Learn the Basics of Photoshop

Photoshop is an incredibly powerful but also intimidating application. If you've
wanted to start using Photoshop but didn't know where to start, we'll be teaching you the basics all week
long.
The video above is your lesson. It's short considering how much it covers and long considering it's on the
internet. In the video, we take a look at every tool in the toolbar, your palettes on the right side of the
screen, and what you'll find in the menus. Below you'll find a reference for this lesson. Once the lessons are
over, we'll provide everything all in one place and a downloadable PDF file containing references for each
lesson.
Wait! I don't have Photoshop!
Are you not currently a Photoshop user? Adobe offers a Photoshop 30-day trial that you can download
right now and it will provide you with plenty of time to learn how it works. If you don't want to eventually
purchase Photoshop because it's too expensive, much of what we're going to discuss in these lessons will
apply to not just to Photoshop but pretty much most of the standard photo-editing and design tools you'll
find (Pixelmator is a great $30 alternative on the Mac, and GIMP is a free, open-source cross-platform
option). We've chosen Photoshop because it's the most commonly used, but you're welcome to follow along
using other software as well. Today's lesson is pretty Photoshop-specific, but as we move along you should
be able to use other software to do most of what we discuss.
Ready? Let's get started.