Chapter 1: Examining the Photoshop Environment

In This Chapter

check.png Starting Photoshop

check.png Working with panels

check.png Examining the Photoshop desktop

check.png Investigating the Menu bar and the Options bar

As environments go, the Photoshop working environment is pretty cool: as inviting as a landscaped backyard and not nearly as likely to work you into a sweat. Each of Photoshop’s many tools — with more options than a Swiss Army knife — is custom-designed for a specific chore. When you’re familiar with your surroundings, you’ll be eager to make like Monet in his garden, surrounded by panels, brushes, buckets of paint, and swatches of color, ready to tackle the canvas in front of you.

Launching Photoshop and Customizing the Desktop

You start Photoshop the same way you launch any other program with Windows or the Mac OS. As with other programs, you can choose the method you find the easiest and most convenient. In Windows, you can launch programs from the Start menu or an icon on the taskbar. In Mac OS X, you may have a Photoshop icon on the Dock or you may be using Launchpad. In either Windows or Mac OS X, ...

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