• Choose Start | Programs | Adobe Photoshop 6.0.

Screen Layout

On opening Photoshop, you will see the following four items: Menu bar, Options bar, Tool bar, Layers Palette. These will be used for shortcuts in many of the activities.

Menu bar - Click any of the words on this row to see a menu of options in that category - File and Edit are some of the commonly used for saving and opening files; copying and pasting images.

Toolbox - The toolbox contains tools that let you type, select, paint, draw, edit, move, and view images. Below are some of the tools that you will use in this teaching reference.

Rectangular Marquee tool - Used to select sections of a graphic

Move tool - Used to nudge a selection

Crop tool - Used to cut down the dimensions of a picture

Paintbrush tool - Used to draw and touchup an image

Paint Bucket tool - Used to fill in a selection

Type tool - Used to add text

Rectangle tool - Used to make a rectangle

Eyedropper tool - Used to select a specific color in a photo

Zoom tool - Used to magnify an image

Tool Options bar - Most tools have options that are displayed in the Tool Options bar. These options change as different tools are selected.

Layers Palette - Layers provide a powerful way for you to organize and manage the various components of your image. By placing an element on a separate layer, you can easily edit and arrange that element without interfering with the other parts of the image.