1.

The first step is to start Photoshop CS by clicking the PhotoShop CS Icon on the desk top. You can also start Photoshop by choosing Start->Programs->Adobe Photoshop CS from the Windows start menu.

2.

When you have the Photoshop CS screen open, press the Shift + Ctrl +O keys to open the Photoshop CS browser. Use the browser to find your Photoshop Sample image folder (normally in C:/Program Files/Adobe/Photoshop CS/Samples).

When you see the image thumbnails in the browser, click once on the Fish image to select it.

3.

Press the Ctrl + O keys to open the image file, and then click the close (X) button in the upper right of the file browser to close it. Your screen should now look something like this.

4.

Drag the image to the center of your screen (drag and drop using the image title bar) and then press the Ctrl +R keys to add rulers to your canvas. Drag and drop a guide line from the top ruler to about one half inch down you canvas (as measured on the side ruler). Next, drag and drop a guideline from your side ruler one quarter inch into your image, (as measured by the top ruler). Your image should now look something like this.

5.

Now, press the C key to select the cropping tool. Put your mouse pointer in the upper left corner made by the crossing guide lines, and drag the cropping tool diagonally to the lower right corner of the image, selecting the large square bounded by the guide lines.

You should see a border of animated dashes bounding the selection you make. The dark shaded areas of the image outside the border will be cropped off.

Right click on the image selection and choose Crop to crop the image.

(You do not have to use guide lines to crop an image, however, they can be useful when you want to crop to meet precise measurements.)

6.

Next, press Ctrl + R to toggle of the rulers, and choose View -> Clear Guides from the menu bar to leave only the cropped image on your screen. The image should now look something like this.

7.

Next, press Ctrl +Shift +N to create a new layer for the image. When you see the new layer dialog box, click the OK button to accept the defaults. You should see the new layer, named Layer 1 at the top of the items in the layers palette.

Try clicking on the eye icons next to the different layers to see what effect removing different layers has on the image.

Next, make sure that all of the layers are visible (all have eye icons), and that Layer 1 (the new layer) is selected.

Now, press the O key to select the gradient tool. If the gradient tool icon is not visible in the toolbox, the paint bucket tool will be selected. In this case, click and hold the paint bucket icon in the toolbox so you can display and select the gradient tool.

8.

Select the linear gradient from the options bar. Next, select the foreground to transparent style from the gradient picker.

9.

Use your mouse to draw a line with the gradient tool from the upper left corner of the image diagonally to the center. When you release your mouse button a gradient should appear. Next, draw a line from the lower right corner of the image diagonally to the center, to place another gradient. 

Now your image should look something like this.

Next, click the right pointing arrow next to the Opacity data field, and use the slider to adjust the Opacity figure to 25% (or enter 25 directly into the Opacity data field).

10.

With the new layer set at 25% opacity, your image should look like the following.

11.

Press Shift + Ctrl + S to display the Save As dialog. Save the image to your practice folder under the name Practice7. Save it as PSD format to retain all of the layer information. (If you see a Photoshop format dialog box after you click the save button, click OK.)

When you are finished saving, press Ctrl + Q to exit Photoshop CS.