Photoshop Tools and Features User Log

he purpose of this log is for you to record what tools and features you used in the creation of your digital graphics. You should try to use as many as possible and you must
ecord how, why and when you used them. You do not need to record repeated actions but each single new action should be recorded. An example of this would be setting
p a new Photoshop file/image which would cover the ranges; Image Settings (all) and part of Menus (some of). You only need to do this once. Remember that where the
e.g. appears in a range, as many of the items should be covered as possible but not all of them; your tutor will guide you here. Where possible you should also provide a screen
ump to illustrate the action (see sample image below).

ools and features

Menus:

Open;

save;

import;
export;
1

How, why and when used.

I use this when I open a new document or
one I am working on. I opened my
document I used last time called Web
banner which let me add to it. To do this
you select File/Open and choose the file
you wish to load.

Whenever I have finished creating a

product I always save my work to ensure I
dont lose it. It means that next time I want
to open a document I will already have it
saved so it will be much easier to start from
where I left it last time. I saved my web
banner in the existing file web banner so
that it updated the file. To save a file you
simply select File/save and either auto save
to overwrite the existing file or save as
where you can save the file where you
wish to.
I used the import button when I needed to
insert an image or file that I had saved
onto my computer.
I had to export my file so that it was

Screen dump

edit;

view;

mage settings:

size;
width;

compatible with my web page. I did this by

selecting file/export and saved it as a PNG
file.
I used the edit button when I needed to
paste an image into Photoshop. Edit has a
lot of editing options and can be used to
undo and redo steps so if I make a mistake
I can just go into edit and take a step
backward. The edit button is placed across
the top of the page along with file and
image etc.

I used the view button when I need to

zoom in and out. It can be used for various
things but so far I have used it to zoom in
my work and zoom out to edit my images
easier. To see the options on the view
section you just select the View button
and it drops down with a list of features.

On my images I used I changed the width

and height to suit the size I needed it. You
can change the width when you open a
new document as it has the height and
width options and you can decide how

Background;

transparency;

file name

Drawing tools:

big you want it.

For my background I used this tool to
change the colour of it, which for my web
banner I chose a hot pink colour. I didnt
create this on the background however, I
set it to transparent but there is a few
options. The way to get this is when you
open a new document select file/new and
a list of options come up. One of them is
Background Contents and there you can
choose an option.
When I first started my web banner and
logo I set the background to transparent
so that I could add images and create my
background to be any colour I wanted and
to keep changing it. To do this you can
change it when you open a new
document as it gives you the option to
create a transparent background.
I changed the file name in photoshop so
that I knew what I was working on and
also when I saved it I didnt get mixed up
when I came to open it.

tool options;

There are many different options on the

tool bar to edit your images. Here are a list
of the tools that are available. They are
located on the left side of the page. They
have tools such as the Lasso tool, select
tool, hand tool, paintbrush tool and much
more.

brush;

I used the brush tool when I was creating

my logo. I used it to fill in the gaps and
colour in my lipstick. To use the brush you
can select it from the tools section. There
you can decide which brush you wish to
use, from the options below:
Brush tool
Pencil tool
Colour replacement tool
Mixer brush tool

pencil;

text;

zoom;

Paletts, e.g. colour,

gradients, layers, object,
brushes, history, actions,
size, resolution;
diting tools:

I used the pencil tool to draw the outline

of my shape on my logo with my lipstick.
The pencil is located on the tool bar at the
side. This allowed me to carefully outline
my shape without doing it too thick.

The text button can be used when you

want to add text to your product. I used
this tool when I created my logo and my
banner. The reason I did this was because I
wanted the text to look even and
professional rather than me drawing it
myself. The text tool is along the list of
tools on the left side. It is a T letter. Once
you have inserted your text you can then
go back and change the colour, font and
size of it.
I have used the zoom tool to zoom in and
out of my work so that I can see clearer
and edit my images in more detail. The
zoom button can be used by pressing ctrl
and either + or at the same time.

I used the colour palettes when I created

my text so that I could change it to suit the
background or theme of my web banner.

Selection, e.g. marquee,

lasso, magic wand,
magnetic lasso, deselect;

I used this magic wand to select the

background and remove it.

Advanced Tools

In the advanced tools I used the brightness

tool to edit the brightness, saturation &
hue of some of the images. The images I
did this on was the ones within my web
banner to make it look more effective.

Transform, e.g. scale,

otate, skew, flip; cut; copy;
paste; crop; trim; erase;
undo; fill

I used the cut/copy/paste tools to edit

images and text within my work. I used the
paste button to insert images and copied
work into the web banner so that it made
it much easier. I used the undo button
when I made a mistake and I also used the
rotate button with my images. With the
crop button I did this on images I had
pasted into the document but that were
too big or had a background I didnt need.