Photoshop 6 Basic Skills
2
Course length: 1 day
Course
description
Overview: Students will
learn skills that go beyond those covered in the Photoshop Basic Skills 1 course. This course will give students a firm grasp of Photoshop concepts that are applicable to
almost every facet of using the application, including Web design, preparing
photographic images for printing, and illustration.
Prerequisites: To ensure your success, you
must have first completed the 
Software Training course
Photoshop 6: Level 1 and have a strong
working knowledge of the Windows environment. For example, you should know
how to launch an application, create and save files, and copy files from CDs
and other media. The Software Training courses
Windows 98: Introduction, Windows ME: Introduction and Windows XP: Introduction teach these skills.
Delivery
method: Instructor-led, group-paced, classroom-delivery learning model with
structured hands-on activities.
Benefits: Students will
further their understanding of isolating image areas by creating and saving
masks with specialized tools, commands, modes, and layer elements. Students
will learn how to use vector paths for a variety of purposes, including
masking, clipping paths, and illustration. Students will also learn to create
and apply creative elements such as gradients, patterns, and color overlays,
and to save them along with effects in easy to apply layer styles.
Target
student: We designed Photoshop 6 Basic
Skills 2 for the student who has completed the Photoshop 6 Basic Skills 1 course, and who wants to learn
additional concepts and techniques that will apply to almost every facet of
using Photoshop.
What's next: Photoshop 6 Basic Skills 1 is the first
course in this series, and is followed by this course, Photoshop 6 Basic Skills 2. Students who want to learn techniques for creating
and optimizing graphics for the Web should take the Software Training course Photoshop 6 Web Production.
Students who want to learn techniques for increasing their efficiency and
create a variety of interesting effects should take Photoshop
6 Tips & Tricks. Students who want to learn to use Photoshop’s color
correction features and to prepare images for print should take Photoshop 6 Color Correction & Printing.
Performance-based
objectives
Lesson objectives help students become comfortable with the course, and
also provide a means to evaluate learning. Upon successful completion of this
course, students will be able to:
- Use Quick Mask mode,
alpha channels, and layer masks to isolate image areas.
- Create clipping groups
to use one layer’s contents to mask another’s.
- Create vector paths as
tools for selecting images, for creating transparent areas in images to be
used with other applications, and for drawing shapes.
- Create color swatches,
gradients, and patterns, all of which can be saved and loaded in sets for
convenience.
- Create layer styles
that can apply effects, colors, patterns, and gradients in one step.
- Use the Background
Eraser and the Extract command to create complex masks quickly and
accurately, even for images with indistinct edges and very fine details.
Lesson 1:
Masking and Layers
Editing Quick Masks and Alpha Channels
Layer Masks
Grayscale Masking
Clipping Groups
Lesson 2:
Vector Paths
Vector Path Concepts
Creating Vector Paths
Editing Paths
Using Paths for Masking
Lesson 3:
Swatches, Gradients, and Patterns
Swatches
Gradients
Patterns
Lesson 4:
Layer Types and Styles
Fill Layers
Drawing and Painting Shapes
Layer Styles
Lesson 5:
Advanced Masking
The Background Eraser
The Extract Command