adobe photoshop 7.0

kearlywi · Post by **kearlywi** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 3:14 pm

I didnt think this was possible, but, I'm actually having some difficulty using adobe photoshop. Anyone know of a good tutorial site for photoshop? Adobe's help section just aint cuttin it.

I'm having trouble with a few things for the time being...

contrast brightness: Help guide says "Open the Brightness/Contrast dialog box," but doesnt say where it is.

cut/copy - pasting: When I paste it drops the image right into the middle of my 2nd picture w/o allowing me to specifically pick its location. Drag and drop hasnt worked either (it works in paint).

transparency: ultimately this is the most important problem: I need to make certain parts of my picture transparent so when I import it into premiere it doesnt look WAY out of place. I tried messing around with layers and such, but with little success. Isnt there a way i can just highlight certain sections with my magic wand tool and be 2 or 3 clicks away from making that area transparent?

kearlywi · Post by **kearlywi** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 3:22 pm

Found brightness/contrast: (under Image/ Adjustments)

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 3:55 pm

RTFM, if you even have the FM. If that and much more experimentation doesn't help, then in all honesty you shouldn't be using Photoshop.

anyway, two hints.

Pasting data creates a new layer. Use the Layer Move tool.
Transparency is layer-based. If you want only parts of an image transparent, make those parts into seperate layers.

kearlywi · Post by **kearlywi** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 4:04 pm

trythil wrote:
RTFM, if you even have the FM.

RTFM?

Anyways I already tried those suggestions b4 i posted, (and obviously got no results), so I'll try that again and hope for the best. My main problem was with layers since modifying layers didnt SEEM to have any effect on my overall picture. If I want to eliminate the background (make it transparent), would i highlight the background as its own layer and then somehow tell it to 'be transparent?'

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 4:21 pm

kearlywi wrote:
trythil wrote:
RTFM, if you even have the FM.

RTFM?

Anyways I already tried those suggestions b4 i posted, (and obviously got no results), so I'll try that again and hope for the best. My main problem was with layers since modifying layers didnt SEEM to have any effect on my overall picture. If I want to eliminate the background (make it transparent), would i highlight the background as its own layer and then somehow tell it to 'be transparent?'

Yeah, the FM. You know, that big thick book that comes with the box?

If you want to eliminate the background, first select the area that you want to mask out. Photoshop gives you about 50 ways to do this (I'm not kidding), so I'm going to leave you to figure out what the best way is -- it is highly dependent on the image content.

If you want translucency, select the background from step (1) and cut it to its own layer. Put it below the region you masked.

If you want the background gone, just invert the selection from step (1) and hit the delete key.

Transparency in 7 quick slides:

I start with this image.
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~yipdw/images/trans/1.jpg

I select the region of the background I want to make translucent.
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~yipdw/images/trans/2.jpg

I want to put this image behind that region of background.
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~yipdw/images/trans/3.jpg

That region of background is now its own layer.
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~yipdw/images/trans/4.jpg

I adjust the opacity of that layer.
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~yipdw/images/trans/5.jpg

I put the image I want behind that section in. Clearly there's some cropping work to be done.
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~yipdw/images/trans/6.jpg

Here I skip about three or four steps (all of which are outlined in the Adobe Photoshop manual, though) and create a layer mask that masks out all of Layer 2 except the selected part. This makes that part of the background appear translucent.
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~yipdw/images/trans/7.jpg

Mr Pilkington · Post by **Mr Pilkington** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 7:32 pm

trythil wrote:RTFM, if you even have the FM. If that and much more experimentation doesn't help, then in all honesty you shouldn't be using Photoshop.

Photoshop is like basic computing. It's one of the first things people learn. It's not tough. I got an LE version (as well as a few others) with my OEM HDD and Win3.11 combo back in the day. Even that had an "FM!" My suggestion: sit down for a few hours, if after that you’re still clueless, delete it and toss your PC into the street. It won't be necessary

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 7:59 pm

Mr Pilkington wrote:
trythil wrote:RTFM, if you even have the FM. If that and much more experimentation doesn't help, then in all honesty you shouldn't be using Photoshop.
Photoshop is like basic computing. It's one of the first things people learn. It's not tough. I got an LE version (as well as a few others) with my OEM HDD and Win3.11 combo back in the day. Even that had an "FM!" My suggestion: sit down for a few hours, if after that you’re still clueless, delete it and toss your PC into the street. It won't be necessary

Eh...it's not "basic". Photoshop is a pretty complex piece of software, when you get beyond the basics. (It is not "just some glorified painting program". In fact, it's a mediocre painting program; if you want something to draw with, go use FreeHand, Illustrator, ...)

It's not, however, impossible for someone to learn on their own, given the documentation and experimentation. (I'd argue that the latter is more important than the former, but whatever.)

Everything that kearlywi said that he wanted to do, though, is in TFM. That's when RTFM should be used -- because RTFM will help you.

Ashyukun · Post by **Ashyukun** » Fri Jun 13, 2003 8:03 am

Trythil is right- Photoshop isn't a paint program at all, and Adobe has been moving more and more towards getting away from it appearing to be so (so people will buy their other, more drawing/painting oriented programs so they can make even more moola). It's pretty obvious too IMO- just look at the line tool between the earlier Photoshops and the current (7.0.1, I believe)... the line tool used to be one of the default tools, now not only is it a bit buried on the tool selector, it's also now a lot more of a pain to use (IMO).

I really need to DL and learn the GIMP... but then, given I've already paid for Photoshop

kearlywi · Post by **kearlywi** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 6:30 pm

FYI: I did spend about 2 hours experimenting with photoshop b4 i posted here, and no I dont have any kind of manual, I got this program from a friend. Trial and Error is frustrating, draining work (the programs built in help topics often were cause for headaches) and I simply wanted to see if there was an easy answer to my unanswered question, hence the post.

Thanks for your replies, they look like they took time to put together.

If I use the magic wand tool to select a layer, then make that layers opacity 0, will that layer be invisible when I insert it into my amv?

ongakuka · Post by **ongakuka** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 9:57 pm

Ashyukun wrote:Trythil is right- Photoshop isn't a paint program at all, and Adobe has been moving more and more towards getting away from it appearing to be so (so people will buy their other, more drawing/painting oriented programs so they can make even more moola). It's pretty obvious too IMO- just look at the line tool between the earlier Photoshops and the current (7.0.1, I believe)... the line tool used to be one of the default tools, now not only is it a bit buried on the tool selector, it's also now a lot more of a pain to use (IMO).

I really need to DL and learn the GIMP... but then, given I've already paid for Photoshop

Learn gimp anyway.. always beneficial having knowledge of multiple toolsets. Also, other than cosmetic differences, they function very similarly.

I dunno the status of FilmGimp under windows, but I'm using it a lot under OSX for small little clips rather than opening up FinalCut/etc - sweet program