The course is held over an 8-week schedule. There are two classes per week.

Objective: Convey to students what the instructor’s expectations are to successfully complete this course.

1. Introductions among Classmembers
2. Distribute Course Syllabus and Explain Course Requirements, Materials and all Pertinent Information Students will need to Successfully Participate in this Course
3. Premier and Describe the Official Course Web Site, and explain how students will use it in conjunction with class activities
4. Portfolio Review of Instructor’s Works which represent the varied projects assigned to students
5. Assignment: Bring a photograph to the next class for scanning

Download the Introductory Assignment Image of the two men in a vintage car.

Please copy an image supplied by the instructor to your hard drive for our introduction to basic PhotoShop tools.

This assignment is all about getting comfortable with the basic tools in Photoshop which allow you to manipulate and retouch photographs. In this assignment, you will create a mask image of an object which will enable you to remove the background of the photo..

In this first assignment we will use the following tools, working on this image right along with the instructor.

Requirements: Students must have two photographs they wish to scan and manipulate and a portable disk on which to store the file. Elements of both photographs will be combined into one photograph.

1. Outer Bevel
2. Inner Bevel
3. Pillow Emboss

Requirement in this Class: Students will add type element to their composition and an appropriate effect that will contribute to the effectiveness of the image. This will complete the first class project.

1. PICT: Picture format that supports grayscale and anti-alias full-color imaging
2. EPS: Originally developed by Adobe Systems, it stands for Encapsulated PostScript. CMYK color formatting which contains both high-resolution imaging data and a low-resolution image for placement in page layout software such as Quark Xpress, PageMaker, FreeHand, Illustrator, Corel, et. al. The Eps file must accompany the page layout document wherever it goes so the raster image processor or print imaging system renders the high-resolution data.
3. TIFF: Tag Image File Format. Featuring virtually the same image and color management characteristics as an EPS, this format was developed by Aldus Corporation (now Adobe), to allow smaller, more manageable page layout file sizes once high resolutions images are placed in the document. As with EPS, these files must accompany the page layout document. The printer/image processor gets its high-resolution data from the Tiff image, not the page layout. Some applications allow you to imbed the image files into their documents thereby relieving you of managing multiple files.
4. JPEG: Stands for Joint Photographers’ Engineering Group, a consortium of companies involved in computer imaging software and hardware development. JPEG is a file compression scheme that allows smaller file sizes while maintaining full-color bit depth. JPEGs display using your computer’s full-color reproduction capabilities and system palette.
5. Gif: Developed by CompuServe, one of the early adopters of graphical interfaces developed for on-line communication. This format uses a palette limiting compression scheme which simply reduces the number of colors required to render a graphic. Because GIFs don’t utilized antialiasing, color gradations are re-rendered using a dithering scheme of image pixels.
6. BMP: A Microsoft image format utilizing RGB color palette. Because Microsoft focuses on the business productivity marketplace, which outputs to color output devices such as inkjet and laser printers, Microsoft determined there was no need to confuse users with CMYK color management tools found in professional graphic software packages. BMP images are automatically converted into CMYK when you print a Microsoft document. The conversion occurs in the background and utilizes device data in a process invisible to the user.

1. Mac Palette
2. PC Palette

1. RGB and CMYK Color
2. Indexed Color (reducing colors for smaller file sizes)
3. Dithering
4. Grayscale
5. Duotone
6. Bitmap

Assignment: The Web Banner: Students will be required to create a photographic or rendered image through a combination and composition of imagery. They then must optimize the result for the most efficient Web deployment.

Requirements: Students must bring image elements to class, either found or created, that can be combined to create an advertisement for the Web. The theme is provided by the instructor.

Objective: Students will learn the practicalities and applications of PhotoShop’s filters, among them:

1. Artistic Filters
2. Rendering Filters including

1. Render Clouds
2. Render Lighting Effects
3. Render Lens Flare

1. Sketch Filters
2. Stylize Filters
3. Texture Filters

Assignment: An Original Image (Poster): This assignment serves to provide experience in working with PhotoShop’s array of image manipulation filters.

Requirement: Students must bring imagery that can be used in a original composition. It can contain photographic, drawn or painted images. The design objective is to create a poster, so have a theme ready for class or the instructor will provide one.

Lesson and Objectives: We will cover the art of grayscale and bitmap image creation using PhotoShop 5. Students will learn how to:

1. Scan a black-and-white image and/or color image for grayscale manipulation
2. Optimizing the grayscale image through the use of contrast and brightness controls.
3. Sizing and cropping the image
4. Manipulating the sharpness of the image through the use of sharpen and blur filters
5. Using PhotoShop’s layers feature to change depth of field or to add emphasis and drama to an image.
6. Duo-tone, tri-tone and quad-tone options
7. Stochastic screening a black-and-white image (bitmap conversion using dithered halftone feature), re-importing the image into a layered RGB file, changing layer from normal to multiply, and colorizing a layer underneath the image layer
8. Choosing the best file format for its target application, including TIF, GIF, and EPS.

Assignment: The Black and White Image (halftone): Scan, optimize and convert an image to Grayscale and then to a Bitmap image.

Student Requirement: Students must have an appropriate image with which to work. Students will scan the images in class, manipulate them according to the lesson and choose the best file format with which to save the image on disk.

Lesson: Determined by students’ progress on the assignment

Student Requirement: Students must be prepared to present final image for evaluation.

Lesson:

1. Collecting objects and images found and created for our layered composition.
2. Scanning 3D objects using a conventional scanner
3. Using digital photography
4. Creating a background texture
5. Using drop shadows and embossing filters on objectives to enhance their appearance and create dramatic effects
6. Using lighting techniques with the Render Command
7. Using Lens Flare
8. Using levels of transparency to create depth

Assignment: The Layered Illustration with Background Texture and Compositional Elements Gathered or Created by the Student. The student must plan, collect and execute a layered composition using a background texture, photographic elements, 3D objects), and possibly some uniquely created elements, either drawn or painted.

The Theme: This will be a personal, visual, biographic depiction of your entire life up to now. It must contain images and objects that symbolize important memories or milestones in your life. It can contain images of your parents, significant people in your life present and past, found objects such as buttons, badges, athletic equipment (baseball, perhaps), old shoes, a piece of sheet music, images from a movie that was important to you, the lyrics to a song, a photo of a pet, a childhood sketch, a favorite book. Use your imagination.

Lesson: The lesson for this class will be determined by the level of sophistication in the students’ works and their desire for more creative opportunities and variations.

Student Requirement: Students must make significant progress on his assignment during the class.

Lesson: The instructor provides insight into portfolio presentation, both traditional and Web-based.

Lesson: An original video is planned for the class which features a local design studio with interviews of how these professionals use PhotoShop 5 to pursue their livelihoods.