Introduction to Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a graphic and picture editing tool. It enables the user to alter, manipulate and create images either from existing photos or found images.

The tools I found effective were:

One of the tools we learnt to use in our photoshop introduction is the 'Marquee Tool'. This is used to select an area of an image to then be able to copy that area, change the colour of just that area or cutting out that area.

Another useful selection tool is the lasso tool which has three different settings- magnetic, polygonal and lasso- all of these help you select an area of an image you want to edit, montage or manipulate.

A further selection tool is the magic wand tool which selects an area of the image which is the same colour as a pixel you just selected and which is connected to it. So it works best when it is used on some sort of pattern which has very simple colours.

A further useful tool is the crop tool which can be used to cut out only a certain area of an image or sometimes even if a picture is slightly out of perspective. If there is a picture which is out of perspective, you can change it so the ppixels stretch out and put it in perspective.

One tool which is easily used for editing is the brush tool which enables you to paint certain things with a variation of different brushes and brush sizes. This can sometimes add a nice effect to certain posters and make them more creative and colourful.

I found most of these tools helpful to improve and edit the pictures. Sometimes I found it a bit challenging to cut out certain things with the lasso tool because it is difficult to make the edges look smooth and cut the image precisely. I also often make the mistake of turning the exposure for the burn tool up too high which resulted the picture to be too light or too dark and it just looked less realistic and out of place.

We use the clone stamp tool to copy areas of the pictures onto another area of the image and therefore connect montages and make them look more realistic and less out of  place.

The burn tool can be used to darken certain areas of the image selectively and manually. At the same time it can be used to desaturate certain images of the picture or lighten them up- which is normally used for eye whites or teeth.

A similar tool to this is the blur/smudge/sharpen tool which does exactly that to certain areas of the picture. This tool can also help you to make a montage more realistic and make it look in place.