The first lesson of the Photoshop CS6 Tutorial Series covers two fundamentals: creating a new project and understanding save formats. Nail these and the rest of Photoshop opens up.
2026 note: This lesson was recorded on Photoshop CS6 in 2014. Adobe no longer sells the CS line — Photoshop now ships via Creative Cloud subscription. About 95% of the menus and shortcuts shown in the video still match the modern version; only the iconography is a bit fresher.
New Project — Step by Step
- File > New (shortcut
Ctrl/Cmd + N). - Set Width / Height based on the target — pixels for screen, cm/mm for print.
- Resolution: 72 DPI for screen, 300 DPI minimum for print.
- Color Mode: RGB for screen, CMYK for print.
- Background: pick Transparent if your composition needs an alpha channel.
Save Formats
- .PSD — Photoshop’s native format. Preserves layers, masks, smart objects. Always work in this.
- .JPG — photos, small file size, no transparency.
- .PNG — graphics that need transparency (logos, icons, UI).
- .GIF — light animated stills; the modern web prefers .WebP or .MP4.
- .WebP / .AVIF (added in 2026) — best web compression, 25–50% smaller than JPG/PNG.
Use File > Save As to pick a format, or File > Save for Web for fine-grained file-size control. In modern CC the menu is now File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy).
