Tutorial

Gallery : It's a Toy Story

2010-06-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

I was watching Shrek and then there's a trailer of Toy Story 3. And it just gave me this idea for our next inspirational gallery. So, I did some flickr-ing and compiled this cute and amazing toys photography. Each photo tells its own story. Our interpretation of what we see may be different and that's the fun thing about it. I like to believe that there's no boundaries to imagination. So, sit

Most Popular Photo Effect Tutorials

2010-05-30T00:31:00.000-07:00

Let me explain what this page is all about. It's always our mission to make your browsing easier. So, we've created this index page that listed all the photo effects tutorial we have covered since the very beginning of this blog. Click on the image to visit the tutorial page and start firing up your Photoshop for something cool and fun to try today. We will keep updating this page as something

The Ultimate Collection of Paper Textures

2010-05-26T06:55:00.000-07:00

Looking for high quality paper texture to be the canvas of your digital art? Well, high resolution paper textures are everywhere around the web. But, who knows..here will be the perfect place for you to find what you want. We have compiled 30 sets of paper textures with 100++ individual textures for your browsing and free download. There are yellow notebook paper, torn and ripped paper, old

Turn Photo to Comic or Cartoon Effect Action

2010-05-14T23:44:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of spreading happiness around the world, I'm sharing this comic effect action for FREE. This action is created in PS CS2 and it turns a boring photo into a smooth comic book effect with radiant coloring. If PS is smart enough, the action should work on any latest version of Photoshop, and oldest version if they have mercy. It may not be perfect but I got to say it's a pretty awesome

Must Download: 5 Basic Photo Coloring PSDs

2010-05-12T07:56:00.000-07:00

Five basic photo coloring effects that will come in handy when you're creating a memorable photo album. Black and white photo coloring, sepia tone coloring, soft blue-green coloring, polaroid photo coloring and the colorful gradient effect. All effects are achieved in Photoshop using the adjustment layers, making it flexible for you to adjust the settings according to your image condition. Learn

Fabulous Fonts in Capital Letters

2010-05-03T01:59:00.000-07:00

In your design, sometimes it will be much easier to use all uppercase fonts. Naturally, when you type in caps, each letter takes the same amount of space horizontally and vertically. So, you can closely arrange a word without overlapping the words below or above it which often happens when dealing with the g's, y's, l's or k's in lowercase letters. Of course there's no denying that a combination

Inspirational Selective Coloring Photography

2010-04-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

It's almost Friday, so it's about time we get a little bit more inspired. Weekend is coming, isn't that the best news ever =) I hope you find some inspiration in these amazing photos that brilliantly applied the concept of selective coloring. This effect is often used to emphasize the bright colors of the subject by keeping the background desaturated. Nothing to do this weekend? How about picking

Photo Vignette Effect in Photoshop

2010-04-23T22:38:00.000-07:00

Vignetting in photography sometimes is the undesired effect caused by lens limitations. And sometimes, it is intentionally created by photographer to draw viewers' focus to the center of the frame where the subject is. A photo will be bright and clear in the center, while the edges kind of darker. Don't worry though, if you don't have that super-expensive camera, because it's pretty easy to

Online Money Transfer: Safety Advice

2010-04-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

By: Devid Anderson

Globalization has lead to the demand for money transfer across countries like never before. Internet has made it all easy for us but you still need to be careful about who you trust your money with. As online money transfer services need to know your details like account numbers and personal information, safety comes into question.

Choosing the right company

Money transfer business is a big industry and a very profitable one too. Different people consider different criteria to choose the money transfer company. While some consider the reputation others look for the cheapest agency. It may not be a wise choice to go for the one that charges the least. This article is about how to transfer money safely and make sure you don't get tricked.

Judging the company

The size of the company does matter when it comes to online money transfer. A medium sized or a big company should be chosen over a small company. One should be aware of phishing scams where one gets emails asking for account details. Although the email claims to be a genuine company, trusting them blindly can prove costly. A company that is open about its charges and answers all your questions adequately is probably a good company.

Extra Charges

Always ask about the extra charges involved if any. Sometimes you may be charged for using credit cards so it is important to know how much will be deducted for the money transfer services. A good company will be able to answer your questions precisely about the current exchange rates, time taken for the transfer, etc. When they answer these questions without a problem, it shows that they are organized and know what they are doing. You may also want to ask them if they will give compensation on delayed transfers.

Passwords

Always make sure you don't tell anybody your password. In general, you wont need to give away your password to transfer money. Changing your password regularly is also a good practice and keep the password complicated by including numbers. Knowing the refund policy will also be helpful in case the recipient is unable to collect it. by being careful who you trust your money with, you will be able to make the right decisions. A good reputation is a very important thing and you should always choose a good company over a cheaper one to transfer money.

Sepia effect in Photoshop

2010-04-07T14:33:00.000-07:00

In this tutorial you will learn how to add a sepia effect to an image in Photoshop. There are many ways to achieve this effect but I will be using the channel mixer. I have used a free stock image for this tutorial, a full list of site containing free stock images can be found here.

Sepia effect in Photoshop

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop. I have used an image of a lion and lioness, but you can use any image.

Step 2

Remove the colour from the image by selecting on the menu bar Images > Adjustment > Desaturate. Alternative ways of removing colour can be found on this post.

Step 3

Now open up the channel mixer by selecting Images > Adjustment > Channel Mixer and add the following settings. I have set the output channel to red and the 35% for red, 70 for green and 10 for blue and 8% for the constant. You can feel free to change these settings to your liking.

You should now have a sepia effect in Photoshop and remember to subscribe in a RSS reader.

Sticker Effect with Dashed Line Around Image

2010-04-03T22:18:00.000-07:00

Not sure what is the right term for this effect. You'll have a cutout image, with a cool slash funky background for it. Amplify the effect by adding a white border around the image and a dashed line or dotted line surrounding it. This tutorial might seem quite long but it's actually a simple effect to achieve in Photoshop once you've got the hang of it. Pardon my abundant use of words, because

Quick tip 27 � Seeing font changes

2010-03-31T14:55:00.000-07:00

This is part 27 of the Photoshop quick tip series where you will learn how to visually see the font changes in Photoshop. Normally when you type some text on the canvas and want to change the font, you have to manually have to select the font from the drop down menu to see a different font.

Now wouldn�t it be easily if you could see the font changes directly instead of manually cycling through all the fonts. There is a quick solution to this problem which is to click the font from the drop down menu. Then use the up and down keys on the keyboard to cycle through the fonts. This means you will visually see the changes from the font instead of manually change the fonts.

Quick tip 26 � The hand tool

2010-03-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

This is part 26 of the Photoshop quick tip series where you will learn how to quickly select the Hand tool. The hand tool is similar to the selection tool, but you can click and drag around the Photoshop document. The main function of this tool is basically navigation.

To use the Hand tool you need to firstly open an image in Photoshop. If you want to quickly open a document in PS, checkout quick tip 3.

On the toolbar the Hand tool can be located just above the foreground and background palettes. Another method is to hold down the spacebar which is a very useful keyboard shortcut. The great benefit of this tool is that it will activate no matter what tool is currently selected.

Now zoom into your image Ctrl + then select the Hand tool (Spacebar) and you will be able to move around the zoomed in image by clicking and dragging.

Free Scrapbook Design Theme Resources

2010-03-06T21:26:00.000-08:00

I've always love scrapbook theme in web design. There's a warm feeling that I cannot explain. The random images and colorful pattern textures just make it more personalized and welcoming to the visitors. There are a lot of resources out there to help you create the warmest design. Some will cost you money which I'm sure is not the best option for you if you're just designing for fun. But there's

All the Crazy + Fun Stuffs To Do in Photoshop

2010-02-26T08:40:00.000-08:00

Photoshop isn't just for editing the brightness or increasing the contrast of your photo. There's no boundaries to all the crazy and fun stuffs you can do with Photoshop. With enough RAM, a pinch of imagination and some Photoshop skillz, you can create any effect you like. Compiled below are some tutorials to guide you thru the wonderful world of Photoshopping. Some effects can take only a couple

Airbrushing skin technique

2010-02-22T09:48:00.000-08:00

I found an excellent skin airbrushing tutorial over at tutorialpulse.com. This is a detailed thirteen step tutorial which layouts exactly how to have smooth skin using Photoshop. Each step contains a detailed description as well as a high resolution image to explain the procedures. The full article can be found here.

There is also an option to download the source files for free. If you want more digital makeovers checkout the, Digital makeover series and remember to subscribe.

Photoshop is 20 years old

2010-02-18T16:34:00.000-08:00

Today, 19/02/10, Adobe Photoshop is 20 years old. Photoshop has remained successful for the whole 20 years. It started as a black and white image editing program and now it has grown to a multi-product franchise with many different products in the Adobe family. As the years have progress Photoshop has develop new features with every new release and each time the interface get even better and more refined.

Over at the photoshopuser.com you can find details of an event which will take place to pay homage to this program. I believe Adobe are putting on an event to celebrate the 20 years since the first release of Photoshop 1.0.

Auto Contrast in Photoshop

2010-02-13T14:39:00.000-08:00

When you take Photographs outdoors, the weather can be misty, cloudy and hazy which can have a dull effect on your Photographs. You can try manually adjusting the contrast, brightness and gamma of the image, but this can take some time to tweak. A quick method of fixing the contrast in Photo is to use the Auto Contrast feature. The auto contrast works by adjusting shadows and highlights values in an image and then set the darkest and lightest pixels to pure black or pure white. This makes the highlights appear lighter and shadows darker and improves the appearance of your photographs.

To use the Auto contrast feature, follow the steps below.

1. Open up an image you wish to edit in Photoshop. To quickly auto up an image, checkout quick tip 3.

2. Then select Image > Auto Contrast if you are using Photoshop CS4. If you are using CS3 you may have to select Image > Adjustments > Auto Contrast.

Quick tip 25 � Black and white image

2010-02-05T14:33:00.000-08:00

This is part 25 of the Photoshop quick tip series where you will learn how to convert an image into black and white. I have actually previously created a tutorial that show you how to turn an image black and white which can be found here. I will be briefly discussing these methods in this quick tip.

The first method involves changing the default RGB mode in a colour image to the greyscale mode. This is not the most common method of converting to a black and white image. If you are using Photoshop CS4 you will receive a message asking if you want to discard the colour information. You click the discard button if you want to follow through with the conversion.

The second method is the most common and can be done through the menu bar or using shortcut keys. The default desaturate keyboard shortcut is Shift + Ctrl + U, or the menu bar option is Image > Adjustment > Desaturate.

The third method is similar to the second as it desaturate the image, the only difference is that it takes more time. You again can use keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl + U), or you can go through the menu bar by selecting Image > Adjustment > Hue/Saturation.

Quick tip 24 � Close multiple windows

2010-02-02T13:43:00.000-08:00

This is part 24 of the Photoshop quick tip series where you will learn how to close multiple windows in Photoshop. If you have several windows open in Photoshop you will receive a message asking whether you want to close down the window. This is not a problem if you have one or two windows, but if you have over ten windows open, this will be a very time consuming problem. When you close a window you get the following message.

There are two methods to close multiple windows. The first method is to hold down the Shift key then select File > Close on the menu bar. Or you can go directly to the menu bar and select File > Close All. This will close all the opened windows in Photoshop.

Make the Reds Pop in Photoshop

2010-01-31T22:38:00.000-08:00

Because ordinary picture is not an option..I'm gonna teach you how to achieve the extra-ordinary color in your digital photograph. We're gonna figure out how to make the reds pop and the yellows mellow..if you have blues, then, we'll just make them sparkle. How about all that for a very cool postcard..or a little bit of awesomeness to add to your digital art. And PSD file is included at the

Photoshop keyboard shortcuts archive

2010-01-29T08:43:00.000-08:00

Keyboard shortcuts have major benefits in improving speed and efficiency when working with Photoshop. Shortcuts allow use to quickly switch to a different tool without going to the tools panels. This can save a considerable amount of time when working with PS.

I previously wrote a post on the keyboard shortcuts for Photoshop which can be found here. The shortcuts from this post were from the default Adobe website. However, I found an excellent resource for shortcuts over at: morris-photographs. The photographer Trevor Morris has a great series of Photoshop keyboard shortcuts for most versions of Photoshop. I believe the version range from PS5 to PS CS4 which is seven series. These shortcuts are available to download in PDF format for free. To download these files, simply right click and select save as.

If you want to find out about quick tip for Photoshop then checkout this series.

Using the extract filter in Photoshop

2010-01-26T11:53:00.000-08:00

In this tutorial you will learn how to extract the background from an image using the extract filter in Photoshop. Extracting removes the background and leaves the object in place. You can also use the pen tool or the quick mask tool to remove the background, but I find using the extract filter easier.

Using the extract filter in Photoshop

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop. I have used a free stock image, but you can use whatever image you wish.

Step 2

Select the Extract filter by going to Filter > Extract. On the Tool options to the right, adjust the brush size to your liking. Then paint over the areas of the image to create an edge of where you want to retain like below. Notice that you don�t have to be too accurate with the paint brush as any mistakes can be later corrected.

Step 3

Select the Fill tool (G) on the tools panel on the left and fill in the selection. The selection will appear in a blue colour. If you wish to see what your image will look like you can click the preview button, otherwise click ok.

Step 4

My extracted image has not come out perfectly, but this can easily be fixed. Select the History Brush tool and recover any missing areas. Then select the eraser tool to remove any extra areas.

Once you have corrected the damaged area you will be left with the following image.

Now you can add any background of your choice to the image.

Quick tip 23 � Clear purge cache

2010-01-25T07:56:00.000-08:00

This is part 23 of the Photoshop quick tip series where you will learn how to clear the purge cache. The purge cache is basically the temporary files such as the undo states that Photoshop stores so that data can be easily retrieved at any point.

The process of storing all these files will cause Photoshop to slow down considerably especially if you have an older machine. This will also depend on the length of time you used Photoshop, so if you use PS for a short period of time then everything should be fine. However, if you use PS for longer periods of time, you may start to notice a slow down in the performance as PS is consuming lots of RAM memory. If you have an update to date machine with plenty of free RAM then clearing the purge should not be a problem.

To clear the purge in Photoshop, go to the menu bar then select Image > Purge this will remove all the temporary files, and your computer should run faster.

Remember to subscribe to keep up to date with all the Photoshop quick tips.

Metallic Toning Effect on your Portrait

2010-01-24T05:12:00.000-08:00

Not sure what to call this effect. It makes the color of the portrait quite metallic, like your skin was made of silver, bronze or maybe copper. I've seen it a couple of times in magazines when they have a big portrait of a stranger spread on a full page. So maybe it's about time I write something about this effect. Who would be more perfect for this metallic effect other than the Iron Man actor,

Quick tip 22 � Open two windows in Photoshop

2010-01-23T14:34:00.000-08:00

In this quick tip you will learn how to open two windows in Photoshop. For more quick tips, checkout the article on the Photoshop quick tip series.

When you are zoomed into an image in Photoshop making modifications, you sometimes need to see the overall result of your work. This involves zooming in and out of an image to see the results which can be rather time consuming. There is an easy solution to this problem. Simply go to menu bar and select Window > Arrange > New Window.

This will basically open up a new window of your current PS document. So if you make changes to the zoomed image, the results will be updated immediately in the new window. This allows you to see the overall PS document when you making modifications.

Quick tip 21 � Revert original features

2010-01-21T10:39:00.000-08:00

In this Photoshop quick tip series you will learn how to revert back to the original features of your image/file.

When you make lot of modifications to your image, you will sometimes need to revert back to the original features. Of course you can use undo, but this only has a certain number of undo slots. So if need to undo a lot of changes then this is not possible. You can the history panel as well, but this also has the same problem. Although you can increase the number of history slots from the Photoshop preferences.

To revert back to the original settings you select File > Revert or F12 on the keyboard. When you select this option, all the changes you had made to this file will get removed and will return to its original settings.

Quick tip 20 � Full screen mode

2010-01-19T15:52:00.000-08:00

In this Photoshop quick tip you will learn how to quickly switch to full screen mode. This is part 20 of the PQTS.

There are three screen modes in Photoshop with the default view being the most common. The default is when the screen shows all the palettes, menu bars and other screen elements.

To change to the full screen mode, you press the �F� key on the keyboard. When you press this key you will notice the size of your current document expand while the menu bar still remains. If you press the �F� key again, you will see the menu bar disappear while the background of Photoshop turns to a black colour.

You can also change to a different screen mode from the menu bar by selecting View > Screen mode.

Quick tip 19 � Hide the workspace

2010-01-18T07:02:00.000-08:00

This is part 19 of the Photoshop quick tip series where you will learn how to hide the workspace in Photoshop.

Hiding the workspace removes the toolbar and the palettes from view in Photoshop. This can be useful if you have an extremely large image and wish to see the whole image without zooming out.

To hide workspace including all the panels and palettes you select the Tab key on the keyboard, and you will be left with the following image in Photoshop. As you can see, only the menu bar still remains.

You can also only hide the palettes by selecting Shift + Tab which will leave the tool bar in place.

Please remember to subscribe to keep up to date with the latest tips.

Quick tip 18 � Font update

2010-01-15T16:03:00.000-08:00

This is part 18 of the Photoshop quick tip series where you will learn about the updating of fonts in Photoshop.

Did you know you can update fonts without needing to restart Photoshop, or have PS initially closed down? You can simply place the font file inside the system font folder and PS will update the changes instantly. So, for example if you have downloaded a new font from the internet, you can place the font inside the system font folder and use the new font straight away. The default location for font�s folder in windows is Start > Control Panel > Fonts.

If you want some free fonts, checkout my post on 8 free manga fonts and 8 free graffiti fonts.

Quick tip 17 � Redo Filter

2010-01-13T03:34:00.000-08:00

This is part 17 of the Photoshop quick tip series where you will learn how to repeat he last filter you applied to your image. Remember to subscribe to keep up to date with all the Photoshop quick tips.

Assuming you have already open up Photoshop and applied a filter to your image. To repeat the same filter, you simply select Ctrl + F on the keyboard, and you should notice the filter being applied again. The alternative method is to go through the menu bar by selecting Filter then choosing the first menu item. I applied a noise filter to my image, so will see the �Add Noise� item. If you look very carefully you will see the shortcut keys beside the menu item which is Ctrl + F.

Did you know you can also open up the last filter dialog box by selecting Ctrl + Alt +F on the keyboard? This is useful if you wish to make adjustments before applying the filter again.

If you know anymore shortcut regarding the filters, feel free to lave any comments below and remember to subscribe.

Black and white sketch effect

2010-01-10T09:39:00.000-08:00

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a black and white sketch effect using the threshold adjustment and various filters. The black and white sketch gives the effect of a hand drawn picture using black and white paint. I have used a free stock image of a woman, a full list of free stock images can be found here. This effect works best if you use a self portrait image.

Black and white sketch effect

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop.

Step 2

Select Image > Adjustments > Threshold and adjust the threshold levels to your liking and click ok. I have set my level to 109.

Step 3

Add a diffuse filter by selecting Filter > Stylize > Diffuse and select the option Anisotropic and click ok.

Step 3

Now add a sharpening filter by selecting Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen edges.

You should now have a black and white sketch effect.

6 Free New Year wallpapers

2010-01-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

The New Years celebrations have just finished, and what better way to honour the New Year by offering six free wallpapers. To download the wallpapers, simply right click and select �Save As�. All the wallpapers below are free to download.

Quick tip 17 � Resize an image

2010-01-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

This is part 17 of the Photoshop quick tip series where you will learn how to resize an image. Resizing an image is useful for reducing the size of an image file. Note that increasing or decreasing the size of an image too much can cause the image to become distorted and blurry.

Firstly, open an image in Photoshop. Then in the menu bar choose Image > Image Size and the following window dialog will appear.

Now, changing the image size is as simple as adjusting the width and height of the pixel dimensions. By default the �Constrain Proportions� option is checked which means that if either one the width or height settings are changed. The other option will be changed to match the aspect ratio of the overall image file. However, if you want custom dimensions you can uncheck this option.

20 Sets Doodle Brushes for Photoshop

2010-01-02T04:37:00.000-08:00

So, you tried to doodle or scribble on a peice of paper but nothing fun and cool came out. It's not the end of the world yet, coz our talented doodle artists are kind enough to share their sketchy scribble brushes with you. Enjoy 20+ sets of doodle Photoshop brushes for free, the cutest and coolest brushes you'll ever find on the web, well at least for now coz talented people just keep coming. 1.

Cross Processing Photo in Photoshop

2009-12-30T21:36:00.000-08:00

This will be my last post....in 2009. Tonight or tomorrow (depending on which time zone you live in), we'll be celebrating the NEW YEAR! And there will be lots of pictures captured by your camera..So, I think it's a good idea to close our chapter in 2009 with a photo cross-processing tutorial.When film was widely used in photography, cross-processing is defined as the procedure of deliberately

Quick tip 16 � Add extra canvas space

2009-12-30T05:22:00.000-08:00

This is part 16 of the Photoshop quick tip series where you will learn how to add more canvas space around an image.

You need to firstly have an image open in Photoshop. Then from the menu bar select Image > Canvas Size and you should see the following dialog window should open up.

To increase the canvas size, you simply adjust the width and height settings to whatever size you like. You can also set the anchor point of the canvas which will specify the direction where you want to increase the canvas size. So, for example if you want to increase the canvas in the left direction then you would select the right anchor point.

For more quick tips, checkout the post on the Photoshop quick tip series.

Quick tip 15 � Find centre of an image

2009-12-28T16:25:00.000-08:00

This is part 15 of the Photoshop quick tip series. In this tip you will learn how to quickly find the centre of an image.

You need to firstly open up an image in Photoshop. Then choose Select > All from the menu bar or Ctrl + A. Your image should be selected like below.

Now, you need to enter into �Free Transform Mode� by pressing Ctrl + T on the keyboard. You should now see a crosshair at the centre of the image like below:

Drag guides out to the centre of the crosshair and you should notice that it will snap into position. To remove the free transform mode, hit the Esc key on the keyboard. And to remove the selection around the image, hit Ctrl + D.

You should now be able to quickly find the centre of an image.

Colour correction in Photoshop

2009-12-22T08:20:00.000-08:00

In this tutorial you will learn how to perform colour correction in Photoshop using the Hue/Saturation adjustments settings and the Quick mask tool. I will be correcting the man�s t-shirt colour in this tutorial.

Colour correction in Photoshop

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop and the reset the colour palette by pressing the �D� key on the keyboard.

Step 2

Select the Brush tool with an appropriate size and then enter the quick mask mode by selecting the Q key. Then paint over the areas of the image where you don�t want to change the colour. Since, I only want to change the t-shirt colour this would be most of the image like below.

Step 3

Exit out of the Quick mask mode by selecting the Q key, and you should see the area around the t-shirt selected.

Step 4

Select Image > Adjustment > Hue/Saturation and then drag the sliders to your liking. I have added the following settings: Hue = 50, Saturation = 69 and Lightness = -18. Make sure you select the saturation checkbox.

You should now be able to perform colour correction in Photoshop.

Digital makeover series

2009-12-18T17:38:00.000-08:00

In this Photoshop series I will be providing tutorials on how to perform a complete digital makeover. This makeover will include the whole body and will be digitally enhancing various parts of the body. The techniques involved in this series will be fairly straight forward even if you have no knowledge of Adobe Photoshop. Please remember to subscribe for the latest digital series.

Airbrushing skin technique - Airbrush skin to make it look smooth and healthy with no wrinkles.
Remove red eyes from image � Learn how to use remove the red eyes from an image using the red eye tool.
Change eye colour � Transform the colour of your eyes in three simple steps.
Add lip gloss � Give your lips some extra shine with this tutorial.
Multicoloured iris � Instead of having on eye colour, why not have multicoloured iris.
Create an incredible Hulk look � Why not look like the incredible hulk with some nice green skin.

Partial Desaturate in Photoshop

2009-12-17T14:11:00.000-08:00

In this tutorial you will learn how to perform partial desaturating to an image. This means some parts of the image will remain black and white and other part will be in colour. You will need to use the quick mask tool for this tutorial, but you can also use the pen tool if you wish.

Partial Desaturate

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop and duplicate the background layer (Ctrl + J). Then reset the colour palette by pressing the �D� key.

Step 2

Select the Quick mask tool and hit the �Q� key on the keyboard to enter quick mask mode. Now paint over the areas of the image where you don�t want the black and white effect to appear. Note that this is the opposite way around. If you make a mistake you can use the eraser tool.

Step 3

Exit Quick mask mode by selecting the �Q� key again. Then choose Select > Inverse and your image should look like below:

Step 4

Now select Image > Adjustment > Desaturate and deselect the selection (Ctrl + D) and your image should look like below.

Photoshop CS2: As Real As it Gets

2009-11-14T22:26:00.000-08:00

Today, I discovered two awesome stuffs on the internet. First, a brilliant song by Glass Pear called Ghost..but, let's not talk about that because we all know, it would be kind of off-topic here...and second, the 'Real Photoshop' image below. It's the coolest image I have seen in a long time...with brilliant concept and super-awesome execution. For a Photoshop enthusiast like me, every time I

Collection of Brilliant Logo Design

2009-11-05T05:30:00.000-08:00

Some people are obsessed with logo and some just enjoy looking at something pretty and brilliantly designed. Whoever you are, we hope this post 25 Brilliantly Designed Logo can give you a little inspiration on your next project. Most of the logos here display the brilliant use of negative space in logo design. And some just need to be included here because they're too cool to be left out. Eh,

Cute Cats

2009-10-18T05:55:00.002-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files | 734.63 KB

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Very Sexy 02

2009-10-18T05:55:00.001-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files | 4.69 MB

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Very Sexy 01

2009-10-18T05:55:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files | 1.17 MB

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Ornamental Birds

2009-10-18T05:53:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files | 1.02 MB

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Exquisite Wings 01

2009-10-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files 1.24 MB

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Exquisite Wings 02

2009-10-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files 731.48 KB

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Exquisite Wings 03

2009-10-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files 657.55 KB

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Exquisite Wings 04

2009-10-14T18:29:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files 1.11 MB

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Exquisite Wings 05

2009-10-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files 670.69 KB

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Fantastic Butterfly 02

2009-10-09T05:37:00.001-07:00

20 CorelDRAW Files 2.32 MB

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Fantastic Butterfly 01

2009-10-09T05:37:00.000-07:00

20 CorelDRAW Files 2.33 MB

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Fantastic Butterfly 04

2009-10-09T05:36:00.001-07:00

20 CorelDRAW Files 1.78 MB

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Fantastic Butterfly 03

2009-10-09T05:36:00.000-07:00

20 CorelDRAW Files 1.66 MB

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Fantastic Butterfly 05

2009-10-09T05:35:00.000-07:00

20 CorelDRAW Files 1.78 MB

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Japanese Ladies in Traditional Costume

2009-10-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files | 1.10 MB

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Garfieldlike Cat

2009-10-06T16:21:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files | 601.57 KB

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Chilipeppers

2009-10-06T16:18:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files | 1.32 MB

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Boomboxes

2009-10-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files | 6.3 MB

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Tibet 01

2009-09-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files | 1.25 MB

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Tibet 02

2009-09-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files | 1.34 MB

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Tibet 03

2009-09-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files | 3.63 MB

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Camera

2009-09-28T18:22:00.000-07:00

6 CorelDRAW Files | 1.07 MB

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White

2009-09-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files | 420.19 KB

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Shoes

2009-09-27T04:31:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files | 469.82 KB

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Bottle Cap

2009-09-17T16:26:00.000-07:00

1 CorelDRAW Files | 1.22 MB

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CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips, and Tricks to add or delete components in a CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 installation

2009-09-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

The following CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips & Tricks post, have a title 'CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips, and Tricks to add or delete components in a CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 installation'. We hope by learning this CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips & Tricks post below will useful and helpful for all CorelDRAW users to know the secret of CorelDRAW and improve their CorelDRAW skills. Here are the CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips, and Tricks:

Close all applications.
On the Windows taskbar, click Start Control panel.
If your operating system is Windows 2000, click Start Settings Control Panel.
Double-click Add or remove programs.
In the Add or remove programs dialog box, choose CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 from the list, and click Change.
In the InstallShield wizard, click the Modify button .
Follow the instructions that appear.
Well done!
See also 'CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips, and Tricks to install CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 applications'

Best Sites to Download Free Patterns

2009-08-30T01:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, a white paint isn't gonna work for your wall decoration, you might opt for a nice wallpaper instead. Similar to design, there's time when that plain color isn't enough to give your work that fantastic look you're aiming for..and it's time like this you need to search for some textures or patterns. You can use patterns for any purpose you like, as background and foreground for images,

Old Vintage Photo Effect Action

2009-08-23T02:16:00.000-07:00

I found this action while browsing the internet for something cool and fabulous. And now, I'm addicted to this action. What this action does essentially is give your photo that old vintage look with an interesting coloring and lomo effect. And what I'm doing now is sharing with you my addiction. This old vintage action works well with any photo, even those you took with your digital camera.You

CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips, and Tricks to install CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 applications

2009-08-10T11:06:00.000-07:00

The following CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips & Tricks post, have a title 'CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips, and Tricks to install CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 applications'. We hope by learning this CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips & Tricks post below will useful and helpful for all CorelDRAW users to know the secret of CorelDRAW and improve their CorelDRAW skills. Here are the CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips, and Tricks:

The installation wizard makes it easy to install CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 applications and components. It lets you:

install any applications included in your software package
add and delete components in the current installation
repair the current installation by reinstalling all application features
uninstall CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3

Repairing an installation is useful when you encounter problems in using the application or when you suspect that the installation is corrupt. Before repairing an installation, try resetting the current workspace to the default settings by holding down F8 while starting the program.

Here are the steps on this 'CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips, and Tricks to install CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 applications':

Close all applications.
Insert CD 1 in the CD drive.
If the installation wizard does not start automatically, click Start on the Windows taskbar, and click Run.
Type D:\CGS13\Setup, where D is the letter that corresponds to the CD drive.
Follow the InstallShield wizard instructions for installing the software.
You can also activate the installation wizard by clicking Start on the Windows taskbar, clicking Run, and typing D:\autorun.
Well done!

Colorful Glowing Swirling Light Effects

2009-08-08T09:51:00.000-07:00

No new tutorials from me this week, but don't worry, you'll still gonna learn something. Check out these super fantastic glowing light tutorials that's gonna make your photo even more super fantastic than it already is!Some of you may have seen this swirling light effect several times and wonder to yourself, 'Damn! it's super cool, how can I do that in Photoshop?' Well, stop wondering and start

Frame Border Brushes Collection

2009-08-01T22:17:00.000-07:00

What's a picture without a good frame..that's right, it's just a picture. And if you have Photoshop, using the picture frame brushes, you can decorate your photo or design..making it more interesting and unique compared to your other regular pictures. Following this geeky introduction are some of the best frame border brushes you could ever found on the web. Download links will take you to the

Bling Bling Text Effect

2009-07-12T03:52:00.000-07:00

You're a fan of hip-hop? rap maybe? Me..not so much. But that bling bling thang hanging around their necks are pretty cool. And if you can't afford the real one, let's make a digital bling then. This tutorial will help you achieve the bling text effect in Photoshop. It's pretty realistic..just look at the samples below. So, you're ready to pimp your text with some metallic shiny blink? Don't feel

60+ Handwriting Fonts Cool Collection

2009-07-05T01:41:00.000-07:00

Tired of those block or Serifs fonts that make your design look somewhat serious and undistinctive. Try some of these handwriting fonts to add that personal human touch to your design. Okay, maybe there's a lot more handwriting fonts out there, but I hope this compilation would be enough to get you started. You can find something that fits your design mood here...whether it's romantic,

Painting the figures with Photoshop cs4

2009-07-04T22:26:00.000-07:00

17 In the Tool Options bar, set the
opacity of the brush to 100% and the
flow to 50%. Add this brush to the Tool Preset picker and name it “ base color, ” as we’ll be using it to create a flat, colored base for the figures and the stars. Use this brush to add flat color on the new layer in all empty regions of the figures and the stars. Choose colors from the background via the Eyedropper or select them from the Swatches palette. Increase or decrease the size of the brush tip as necessary.

18 Create a new layer and select the Chalk Blender preset that you created earlier from the Tool Preset picker. As you did earlier with the background, blend the colors beneath this layer together with the Chalk Blender preset on your new layer. Hold down Alt(PC)/Option(Mac) to quickly sample colors from the canvas and then paint with your newly sampled colors in the appropriate areas until sharp areas of color begin to blend together on this layer. Feel free to alter brush size and opacity as required. Also, feel free to add new areas of color on this layer to indicate highlights and shadows.

19 When you are finished adding colors and creating a blending effect on this layer, create a new layer and target it in the Layers palette. Select your Spatter Brush preset from the Tool Preset picker. Now use the spatter brush to paint some light, yet rougher brush strokes over your recently blended areas on the new layer. Use colors sampled from the canvas or from the ever-growing amount of custom swatches in the Swatches palette. Vary the brush size and opacity as needed. You probably want to leave the flow setting fairly low so that the bristles remain pronounced in each stroke.

20 Now use your three custom brushes as well as your dual brush to really add a sense of roughness to the figures and the stars by painting with them on the current layer. Vary size, color, and opacity as needed. Also, if you feel like experimenting, yet are worried about making a mistake on your current layer, go ahead and create another layer to work on. This way, if you like the effect, you can keep the layer. If you don’t like it, you can always delete the layer or even reduce the opacity to lessen the effect.

Viewing Photoshop’s Parts and Processes

2009-07-03T18:40:00.000-07:00

In many respects, Photoshop CS4 is just another computer program — you launch the program, open files, save files, and quit the program quite normally. Many common functions have common keyboard shortcuts. You enlarge, shrink, minimize, and close windows as you do in other programs.

Reviewing basic computer operations

Chapter 3 looks at Photoshop-specific aspects of working with floating panels, menus and submenus, and tools from the Options bar, but I want to take just a little time to review some fundamental computer concepts.

Launching Photoshop

You can launch Photoshop (start the program) by double-clicking an image file or through the Applications folder (Mac) or the Start menu (Windows). Mac users can drag the Photoshop program icon (the actual program itself) to the Dock to make it available for one-click startup. You can find the file named Adobe Photoshop CS4 inside the Adobe Photoshop CS4 folder, inside the main Applications folder. (Chapter 3 shows you the Photoshop interface and how to get around in the program.)

Never open an image into Photoshop from removable media (CD, DVD, your digital camera or its Flash card, Zip disks, jump drives, and the like) or from a network drive. Always copy the file to a local hard drive, open from that drive, save back to the drive, and then copy the file to its next destination. You can open from internal hard drives or external hard drives, but to avoid the risk of losing your work (or the entire image file) because of a problem reading from or writing to removable media, always copy to a local hard drive.

Make The background and figure outlines

2009-07-03T00:18:00.000-07:00

5 Target your new layer in the Layers palette and begin to paint a series of strokes on the new layer. Focus on areas that are the background, as indicated in the sketch. Just start painting some strokes; don’t cover the line work of the sketch on the underlying layer; and allow a little white to show through between strokes here and there. Also, increase and decrease the brush diameter in the Brushes palette to accommodate different regions on the canvas. For open areas of the background, use a brush of very large diameter; for tighter regions, such as between the small figure’s fingers, use a brush of much smaller diameter.

6 Choose a different color from either the picker or one of your own custom swatches and paint the background area at the bottom of the canvas. When you’refinished, choose a black foreground color and create a new layer in the Layers palette. Target the new layer and use the brush to begin tracing the black outlines of the underlying sketch on this new layer. Reduce the opacity of your brush in the Tool Options bar to 50% so that there is a translucent effect as you paint small strokes over the top of each other.

7 Click on the Brush Tip Shape option from the left in the Brushes palette. Use this area often to vary the angle of the brush as you paint. You’ll need to tweak the angle frequently when painting around areas such as the heads of these creatures. If you don’t adjust the angle at times, there will be areas where the strokes appear too thin compared to others. Click on Shape Dynamics in the Brushes palette to enable Shape Dynamics and then on the Angle Jitter Control menu to view the options.

8 Choose the Direction option from the Control menu, but leave the angle jitter amount set to 0. This setting causes your brush to base the angle of the brush tip on the directions of your stroke as you paint them. Because we still want a somewhat smooth edge to the strokes, the amount is set to 0. The more you increase the amount, the rougher the edges of the strokes will appear. By simply enabling the Shape Dynamic function, you can save yourself the trouble of having to constantly adjust the angle as you paint. Finish painting the black outline.

9 Reduce the opacity of your brush to 25% and then open the Tool Preset picker at the far left of the Tool Options bar. Click on the Create New Tool Preset button. When you are prompted, name the tool “ Chalk Blender. ” Disable the Include Color option and click OK. This brush is now added to the preset picker, with all of the Brushes palette options and dynamic functions intact. You can access it directly from the preset picker from now on. Create a new layer in the Layers palette and ensure that it is targeted.

10 Use your current brush, set to 25% opacity, to blend the background fill colors together on the new layer; this is precisely why we named the preset “ Chalk Blender. ” Start by painting strokes over the areas where light and dark colors meet. Paint dark strokes over light areas, and vice versa. Go back and forth painting like this until colors begin to blend together. Change the direction of your brush strokes often as well as the size of your brush tip. Also, if using an opacity of 25% does not give you a blend effect that is as smooth as you’d like, try reducing it when necessary.

11 Now add different colors from the Swatches palette into the background here and there, using the same brush on the current layer. Try initially adding them using a higher brush opacity setting, and then blending them into the background using lower opacity settings. A quick way to work is to Alt(PC)/Option(Mac)-click on areas of the canvas to sample color rather than always returning to the Swatches palette. This technique is especially useful when blending as you can sample “ in-between ” colors. Using this method, if you happen to sample a foreground color that you like, feel free to add it to the Swatches palette so that you can access it later.

12 In the Brush presets section of the Brushes palette, select the spatter 59 pixels Brush Tip preset. Now, in the Brush Tip Shape section of the Brushes palette, adjust the angle of the brush tip until you’ve achieved the roughest looking stroke possible. In the Tool Options bar, set the opacity of the brush to 35% and the flow value to 15%. Save this new brush as a tool preset and name it Spatter Rough.

13 Create a new layer and use your newly created tool preset to paint over areas of the canvas on this layer. Increase or decrease the opacity as required and use colors from the canvas or the Swatches palette. The goal here is to paint with the new brush over areas that look very smooth. Because of the brush tip and very low flow setting, the resulting strokes will add a rougher, more textured feeling to the areas you paint. Using large brush strokes and bold colors will pronounce the rough effect. Use this effect sparingly as it can tend to overpower an illustration.

14 Open up the brush1.jpg file. Choose Edit > Define Brush preset from the menu. Name your brush and return to the working file. Choose your new custom brush tip from the end of the list in the Brush Presets section of the Brushes palette. In the Brush Tip Shape section of the Brushes palette, set the spacing to 1. In the Tool Options bar, set the opacity to 50% and the flow to 15%. Save this brush as a new tool preset. Use this same method to open up brush2. jpg and brush3.jpg and save them as new tool presets, using the same spacing, opacity, and flow settings.

15 Now that you have added three new custom brushes and a new dual brush to the Tool Preset picker, use them to paint some rough strokes on this layer. Just because the presets contain embedded settings for opacity and flow, that doesn’t mean that you can’t change them each time you use them. Use a variety of colors, brush sizes, opacity, and flow settings to introduce some very real and tactile feeling brush strokes on the current layer. Again, ensure that you do not overdo it as these new brushes, which produce such distinct strokes, can visually overpower the softly blended background quite easily.

16 When you’re finished, target the top layer and then Shift-click on the layer directly above the background layer in the Layers palette. This will target all of your paint layers. Choose Layer > N e w > Group From Layers from the menu to add them to a group. Because we’re going to start painting the other image components, this grouping of layers will help us keep things separate and organized. Create a new layer for the base color of the figures. In the Brushes palette, choose one of the default chalk brush tip presets. Ensure that Smoothing is enabled, and in the Brush Tip Shape section of the palette, reduce the spacing amount to 1.

Photoshop CS3 : Auto Blend Keren

2009-07-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

Kali ini saya akan kasih tutorial tentang bagaimana cara nya menggabungkan banyak foto dengan tanpa keliatan list pinggirnya atau bahasa design nya nge-Blend atau nge-blur pinggirnya.cara manual sebenernya bisa. Tapi untuk yang sudah pake adobe Photoshop CS3, bikin bgituan gampang banget. Toolnya udah disediain yaitu Auto Blend Layer.

Seperti biasa buka file baru ukuran brapa aja… kalo buat wallpaper di desktop kamu buat file baru dengan ukuran 1024 x 768 px. Saya kasih contoh pake ukuran kecil aja yaa.

Udah gitu… cari file-file gambar yang mau digabungin.. 7 atau 8 gambar aja. Buka semuanya di photoshop.

Terus Tarik gambar-gambar tadi ke file yang baru dibuat. (Drag & Drop) terus atur sedemikian rupa…

Kalo dah selesai ngaturnya… skarang le Layer Palette. blok semua layer gambar kecuali layer background. terus Klik Edit > AutoBlend-Layer.

Hasil akhirnya begono nih.. hehehe..

Keren kan bos… tapi sayang nya cuman ada di adobe photoshop CS3

Cara Mengubah Ukuran Gambar

2009-07-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

1. Buka Gambar

2. Pilih menu Image> Image Size

3. Ubah ukuran lebar, tinggi, dan resolusi gambar

4. Klik OK

Specialized software (Photoshop CS4)

2009-07-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

Admittedly, Photoshop CS4 just plain can’t do some things. It won’t make you a good cup of coffee. It can’t press your trousers. It doesn’t vacuum under the couch. It isn’t even a substitute for iTunes, Microsoft Excel, or Netscape Navigator — it just doesn’t do those things.

However, there are a number of things for which Photoshop isn’t designed that you can do in a pinch. If you don’t have InDesign, you can still lay out the pages of a newsletter, magazine, or even a book, one page at a time. (With Bridge’s Ouput panel, you can even generate a multipage PDF document from your individual pages.) If you don’t have Dreamweaver or GoLive, you can use Photoshop to create a Web site, one page at a time, sliced and optimized and even with animated GIFs. You also have tools that you can use to simulate 3D in Photoshop CS4, such as Vanishing Point

Page layout in Photoshop isn’t particularly difficult for a one-page piece or even a trifold brochure. Photoshop has a very capable type engine, considering the program is designed to push pixels rather than play with paragraphs.

Photoshop even shows you a sample of each typeface in the Font menu. Choose from five sizes of preview in Photoshop’s Preferences➪Type menu. However, you can’t link Photoshop’s type containers, so a substantial addition or subtraction at the top of the first column requires manually recomposing all of the following columns. After all, among the biggest advantages of a dedicated page layout program are the continuity (using a master page or layout) and flow from page to page. If you work with layout regularly, use InDesign.

Font previews in five delicious flavors!

Dreamweaver is a state-of-the-art Web design tool, with good interoperability with Photoshop. However, if you don’t have Dreamweaver and you desperately need to create a Web page, Photoshop comes to your rescue. After laying out your page and creating your slices, use the Save for Web & Devices command to generate an HTML document (your Web page) and a folder filled with the images that form the page . One of the advantages to creating a Web page in Dreamweaver rather than Photoshop is HTML text. (Using Photoshop, all the text on your Web pages is saved as graphic files. HTML text not only produces smaller Web pages for faster download, but it’s resizable in the Web browser.)

You can create an entire Web page in Photoshop.

Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended

2009-07-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

Although there have been different versions of Photoshop for years (Photoshop versus Photoshop LE versus Photoshop Elements), as with the prior release of Photoshop, Adobe is offering two different versions of Photoshop CS4. Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended both have all of Photoshop’s powerful image-editing, vector-drawing, painting, and type capabilities. Photoshop CS4 Extended also includes some very specialized, highly technical features for use in science, research, and video editing, and for use with 3D modeling programs.

So, if you have Photoshop CS4 rather than Photoshop CS4 Extended, should you feel cheated or like a second-class citizen? Nope! Unless you specifically need those extended features, there’s no real reason to purchase them. But what if you got Photoshop CS4 Extended as part of a Creative Suite or Adobe Bundle package of software — did you pay forsomething you don’t need? Well, sort-of-yeahbut-not-really. The folks who’re really paying extra for the extended features are those who purchase Photoshop CS4 Extended as a standalone program. The additional cost they pay funds the research and development of the extended features.

So why didn’t I get to choose between Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended when I ordered my Bundle or Suite? Buying software shouldn’t be as complicated as, say, ordering a cup of coffee. (Caf, de-caf, half-caf? Latte, espresso, cappuccino? White, brown, or raw sugar? Cream, half-and-half, milk, or skim? Small, medium, large, super, or el grosso maxmo?) It could get quite confusing. Imagine trying to wade through all of the thousands of products if Adobe marketed every possible combination as a separate Bundle or Suite or Studio! You’d spend so much time trying to find your perfect bundle, you’d never get to use the software.

Other things you can do with Photoshop

2009-07-02T19:33:00.000-07:00

Although Photoshop isn’t a page layout or illustration program, you certainly can produce simple brochures, posters, greeting cards, and the like using

only Photoshop. One of the features that sets Photoshop apart from basic image editors is its powerful type engine, which can add, edit, format, and stylize text as capably as many word-processing programs. Photoshop even has a spell check feature — not bad for a program that’s designed to work with photos, eh?
Even if you don’t have the high-end video features found in Photoshop CS4 Extended, you can certainly supplement your video-editing program with Photoshop CS4 (even if Photoshop can’t open and play movies you capture with your video camera). From Adobe Premiere (or other professional video programs), you can export a series of frames in the FilmStrip format, which you can open and edit in Photoshop.

Paint With Photoshop CS4

2009-07-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

1.Open up the sketch.jpg file. Starting with a sketch is an essential part of the process when painting in the tactile realm, and working in Photoshop is no exception. The main difference here is that in this case the sketch is scanned rather than being drawn directly onto the canvas. Once you’ve opened up the sketch, select the Brush tool. In the Brushes palette, enable the Smoothing option at the left. We’re going to work with this option enabled for the entire chapter because smoothing guarantees that your brush strokes contain nice, smooth curves. And that is an essential quality when you want your painting to look convincing.

Default brushes

Although Photoshop is equipped with a plethora of excellent brush libraries, we’re going to focus on some simple default brushes capable of producing exceptional results.

a. The spatter brushes may not look like much within a vast list of presets,but these simple clusters of spots are very useful. There are a number of different tips and sizes to choose from. Regardless of which option you go with, any spatter brush gives the effect of using a brush with some stray dry bristles sticking out around the edges. Painting over the top of the colored regions of the canvas with a spatter brush allows you to create a bristled, tactile effect.

b. The chalk brushes are denser than the spatter brushes but equally as useful. Strokes created with chalk brushes do not have any stray bristles sticking out the sides, but they do provide a nice rough effect at the beginning and at the ending of each stroke. They are ideal for establishing basic, yet convincing, colored regions within your painting.

c. The Dual Brush option is an excellent tool that allows you to combine two different brushes within a single tip. Why do we point out this single feature amid a sea of others? Well, using the Dual Brush option allows you to quickly and easily combine two brush tips to create a new one. We’ll explore this feature in detail using custom brush tips later in the chapter.

2 Now, the next thing we’re going to do is establish the Swatches palette as our paint palette and fill it with our own set of colors unique to this painting. By doing this, we can return to the Swatches palette and select one of our custom colors at any point later on. Choose Edit Preset Manager from the menu. Choose Swatches from the Preset Type menu. The Preset Manager can also be accessed via the Swatches Palette menu. If you access it via the Swatches Palette menu, the Preset Type is automatically set to Swatches. When the swatches appear, click on the first swatch and then Shift-click on the last swatch. This will target all of the swatches. When all of the swatches are targeted, click on the Delete button. After they’re all deleted, click on the Done button to exit the Preset Manager, and you’ll notice that the Swatches palette has been emptied.

3 When the Swatches palette is empty, click on the Foreground Color swatch in the toolbox to access the picker. Select a new foreground color from the picker and click OK. Move the mouse over the empty area of the Swatches palette. You’ll see it temporarily switch to a paint bucket. When you see the paint bucket, click to add the new color to the Swatches palette. Name your new swatch when prompted and then click OK. After naming, the new color is added to the Swatches palette. Use this method to add a variety of colors to the Swatches palette. This method is an excellent way to exercise a little forethought, establishing a predefined color scheme to work within before you begin painting.

4 After selecting the Brush tool, choose the largest Chalk Brush preset from the Brushes
palette. In the Brush Tip Shape section of the Brushes palette, increase the diameter of the brush. You want a large brush here because, first, we want to cover most of the background with color, giving us a new base color other than white. Leave the spacing option enabled but reduce the amount to 1 so that there is no stepping or spaced brush marks present within your strokes. Choose a foreground color from the Swatches palette and click the Create a New Layer button in the Layers palette.

Creative Techniques and Working Methods Photoshop Cs4

2009-07-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

Think of Photoshop as your digital studio

When it comes to working, Photoshop nicely addresses the issue of translating your traditional tools from within the tactile realm into their digital counterparts. The Swatches palette can be thought of as your artist’s palette, allowing you to store all of the colors you’re going to use. The Tool Preset picker is a fantastic place to store your brushes as you create them, allowing you to instantly switch back and forth between your own custom tools.

When you decide to use Photoshop as your digital paint tool, you’ll never run out of paint or canvas, you’ll never misplace your favorite tool, and you’ll never have to worry about cleaning your brushes at the end of the day. As you work your way through this chapter, not only will you learn to paint methodically, but you’ll also gain an understanding of the organizational potential within Photoshop.

The Brushes palette
The Brushes palette is an excellent resource for crafting convincing and customized brush looks. Whether you want to simply tweak a preset brush tip or create something entirely new with which to paint, everything you need is there.

Painting on layers
Layers are invaluable tools when painting too, as they allow you to separate applications of paint, giving you the flexibility to edit specific painted regions and colors without affecting the rest of your image. In addition to editing advantages, layers also allow you to easily and gently build up brush strokes within your file, resulting in a beautiful and authentic appearance.

Painting in Photoshop

2009-07-01T21:28:00.000-07:00

The simulation of natural media is always a tricky prospect when working digitally. There are endless filters and niche applications out there that promise convincing results. However, quick fixes and prefab effects often are disappointing . When you are painting digitally, the old saying “ If you want something done right, do it yourself ” comes to mind, and this is exactly what you’ll learn to do in this chapter . Photoshop may not be the first application that you think of when you’re setting out to paint. However, a closer look at what Photoshop has to offer in terms of paint tools will reveal that everything you need is there. The tools and features at your disposal are a bottomless pit of options and flexibility. There is a little something in there to suit any user or simulate almost any artistic style.

Equally as valuable when it comes to painting are all of the image compositing tools at your disposal. A successful painted result relies not only on actual brush strokes but also on the way the image is carefully constructed within Photoshop. In this chapter, rather than predictably going through every single appropriate tool and feature like a list, you will focus more on establishing a logical method of working as well as explore the techniques involved in building up a realistic-looking painted file.

What Photoshop is designed to do

2009-07-01T21:20:00.000-07:00

Adobe Photoshop is an image-editing program. It’s designed to help you edit images — digital or digitized images, photographs, and otherwise. This is the core purpose of Photoshop. Over the years, Photoshop has grown and developed, adding features that supplement its basic operations. But at its heart, Photoshop is an image editor. At its most basic, Photoshop’s workflow goes something like this: You take a picture, you edit the picture, and you print the picture (as illustrated in Figure 1-1).

Basic Photoshop: Take photo, edit photo, print photo. Drink coffee (optional)

Whether captured with a digital camera, scanned into the computer, or created from scratch in Photoshop, your artwork consists of tiny squares of color, which are picture elements called pixels. (Pixels and the nature of digital imaging are explored in depth in Chapter 2.) Photoshop is all about changing and adjusting the colors of those pixels — collectively, in groups, or one at a time — to make your artwork look precisely how you want it to look. (Photoshop, by the way, has no Good Taste or Quality Art filter. It’s up to you to decide what suits your artistic or personal vision and what meets your professional requirements.) Some very common Photoshop image-editing tasks are shown in Figure 1-2: namely, correcting red-eye and minimizing wrinkles .

Some common Photoshop tasks.

New in Photoshop CS4 is the powerful ability to rotate the image on screen while you’re working. Not rotate the image itself — Photoshop has had that capability for ages — but to rotate the appearance of the image in the workspace. This is especially handy when doing delicate masking and painting, enabling you to orient the image on screen to best suit your stroke. As you can see in Figure 1-3, while you’re rotating, a red arrow indicates the image’s true “up.” Double-clicking the Rotate tool icon in the Toolbox restores the image’s orientation. (This feature is not available on older computers with less powerful video cards.)

Rotate while you work, without damaging the image’s quality!

Over the past few updates, Photoshop has developed some rather powerful illustration capabilities to go with its digital-imaging power. Although Photoshop is still no substitute for Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop certainly can serve you well for smaller illustration projects. (Keep in mind that Photoshop is a raster art program — it works with pixels — and vector artwork is only simulated in Photoshop.) Photoshop also has a very capable brush engine, which makes it feasible to paint efficiently on your digital canvas. Figure 1-4 shows a comparison of raster artwork (the digital photo, left), vector artwork (the illustration, center), and digital painting (right). The three types of artwork can appear in a single image, too.

You can use Photoshop with raster images, vector artwork, and even to paint.

Photoshop CS4 includes some basic features for creating Web graphics, including slicing and animations (but Web work is best done in a true Web development program, such as Dreamweaver). Photoshop’s companion program Adobe Bridge even includes the Output panel to help you create entire Web sites to display your artwork online and PDF presentations for on-screen display, complete with transition effects between slides.

Exploring Adobe Photoshop

2009-07-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

Photoshop is used for an incredible range of projects, from editing and correcting digital photos to preparing images for magazines and newspapers to creating graphics for the Web. You can also find Photoshop in the forensics departments of law-enforcement agencies, scientific labs and research facilities, and dental and medical offices, as well as in classrooms, offices, studios, and homes around the world. As the Help Desk Director for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), my team and I solve problems and provide solutions for Photoshop users from every corner of the computer graphics field and from every corner of the world. People are doing some pretty amazing things with Photoshop, many of which are so far from the program’s original roots that it boggles the mind!

Welcome to Photoshop!

2009-07-01T21:17:00.000-07:00

Adobe Photoshop is, without question, the leading image-editing program in the world. Photoshop has even become somewhat of a cultural icon.It’s not uncommon to hear Photoshop used as a verb (“That picture is obviously Photoshopped!”), and you’ll even see references to Photoshop in the daily comics and cartoon strips. And now you’re part of this whole gigantic phenomenon called Photoshop.

Whether you’re new to Photoshop, upgrading from Photoshop CS3 or earlier, or transitioning from Elements to the full version of Photoshop CS4 or Photoshop CS4 Extended, you’re in for some treats. Photoshop CS4 has an intriguing new look that enables you to do more, and do it more easily, than ever. Before I take you on this journey through the intricacies of Photoshop, I want to introduce you to Photoshop in a more general way. In this chapter, I tell you what Photoshop is designed to do, what it can do (although not as capably as job-specific software), and what you can get it to do if you try really, really hard. I also review some basic computer operation concepts and point out a couple of places where Photoshop is a little different than most other programs. At the end of the chapter, I have a few tips for you on installing Photoshop to ensure that it runs properly.

Deliberate Mismatching

2009-07-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

When it comes to choosing colors, I recommend 3-way matching and using blue for the links. But there is another strategy that you can use.

You can deliberately mismatch your ad colors and styles, provided you keep it to the top of your page.

This distinction generates two powerful 'zones' and therefore two types of experience for the visitor.

The first zone is always at the top of the first page, above the main site banner. The titles and text colors match colors found in the banner graphic heading. (Important — the URL links are hidden, so only certain text ads wiallow you to do this.)

The end result is that these ads, placed above the banner graphic look like key control points for your site and are just more likely to be clicked. The visitor feels that they are visiting another major area of that site.

an ad zone at the top and a free article beneath. Implementing this design increased their revenues FIVE-FOLD!

Where Did My URL Go?

2009-07-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

You can change the color of your text and you can make sure that your links scream, “I’m a FREE road to where you want to go!”

But you still have to display the URL. It’s one of Google’s rules. But you don’t have to display it in a way that people can see it.

One legitimate trick to make the click-through link less obtrusive is to change the URL display color to match the text description color. Now the link will blend in with the text description and the eye will be drawn to the hyperlink instead of the URL. Google provides these tools for you. Why not use them?

Note that the 728 x 90 leaderboard and the 468 x 60 banner do not display the URL line by Google’s design. It is not a mistake and you will not get in trouble for the URL not appearing with these ad blocks. It’s just the way it is.

CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips, and Tricks to highlight what was new in earlier versions of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3

2009-06-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

Below here, you can find and read our short and useful 'CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips, and Tricks to highlight what was new in earlier versions of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3'. This 'CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips, and Tricks to highlight what was new in earlier versions of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3' are very useful for all CorelDRAW users, especially for CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3. Let's follow the steps on this 'CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips, and Tricks to highlight what was new in earlier versions of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3' below:

CorelDRAW Tutorial, Tips, and Tricks to highlight what was new in earlier versions of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3

Click Help > Highlight what’s new, and click one of the following commands:

Since version 12 — highlights menu commands and tools introduced in version X3
Since version 11 — highlights menu commands and tools introduced in versions 12 and X3
Since version 10 — highlights menu commands and tools introduced in versions 11, 12, and X3
Since version 9 — highlights menu commands and tools introduced in versions 10, 11, 12, and X3
No highlight — removes highlighting from menu commands and tools in the toolbox

Blue Is Best

2009-06-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

So you want to get rid of the border. You want to get your ads the same color as the text on the rest of your page and the background matching the background color of your Web page.

But what about the link itself, the line the user is actually going to click? What color should that be? That’s an easy one: blue.

I used to say that all the text in the ad should match the text on your page, including the link. After seeing an article about the benefits of keeping the links blue — and testing extensively — I don’t say that any more.

The logic is that users have come to expect links on websites to be blue. Just as they expect stop signs to be red and warning signs to be yellow, so they expect their links to blue.

That means people are more likely to click on a blue link than a link in any other color.

The line in your AdSense code that sets the color of your link is the one that says:

Google_color_link = “#color”;

“#color” is the hexadecimal number for the color you want to use. You should make sure that number is #0000FF.

Keep your link blue and you can experience an increase in click-throughs as high as 25 percent!

Text Is Design Too!

2009-06-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

That's right: the text size, font, color and the color of your ads must match the other text elements. If the text color of the ads is the same as the text in the body of your page, it’ll help the ads blend into the site and make the reader feel that you’ve endorsed them.

And if the size of the font in the ads is the same as the size of the main body of the content, it will have the same effect: they’ll look like part of your site and not something brought in by Google. That’s the sort of blending that translates into clicks.

Format your text ads to maximize clicks! On my blog, I have removed the border and matched the ad’s background color and fonts to my content. See
more at http://www.joelcomm.com

This 3-way matching (titles, text and background) can generate excellent click-through rates. Too many text styles add clutter and can confuse your visitors. Instead, try every legitimate way to make the ads look like a part of your web content.

In other words use the colors to make sure that your ads don't look like ads!

Web Designers Guide to Adobe Photoshop

2009-06-29T13:33:00.000-07:00

272 Pages | HTML Compile | 7MB

While Adobe Photoshop is the standard application for editing images for print, its powerful features also make it useful for editing images placed on the Internet. Web Designer's Guide to Adobe Photoshop goes beyond an explanation of creating and editing images by focusing on the next step in web development: placing images and graphics into working web pages. Whether your goal is to expand your professional skills or simply handle your local club's website, this book will help you not only create web pages but also get them working properly on the World Wide Web.

Learn how to:

* Work with layers, layer styles, and patterns.
* Create shapes with selections.
* Combine and crop images.
* Create web buttons, headers, and backgrounds.
* Add content to a web page using Macromedia Dreamweaver.
* Design web pages of various styles.

Whether your goal is to expand your professional skills or simply handle your local club’s website, this book will help you not only create web pages but also get them working properly on the World Wide Web.

Table of Contents:
Web Designer’s Guide to Adobe Photoshop
Introduction
Part I - Web Design Basics
Chapter 1 - The World of Web Design
Chapter 2 - Getting Started with Photoshop
Chapter 3 - Working with Layers
Chapter 4 - Creating Shapes with Selections
Part II - Pulling It All Together
Chapter 5 - Combining Images
Chapter 6 - Creating Web Headers
Chapter 7 - Pulling a Web Page Together
Chapter 8 - Creating Web Backgrounds
Part III - Publishing to the World Wide Web
Chapter 9 - Working with Dreamweaver
Chapter 10 - Creating a , Professional, Web Page Style
Chapter 11 - Designing a, Modern, Web Page Style
Chapter 12 - Going Live with Your Website
Appendix A - Top Ten Web Design Mistakes
Appendix B - Recommended Books
Appendix C - Web Designer’s Glossary
Index

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Creative Photoshop CS4 - Digital Illustration and Art Techniques

2009-06-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

If you are a digital artist, illustrator, cartoonist, graphic artist, designer, or serious hobbyist looking for new and interesting ways to use Photoshop, this is the book for you! You already know how to use Photoshop as an image editing tool; now, challenge yourself and discover the more artistic aspects of the program with one of the world’s best teachers by your side.

In addition to four brand new chapters on real world projects, this new edition of award-winning digital artist Derek Lea’s bestselling Creative Photoshop contains several brand new features such as "What you’ll learn in this chapter" summaries, so you can quickly find projects using the specific tools you’d like to focus on, and supplementary information at the end of each chapter, containing useful resources and additional gallery images to provide further study and inspiration. As you work through Derek’s fantastic artistic methods, be sure to visit www.creativephotoshopthebook.com for more information, including the project files for each chapter, available for download for you to work with, a reader forum, and more.
* Stunning images from award winning digital artist Derek Lea inspire you to push your own creativity further than you even thought possible
* Compatible with previous versions of Photoshop
* Explore Photoshop from an entirely unique perspective as you learn how to create graffiti, antique effects, stencil art, and so much more
* Fully updated throughout for CS4, plus four brand new chapters on real world projects that combine traditional art methods with Photoshop to create tactile images.

download

Make The Border Go!

2009-06-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

You can more than DOUBLE your click-throughs with this one simple tweak!

Even before the Internet, ads in newspapers and magazines were marked off with a thick, heavy border. No wonder borders and boxes have come to
symbolize advertising messages.

Ads with prominent borders make your pages look cluttered. They distract the eye from the ad text, while marking off the ad blocks from the rest of the
content.

Google provides an extensive color palette in your administrative area. Use it to tweak the look of your ads to suit your web page.

With just one simple click, you can match the color of your ad's border with the background color of your web page . When the border blends with the background, it frees up loads of space. The page looks instantly neater and the ads look more inviting.

Make sure you also pick a matching background color for the ad . The ad's background must match the page background on which the ad will appear.

It's always easier to work with a white background. If your page background is white, you can instantly see the results with the Example ad next to
the color palette.

If the ad appears in a table, match the table background color with the ad background color. The key is to blend the background and border color with the page, so that the text looks like an integral part of your web content.

Don't forget to match the background color for your ad with the background color of your web page. Even with a matching border, the ad in the Example above
sticks out against the white background.

Design Your Website To Highlight Adsense

2009-06-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

I once went to a fashion show where each model wore the exact same black outfit for the entire duration of the show. Boring? Hardly! The show was intended to showcase platinum jewelry, and the outfits were designed to enhance the jewelry — instead of distracting the audience.

You don’t have to make all the pages on your website identical (or black). But you do want to make sure that the look of your page draws attention to the ads — and makes them appear as attractive and as valuable as platinum jewelry.

Many websites have strong graphic elements that catch the eye — usually at the expense of the AdSense units.

If you're using AdSense, be judicious in the selection of fonts, font size, colors, images, tables and other visual aspects of your website. Draw subtle attention to your AdSense units. Make them the stars of your show!

On this website, Tim Carter employs subtle design and placement to make
AdSense the center of attraction

Seasons Greeting With Themed Units

2009-06-18T20:28:00.000-07:00

There is one more type of ad unit that you can use on your site.
You just can’t use it all the time. Every time a holiday rolls around, Google brings out new ad units with seasonal themes.

The designs themselves vary according to season and location (users in Europe, for example, won’t see Thanksgiving ads).

In general, I always say that your ads should be unobtrusive but I like these themed ads. They’re eye-catching without looking like banners. When it’s holiday-time, it’s always worth checking out the format page again and seeing what’s available.

To sum up the different types of ad format then...
 Leaderboards are best at the top of the page;
 Squares and rectangles can be embedded into text itself;
 Vertical ads and buttons should slip down the side of the page;
 Vertical link units should be placed next to link lists;
 Horizontal link units can go at the top of the page, between blog entries or above and below directories;
 Image ads should rarely be used at all;
 Themed ads can be slotted in at holiday time;
 And Video ads should be used whenever possible.

Those are the general rules governing ad formats. They’re worth knowing because they’re a good place to start. They’re also worth knowing because you can’t break the rules until you know what they are... and that’s when the fun really begins!