Book Image

Mastering Adobe Photoshop 2024

By : Gary Bradley
Book Image

Mastering Adobe Photoshop 2024

By: Gary Bradley

Overview of this book

Unlock the full potential of Photoshop, the go-to app for content creators by mastering its complex tools and features. This book quickly builds on your existing Photoshop knowledge with proven industry techniques, serving as a launchpad to develop professional skills and transformative personal growth. You’ll start by fine-tuning color and tone in your images with non-destructive adjustment layers and conceal content like backdrops with precise masking techniques for fine details like hair. Working through a series of real-world editing projects, crafting realistic brand mockups and traditional marketing collateral, you’ll learn robust methods for building social media assets in Photoshop, from images to animated GIFs and videos. You’ll also be able to bring your typography to life with styles and effects that are simple to edit and store as preset effects. The final section of the book encapsulates all of your learning to create complex montages using advanced masking and compositing techniques. You’ll have fun elevating your designs with surreal art styles and conceptual imagery using retouching, blending, and liquify filters. By the end of this Adobe Photoshop book, you’ll soar to new heights with your designs, creating captivating visuals that leave a lasting impression on your audience.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
1
Part 1:Raising Your Photoshop Game
5
Part 2:Bringing Brands Front and Center
10
Part 3:Building Visual Components
14
Part 4:World Building

Creating simple yet effective surrealist art

The first exercise uses free stock images that are the best match for a concept I wanted to include of an out-of-place object. In this case, the Moon turns into a balloon that is fastened to a wooden chair. I had to keep my mind open to working very loosely with this concept.

Transferring the moon artwork

This project requires just two pieces of artwork: an image of the moon against a night sky, and a studio image of a chair with a balloon tied to a chair. We’ll use the studio image as the “master image” within which the composition will be built. The first step is to transfer the moon into the master file. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Go to FileOpen, browse to the 12-Surreal project folder, select Moon.jpg and Balloon.jpg, then click Open.
  2. With the Moon.jpg document open and active, switch to the Elliptical Marquee tool. From the Options bar, set the Selection Mode setting to New, Feather...