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Photoshop is a great tool for touching
up photos and creating your own graphics
but if you've never used the program
before it can be a bit intimidating at
first not to worry
in this video I'm going to go over the
basics including what some of these
tools and features are for I'll also
give you tips for setting up your
workspace let's start by opening an
existing image file just go to file in
the upper left corner choose open then
find and select the image you want in
this case I'm going to use a JPEG that I
already have saved to my computer this
is how most Photoshop projects begin
generally you're editing something you
already have not starting from scratch
but if you want you can go to the file
menu and choose new to create a blank
file instead as you can see the image
has opened in the center this is called
the document window
it tells you the file name right here
along with the current zoom level in our
example you'll notice that we're
currently viewing the image at about 25%
because the original photo is so large
to zoom in you can press ctrl + on your
keyboard or command + if you're using a
Mac to zoom out press ctrl - or command
-
to the left is the tools panel which is
one of the most important features in
Photoshop this is where you'll select
whatever tool you want to use to edit
your image for example this one lets you
add text and if you click and hold the
command you can access more tools that
are similar but slightly different if a
lot of these tools seem unfamiliar right
now that's okay you'll learn more about
them as you get more experience with
Photoshop let's take a look at the
control panel next that's the area above
your file where you can change the
settings for your current tool the
options are specific to whatever tool
you have selected so they'll always be
different right now we're using the text
tool so we can change things like the
font font size alignment and color if we
select a different tool you can see that
the options change on the right side
humint window you'll find a few more
panels the most important one is the
layers panel here you can see the
different layers in your document and
turn them on or off right now we only
have one layer the one that's called
background by default but you could end
up with quite a few depending on the
project you're working on you'll get
more experience with layers once you
start working with images finally
there's the menu bar at the top of the
screen remember we already use this to
open our image file the menu bar is kind
of a catch-all in Photoshop it gives you
access to common file tasks like save
undo and copy and paste but it also has
commands for editing that aren't on the
regular tools panel under image for
example you can adjust things like
contrast color and size if you go to the
filter menu you can access advanced
tools and effects like blur and sharpen
now that you know your way around I'd
like to show you a few more tips these
might not seem important right now but
they'll come in handy throughout your
time with Photoshop let's start with
ways to customize your workspace by
showing hiding and moving panels to show
or hide any panel just go to the window
menu then you can click the panel you
want panels that are currently visible
will have a checkmark next to them I
think I'm going to turn on the history
panel to move a panel click hold and
drag wherever you want it to go as you
can see you can move panels anywhere in
the Photoshop window if you're just
starting out though we recommend keeping
most of the panels in their default
position for now if you ever need to
reset your panels go back to the window
menu mouse over workspace then choose
the option that says reset essentials
note that this process may be different
depending on the version of Photoshop
you're using for instance in Photoshop
Elements you'll just go to window then
reset panels
finally there's one change we recommend
making behind the scenes it has to do
with the type of unit Photoshop uses to
measure in images dimensions to access
the setting on a Mac go to Photoshop on
the menu bar mouse over preferences and
then choose units and rulers now if
you're using Windows this is going to be
found in the Edit menu instead by
default Photoshop measures dimensions in
inches which is great if you're editing
images for print however if you're
editing for the web we suggest that you
change this to pixels then click OK when
you're done and that should do it now
that you have everything set up and you
know how to get around the program you
can start using Photoshop to edit your
first image