Adobe Photoshop CS3 Boot Camp

Overview:

This course provides you with the concept and skills to use Adobe Photoshop CS3 effectively. Hands-on training with basic through advanced techniques to maximize this powerful tool. This course is also recommended for those planning to obtain the Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) status.

Description:

Who Should Attend:
Graphic professionals who need an essential understanding of photo editing.
   
Prerequisites:
This is a level 1 course. No previous experience with the program is required. All students should be familiar with using a mouse, file management and general operations of a Macintosh or Windows operating system. 
   
Course Outline:  
   
LEVEL 1

APPLICATION OVERVIEW
Vector vs. Raster based images
Resolution
Anti-aliasing
Starting the application
Opening files from the hard drive, and opening new files
Saving files, and choosing file formats
RAM and Hard Drive requirements

PREFERENCES
Setting Photoshop preferences and Color Settings

OVERVIEW OF THE WORKSPACE
Toolbox, palettes, hiding and docking palettes

NAVIGATION
Getting around, and viewing images using the Navigator palette
Zooming in and out
Using the Hand tool

COLORS
Switching the foreground and background colors
Using the Swatches Palette
Choosing CMYK safe colors, and viewing
CMYK output in the RGB color space
Using the color sliders to choose colors
Choosing Custom colors

LAYERS
Creating, viewing, reordering, linking, and moving
Background layers and regular layers
Layer Sets
Locking layers
 

SELECTION TOOLS
Using the basic selection tools: the Marquees, and Lasso tools
Selecting by color, using the Magic Wand
Adding and subtracting from selections
Filling selections with foreground and background colors
Hiding edges
Saving selections
Feathering selections

THE MOVE TOOL
The difference between moving pixels and moving selection outlines

BASIC KEY COMMANDS

THE CROP TOOL THE BRUSH TOOL
Setting brush options
Modifying brush shape

THE AIRBRUSH TOOL
Painting with the airbrush

THE ERASER TOOL

BASIC IMAGE ADJUSTMENT AND CORRECTION
Using Variations
Brightness and Contrast
 
   
LEVEL 2

COMPOSITING IMAGES
Working with Layer Masks

RETOUCHING
Using the Clone Tool and the Pattern Stamp
Using the Healing Brush and the Patch Tool

COLOR CORRECTION
Adjustment Layers
Using Levels
Using Hue and Saturation
Using Color Balance

BLENDING MODES
Using Blending modes for layers
Using Blending modes to apply paint

THE HISTORY BRUSH AND HISTORY
PALETTE
Using the history brush to restore from History states

MORE SELECTION TECHNIQUES
Using the Color Range command to select colors
 

TRANSFORMING PIXELS
Using the Free Transform command

THE MOVE TOOLWORKING WITH QUICK MASK

CREATING AND SAVING BRUSHES AND PATTERNS
Creating textures

THE BRUSH TOOL
Painting with the airbrush

THE ERASER TOOL

THE GRADIENT TOOL
Using the gradient tool
Creating gradients

TEXT AND TYPE EFFECTS
Using the text tool

LAYER STYLES, AND THE STYLES PALETTE
 
   
LEVEL 3

ADVANCED IMAGE ADJUSTMENT
Professional color correction techniques
Curves

DUOTONES AND SPOT COLOR
Converting to Grayscale
Creating Duotones
Spot Color Channels

COMBINING LAYER MASKS AND CLIPPING MASKS
Using multiple masks on a layer

TRICKS AND SHORTCUTS
Techniques to speed up a production workflow
Special Effects

USING DISPLACEMENT MAPS
Mapping textures and images to objects

CHALLENGING PROJECTS
Students are welcome to bring in their own projects to work on, or a variety of projects will be assigned.