The American University in Cairo

Academic Computing Services

Advanced
Adobe Photoshop 5.5
Fall 2001

Prepared by
Soumaia Ahmed Al Ayyat
The American University in Cairo Academic Computing Services

Adobe Photoshop is a powerful, professional image-processing tool. It processes a variety of image

formats. The quality of the produced images is eligible for press production. Throughout this document, we
will cover most of the advanced features of this program. This document assumes that you already know
the basic features of Adobe Photoshop 5.5

Table of Contents:

Free Transform Tool

Type Mask
Cropping an image
Flattening an image
Adjustment layers
Swatches Palette
Brushes Palette
Magic Wand
Lasso Tool
Smudge Tool
Focus Tools (Blur tool and Sharpen tool)
Toning Tools (Dodge, Burn and Sponge Tools)
Replace Color

Free Transform Tool

The Free Transform command lets you use the Scale, Rotate, Skew, Distort, and Perspective commands
without having to select them from the menu. To access the various transformation modes, you use
different shortcut keys as you drag the handles of the transform-bounding box.

To freely transform:

1. Specify what to transform:

• To transform part or all of the layer, select it. Then choose Edit Menu, Free Transform item.
• To transform part or all of the path, select it. Then choose Edit Menu, Free Transform Points item or
Free Transform Path item.
• To transform a selection border, create or load one. Then choose Select Menu, Transform Selection
item.

2. Transform as follows:
• To move, position the pointer inside the bounding border (it turns into a black arrowhead), and drag.
• To scale, drag a handle. Press Shift as you drag a corner handle to scale proportionately. When
positioned over a handle, the pointer turns into a double arrow.
• To rotate, move the pointer outside of the bounding border (it turns into a curved, two-sided arrow), and
then drag. Press Shift to constrain the rotation to 15° increments.
• To distort freely, press Control (Windows) or Command (Mac OS), and drag a handle.
• To distort relative to the center point of the bounding border, press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS),
and drag a handle.
• To skew, press Control + Shift (Windows) or Command + Shift (Mac OS), and drag a side handle.
When positioned over a side handle, the pointer turns into a white arrowhead with a small double arrow.
• To apply perspective, press Control + Alt + Shift (Windows) or Command + Option + Shift (Mac
OS), and drag a corner handle. When positioned over a corner handle, the pointer turns into a gray
arrowhead.
• To flip the image horizontally (or vertically), chose Edit Menu, Flip Horizontal (or Flip Vertical) item.

1
The American University in Cairo Academic Computing Services

• To undo the last handle adjustment, choose Edit Menu, Undo item.

The scaled out image

The Original Image The rotated image

The skewed image The Perspective effect The distorted image

The Flip Horizontal effect The Flip Vertical effect

3. Apply transformation:
• Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to apply the transformation. To cancel the transformation,
press Esc.

Type Mask
The type mask and vertical type mask tools let you create selection borders in the shape of type. Type
selections appear on the active layer, and can be moved, copied, filled, or stroked just like any other
selection.

1. Select the type mask tool or the vertical type mask tool .
2. Click where you want the type selection border to appear.
For best results, create the type selection border on a
regular image layer, not a type layer.
3. Specify type attributes including font, type size,
leading, kerning, tracking, baseline shift, alignment, and
rotation.
4. Click inside the text area at the bottom of the dialog
box, and enter the text you want. To create a line break,
press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) while the
cursor is in the text area.
5. Click OK. The type selection border appears in the
image on the active layer.
6. You may cut the type selection filled with texture from the image by choosing Edit Menu, Copy item
then paste the copied portion in the desired place – either a new layer or a new image.

2
The American University in Cairo Academic Computing Services

7. You may also delete the contents of the type selection to be replaced by the current background color.
To do this, press the Delete key.

8. Finally, you may keep the type selection filled with image texture and
remove the rest of the image. First, inverse the selection by choosing Select
Menu, Inverse item. Then press the Delete key. Finally, remove the selection
through Select Menu, Deselect item.

Cropping an image
Photoshop provides two ways to crop an image:

• The crop tool lets you crop an image by dragging over the area you want to keep. The advantage
of using the crop tool is that you can rotate and resample the area as you crop.
• The Image Menu, Crop command discards the area outside of a rectangular selection and keeps the
same resolution as the original.
To crop an image using the Crop command:
1. Use the rectangle marquee tool to select the part of the image you want to keep. Make sure that the
Feather option is set to 0 pixels.
2. Choose Image Menu, Crop item.

Flattening an image
In a flattened image, all visible layers are merged into the background, greatly reducing file size. Flattening
an image discards all hidden layers and fills the remaining transparent areas with white. In most cases, you
won’t want to flatten a file until you have finished editing individual layers.

Note: Converting an image between some color modes flattens the file. Be sure to save a copy of your file
that includes all layers if you want to edit the original image after the conversion.

To flatten an image:
1. Make sure that all the layers you want to keep are visible.
2. Flatten the image by choosing Layer Menu, Flatten Image item or choosing Flatten Image from the
Layers palette menu.

Adjustment layers
An adjustment layer allows us to experiment with color and tonal adjustments in an image without
permanently modifying the pixels in the image. These changes reside within the adjustment layer. When we
create an adjustment layer, it will affect all the layers below it. This allows us to correct multiple layers
with a single adjustment rather having to do adjustments to each layer. The type of available adjustments
include the following:
Levels: Levels lets you adjust the
tonal range of an image. You can
make the adjustments using three
variables (highlights, shadows, and
midtones).
Curves: Curves lets you adjust the
tonal range of an image. You can
adjust any point along the 0–255
scale while keeping up to 15 other
values constant.
Brightness/Contrast: It allows overall adjustment of the degree of brightness and contrast in the image.

3
The American University in Cairo Academic Computing Services

Color Balance: It lets you change the mixture of colors in a color image. It provides generalized color
correction. You must be viewing the composite channel to use the Color Balance command.
Hue/Saturation: It allows shifting the range of colors used, their degree of saturation and the lightness
factor in them. If you check the colorize checkbox
Channel Mixer: The Channel Mixer command lets you modify a color channel using a mix of the current
color channels. With this command, you can do the following:
• Make creative color adjustments not easily done with the other color adjustment tools.
• Create high-quality grayscale images by choosing the percentage contribution from each color channel.
• Create high-quality sepia-tone or other tinted images.
• Convert images to and from some alternative color spaces.
• Swap or duplicate channels.
Invert: It inverts an image. You might use this command to make a positive black-and-white image
negative or to make a positive from a scanned black-and-white negative. Because color film contains an
orange mask in its base, the Invert command cannot make negatives and positives from scanned color film.
Threshold: It allows you to convert grayscale or color images to high-contrast, black-and-white images.
This command lets you specify a certain level as a threshold. All pixels lighter than the threshold are
converted to white and all pixels darker to black.
Posterize: It lets you specify the number of tonal levels (or brightness values) for each channel in an image
and then maps pixels to the closest matching level. For example, choosing two tonal levels in an RGB
image gives six colors, two for red, two for green, and two for blue.

1. To apply the effects of the adjustment layer to a selected area, first make a selection.
2. Do one of the following:
• Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) the New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers palette.
• Choose Layer Menu, New item, Adjustment Layer.
3. In the New Adjustment Layer dialog box, type a name for the layer.
4. For Type, choose the adjustment you want to make.
5. Choose layer options as desired, and then click OK.
6. If needed, make the desired adjustments and click OK.

To edit an adjustment layer:

1. Do one of the following:
• Double-click the adjustment layer’s name in the Layers palette.
• Select the adjustment layer’s name, and then choose Layer Menu, Adjustment Options item.
2. Make the desired adjustments, and click OK.

Note: If an adjustment layer has no associated adjustment dialog box (for example, the Invert adjustment),
double-clicking the layer’s name opens the Layer Options dialog box.

Swatches Palette
You can choose a foreground or background color from the Swatches palette, or you can add or delete
colors to create a custom swatch set. You can also save a set of swatches and reload them for use in another
image. Although you can add colors to the Swatches palette, you should manage its size and organization.

To choose a color, do one of the following:

• To choose a foreground color, click a color in the Swatches
palette.
• To choose a background color, Alt (Windows) or Option
(Mac OS) a color in the Swatches palette.

To add a color to the Swatches palette:

1. Use the eyedropper tool , the Color palette, or the

Color Picker to select the color you want to add.

4
The American University in Cairo Academic Computing Services

2. Position the pointer over an empty space in the bottom row of the Swatches palette (the pointer turns
into the paint bucket tool), and click to add the color.

To replace or insert a color in the Swatches palette:

1. Use the eyedropper tool, the Color palette, or the Color Picker to select the color you want to add.
2. Add a swatch:
• To replace an existing swatch, hold down Shift, position the pointer over a swatch (the pointer turns into
a paint bucket), and click the swatch.
• To insert a new swatch, press Shift+Alt (Windows) or Shift+Option (Mac OS), and click a swatch.

To delete a color from the Swatches palette:

Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS), position the pointer over a swatch (the pointer turns
into scissors), and click.

To save and use custom swatch sets, choose a command from the Swatches palette menu:
• Reset Swatches allows you to use the default set of swatches. You can either replace the current swatch
set or append the default swatches to the current set.
• Load Swatches appends the swatches stored in a file to the current set of swatches. Files containing
different swatch sets are included in the Adobe Photoshop program folder.
• Replace Swatches replaces the current swatch set with the swatches stored in a file.
• Save Swatches saves the current swatches in a file.
Exiting the program saves the current Swatches palette in the Adobe Photoshop preferences file.

Brushes Palette
The brush sizes and shapes available for painting and editing appear in the Brushes palette. You can add
new brushes or delete ones you don’t need. You also can use part of an image to create a custom brush
shape. Brush settings are retained for each of the painting tools (airbrush, paintbrush, eraser, pencil) and
editing tools (history brush, rubber stamp, smudge, focus, toning).

To display the Brushes palette:

Choose Window Menu, Show Brushes item.

You can define a number of options for the default
brushes and any brushes you create. For custom brushes,
only the spacing and anti-aliased options can be
changed.

To set brush options:

1. Do one of the following:

• Double-click the brush you want to edit.
• In the Brushes palette, select the brush you want to edit, and choose Brush Options from the palette
menu.
2. Set the options for Diameter, Hardness, Spacing, Angle, and Roundness. Then click OK.

5
The American University in Cairo Academic Computing Services

Diameter: Controls the size of the brush. Enter a value in pixels or drag the slider.
Hardness: Controls the size of the brush’s hard center. Type a number, or use the slider to enter a value that
is a percentage of the brush diameter.
Spacing: Controls the distance between the brush marks in a stroke. To change the spacing, type a number,
or use the slider to enter a value that is a percentage of the brush diameter. To paint strokes without defined
spacing, deselect this option.
Angle: Specifies the angle by which an elliptical brush’s long axis is offset from horizontal. Type a value in
degrees, or drag the horizontal axis in the left preview box.
Roundness: Specifies the ratio between the brush’s short and long axes. Enter a percentage value, or drag
the points in the left preview box. A value of 100% indicates a circular brush, a value of 0% indicates a
linear brush, and intermediate values indicate elliptical brushes.

Magic Wand
The Magic Wand tool lets you select a consistently colored area (for example, a red flower) without
having to trace its outline. You specify the color range, or tolerance, for the magic wand tool’s selection.

Note: You cannot use the magic wand tool on an image in Bitmap mode.

To use the magic wand tool:

1. Double-click the magic wand tool to display its Options palette.

2. For Tolerance, enter a value in pixels, ranging from 0 to 255. Enter a low value to select colors very
similar to the pixel you click or a higher value to select a broader range of colors.
3. To define a smooth edge, select Anti-aliased.
4. To select colors using data from all the visible layers, select Use All Layers. Otherwise, the magic wand
tool selects colors from the active layer only.
5. In the image, click the color you want to select.
All adjacent pixels within the tolerance range are selected.
The magic wand and paint bucket tools have a new Contiguous option in their Options palettes. By default,
this option is selected, restricting the selection or fill to areas connected to the area clicked. Deselecting the
Contiguous option allows all eligible areas in the image to be selected or filled.

Lasso Tool
The lasso and polygon lasso tools let you draw both straight-edged and freehand segments of a selection
border. With the magnetic lasso tool, the border snaps to the edges of defined areas in the image. The
magnetic lasso tool is especially useful for quickly selecting objects with complex edges set against high-
contrast backgrounds.

To use the lasso tool:

1. Select and double-click the lasso tool to display its Options palette, and select options.
2. Drag to draw a freehand selection border.
3. To draw a straight-edged selection border, hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS), and click
where segments should begin and end. You can switch between drawing freehand and straight-edged
segments.
4. To erase recently drawn segments hold down Delete until you’ve erased the desired segment.
5. To close the selection border, release the mouse without holding down Alt/Option.

Smudge Tool
The smudge tool simulates the actions of dragging a finger through wet paint. The tool picks up color
where the stroke begins and pushes it in the direction you drag.

Original image, and smudging an image

To use the smudge tool:

6
The American University in Cairo Academic Computing Services

1. Double-click the smudge tool to display its Options palette.

2. Specify the blending mode and pressure.
3. If you are using a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet, choose Size or Pressure.
4. Select a brush size as described in the Brushes palette section.
5. Select Finger Painting to smudge using the foreground color at the beginning of each stroke. If you
leave this option deselected, the smudge tool uses the color under the pointer at the beginning of each
stroke.
6. Select Use All Layers to smudge using color data from all visible layers. If deselected, the smudge tool
uses colors only from the active layer.
7. Drag in the image to smudge color. Press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you drag with the
smudge tool to use the Finger Painting option.

The original image The smudged image

Focus Tools (Blur tool and Sharpen tool)

The focus tools consist of the blur tool and the sharpen tool. The blur tool softens hard edges or areas in
an image to reduce detail. The sharpen tool focuses soft edges to increase clarity or focus.

Blurring an image, and sharpening an image

To use the blur or sharpen tool:

1. Double-click the blur tool or sharpen tool to display its Options palette.
2. Specify the blending mode and pressure.
3. If you are using a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet, choose Size or Pressure.
4. Select a brush size as described in the Brushes palette section.
5. To blur or sharpen using data from all visible layers, select Use All Layers. If deselected, the blur or
sharpen tool uses data only from the active layer.
6. Drag over the part of the image you want to blur or sharpen.

The original image The blurred image The sharpened image

Toning Tools (Dodge, Burn and Sponge Tools)

The toning tools consist of the dodge tool and the burn tool. Used to lighten or darken areas of the image,
the dodge and burn tools are based on a traditional photographer’s technique for regulating exposure on
specific areas of a print. Photographers hold back light to lighten an area on the print (dodging) or increase
the exposure to darken areas on a print (burning).

The sponge tool subtly changes the color saturation of an area. In Grayscale mode, the sponge tool
increases or decreases contrast by moving gray levels away from or toward the middle gray.

To use the dodge, burn, or sponge tool:

7
The American University in Cairo Academic Computing Services

1. Double-click the dodge tool , burn tool , or sponge tool to display its Options
palette.
2. For the dodge tool or burn tool, select what to change in the image:
• Midtones to change only the middle range of grays in the image.
• Shadows to change the dark portions of the image.
• Highlights to change only the light pixels.
3. For the sponge tool, select how to change the color:
• Saturate to intensify the color’s saturation.
• Desaturate to dilute the color’s saturation.
4. Specify the exposure for the dodge tool and burn tool, or the pressure for the sponge tool.
5. Select a brush size as described in the Brushes palette section.
6. Drag over the part of the image you want to modify.

The image after applying the The image after applying the burn The image after applying the
dodge tool tool sponge tool

Note: The smudge, focus, and toning tools can’t be used with Bitmap or Indexed color mode images.

Replace Color
If you want to change a certain color in the image and you find difficulty in picking all the areas in which
the color exists, you may use the Replace Color command.
1. Choose Image Menu, Adjust item, Replace Color command.
2. The Replace Color window pops
up. Use the picker to select the color to be
replaced from the displayed image in the
Selection portion.
3. If you find the selected areas did
not contain all the color to be replaced,
increase the fuzziness value. Adjust the
range of colors by using the Fuzziness
slider or entering a value. To decrease the
range of colors selected, decrease the
value. The Fuzziness option partially
selects pixels by controlling the degree to
which related colors are included in the
selection.
4. Pick the new desired color from
the Transform portion through changing
the hue, saturation or lightness.
5. To check the result of changing
the color, mark the checkbox titled
Preview. Accordingly, any changes in the
Transform portion will be reflected in the
original image but will not be effective
unless you press OK button.