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| Adobe Photoshop Logo |
Moving on from my first blog post whereby I concentrated on opening the blog with some initial ideas as to what I could use as a base for my assignment, I thought it best for the next stage to be in regards to the software that I will be using.
For Stage 1 of this assignment, I am required to use "Photoshop", which is a piece of graphics editing software that is produced by the company "Adobe". Adobe produce a very large range of software that can for many different circumstances from photo editing and video creation. In this case, though, the program Adobe Photoshop CS6 will be used to for Stage 1 of this assignment. By using this piece of software, this will allow me to use a variety of different tools and effects to create a professional piece of work that will be the DVD cover for an amaray-style case.
Having mentioned the variety of different tools, there are indeed a vast array of tools available in Photoshop CS6 and at this stage I think it is worth mentioning a few of them that I have already explored prior to commencing with the assignment stage one. In regards to the amount of tools that are available in this program, at this moment in time I will hark back to the original specification which states as a minimum the following should be used - "use selection tools, filters, layers, layer transparency, levels, guides, and apply effects to photos." At this stage of the project I will mention that I will try to go over and above the specification and apply the use of further tools and effects onto my piece of work. For the time being, though, below is the start of the tools that I have started to look at.
Selection Tools
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| A vast array of Selection Tools |
One of the most important and highly used tools in Photoshop is that of the selection tools. The selection tools do exactly what they say on the tin...they are used to select different parts of an image. Under the general umbrella term of selection tools, there are quite a few different types which can be used in different situations. I think it is important to know the differences between these types of selection tools as this could benefit me in the future when using Photoshop. Therefore, I will be concentrating on the following selection tools: Rectangular Marquee Tool; Elliptical Marquee Tool; Lasso Tool; Polygonal Lasso Tool; Magnetic Lasso Tool; Quick Selection Tool.
Rectangular Marquee Tool
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| Rectangular Marquee Tool |
The rectangular marquee tool is such a tool that is frequently used when manipulating and editing images in Photoshop. This tool is used to select an area of pixels of an image in a rectangular shape. Clicking with your mouse will set the corner of the area to the selected (think of the corner of a marquee) and dragging your mouse with expand the selection to where you wish to select - releasing the mouse will stop selecting the pixels. You will then be presented with a flashing dashed marquee of the area that you have selected. Now that this are has been selected, if you was to carry out an adjustment/use another tool then just this area of selection would be affected - for example cutting or copying this area of an imagine.
Elliptical Marquee Tool
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| Elliptical Marquee Tool |
The elliptical marquee tool is a tool which is quite closely linked to the above described rectangular marquee tool, and is also used a fair amount when manipulating and editing images in Photoshop. This tool is also used to select and area of pixels of an image however in a elliptical shape. Clicking with your mouse will set the start of the area to be selected and dragging your mouse with expand the selection to where you wish to selection - releasing the mouse will stop selecting the pixels. You will then be presented with a flashing dashed marquee of the area that you have selected. Now that this are has been selected, if you was to carry out an adjustment/use another tool then just this area of selection would be affected - for example cutting or copying this area of an imagine.
Lasso Tool
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| Lasso Tool |
The lasso tool is a selection tool used in Photoshop which can be used to manually selection an area of an imagine. I say manually, as this tool is entirely freehand based whereby you draw the shape you wish to select on the image using your mouse. This, as you might expect, can be quite fiddly to carry out and one does need a very steady hand to complete a totally accurate selection that you wish. Personally, I would recommend the use of a graphics tablet which would enable the use of a selection pen to allow one to careful draw the selection. It is also worth mentioning that if you accidentally go off course when selecting an area with the lasso tool, you cannot go back and re-drew - you will have to start again which means that the process could be quite time consuming. However, it is also worth mentioning that due to having total control of the areas that you are selecting, this means that you are totally in control and thus when care is taken, can be accurate and a useful selection tool to utilise.
Polygonal Lasso Tool
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| Polygonal Lasso Tool |
The polygonal lasso is a very handy variation of the previous mentioned lasso tool, whereby you do have a very good amount of control over selecting an area of an imagine. Whereas the lasso tool allowed you to draw in freehand the area of selection, by using the polygonal tool you can only draw a series of straight lines. In theory this might sound like a disadvantage, however in practise by drawing a series of straight lines around an object this means that accuracy is actually improved in practise. This is particularly useful when drawing around a shape that is curved, as a series of small straight lines mean that especially once zoomed in then the outcome is very precise indeed. Personally, I must say that I sincerely prefer the polygonal lasso tool to the regular lasso tool due to the accuracy being improved, and also as you do not have to continually draw with free-hand to use it.
Magnetic Lasso Tool
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| Magnetic Lasso Tool |
The magnetic lasso tool is a further variation of the standard lasso tool which also is a combination of the polygonal lasso tool too. This selection tool is very useful for when there is a high contrast between the object/area you are wishing to select and the background/foreground. This is due to the tool pinpointing the edges and lock the selection onto them when you drag the tool around the are you wish to select. Unfortunately, as you can imagine, if there is a low contrast (eg, black and black) between the two then the result will not be as good as if there was a high contrast. However, when used in the right situation, the magnetic lasso tool is one of the most effective selection tools in the "lasso" range.
Quick Selection Tool
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| Quick Selection Tool |
The quick selection tool is a tool that was not demonstrated by our lecturers in the first session, however as I have previous experience of the Photoshop program I knew of it's existence. The use of the quick selection tool does exactly as it says on the box, it allows you to make a selection and also make it swiftly. This tool is particularly useful when wishing to select a large area of a image, for example the sky behind a cityscape. Utlisiing the quick selection tool allows you to click and drag the cursor and by doing so the tool tries to determine all of the similar style pixels and colours to only select the area which you are dragging. One can also zoom into the image, and decrease the selection tool size allowing for some sincerely accurate selection too. This could be particularly useful on the cityscape example, whereby you could select the antennae on skyscrapers.
Selection Tool Testing
In order to investigate and find out about the different selection tools, two images to work from (a polar scene with penguins and a Caribbean beach scene) were used. As you can see from the collage of pictures below, by using selection tools I was able to select the middle penguin and "move" the penguin to the beach scene. You will notice that the angle of the penguin in question has also changed, and that is because I utilised the rotation tool in Photoshop to make the penguin appear more realistic. Once the penguin was selected, following on from the "Refine Edge" button, this allowed me to output the penguin to a new layer, and then I could duplicate this layer to the other image of the beach scene.
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| Testing of the Selection Tools |
Conclusion
Having investigated and also tried the vast array of selection tools out to determine not only how they work, but also find out their foibles, I can conclude that during this assignment I will certainly need to use a range of selection tools and depending on the individual situation then I will have to make an informed decision as to the best selection tool to use. The reasons behind my decision will be clearly listed on here in the near future when I am creating my assignment.
References
"Adobe Photoshop Logo" - Link - Last Accessed 7th February 2013
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