Adobe Photoshop Unit 1 Notes.pdf

Unit One Session 1: Introduction to Adobe Photoshop Overview: This session provides a comprehensive introduction to Adobe Photoshop, tailored specifically for IT professionals. Students will explore the Photoshop interface, familiarise themselves with essential tools, and learn how to navigate fea...

Unit One Session 1: Introduction to Adobe Photoshop Overview: This session provides a comprehensive introduction to Adobe Photoshop, tailored specifically for IT professionals. Students will explore the Photoshop interface, familiarise themselves with essential tools, and learn how to navigate features that are particularly relevant to creating UI mock-ups, website elements, and other digital assets. Key Topics: 1) Interface Overview: a) Workspace Layout: Understand the layout of the Photoshop workspace, including the menu bar, tool panels, and options bar. b) Customizing the Interface: Learn how to customise the workspace to fit specific project needs, such as web design or UI/UX development. 2) Essential Tools: a) Toolbox Introduction: A walkthrough of the essential tools, including selection tools, painting tools, and vector tools. b) Understanding Panels: Explore the layers panel, properties panel, and other key panels that support design tasks. 3) Photoshop Features for IT Professionals: a) Creating UI Mock-ups: Learn how to use Photoshop’s vector tools and shape layers to create scalable UI elements. b) Designing Website Elements: Understand how to design banners, buttons, and other web components using Photoshop’s rich feature set. Practical Activity: Students will create a simple UI mock-up, exploring the basic tools and interface elements introduced in this session. Session 2: Understanding Image Basics Overview: This session focuses on the fundamental concepts of image resolution, size, and file types, which are crucial for any IT professional involved in web and software development. Students will learn how these concepts affect the quality and performance of digital assets across different platforms. Key Topics: 1) Resolution and Image Size:  a) Understanding Resolution: Explore the concept of image resolution (PPI/DPI) and how it impacts digital and print quality. b) Managing Image Size: Learn how to adjust image dimensions and resolution to optimise images for web and software use. 2) File Types and Their Importance: a) Common Image File Types: An overview of file types such as JPEG, PNG, GIF, and SVG and their uses in IT projects. b) Choosing the Right Format: Understand when to use different file formats depending on the project needs, such as transparency, compression, and scalability. 3) Image Types in Web and Software Development: a) Raster vs. Vector: Learn the differences between raster and vector images and their respective uses in UI/UX design. b) Optimizing Images for Performance: Discuss techniques for optimising image files to reduce load times and improve performance on websites and applications. Practical Activity: Students will work with different image files, adjusting resolution and format to see firsthand how these factors impact web performance and image quality. Session 3: Basic Editing Tools in Photoshop Overview: In this session, Students will explore Photoshop's basic editing tools, focusing on software development tasks such as designing icons and other small UI elements. The session will emphasise the importance of precision and efficiency in editing. Key Topics: 1) Selection Tools: a) Marquee and Lasso Tools: Learn how to use basic selection tools for precise editing tasks. b) Quick Selection and Magic Wand: Explore automated selection tools for faster editing. 2) Crop Tool: a) Cropping Techniques: Understanding how to crop images to specific dimensions and aspect ratios is essential for creating consistent UI elements. 3) Move Tool: a) Positioning and Aligning Elements: Learn how to use the move tool to position and align elements within a design, ensuring consistency and precision. Practical Activity: Students will design a set of icons using the essential editing tools, focusing on precision and consistency. Session 4: Layers in Photoshop Overview: Layers are one of Photoshop’s most powerful features, allowing for non-destructive editing and complex compositions. This session will explore the use of layers, layer masks, and blending modes, with a focus on how these can be used to create compelling UI designs. Key Topics: 1) Understanding Layers: a) Layer Basics: Introduction to the concept of layers and how they function in a Photoshop document. b) Layer Organization: Learn techniques for organising layers, including naming conventions and grouping. 2) Layer Masks: a) Non-Destructive Editing: Understand how layer masks enable non-destructive editing by controlling the visibility of layer content. b) Practical Use Cases: Explore practical examples of layer masks in UI design, such as creating soft edges or hiding parts of a layer. 3) Blending Modes: a) Introduction to Blending Modes: Learn how different blending modes affect the interaction between layers. b) Applying Blending Modes in UI Design: Discuss how blending modes can be used to achieve effects like shadows, highlights, and transparency in UI elements. Practical Activity: Students will create a layered UI design, utilising layer masks and blending modes to enhance the visual appeal and functionality of the interface. Session 5: Colour Correction Overview: Colour correction is a crucial skill for enhancing digital assets, ensuring that images and screen recordings are visually consistent and appealing. This session will introduce basic colour correction techniques using adjustment layers, with a focus on enhancing screenshots and other digital content. Key Topics: 1) Basic Colour Correction Techniques: a) Using Adjustment Layers: This is an introduction to adjustment layers such as brightness/contrast, hue/saturation, and colour balance. b) Colour Grading: Learn how to apply colour grading to create a consistent colour scheme across multiple assets. 2) Enhancing Screenshots: a) Improving Clarity and Contrast: Techniques for enhancing the readability of text and UI elements in screenshots. b) Correcting Colour Discrepancies: Learn how to adjust colours in screenshots to match the intended design or brand guidelines. 3) Consistency Across Assets: a) Maintaining Consistent Colour: Discuss strategies for ensuring consistent colours across different types of digital assets, such as screenshots, icons, and mock-ups. Practical Activity: Students will enhance a series of screenshots using colour correction techniques, focusing on consistency and clarity. Session 6: Retouching Basics Overview: Retouching is an essential part of preparing digital assets for professional use. This session will focus on the basic retouching tools in Photoshop, such as the clone stamp, healing brush, and patch tools. Students will learn how to use these tools to improve app screenshots, UI elements, and other digital assets. Key Topics: 1) Clone Stamp Tool: a) Basic Cloning Techniques: Learn how to use the clone stamp tool to remove unwanted elements or duplicate parts of an image. b) Practical Applications: Explore how cloning can be used to fix UI elements, remove artefacts from screenshots, or clean up digital assets. 2) Healing Brush and Patch Tools: a) Healing Brush Techniques: Learn how the healing brush tool can blend textures and correct small imperfections.  b) Patch Tool for Larger Areas: Learn how to use the patch tool to repair larger areas of an image, such as fixing inconsistencies in UI mock-ups. 3) Improving Digital Assets: a) Refining Screenshots and UI Elements: Practical tips for using retouching tools to refine app screenshots and UI components, ensuring they look polished and professional. b) Preparing Assets for Deployment: Discuss the importance of retouching in the final stages of asset preparation, ensuring all digital elements meet quality standards. Practical Activity: Students will use retouching tools to improve a set of digital assets, such as app screenshots and UI elements, focusing on removing imperfections and enhancing overall quality.