Photoshop lesson 1

TRICKS COVERED: CUTTING AND PLACING IMAGES, LAYERS, BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST, TRANSFORM/SCALE/ROTATE, BERZIER POINTS.

In last night's lesson, my first of the course, the class's second, we learnt how to cut out images, of Celtic Warriors' players, and put them on a 'header'.

The lesson made a few points, which had confused me in my past, limited photoshop dabblings, much clearer.

I didn't realise that in cutting out images the path selection tool and pen tools could be used in tandem, I've just used the pen and converter tools together before.
Making a selection was also something I once found difficult but Jamie simplified this in my eyes.

On previous occasions I've tried to use the move tool to shift a 'cut' pic from one place to another...when it was just a simple matter of copy and paste!

I also learned how to use the elliptical marquee tool to cut out, in this case, the Celtic Warriors' logo. To correctly size the emblem we were shown how to use the "expand", "contract" "transform" and "scale" options.

Other elements touched on were layers, specifically how to link and duplicate them to create special text effects. The brightness and contrast control was used (along with Gaussian Blur) to make the images of one of the rugby players (Gareth Thomas) more dramatic.

Finally, the 'eye' option on the layers was closed so the header could be seen. I then tried (tried!) to replicate the squiggly lines on the backdrop into the foreground.

I was tired at this stage and found this tricky. I need to practice this aspect. I'd like to learn more about Berzier (?) points because mastering that skill would bring more flow and curve to potential designs.

Overall, I was very pleased to be back in the class. I felt much more confident than I did this time last year in my Dreamweaver days.