PICshopy: Photoshop’s Interface

Understanding the Interface

4

VIDEO
TRAINING
Managing Workspaces

So let’s start with a quick tour of the Photoshop interface. Adobe
offers two versions of the application: Photoshop and Photoshop
Extended. The standard version of Photoshop is suited for all us-
ers, whereas Photoshop Extended offers specialized features for
medical researchers, architects, engineers, and video professionals.
This book will show the Photoshop Extended interface, because
many users have access to that version of the software. But the
book only covers in-depth those features that are common to both
versions of the application.
If you have not done so already, launch Photoshop. Since many
of Photoshop’s panels will be new to you, we’ll tackle them in the

TIP
A Great Frame-Up

order in which you’ll likely encounter them. The goal here is to get
the “lay of the land” and just ﬁgure out what each panel is used for.
Throughout the rest of the book you’ll dig much deeper into how

Photoshop CS4 keeps all of your

(and when) to use these speciﬁc panels and tools. During the learn-

documents and panels in an appli-

ing process, you’ll need to use features before you’ve had a chance

cation frame to keep the interface

to learn about them in depth, so a basic knowledge right away is

cleaner. You can toggle the frame
off or on by choosing Window >

very important.

Application Frame. Experiment to

To ensure that the application is in its default state, choose Window >

see which look you prefer.

Workspace > Essentials (Default).

Application Frame
The Photoshop CS4 interface is contained within an Application
Frame. This makes it easy to keep the many windows and inter-
face elements neatly organized. Across the top of the frame is the
Application bar, which consolidates several commands into one
strip. Photoshop CS4 has been reorganized to emphasize task-
based workﬂows, which attempt to guide you to the right tools.

Understanding the Interface 13

Main

Zoom

Screen Mode

menu

Level

Switcher

View
Extras

Layout
Control

Workspace
Switcher

•

Main menu. On Windows, the main menu bar is in the
Application bar. For the Macintosh, the main menu remains

at the top of the main monitor.

•

View Extras. Shows Guides, Grids, and Rulers as well as lets
you change image magniﬁcation levels.

•

Screen Mode Switcher. Lets you access Photoshop’s three
screen modes, which affect how the user interface is displayed

on your monitor.

•

Layout Control. Allows you to display a number of open
documents in a tiled view or as tabs.

•

Zoom Level. Controls the magniﬁcation of the open document.

•

Workspace switcher. Allows you to switch between different
arrangements of windows designed for speciﬁc tasks like color

correction, typography, video, and Web. For the remainder of

this chapter, you’ll be using the Essentials workspace.

Tools

All the hands-on tools are contained in the Photoshop Tools panel.
Photoshop groups similar tools together. You can access these hid-
den tools by clicking and holding on a particular tool. Whenever

5

VIDEO
TRAINING
Switching Tools

you see a triangle in Photoshop, click it to open additional options.

The ﬁrst keyboard shortcuts you should master are those for the Tools

panel. Frequently, the ﬁrst letter of the tool is the keyboard shortcut.

If you can’t remember the shortcut, click the tool while holding down

the Option/Alt key to cycle through the available tools.

An alternative method is to press the keyboard shortcut multiple

times while holding the Shift key (for example, Shift+M cycles

between the Rectangular and Elliptical Marquee tools). If you’d

like to simplify the shortcuts even more, press Command/Ctrl+K

to call up the Preferences dialog box.

14 Chapter 2 Photoshop’s Interface

In the General category:

•

•

Deselect the Use Shift Key for Tool Switch option. You can
then press a shortcut key (such as G for Gradient tool) and
cycle through the tools contained in that tool’s drawer. This
speeds up your ability to switch tools.
Select the Zoom with Scroll Wheel option if you have a three-
button mouse. This makes it easier to zoom in or out of your

working document.
In the Interface category:

•

•

Make sure the Show Tool Tips feature is selected to assist in
learning common keyboard shortcuts. Tool Tips teach you the
proper name as well as keyboard shortcut for each tool. Just
hover over a user interface element to learn more about it.
Set the UI Font Size to Medium or Large if you’d like to in-
crease the size of screen elements so they are easier to read on

high-resolution monitors.
Many tools are available and each has multiple purposes (as well
as strengths and weaknesses). Throughout this book, you’ll learn
how to effectively use these tools. With patience, you’ll get the
most from Photoshop’s powerful feature set.

Understanding the Interface 15

Tools shaded in blue are only available in Photoshop CS4 Extended.

16 Chapter 2 Photoshop’s Interface

Options

The Options bar is essential, because it contains the majority of
controls for the currently active tool. It consolidates the most used
(and useful) options for the active tool and moves them to the
forefront for easy access. The Options bar is visible by default. It
runs the length of your monitor and is docked directly below your
Application bar. Be sure to keep the Options bar open, because
you’ll always need it. If you accidentally close it, you can bring it
back by choosing Window > Options.

Layers
In Photoshop, a layer can contain artwork and transparency
information. This allows you to combine (or composite) multiple
images into a new piece (such as a postcard or advertisement).
Originally, Photoshop did not have layers. You could open a
picture to process it, but that was about it. However, over time the
demands placed on Photoshop by its users led to its evolution. As
Photoshop moved beyond a mere touchup tool, the ﬂexibility of
layers emerged to meet the demand. By isolating discrete elements
to their own layers, designers can make several changes and freely
experiment with their design.
Without sounding like a zealot, layers in Photoshop mean every-
thing to a designer. You will spend much of this book (and your
early career using Photoshop) getting comfortable with layers.
With that said, always leave your Layers panel open while you
work (press F7 to open it); this is where most of the action takes
place. The Layers panel is like the steering wheel of a car. You’ll
dig much deeper into layers in Chapter 7, “Layer Masking,” and
Chapter 8, “Compositing with Layers.”

Channels
In the previous chapter, different image modes that a computer
graphic could occupy were discussed. In the Channels panel you
can view the individual components of color. The brighter the area
in the individual channel, the more presence there is for that color.
Let’s look at a simple example of an RGB graphic.

Understanding the Interface 17

1. Choose File > Open and navigate to the

Chapter 2 folder on the book’s accompany-

ing CD.

2. Open the image called Ch02_RGB_Overlap.

psd. You should see red, green, and blue

circles overlapping one another. The overlap

has also created new colors: red + green =

yellow; blue + green = cyan; red + blue =

magenta; and red + green + blue = white.

3. Activate the Channels panel. By default it is

docked with the Layers panel (just click on its

name and the window will switch to display

Channels). If you don’t see it, choose

Window > Channels.

4. Look at the individual channels; you’ll see a

deﬁnitive area for each color. Notice how the

full circles are visible (and white) where there

is 100% value of each channel.

5. Close the document by choosing File > Close.

Fully understanding Channels unlocks a wealth

of image-processing power. Harnessing color’s

individual components is difﬁcult at ﬁrst but well worth the effort.

You’ll delve much deeper into Channels in Chapter 10, “Color

Correction and Enhancement.”

Paths

While Photoshop is known as a raster-editing

tool (because of its several pixel-based functions),

it does contain several vector tools as well. Vec-

tors use lines that are deﬁned by math equations;

as such, they can be scaled indeﬁnitely and al-

ways remain crisp. Several of Photoshop’s vector

tools can create paths, which are useful for com-

plex selections. You can create a path with the

Pen tool. By clicking around an image, anchor points are created,

and then Photoshop connects the dots with vector lines. Paths can

also be created using the vector shape tools. Use the Paths panel to

select the path you want to update. For more on complex selec-

tions, see Chapter 5, “Selection Tools and Techniques.”

18 Chapter 2 Photoshop’s Interface

Adjustments
One of the most common tasks in Photoshop is making adjust-
ments to images to ﬁx tone and color. Photoshop CS4 adds a new
Adjustments panel to provide easy access to the most common
commands. The adjustments are grouped into three categories:

•

•

•

Tonal controls. Use these controls to adjust Brightness/Con-
trast, Levels, Curves, and Exposure in a nondestructive fashion.
Color controls. Use these controls to adjust Hue/Saturation,
Color Balance, Black & White conversion, Photo Filter, and
Channel Mixer properties.
Creative/Advanced controls. These controls are special
purpose adjustments and include Invert, Posterize, Threshold,

Gradient Map, and Selective Color.
You’ll also ﬁnd a useful list of presets for quick access to common
adjustments as well as custom settings you create. You’ll explore
these adjustments more in later chapters.

Masks
Photoshop uses masks to obscure parts of an
associated item. In fact, you can apply a mask
to a layer, a vector, or a ﬁlter. Photoshop CS4
offers precise control over masks including the
ability to adjust their density and edges. Masks
are a useful way to erase parts of a layer non-
destructively, which allows for future changes.
They can also be used to isolate an adjustment
to only parts of an image. You’ll see multiple
masks in use in the sample document to isolate
the effects of color correction. You’ll explore
masks in depth in Chapter 7, “Layer Masking.”

Color
Don’t confuse the Color panel with the color
mode of the document. The Color panel allows
you to modify and select colors using six different
color models. You can choose colors using RGB
sliders or the more intuitive Hue Saturation and
Brightness (HSB) model. To adjust color, move

Understanding the Interface 19

the sliders for the corresponding value. Sliding the Red slider to the

right increases the amount of red in the new color. Choosing colors

is independent of image mode in that you can use a CMYK model

for an RGB image. However, picking a color to use in a grayscale

document will not introduce color into that image.

Spend some time exploring the Color panel and ﬁnd a method

that works best for you. Clicking on a color swatch opens the

powerful Color Picker, which unlocks a larger visual interface for

exploring color and enhances the use of the Eyedropper tool to

sample color from a source image. You’ll use color in several of the

chapters in this book, and the Color panel and Color Picker are

fairly easy to understand.

Swatches

The Swatches panel is like a painter’s palette in

that it holds several colors ready to use. Several

colors are loaded by default, which are useful

when painting or using ﬁlters that utilize those

colors. If you click the panel’s submenu, you’ll

discover many more swatch books to load for

specialty purposes like Web browser colors, spot

color printing, or thematic color swatches (such as

a blue saturated range).

TEMPORARY BANISHMENT OF PANELS

If you want to hide your panels, you can quickly toggle them off and on:

• Press the Tab key to hide all the panels.

• Press the Tab key again and they return.

• Press Shift+Tab to hide everything except the Options bar and toolbox.

• To focus on only on your image, press the F key once to go to Full

Screen Mode With Menu Bar mode. Press the F key again to go to

Full Screen and hide all the user interface elements. Press the F key

once more to cycle to Standard Screen Mode.

20 Chapter 2 Photoshop’s Interface

Styles
The Styles panel is where you
can visually access Layer Styles.
These are the combination of
layer effects (which can be ap-
plied singularly to create effects
such as beveled edges, drop
shadows, or glows). Effects are
most useful in combination, and
advanced photorealistic effects
can be achieved. Photoshop
ships with several built-in styles,
and many more are available for download from Adobe’s Web site
(www.adobe.com/exchange) as well as many other Photoshop sites.
Layer Styles are frequently used for text and image effects but can
also be harnessed for Web rollover effects for buttons. For more on
Layer Styles, be sure to read Chapter 13, “Layer Styles.”

Navigator

6

VIDEO
TRAINING
Using the Navigator

While working with photos, you’ll often need to zoom in to touch
up an image. It may sound cliché, but it’s easy to lose your per-
spective when working in Photoshop. When you zoom in to a pixel
level for image touchup, you often won’t be able to see the entire
image onscreen. This is where the Navigator comes in handy:
1. Open the photo Ch02_Butterﬂy.jpg from the Chapter 2 folder
on the CD.
2. Select the Zoom tool from the toolbox or press Z (the tool looks
like a magnifying glass). Click multiple times near the butter-
ﬂy’s head to zoom in.
3. Call up the Navigator panel by choosing Window > Navigator.
4. You can now navigate within your photo:
•
-87Drag the red view box around the thumbnail to pan within
the image.
•
-87Resize the Navigator panel for a larger image preview.
•
-87Move the Zoom slider to zoom in or out on the image.
•
-87Click the Zoom Out or Zoom In buttons to jump a uniform
magniﬁcation.

Understanding the Interface 21

Histogram

While color correcting or adjusting exposure, the histogram can

be a great help. This graph illustrates how the pixels in the image

are distributed across brightness levels. To read a histogram, start

at the left edge, which shows the shadow regions. The middle

The Histogram panel has been set to

shows the midtones (where most adjustments to an image are

Show All Channels view. You can choose

made), and to the right are the highlights. Image touchup and
enhancement are covered in Chapter 10. You may want to leave
the Histogram panel open as you work, because it is an easy way

this interface by clicking the triangle in
the upper-right corner and choosing All
Channels view. The top histogram is a
composite histogram for the red, green,

to learn to read the graphical details of a digital image.

and blue channels combined; the next
three show them individually.

Info

The Info panel is a useful place to ﬁnd a plethora

of image information, even when using the

default options. You can get information about

color values as well as precise details about the

active tool. However, by customizing the panel

you can make it truly useful:

1. Select the Info panel by choosing Window >

Info or by pressing F8.

2. From the Info panel submenu (the triangle in

the upper-right corner) choose Panel Options.

22 Chapter 2 Photoshop’s Interface

3. The resulting dialog box has several options; I recommend the
following choices for a new user:

•
•

•
•

•

Leave Mode set to Actual Color.
Set Second Color Readout to CMYK if you’re doing print
work, or set it to RGB color if you are preparing images to
use on the Internet or in video exclusively.
Set Mouse Coordinates to Pixels.
Enable the following choices under Status Information: Docu-
ment Sizes, Document Proﬁle, and Document Dimensions.
The last option, Show Tool Hints, provides a detailed ex-
planation for each tool you select from the toolbox.

4. Click OK.

History
The History panel will quickly become your best friend. It’s here
that Photoshop keeps a list of what you have done to the image
since you opened it. By default Photoshop keeps track of the last
20 steps performed on an image, but you can modify this number.
A higher number means more levels to undo.
1. Press Command/Ctrl+K to call up the Photoshop Preferences
dialog box.
2. In the Performance section, change History States to a higher
number, such as 100. Note that more levels of undo requires
more RAM, so you may need to balance this number if your
system is under-equipped.
3. Click OK.

Actions
Actions are among the least-used features of Photoshop but are
the most powerful. Actions allow for visual scripting, which means
you can record commands or adjustments that you need on one
image and play them back on other images. For example, you
could record an action that adjusts the size of an image, runs an
adjustment to lighten the image, and then converts it to a TIFF
ﬁle for commercial printing. You could then play that series of
commands back on another image or even batch process an entire

Understanding the Interface 23

folder of images (which can eliminate boring, repetitive work).

Actions can be very useful for both design and production tasks.

You’ll explore Actions fully in Chapter 15, “Actions and Automation.”

A CUSTOM WORKSPACE

You’ll ﬁnd that the more you work with Photoshop the more you’ll

want to use different tools for different situations. For example, you’ll

want Layer Styles and the Color Picker handy for text work, but you’ll

turn toward the Histogram and Adjustment panels when doing image

restoration.

You can save any combination and arrangement of panels that you

want to reuse. Then you can access it in one click with Workspaces.

Effectively, using Workspaces enables you to switch between different

production tasks (such as image touchup and type work) with ease.

Plus, it is a way to customize the application and make it feel more

welcoming to your way of working. Try it out.

1. Open the windows you need and arrange them into the desired

positions.

2. To save the current workspace layout, click the Workspace switcher

and choose Save Workspace.

3. Enter a unique name for the workspace and click OK.

To activate a workspace, choose it from the Workspace switcher in the

Application bar. To update a workspace, resave it with the same name.

To delete a workspace, click the Workspace switcher and choose Delete

Workspace.

Character

While Photoshop began its life

as an image editor (essentially a

digital darkroom), it has greatly

evolved over the years to also

include a powerful text tool.

Many people start and ﬁnish

their entire designs inside Pho-

toshop. These designs include

advertisements, posters, pack-

aging, and DVD menus.

24 Chapter 2 Photoshop’s Interface

A close look at the Character panel reveals complex control over
the size, style, and positioning of individual characters within
a word. The Type tool is explained in signiﬁcant depth in
Chapter 12, “Using the Type Tool.”

Paragraph
The Paragraph panel contains controls that impact paragraph text.
When using the Type tool, you can click and type, which creates
point type. Or, for more control, you can click and drag to create
a text block and then access paragraph type. This causes the text
to have boundaries and wrap when it hits a margin. Within a text
block, you have a signiﬁcant level of control on how your type is
aligned and justiﬁed. For much more on text, see Chapter 12.

TIP

Docking Panels

To save space, any ﬂoating panel

can be collapsed to an icon. Simply

drag a panel to any edge and a blue

line will appear (which indicates

where the panel will dock). The

most common place to dock panels

is on the right edge of the screen,

but they can be docked on the left

or bottom edges as well.

Acquiring
Digital Images

While Photoshop is a great tool for many tasks,

3

most of them center on the sizing, manipulation,

and processing of digital images. Even though

their contents may vary, all digital images are es-

sentially the same: They are composed of pixels

that contain color and luminance information.

Photoshop’s powerful features allow you to adjust

those pixels to better match your needs.

And while the destination may be the same,

the path your digital images take to get inside

Photoshop will vary. Some may start out as digi-

tal images acquired with a still camera, whereas
others may be loaded via a scanner. You might

Pixels in detail: When you zoom into an image at 1600%
magniﬁcation, the pixels are very easy to see. You can open

also search online resources to ﬁnd specialized

the photo Ch03_Car_in_Mirror.tif from the Chapter 3 folder

images. Let’s take a look at the many ways to
acquire your digital images.

and use the Zoom tool (Z) to magnify the image. In fact, you
can zoom up to 3200%, which makes pixel viewing quite easy.

Digital Cameras

This book will not teach you how to use your digi-

tal camera. Many excellent books on that subject

as well as classes are offered. What this book will

address is how the pixels are converted, what ﬁle

format you should choose to shoot your images,

and how to transfer them to your computer.

Digital Camera Technology

Shooting a photo digitally produces a less ac-

curate image than scanning a photo shot on

Sensors in a digital camera acquire an image by converting

ﬁlm and scanned with a ﬂatbed scanner using a

light into pixel data.