Free PDF Manual Guide

To create a unique portrait using a custom Stamp built from family photos.
Making your photo Objects:
1. Choose 6 - 10 snapshots family members. The photo you want to use as your main image object should be made from at least a 5″ X 7″, better still, an 8″ X 10″. The other objects should range from 1/2″ to 1″ in height to give your stamp some variation. Scan them into your computer or have a friend do it for you. I sometimes use a digital camera or have a digital version made when my film is processed at my local Photo Center.
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This tutorial will show you how to add a coloured and/or graduated background to your bead photo. You can use Steps 3 and 4 together, or individually depending on the effect you are after. There are many ways of tackling this in Photoshop, but this is my preferred method.

1. Selecting the background
For the purposes of this exercise, I am using the previously cleaned up bead photo from Tutorial 1. A clean and simple background and well defined objects makes this easier to do, but is not essential. In the tools palette select the magic wand and use the following suggested settings.
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This page demonstrates how to use Adobe Photoshop to create a transparent area in a GIF image. The most common reason for doing this is to create a transparent background.

Example
This image has no transparency - the background is white. As long as the image is on a white background there’s no problem - it looks transparent anyway.
If the image is placed on a coloured background, the lack of transparency becomes obvious.
If the white background is made transparent the image will blend nicely into (almost) any coloured background.
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Make sure resolution is the same and then that sizes are appropriate. First, size your base image.
Target dpi
For viewing on web page, most practical: 72dpi and actual size you want it seen.
For printing in class, 200 dpi
For commercial printing, 300 dpi

Make resolution of images you are adding the same as the base image. Reduce or enlarge images you are adding to the size you will want them to be or slightly larger Choose one of several ways to move images onto the base image.
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Selection & Cropping Tools
• Rectangular Marquee ( M )
– Used to select rect. shapes within an image; areas can be copied or cut & pasted into new layers. Tool can be used to create bounding box for further work within it’s confines. Elliptical & single column and row tools also available.
• Move Tool ( V )
– Used to move selected layers around. Click and drag to adjust layer elements.
Tool also used to set and move guides.
• Lasso Tool ( L )
– Used to select parts of a layer for editing. Also Magnetic & Polygonal Lassoes
available.
• Magic Wand ( W )
– Used to select portions of image based on colour.
• Crop Tool ( C )
– Used to adjust the size of the whole image. MUST BE USED CAREFULLY
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Unlike most graphics programs, Photoshop invests a lot of its capabilities in the keyboard. Literally hundreds of functions are available exclusively at the press of a key. For example, Photoshop provides no menu command that lets you delete multiple layers at a time. There is no command that hides all palettes, nor is there an option that brings up the last-used color-correction settings. Every one of these options is out of your reach if you don’t know the right key. The keyboard may seem like an unlikely artistic tool, but it is both a powerful and an essential ally in Photoshop.
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What I’ve found is that there is no single, simple method that will work for selecting hair. What I have come up with is a method that will work under all circumstances. It is a bit tedious, though. Most of my pictures didn’t have a nice clean background. That made creating a mask difficult.
This was typical. Notice that it’s not easy to even see the hair.
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Photoshop is a graphic editing tool that allows the user to create and manipulate images for print, the web, and other media. It is a powerful tool and this handout only introduces the basics; many of the tools need to be explored by the user to see all of their capabilities.

Tools Found in the Toolbox
The tools in the toolbox let you select, paint, edit, and view images. Other tools are used to choose foreground and background colors, create quick masks, and change the screen display mode. Many tools have associated Brushes and Options Palettes, which let you define the tools’ painting and editing effects.
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Selection Tools - The selection tools include the Marquee tool, the Lasso tool, the Magic Wand tool, and the Brush Selection tool. These are what you want to use for cropping your image, or selecting specific sections of an image. To change the nature of a specific tool (say, you want an elliptical marquee instead of a rectangular marquee), right-click on the tool.
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Contents:
2. The basics Working at high magnification, inserting layers, and sampling color
5. Let’s airbrush! Using the airbrush to smooth over defects and enhance features
6. Clone me… Using the clone stamp tool to clone patterns and textures
7. Did someone say Warhol? Adjusting levels and using filters
8. Get me out of here (additional exercise) Using the magic wand, lasso, and eraser tools to cut out and clean u
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