Photoshop Graphics in 4 Easy Steps.

When you first start to use a new software product the hardest part is knowing where to start. You get someone to show you and they go Click, click, click, and you are no wiser than before. If anything you feel more frustrated and stupid. The fact is that once you understand something it is easy, but it takes real effort to get to that stage. That’s the purpose of this article. To give you a kick-start in 4 easy steps.

Step 1

Go to “File” and click “New”. You now need to specify the size of your graphic. Normally you would have determined this in advance as you must first have a purpose for the graphic. Ours is a header graphic. Headers on a sales page are usually around 700 pixels by 120 pixels. So we can choose that as our size for the graphic.

Step 2: Choose A Background.

There are 3 options. The background can be a solid color, a gradient, or a picture.

To insert a solid color, these are the steps we must follow. On the left of the work area is a floating toolbox. Towards the bottom of this box are two small squares, one over the other. Click the top one and a color picker comes up. Click the mouse on the color required for the background and click OK. The color of the top square is now your chosen color. From this floating tool box choose the bucket tool. If you don’t see it, move the mouse over each tool until you find the gradient tool. Right click it and choose bucket.

Having chosen the color, move your mouse over the new graphic. Your mouse pointer turns into a bucket and click. The color you chose in the tool box is now your background color.

If you want to use a gradient as your background, you will need to turn the bucket tool into the gradient tool. From the floating toolbox on the left choose the color. This time you will need to choose a color for both the top and bottom color boxes. The top color is what your gradient will start with and the bottom is the finish color.

Having chosen the gradient tool you will notice on the top of the work area new choices have appeared. This will allow you to choose the style of the gradient.

Importing a picture into your graphic as a background is easy. All you need to do is open a file with the picture you want to use. Make sure that the picture is larger or equal in size to the graphic you are creating. With your mouse just drag and drop the picture into your new graphic. Now just move it around to where you want it. That’s it.

Please note: this does not work with Gif Files.

Step 3: Import more images.

Photoshop works with layers. Each time you import something or introduce more text you create a new layer. To the right of your work area you should see “Layers”. Click on it and now it will display all the layers in the graphic. Clicking on a layer in this box will make it the active layer, and you will be able to work on this layer.

An image can be imported in the same way the background was imported. Just drag and drop it into the new graphic. When you do this you will notice that there is also some unwanted background with the image. This can be removed with the eraser tool.

If your background is all one color, let’s say white, you can use the magic eraser. Right click on the eraser. Three options will appear. Choose “Magic Eraser”. Move your mouse to the part of the picture you want to get rid of and click. In one click it will remove the unwanted background of the picture you dragged in. While you are in that layer you can move this picture to where you want it by picking it up with your mouse.

Fourth Step: Text

Each time you start new text you create a new layer. This means that the text can be moved into any position just as any layer. Photoshop does not always space the lines of text as I like. I overcome this by making each line a new layer and them I can move them where I want them.

To ad text just click on the text tool. “T”. You can choose your font and the size of the text as you would in any word processor.

Now that your text is in place it can be enhanced and made to stand out. Make sure the text you want to work with is the active layer. On the top bar of the work area is “Layer”. Click it and choose “Layer Style”. This will open up numerous options. To get an idea of what each of these does just play and experiment with it. As you choose an option it will instantly be seen before you commit it.

You have now created a simple but professional looking graphic you can use on a web page.

There is only one thing left to do. Save it. First save it in Photoshop PSD as this will allow you to come back and edit it. Next if you wish to use it as a web graphic you can “Save it for Web and Devices”. This will create a smaller faster loading file for web pages.