05web Revising Image via PhotoShop

Difficulty Level: Beginners
PhotoShop Version: 7
Assumed Knowledge: Limited

 

 

Using Photoshop to revise an image

If you want to add a drop shadow to the sculpture image in your Web page, you should erase the image's coloured background. You can best remove the background using the background eraser tool in Adobe Photoshop. All the erasers allow you to selectively erase areas of an image.

Use the Jump To command to change to the Photoshop program to edit the image.

  1. In ImageReady, choose File> Open, and select OO1.psd
  2. With the OO1.psd image active, choose File> Jump To > Adobe Photoshop 5.5, choose Update when prompted to save the 003.psd file, and then close it.
  3. Choose Window> Show Brushes, and select the 65 pixel brush from the Brush palette.
  4. Select the background eraser tool in the toolbox. It is hidden beneath the eraser tool . Position the pointer on the visible tool, and drag to highlight the background eraser.
  5. The Options palette should be open at the top of the window, if not go to: WIndow > Options. Select Discontinuous, and set the Tolerance to 50.
  6. In the main window, click on any part of the background colour and hold down the mouse button. Drag the crosshair over the background to erase the background colour. Notice that the sculpture image is not affected by the brush as long as you do not touch the sculpture with the crosshair.

    Continue to erase the background until all of the background colour is gone. Make sure that the crosshair does not touch the brown sculpture image while you are erasing the background.

    Note: If at any point you notice pixel debris in your image, erase it using the eraser tool.

    Now that the background is gone, you can add a drop shadow to the image. You can add the drop shadow in either Photoshop or ImageReady, because most layer effects that you add in one application are usable in the other application. In this example, you'll add the drop shadow in Photoshop.

  7. Choose Layer> Layer Styles> Drop Shadow, and then click OK in the Drop Shadow dialog box to apply the effect.

  8. Choose File> Save to save the changes.

  9. Choose File > Jump To > Adobe ImageReady, and choose Update when prompted.

    You will now delete the layer containing the old sculpture image and replace it with the new sculpture image.

  10. Click anywhere in the window of the 003.psd Web page to make it active.

  11. Select the layer containing the old sculpture image, and drag it to the Delete Layer icon at the bottom of the palette.

  12. With the move tool , select the new sculpture image in OO1.psd, and drag to place it in the green area where the old image was placed.

    Notice that a new layer containing the new sculpture image is created in the Layers palette. You can also see that the drop shadow effect applied in Photoshop is visible as an effect in the new layer. You can edit the drop shadow just as if it were a drop shadow created in ImageReady.

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