Objective

To be introduced to Photoshop's selection and masking tools by recreating the following art:

Discussion

Because of the number of pixels in a typical image, making a selection in Photoshop is somewhat more challenging than in a word processing program. This is why Photoshop gives you many different tools to make a selection. Since some selections may take quite some time and effort, Photoshop also gives you many ways to save and retrieve a selection.

Procedure

working with layers

1. download starter files
2. open "man.jpg" in Photoshop
3. practice Adobe navigation keyboard shortcuts:
   space = hand;
   space+cmd = zoom in;
   space+cmd+opt = zoom out;
   cmd+zero = fit in window
4. practice zooming in and out: cmd +/-
5. window > workspace > default
6. save as "man.psd"
7. change "Background" layer to a normal layer (double-click)
8. duplicate "layer 1", hide original layer (tip: always duplicate layers before executing destructive actions)

working with selections

1. try the following tools: eraser, marquee, lasso (opt-click)
2. select > save selection; select > load selection; DELETE
3. edit in quick mask mode (to retouch selection)
4. layer > add layer mask; inverse mask (cmd+I)
5. layer > layer style > bevel & emboss

creating a composite

1. open "wires.jpg" in Photoshop
2. move the image into "man.psd", restack layer
3. scale/rotate image (cmd+T)
4. image > adjust > levels
5. image > adjust > hue/saturation
6. try other stock images from www.sxc.hu
7. file > print with preview
8. also publish to Google Page Creator