Photoshop intermediate

This is an Intermediate Course and students will be expected to have a basic knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, the extent of which will vary from student to student. A knowledge of the tool palette and the uses of some of the tools would be an advantage. Knowing how to select, scale, cut and paste would also be useful, but working with layers is not essential and will be taught – as this is often excluded from courses at entry level. A basic level of I.T. literacy will be expected of any student entering an Intermediate computer course.

Learner & Entry Requirement: 

You should have basic computer literacy and be able to find your way around a P.C. and save files to a chosen folder.  A basic knowledge (select/scale/cut/paste) plus some previous experience of the application would be useful in order to learn more about this industry-standard editing software.  A rudimentary knowledge of either Photoshop Elements or any full version of Photoshop is expected.  Knowledge of Photoshop CS is not essential – experience with any earlier versions is valid.

General & First Session: 

You would benefit by having Photoshop or Photoshop Elements at home.  A Memory stick (USB Flash Drive) would be useful to copy and take digital files home.  Please bring a pen and paper (optional - to take notes).  KAE is unable to offer refunds for any materials, equipment or books if the course is subsequently closed.

Aim & Objectives:  

To move up a gear from stage one and provide students with the know-how and confidence to be able to work on their own projects.

SMART OBJECTIVES:  By the end of the Course students will be able to:

• Manipulate, re-touch, cut out, crop, clone, paste detail, and edit photographs and digital images according to your own needs or requirements
• Use Photoshop software for their own goals – to produce Web-page material, or for printed documents, or for editing and retouching their own photographs.
• Work with Layers and build Photomontages from their own photographic or digital images.
• Use various filters and adjustment layers – Levels, Curves and Colour Balance to enhance and sharpen their photographs.
• Down-sample file types and file sizes suitable for use in other applications such as design for print, web design, or for attaching to E-Mails.
• Have the knowledge and confidence to carry out their own projects

By the end of the course you should have enough knowledge, confidence and ability to transfer that know-how and apply it to your own projects by editing your own photographs and preparing your own images for use as website material or for professional output and printing.

Assessment: 

On-going throughout the course.  Different levels of ability and any proficiency with the software is noted during an initial open forum and induction for all learners.  Subsequent work produced or edited is printed out in colour and assessed on the basis of comparing the files before and after editing or as an open forum for all.  Self-demonstration is observed.

Assessment is Formative and Summative when exercises are completed and printed out.  View the results of your re-touching on a before-and-after basis, by looking at the colour laser print-outs of the images that you have edited and compare the results with the original files.

Group discussion, question and answer, observation, peer- and self-assessment are key factors.

Each of you have your own work station with the added advantage of a Smart Board/Projection Screen connected to the Tutor's computer, so that guided activities and hands-on practice combine with demonstration to reinforce each lesson.  Step-by-step hand-out resources are available along with digital

Course Syllabus:

Topics covered include:

• Methods of selecting images in order to edit them
• Cutting, pasting and duplicating images, methods of re-touching and cloning detail
• Extending the canvas size or picture area to fit the printer, using type with images
• Designing for print
• Lightening and darkening selected areas of photographs, using various filters
• Working with Photoshop layers to produce a Photomontage or composite picture.
• Flattening the layers to save files in jpeg and other formats, either for printing the results or changing file sizes for web use, or to attach to an E-Mail
• Techniques in Photoshop: adding Perspective Drop Shadows on objects, using filters and adding motion to images. Enhancing typographic headings.
• File types and sizes – avoiding Interpolating pixels, or adding pixels which are not in the file.
• Recapping on techniques and exercises always be available to reinforce learning
• Working with masks and gradient blends
• Working with Type and layers in an image

Individual projects are encouraged according to the level and individual abilities attained.  Printed results are the end product, along with digital archives.