Opening & Saving Images

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In the first part of this tutorial, we covered the different ways of opening images.  In this section of "Opening & Saving Images", we will be discussing "Opening New Images" and "Saving Images".

First, let's discuss how to open a "New Image".

To access the New Image Dialog Box you can click on File/New on the menu bar or the New Icon on the toolbar. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+N. 

Here's what the New Image Dialog Box looks like.  I hope you are doing each of these steps as we go.  You will get a better view and feel, and understand each step if you are doing this in PSP as we go.

When you open the New Image Dialog Box, the width field will be highlighted. You can just type in the desired dimensions over existing ones.

Hitting the TAB button will advance to the next field where you can enter the new height dimensions. You can progress forward thru the fields by hitting TAB. Holding down SHIFT and pressing TAB will reverse the selections. You can also make a field active by double clicking with the mouse.

Now let's practice opening a new image.

1.  Hold down "Ctrl" key on your keyboard, and hit the letter "N".  You now have the "New Image Box" open within your workspace.

The width number will be highlighted. 

2.  Type in 300 for your width. 

3.  Hit your tab key.  This will take you to the "Height" field.  Type in 400.

 Hit your tab key again.  This will take you to the "Pixel" field.  Leave this alone.

 Hit your tab key again.  This will take you to the "Pixel/Inch" field.

If you click the arrow in the field currently labeled "pixels" you would also see "inches" and "centimeters" as options. The field labeled "pixels/inch" also includes the option "pixels/cm". Since PSP is a raster or bitmap program meaning the images you create are made up of a bunch of tiny squares (pixels), I suggest just leaving these settings at their default settings.

Hit your tab key again.

4.  Now you are in the "Resolution" field.  The default resolution (pixels per inch) setting is 72.  This is the recommended setting for creating web graphics.  We don't want to make any changes here either, so just hit your tab key again.

 Hit your tab key again.

6.   Now you are at the "Background Color" field.  Here you can and will change options, depending on whether or not you want your background to be transparent of if you want it to open with a colored background.

7.  Just so you can view the different option in this field, click on the "arrow" at the "Background Color" field. 

In the drop down box you will see your different options, as seen on the image below.

This is where you would choose the color you want your new image background color to be when you open a new image.  I rarely choose any background color.  I just leave mine set at transparent, the flood fill with whatever color I want.

Clicking the arrow in the field labeled "Background color" will give you a drop down box with your options for the color of your new image. You can choose any of the colors white, black, red, green, or blue. You can also select either the foreground or background color that is currently displayed in the Color Palette.

Remember, your color palette looks like this:

The final option in "background color" is transparent. When you use this option, all the areas of your image background will look like a "white and gray checker board".   You will find this helpful when the image you're creating is to be combined or pasted into another image.  As I said before, I almost always leave this set on "transparent".

Now hit the "tab" key again.

8.  The final option here in the "Image type" window is the color depth.

This field also has a drop down box.  This gives you the options of 2, 16, 256, 16.7 million, or grey scale color. We will learn more about this at a later time in a tutorial for "Colors".

I always start with an image at 16.7 million colors. Doing so allows you the flexibility of having all the effects included within PSP and any plug-in filters available to you. Now just click "OK" to open a new image.
 

The next part of this tutorial will cover "Saving Images".  Click here to continue.

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Our God Reigns Ministries, Pastor Janette Stewart