Introduction

This Fast & Easy book from Premier Press will help you understand, use, and explore the world of Adobe Photoshop CS. Photoshop is the industry standard when it comes to digital imaging, and this latest version, called CS ( Creative Suite ), continues the tradition of providing powerful image-manipulation tools. In this latest version, many changes have been made to simplify the user experience, to increase the functionality of different tools, brushes, and effects, and to make publishing to the Web as easy as possible.

Being a suite means that there is more than one program in the box. In addition to Photoshop, the other main program in the suite is ImageReady. ImageReady primarily is designed to help get images ready for the Internet and is not covered in this book.

Obviously, no book can teach you everything there is to know about one topic. The goal of this book is to give you a solid introduction to the world of Photoshop and to teach you how to use most of the different tools it has to offer. Along the way, you'll learn a variety of tips for creating your work faster and some creative tricks to make your artwork stand out.

The battles between good vs. evil, wrong vs. right, Coke vs. Pepsi, and Big Mac vs. Whopper are rivaled only by the age-old debate of PC vs. Mac. To avoid getting in the middle of the conflict, Adobe Photoshop CS rides the fence by being available on both platforms. The program works almost identically on both operating systems, with the exception of keyboard shortcuts. Throughout this book, whenever a keyboard shortcut is mentioned, both the PC and the Mac version of the shortcut is mentioned.

Who Should Read This Book?

If you are ready to explore the world of photo editing and digital art, this book is for you. Whether you are a seasoned veteran of Photoshop or just getting started, this book can be of benefit to you. New users can take advantage of the step-by-step, illustrated instructions of common tasks , while veteran users can use the book as a reference for new tools as well as old ones you might have forgotten.

Some Helpful Hints

In addition to the step-by-step instructions, you'll notice that there are three other elements designed to help you:

Tip	Tips provide quick ways or shortcuts to perform certain tasks .

Note	Notes provide additional information or background on a particular topic.

Caution

Cautions warn you about a particular step or function that might have some detrimental consequences.

Part I: Getting Started with the Basics

Chapter List

Chapter 1: Touring the Work Area
Chapter 2: Working with Image Files

Chapter 1: Touring the Work Area

Overview

Imagine going on a long road trip to a place you've never been before without bothering to bring along a map. In no time, you'd be lost, confused , frustrated, or even angry . The same could be true the first time you use Photoshop. It's a very powerful application for creating, correcting, and enhancing image files, but at the same time, it can be very confusing if you don't know your way around. This first chapter acts as your roadmap by leading you through the basics of navigating the Photoshop work area. You'll learn how to:

Start and exit Photoshop
Use the toolbox
Work with a palette or context menu
View and hide screen elements

Starting Photoshop

As with other applications, you must start Photoshop to be able to work with its tools and create a new image. Use the following steps to start Photoshop:

Click on Start at the left end of the Windows Taskbar. The Start menu will appear. If you are using Mac OS, find the Photoshop icon and double-click on it to launch the program. You can then skip to Step 4.

Move the mouse pointer to All Programs (or Programs for Windows versions prior to XP). The Programs menu will appear.

click to expand

Tip	After you click on Start, you can point to a menu choice with a right-pointing triangle beside it by moving the mouse pointer over it. Pointing will highlight that menu choice and open a submenu. When you see the name of the program you want to start, click on the program name .

Click on Adobe Photoshop CS . The new Photoshop CS Welcome Screen will appear. The Weclome Screen will be covered in detail in Chapter 22, "Getting Help".
Click on Close . The Welcome Screen will close, and the Photoshop CS application window will appear, and you can begin using the program.