Adobe Photoshop Basics

Download this zip file for all the images you need to complete the exercises for Lesson 8. (Mac users can use Aladdin's free Stuffit Expander to extract the zip file.)

Exercise Ten - Burn Tool, Sharpen Tool, Art History Brush, History Brush

Practice Image: retouchpractice2.jpg

Before

After:

Just one more project since we have not yet experimented with the Art History brush yet. Meet my pooch, Lucy.

I really like this picture but her coat looks rather dull and washed out, and the background is so bright it really overpowers the scene.

I started by using the burn tool with the large soft brush and brushing over her entire coat. Because there's not a lot of color in this portion of the image, the burn tool works out well.

I set the burn tool to midtones, exposure 18% and went over some areas more than others to even it out a little.

I did a few quick touch-ups with the clone tool to remove the white flecks on her coat.

Next I used the sharpen tool to go over her eyes and mouth to sharpen them up a bit.

When I was happy with the way Lucy looked, I took a snapshot.

Next I used the Art History brush and painted over the background with these settings:

• Brush Size: 9, soft
• Style: Dab
• Fidelity: 100%
• Area: 50 px
• Spacing: 50%.

Don't worry about painting over Lucy because we have a snapshot.

Once you have painted over the background with the Art History brush, take another snapshot.

Now switch to the regular History Brush. Set the source as the first snapshot and paint around the edges where you may have overlapped with the art history brush.

That's it for this lesson... Have fun! Please share some examples of your progress by posting your results in the interactive classroom!

Coming Soon... In our next lesson we'll move beyond the basics somewhat and begin to touch on some of the features and commands that can bring you from novice to intermediate level.