Learning Photoshop isn't a destination, it's a journey -- an exciting voyage of discovery, challenge, and adventure. No one ever can uncover all there is to know about Photoshop; that's part of what makes this program so much fun.

Today, you'll begin your quest by exploring the Photoshop environment. Just learning to navigate between the variety of palettes and tools can be daunting if you don't know what they do. Not to worry. The more you use the program, the easier it becomes. You'll meet the tools and palettes today, and learn how to create a simple image. 

As you work through this lesson, please follow the following procedure:

1. Read the objectives. This tells you exactly what you need to be able to do after you have finished the lesson.
   
   
2. Read the chapter and work the exercises.
   
   
3. If you find yourself stuck, read the FAQ. If you are still having trouble, post a message in the Discussion Center. I try to check it several times a day, but I will always sign on, at a minimum, at night before I go to sleep. Weekends are "time off," but I usually try to answer messages anyway if I can.
   
   
4. After you have finished the assignment, check out the links in the Supplementary Materials section.They are quite valuable.
   
   
5. After you have worked the lesson, read the FAQ, read the summary for the lesson, and tried some of the links, take the quiz. I occasionally save some quiz questions for items in the links or assignment or FAQ sections.

You will also need to download the images for the lesson and the assignment. The images used in the lesson are usually embedded in the lesson itself. The links are visible in the text because they are underlined in blue. You need to be online and in the correct lesson in order to download images. The remaining downloads are located in the Assignment section for every lesson. Go to the Assignment section and click on the link that says "Download the necessary images for Lesson 1 here."

To download the images, place your cursor on the image that you want to download. Press the right mouse button (if you are on the PC) or press and hold the mouse button down (if you are on a Mac). A menu will appear. The menu will say different things depending upon which browser you are using. Internet Explorer says "Save Picture As," and Netscape Navigator says "Save Image as." I've also seen "Download image to disk," but I forget which version. In any case, you want the option that saves the picture to your disk. Make sure that you know where you put the image on your hard drive.

If you are using AOL for downloading, you need to change the AOL preference settings to turn image compression OFF, you won't be able to download the images so that Photoshop can open them. I urge you to install a different browser. If at all possible, PLEASE don't use AOL's browser. It will only cause you problems. Get Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. These are both available as free downloads.

I would advise you to create a separate directory or folder for each lesson and to keep all of your work in that directory. That way, you have everything organized and look back on it after you finish this course.

If you experience difficulty downloading the images or if Photoshop refuses to open a downloaded image, you can copy the image (there's a menu option to copy the image in the menu when you right-click or long-click on an image). If you choose the Copy option, then open Photoshop and select File->New. The dimensions of the new file are automatically those of the image that you just copied. All you need to do is click on OK. Then choose Edit->Paste and Layer->Flatten. Finally, save the image to your hard drive.

A note about the image types used in the downloads:

1. GIF images are indexed color images (i.e. they only have 256 colors). Whenever you open a GIF file (unless I tell you not to), you need to convert it to RGB mode (Image->Mode->RGB) and then resave it as a .PSD (a Photoshop) file (File->Save As and select .PSD as the file type; on the Mac, choose Photoshop as the file type).
   
   
2. JPEG images are already in RGB. If the image has no color in it when you open the file, it is supposed to be in grayscale mode. You need to convert it to grayscale by choosing Image->Mode->Grayscale and saving the image as a .PSD file (File->Save AS and select .PSD as the file type). Don't save a JPG file as a JPG file again. You will cause more damage to the image. Instead, save a JPG file as a .PSD (Mac: Photoshop)file.

About Photoshop versions:

You may take this course using any of these versions of Photoshop:

1. Photoshop 5.5: This is the preferred version for the course.
   
   
2. Photoshop 5.0: This is version is a little older and does not contain the Web-related changes in Photoshop 5.5. It also lacks the new Magic Eraser and Background Eraser tools and the Extract Image command.
   
   
3. Photoshop 4.0: This version has no History palette, Layer Effects, Editable Text, and the Transform commands are on the Image menu rather than the Edit menu.
   
   
4. Photoshop 5 LE: This low-cost introductory version of Photoshop is lacking (in addition to the items missing in Photoshop 5.0 and 4.0) the ability to see the channels in an image, save selections to channels, use Paths, and work in CMYK mode.

I will teach the features that exist in Photoshop LE as they are the basic items in the program. However, you need to be aware of your version of the program because some things will work differently based on your version of Photoshop.

PhotoDeluxe is not the same thing as Photoshop and is not suitable for this course.

You can obtain a demo copy of Photoshop 5.5 at the Adobe web site (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/demodnld.html). However, the download is 41.5 MB for Windows and up to 48.7 MB for Mac! The demo is free, but it will not save, print, or export. However, it is usable for this course.

Glossary

Here are some new terms that you'll need to know as you start to learn Photoshop's language:

Pixel: A pixel is the building-block of an image. It stands for "picture element" and refers to an individual dot on your computer monitor. There are 72 pixels that can be shown on an inch of the typical monitor, although some monitors can display more. A pixel is the smallest part of a Photoshop image that you can change.

Bitmap: This is a term that changes meaning depending upon how it is used. In "Photoshop-speak" it usually refers to an image that only contains black or white pixels ("bitmap mode"). However, the more general term ("bitmapped image") can refer to any image that uses pixels as its basic building block.

Raster Image: A raster image is an image that is bitmapped (i.e. one that is made up of a collection of pixels). When you resize a raster image, you quickly damage the quality of the image. However, raster images can be edited easily and can store photographic images.

Vector Image: A vector image is an image whose shape is defined by a formula rather than by pixels. For example, in order to draw a rectangle as a vector shape, you only need to know the starting point of the upper-left corner and the location of the lower-right corner. Those two points uniquely specify a rectangle. Vector images are smaller to store and can be scaled up or down with no loss of quality.

Palette: A Photoshop palette is quite similar to an artist's palette. It holds things so that you easily can access any of the needed items. The palette sits on top of your working images so that you can't "lose" it behind anything else (other than another palette). There are palettes that hold your brushes, your tools options, and many other tools. You can arrange these palettes to suit your monitor space and individual preferences, and you can also combine these palettes into one or more "docking stations" with tabs on top so you can move between them quickly.

Specific Objectives

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Arrange the various palettes on your screen
  
  
• Set up a default Photoshop environment
  
  
• Set up defaults for Photoshop's RGB display and profile handling
  
  
• Create, Open, and Save a Photoshop file
  
  
• Use the Navigator palette to zoom in and zoom out of the image