Step Log
When you are starting out in Photoshop, you’ll be experimenting with new procedures all the time. Keeping an accurate record of what you’ve tried, and how it worked out (or didn’t) can be very helpful. If you’re like me, you have been scribbling notes up and down the backs of envelopes, and all over any other piece of paper that comes to hand. When you try to decipher your notes later, they make no sense. Worse, you forgot to make any note of the tool settings, or colors used.To help us both be more organized, I’ve created a ‘step log’ in which you can keep nice, orderly notes of whatever you do. If you look at the form shown below, you can see that you will be able to note each step you use in a procedure—as well as all the steps that you tried but didn’t like in the ‘undone’column.
There is space at the bottom of the page for ideas that you’d like to follow up on later, as well as an area to note things that you don’t understand and need to look up in the Photoshop User Guide.
These forms also work very well for making notes about the steps and tools used in Photoshop tutorials that you find on the Internet.
Note that the images you see here have a one pixel black outline added to the html page so you can see the edges of the printable area. This black line is not included in the form. When printed, the page will extend beyond that outline according to your printer’s printable area specs.
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I have also made a form that you can print on the back of the page, above, so as not to waste paper. It simply adds more step blanks, numbers 8-15, and the same ‘undone’ column. The Photoshop Step Log header is removed, however. Right click on this link to download the Step Log Back Page.
The form below, for recording all tool, filter and effects settings is meant to accompany the above form. You should note the options bar or dialog box settings of all tools, filters and effects you use and note which step they refer to.
As soon as you are proficient with the type tool, you can customize this form to your own taste. Remember not to add large colored areas since you want to be able to print the pages out easily on plain paper. Large colored areas will make your paper wrinkly.
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Copyright © 2004 by Jay Arraich.
All rights reserved.
All photographs copyright ©2004 by Jay Arraich
jay@arraich.com
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