CBSE Notes for Class 8 Computer in Action – Exploring More Features of Adobe Photoshop

In the previous chapter, we learnt about the Selection tools, the Drawing tools and the Painting tools. In this chapter, we will learn about the Retouching tools and the Type tools. We will also learn about two interesting and useful features of Photoshop—Layers and Filters. Layers let us organise our work while Filters let us enhance the look of an image by adding various effects.

RETOUCHING TOOLS
The Retouching tools let you repair damaged images, apply repeated patterns or enhance the look of an image using various effects. Some of the Retouching tools available in Photoshop are Healing Brush Tool, Spot Healing Brush Tool, Patch Tool, Red Eye Tool, Blur Tool, Sharpen Tool, Smudge Tool, Dodge Tool, Sponge Tool, Burn Tool, Clone Stamp Tool and Pattern Stamp Tool.
Let us learn about some of these tools in detail.

The Healing Brush Tool allows you to repair imperfections such as scratches, blemishes and marks in an image. While working with this tool, you pick up sample pixels (pixels to be used for repairing) from the adjoining portion of an image. The Healing Brush Tool matches the texture, lighting, transparency and shading of the sampled pixels and applies them to the pixels that are being repaired.

The steps to use the Healing Brush Tool are:
Step 1: Select the Healing Brush Tool.
Step 2: Select the appropriate options for the Healing Brush Tool in the Options bar (Fig. 8.1).

These options include:

• Brush Picker: To set the size of the brush tip.
• Source: To specify whether to pick up sampled pixels from the image (Sampled) or use pre-defmed patterns.
• Aligned: To specify the sampling point to be used for repairing. If you select this option, you can release the mouse button without losing the current sampling point. If you deselect this option, the sampled pixels are always taken from the initial sampling point.

Step 3: Hold down the Alt key. The cursor shape changes to a target symbol. Click on the area close to the area to be repaired to pick up the sampled pixels.
Step 4: Click and drag over the area to be repaired. The image gets repaired (Fig. 8.2 and Fig. 8.3).


The Spot Healing Brush Tool works in a similar manner to the Healing Brush Tool except that it does not require the sampling point to be set. It automatically picks up the sampled pixels from around the area to be retouched. This tool can be used to quickly remove spots, blemishes and other marks from photographs.
The steps to use the Spot Healing Brush Tool are:
Step 1: Select the Spot Healing Brush Tool.
Step 2: Select the appropriate options in the Options bar (Fig. 8.3). One of the options includes choosing an appropriate Type option.

The Type options include:
(a) Content-Aware: Choosing this option uses actual content from the image close to the flaw. You can use this option when removing large items such as scratches from your image.
(b) Create Texture: Choosing this option uses all the pixels in the selection to create a texture that can be used to fix the area.
(c) Proximity Match: Choosing this option makes the Spot Healing Brush Tool use the pixels around the edge of the selection to pick the patch for repairing the selected area.
Step 3: Click on the area you want to fix (Fig. 8.4a and B).


The Clone Stamp Tool lets you duplicate the parts of an image by setting a sampling point in the image to be cloned. The cloned image can be drawn over another image or part of the same image.
The steps to use the Clone Stamp Tool are:
Step 1: Choose the Clone Stamp Tool.
Step 2: Click the appropriate settings in the Options bar (Fig. 8.5). These settings may include choosing a Brush Size Opacity value or setting the Aligned checkbox.

Step 3: Hold down the Alt key. The cursor shape changes to a target symbol. Click on the image to be cloned to set the sampling point.
Step 4: Click and drag where you want the cloned image to appear. When you draw, a plus sign (+) appears on the original image while a corresponding circle appears on the cloned image (Fig. 8.6a and b).


A pattern is usually a design made up of an image that is repeated or tiled. The Pattern Stamp Tool lets you fill an area with a selected pattern. Photoshop comes with a variety of preset patterns. You can select a preset pattern from the Photoshop library or create your own pattern.
The steps to use the Pattern Stamp Tool are:
Step 1: Select the Pattern Stamp Tool.
Step 2: Set appropriate options such as Brush Size, Mode, Opacity and Flow for the Pattern Stamp Tool in the Options bar (Fig. 8.7).
Step 3: Select a pattern from the Pattern Picker in the Options bar.

Step 4: Place the mouse pointer inside the area where you want to apply the pattern and drag the mouse. The area of the image across which you drag the mouse gets filled with the pattern (Fig. 8.8).


These tools let you change the appearance or the focus of selected portions of the image.
The Blur Tool softens the selected portions of an image giving it a blurred effect. This tool is useful in situations when you want to moderate or soften the focus of some areas of an image.
The Sharpen Tool is the opposite of the Blur Tool. This tool lets you improve the clarity of an image by sharpening the edges of selected portions of an image.
The Smudge Tool gives an effect of spreading the paint across the image as if you have dragged your finger through wet paint. This tool picks up the colour from where the stroke begins and pushes it in the direction you drag your mouse.

The steps to use the Blur, Sharpen and Smudge tools are:
Step 1: Select the Blur Tool, the Sharpen Tool or the Smudge Tool from the Tools panel.
Step 2: Set the Brush Size and Blending Mode for the tool in the Options bar.
Step 3: Drag the mouse pointer over the portion of the image you want to blur, sharpen or smudge (Fig. 8.10a and b, Fig. 8.1 la and b).


The Dodge Tool is used to lighten the areas of an image whereas the Burn Tool is used to darken the areas of an image.
The steps to use the Dodge tool or the Burn Tool are:
Step 1: Select the Dodge Tool or the Burn Tool.
Step 2: In the Options bar, set the appropriate Brush Size and select an appropriate Range option and the Exposure Level.
Step 3: Drag the mouse pointer over the area of the image you want to lighten or darken (Fig. 8.12a, b and c).

The Type Tools are used for inserting text in Photoshop. You can format the text in many ways such as changing its font family , size, style, colour, alignment, horizontal or vertical orientation, indentation, line spacing and much more. You can also warp the shape of the text in a number of interesting ways such as that of a wave, a flag or an arc.
Note: When you insert text in Photoshop, it is created on a separate layer called the Type Layer. You will learn more about layers later in this chapter.

The Type Tools available in the Tools panel that we will discuss in this chapter are:

• Horizontal Type Tool inserts text in the horizontal direction.
• Vertical Type Tool inserts text in the vertical direction.

The steps to use the Type Tool are:
Step 1: Open the image.
Step 2: Select the Horizontal Type Tool or the Vertical Type Tool.
Step 3: Set the appropriate options such as font family, size, style, alignment and text colour for the Type Tool in the Options bar (Fig. 8.14 and Fig. 8.15).

Step 4: Click to set the insertion point anywhere on the image.
Step 5: Enter the desired text.
Step 6: Accept changes to the text by clicking the Commit button or cancel the operation by pressing the Cancel button in the Options bar.

Warping Text
The steps to be followed for warping the text are:
Step 1: Place the cursor anywhere in the already written text.
Step 2: Select the Type tool.
Step 3: Click the Create warped text %, button in the Options bar. This displays the Warp Text dialog box (Fig. 8.16).
Step 4: Choose a warp style from the Style drop-down list.
Step 5: Select the orientation of the warp style—Horizontal or Vertical.
Step 6: If desired, specify values for additional options given in the Warp Text dialog box.
Step 7: Click OK to apply the warp style.

The Eraser Tool erases pixels as you drag it across an image. Pixels are erased to transparency or to the background colour if the layer is locked. There are three variants of this tool—Eraser Tool, Background Eraser Tool and Magic Eraser Tool (Fig. 8.18).

The Background Eraser Tool allows you to erase the background colour from an image or a layer. You will learn more about layers later in this chapter. The Background Eraser Tool picks up the sample colour when you click on the image and erases this colour as you drag the mouse (Fig. 8.19).

On the other hand, the Magic Eraser Tool erases all areas that share similar coloured pixels. When using this tool, click on the area containing the colour to be removed from the image. This erases all the coloured pixels within a set tolerance. You can associate the functionality associated with Magic Eraser Tool to using the Magic Wand Tool and then pressing Delete.

The steps to use the Eraser Tools are:
Step 1: Select the Eraser Tool, the Background Eraser Tool or the Magic Eraser Tool.
Step 2: Set the appropriate options for the eraser tools in the Options bar.
Step 3: Drag over the area you want to erase when using the Eraser or the Background Eraser Tool.
When using the Magic Eraser Tool, click on the part of the image you want to erase (Fig. 8.20).

Practice Zone
Which Photoshop tool will you use to

1. duplicate a part of an image by setting the sampling point in the image?
2. quickly remove blemishes and other marks in photos without setting the sampling point?
3. remove all areas that share similar pixels in an image?
4. darken certain areas of an image?
5. give an effect of spreading paint across the image?
6. moderate or soften the focus of some areas of an image?

Scan any of your old photographs. Make use of various Retouching Tools to   remove any scratches, marks and so on, in your photographs to give it a new and fresh look.

LAYERS
Layers can be thought of as transparent sheets mounted on the top of each other.
Layers let you work on an individual part or an element of an image without affecting the other parts or elements. You can change the composition of an image by changing the order and properties of layers. Elements placed on higher layers are displayed above the elements placed on lower layers.
Look at the graphic in Figure 8.21. To you, it may look a single, flat graphic but it is actually a combination of various elements placed on different layers. In the given graphic, the lady, flag, text and background are all placed on different layers (Fig. 8.22).

When you open a new image file with a white or a coloured background, the bottom-most image in the Layers panel is called Background. An image can have only one background. You cannot change the order of the background layer. You can add more layers, delete layers, show/hide layers, lock layers and use different layer styles to add sophisticated effects to your image.
Let us learn more about working with layers.

Working with Layers
Let us now learn about adding new layers, deleting layers, renaming layers, hiding and showing layers, changing the order of layers and layer effects in this section.

Adding a new layer
You can add a new layer by using any one of the following methods.
Click the New Layer button Ü in the Layers panel.
OR
Choose Layer → New → Layer.
A new layer with the name Layerl gets inserted above the selected layer.

Renaming a layer
You can rename a layer by double-clicking on the layer name in the Layers panel and typing a new name.

Deleting a layer
You can delete one or more layers by using any one of the following methods.
Select the layer and click the Delete Layer  button in the Layers panel.
OR
Choose Layer ? Delete ? Layer.
OR
Drag the Layer to the Delete Layer button.

Showing and hiding layers
To hide the layer contents, click the Eye icon next to a layer. Click in the Eye icon again to display the contents of the layer again.

Changing the order of layers
The elements that are placed on the higher layers are displayed above the elements placed on the lower layers. To change the placement of elements in an image, you can rearrange the layers containing them in the Layers panel. To change the order of layers, drag the layer to an appropriate position in the Layers panel.

Layer effects
Photoshop offers various layer effects that allows you to enhance the look of the contents of a layer. Some of these effects include shadow, glow, bevel, emboss and overlay.

The steps to apply the layer effects are:
Step 1: Select a layer in the Layers panel (Fig. 8.23).
Step 2: Click the Layer Styles button at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose an effect from the list, or Choose Layer ? Layer Style.
Step 3: The Layer Style dialog box appears (Fig. 8.24). Choose the desired effect by clicking the corresponding check boxes on. the left side of the dialog box.
Step 4: Set appropriate options for the selected effect on the right side of the dialog box.
Step 5: Click OK to apply the effect.

When you apply Layer effects, an ‘fx’ icon appears to the right of the layer name in the Layers panel. You can click on this icon to display the list of the effects applied on the layer (Fig. 8.25 and 8.26).

Create a beautiful scenery/greeting card/collage by placing various elements of an image on different layers. Apply layer effect to various elements of the | image. Also, make use of Type Tool to provide appropriate caption to your i
scenery/greeting card/collage.

Practice Zone
State whether the following statements are True or False.

1. Layers let you work on an individual part of an image without affecting others.
2. You cannot change the stacking order of layers.
3. When you insert text in Photoshop, it is created on a separate layer called the Type Layer.
4. Elements placed on higher layers are displayed below the elements placed on lower layers.
5. You cannot apply effects on layers.
6. An image can have only one background.

FILTERS
Filters let you change the appearance of an image by adding special effects to it. Filters are available under the Filter menu. Photoshop offers various categories of Filters. For example, you can use the Stylize filters to give a painted effect to your images, the Render filters to create 3D shapes, reflections in an image and so on.

Applying Filters
You can apply a filter to an entire layer, or a Selected portion of a layer. The steps to be followed are:
Step 1: Select the entire layer or a particular portion of a layer.
Step 2: Choose the desired filter from the Filter menu (Fig. 8.27).

Step 3: Some filters have a dialog box associated with them. If the dialog box appears, set the desired options in the dialog box to apply the filter. If no dialog box appears, the selected filter is applied directly to the image (Fig. 8.28 and Fig. 8.29).

Filter Gallery
Filter Gallery offers a convenient way of applying multiple filters on the image or applying individual filters more than once on an image.
To apply a filter or multiple filters on an image using the Filter Gallery, follow the given steps.
Step 1: Select the entire image layer or a particular portion of a layer to which the filter needs to be applied.
Step 2: Choose Filter ? Filter Gallery (Fig. 8.30). The Filter Gallery dialog box gets displayed.
Step 3: The Filter Gallery dialog box arranges filters by category. Click the inverted triangle next to the filter category to display the list of filters. Choose a filter name to add the first filter.

Step 4: Choose the desired settings for the selected filter. The applied filter gets added to the list at the lower-right corner of the Filter Gallery dialog box (Fig. 8.31).
Step 5: To apply additional filters to the image, click the New Effect Layer icon. Choose another filter to apply. Repeat this procedure to add more filters.

Step 6: To remove the already applied filters, select a filter in the applied filter list and click the Delete icon.
Step 7: If you are satisfied with the current image settings, click on OK.