Newbie - cant find the right tools

Im a complete novice, wouldnt know where to start, so I have a pic of one person stranding at a mike, and I wanted to dull or darken the background around her. Help comes up with... "Using the Toning tools"... seems to describe exactly what I want to do... then it says ....
To use the dodge or burn tool:

"1 Select the dodge tool () or burn tool ()."

Um... so thats where Im stuck.. first point of action.. can find either of these things in any menu, box, the tools that come up active in a box on the left .

Yeh well ... should I give up..??
Any simple form of help appreciated.

Where can I learn online???

many thanks
G

hi,,

a quickie lesson....
on the left side... you have what is called the toolbox!! that your tools...
now also if you look carefull some of the little boxes will have a little black arrow on the bottom right corner....!!

on those little boxes of tools if you carefull place your mouse pointer on the little black arrow and click... what comes up is a little window with further selection of tools for that category...

in that category you have 3 choices burn , dodge and sponge...
the burn looks like a hand
the dodge looks like a place pin
and the songe looks like a sponge
you just select the one you want..... don't for get at the top there you can adj range and exposure

Well that should get you started.......

now mnost of the stuff you need to know is in the ps help section but i know that can be a bear to find something there..smiling....
maybe this link will help
http://www.rollins.edu/it/documentation/documents/PHOTOSHOP%20CS2%20Tools%20Tutorial.pdf

what you may want to do.... i set up in my favorites a special ps folder and saved the websites that have tutorials ( and there a ton of them..smile) also i save the webpages (in mht format...) of various tutorials that important to me...

now this site has many tutorials and also if you do a search of msg here you'll find list of favortie tutorial website that people like...

and what ever you do..smiling.. don't give up....!! at first it rocky but it will come to gether...

GrantO said:

Im a complete novice, wouldnt know where to start, so I have a pic of one person stranding at a mike, and I wanted to dull or darken the background around her. Help comes up with... "Using the Toning tools"... seems to describe exactly what I want to do... then it says ....
To use the dodge or burn tool:

"1 Select the dodge tool () or burn tool ()."

Um... so thats where Im stuck.. first point of action.. can find either of these things in any menu, box, the tools that come up active in a box on the left .

Yeh well ... should I give up..??
Any simple form of help appreciated.

Where can I learn online???

many thanks
G

They live in the same tool well as the Dodge tool. See below. Just click the mouse on the Dodge Tool and the other tools will be displayed. You can also press the letter "O" to toggle through the tools.

don't give up, you can learn to use Photoshop, everyone is a beginner first. You can always search in Google Images if you ever need help, or ask on this forum.