Modifying Workspace / Full Screen Mode / Application Frame

This is where I'll focus on the workspace and the tool panel. I'lll discuss why we use the panels the way we do in order for you to understand our workspace. Here we discuss:

• The History panel, which is like a big undo button.
• The Character Box, for all the Text Tools.
• The Info Box, for specific colour ranges.
• Adjustments help to speedup your workflow.
• Navigator is very helpful when you start out with Photoshop.
• Then we have the layers palette, which is essentially one of the most important because you'll always use layers.
• Channels is important for working with colours. Paths become very handy once you've become more comfortable with the pen tool

Photoshop Menu Run Through 

In this section we'll talk about the Photoshop menu. We'll focus on why we have the menu and what is available in the menu. The menu bar is located in the top of the screen. You adjust and set your keyboard shortcuts through the edit menu. Once you get to know the different menu options it will speed up your workflow This is just a brief overview of the menu and you'll become more familiar with the menu bar as the course progresses.

• Photoshop CC

• File

• Edit

• Image

• Layer

• Type

• Select

• Filter

• 3D

• View

• Window

• Help

Getting Started

We'll cover opening an existing and creating a new document in both Photoshop CS6 and CC. Creating a new document allows you to adjust your new canvas as well as save the presets. These include canvas size, resolution, colour mode, etc. You can also adjust your colour profile. To open an existing document you can simply drop it into photoshop or the icon at the bottom of your screen. Your image information is displayed at the top of each canvas.

Tools & Foreground Colours

In this section I explain the most important tools to keep or use in your toolbar. Some of the most important tools I use in my work file is:

• Move Tool
• Brush Tool
• Clone Tool
• Healing Brush
• Pen Tool
• Quick Selection Tool
• Foreground Colours

Different Working Techniques

Here I discuss the different working techniques that we use. Some are quicker than others, other is not as constructive while others are conducive to the workflow. This segment focuses on the importance of working with the layers and how you can access these layers from different areas to create the same effect.

What are layers & the different type of layers (Smart Object)

Layers is essentially the backbone of the image you're constructing. All play an important role, depending on what you want to do, to create different effects. Creating layers also offers the choice of different blending options to add different effects. You can also adjust the opacity. As the name would suggest, layers imply stacking of layers on top of each other. The top layer is what you'll see, depending if it's active or not. The different layers are:

• Pixel Layer
• Background Layer
• Adjustment Layer
• Type Layer
• Shape Layer
• Smart Objects
• Layer Group
• Layer Colour

Layer Styles and Modes

Blending modes allow you to set how the different layers react to each other. Stacking the layers on-top of each other will block out the layers underneath. Changing the blending mode will create a different effect with how the top and bottom layers react. The different blending options:

• Normal

• Dissolve

• Darken

• Multiply

• Colour Burn

• Linear Brun

• Darker Colour

• Lighten

• Screen

• Colour Dodge

• Linear Dodge

• Lighter Colour

• Overlay

• Soft Light

• Hard Light

• Vivid Light

• Linear Light

• Pin Light

• Hard Mix

• Difference

• Exclusion

• Subtract

• Divide

• Hue

• Saturation

• Colour

• Luminosity

Blending Options

Opening up your normal pixel layer gives you a variety of choices of layer styles. All the effects you choose will be visible under your layer. Here you will find:

• Blending options to set your layer.

• Different styles to enhance layer

• Refinement tool

Layer Masks

Masks are simple pixel areas that are visible or hidden on certain layers. For example; if you've applied a layer with a certain effect and you either want to reduce the effect or only reveal a certain part of the layer, applying a mask makes this possible. There are many technique using tools to create effects before or after applying a mask. Two simple way to use masks:

• Applying a mask keeps the effect visible and areas can be brushed out.

• Inverting the mask hides the effect and areas can be brushed in.

Adjustment Layers

Adjustment layers are layers where you can apply different effects to your image. There are several different adjustment layers that adjust various aspects of your image, for example, colour, brightness, colour balance, etc. The different adjustment layers are:

• Brightness/Contrast

• Levels

• Curves

• Exposure

• Vibrance

• Hue/Saturation

• Colour Balance

• Black & White

• Photo Filter

• Channel Mixer

• Colour Lookup

• Invert

• Posterize

• Threshold

• Selective Colour

• Gradient Map

Smart Objects

A smart object allows you to make changes to your image without overwriting the original image data and giving you the opportunity to make non-destructive changes to the layer.

More Panels

Before I move over the next chapter I'll just cover some of the other panels that form part of my workflow. Here I'll look at:

• History Panel
• Adjustments panel
• Navigator Panel
• channels
• Paths
• Info

Move tool

Used to move around your image in the canvas, either with mouse or with the keyboard arrows.

Marquee Too

The Marquee Tool is used to make selections in different shapes. A variety of effects can be applied to selections.

Lasso Tool

The Lasso Tool is also a selection tool. Selection is unrestricted, unlike the Marquee tool. The Magnetic Lasso Tool works a bit differently as it chooses between contrasts to make a selection.

Quick Selection & Magic wand Tool

With the Quick Selection Tool you “paint” a selection using an adjustable round brush tip. As it expands it automatically find edges to stick to. The Magic Wand Tool Selects Tones.

Clone Stamp Tool and Healing Brush Tool

The Clone Stamp copies pixels, including tonalities and textures, from one area and pastes them somewhere else. The Healing Brush Tool only copies textures and bleeds them into a new area

Crop Tool

The crop tool is used to cut away pixels or, simply put, reduce the size of your canvas.

Eyedropper tool, Colour Sample Tool and Red Eye Tool

These are very good tools for the beginner. The Eye Dropper Tool is good for sampling colour tones. The Colour Sample Tool is used to select different spots to get the exact tone. The Red Eye Tool is used for removing red eyes.

Brush Tool and Pen Tool

Your brush Tool is probably the most important tool. Versatile and with a bunch of settings in the options menu, the brush is essential for almost every step of your retouching. The Pen tool works pretty much the same as the Brush Tool, it just comes with different presets.

Eraser, Blur and Smudge tool

The Eraser Tool consists of three presets, namely Eraser, Magic Eraser and Background Eraser. It's essentially a brush that deletes or erases pixels on your image. The Blur Tool blurs out areas on the image while the Smudge Tool almost performs the same effect, but it also drags out the pixels.

Gradient Tool

The Gradient Tool is another important tool to have in your toolbox. It creates a gradual blend between multiple Colours.

Text Tool

An important tool to have in the toolbar. Although used more for Photoshop Design, it's an important Tool to know. As the name would suggest, it is the tool used to apply a text layer.

Pen Tool

Probably the most complicated tool in Photoshop, but once you've mastered the Pen Tool you won't go back to other selection tools like the Lasso or Quick Selection Tool. The pen tool is a more precise selection tool

Path Selection and Shape Tool

The Path Tool makes it easier to select different paths if you have multiple selections. The Shape Tool is used more designing, but it it quite helpful to know how to use it. You can use it to apply simple geometric shapes or custom shape designs to your image

Final Tools

The Hand tool is used to move around the complete canvas. The Zoom tool allows you to zoom in and out of your image. The Colour Panel allows you to change your foreground and background colours. The Quick Selection Mask also allows you to make selections.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts play an important part in creating a conducive workflow. Though you might not need or learn them all, getting to know the shortcut keys for you most essential elements will help you in the long run.

Transform

Transform selections on your image. There are a variety of options with different effects.

Puppet Warp

This tool allows you to set anchor points and adjust them directly on your image. it allows you to warp the image to make changes.

Color Range

Colour Range helps to make selections based on the colour tones in an image.

Liquify Tool

A tool that can be really helpful if you know what you're doing. It comes with its own set of options which allow you to manipulate an image to get certain effects

Filters / 3d Party Plugins

Filters are effects that you can apply to a selected layer. External or 3rd part plugins is software that adds more filters to your selection.

Adobe Bridge

It's a digital asset management app developed by Adobe Systems. It's an awesome tool for making pre-adjustment before heading into Photoshop

Saving Your Work

In this lesson I'll show you how to save in different formats.

Colour Profiles

As a photographer it is very important to set up your Colour Profiles. In this lesson I'll explain the different colour presets, how to set it up and which one to use.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources.

The first lesson will focus on the planning. Planning involves a variety of different elements that come together in the end to capture the perfect image in camera. Some of the elements we explore in this lesson is, of course, the setup, which includes the best light setup, the right color backdrop and the best pose for the model. The model on the other hand forms the other part of the planning. We take a lot of time to consider the perfect model for the Pro Tutorial.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources.

In-depth Light Setup & Diagram

This lesson is a very comprehensive look at the light setup we used for the shoot. When you shoot something like the Foxy Hipster it is important to get a perfect exposure all around. This doesn’t just involve a perfectly exposed model, but an evenly exposed backdrop as well. For this shoot, we used a four light setup with lights and modifiers directed at both the model and backdrops. We also used poly boards around the subject to make sure we capture that even exposure.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Preparations & Raw Conversions

In our first retouching lesson, we will concentrate on our basic adjustments in camera raw and import our raw image into Photoshop. This process helps us to pre-adjust the contrast, exposure, image pop and subtle sharpening.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Help Layers & Notes

For this lesson, we will put the techniques on hold and create a new help layer in order to point out all the retouching steps. This helps us to stay focused during the retouching process. This is not an obligation, but it does help during the retouching process since you can always fall back on it and remind yourself of what still needs to be done.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Basic Retouching & Cleaning

Now that we have a basic understanding of what we want to retouch, we will concentrate on cleaning up our background and subject. This is not a major obstacle, even thought it might seem labour-intensive. What’s important to remember is that the more time you invest into cleaning, the better your image will look. It involves a few steps, such as healing, cloning and refining the background dust marks

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Comprehensive Hair Retouching

Now that we’ve finished the basic retouching, we’re going to focus a bit more on the hair, as it draws you into the image. We will only be working in selected areas. We’ll need to fill in color in some areas, working some fill color, and then making sure to have an even exposure over the hair by using adjustment layers like the Curves Adjustment Layer.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Comprehensive Hair Retouching - Part 2

Now that we’ve finished the basic retouching, we’re going to focus a bit more on the hair, as it draws you into the image. We will only be working in selected areas. We’ll need to fill in color in some areas, working some fill color, and then making sure to have an even exposure over the hair by using adjustment layers like the Curves Adjustment Layer.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Comprehensive Hair Retouching - Part 3

Now that we’ve finished the basic retouching, we’re going to focus a bit more on the hair, as it draws you into the image. We will only be working in selected areas. We’ll need to fill in color in some areas, working some fill color, and then making sure to have an even exposure over the hair by using adjustment layers like the Curves Adjustment Layer.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Liquefying & Image Adjustments

It’s important to understand that the Liquify Tool helps to refine an image. The idea is not to create a different person. The changes we implement are very subtle and only done with the intention to create a perfect picture.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Comprehensive Skin Retouching

This is a very important part of the retouching process. Just as with cleaning and healing it might appear to be labour intensive, but the more effort you apply the better your image will look. Here we will apply lots of techniques to ensure that we get that smooth silky skin. This section will involve working with both the High Pass Filter and the Gaussian Blur, but a little bit different to what you might be used to. These will basically be applied in the reverse effect – The High Pass will blur while the Gaussian Blur will sharpen.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Colour & Light Control Adjustments

Now that we’ve adjusted our color the way we want it, we will start working on the light control. This will mostly involve using a Curves Adjustment to add a touch of contrast to the image as well as a Selective Color Adjustment Layer to adjust our colours. We’ll also apply a Hue and Saturation Adjustment layer and work in the red tones. For the light control, we’ll start off by using the marque tool to create a circular selection around our subject. We then feather the selection and apply a Curves Adjustment Layer, which we’ll use to create a vignette effect as well as adding a light pop to the subject.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Dodge & Burn

In this section, we will be working with our famous Dodge & Burn technique. The main thing about dodging and burning means we are going to dodge the highlights and burn the shadows. This will allow us to emphasise the highlights and shadows in our image. (We have an excellent Free Tutorial on this technique – Find it here).

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Fixing Sunglass Reflections

Another aspect of this image is the props. Our model wore a pair of sunglasses and the reflections from the strobes are quite apparent. The process will involve creating two new layers, one for each lens of the sunglasses. We then use the pen tool to make a circular selection of each lens. Make sure when you make your selection that the feathering is set to zero. We then use the Gradient Tool, Noise filters and masks to create the perfect and realistic look.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Crop & Final Adjustments

Now that we’ve done most of our retouching, we will add our final adjustments. Here we’ll be working with the Selective Color Adjustment Layer to create or to add that extra flare of color to the image. We’ll also crop the image down to the perfect size.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Adding Graphic Elements

Here we’ll be adding shapes, namely, bubbles the background. Here we’ll be working with Effects and Layer Masks to create the effect of bubbles behind and around the subject.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Final Color Adjustments & Retouch

For the final lesson, we’ll work with adding a bit of color to the selected areas that might otherwise appear a bit bland compared to the rest of the image. For this we’ll be using Solid Color layers, layer masks and Hue and Saturation Adjustment layers to add color to selected areas.

Find the Photoshop (PSD Files) under the resources in Lecture 1.

Wacom Pen Tablet

In this lesson I discuss the Wacom Pen Tablet and how I use it in my workflow.

Understanding Layout

This is literally the absolute start to Photoshop. This lesson will focus on setting up Photoshop and your layout, including colour themes. This is of course essential in easing your workflow. By navigating to the "Window" dropdown menu, you will find all the essential menus that you need to set up your layout. Among the most essentials you'll find options, tools and workspace panels.

Photoshop What and How?

An image editing software developed and manufactured by Adobe Systems Inc. Photoshop is considered one of the leaders in photo editing software.

The software allows users to manipulate, crop, resize, and correct color on digital photos. The software is particularly popular amongst professional photographers and graphic designers.

So all in all Photoshop is a photo editing software that we as photographers use to alter, enhance, Manipulate or create unthinkable Images