INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOSHOP
What is Photoshop and What Can It Do?
Originally created in 1988, Adobe Photoshop is a raster based graphics program that allows users to manipulate, crop, resize, and correct color digital photos. Considered to be the leader in photo editing software, Adobe Photoshop is also particularly popular amongst professional photographers, game designers, art directors, and all types of graphic artists. Art created or altered in Photoshop can be utilized on the web or in print, and can commonly be found being used in magazines, on the web, on clothing, and in video games.
Color Correction
Photoshop can easily be used to change the color and mood of a photo.
Photo retouching
Professional photographers can use Photoshop to retouch things such as skin blemishes and lighting.
collage / montage
Using layers and combining selections of various images, Photoshop is ideal for creating surreal landscapes and other digital art.
Type Design
Web Graphics
Examples of other types of artwork you can create using the tools and effects in Adobe Photoshop.
Character Design
What is raster art? illustrator vs photoshop
The top of this image represents Vector Art, while the bottom of this image represents the pixels that create Raster Art.
Raster art= photoshop Vector art = Illustrator
Artwork created in Adobe Photoshop is referred to as Raster art. Raster art is created by a series of pixels. Much like a high-definition television, the more pixels contained in a square inch, the higher the image quality.
Illustrator art is created by a series of lines and curves and can generally be scaled to any size, large or small, and is called Vector art.
Since the quality of Photoshop art is based on a specific number of pixels, document and resolution size is very important.
When creating a new document in Photoshop make sure it is:
300 pixels/inch
Creating a New Photoshop Document -
Make sure you always choose Print and make sure the Resolution is set to 300 Pixels/Inch.
high vs low resolution
Dots Per Inch or Pixels Per Inch matter when choosing images on the web or creating new documents. The best way to tell if an image from the web is good enough to work with, is to drag it into a document that is already 300dpi. If the image still looks good, it should print clearly.
If you really want to make sure, use the Zoom tool to zoom in a few times. If you still cannot see the pixels of the image, it's okay to use.