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Photoshop Basics What is Photoshop? Photoshop is a powerful image editing tool that is used mainly by professionals to manipulate images. The most basic tasks will be covered in this handout e.g. cropping, adding text and arrows to an image. Access NYU Medical Center faculty, staff, and students have access to Photoshop software via the KeyServer. Go to http://keyserver.med.nyu.edu/ and follow the instructions for downloading “KeyAccess” and Photoshop. The “read me” file installed with the software contains the serial number you’ll need to complete the installation process. Photoshop can also be purchased and installed using a CD. Getting Graphics to Work With Photoshop will work with almost any type of graphic file you can find. There are several ways to capture images if you don’t have something to work with.

A. Scanning See separate handout on scanning images and importing into Photoshop.

B. Screen Shots One of the simplest ways to take a picture of what appears on your computer screen is to create a screen shot.

PC Users • Go to page you wish to capture using your web

browser. • Press the “Print Screen” button on your keyboard.

(This is usually on the top right of your keyboard.) • Open Photoshop, and choose “File New” from

the menu. The new file should automatically default to the size of your screen.

• Click “OK,” then choose “Edit Paste” to paste the screenshot into your new Photoshop file.

Mac Users • Go to page you wish to capture using your web

browser. • Press Command-Control-Shift-3 • Open Photoshop, and choose “File New” from the

menu. The new file should automatically default to the size of your screen.

• Click “OK,” then choose “Edit Paste” to paste the screenshot into your new Photoshop file.

C. Saving from the internet You can also save images directly from a web-site through your web browser.

In Netscape: • Position the mouse pointer over the image you want to save. • Right-click with the mouse (Mac users click and hold over the image). • Choose “Save Image As…” from the popup menu. In Internet Explorer: • Position the mouse pointer over the image you want to save. • Right-click with the mouse. • Choose “Save Picture as…” from the popup menu.

Ehrman Medical Library | 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 | Phone: (212) 263-8483 | library.med.nyu.edu | GH - Jun-06

Manipulating Images Using the Tool Bar Scanned and saved images retain the format and size of the original. Photoshop allows you to change the size and orientation of images to make them more suitable for your presentation. Resizing an Image

• From the menu bar go to Image Size. A dialogue box will appear. • From the dialogue box choose the size you would like your image to be. You can specify the size in either

Pixels or Inches. You only need to change one dimension. Photoshop will automatically keep the image in proportion.

• Click “OK” after changing image size to see your results. Note: You can always make an image smaller without losing any image quality. Trying to make an image larger than its original size can result in a blotchy mess. Rotating an Image Sometimes, due to their size, images have to be scanned in sideways. This is easily corrected by rotating the image.

• From the menu bar choose Image Rotate Canvas. • Choose one of the pre-set rotations: 180°, 90°CW

(CW=Clockwise), 90°CCW (CCW=Counter Clockwise), Flip Canvas Horizontal, or Flip Canvas Vertical; OR

• Choose your own angle of rotation via “Arbitrary.” A dialogue box will display.

• Specify the degree of rotation, and select °CW or °CCW.

• Click “OK” to see your results.

Modifying Images Using the Toolbox Palette When you open Photoshop, a tool called the Toolbox Palette will appear on the right side of your work space. The Toolbox Palette provides quick access to many of the basic functions you will need to modify images in Photoshop. You can reposition to Toolbox Palette by clicking and dragging it to a new position in your Photoshop workspace. Cropping an Image The crop tool crops out a rectangular selection of your image and throws away the rest of the image information.

• Select the crop tool from the Toolbox Palette.

• Click on the image and drag to select the area of the image that you want to keep. The areas of the image that will be removed are grayed out.

• Once you have made the initial selection area you can resize by dragging the handle boxes of the selection area.

• Once you are satisfied with your selection area press “Enter” on the keyboard to crop your image.

Ehrman Medical Library | 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 | Phone: (212) 263-8483 | library.med.nyu.edu | GH - Jun-06

Making a Simple Selection and Color Fills There are several tools in Photoshop that are used to select an area of an image. The most commonly used are the

Marquee Selection tool and the Magic Wand .

To make a selection with the Marquee tool: • Choose the Marquee tool from the Toolbox Palette. • Click and drag over the area of your image that you would like to select. A box outlined by dashes will show

you the area you have selected.

To make a selection with the Magic Wand tool: The Magic Wand selects by color.

• Choose the Magic Wand from the Toolbox Palette. • Click on an area of the image. The Magic Wand will automatically select a range of contiguous similar colors

in the image that you have clicked on. Your selection will be shown by an outline of dashes. The sensitivity of this selection can be altered by increasing the “Tolerance” setting located in the tool options palette at the top of your workspace.

Once you have an area selected you can fill it with color. • First select the color that you want to fill it with by clicking on the Color Picker on the Toolbox Palette. • Clicking on the top square will bring up the color picker for the foreground. Click on the color that you

would like in the spectrum and click “OK” The foreground color square should now be the color you have chosen.

• To fill the area you have selected, go to Edit Fill from the top menu bar. Choose “Foreground Color” from the Contents drop down menu.

• Click “OK” to see your results.

Adding Arrows to Your Image

• Select the Line Tool from the Toolbox Palette. Note: The line tool may be hidden on the flyout menu of shape tools. If this is the case, click and hold on the Tools icon with the left mouse button to access the flyout menu.

Once you have the line tool selected you must add arrowheads to the line before drawing. • Choose arrowheads by clicking on the Custom Shape Tool in the tool bar at the

top of the Photoshop desktop. • Click on the drop down arrow on the tool options palette and choose if you want

arrowheads at the beginning, end or both of the line. • Click and drag on your image to add the lines with arrowheads.

Adding Text to Your Image • Select the Text Tool from the Toolbox Palette. • Click on your image where you would like to add the text.

You can change the text font, size, and color from the tool options palette at the top of the Photoshop workspace.

Ehrman Medical Library | 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 | Phone: (212) 263-8483 | library.med.nyu.edu | GH - Jun-06

To change the color of the font: • Click on the color square to bring up a color picker spectrum. • Click in the spectrum on the color you would like the font to be. • Click “OK” to see your results.

Note: If you are changing the color, font or size of existing text that you added you must first select the text using the text tool and then make the desired changes. Note: Text is added on a separate layer on the image (look on the layers palette on the bottom right of the workspace) Make sure that layer is selected to edit the text. Otherwise the image layer must be active to make edits to the image. Using Layers Remember any time you add new text or draw a new arrow it will be added in a new layer on top of the image. To change or reposition any of these elements you must have the layer in which it appears selected from the layers palette. You are only able to edit what exists in the layer you have active.

You can also delete layers by selecting the layer and clicking on the garbage can on the bottom right of the layers palette or simply click the garbage can icon after selecting the layer. Saving Your Work Note: Save the graphic you are working on in Photoshop format (.PSD) as well as your final output format. This will enable you to go back and work on it later. Graphic Formats There are certain formats that are best for different types of images.

• Photoshop (.psd) – this file type is the native file type for Photoshop. Saves all the image information and remains editable without losing quality.

• JPEG (.jpg) – this file type is best for photographic quality images. 16.7 million colors. Softens edges, smears type

• Compuserve GIF (.gif) – best for illustrations, line drawings, logos and text. 256 colors. Hard edges • BMP (.bmp) – good for use in print. Retains most of the image information. Can be large file size.

Ehrman Medical Library | 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 | Phone: (212) 263-8483 | library.med.nyu.edu | GH - Jun-06

To save your file and convert it to an appropriate file type: • Go to File Save As from the top menu

bar in Photoshop. • In the save as dialogue box click on the

“Format” drop down menu to choose the format.

• Click on the “Save” button to save your image. There may be some follow-up pop-up boxes for each specific format, the default settings should be fine most of the time.

• Click “OK” to finish.

Inserting graphics into your presentation In Microsoft Word: • Open your Word document. • Using the top Tool bar, go to

Insert Picture From File” • Navigate to where you have saved your picture. • Select the file and click the “Insert” button.

In Microsoft Powerpoint: • Open your PowerPoint presentation. • Using the top Tool bar, go to

Insert Picture From File” • Navigate to where you have saved your picture. • Select the file and click the “Insert” button.

Help For additional assistance using Photoshop, click on “Help” in the top tool bar. To read more about Photoshop:

1. Go to http://library.med.nyu.edu 2. Go to the E-Resources section from the top navigation bar. Select “Biomedical Databases.” 3. Scroll down to “Books 24x7.” 4. Once you are in “Books 24x7,” search for Photoshop to retrieve relevant titles.

If you still have questions, try searching the Web for “Photoshop help” or contact Skirball Media Services at media_services@med.nyu.edu.