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How to Make a Vortex in Photoshop

Learn How to Make a Cool Vortex in Space Step by Step

Today I will be teaching you how to make a cool vortex that appears to be in outer space. The first step is to open up a new blank document in Photoshop. Keep in mind that this method will work in Photoshop 6.0 and above. Once you have your document opened up select the gradient tool from the toolbar. Now the next step is to set your foreground color to red and black. Once you have done this click and drag the gradient tool from left to write on the document. Now once you have done this go to Filter then Distort and click on Twirl. Once you are in the twirl tab we can start to create our vortex. I would suggest making the angle 399. Making the angle 399 will give the vortex and really cool spiral look to it. Once you have done this click OK. Once you have done this you should have the basic shape of your vortex. Now go to Filter then Stylize and then click on Wind. Once you are in the Wind tab we can start to make the vortex look a bit more realistic. While you are in the Wind tab select Stagger and then From the Right to get the desired effect. Click OK then you will notice the vortex now looks like it is sucking inward. This is a very cool effect that adds some life to the whole piece. In the next part of the lesson I will teach how you to make the vortex appear like is is in outer space.

You now have the basic shape and layout of your vortex at this point. But it will look a little boring. Make a new layer and then press D on your keyboard to set your foreground and background colors to default. Next select your gradient tool and click and drag from left to right on that layer. Once you have done this go to Filter Render and then click on Clouds. After you add the clouds to the new layer press Control I on your keyboard to invert the the clouds. Keep in mind that you need to hold down the Control Key and then press I while you are holding down the Control Key. Now from this point press Control U on your keyboard to access the Hue and Saturation tab. Use the sliders on the Hue to select the color you want your clouds to be. You can use the sliders on the Saturation and Lightness to adjust the brightness of the clouds. Once you are happy with how your clouds look click OK. Now the last step is combining the clouds with the vortex. While you are on the layer where you created your clouds click on the drop down arrow and select screen as your blending mode. Once you do this you will notice your clouds have blended in with your vortex. But they still look to intense lower the Opacity to 82%. Now you should have a cool looking vortex with a space like cloudy look around it. If you want to make the whole piece look ever cooler you can add some stars with the shape tool or add a lens flare to add some extra life to the vortex. To add a lens flare go to Filter then Render and click Lens Flare. Make the brightness 87%. After this move the lens flare to the top left hand corner or where ever you wish to position it. I would also choose 50-300mm Zoom as the type of Lens Flare. Once you do this click OK and you should have a very cool looking vortex in space. I hope you enjoyed this lesson.

      echo $variable;

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How to Make a Nav Bar in Photoshop

Learn How to Make a Cool Nav Bar in Photoshop

Today I will be teaching you how to make a cool nav bar in Photoshop. Keep in mind that you must be working in RGB mode so you can see all your colors correctly. To switch to RGB mode simply go to Image the Mode and the click on RGB mode. This lesson will work in Photoshop 6.0 and above. After this step make a new document any size you want. Once you have your document made select the shape tool from the toolbar. Change your foreground color to any color you want. Once you have selected your color click and drag with the shape tool with the rectangle shape then let go of the mouse. Now you will have the basic shape of your nav bar created. Now we can add some realism to the nav bar. Go to Layer then Layer Style then Bevel and Emboss on your top menu bar. Once you have done this you will be in the Bevel and Emboss tab. Make your Inner Bevel then make the depth 219%. After that make the size 13px and the technique Chisel Hard. This will give your nav bar a much more realistic look to it.

The next step in our lesson will be to make buttons for you nav bar. You can use the shape tool to drag them on different layers and then put them on your nav bar. I like to use the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Make sure you make your bottoms a color that is visible on your nav bar. For example, you could use black buttons on a nav bar that is blue. Then you can make the letters white and they will be easy to read. Keep in mind that making your nav bar easy to read is very important when it comes to its design. You can add a bevel and emboss effect to the buttons just like you did with you nav bar. But I would suggest an inner bevel for a cool effect on the buttons. This will make your nav bar more eye catching which is a really good thing to have. A nav bar should be easy to read and look good. Once you have your nav bar and buttons the way you want them to look you can upload the images to your website and then write HTML code to implement them into your website.

echo $variable;

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Create a Zombie in Photoshop

Today you are going to learn how to take an image of a person and make them look like they are a zombie. This is one of the best tricks and ways I have found to make someone look like a zombie. This is a very realistic effect that is easy to apply, and you will have a lot of fun with it. Just make sure that you have some basic Photoshop skills, and we will guide you through the steps.

Step One. The first thing that you will need to do is to open an image in Photoshop that you want to have the zombie effect. It is a good idea to choose a photo that is a close-up of a face so that you can apply this image very easily.

Step Two. The next thing you need to do is to make the image that you have opened black and white. You can do this really easily by go to Image, down to Adjustments, and choose Desaturate. This will make your image black and white so that we can work with it. If Photoshop will not let you edit your background image, you may have to duplicate it so that you have one that is editable.

Step Three. Now you need to grab the Polygonal Lasso Tool. You need to use this tool to select the entire portion of the image that you want the effect to apply to. Since my image is a close up, I just selected the entire part of the body where I want the effect to be applied. The selection does not have to be perfect.

Step Four. Next cut the selection out but going to Edit, and Cut. You will want to place this on a new layer so that you only have the part of the image that you selected on a layer. You also want to duplicate that layer so that you have two copies. So, now you should have a background of the area minus the cut out portion, plus two layers of the part that you cut out.

Step Five. Now, working on the second layer down (first copy of cut out part), we need to colorize the image. I always choose a light green color. You will want to apply the same color to the second copy of the cut out layer. You also want to duplicate that layer again giving you three copies of the same thing.

Step Six. Now, working on your middle copy of the three same layers, go to Layer, down to Layer Style, and choose Pattern Overlay. You want to get your Rock patterns from the selection (right arrow) and choose the Red Rock pattern. You also want to change the Blend Mode to Color Burn and click OK.

Step Seven. Now, working on that same layer, you need to change the layer blend mode to Screen and take the Opacity down to 65%. You cant see any change yet, but you will soon.

Step Eight. Now, working with your very top layer, go to Layer, down to Layer Style, and choose Pattern Overlay. Now choose the Texture Fills (right arrow) from the selections and choose Clouds as your texture. You want your Blend mode to be Color Burn, and click OK. Your image is starting to take effect now, but you are not done.

Step Nine. Now change the Blend Mode of your top layer to Screen and take the Opacity down to 25%.

Step Ten. Now you want the clothing to be less affected, so you can use the Polygonal Lasso tool and select the clothing and cut it to a new layer, and take the opacity down to 50%.

Step Eleven. The final thing to do is to flatten the image by going to Layer, and down to Flatten Image. Now go to Filter, down to Sharpen, and choose Unsharp Mask. You will want to set the Amount to 30%, Radius to 0.7 pixels and Threshold to 0. Now you should have an awesome image of a zombie using nothing but Photoshop. I hope this has helped you create a zombie in Photoshop.

echo $variable;

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Creative Photoshopping

Ideas You May Not Have Thought of for Using Photoshop

Most of the ideas for using Photoshop, though good ideas, have become ‘normal’. Making yourself skinnier, deleting the background of your picture, all of these are great ways to utilize the tools in the program but if you’re looking for something that maybe you haven’t thought about doing, here are some ideas to help you on your photo-editing journey.

Add Clothing: With the economy in such a bad shape, everyone wants to look good without paying designer prices. With Photoshop you can wear any clothing you’d like for free. Free standing Clothes– If the clothing you want is in a picture by itself, take a picture of yourself either naked or scantily clad (depending on where the clothing would cover up. Ex: A tank top would look a little strange on top of a t-shirt…) If you’re female be sure to pay special attention to how the shirt bends around the breast area, if it’s something like a tank top and you should be able to see the top curve of the breasts, an ace bandage will work in place of a bra to eliminate the strap problem. Save the picture of the clothing you want and open it alongside the picture of yourself. (File- >Open->”Your Picture”->Windows->Arrange Vertically/Horizontally.) Open up a new layer named clothing on the picture of yourself, and decide on a place in the clothing that you can easily match up to a part of your body, usually where the neck meets the shoulder, the underarm crease, or the center point of your cleavage. Then, using the cloning tool, hold down Alt and click that place on the clothing. Now you can click the same place on you and drag the mouse across the area to fill in the clothing on your body. Slight inconsistencies can be fixed using affects or liquify. For pictures where the clothing is on someone: Pretty much the same deal but be sure to be in the exact same position as the person wearing the clothing for your picture. Any skin that gets cloned in can be safely erased using the background eraser tool if the clothing has a sharp contrast to the skin. If not, just the eraser is an easy fix, if a little slow and detailed.

Decorating Your Room: You can always add a completely different background to your picture, but then again why not make the space you have to look better? Look up some items you wish you could have such as lamps, pictures, bedspreads, shelving etc.. Again using the clone tool, open both of the pictures up [see above for directions.] and decide where you want your objects. Open a new layer on the picture that the objects are going in, for ease of placement and deletion of unwanted objects. Once you’ve decided where you want your object to go Alt+click it and then start filling it in on your picture. (Click the area you want it to go and follow the lines of the object.) Make sure that the picture of the object matches the size you want it to be in your room, you can adjust the size by selecting the window it’s in and going to Image+size and filling in your size specification. Make sure that it’s locked so your width will always match your height. Once you’ve cloned your object in the room play around with the lighting affect to make sure it looks right. If it’s a lamp or other light source make the bulb the center of the light source and use shadows to adjust your room. Voila!

Upgrade Your Stuff: You’ve got an outdated t.v., iPod, or phone. Why not have the newest? Find a picture of the object you want and use the tricks above to clone in the new stuff.

Adding makeup: Time is precious, and sometimes you’re just not ready for that camera to be shoved in your face. Or maybe you don’t have the makeup that you’d like. By enlarging the picture dramatically and using the paintbrush tool on your desired color of mascara, eyeliner, lipstick, or cover up you can be totally made over in any picture. Make sure to open a new layer when you do this because you will want to lower the opacity to about 15-20% to make it look realistic.

More Ideas Using the Techniques Above:

Add fake nails!

Fill in that bald spot.

Change what you were eating to your favorite meal.

Add jewelry.

Change generic labels to name brands.

Make your shirt say something witty.

If you’re a drummer: Make your kit look more impressive by adding more drums, high hats, and cymbals.

echo $variable;

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Alternatives to Photoshop

Ever wanted to create your own graphics online without all the hassle of having to pay for those expensive programs such as Photoshop (PS)? Sure, PS is arguably the best program in its niche and provides outstanding results for those looking to create art online. However, the program costs close to an unprecedented $700 and, in my opinion, is not at all worth the price – especially when there are great alternatives available for much less, and even for free! In this article, I’ll list three programs that deliver outstanding results and performance for their prices, and show you why they, as opposed to Photoshop, should be on your desktop. Please take note that, before you read this article, these are my own personal opinions and before you decide to download any program, you should have a good idea if it’s indeed what you’re looking for. Without further ado, we’ll begin with my number three pick:

Number Three: Krita

Krita has entered the spotlight recently due to its ease of use. It’s nowhere near as powerful as Photoshop, but it does have the resources to make a professional image out of nothing. As a matter of fact, it does have some tools not found in Photoshop and is always worth the look. More than the other two options, this program relies heavily on the nature of the user – it’s a “like or hate” issue with Krita, so you might need to take a test-run before you make your final decision. No one can actually tell you if it’s good or bad…check it out!

Download Krita here: http://ift.tt/2gQjl8W

Number Two: Paint.NET

Paint.NET was originally designed to overtake the default Microsoft Paint application in windows. However, for unknown reasons, it hasn’t been adapted by the Windows corporation – and it’s a real shame. It’s interface is extremely user-friendly and easy to operate. It has powerful tools and a smooth layer system that rivals the best of image manipulation programs. It’s still early in its stages, but there are countless add-ons available for Paint.NET, and soon enough, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that it can be on par with Photoshop.

Download Paint.NET here: paint.net/

Number One: GIMP

GIMP is by far the closest to Photoshop in both potential and overall performance. It has many of the same features that Photoshop provides, save for just a couple filters. However, it does have an extremely intuitive interface complete with floating windows and customizable interfaces. Some complaint about the difficulty of operation, but at the same time many compliment it on its ease. I recommend GIMP for its strength and personalization – a great open source software indeed.

Download GIMP here: http://ift.tt/KwFsoc

Hopefully, after testing each alternative, you’ll find a useful program that can deliver the wanted results without burning a hole in your wallet. If you’re looking to spend those seven hundred dollars on something much more beneficial for you and your family, then GIMP, Paint.NET, or Krita just might hold your answer. If you’ve got any questions about either of the programs listed here in this article, don’t hesitate to contact me.

echo $variable;

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How to Make an Eye Ball in Photoshop

Today I will be teaching you how to make an eyeball in Photoshop. This is a great lesson for anyone who likes eyeballs. This lesson can be done in Photoshop 6.0 and above. To begin create a new file. To create a new file click on the menu bar at the top of the program. Click on the tab that says file and then clicks new. Let’s make the size of this new file 400 by 500 pixels. First and create a new layer to work with. Next, click on the shape tool and select the ellipse tool. Set your foreground color to white. Click and drag to make an oval like shape. This will be the basic shape of the eyeball. Next click layer, layer style, and click stroke. Set the size of stroke to 3 px and the position to outside. Next set the blending mode to normal and the opacity to 100%. Set fill type color and the color to black. The shape of your eyeball will have a nice outline. The next step is to start creating the inside of the eye. Click to create a new layer to work with. Next, click the shape tool and select the ellipse tool Set your foreground color to whatever color you choose. I will set my foreground color to brown. Next, click and drag to create the inner part of the eyeball. Now the eyeball should be looking pretty nice. You can look at the example image I included with this lesson to see what the eyeball should look like.

Now that the basic eyeball is created we can make it come to life. Click to create a new layer to work with. Next, click on the paintbrush tool and set your foreground color to red. Set the paintbrush size to 9 and your foreground color to red. Next, draw the tiny veins on the white part of the eyeball. This will make the eyeball look more realistic. Now we can add some eyelashes to the eyeball. Click to create a new layer to work with. Next, click on the paintbrush tool and set the brush size to 9. Set your foreground color to black. Next, drag the eyelashes on the eyeball. You can draw small or long eyelashes on the eyeball. Your eyeball is not finished. I hope you enjoyed this lesson and have a great day

echo $variable;

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How to Use Photoshop to Transform and Image

The word metamorphosis is in itself very magical and mysterious and the process that it refers to is equally mystifying and enchanting. A profound transformation of the form by a natural or magical process. An alteration in condition looks or spirit.

One of the most common examples of metamorphosis is also one of the most spectacular. The transformational change of the caterpillar into a butterfly. Other instances of metamorphosis abound in the natural world but the concept of transformation change is also integral to the creative journey. At a basic level, the photographic process is all about transformational change from one state to another. When we see a scene in the real world. We then use our cameras and light sensitive chemical emulsion or light sensitive digital sensors to transform that scene.

The transformations to apply to most photos are not extreme makeovers that turn an image into something totally different, but adjustments to the basic components that make up photographic images. Before we get into the particulars of some of the techniques, let’s take a look at these essential components to better understand the most effective ways to transform and image.

Before you even start pondering whether to use curves or levels, you should take a good look at the image and see what it tells you. To help you concentrate on only the image, press the F key once and place the image into full-screen mode with the menu bar. Then press the tab key to hide all of the photoshop palettes and tools. Now you’re viewing only the image with no other distractions.

At the most fundamental level, the adjustments that we make to images can be distilled down to four basic areas. Lightening, darkening, adjusting contrast and if the image is color, changes to the color balance.

Before you start thinking about procedural details of how to accomplish something in photoshop, you should look at the image and think in those broad terms of lighter, dark and more contrast or less. The human eyes are attracted to lighter areas and to contrast.

How might such adjustments help guide the viewer’s eye through the image? With adjustments to tone and contrast, can you more effectively emphasize certain areas of the images or alter the mode of the scene?

Once you’ve determined what the image needs, then you can think about which tools and techniques in the digital darkroom might help you achieve those ends.

echo $variable;

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How to Make an Ad Banner in Photoshop

Today I will be teaching you how to make an ad banner in Photoshop. This lesson can be done in Photoshop 6.0 and above. To begin create a new document in Photoshop. After you have done this click image mode and then click on RGB. This will switch you to RGB mode and allow you to see color on your project. The next step is to select the shape tool and choose the rectangle shape. Make the banner color black. You can also use an image as the background of your ad banner. One thing that is very important is that you make your ad banner attractive. You really want to grab the attention of anyone who sees it. For this banner, I think a black background with white letters will look. Also, you should make sure your banner is easy to read. Now create a new layer to type your text on. Once you have made your banner and made it black we can add some text. The example I am doing here will be an ad banner for Mylot. Once you know what you want to make your ad about click on the type tool or click T on your keyboard. Then click on a window and then character on your menu bar. Now the character palette appears. From the character palette, you can change the font, size, and color of your text. You should choose a font that is very easy to read. Because if you use a font that is too fancy, people might not be able to read it.

Once you have the basic shape of your banner you can start to add some effects to the text. An Outer glow would look well on the text that is on a black background. To add an outer glow click on Layer then Layer Style on your top menu. From this point in the project choose Outer Glow. After that, you can mess around with the sliders until you get the glow to look how you want. Also, you can change the outer glow to any color you wish. I will make the outer glow on my letters red. So now we have out a basic banner with text on it. You can also add an image or company logo to the banner to make it look more attractive. Another thing you can do to your ad banner is animate it with image ready. In an upcoming lesson, I will teach you how to make an animated ad banner. You can also look at the example image in this article to see what your banner image will look like. I hope you enjoyed this lesson and have a great day.

echo $variable;

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Custom 404 Icon in Photoshop

No one likes getting an Error 404. But let’s face it – stuff happens. Lighten the irritation of hitting a bad link or a moved page for the visitors on your site by sprucing up the Error page they hit – using a custom Error 404 image. It’s quick, easy, and will make your website look more professional for the minor extra work.

This guide will walk you through creating your own Error 404 Image. Because of the differences in web hosts, I can’t guide you through editing your error pages – if you have trouble locating them, speak to your host. The illustrations used will show tools native to Photoshop CS2, but the process can be done in any graphics editing program with tools similar to those found in Photoshop.

Ready to get going? Great!

One: Open a new canvas sized at about 500 x 500 pixels in RGB mode.

First, we’re going to create the iconic “warning” symbol. Set your foreground color to #ffcd46 and your background color to #ffb858. Then, grab your custom shape tool and select the rounded-edge triangle shape. Hold your shift key down when you draw the shape out, and immediately rasterize the layer (Right-click, Rasterize Layer).

The triangle is currently upside down for what we want – click “Edit”, choose “Transform”, and pick “Flip Vertical”.

Two: We want our warning symbol to look cool, not just functional. Click “Layer”, choose “Layer Style”, and pick “Gradient Overlay”. In the dialogue, change the Gradient to the yellow-to-orange gradient, and scale to 37%. Then, click “Stroke”. Change the Color to black, and the Size to 5. Finally, click “Drop Shadow”. Change the Spread to 44, and the Size to 18. Click OK.

Three: Last two things on our symbol and we can finish up. First, set your foreground color to black Then, using a bold font, type an exclamation mark in your icon. Then, set your foreground color to white and use the elliptical (circle) shape tool to create a highlight on the icon. Lower the fill of this circle to about 30%.

Four: One tiny bit of text and we’re all done! I have used the orange for the 404, to continue to color theme. Make sure that you vary the size of your text so that it maintains visual interest and keeps a professional look.

echo $variable;

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How to Make a Bubble in Photoshop (CS and Higher)

Anyone can create a multitude of objects in Photoshop, from placing bubbles in unusual places to covering barren landscapes in blankets of snow. However, many Photoshop owners don’t know how to simply make these kinds of things. You might even be one of these people!

But don’t worry. You have come to the right place, if, of course, you came here just to make “bubbles”.

Basically, making a bubble in Photoshop can be summed up in four steps, which I will go into more detail in the next couple of paragraphs. The first step is to make a circle selection and fill it in with color. Second, soften the edges around the circle. Next, add a lens flare inside the circle. And finally, remove most of the area inside the circle, except around the location of the lens flair and the sides of the circle.

Step 1. Make a circle selection and fill it in with color

If you haven’t done so already, pull up the image or empty workspace you want to place your bubble in. You can open a new work area by pressing Ctrl+N.

Make a new layer, which can easily be done by holding Shift+Ctrl+N and click “ok” if a box comes up. Next select the elliptical marquee tool. This can be found in your toolbar, which by default is located to the left side of the screen. By holding down the left mouse button on the first button in the toolbar, you can get a variety of options for selection tools. Select the button that has the picture of a circle to get the elliptical marquee tool.

The next thing to do is to click and drag a selection on the image while holding the shift key. Why hold the shift key? Because if you don’t, you’ll get a very weird looking bubble in the end, simply because holding the shift key makes your selection into a perfect circle and no one likes unstable bubbles. Make sure you release the mouse button first before you release the shift key.

After your selection is made, go to “Edit” and click on “Fill…”. A window will pop up and under the option “Use:” select “Color…” and then select a color of your choice and then click ok (twice). Be careful when picking a color! Some colors, like yellow, are too bright and can make it hard for anyone to see your bubble.

Step 2. Soften the edges

Your bubble would not look great if it has hard edges, so let’s soften them. Under “Filter”, move the mouse over to “Blur” and select “Gaussian Blur”. When another window appears, move the slider to set the blur to around 2 pixels and click ok.

Step 3. Adding a lens flair

This will give the bubble a shine. Adding a flair adds an “artificial light source” to the picture. Click “Filter” at the top of the screen, move the mouse over “Render” and select “Lens flair”. Move the lens flair to a nice looking spot by clicking on the little picture. Adjust the brightness to around 100. Make sure the lens type is 50-300mm Zoom. Click ok. By now, your bubble should look more like a sphere than a bubble.

Step 4. Clearing up the area inside the bubble

This is the most critical step in making the bubble. Depending on how well you do in this step critically determines how well your bubble looks in the end.

Look in the bottom right corner for a window called layers. In the bottom of that window, there is a row of small buttons. Click the third one, which looks like a box with a white circle in it. After a black and white picture appears next to your bubble in the layers window, press X on your keyboard. This will switch the black and the white box located near the bottom of the toolbar. The black box needs to be above the white one. This will basically get you prepared to work for the rest of this step.

Select the brush tool by clicking the button in the toolbar that looks like a paintbrush or by pressing the B button on the keyboard. Select a “soft” brush (which looks like a cute fuzzy black circle and has the words “Soft Round” in its title). There are two ways to get different brush selections. One, you can click the tab to the top right of the screen labeled brushes or two, after selecting the brush tool, look to the top left of the screen for a square area with the word “Brush:” inside it and click the drop down arrow. Pick a brush that is about ¼ the size of your bubble.

After you have found a soft brush, look back to the top of the screen to find an option labeled “Opacity:” and change the 100% to 40%.

While inside the circle, hold down the left mouse button and drag the brush inside of the circle, but avoid the shiniest part of the lens flair and the edges of the bubble. Release the mouse button and repeat the previous action until you are satisfied with how your bubble looks. If you mess up, just click around in the history window or use Ctrl + Alt + Z to undo your work.

Press Ctrl+E to merge your layers and you’re done! Don’t forget to save your work (Under “File”)!

echo $variable;

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Photoshop Road for Beginners

So, do you like editing pictures or do you find it cool to create websites graphics? Maybe you like how those artworks from Deviant art look and want to know how they’ve done it? If so, then you are probably a newbie that will learn in the next few minutes some interesting facts about the program that does all these things — Photoshop.

No matter what age you are, you will find yourself searching the net for tutorials or for e-books that might, or might not, teach you how to use this wonderful program.

I am going to give you some hints on learning efficiently this program.

The first step : Decide what you want to learn.

If you want to learn how to retouch photos, then there is no way you could possibly be interested in searching for web design material. Decide what you want to learn from the start, and with that in mind start learning. Don’t deviate from your track; don’t try to know it all from the beginning because it will confuse you! I’ve been there, trust me, you don’t want to pass through that!

The second step : Time is Money.

Obviously, you won’t be able to learn Photoshop in a week, or in 24h – I liked the e-books that were entitled “learn in 24h”. Have you ever read one of these? They give you a huge amount of information, and you will have to go back to the book every day to read again how you can do this or that.

It will take a while, and depend on your decision, it will be free of charge or it will cost you, a lot. Let’s think a bit. You have Photoshop. Maybe you paid for it, maybe you work at an office that has it. Like it or not, this software costs a lot. Learning it by buying tutorials and book will cost at least 40% of the soft’s value. A good read will cost you around 50$, and a great video tutorial will cost you over 100$. And you will be watching at least 2 tutorials or read at least 2~3 book in order to get a good handle on the techniques that you want to use. On the other hand, you might want to consider reading free tutorials. It will take less time, and it will be for free. However, you won’t have all the techniques laid down for you, you will have to search for them.

If you are a good surfer, learning photoshop from free tutorials will be the best solution. If not, try buying something good, something that is popular, and please, chose something that is up to date.

I’d suggest Lynda.com for paid video tutorials. I’ve tried some of their courses, and even though most of them are for advanced users, you will find a “basics” version for most of the tutorial series.

As for free tutorials, maybe google is the best solution but I’m going to recommend you some sites anyway. Good-tutorials.com is on of the best tutorial indexers; tutorialized.com is also one of the tops in my list. I found a short list of tutorial indexing sites at photoshop extreme tutorials.

The third step : Train, don’t just learn.

So you got it right, you understood the procedure, and you played a bit with it. Don’t stop there, do some extra work on your own. If you get it right a few times, and repeat it over the next month, it will get fixed in your memory and you will never forget it.

All in all, practice makes perfect, so keep that in mind.

echo $variable;

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Photoshop Image Touch-Ups

Better Photos

You have an old photo that you want to be fixed, or maybe you want to get rid of some acne on your face. Whatever the reason is, Photoshop can touch up just about any image. There are more advanced techniques to use in Photoshop but I’m going to get you started with some simple touch ups.

First of all the easiest way to fix the lighting on your image is the auto features.

Go to Image>Adjustments. You will see three different options for Auto such as auto levels, auto contrast, and auto color. You can click one or all three to see the effect it will have on your image. Sometimes this is all it takes to touch your image up. However, this doesn’t always get the job done because auto can over do it. If you are not satisfied then you can always go to Edit>Step Backward to undo any changes or click Ctrl>Alt>Z.

Now this step is something you can mess around with on your own.

Go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast. Set the Brightness to 20 and the Contrast to 25. This sometimes does the trick and hits it right on the money. If not then don’t be worried and just slide the settings to get familiar with it.

One cool thing I like to do to some of my photos adds a different type of color to your image.

Load your photo/image into Photoshop.

Duplicate the layer of the image.

Click on the duplicated layer and go to Images>Adjustments>Black & White. Press OK. ( if you have an older version of Photoshop and don’t have the b&w option then go to Images>Adjustments>Hue & Saturation and slide the Saturation all the way to the left. press OK )

Now, still on your duplicated image, set the layer to Overlay. That’s it. I think this gives your image a cool little effect.

Now Let’s say you want to get rid of wrinkles on the skin.

Select the blur tool and put it to an appropriate size to where you can go over the parts of the skin you want. Zoom in also .

I’d set the strength of the blur tool down to 80-85 %.

Now just go over the parts of the skin you want to be smoothed out. That’s what the blur tool does, simply smooth the area out.

Time to get rid of your blemishes.

First, zoom in on the blemish you want to disappear.

Click on the Clone Tool and set the size to just about the same size as your blemish.

Hold down Alt and left click at the same time in an area around the blemish.

Now just left click over the blemish.

You will see the blemish disappear.

The reason you Alt>Left click at the same time around the blemish is to get a piece of the skin to go where the blemish is. The idea is to get the blemish to look like the surrounding area.

Well, that is it. Just a few simple techniques to help you touch up some photos. Now if you are advanced in using Photoshop you may already know these tips and not be satisfied but they may also help you also. They are mainly for beginners looking for some quick easy ways to touch up some images. Enjoy !

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Photoshop Tutorial: How to Create a Filtered Border

Photoshop is an extremely diverse program that can allow you to do many things. Whether you’re a Photoshop beginner, intermediate, or advanced user, there are numerous things you can do within the program to edit your photos, create web graphics and logos, and much more.

One thing you can do in Photoshop adds a border to your photos. Photos look great with borders. In fact, it makes them look sharp, sleek, and professional. While many people opt to make just a solid colored border, there are tons of other neat borders you can add to your photos as well.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to add a filtered border to your photos. You can choose absolutely any photo to work with. Additionally, you can choose absolutely any filter at the end. I went with the Stained Glass Filter, but there are literally dozens of filters to work with!

So let’s begin!

Step 1) Open up your picture in Photoshop by going to File > Open and searching for your photo like you would any old document. If you’re copying and pasting off the web, go to File > New. The canvas size will automatically adjust to the size of the picture on your clipboard. After the canvas is open, go to Edit > Paste, this will paste your picture on the previously blank canvas.

Step 2) Once your picture is opened up in Photoshop, we need to designate the area that is to be the border. Do this by choosing the Rectangular Marquee Tool on the vertical menu bar. Choose the inside of the picture, leaving a space around the photo, about 10% of the photo’s size inward.

Step 3) Invert the selection by going to Select > Inverse. This will make the selection around the soon to be border instead of the inside picture.

Step 4) Next, feather the selection by going to Select > Feather and choose 10 pixels.

Step 5) In this next step, we’ll be adding the filtered border. Now this is the point where you can add any filter you want. In my picture, I used the Stained Glass filter by going to Filter > Texture > Stained Glass. You can choose any filter you want to get the desired effect. In the newer version of Photoshop, you can zoom out and get a nice preview of what you’re going to get.

Step 6) When you’re happy with the filter you have chosen, click OK and the filter will be applied to your Photo around the border.

Step 7) Once you’ve got your filter selected and applied, we need to deselect the photo. Do this by going to Select > Deselect.

And there you have it! A filtered border in 7 easy steps.

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Old Venice Effect in Photoshop

Today you are going to learn how to apply an old Venice effect using Photoshop. This effect is often used to make a photo look old, but have a different and unique look to it. I use this often for out of town vacation pictures and pictures of old buildings. This is a great and fun tutorial to learn so that you can make any photo look old and add more drama to your work.

Let’s get started on make your photos look old with the Venice effect in Photoshop.

Step one. The first thing that you need to do is to open your image that you want to apply the effect to in Photoshop. I like to use old buildings and things that are meant to have the old look to them. Some of my photos of recent things just don’t look too good when I make them look old. They seem like they are too fake if you know what I mean.

Step Two. Now you need to make a new layer in Photoshop, and fill the entire layer with the color that simulates the color of sepia photos. It does not have to be exact, as long as you get the same color. It looks like a yellowish brown if that makes sense.

Step Three. Now that you have the solid background, go to Filter, down to Noise, and over to Add Noise. You will want to keep the noise to around 3-4% depending on the quality of your image. After you have the desired amount of noise, click OK on the noise window, and we need to bring the effect down. So, on the keyboard, you can press Ctrl+Shift+F to bring up the window to fade the effect. Bring it down enough so that you just see the noise in the color.

Step Four. Now we need to a little bit of the Sponge effect to the image. To do this go to Filter, down to Artistic, and over to Sponge. Inside of the Sponge window, you will want to adjust the sponge effect to your liking and hit OK when you are done. Now you need to fade the effect by pressing Ctrl+Shift+F on the keyboard and fade the sponge effect so that you can see more of the noise than the sponge.

Step Five. This is where you need to find an image of a crinkled piece of paper. You can scan one if you can’t find one on the web, but open that image as a new layer in your Photoshop project. You need to then desaturate the image and set the opacity of the paper image to around 30-40%. You also need to set the blending option of the paper layer to Overlay.

Step Six. Now we are ready to see our image as an old photo. To do this move your image that you want to look old to the very top of your layers so that it is on top. Now all that you need to do is to change the blending mode of that image to Overlay. Now you should have a finished image that looks old and looks great.

echo $variable;

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Making Colors Pop with Photoshop

Make Your Dull Photos Come to Life

Sometimes you can get just the right moment, with just the right lighting, but it still seems like something is missing in your photo. The picture isn’t as vibrant as you would like, perhaps. Here is a great way to really make the colors in your photos pop using adobe Photoshop.

The first thing you need to do is open your picture in the Edit mode of Photoshop. At this point make any corrections to your photo, such as cropping, color correction, and removing flaws. Many people go to “temperature” under the quick fix menu to warm up their photos, but hold off on that step for right now.

Now right click on your background layer, under the layers bar on the right. Select “duplicate layer”. You can name this layer whatever you want. I just leave it as background copy. Right under the word Layers is a drop down menu that should say normal. Click on it and choose overlay. The colors and contrast should immediately pop. This is usually too vivid but it is easy to find just the right level. Simply click on the opacity drop down menu and move the slider until you have just the right amount of pop. I usually keep it around 30 to 50 percent.

Once you have the level set where it looks best you can right click on your background layer and choose merge visible. This makes it possible for you to save your picture as a .jpeg file and do more editing to your photo.

This technique works great on portraits because it really makes the eye color stand out. It also works well in pictures with bright colors. It does darken your photos a bit, so if your picture is dark, to begin with here is a tip. Before you create an overlay layer, create a screen layer. You follow the same steps but instead of choosing overlay you choose screen. This dramatically brightens your pictures. You can then repeat the process with an overlay. Once you get started you can try any combination of screen and overlay and play around with the opacity. This will really add some crisp color and vibrancy to dull photos. The look is also very modern, which I like.

Adobe Photoshop is a great tool for enhancing your photos. You can learn more tips by reading articles, watching video tutorials, and experimenting with it yourself. Hope this helps you polish your skills!

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Resources for Photoshop Brushes on the Internet

Photoshop brushes are incredible tools for various purposes. The most basic brushes on Photoshop, such as the history brush or paint brush, can help you with numerous types of graphic design and editing tasks with your project. However, there are a number of third-party plug-ins that offer many other types of stylistic choices.

A simple Google search with the terms, “Photoshop brushes” will render you some excellent results. Some of these brushes are available completely free, while others are offered for purchase.

My first Google result was a site called Brusheezy. It’s slogan reads, “Stupid name. Cool brushes.” And they are right. They offer many different types of free brushes such as the grunge brush, which has the effect of a faded text on cement look. Others include the splatter brush and the lace brush. They can be found at www.brusheezy.com.

Another site worth noting is myphotoshopbrushes.com. This website also offers free Photoshop brushes that are available for download.

The web is full of resources when it comes to Photoshop tools, particularly brushes. New ones are literally being developed every day. There are other ways to find these tools, besides Google.

Blogs are a useful resource, as many creative professionals now have their own blogs and update them frequently. In my searching, I found one particularly useful from Elite By Design.

Another incredible and valuable source of information comes from Adobe. Adobe’s website is full of useful tutorials and resources. They provide links to third-party distributors and offer their own products as well. They have a good resource for brushes too. Just check out Photoshop Support.

If you’re not familiar with forums, try checking them out online. Many forums offer advice, resources and links to provide people with the best possible information and tools the internet has to offer.

Another great website to check out is about.com. They have professional writers on staff to write about every topic imaginable, including graphics software. Most of the links that they provide are for Sue’s Brushes. The brushes were created by Sue Chastain, about.com staff writer.

In addition to about.com, there are sites like Suite101.com and others that have great advice from professionals in the graphics industry. They provide some very good advice to those seeking brushes and other tools.

Another way to obtain brushes for Photoshop is to create them yourself. This is only recommended for experienced developers of course. A good resource for this is Bittbox. There is a wonderful article on creating brushes in there.

Another really great website to look into is Easy Elements. This website is great for artists and professionals seeking help in graphic design, as it has great tutorials and advice articles.

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Draw Pansy Clipart in Photoshop

My most favorite graphics are always the flowers. In large part, they’re my favorite because they look like they should be so difficult to create – and yet, if you know the tools to use, they’re actually very easy.

This guide will help you create colorful, lovely pansy clipart in Photoshop. You won’t need any special plugins, filters, shapes, or anything else. What you will need is Adobe Photoshop, version 7 or higher. This tutorial is being written using Photoshop CS3, so some tools may be located in different spots if you’re using an older version of the software – but they’re all there, I promise.

Drawing Pansy Clipart – The Steps

New Canvas – Open Photoshop, create a new canvas (File, New) that is sized about 500 x 500 pixels, in RGB mode, with a white background.

Set Colors – Your basic colors can be anything that you like. I’m going with a standard purple pansy, so have set my foreground color to hex #9b8695 and my background color to #836a7f.

Circle Shape – Use your circle shape tool (it’s very, very important that you use the circle shape, not the marquee – if you don’t see the circle shape tool, right-click your square shape tool and select the circle from the list) and draw a circle on your canvas. This is the start of a petal. DO NOT rasterize this layer yet.

Warp Transform – We’re going to make our petal look a bit more like a pansy petal using the warp transform tool. Click “Edit”, choose “Transform Path”, and then click “Warp”. The transformation handles you get on this tool are different than any other transform you’ve seen in Photoshop – and with good reason. You can move every single handle, as well as the individual squares in the grid, in any direction that you want.

What we’re going for is a basic petal that is pointed (sort-of) at the bottom, and wider and flatter at the top. See Illustration 01 for reference.

Duplicate & Rotate – With our basic petal made, we want to make 4 more petals. A pansy has a total of 5 petals, with the one at the center top being the one in the very back. So, right-click your petal’s layer (still don’t rasterize!) and choose “Duplicate Layer”. Repeat this 4 times, so that you have 5 petal layers.

Now, click “Edit”, choose “Transform Path”, and select “Rotate”. Going through your petal layers, set your two top-side petals first, and rotate the two bottom petals last. This way, all your petals are in the right order (starting at top center, each petal goes in front of the next one to the bottom petals). Reference Illustration 01 – a stroke has been added to the petals early, just to let you see how they’re laid out.

When you have situated all of the petals, right-click each petal layer and choose “Rasterize Layer”.

Stroke & Color Overlay – This step is really quick and easy. First, select your first petal (the top, center one) and go to your layer styles – “Layer, Layer Styles” – and choose “Color Overlay”. Set the overlay to your background color so that your top center petal is darker than the others.

Before you click OK, go to the “Stroke” setting. Set the color of your stroke to black, and the size of 1 pixel. Then, click OK. Now, go through the rest of your petals and apply the same stroke setting.

Petal Second Color – Pansies have these really pretty darker areas on their lower petals that usually match the color of that top, center one. Go into your custom shapes and pick up your raindrop shape. Draw it out long and thin, using your background color, and then transform it to echo the angle of your petal. Then, duplicate the rain drop 3 times and apply it to each of your lower four petals.

When these are drawn, rasterize the layers and apply the same stroke setting that you did on the full petals in the last step.

Reference Illustration 02.

Draw Flower’s Center – What would a flower be without a pretty yellow center? Use a bright yellow and your circle shape tool to draw an oval in the center of your pansy. Rasterize the layer, and apply the same stroke that we’ve been using. Reference Illustration 02.

Draw Stem – Our flowers are nearly done. At this point, you may need to resize the petals so that there is actually room for a stem and leaves. To make life easy, click the very top layer in your layer palette, hold your shift key down, and then click on the layer right above your background layer. This will highlight all of the “art” layers. Then, right-click and choose “Merge Layers”.

Now, we’re going to make a stem. Grab your square shape tool and draw a long, thin rectangle behind your petals in a green color. Do not rasterize this layer yet. Instead, go to “Edit”, “Transform Path”, and choose the “Warp” tool again. We want the stem to ripple just a little bit, instead of looking like a straight line drawn in green crayon.

Finally, rasterize the stem and then apply (yet again!) the stroke setting we’ve been using. Reference Illustration 03.

Add Leaves – Our very last step is to add a pair of leaves to our pretty pansies. Just use your custom shape tool and use any of the leaves that come included with Photoshop for this. Use the same green as you used for the stem, and rasterize the leaves once they’re drawn so you can add the stroke setting for the last time.

You can easily change the color of your pansy by going back into your Layer Styles (Layer, Layer Styles) and choosing “Color Overlay”. Set the color, and then change the mode to “Color” or “Hue” to quickly change the petals without having to re-draw your flower.

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