Introduction to Adobe Photoshop 2022

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The Training Session:

How to Get the Most out of the Training

Approaching the training. An ideal way to use the training is to think about how you use Photoshop (or think about
what you use it for in the workplace)… then pay attention to the capabilities of the software tool. Do not try to
memorize the sequences. Rather, try to remember the general name of the capability or the function. Remember that
there are 3-4 at least different ways to achieve a particular objective in Adobe Photoshop. As you use the tool more,
you will form your own memorization of the most common sequences, unique sequences, and relevant keyboard
shortcuts.

Interactions encouraged. Please ask questions or make comments as they arise…and are constructive for the group.
These sessions are interactive ones.

Post-training. Then, after the training, try to get as much practice as possible using the software. It helps to have actual
projects to work on as motivation. Use the context-sensitive help with the search query (top right of the Adobe
Photoshop workspace) to find where tools are. And if you have tougher challenges, go to the Google with questions.
Troubleshooting yourself makes you better at your work. If you have free time, watch some of the excellent videos on
YouTube featuring particular “tricks” with the software. Check out the trainings on Microsoft’s LinkedIn Learning’s
Linda.com, which has some excellent courses covering the tools in the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. [Manhattan Public
Library enables access to these online trainings with a library card!]

Hour 1: Fidelity to an Original Image

• Selecting a work space (to define toolbar and properties panels): Essentials (the simplest, often to start); 3D
(soon to be deprecated because of incompatibility with current operating systems / OSes…and no plans to
update, but many users are shifting to Adobe’s Substance); Graphic and Web; Motion; Painting; Photography;
and customized “New Workspace”
• Engaging digital images:
o Opening a digital image (and some types of digital image formats)
o Cropping an image
o Changing image resolution (to avoid pixelation and avoid aliasing and to enable scaling), through
upsampling (creation of pixels by machine) and pixel interpolation (but ideally would have the best
original image to work from for meaningful details)
o Resizing an image without affecting aspect ratio (or stretching the image); delinking height and width to
enable changing aspect ratio
o Setting color outputs (RGB or CMYK?... RGB color modes have more filter effects available to it than for
CMYK, and then the proper color model outputs can be adjusted later) (where color / tint = hue,
chroma/saturation, brightness/value)
o Changing a color image to b/w … or to grayscale (with midtones, for visual details, for visual textures)
o Changing the brightness and contrast of an image
o Erasing the background of an image (and creating an alpha channel)
o Differentiating between high opacity and various levels of transparency (and what these enable)
o Saving a still digital image for web applications
o Saving a still digital image for print applications
 Changing the curves of an image for ink on paper production

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 o Versioning digital image output files for different applications (web publishing, brochures, print book
publishing, and others)

Hour 2: More fx (special effects) and Purposeful and Designed Artificiality

“Take a fantastic voyage with Photoshop” (Aug. 27, 2020) at https://youtu.be/uvmQfn5PsAI

Explore the artificial intelligence (AI) aspects of the new Adobe Photoshop…and its various content-aware image-editing
features! Content awareness seems to apply to objects, proxemic content, texturing, lighting, and some other features.

• Changing the saturation of a color image

• Using the eyedropper tool (picks up and drops colors)
• Capturing a color palette automatically from an image (using the color palette + set and a selected image in the
art board or workspace)
• Applying various filters to an image (for rich “fx” or special effects) [requires OpenCL, 64-bit processing for some
of the filters]; enhancing visuals (like sharpening by increasing contrast on edges within particular radiuses and
at certain threshold of contrast)
• Applying some (artificial) light effects to an image (Layer -> Layer Style -> Global Light)

• Using the “beta” smart neural filters, such as Super Zoom, removal of JPEG artifacts (visual glitches), the transfer
of art styles (based on over 50 preset styles); mixing of landscapes, depth blur, color transfer, facial
“deformations” of emotions; colorizing of b/w images, and others
• Some of these neural filters are processed on the local machine; others are processed in the cloud.

o Style Transfer: The “art styles” are based on the “texture, color, and style” of known artists (with
features extracted using ANNs) and select image styles. These are “additive” edits in most cases instead
of “reductive.” [Reductive processes reduce aspects of the original seeding visual by removing lines,
combining or blending colors, and other processes.]

o Colorize: The three images show an actual photo at the far left, the b/w version, and then the colorized
version. The recolorization feature does not try to remake the original colors but offers a somewhat
dramatic other plausible version.

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 What’s “on deck” for more neural filters? Portrait Generator, Water Long Exposure,
Shadow Regenerator, Latent Visions, Noise Reduction, and others

• Drawing for born-digital images in Photoshop

o View -> Flip Horizontal to check for fidelity and proportions
• Setting up image layers
o How image layers work (generally)
o Non-destructive edits (through masking, through smart objects)
 Blending masks to mix layers (with black painting for concealment, white painting for revelation,
gray painting for partial revelation/partial concealment; gradient masks for gradient effects)
 Edge fuzzing for easier blends
o Application of adjustment layers
o Tinting
o Changing the stacking order for particular visual effects (bottom layer at the back, top layers at the
front)

If time allows, and if there is interest, we can go off in other directions:

• Adding text without aliasing (anti-aliasing set up)
• Using third-party scripts (macros) from GitHub and other spaces
• Going into 3D (x, y, and z axes) with the 3D workspace (deprecated in August 2021)

Generally, Adobe Photoshop is used to…

• Edit digital images (photos, screenshots, digital drawings, diagrams, screen grabs / stills, scanned files, and
others)
• Create raster images in 2D (x and y axes)
• Create raster images in 3D (x, y, and z axes) (deprecated in August 2021)
• Create raster images in 4D (with motion, changes over time), and others

The visuals can be used in both static and dynamic applications, still images and dynamic ones.

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Some General Uses of Adobe Photoshop at K-State: Adobe Photoshop is used for various purposes: editing figures and
images for master’s reports and theses and doctoral dissertations, professional publishing, various analytics, slideshows,
and other uses. It is used to create marketing materials. It has been used to batch-process image sets as well.

Vector vs. Raster: Photoshop enables the drawing of shapes as Bezier paths and combinations of curves; these export
as vector graphics (which are resolution independent and therefore can scale since the computer is drawing the image
from mathematical equations, not pixels). [When editing shapes, go to the options bar at the top of the workspace
(with activated objects in the workspace) or the properties panels at the right]. Also: Photoshop can ingest vector
images but has to first convert them into raster format to edit. Many projects involve moving between Adobe
Photoshop (raster image editor) and Adobe Illustrator (a drawing software in the Adobe Creative Cloud family that
enables creation and output in vector, which enables mass scalability).

Common File Types (by file extensions)

Raster .jpeg, .jpg, .png, .gif, .mpeg4
Vector .svg, .eps, .pdf, and .ai (Adobe Illustrator file)
Other .webp (less “lossy,” lightweight image in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and others; free converters available)

Conversion from raster to vector in Photoshop takes a fair number of steps. (https://we.graphics/blog/how-to-convert-
a-raster-image-into-vector-in-photoshop/)
There is a simple solution for one-color images (https://digitalsynopsis.com/design/how-to-convert-raster-to-vector-in-
photoshop/).

You can open an .ai vector file in Photoshop directly. PDFs also open directly. Ditto .svgs.

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Dynamic Enablements: The format of a digital image affects how flexible it can be for dynamic applications of color
palettes and dark mode effects and other fast applications.

Work Pipelines: Adobe Photoshop is often part of a work “pipeline,” with various imports and exports…across a range
of file types and online destinations. Artworks like diagrams and photos may be created outside Photoshop first and
then edited there. Analog contents may be digitally scanned and then edited in Adobe Photoshop. [For mass media
organizations, virtually all print images have had color “jumped” to translate in-world color to print to digital. (Fidelity
rules mean that digital photos cannot be edited further in journalism. Similar rules apply to digital images captured as
part of research because these images are data. There are differing rules for proper digital image handling in various
disciplines and domains, so professionals and students should review the professional ethics in their respective fields.)]

Batch Processing: It is possible to run a macro/script over a set of images using

batch processing. The path is File -> Automate -> Batch. A common use case is
to process all images in a folder. Ensure that the settings are appropriate in the
pop-up window that opens in the path. (See left.)

A Pristine Master Set of Images (as a Safety Net): If you will be processing images in a batch fashion or manually editing
images, do save a pristine master set of images first. These are the most high-resolution and high quality images fresh
from the digital camera, the scanner, or other device. These are the “least lossy” versions of the images. (Remember
each iteration of digital image editing furthers lossiness and may introduce digital artifacts like “noise”.) The image files
in the pristine master set are untouchable…and are kept in original format. Copies of these images may be edited for

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analysis, presentation, and other purposes. This gives you a safety net to explore and edit. (And you always have
CTRL+Z to undo.)

Import (still images and video) Export

Open… Save as…
Photoshop EPS (*.eps) PNG (.png)
Photoshop DCS 1.0 (*.eps) Photoshop (.psd, .pdd, psdt)
Photoshop DCS 2.0 (*.eps) Large Document Format (.psb)
EPS TIFF Preview (*.eps) BMP (.bmp, .rle, .dib)
Generic EPS (.eps, .a13, .a14, .a14, .a16, .a17, .a18, Dicom (.dcm, .dc3, .dic)
PS, AI, EPS) Photoshop EPS (.eps)
GIF (*.gif) Photoshop DCS 1.0 (.eps)
IFF format (*.iff, *.tdi) Photoshop DCS 2.0 (.eps)
IGES (.igs, .jges) GIF (.gif)
JPEG (*.jpg, *.jpeg, *.jpe) IFF format (.iff, .tdi)
JPEG 2000 (.jpf, .jpx, .jp2, .j2c, .j2k, .jpc) JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg,, .jpe)
JPEG Stereo (.jps) JPEG 2000 (.jpf, .jpx, .jp2, .j2c, .j2k, .jpc)
Multi-Picture Format (.mpo) JPEG Stereo (.jps)
OpenEXR (.exr) Multi-picture format (.mpo)
PCX (.pcx) PCX (.pcx)
Photoshop PDF (.pdf, .pdp) Photoshop PDF (.pdf, .pdp)
Photoshop Raw (.raw) Photoshop Raw (.raw)
PICT file (.pct, .pict) Pixar (.pxr)
Pixar (.pxr) PNG (.png)
PNG (.png) Portable Bit Map (.pbm, .pgm, .ppm, .pnm, .pfm, .pam)
Portable Bit Map (.pbm, .pgm, .ppm, .pnm, .pfm, Scitex CT (.sct)
.pam) Targa (.tga, .vda, .icb, .vst)
PRC (.prc) TIFF (.tif, .tiff)
Radiance (.hdr, .rgbe, .xyze)
Scitex CT (.sct) Export as…
SVG (.svg, .svgz) PNG
Tara (.tga, .vda, .icb, .vst) Jpg
TIFF (.tif, .tiff) GIF
U3D (.u3d)
Video (.264, .3gp, .3gpp, .avc, .avi, f4v, .flv) Print to…
Wireless bit map (.wbm, .wbmp) PDF

Export to:
Web-formatted imagery for legacy sites (GIFs)
Artboards to files
Artboards to PDF
Export for Aero
Layer comps for files
Layer comps to PDF
Layers to files
Color lookup tables
Datasets as files
Paths to illustrator
Render video
Zoomify

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 Generate:
Image asset set

Share to:
Contacts (your social network)
Lightroom (a cloud image storage site)
Behance (online portfolio in an art social network hosted by
Adobe)

* Content-Aware Image Editing: Adobe Photoshop enables moving objects, spot healing, facial smoothing, art look-and-
feel transfer to another image, wrapping visuals to 3D structures, contours, and other AI-enabled…work. Context-aware
fill uses smart awareness of the surroundings of an object if it is removed.

Quick Brief History Note: Adobe Photoshop was rolled out to the public in Feb. 19, 1990, and it has been the foremost
raster image editing tool since on both Windows and Mac operating systems. Now, it is part of the Adobe Creative
Cloud suite of tools.

Digital Image Resolution (as in Numbers of Pixels per Defined Unit Area)

Generally, the basic standards for digital imagery for various “use cases” are as follows:

Context Types of Digital Files Color Processing Digital Image Resolution

Electronic Theses, Reports, .jpg or .png (because of the CMYK (cyan, magenta, 350 dpi (dots per inch) or
and Dissertations (ETDRs) relatively low file sizes) yellow, black) ppi (pixels per inch)up to
1200 or higher dpi
The dpi / ppi refers to the
amount of pixels in height
or width in a square
To get to the # of pixels in a
square inch, you take
height x width
Publishing .tif or .tiff CMYK 350 dpi or higher as
needed
Website (and some social .jpg (small image size), gif, RGB (red, green, blue) 72 – 96
media platforms) and .png

If resolution is too low, pixellation of the image occurs along with poor sharpness (blur, lack of focus), and text tends to
appear stair-stepped or to “alias.” Low resolution means the edges of the text become blurry and rough. (For larger size
images, at 100 MB, computer systems may start slowing down a little when editing in Photoshop.) The tradeoff is that
higher-res images are larger and take up more memory for storage on a computer, and they take longer to upload or
download…

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 Pixellation Text Aliasing
Figure 1. A Highly Pixellated Image of a Cat’s Face Figure 2. A Highly Pixellated Image of the Capitalized Letters “AM,”
with Text Aliasing

For those in design, color on-screen is very different with color on print paper (with various ink combinations, ink bleeds,
a lack of screen reflectance, and differing interactions between inks and papers). [Color is also subjectively perceived
based on people’s retinas and color processing in the brain.] Some of the color effects on-screen, like neon colors, do
not carry over as well in print, etc., because of the lack of screen brightness in terms of synthetic and non-synthetic
papers.

However, please consult with the faculty advisor, publisher, or whomever will be receiving the visuals. The in-between
states of visual processing may result in different color applications, like HSB / HSL (hue,
saturation, brightness; hue, saturation, lightness), and others. Ideally, one would start with a
visual at the highest resolution practical, keep a master file, and edit the image carefully and
with the least “lossiness” of image information. (Each edit can introduce more “artifacts” and
noise and the loss of visual information.)

Screenshots and Digital Image Downloads from the Web and Internet: Because of the varying resolutions in various
contexts, there are implications for screenshotting…the capture of video/film stills, and other types of image captures.
Generally, since websites have low resolution (72 ppi to 96 ppi usually), and since most online images are thumbnails or
lightweight images, it is better to enlarge the image before doing a screen capture. It may also help to download a
version of the image to see which one is bigger. (Generally, scraped social imagery are thumbnails only and very small.)
Screenshots of websites may be captured as part of research and so needs to be shared in a relatively high-resolution
published form.

Drawing Diagrams in PowerPoint (to turn into a digital image): There are also implications for using PowerPoint to
draw diagrams. (Basically, draw the diagrams and then CTRL + A to highlight all the shapes and text, and expand the
visual to fit the full slide. Then save the slides as .pngs or whatever you need. Edit in an image editor before deploying,
optimally.)

Figure 3. A Series of Six Images Created with Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop (esp. fx)

Other Potential Topics of Interest… or Something Else Altogether?

SELECTIONS OF PARTS OF AN IMAGE TO EXCISE / EDIT / INVERT/ REPLACE, ETC.

• Magic wand for particular selections and cutouts
• Selection tools (lassos, marquees)
• Select by object
• Select by quick selection
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 o Can adjust the selection by going to the options bar and selecting the add brush tool to add to the
selection or the subtract brush tool to take away from the selection

• Select by color (can expand by “fuzziness”)

• Select by sky

• Adjusting selections
o Can adjust selection by clicking on the lasso tool and using the options bar (above) to expand selection
by various pixel counts

• Auto-shape selection (with pre-sets)

• Creating layers (basic dynamics of layers; trace layers; adjustment layers; cutouts; silhouettes; masking; non-
destructive global and local visual edits)

• White color balance (for true colors without excess “warmth” or “cold” in the colors in the work)

• Color palettes (some pre-loaded, others that can be created by the user on the fly from a seeding digital
image)

• Editing by color ranges

• Turning a photo into a line drawing (through filters / fx / neural filter)

• Scripts in Adobe Photoshop (and Adobe Illustrator) / macros can run in either
Figure 4. A 3D Editing Window software for batch processing of visuals
(showing the x, y, and z axes)

• Removing watermarks from images [a simple workaround to remove hidden

digital ones; erasure and cropping and background removal to remove found
visual ones…based on real-world and legit “use cases”]

• Fun and communicative visual filter effects (explore textures / fill effects, distortions, lighting effects, and
others)
• Creating particulate effects using “noise” filters and specialty paintbrushes

• 3D (x, y, and z axes) (and how not to break the z-dimensionality illusion) (deprecated)

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• Using a clipping mask (in layers) (image a layer up above the shape or letters below; alt
key + click between the layers)
• .csh (custom shapes and vector graphics) that may be used for
clipping and other such effects
• Creating custom .csh files [Draw vector shape in Illustrator. Copy
vector object. Open Photoshop 2022. Paste as path. Go to Edit -> Define Custom Shape….
Save with select name. Find in Custom Shapes folder at bottom.]
o Or draw the shape (think silhouette) in Photoshop using the Pen tool…and Edit >
Define Custom Shape…and voila!

• Turn on the Legacy shapes. In Photoshop 2022, go to Window in menu. Select

Shapes. In flyout menu to right, turn on “Legacy Shapes and More”. (See menu to the left.)
These shapes include various nature scenes, animals, art “textures,” and other elements.

[Of course, regular primitive geometric shapes may just be inserted from the left toolbar.]

• Edit -> Check spelling (based on readable fonts)

• Like diptychs, triptychs, and quadtychs? Care to slice an image into

equal parts and export the images in little pieces? Try the Slice Select
Tool… and export the pieces as .gifs through Save for Web (Legacy)

• Lasso object (to be removed) -> Edit -> Content aware fill

• Turning a layer into a smart object (by right-clicking layer and selecting “Convert to Smart Object”) so as to be
able to edit non-destructively (even while engaging transforms and re-sizings) and enabling other types of
edits to be applied;

o have to go to Layer-> Smart Objects -> Edit Contents to create a .psd layer to enable pixel-based
painting and editing for retouching (can convert back to a raster image from a smart object by going
to Layer – Smart Objects – Convert to Layers

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 • Designing for
motion? Try
“puppet warp” for
changing the shape
of creatures /
characters and
enabling warping
along joints. This is
done through a
mesh…and through
the placement of pins wherever the person wants to hold a part or
section from moving…and where they want to enable motion (along that
point in any direction). The pin area is a fulcrum. (Reference the camel
and the puppet transform and free transform warp, both using meshes.)
• Of course, you do not need to have an animal or humanoid or alien
shape. You can “puppet warp” any form…

• Accessing Typekit via the Creative Cloud

(subscription), to download available fonts to the local
machine to be used in the Adobe software designs,
includes type in the world’s different languages

• It is possible to access glyphs by going to the

“Type” menu, Panels in the dropdown, then, the
Glyphs panel.
o To the right, go to the dropdown arrow
next to the declared font…and select the
particular font that you want. (See below.)

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• Accessibility for digital imagery (based on color use, data labeling, data visualization labeling, sufficient
contrast, mitigations for color blindness, alt texting, , lead-up and lead-away text, and others)
o There is AI-informed automatic alt-texting…which has varied accuracy and results (but almost always
amusing).

• Do remember that intellectual property (IP) and copyright should be adhered to in all work?

• Explore TinEye Reverse Image Search and its database of some 44 billion images and counting. Or explore
other reverse image searches.
o Images shared in public are noted and archived, and their original share URLs and such are public
knowledge.
o The searches are getting smarter by the day, and they are somewhat harder now to throw off.

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 Figure 5. View -> Snap To -> Slices • Alternate texting / Slice Tool / View -> Snap-To -
> Slices Tool -> Edit Slice Options -> Text Fields
for Alt Text [The alt-text can be read by screen
readers when they come to the image hosted on
the Web or emplaced in a document. Such text is
needed for Section 508 compliance and other
forms of web accessibility for contents for public
use.]

Figure 6. Slice Options -> Alt Tag

Adobe Illustrator (also in the Adobe Creative Cloud) with a focus on vector graphics
Figure 7. Adobe Illustrator Work
Space (available on Adobe
Creative Cloud)

• Capturing color palettes from a visual in Adobe Illustrator (automatic pulling of 5

main colors from an image using AI)
• Image tracing (along paths) in Adobe Illustrator

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Using luminosity (dark – light) and RGB (red, green, blue) histograms

(with an indication of the dynamic range from dark to light also; high range includes the spectrum; low dynamic range
involves just some segments of the potential light range)
Figure 8. About histograms in Adobe Photoshop

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Changing the workspace look-and-feel
Edit tab -> Preferences -> Interface
Figure 9. Changing the Interface Look and Feel

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Heard about deepfakes? Various companies, including Adobe, are collaborating around the Content Authenticity
Initiative. Adobe enables the capturing of content credentials, from creators to edit histories and other metadata, to
ride along with the images to provide authenticated digital imagery. To turn on this beta capability, go to Edit tab ->
Preferences -> Technology Preview. In the window, you can check on “Enable Content-Aware Tracing Tool.” See the
screenshot below.

This feature is also mentioned in the context of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This feature enables a review of the history
of edits to the content before the NFT is included in a blockchain (optimally).

This addition slows the opening of the software and the processing of images by a few seconds, it feels like.

It’s worth it for high-value image processing…but perhaps not as much for everyday work.

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 Additional Informational Resources

Adobe Creative Cloud (Adobe space for application downloads, for font family set downloads, templates, and other
tools):
https://helpx.adobe.com/support.html#/all_products

Adobe Photoshop Channel on YouTube (how-to videos, global events):

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClH-KpveOLJszChWRfFmPfQ

Behance (art portfolios, live training events, social networking, and others):
https://www.behance.net/

URLs for Updated Adobe Photoshop Presentation Handout (in .docx and .pdf formats)

Word: Figure 10. A Visual from Adobe

http://www.k-state.edu/ID/IntroAdobePhotoshopHandout.docx Photoshop

PDF:
http://www.k-state.edu/ID/IntroAdobePhotoshopHandout.pdf

Professional Training on Adobe Photoshop via MPL’s Online Resources: For those with a library card to the Manhattan
Public Library, you have access to the LinkedIn Training / Lynda.com trainings. There is an excellent training called
“Photoshop 2021 Essential Training: The Basics” taught by Julieanne Kost, Principal Evangelist at Adobe Systems… This is
a free training for those with a library card. A library card may be applied for both locally and from a distance. The
library serves multiple counties, not just Riley.

Another colleague let me know that O’Reilly resources through the K-State Libraries also has some resources on Adobe
Photoshop!

Adobe Licenses at K-State:

https://www.k-state.edu/it/software/software-licenses/adobe/index.html

Presenter:

Dr. Shalin Hai-Jew

ITS - K-State
Hale Library
shalin@ksu.edu
785-532-5262

Updated: mid-2022

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