Robert Eastwood

Photoshop Tools and Features User Log

The purpose of this log is for you to record what tools and features you used in the creation of your digital graphics. You should try to use as many as possible and you
must record how, why and when you used them. You do not need to record repeated actions but each single new action should be recorded. An example of this would
be setting up a new Photoshop file/image which would cover the ranges; Image Settings (all) and part of Menus (some of). You only need to do this once. Remember
that where the e.g. appears in a range, as many of the items should be covered as possible but not all of them; your tutor will guide you here. Where possible you
should also provide a screen dump to illustrate the action (see sample image below).

Tools and features

Menus:

Open;

save;

How, why and when used.

Clicking file in the top left

corner will bring up a drop
down menu, then click open.

You can save by holding CTRL key and

pressing the S button at the same time or
you can use save as at the top of the page.
This help as it prevents files from getting
lost.

Screen dump

edit;

The edit drop down in the drop left

enables you to adjust images. I have used
the free transform to help me make my
icons like more like a button. Free
Transform allows you to select the image
on how to rotate, stretch and reverse.

view;

At the top of the page the view drop

down menu will lead to the zoom in and
zoom out. I used this to help get rid of any
little bits of black lines that were sticking
out on the logo.

Image settings:

size;
Resolution;
width;
height;
background;
transparency;

file name

You can adjust the image of the size with

the width and height.
I have changed the resolution to 72
My logo is a square so both the width and
height are the same.
The background is just a blue rectangle
shape.
When making a new image you can
change the background content. This
means you will be able to see text or
images without the white background on.
When creating a new image file you give it
a name so you dont need to do it
afterwards.

Drawing tools:

tool options;
brush;

The brush is a tool that draws. The brush

tool size and opacity can be changed.

pencil;

The pencil tool is used to make pixel lines.

It colours in one pixel block which is great
for someone making pixel art.

clone;

The clone tool helps when it comes to

repairing images or attempting to make an
image look even. By holding ALT, you will
need to select the similar pattern you
would like to clone. Once picking the thing
you would like to clone you can go to the
spot you would like to repair by clicking
the area.

fill;

The paint bucket tool on the tool bar

allows you to fill the entire image with the
colour selected, which is easier then
painting each section individually.

text;

The text tool allows you to type words and

you can put it on the images. You can
change the font and the colour also. After
doing this it can be rasterised which can
be edited.

line;

The line tool creates a straight line

shape;

This tool allows you to create:

Rectangle
Ellipses(Circles)
Rounded Rectangle
Polygon
A line
A custom shape

zoom;

You can find zoom at the top, where it will

come down in the drop down menu for
view. This makes it easier for the user to
edit smaller errors that could not be done
before.

guides and rulers;

The ruler tool helps you measure widths

and the height of things you are creating
out.

Paletts, e.g. colour,

gradients, layers,
object, brushes

The colour palette allows me to choose

from a variety shades of colours or I could
use the swatches which will pick a pre-set
colour.
The layers tab displays which layer you are
currently working on. This means that if
you are creating a complicated logo, you
would make different layers with the layers
being called text, design and shape.
The brush option allows you to select
different types of brushes that give
different type of effects. Brushes can also
be resized and change opacity and colour.

Layers, e.g.
copying, saving,
arranging;
flattening; colour
selection,

On the right side of Photoshop there is a

tab which is called layers. This is where you
can arrange layers according to which
layer you want on top of all the rest of the
layers. You can also flatten/ merge layers
together so that it blends together. You
can also move a layer by selecting it, then
holding and dragging it. This moves the
layer into another image file. If you have
edited the layer with for example bevel
and emboss it will create a list under the
layer showing the changes which have
been made, you can click the little eye
button to hide the layers also.

Colour selection,
e.g. foreground,
background,
colour swatch,
eyedropper

Editing tools:

Selection, e.g.
marquee, lasso,
magic wand,
magnetic lasso,
deselect;

The eyedropper tool is used to sample the

colour from another image. Once youve
clicked the eyedropper and clicked the
desired colour of preference, you can then
use that colour. In the example I have used
the eyedropper to copy the blue. The
colour swatch is useful if you use the
eyedropper to sample a colour from an
image. By choosing that colour you can
then create a new swatch.

By clicking on an already selected image

you can deselect the image by pressing
deselect. This means that the image will no
longer be selected by the magnetic lasso
or the magic wand. The marquee tool
allows you to select an image which has
the shape you prefer. This is done so you
can get an accurate selection of a shape
without using the magic wand. The lasso
tool is used for a freestyle selection on the
image. This means you can use the magic
wand to select an entire image then by
using this tool you can deselect areas you
want to get rid of from the selected areas
by pressing ALT and click to draw around
the shape you want to select. The
magnetic lasso tool is more convenient to

Transform, e.g.
scale, rotate, skew,
flip; cut; copy;
paste; crop; trim;
erase; undo; fill

Advanced tools:

Effects, e.g. layer

effects, filters,
channels; image
adjustments,

draw around the image as once you have

reached the desired shape you can then
join the last magnetic strip onto the end of
the shape you have made. After doing all
of this, the shape will be joined together
and it is now all selected.
The transform tool can be found on the
edit button on the top of the page. This
gives you the ability to rotate, skew, scale,
distort, perspective and warp. You can also
choose the free transform which is also
under edit, this allows you to scale the
image and rotate at the same time. By
selecting a layer within the image you can
also transform the selected layer without
selecting other layers on the page.

The effect I have used is Bevel and Emboss.

This gives text and images a 3D effect as
well as customising how soft the effect
looks and how intense and pronounce it
will look. Other affects you could use
include stroke, inner shadow, inner glow,
satin, colour overlay, gradient overlay,
pattern overlay, outer glow and drop
shadow.

Image
adjustments, e.g.
brightness and
contrast, hue and
saturation, colour
balance, gradients,
transparency,
invert; masks;

You can change the brightness and

contrast by going on image on the top of
the page then going on adjustments then
there will be brightness/contrast. This
allows you to set the brightness and
contrast to the picture according to what
you want it to be, this makes the colour
stand out more or you could decrease the
brightness and contrast to make it darker.

Paths, e.g. vector

paths, converting
text to paths;
image slicing.

Vector paths are created by using the pen

tool where you can click on a blank space
to plot an anchor point. Then you can
connect the points together to form a
complete shape then according to the
brush size you will be able to create a
smooth line over the shape. This is best
used when creating smooth curves and
lines without hassle doing it hands free.
You can create custom text style by using
the pen tool to create curves and then by
clicking the pen tool to add text to the
path. This can also cause the text to warp
in different ways such as flag, fish, inflate,
arc and squeeze. This is used to make the
text seem more interesting than just a
plain standard straight text. Image slicing
in Photoshop is very handy when it comes
to making a full layout, overall it slices a
whole image into parts. After that you can
save it for devices. After that you can save
it as a HTML and Images which the sliced
images are then coded so when you load
the image on Dreamweaver the coding
also loads all intact when looking at the
image in Dreamweaver meaning you can
customise it.