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Introduction• Download and unzip the materials for this

lesson.• For this lesson, we’ll be working with a

Quickpage. A Quickpage is a page that has already been designed for you and has been flattened down to a single layer. It usually includes a hole (holes) for your photograph. Using a Quickpage helps you concentrate on learning the tools in Photoshop.

Task 1: Set Up the Interface• When first opening Photoshop CC, you’ll see

a blank screen. This is where you’ll work with your documents.

• On the left side of the screen you’ll find the Toolbar. The tools allow you to interact with your document.

• Along the top is the Options bar, which changes depending on which tool you’ve selected.

• With the Move Tool selected, make sure the “Auto-Select” and “Show Transform Controls” have been checked. Also choose “Layer” from the dropdown box. This will allow you to directly select any layered items on a document. (1)

• In the top menu, go to Photoshop (Mac) or Edit (PC) >Preferences >Tools. Check the “Zoom with Scroll Wheel” box. Click OK. (2)

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Task 2: Set Up Your Palettes• File >Open. A dialog box opens up. Navigate

to where you have the lesson materials and choose the “JS-UR-QP01” file. Click Open. (3) The layout opens into the workspace.

• On the right side of the screen, you’ll see a list of palettes. A palette is a mini workspace for some specific function you want to do in Photoshop or a view into some aspect of your document. Each of the buttons allows you to access some functionality that will help you build your page.

• The Layers palette is the most important palette in Photoshop. To open this palette, go to Window >Layers. If it comes in as a floating window, click on the word Layers and drag it to the far right edge of your screen until you see a vertical blue bar. This will allow you to dock your Layers palette in the right-hand docking space. (4)

• Photoshop allows you to dock multiple levels of palettes. Notice the area just to the left of the Layers palette. These are the palettes that are important, but not as important as the Layers palette. To dock these palettes, use the Window menu (e.g. Window >History) to open the first palette, then click on the name and drag the palette to the top of the secondary dock. (5)

• Dock each consecutive palette under the one you just docked.

• Tip: Open and close palettes by clicking on the double arrow next to the name.

• The palettes in order of importance (top to bottom) are as follows:

• History. Cmd/Ctrl Z will allow you to step back one step. To go back more steps, you’ll need to use the history palette. It is set up to let you go 25 steps backward.

• Character. This palette allows you to access different parameters about the type or fonts that you’ll be using.

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• Paragraph. This allows you to change the alignment of the text in the paragraph itself.

• At the bottom of the Toolbar are the color swatches. The one on top is the foreground color; the one behind is the background color. (6) You will paint, draw, or type with the foreground color. By default, the foreground color is black and the background color is white.

Task 3: Add Your Photo• View >Rulers to turn on rulers. Note that the

page is 12in X 12in.• File >Open. Navigate to your wherever you

keep your photos and choose a horizontal photo. Select it and click Open.

• If your photo opens into the Adobe Camera Raw workspace, simply click Open Image.

• Notice the tabs at the top of the screen. Each tab represents a separate document. When you click on a tab, that document will show up in the workspace.

• Click on the layout tab again (JS-UR-QP01). • Notice that there is only one layer showing

in the Layers palette. It’s called “Place photo below this layer.”

• Notice the checkerboard background in the photo area. This is Photoshop’s way of displaying transparency.

• Click on the photo tab to show it in the workspace.

• Select the Move Tool. Click on the photo to select it (don’t let go of the mouse button yet). Drag the image to hover over the Quickpage’s tab. Once the document opens in the workspace, drag the photo over the opened Quickpage, and release the mouse. Photoshop makes a copy of the file and places it in the document.(Click and drag, hover on the tab, wait for PS to switch, and drop your item off.) (7)

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• There are now two layers in the layers palette. The photo is on top of the Quickpage layer. To move the photo under the Quickpage, click and drag on the photo’s name to get a grabby hand, and pull down to the correct position. A white highlight line will appear to indicate where the photo will appear when you let go of the mouse button. (8)

• To resize the photo, click on one of the corners to enter Transform mode. (Note: This is why you checked Show Transform Controls, so you could access Transform mode easily. Transform mode allows you to resize, reposition, and rotate.) The bounding area turns to a solid line.

• Click and drag on one of the corners to resize. Hold down Shift as you resize to retain proportions. Tip: Don’t click on the side or bottom handles; this will pull your photo out of proportion.

• To rotate, click on a corner transform handle, hover near the corner until you get a rotating arrow, click down, and rotate your photo. (9)

• Hit Return/Enter to commit the change. (Transform mode won’t allow you to do anything else until you commit the change.)

• Tip: Hit Escape to exit Transform mode without making any changes.

• Reposition by grabbing the photo and moving it.

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Task 4: Add the Date• Target the Quickpage layer in the Layers

palette. Photoshop uses a layering system. If you were to type below the Quickpage layer, you wouldn’t be able to see your type because it would be hidden by the top layer.

• Click on the Horizontal Type Tool in the tool bar. (10)

• When you click down with your cursor, you’ll see a blinking cursor on the layout and a “T” thumbnail in the Layers palette. This indicates it’s a type layer. Because it’s on its own layer, you’ll be able to manipulate it independently of the photo or layout.

• In the Options bar (at the top of the screen), click in the font selector box and start typing the first letters of the font: “i-m-p.” Then click on the dropdown box. This will get you close to the font you want. Choose Impact Regular. Select 18 pt for your font size. (11)

• Click on the color selector in the Options bar. Click on the color picker. The color picker opens, allowing you to choose whichever color you want. Choose white by clicking in the very top left hand corner of the box. Click OK. (12)

• Tip: You can also open the color picker by clicking on the foreground/background color swatches in the Toolbar. But you would still have to use the color selector to change the color of your text.

• Type your date. As you are typing, you’ll see a blinking cursor and a line under the text. This means you are actively typing. When finished, click on the Move Tool or hit Enter to commit. Now it’s surrounded by a bounding box, and you can move it or resize it as if it were a regular element.

• Photoshop has created a type layer above the Quickpage layer.

• Click on a transform handle to resize. Commit. (13)

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Task 5: Add Journaling• Tip: With the Move Tool selected, zoom in

using the mouse’s scroll wheel. To navigate around, hold down the space bar until you see a grabby hand; click and drag to move around.

• Choose the Horizontal Type Tool again. Click and drag with the Horizontal Type Tool to make a text box. Making a text box allows the type to automatically wrap when you type your journaling. (14)

• In the options bar, change the font to Century Gothic Regular.

• Change the size to 10 pt.• Click on the left align button in the options

bar.• Type your paragraph. Click on the Move Tool

to commit and reposition your text.• To edit your type, double-click on the T

thumbnail in the layers palette. The text becomes active and you can edit the text. You can also change the width of your text box. (15)

• To justify your text, drag to select all of your text in the paragraph. Open the Paragraph palette and click on the Justify last left button. (16) Or, with the Move Tool selected, click in the paragraph of type and click the same button in the Paragraph palette. Justified text spaces out the words so that the text is even down the left and right sides of the paragraph. Remember to use the Move Tool to commit the changes.

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Save for Print• Photoshop’s native file format is a PSD. This

means that any Photoshop document can be read by any version of Photoshop. PSD files preserve the layer format so the file can continue to be edited. This can be a very large file.

• File >Save As.• It’s recommended that you make a couple

of main directories. One should be Digital Scrapbooking, which would be your main directory. Under that you may have different directories for individual classes, but within, you should have a Work In Progress (WIP) folder. This will be where you put your PSD files. (17)

• Make a separate folder where you can store your printable files.

• Save as a PSD file in your WIP file so the layers will be saved without losing the layers. Make sure the Format shows “Photoshop” (that is its default). Click Save.

• Tip: To keep from losing your work, save your WIP document every 10–15 minutes or so. Save early, save often!

• Tip: The hotkey for saving is Cmd/Ctrl + S.• Your Photoshop file is huge, but you want

to be able to preserve the data for a printed layout. JPEG is a flattened file, without layers, that can be printed.

• File >Save As. Navigate to your print files folder. Change the format to JPEG. (18)

• Make another folder, next to the WIP folder, where you can store your printable files. Call this one PrintFiles.

• Click Save.• A JPEG Options pop-up box opens. To

maintain high quality of your print, under Image Options choose Quality: 11-12. Click OK. (19)

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Task 7: Save For Web• Your computer monitor can’t display the

same level of data—or pixels—that make up the JPEG file at the same density (resolution) as a piece of paper can. Whereas you need a large file for printing, you need a small file for displaying on the web.

• When you resize for the web, Photoshop takes the data from the large file and throws some of that data away to make it a more manageable size on a computer monitor.

• File >Export >Save for Web (Legacy). (In CS or pre-2015 versions of CC, go to File >Save for Web.) Save for Web dialog box opens.

• When you save a layout for the web, you have to convert it to a color palette (also called color space) that is more acceptable for viewing online. This color palette is called sRGB.

• Check the Convert to sRGB box.• Make sure the Optimized file format box

says JPEG. Change if necessary through the dropdown box.

• Set Compression quality box to Very High. This will give you the best image quality when you shrink down your file. (20)

• Most galleries online have a limit of approximately 1200 pixels wide. Other galleries or sites have smaller size limits.

• Under Image Size, change Width to 1000 px. (If your blog or gallery destination has smaller limits, you can make it smaller.) Note: The Length size will change automatically to keep the proportions correct. Hit the Tab key. You’ll see the image in the preview box change.

• Tip: Change Quality to Bicubic Sharper.• Tip: You can see the size of the document in

the bottom left corner of the preview box. If it’s too large for the size limits on a gallery or blog, you can make the image size smaller or reduce the compression quality slightly. (21)

• Click Save.• Save in a main folder or WebFiles folder with

“-WEB” added to the name. (22)• Post the web version of your page in the

Disqus gallery!