4.1 Intro to Photoshop

1. In the video, I discuss this idea of graph paper to explain what is happening on your screen (in terms of resolution). Explain this concept in your own words.

The art board in photoshop is made of tiny squares called pixels, you can compare these pixels to the squares in graph paper in the way that images are made by colouring in the squares with different colours until your image has been created.

2. What does DPI stand for? Explain why this measurement is needed for images.

DPI stands for “dots per inch” . This is important as it determines the quality and resolution of printed images, higher DPI- higher resolution, lower DPI- lower resolution.

3. Identify 3 similarities between Photoshop and Illustrator

In both photoshop and illustrator, there are layers that are used to separate different elements on your art board. In both apps, you can create shapes, squares, rectangles, circles, etc. The last similarity is the eyedropper tool, which in both apps takes elements such as colour from one thing and applies it to whatever you have selected.

4. Identify the 3 differences that you think are most important between Photoshop and Illustrator (so far)

In photoshop there is a tool called Clone Stamp, this tool allows you to copy something, for example, one of our projects was copying a mushroom and pasting it in another spot, the clone tool makes this possible. There is no equivalent in Illustrator. In illustrator the two colours you have represent stroke and fill, in Photoshop it represents foreground colour and background colour. The last difference is the ellipse tool, when you create a circle in photoshop there is a colour changing “marching ants” border and no fill until you add one yourself, in Illustrator, the circle immediately gets filled in with your stroke and fill colours.

5. Why is it important to note that the History palette gets cleared when you close a file?

It is important to note because you have to be happy with what your project looks like before you close and save it because when the history palette is closed you no longer can go back in your steps and undo moves that you did, once you clear the history palette you can only move forward, you can’t go back meaning its important to note that this before you close and save your project as if there's something that you don’t like or are not happy with you can’t go back in steps to fix it, you are forced to cover it up. 

6. I mentioned 'marching ants'. What was I talking about?

You were talking about the color changing border that shows up when you create a shape on photoshop and it is selected but nothing is added to it (no fill, no effects, etc.) it means that there is a shape, it has been created, it is selected, and so far, nothing has been done to it.

7. What does the grey and white checkerboard indicate in Photoshop?

The grey and white checkerboard indicates that whatever is being highlighted with this pattern is and will be viewed as transparent. Usually seen as a background or negative space, it means that there is nothing there and nothing will be shown as nothing on final drafts/PNGs.

In this activity I created a sphere and a Bowling ball. For my sphere I created a circle and added a radial gradient getting darker as it moves further out as well as a white highlight (on a new layer that was stacked on top of the sphere) using a translucent, feathered white brush to make it look 3-D. I then created a shadow by creating an oval on a new layer, placing this new layer at the very bottom, and feathering and making it a bit more translucent. For the bowling ball, I did the exact same steps but I then created another layer at the top and I added 3 circles to make the "holes" of the bowling ball.

Bellow is my Sphere and my Bowling ball