Getting started

The first challenge for many is getting used to the Macs. 

Here is a screen grab (which I did by using the keys apple, shift and 4).

The programme shown is Bridge. 

The list of menus at the top of the screen is similar to PCs. Notice that the name of the active programme is showing, top left.

The colourful symbols at the bottom of the screen is called the 'Dock' and shows the programmes. Clicking on the symbol opens the programme. Clicking and holding lets you quit the programme.

The programmes we use most of the time are Safari (for web access), Photoshop (for picture editing), Bridge (for browsing and organising pictures), and Word (for writing wonderful essays.)

To get started, you need to:

Create a folder for your work. Do this by going to the Finder>student>documents. File>new folder. Type your full name.

This is where you can store work in progress, instead of randomly all over the place. 

Once you have done this, you need to find some pictures to put into the folder. If you're new here, you won't have any, so http://www.ephotozine.com/ has a gallery of modifiable photographs that you can download and practice editing with.

Try to find it, download some examples to your folder.

Once you have done this, try to open Bridge and use it to find the pictures.

Clicking on an image in Bridge will open it in Photoshop.

If you're new to Photoshop, try to find 'crop' tools. 'Variation' image adjustments to change the brightness and colour.