What is the Crop Tool?		The Crop Tool allows you to delete unwanted portions of an image. Please note that the Crop Tool only lets you crop rectangular selections.
	How do I crop an image?		1) Choose crop tool. View the original image, and select the Crop Tool from the toolbox.
			Original Image 2) Select area to crop. Starting in any corner, click and drag the mouse over the portion of the image you want to keep. (The portions outside of the crop marks will become gray to help you see the exact area that will be cropped.) The crop marks can be resized using the handlebars along the “marching ants” marquee. The entire crop marquee can be moved around over the image by placing the cursor inside the crop marks. When the cursor changes to a black arrow, the entire marquee may be moved. Marked Image 3) Crop. After the marquee is the proper size and in the correct position, press Enter to crop the image. Cropped Image

Photoshop: Selection Tools

What are Selection Tools?		The selection tools allow you to select a portion or a subset of an image to work on. Most of Photoshop’s other tools and filters can then be applied to this selected area, altering its color, shape, texture, position and/or other attributes, while leaving the rest of the image untouched. Photoshop contains three types of selection tools: the Marquee Tools, the Lasso Tools, and the Magic Wand. The marquee tools are used to select a specific regularly shaped area. The marquee tools include the Rectangular, Elliptical, Single Row and Single Column Marquees: The lasso tools are used to select an irregular area. These tools include the Lasso Tool, the Polygonal Lasso Tool and the Magnetic Lasso Tool. The Magic Wand  is used to select areas of an image based upon color; the Magic Wand does not have additional tools. All of the selection tools may be used individually or in conjunction with each other to select exact areas of images. The Options Bar allows you to choose to add to or subtract from a previous selection:
			If you choose New Selection, any currently active selection will go away when you make your new selection. If instead you would like to add to the current selection, or subtract from it, make that choice in the Options Bar. You can even choose to select an area formed by the intersection of your selections.
	How do I use the Marquee Tools?		The marquee tools let you select rectangles, ellipses, and 1-pixel-wide rows and columns. To use the marquee tools: 1) Select a marquee tool: Rectangular (for a rectangular selection), Elliptical (for an elliptically shaped selection), Single Row (for a one-pixel wide row) or Single Column (for a one-pixel wide column). 2) Set the options you want in the Options Bar. 3) Drag over the area you want to select. Hold down the Shift key if you want to constrain the selection to a square or a circle.
	How do I use the Lasso Tools?		The Lasso Tool and Polygonal Lasso Tool let you draw irregular selection borders (both straight-edged and freehand): If you want the selection to be completely or primarily freehand (with a minimum of straight edges) then use the Lasso Tool.  If you want the selection to be completely or primarily straight edges (with a miminum of freehand edges) then use the Polygonal Lasso Tool. With the Magnetic Lasso Tool, you can draw the selection border, and it will automatically snap to a high-contrast edge in the graphic. To use the Lasso Tool: 1) Select the Lasso Tool from the Toolbox. 2) Set any desired options in the Options Bar. 3) To draw a freehand segment of the selection, simply drag the mouse. 4) To draw a straight-edged segment of the selection, hold down the Alt key and click at the desired beginning and end points of the segment. 5) To close the selection border, let go of the mouse button (without holding down the Alt key). To use the Polygonal Lasso Tool: 1) Select the Polygonal Lasso Tool from the Toolbox. 2) Set any desired options in the Options Bar. 3) To draw a straight-edged segment of the selection, click at the desired beginning and end points of the segment. 4) To draw a freehand segment of the selection, hold down the Alt key and drag the mouse. 5) To close the selection border, double-click the mouse button.
		Tip: Think of the Lasso Tool and the Polygonal Lasso Tool as opposites of each other. One (the Lasso Tool) usually does freehand selections, but can be forced to make straight lines by holding down the Alt key, while the other (the Polygonal Lasso Tool) does straight line selections, but can be forced to do freehand by holding down the Alt key.
			To use the Magnetic Lasso Tool: 1) Select the Magnetic Lasso Tool from the Toolbox. 2) Set any desired options in the Options Bar. 3) Click to set the first endpoint of the selection. 4) To draw a freehand segment, move the mouse pointer along the edge you want to trace. (You don’t have to hold down the mouse button, although you can if you like.) 5) As you move the pointer, the selection will automatically snap to the strongest edge in the area around the pointer, based on the Width set in the Options Bar. Periodically, intermediate points are added to the selection border. While tracing the edge, click to add a point if needed. 6) If you want to switch to either the regular Lasso Tool or the Polygonal Lasso Tool, hold down the Alt key. At that point, dragging the mouse will let you draw freehand borders; clicking will let you draw straight line segments. 7) Close the selection border by double-clicking the mouse.
	How do I use the Magic Wand?		The Magic Wand Tool lets you select areas of an image based on similar shades of color simply by clicking on the desired color. To use the Magic Wand Tool: 1) Select the Magic Wand Tool from the Toolbox. 2) Set the desired options in the Options Bar:
			Choose whether to  - create a new selection,  - add to an existing selection,  - subtract from an existing selection, or  - intersect with the existing selection. Enter a value from 0 to 255 in theTolerance box. A low number will let you select colors very similar to the pixel you click; a high number will let you select a broader range of colors. To select only adjacent areas using the same colors, select Contiguous. Otherwise, all pixels using the same colors will be selected. Check or un-check the Contiguous option. If Contiguous is not selected, all pixels that are the same color as the selected pixel will be selected, wherever they occur in the image. Otherwise, only adjacent pixels of the same color will be selected. 3) Click the color you want to select.
	An example		To create the image at the bottom, we started with a photograph of a bouquet of daffodils:   Original Image First we selected the yellow color ranges in the image, using the Magic Wand:   Magic Wand Selection Next, we adjusted the selection to include just a single flower, using the Lasso Tool and the “add to” and “subtract from” selection options:   Adjusted Selection Once only the single daffodil remained selected, we copied that selection and pasted it into a new file. We also created a green background layer. The result: Final Image

Photoshop: Opacity

	What is opacity?		Opacity refers to the amount of transparency a layer has. For instance, if a layer’s opacity is set to 100%, then that layer is completely opaque (in other words, you can’t see through it). If a layer’s opacity is set to 50%, then it is see-through, or moderately transparent, and layers behind it can show through. On the other end of the scale, if a layer’s opacity is set to 0%, then that layer is completely transparent (that is, invisible).
	How do I change opacity?		The Layers palette contains a slider bar for Opacity. The opacity setting for each layer can be adjusted simply by highlighting the desired layer and adjusting the slider bar.
	An example		This image is set to the standard (or “default”) opacity setting of 100%: Before The following image was created by: setting the opacity of the above image to 20%; pasting an image of a lone daffodil into a layer behind the original image and setting the opacity of that layer to 70%; and creating a text layer and placing it on top of the orginal image. After As you can see, the text is on top of the faded flowers so that it stands out. The lone daffodil is behind the original faded image; this way the faded flowers act as a wash over the top of the lone daffodil so that it blends in slightly with the other flowers.

	What are layer styles?		Photoshop: Layer Styles Layer styles are special effects that can be applied to an entire layer overall. Layer styles include a variety of lighting effects, textures and overlays. To give you a better idea of what a style is, here is an original graphic, and then the same graphic with some various styles applied:
	Original Graphic (note that the computer and grey background are two different layers)	Outer Shadow Inner Shadow Inner Bevel Pillow Emboss Outer Glow Inner Glow Stroke Color Overlay
	How do I use layer styles?		To see the layer styles available to you, either pull down the Layer menu and select Layer Style, or click the small button located at the bottom of the Layers palette. In either case, you will be presented with a menu. Selecting a style will apply it to whichever layer is currently selected. After you have made your selection, the Layer Style dialog box will appear:
				This dialog lets you modify specific settings, or characteristics, for the selected style. The options available in the dialog box vary depending up on which style was chosen.
				Once the Layer Style dialog box is open, you can add additional styles to the same layer by checking them on the left.
				To make changes to the default settings for a style, click the style name on the left and the settings for that style will appear on the right. You can then make modifications as you wish. Click OK when you are finished.
				Looking at the Layers palette, you can now see that the selected styles appear attached to the layer they affect: If you want to make changes to the style later, just double click its name in the Layers palette and the Layers Style dialog box will appear.   Tip: Remember that layer styles affect an entire layer. If you have a part of an image that you want to set off from the rest by using a layer style, you must separate that part and put it on its own layer. Here’s what happens when we apply a drop shadow and inner bevel to a “flat” image, and to an image on a separate layer: computer and background on one layer computer on separate layer
		Some examples		Click on a style to the left to see the options available for each style, and to see an example of the selected layer style when applied to a text layer.     The final example below shows how you can combine layer styles on a single layer to create a unique effect. The text layer below has the Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Stroke, and Bevel and Emboss styles applied:
				It is impossible to describe all of the different features and combinations of layer styles. At this point you should practice applying some yourself! Don’t forget to try some of the special settings for each style. Experimenting is the best way to begin to really understand the possibilities of layer styles.

What are filters? How do I use them?		Photoshop: Filters Photoshop has a wide range of filters that you can use to add special effects to your images. To use a filter: 1) Select the layer to apply the filter to. 2) Pull down the Filter menu. The menu consists of a list of filter types you can choose from. 3) Each menu selection (see picture to the left) represents a family of filters; each has a fly-out menu that allows you to select the specific filter you want. For example, below is the Distort fly-out, listing all of the possible distortion effects you can choose from: Point to the desired filter family and click on the specific filter in the fly-out menu. 4) If the filter you specified needs input from you in order to fine-tune the effect, a dialog box will appear, prompting you for your preferences. When you are satisfied, click the OK button.
	Can I see some examples?		To give you an idea of what filters can do, theRender and Distort filter families are listed below. Most are linked to a before-and-after example of the filter. Just click on a filter to view the example:
			As you can see, there are many filters that you can apply to your image. Keep in mind that you can also use a combination of filters on the same image to obtain a desired effect. Also remember that you do not have to apply a filter to your entire image; you can select an area and apply the filter to that selection only.