An image editing software developed and manufactured by Adobe Systems Inc. Photoshop is considered one of the leaders in photo editing software. The software allows users to manipulate, crop, resize, and correct color on digital photos. The software is particularly popular amongst professional photographers and graphic designers. Photoshop was originally conceived as a subset of the popular design software Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe expected to sell a modest several hundred copies per month. Expectations for Photoshop’s success were tempered by concerns over the capabilities of personal computers (PCs) in the early 1990s to run the program because it required more computer memory than most PCs came with or even, in some cases, than could be installed.

• Introduction to Photoshop
• Improving Images with Levels and Curves
• Image Retouching Techniques
• Manipulating Color
• Masking Images with Layer Masks
• Layer Masks: Creative Applications
• Layer Clipping Groups and Texture Channels
• Saving a Selection as a Mask Channel
• Selecting like a Pro: The Pen tool
• Color for the Web
• Optimizing Images
• Mocking up a Website Design
• Buttons and Navigation Graphics
• Getting Creative with Layer Styles
• Understanding Slicing
• Working with the GIF File Format
• Animating GIFs
• Creating and Saving Transparent Graphics
• Creative Backgrounds

Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. The latest version, Illustrator CC, is the seventeenth generation in the product line. Unlike PhotoShop, which deals in pixels (raster images), this one deals in lines and algorithms for various shapes. It functions by generating curved paths connected by modifiable anchor points. These anchors, with their handles, are ultimately editable and never “leave” the structure of the file. Adobe Illustrator is a professional quality graphic art program. Its applications are diverse, from creating print to web graphics and, for our purposes, posters. Although the program is complex and requires a significant amount of time to truly master, it is quite easy to learn the basics and create work with a professional appearance. Introduction to Illustrator’s authoring environment