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

Automatically generated.

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

Other Courses by Les

• Creative Photo Effects 1

Description

Examples of solarisation and hand-colouring (from bw original)

This course will introduce you to a collection of fascinating photo/image techniques used by experienced photographers and fine art print makers. With this set of creative photo effects you will discover and enjoy an exciting new journey of self-expression.

With digital technology, image manipulation has never been easier and this course will open the way to self-expression by giving you the confidence to enhance your own photographs and elevate them to the realm of ‘fine art’.

Each easy to follow technique will be clearly explained so that you can understand the background behind the process and not just blindly follow a step-by-step process. In this way, your imagination will be stimulated and at each stage you will be encouraged to explore your creative impulses.

The techniques are fully supported by video tutorials to make the learning experience more enjoyable.

Skill Level

Beginner to intermediate.

Since this is a creative techniques course, I will be assuming everyone has some prior knowledge of and hands-on experience with a mouse (clicking, dragging etc) and the computer’s operating system e.g folders and files management.

I will also assume some basic knowledge of Photoshop BUT will explain in detail virtually everything you need to complete the course. Those of you with good expertise in Photoshop should forgive me if at times it seems I am ‘teaching my grandmother to suck eggs’ since there will be others with less expertise! Have patience!

All the techniques have been prepared in PS CS3 but should still be workable in most previous versions and CS4 as I have tried to avoid CS3 specific features in favour of a more general approach.

Software Requirements

• Adobe Photoshop  – windows or mac version.

Hardware Requirements

• Any computer capable of running Adobe Photoshop
• A graphics tablet makes life a lot easier but a mouse will do the job

Course Gallery

[View with PicLens]

 

Before Class

I recommend you read the ‘How to get the most from your course’ information. Then open your mind to creative input and output!

Week One

Any colour you like as long as it isn’t black!

Week one will be all about adding colour to images. We will deal with a variety of methods for replicating the traditional ‘darkroom toning’ of an image and also explore hand-colouring; another highly effective and popular technique for adding your personal touch to a photo image.

Week Two

Beyond the range of the eye and into the infra-red!

Week two will deal with adding pseudo 3D effects to an image based on the traditional darkroom methods and an exploration into replicating the astonishing visual effect of infra-red black and white film.

Week Three

Move over Hockney, Warhol and Man Ray!

Week three will deal with posterisation and the ‘pop art’ look followed by another very popular darkroom ‘arty’ technique; pseudo-solarisation. These two techniques can produce very stylish, graphic images.

Week Four

Lith it here, lith it there! SX-70 it everywhere!

Week four will explore a real favourite amongst traditional fine-art photographers known as the ‘lith printing’ technique. This is a technique capaple of producing beautiful and unusual images. We will complete the course by learning to simulate digitally one of the truly unique techniques ‘discovered’ by art photographers when Polaroid introduced their SX-70 instant film and cameras. The digital Polaroid SX-70 technique, like the original method, is capable of producing quite individual and beautiful results.

Possibly Related Courses

Automatically generated.

• Mastering Image Correction
• Introduction to the Pen Tool
• Introduction To Color Theory
• Introduction to 3D for Photoshop
• Illustrative Image Design

Other Courses by Les

• Mastering Image Correction