Course Description

This class is an intermediate class which means you need a solid understanding of the Photoshop Interface and it's most basic tools. If you are serious about graphics and photography then you should be serious about Photoshop CS3 and its exciting new features. This course was written using Photoshop CS3 but we have adapted the material to accommodate CS2 users as well. Notes throughout the lessons are clearly marked if the method differs from that of Photoshop CS3. On occasion, there will be exercises that are directed strictly towards the CS3 user but CS2 users are welcome to read along and experiment with alternate methods to achieve a similar effect. Whether your passion is for computer graphics, art, or technology in general, you will find that learning about various imaging techniques form the basis for Photoshop's many capabilities! You don't have to be an ace photographer or a Photoshop expert to create eye-catching effects. These lessons are designed to show you how to use Photoshop to enhance your images and make the most out of Photoshop's easy to master tools! This is a 5 week, self-paced, online course. If you need additional help understanding the material presented, you can communicate with the instructor and fellow classmates. The instructor will monitor and track your progress throughout the class. LVS Online offers many wonderful learning tools to help you get the most out of your online course, including an online portfolio service that manages all your course registrations, certificate of completion option, a class discussion board to interact with your instructor and fellow classmates, free hosting account, and a student upload area. LVS is a Corel Training Partner. LVS students may purchase Corel products at a significant savings. Follow this link for details. LVS students are also eligible take advantage of special offers made available by famous software developers such as Andromeda, AV Bros, Extensis, Harry Heim, namesuppressed, Nik Multimedia, and Ulead. Details are provided in the classinfo link found in the confirmation of registration. If you would like to receive more information regarding this course, click on the "Contact Us" link in the Information section and we'll try to answer any of your questions within the day.

Course Requirements

Photoshop CS2 or CS3 installed on your system. Homework must be reviewed by the instructor in order to earn a certificate. Students have the option of using the Student Upload Area or free web hosting made available for LVS students. Details are provided in the classroom. If you prefer to use your own web space, you must know how to upload your files to a server. Free tutorials are available: Basic HTML page WS_FTP SmartFTP Students should have working knowledge of their operating system: Free Windows Class Here Directory Structure Tutorial Here Zip files may be necessary to complete the exercises provided each week. WinZip, PKZip, Windows Compression or similar program is required to unzip these files. Winzip Tutorial Here Windows Compression All lessons are available in PDF format. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view/print the lessons. Plan to devote 3 - 4 hours per week on the lesson and assignment.

Course Prerequisites

Photoshop CS3 - Intro or Photoshop CS2 - Intro and Photoshop CS2/ CS3 - Level II

Course Syllabus

Lesson 1 About Bridge 2.0 Customizing & Optimizing Bridge Bridge Preferences Adding Favorites in Bridge Editing Metadata in Bridge Add Labels & Ratings Add Keywords & Keyword Sets Sorting Images in Bridge Bridge Slideshow Working with Smart Objects Inserting Images as Smart Objects Editing Smart Objects Applying Filters to Smart Objects ** Retouching with Smart Objects Creating Annotations Smart Filter Mask ** Special Effects with Smart Objects Applying Layer Styles to Smart Objects Rasterizing Smart Objects Lesson 2 About Duotones Working With Duotones Creating a Collage Effect w/Duotones A Peek at Trutone Sepia Tone Effect [A- Using Modes] Using Curves to enhance/control the Tones Using Color Libraries for Tone Effects Sepia Effect [B- Using Channels/Blend Modes] Using Luminosity with Tones Quick N' Dirty Sepia [C- Using Desaturate ] More Sepia-More Control [D] Using Mask for Sepia Effects Color Matching About Distortion Distortion- Friend or Foe? Faking Fisheye Lens Effect Sphere Filter Unsharp Mask Adding Layer Style to Fisheye Lesson 3 Work With Lighting Lens Flare Filter Lighting Effects Filter Interface Light Style in Lighting Effects Light Properties Adding and Deleting Lights Using Texture in Light Effects Fixing Catchlights About Motion Blurring Using the Motion Blurring Filter Lesson 4 Working with Patterns Layer Pattern Fill Pattern Fill with Paint Bucket Pattern Filling Selections Creating New Patterns/Pattern Stamp Pattern Maker Filter Vanishing Point Filter Lesson 5 Smoothing Skin- Glamour Look Facet Filter Median Filter Healing Brush Gaussian Blurs Actions Text Effect Actions Image Effect Actions Creating/Saving Actions Editing Actions Lesson 6 Using Photomerge Command Creating Shapes/About Vectors Drawing Preset Shapes Drawing Multiple Shapes in Layer Load Shape Library Setting Geometry Options Using, Creating & Saving Custom Shapes Saving Shape Styles Create Custom Shape from Text/Save Save a Preset Shape Library

Course Excerpt

Working with Smart Objects You can convert a layer into a Smart Object. Unlike a regular layer, Photoshop can remember the original composition of a Smart Object, so you can resize and perform other operations on it without its quality degrading. When you edit a Smart Object, Photoshop opens the object in it's own window. After editing the object, you can save the changes and close the window. Photoshop then updates the Smart Object in your image. A Smart Object is a copy of image data, from one or more layers in a Photoshop document, from an Illustrator image, or from a raw photo that is embedded in your main document/image. This copy can be scaled, warped and rotated multiple times without degrading the original image. Let's learn how to create one and then we will look at some other things you can do with Smart Objects. Open the image egg1.psd from this weeks zip file in Photoshop. Make two (2) copies; minimize the original and one of the copies. Pay no mind to the black background; I have added it so that the effects will be easier to see. Click on the Egg layer in the Layers palette. Transform your object by scaling it down. Go Edit>Transform>Scale. Once you have it scaled down, hit Enter to apply the transformation. The bounding box surrounding the shape will disappear. Go back to Edit>Transform>Scale once again and re-scale the image back to its normal size. Notice how the edges are rough and jagged? Apply the Transformation using the Enter key. Save your image then minimize it or move it out of your way for a moment. Open the second image. CS3 Users--Go Layer>Smart Objects>Convert to Smart Object. CS2 Users--Go Layers>Smart Objects>Group into New Smart Object Notice that in the Layers Palette, the thumbnail shows an icon in the bottom right corner. This indicates that it is a Smart Object Layer now. Continued...

Course Goals

By the end of this class, you will have become very familiar with many intermediate features of Photoshop CS2/3.

Course Reviews

Janice: (Liked best) "Instructors' great attitude especially when asked questions by the class. The line of incredibly informative topics offered week after week. This was such a fabulous class taught by the most wonderful instructors. I hope they will teach other spin-offs of this class. I especially enjoyed learning about items like "Match Color". Thanks so much for offering this great class! I hope you continue to offer lots more graphics classes (plus a WordPress Blog class.)" More...