this art form, since more and more people are getting involved in the 3D world? It sure does.

“Will mastering these new 3D features make you an expert in 3D? No, but what it will do is make you more familiar with 3D in general and perhaps make learning a dedicated 3D application a little less frustrating. But what you will have is a new weapon in your design arsenal. With these few but robust 3D tools, you can create really compelling 3D art with just a little bit of practice.”
(Corey Barker, National Association of Photoshop Professionals, Photoshop User CS4 Bonus Issue)

In this class, you’ll be introduced to the basics of 3D and how to use the tools that Photoshop CS4 Extended offers.

Skill Level

Intermediate. Students must have a good command of Photoshop, its tools and terminology. It is assumed these tenets are known and understood.

Software Requirements

• Photoshop CS4 Extended

Hardware Requirements

• Windows
  1.8GHz or faster processor
  Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista® Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista)
  512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
  1GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
• Mac
  PowerPC® G5 or multicore Intel® processor
  Mac OS X v10.4.11–10.5.4
  512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
  2GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on flash-based storage devices)

Course Gallery

Before Class

Students must have a good command of Photoshop, its tools and terminology.It is assumed these tenets are known and understood.

Week One

Lesson One

• 3D Basics
• Axis
• Meshes
• Workspace and 3D Tools
• 3D Postcards

Week Two

Lesson Two

• 3D Models
• Bringing 3D Models Directly into Photoshop
• Dealing with Downloaded Files
• Create a 3D Mesh

Week Three

Lesson 3

• Basic 3D Objects
• Spherical Panoramas
• Transforming 3D Objects
• Useful Tips for Easier Workflow
• Modifying Meshes
• Cross Sections
• Aligning Objects
• Merge 3D Layers
• Painting
  Cloning
  Using Selections to Paint on 3D Objects
  Hiding Selections to Paint on 3D Objects
  Painting Bump
  Painting Glossiness

Week Four

Lesson 4

• Painting Continued
  Painting Opacity
  Paint with Shininess and Adjust Specular Highlight Color
  Painting a Spherical Depth Map
  Importing Maps for use as Materials
• Lights
• Cameras

Possibly Related Courses

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• Introduction to Photoshop Two
• Introduction to the Pen Tool
• Mastering Image Correction
• Creative Photo Effects 1
• Illustrative Image Design

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• Introduction to Photoshop Two
• Introduction to Photoshop One

Description

In this class students will design and create multi-image montages to illustrate a concept or an activity of the portrait of the person they are photographing.  Upon completion the students will have a strong understanding of visual theory, color interpretation, qualities of light, and a firm comprehension in how to work with the tools and procedures in Photoshop.

Text and instructional information will be supplied by the instructor, and in notes taken by the students from the video instructional presentation.

Recorded video presentations will illustrate the concepts of elements, how to effectively use lighting to strengthen the image, and color story to support the finished image.  The importance of background will also be a key feature of this week.  All aspects from choosing colors to lighting style have an impact of the finished designed piece and when correctly working together make a successful image.  Video presentations will provide a visual learning atmosphere.

Skill Level

Intermediate to advanced understanding of photography, lighting, and Photoshop is required.

Software Requirements

• Photoshop 7 or greater
• A Professional camera

Hardware Requirements

• A desktop or laptop computer with enough processing speed and ram to handle large image sizes and to run Photoshop smoothly.  It will make no difference if the student is working on a P.C. or a Mac platform, although the instructor will be teaching from a P.C.

Before Class

For class preparation I only ask the student to come with a hunger to learn and a dedication to implement the assignments that will be given to the best of his/hers ability.

Week One

Image Theory

• Image Concept
• Image Message
• Elements
• Break Down of Image Elements
• Lighting to Support Image Concept
• The Background
• Eye Placement with Background

Week Two

Image Design Theory

• Color Theory
• Developing the Concept
• Background Composition
• Primary Element Composition
• Designing from the Primary
• Size Matters
• Defining the importance of secondary elements
• The Art of Masking
• Modes & Layering
• Accenting with Layers & Modes
• How the image takes on life

Week Three

Control of Elements

• Elements Redefine
• Opacities
• Elements & Filters
• Saturation of Color
• Directing the Viewers Eye
• Creating the Image

Week Four

Perfecting the Image

• Has the Message or Concept been Delivered
• Fine Tuning the Elements
• Checking for Flaws and Cutouts
• Presenting the Image

Possibly Related Courses

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• Introduction to the Pen Tool
• Mastering Image Correction
• Creative Photo Effects 1
• Introduction to 3D for Photoshop
• From Traditional to Digital-Painting Fundamentals

Other Courses by Woody

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Description

From Traditional to Digital: Painting Fundamentals: As painters, our job is twofold. First, we must develop a powerful understanding of light, and second, we learn to interpret that information through the medium of brushstrokes. This course provides an intensive, fundamental study of light, how it works, and how to paint it using digital painting tools. We will study from reference photography, and create paintings both from photographs and imagination.

Skill Level

All levels can benefit from this class.

Software Requirements

nstructor is using Adobe Photoshop CS5, but this course is not software specific. Students may use the digital painting software of their choosing. Recommended softwares are: Adobe Photoshop (CS or higher), Corel Painter (any version), ArtRage.

Hardware Requirements

Computer that can run the software properly. Mac or PC will suffice.

Wacom Tablet (Intuos or Bamboo, any size)

Course Gallery

Before Class

A familiarity with your chosen digital painting software is highly recommended. This is not an advanced software class, so a basic familiarity is all you need.

Week One

Introduction to Light

Your Instructor will introduce the concept of painting light, and will begin to deconstruct and analyze selected photographs to communicate some fundamental concepts of how light works, as well as introduce the student to common lighting situations found in nature. Students will be asked to find their own photographs that demonstrate the various lighting conditions discussed in the lecture.

Week Two

Quick Digital Studies from Photography

We will examine some more photographs, and instructor will demonstrate quick digital studies, with the goal of accurately reproducing the effect of light seen in the photos. These studies are fast and loose, and will use traditional techniques, rather than relying on ‘digital trickery’. The goal at this stage is for the student to begin to learn what elements are essential to capture, what elements must be simplified, and what must be edited out. Students will be asked to do their own digital studies from photos of their choosing. Some digital brush creation will be discussed as well.

Week Three

Critique of Student Studies

Students will submit their work to the class, and the instructor will choose studies at random, and critique them for the class’ benefit. Critiques will be performed by directly painting over the top of the work, as well as a verbal discussion of how to improve upon the study.

Week Four

Painting from Imagination

The instructor will draw upon information learned during the previous studies, and will paint a scene entirely from imagination, without using any reference material, and discussing the process as the painting evolves. Students will learn how to directly apply their knowledge of light to any subject, and create believable and beautiful images.

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• Introduction To Color Theory
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• Mastering Image Correction
• Creative Photo Effects 1

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Description

Storybook albums have taken the photography industry  by storm.  Storybook albums refers to the style of arranging images and design elements in an album in a way that truly tells a story.  Responding to the demands of today’s photography clients, many software companies have created programs and photo labs  have started offering services to assist photographers in creating storybook albums.  This course will teach you not only how to shoot images that work well in albums but will give you all of the tools you need to produce these high quality albums yourself  in Photoshop.  Creating the album yourself allows the photographer to offer unique albums to each customer and saves money by cutting out expensive album software and premium prices for labs to design pages for you.

This course is perfect for any photographer who wants to create unique storytelling  albums with their images.  These albums have already become popular with weddings, high school seniors, children, family photography, sports, events, and even vacation photos!

A basic knowledge of Photoshop is preferred though detailed instructions are provided for each lesson.  You will be provided with both written and video tutorials to keep with your course materials.  This course will cover collaging, creating and using brushes, backgrounds, and textures, as well as using layer masks, creating tinted and duo-tone images, creating sloppy edges, creating and using your templates, and more!  As an added bonus, every student will also receive 100 FREE Photoshop templates (a $50 Value) for 10 inch and smaller square albums just for attending this class!  This is a great start to your own template collection!

Skill Level

Beginner to Intermediate

Software Requirements

• Adobe Phostoshop. The class will be taught using Photoshop CS3 though much of the information is the same for other versions. Options are noted for alternative versions.

Hardware Requirements

• A Computer capable of running Adobe Photoshop

Course Gallery

[View with PicLens]

 

Before Class

Familiarize yourself with Photoshop. If you do not have Photoshop, you may want to download a 30 day trial version, however don’t download it until class begins. To download a trial version visit the official website www.adobe.com

Week One

Introduction to simple collaging

In week one, you will go over tips for shooting for the storybook album as well as album choices. You will also complete a lesson on creating a custom two page collage.

Week Two

Advanced collaging

Week two will build upon the skills learned in week one. We will work on collages built upon other images, adding text, adding layer effects, creating and using textures and digital backgrounds, as well as creating and using brushes.

Week Three

Special effects

In the third week, we will cover applying special effects to your images to create spectacular album pages. You will cover tints, duo-tones, selective blurring, and how to create and use sloppy edge borders.

Week Four

Templates

The final week of the course we will discover how to create and use your own templates. This skill will have you creating album designs without needing to purchase extra software templates.

Possibly Related Courses

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• Introduction to the Pen Tool
• Mastering Image Correction
• Creative Photo Effects 1
• Introduction to 3D for Photoshop
• Illustrative Image Design

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Description

Adobe® Photoshop® is the industry standard image manipulation tool used for many tasks, from photo retouching to creating posters. One of the most versatile and powerful programs available to the designer, it is essential for a professional finish.

This is true not only because Photoshop is available on a wide array of platforms ranging from Mac to Windows to UNIX, but because after four generations of development, Adobe Photoshop has the most intuitive user interface, the most complete set of tools, and the largest number of reference books around.

We use Photoshop to color correct and sharpen scans. Photoshop gives us the ability to make great looking reproductions of not-so-great looking photographs. It lets us create whatever we want, from scratch and come out with amazing results.

The Intermediate class is designed to continue from the Beginning class and introduce you to more of the wonderful things you can do with this program. Armed with the knowledge of how the program works, you can now put that to use with more advanced skills.

Prerequisites

• Introduction to Photoshop 1

Software Requirements

• Adobe® Photoshop® – CS and above – if you have an earlier version, you can still benefit from this class as it covers the basics which haven’t changed. There would be some activities you wouldn’t be able to participate in because depending on your version, you might not have access. That would be the exception more than the rule.
• You can download a trial version of Photoshop CS4 Extended if you don’t have Photoshop. It’s only good for 30 days. Then, after taking the class and the program, by all means purchase it so you can take the follow-on class and learn even more about the program. It’s the best graphics program you can find, so it’s an investment well worth making. If you want to try the 30 day trial, give it a shot: Photoshop CS4 Trial Download

Hardware Requirements

• A PC or MAC capable of running Photoshop

Course Gallery

Before Class

Be sure to check out the syllabus to see what we’ll be covering each week. Please introduce yourself so we’ll know a little bit more about you than your name.

Week One

• The Pen Tool and Paths
• Text in Circle/Text on a Path
• Clipping Paths
• Histograms
• Adjustment Layers
• Levels
• Curves
• Brightness/Contrast

Week Two

• Channels
• Clipping Masks
• Layer Masks
• Channel Mixers
• Grayscale Images
• Calculations
• History and Art History Brushes

Week Three

• Gradients
• Contours
• Background Eraser
• Magic Eraser
• The Dodge, Burn and Sponge Tools

Week Four

• Blur, Sharpen and Smudge Tools
• Extract
• Refining Extracted Edges with a Layer Mask
• Removing Red Eye from Photos
• Scanning

Possibly Related Courses

Automatically generated.

• Introduction to 3D for Photoshop
• Introduction to the Pen Tool
• Creative Collage: Scrap Techniques with Corel Painter
• Mastering Image Correction
• Creative Photo Effects 1

Other Courses by Donna

• Introduction to 3D for Photoshop
• Introduction to Photoshop One

Description

Adobe® Photoshop® is the industry standard image manipulation tool used for many tasks, from photo retouching to creating posters. One of the most versatile and powerful programs available to the designer, it is essential for a professional finish.

This is true not only because Photoshop is available on a wide array of platforms ranging from Mac to Windows to UNIX, but because after four generations of development, Adobe Photoshop has the most intuitive user interface, the most complete set of tools, and the largest number of reference books around.

Photoshop is widely used to color correct and sharpen scans. It gives us the ability to make great looking reproductions of not-so-great looking photographs and even to repair badly damaged photos. It lets us create whatever we want, from scratch and come out with amazing results.

In this first class, you will receive a complete introductioon to the basics of the program. You will learn how to use the tools, manipulate them, and enhance their output. You will learn how to get around and feel comfortable with the program and, in the process, learn how to do some magic stuff…

Skill Level

• Anyone with an interest in learning Photoshop

Software Requirements

• Adobe® Photoshop® – CS and above – if you have an earlier version, you can still benefit from this class as it covers the basics which haven’t changed. There would be some activities you wouldn’t be able to participate in because depending on your version, you might not have access. That would be the exception more than the rule.
• You can download a trial version of Photoshop CS4 Extended if you don’t have Photoshop. It’s only good for 30 days. Then, after taking the class and the program, by all means purchase it so you can take the follow-on class and learn even more about the program. It’s the best graphics program you can find, so it’s an investment well worth making. If you want to try the 30 day trial, give it a shot: Download the Photoshop CS4 Trial

Hardware Requirements

• A PC or MAC capable of running Photoshop

Course Gallery

[View with PicLens]

 

Before Class

Be sure to check out the syllabus to see what we’ll be covering each week. Please introduce yourself so we’ll know a little bit more about you than your name. Let me know if you’ve ever worked with Photoshop before.

Week One

• Introduction
• The Toolbox
• The Palettes
• Creating a New File
• Using the Paint Brushes and Beginning Layers
• Layers Sets
• Saving Files
• Modes and Images
• Selections
• Working with Images

Week Two

• Colorizing and Modifying Selections Using a Quick Mask
• More on Layers
• Moving and Image into another Image and Creating a New Layer
• Understanding Transparency
• Working with Type
• Layer Styles
• Contours
• Shapes

Week Three

• Brushes
• Filters
• Blend Modes

Week Four

• The Clone Stamp
• Pattern Stamp
• Healing Brush Tool
• The Patch Tool
• Color Replacement Tool
• Photoshop How-to’s
• Creating your own brushes and editing brush presets
• Creating your own custom shapes
• Creating Warped Text
• Actions and creating your own
• Applying Textures to Selections
• Saving for the Web
• Making Navigation Tabs

Possibly Related Courses

Automatically generated.

• Introduction to Digital Painting in Photoshop
• Introduction to the Pen Tool
• Introduction to 3D for Photoshop
• Illustrative Image Design
• Introduction to Adobe Illustrator

Other Courses by Donna

• Introduction to 3D for Photoshop
• Introduction to Photoshop Two